95. The Eye of the BeholderFORMULA: The Cage + By Any Other Name + The Infinite Vulcan
WHY WE LIKE IT: You could do worse than riff on The Cage.
WHY WE DON'T: The monsters are more fantasy than science-fiction (again).
REVIEW: The Eye of the Beholder (a barely apt name for the episode) features a zoo planet run by giant, highly intelligent, telepathic slugs, and while these guys are semi-believable and interesting, their collection suffers from one of the animated series' weaknesses. That weakness? The lack of budget restrictions has made the creation of outlandish alien creatures so tempting, the creatures actually go too far. A lot of these could never have evolved and seem pulled straight out of a sword and sorcery series. (That said, I do like the visual of the giant lizard McCoy got trapped under.)
So what the episode lacks in realism, it makes up for in creativity. As for the plot, it's a dumbed-down version of The Cage, but that's not a bad place to start. The focus is less on human nature and more on escaping the cage, which is fine. Scotty gets to play a vital role, apparently being mentally on par with a Lectran baby. Fun, even though he and Spock need to act as a chorus, lending their voices to the silent antagonist. A pretty standard entertainment.
LESSON: Treat your pets with respect. You never know what they might evolve into.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: An average episode, with nothing annoying, but nothing too inspiring either.
Comments