88. The Magicks of Megas-TuFORMULA: Catspaw + Who Mourns for Adonais/Plato's Stepchildren + The Squire of Gothos
WHY WE LIKE IT: It's pretty daring, I'll give it that.
WHY WE DON'T: Tons of pseudo-science, and the totally inappropriate appearance of Satan.
REVIEW: The first, but not that last, crime committed against Star Trek by writer Larry Brody (he also wrote Tatoo for Voyager). I do give him points for sheer audacity. The crew visits the galactic center in record time to investigate the theory that the big bang was 1) in the center of our galaxy, not universe, and 2) that if the universe was created there, it must still be creating matter. A fantastic idea? No matter since the rest of the episode will deal with magic-using beings who once visited Earth but were burned in the Salem witch trials.
It gets worse. Not only do Kirk and Spock conventiently learn to use magic, but they also make friends with Lucifer, who, in a major twist, turns out to be a nice guy and totally misunderstood by history. Really seems like a strange message to send over Saturday morning tv, and I can imagine some people would actually be offended by the idea. I have more of a problem with Kirk coming to "Lucien"'s defense. It seems out of character for him not to question things, and it just comes across as a necessary plot point.
For all that, the episode remains imaginative, with Kirk duking it out in a sorcerer's duel, and the outlandish science drawing a chuckle. A good reason to not consider the Animated Series canonical.
LESSON: Never judge a book by its satanic incantations.
REWATCHABILITY - Low/Medium: You might get a kick from the episode, and it's never really boring. Then again, it's so stupid and offensive you might not even want to check it out. Really depends on your PC-meter.
Comments
I'm enjoying this feature immensely. I can't wait until you get to "Albatross"...one of my fave animated episodes.
;)