Tuesday TV Touchbase: VisionQuest and Happy's Place

Before we get started on today's Tuesday TV Touchbase, I need to acknowledge some sad and unfortunate passings.

• Walter Koenig who played Chekov on Star Trek died yesterday at the age of 90.
• Michael Gray passed away at the age of 75. He played Billy Batson on the Saturday morning TV show Shazam that I used to watch as a kid. Michael had a cameo in the film Shazam: Fury of the Gods.
• At the far too young age of 46, Eric Bauza died on Sunday. Eric was a brilliant voice actor who was called this generation's Mel Blanc for his uncanny talents bringing classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters to life in a variety of projects, including most recently Coyote Vs. Acme.

So Andrea and I are watching the new Marvel series VisionQuest on Disney+.

First, some homework.  🔔 I'll ring a bell for each TV show or movie that feeds into VisionQuest.  

It's been 5 years since the mind-blowing events of WandaVision 🔔sent Wanda Maximoff in a magic fuel downward spiral that led her to put an entire town in New Jersey under a hex that brought back the Vision (killed at the end of Avengers: Infinity War🔔) and gave her and the Vision two sons, Billy and Tommy.

Wanda lifted the Hex which caused her fantasy life with Vision and her sons to vanish.  However, the android body of the Vision, restored by S.W.O.R.D., remains alive but not retaining the spark of what made the original Vision a unique life form.

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness🔔, Wanda expends considerable time, effort, dark magic and what's left of her sanity trying to get her family back. It doesn't go well or end well with Wanda dropping a mountain on herself.

Meanwhile, over in Agatha All Along🔔, Agatha Harkness goes on a quest for power and is accompanied by Billy Maximoff who somehow survived the end of Wanda's hex.  Billy uses his own magic powers to revive his twin brother Tommy and place his soul in the dying body of Tommy Shepherd.  

Everybody got all that?

Now, finally, to VisionQuest.

OK, once you sort out the tangle of continuity that presages this series, what you get is pretty darn interesting, a treatise on self-awareness, of building identity and a seeking a purpose. Also toss in that bugaboo that has us all worried right now, the power and the limits and the threats of A.I.  

This new Vision can remember being the old Vision, the one Thanos killed.  But he can't quite capture what it meant to be that Vision, whatever program or awareness that allowed that Vision to know such human concepts as compassion and love.

To help the new Vision process this information and his journey of self-discovery, his consciousness has formulated a mind palace populated by human avatars of Tony Stark's A.I. constructs.  

• F.R.I.D.A.Y.  Played by Orla Brady who was Tasha Lem in Matt Smith's last episode of Doctor Who.  
• E.D.I.T.H.   Played by Emily Hampshire from Schitt's Creek, Emily also has the distinction of being the worst contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy.
• J.A.R.V.I.S.
• D.U.M.-E and U  These two A.I. ran the robots in Tony's lab whose answer to everything was to shoot Tony with fire extinguishers.  Henry Lewis who plays D.U.M.-E is the co-creator and star of The Play Goes Wrong series.  
• And Ultron.

Not just providing voice work for a CGI robot, James Spader is on hand in the ascerbic flesh to consistently needle Vision about... well, everything.  Sporting a salt and pepper mad scientist beard, Spader's Ultron has a habit of popping up in Vision's head at the worst moment with some pithy insult about whatever Vision is doing wrong now.  

Paul Bettany is back to give voice and body to the role of this new Vision.  Paul has a lot of heavy lifting to do, crafting a performance of an emotionless robot who dreams of growing up to be a real boy.  Paul embodies the role with poignancy and even flashes of humor.  

VisionQuest is not all just navel gazing and contemplating the meaning of existence. Vision has to contend with external threats.

Like the female presenting A.I. serial killer known as "Birdbutcher".  (I think this is going to be some form of Jocasta, an A.I. from the comics.) 

Or the mercenary Paladin who has been contracted by an unknown party to capture Vision. Paladin is performed by Todd Stashwick who was Capt. Shaw on the 3rd season of Star Trek: Picard.  

Speaking of Star Trek: Picard season 3 (you know, the mostly good one), the head writer and showrunner for that season, Terry Matalas, is writing and show running VisionQuest.  

VisionQuest does have a tough row to hoe with so much of the plot reliant on so many other series and movies (🔔🔔🔔🔔) to set up the premise. But once the premise is established, you've got a clever, engaging, thought provoking story that is lifted up by very strong performances from a great cast led by Paul Bettany,James Spader and more.

___________________________________

Last week, the 3rd season of Happy's Place debuted.

...

...

That is all.

Look, Andrea likes it and occasionally, someone will do something mildly amusing that wakes me up.

OK, here's some deets:

Isabella's development of a speakeasy on the top floor of the Happy's Place Bar & Grill is still a thing.

Bobbi and Emmett keep giving each other space (after their break up) that neither of them needs or wants.

And maybe some other 3rd thing.  

That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase!

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.  

Let's have Eric Bauza take us out with his appearance at the 78th annual Emmys. 

Travels By Toy Car

With so much crappy stuff going on in our country and in the world, once in a while something happens to makes you think there might be some hope for us, something to bring us what you humans call "joy".  

It all began with an idea for a road trip from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls, a 750 mile journey.  

But what makes this story interesting is how Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee of Tampa FL decided to make that drive.

They would make the trip in toy cars.

 

Cassie Aran, standing in back,and Lauren Lee, front, 

cross the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the first day of their 

journey from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls by toy car.

 I became aware of these two remarkable women when they began posting videos of their journey on Tik Tok.

The journey from Philly to the Falls is expected to take about 2 months.  Their cars are 48-volt electric vehicles that measure just under 6 feet in length and top out around 10 mph manufactured by Freddo.  

Lauren Lee said, "Way back when, we used to ride toy Jeeps for fun when we were kids. And what kid doesn't dream about how far you can go with those things?"

Yeah, when we were kids but you're 32 years old. What's the deal now? 

The deal is Cassie and Lauren are attempting to set the Guiness World Record for longest journey by toy car.  

Along the way, they're inviting the world along on their travels, posting video diaries.  

The record setting trip is also a fund raising opportunity for a nonprofit called To Write Love on Her Arms, an organization that helps people struggling with depression and suicidal ideation. 

This is Cassie and Lauren's 2nd attempt at this world record. In 2024, they drove 600 miles in toy cars in Florida, from Jacksonville to Key West.  (Driving in toy cars across the long bridges that connect the tip of Florida to Key West must have been a harrowing experience.) 

Some issues with the Guinness World Records rules meant that journey didn't count.  Still they raised over $17,000 for the Best Friends Animal Society.

For their second attempt to make this count and actually enter the record books, they have established stipulations with Guiness.  

The women must carry a GPS tracker and photograph stops that take more than five minutes. 

Any receipt from a gas station or restaurant goes in the logbook. 

They're also collecting signatures from witnesses who will confirm they saw them at documented locations

Some of those have been police officers executing anything-but-routine traffic stops.

Aran explained, "We have some cops that recognize us from social media and they are excited to see us and they pull over. Everyone's on edge when you see a cop, so there's still that instinctual like, 'oh my God.' But then every single time they come up and they're like, 'I just wanna know what's happening.'"

The women have meticulously planned their routing,  prioritizing bike lanes, sidewalks and woodland paths. 

Lauren and Cassie spend up to 10 hours a day in transit which is a long time for adult women to be scrunched up inside toy cars.  

Because of the small stature of their chosen modes of transportation, the women try to avoid driving at night but sometimes that can't be avoided. The toy cars include LED headlights and the women are also carrying lanterns and other light up devices.  

Packing supplies can be a logistical challenge as space in a toy car is at a premium. They can carry two small bags each.

Some of those supplies must include tools: screwdrivers, spare batteries, chargers, electrical tape, lights, safety goggles and gloves.

Sometimes the women have to lift and carry the cars if they encounter an obstacle than cannot be driven over or around.

As fall draws closer to winter, Cassie Aran hopes the two hoodies, heated vest and pair of fleece-lined leggings she packed will be enough to brave the cold. 

But what if it snows? Lauren and Cassie are trying not to think about it.

Cassie says, "We've made jokes about this and right now they're jokes. But they could become ... I mean, if we have to ask a friend to come and shovel or plow in front of us or something, then we might have to."

"Or Velcro a plow on the front of the car," Lauren joked.

Why Philly to Niagara Falls?  On a visit to the Falls with her boyfriend, Cassie witnessed someone attempt to take their life. They were rattled by the incident, but even more shocked to learn how common it was; local police told them it happened about once a week. 

So Cassie Aran and Laureb Lee decided to make suicide prevention their cause, and Niagara Falls their destination.

As Cassie said, "Mental health for both of us is really important. And we really want to make a difference with (this) and help more people not have to feel alone and go through that."

Wrapping up today's post is a video update from Cassie and Lauren on Day 8 of their journey.

Good luck and safe journeys, Cassie and Lauren! 

How Low Can You Go?

 

Last week, the race for governor of Ohio gained national notoriety when Republican Vivek Ramaswamy dropped an attack ad against his opponent Democrat Amy Acton.

The ad features Donna Arthur, Amy's mother, addressing the camera, calling Amy Acton a liar and urging voters in Ohio to vote for Ramaswamy.  

It seems Ramaswamy was positively giddy over getting his opponent's own mother to speak out against Acton, calling her a liar.

Did anyone question "Why?"  

What would prompt a mother to disparage her own daughter?

Apparently Vivek Ramaswamy does not give a fuck as to "why", only that he had a big "gotcha" against Amy Acton.

Well, I think it's a valid question. "Why?"

Some back story:

In 1978, Cledith Arthur was accused of raping Amy Acton.

Cledith Arthur was her stepfather.

Amy Acton was 12.

The police investigated and found the accusation credible.

He had been accused of raping his daughter from his previous marriage.

There is a paper trail about this horrible mess: police reports, court filings, news stories from the time.

When given a choice of standing by her daughter or her 2nd husband, Donna Arthur chose Cledith over Amy.

Cledith and Donna booked it out of state to avoid facing criminal charges for raping Donna's daughter.  

Donna stayed with Cledith until he died in 2004.  

The last time Amy Acton ever saw her mother was in a courtroom in 1978 where Donna Arthur refused to even acknowledge her daughter's presence.

The next time Amy Acton ever saw her mother was in 2026 on a television screen, calling her a liar.

The act of weaponizing Amy Acton's childhood trauma for a political ad is despicable and reprehensible beyond all measure and has been almost universally condemned.

Notice the use of the word "almost".

Who the hell would think this as was a good idea? 

Vivek Ramaswamy has doubled down on the ad, putting up $4 million to keep it in heavy rotation on Ohio TV stations. He claims the ad has nothing to do with her childhood trauma but to call her out as a liar.  

Well, the reason WHY (you know, the question you didn't care to ask) Donna Arthur is claiming her daughter is a liar is that Donna sided with Cledith over Amy, dismissing Amy's accusation Cledith raped her daughter. So, Vivek, you vile piece of shit, it has everything to do with Amy's childhood trauma. 

Well, at least JD Vance had the decency to be disgusted by...

Hold on! JD Vance said he was disgusted by Republicans whining about the ad being inappropriate. According to Vance, the mission is to destroy Democrats, no matter the cost. 

And of course Donald Trump approached this topic with dignity and discretion and...

I'm not gonna fool anyone,am I? Let's go with the quote.  

“I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals! I only wish the mothers of my opponents would be so brave as to come forward and explain that their son or daughter is a liar, and much worse.”

Everyone in the holy blog congregation, let us recite our most solemn and sacred testament.

Donald Trump is a  lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, narcissistic, small-minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit!

Amen.

Is there any wrong side of history this asshole will not put himself on the side of?  

Last week, he's siding with Russia over Ukraine.

This week, he's siding with a woman who protected a pedophile at the expense of her own daughter. 

Trump described Donna Arthur as a smart woman, appearing lucid. 

I'm gonna do something I shouldn't do: make a judgement based on appearance.

I've seen the clip of Donna Arthur calling Amy Acton a liar.

I will say that anyone who has grown up poor in a small rural town knows this woman.

I've known this woman.

There is nothing (NOTHING) in this clip that says "smart" or "lucid".  Donna Arthur is a bitter old woman who may have had a hard life but will never take any responsibility for any of it.  The hardships of her life were always someone else's fault.  

I will admit my judgement is superficial but I will hold fast that I believe it to be true: Donna Arthur is NOT a credible witness against her daughter.

And as for Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance and Donald Trump who see the question of "How low can you go?" as some kind of political limbo challenge, you disgust me.

And you disgust a lot of other people who still cling to the fragile concept that maybe decency should count for something, damn it! 

To despicable scum like Ramaswamy, Vance and Trump, it boils down to a lack of basic human decency.

How low can you go indeed. 

Star Trekking: Star Trek - The Original Series - Season Two - Part Three

Welcome to Star Trekking, my weekly blog forum for my Star Trek fandom.  

And we're back for our 3rd week of looking back on the second season of Star Trek, the Original Series.

A brief recap of my criteria for these posts.

• I watched it 
• I remember I watched it
• I enjoyed it when I watched it 

These posts are not meant to be objective or comprehensive.

Here are links to weeks one and two.

For week three, we're gonna pick up with what may be considered peak Star Trek, "The Trouble With Tribbles". 

Sometimes modern fans get twisted out of joint by the comedy in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.  Why can't modern Trek be about serious issues and serious sci-fi like the classic series?

Inevitably, someone will counter this argument with, "Hey, what about the  'The Trouble With Tribbles'?" so yeah, Star Trek could be funny so there, now shut up.

While I do enjoying re-watching "The Trouble With Tribbles" for all the laughs, the episode is set around some serious plot points.

After being on the brink of all our war in season 1's "Errand of Mercy", the Federation and the Klingons are in a state of uneasy detente, forced into a treaty by the Organians. (A nice bit of continuity to season one's "Errand of Mercy", building on a previous episode.)  

Kirk seems bemused and even befuddled by the whole deal with quadrotriticale, the miracle wheat stored on the K-7 space station awaiting transport to a colony world. It is an important wedge in the diplomatic gamesmanship between the Federation and the Klingons.  

Granted, it may not be an exciting "important wedge" hence the introduction of a chaos element, the Tribbles. 

The cute little purring balls of fur are fun and functional, facilitating moments of character development for the cast (Uhura gets some well deserved time in the spotlight) and exposing the plot involving quadrotriticale and the Klingon's duplicity.

Kirk spends a lot of time being annoyed by a lot of things in this episode: 

• by the Federation goon ordering him around about protecting the quadrotriticale on the space station.
• by EVERYONE but him knowing what quadrotriticale is. Even Chekov. (Who insists it's a "Wussian inwention".)
• the Klingons who have shown up wanting shore leave on the station 
• the multiplying moppet Tribbles are EVERYWHERE! (In his captain's chair on the bridge and even in his chicken sandwich and coffee!) 

To coin a phrase, his suffering is amusing to me.

But it's not damn funny to Kirk! 

And he demands answers from his chief medical officer.  

MCCOY:  Don't look at me. It's the tribbles who are breeding. If we don't get them off this ship, we're going to be hip deep in them.

KIRK: Explain that.

MCCOY: The nearest thing I can figure out is they're born pregnant, which seems to be quite a time saver.

KIRK: I know, but really...

MCCOY: And from my observations, it seems they're bisexual, reproducing at will. And, brother, have they got a lot of will.

SPOCK: Captain, I am forced to agree with the doctor. I've been running computations on their rate of reproduction. The figures are taking an alarming direction. They're consuming our supplies and returning nothing.

UHURA: But they do give us something, Mister Spock. They give us love. Well, Cyrano Jones says a tribble is the only love that money can buy.

KIRK: Too much of anything, Lieutenant, even love, isn't necessarily a good thing.

Things take a somewhat dark turn for the Tribbles when it's revealed they've consumed all the grain on the space station.

MCCOY: Jim, I think I've got it. All we have to do is quit feeding them. We quit feeding them, they stop breeding.

KIRK: Now he tells me.

SPOCK: Captain this tribble is dead. And so are these.

MCCOY: A lot of them are dead. A lot of them are alive, but they won't be for long.

SPOCK: The logical assumption is that there is something in the grain.

KIRK: Yes. Bones, I want the tribbles, the grain, everything analysed. I want to know what killed these tribbles.

MCCOY: I haven't figured out what keeps them alive yet.

If anyone in this episode is having troubles with Tribbles, it's Dr.McCoy.   

SIDE BAR: Also having a bad day is Scotty. Look, all he wants to do is hang out in his quarters reading technical manuals.

• Kirk orders him to take shore leave on the space station.
• Where he gets into a fight with the Klingons.
• Which gets him confined to quarters.
• Which is where he wanted to be all along to read his technical manuals.  

ANOTHER SIDE BAR: With all due apologies to Jay-Den Kraag over on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, I still insist William Campbell's Koloth is Star Trek's first gay Klingon.

KOLOTH: Ah, my dear Captain Kirk.

KIRK: My dear Captain Koloth. What do you want?

KOLOTH: An official apology addressed to the Klingon High Command. I expect you to assume full responsibility for the persecution of Klingon nationals in this quadrant.

KIRK: An apology?

KOLOTH: Yes. You've harassed my men. You've treated them like criminals. You've been most uncourteous, Captain Kirk

A Klingon upset over a breach of... courtesy? Maybe he's gay, maybe not.  Look, when you're playing a Klingon like he's frickin' Liberace, the conclusions draw themselves.  

William Campbell played Trelane in season one's "The Squire of Gothos".

Producers: Hey, William, you remember how you played Trelane?

William Campbell:  Really gay?  

Producers: We want you to take Koloth in a different direction.

William Campbell:  Even more gay! Got it! 

Campbell would return to play Koloth in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Speaking of returns and DS9, Capt. Sisko and his crew play dress up in classic TOS garb and time travel back to the events of "The Trouble With Tribbles" in the fantastic Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribblelations".  

Any excuse to post Dax doing a twirl.

Tribbles would be reconned into an earlier appearance in the Short Treks episode, "The Trouble With Edward" where a Starfleet officer experiments with growing Tribbles for food and the little critters propagate so quickly, they overwhelm an entire starship.  

Your mileage may vary on the canonicity of this short episode. It doesn't entirely make sense and defers to the rule of funny* more than contributing to actual Star Trek lore. 

On that note...

Star Trek ventured into full on comedy with  "A Piece of the Action" which leans especially hard on the rule of funny.*

*Per TV Tropes, the rule of funny is any violation of continuity, logic, physics, or common sense is permissible if the result gets enough of a laugh.

Unlike the Tribbles episode, this foray into comedy does not have a serious framework to hang it's comedy.

The Iotians are an inherently clever and imitative culture who has built their world. their government and economy based on an old book left behind by a previous Starfleet vessel, Chicago Mobs of the Twenties. 

"A Piece of the Action" is a pretzel twist of logic to make a cost saving episode work.  The production team seems to be using left over costumes, props and sets from another Desilu Studios TV show, the 1920's set crime series The Untouchables. 

To be honest, a cursory check has not confirmed this theory and The Untouchables had stopped production in 1963, 4 years before "A Piece of the Action was made. Still, all the stuff from that old crime show may have been still lying around.

The plot contrivances needed to make this episode work are so strained and convoluted, it makes sense to just give up trying to take this seriously and play up the absurdity of the situation.

In order to bring order to Iotian society and try to repair some of the damage done by the prior contamination, Kirk has to play into the planet's mob oriented system by casting the Federation as a mob with Kirk as a mob boss.

KIRK: Now look, Krako, we're taking over the whole ball of wax. You co-operate with us and maybe we'll cut you in for a piece of the action.

SPOCK: A miniscule. A very small piece.

KRAKO: How much is that?

KIRK: That's, er. We'll figure it out later.

KRAKO: I thought you guys had laws. No interference.

KIRK: Who's interfering? We're taking over. Check?

SPOCK: Right.

(Kirk rolls his eyes. How can Spock be so bad at this?)

KIRK: The planet is being taken over by the Federation, but we don't want to come in here and use our muscle, you know what I mean? That ain't subtle. So what we do is we help one guy take over the planet. He pulls the strings, and then we pull his. (to Spock) Hey, you, sit down.

(They settle them selves with their feet up on Krako's desk.)

KRAKO: What's your cut?

KIRK: What do you care as long as you're being cut in? 

  

Even Spock eventually gets into the act.  

SPOCK: I would advise youse to keep dialing, Oxmyx.

Spock finally getting into character as a mobster gets me every single time. 

Eventually, Kirk negotiates a deal where the gangs begin cooperating with each other instead of fighting each other while the Federation gets a cut.  

"Hey, Scotty! This is KOIK!" 

It's pretty clever how Kirk uses the tenets of their mob based society to put them on a path away from all that anarchy.  Yes, it makes a hash of the Prime Directive but that was already fucked up by the original contamination.  

Also, who cares? It's funny! 

I did not care for "A Piece of the Action" when I was younger, dismissing it as too silly and too stupid. Now that I'm older, I tend to regard the silliness and the stupidity less as bugs and more as features.  

Who cares? It's funny! 

FUN FACT:  Quentin Tarentino's pitch for a Star Trek movie was a sequel to "A Piece of the Action".  

That's two comedic episodes. Let's get into something more serious. 

Next up we've got "The Immunity Syndrome"  which like "Obession" from earlier in season 2 deals with a non-humanoid alien entity, in this case a giant amoeba.

The entity destroys a starship with 400 Vulcans on board.  Across a vast distance of space, Spock reports he felt them die.

Spock senses a disturbance in the force.  (Whoops! Wrong franchise.) 

Not only has the crew of the Vulcan ship been killed but the billion plus inhabitants of the star system the Vulcans were exploring are also gone.

The culprit, a large dark zone, like an amoeba but reaching across the vastness of space.  

The Enterprise gets stuck in the zone and begins losing power. And the zone also impacts the health and life of the crew.  The remaining power of the ship and the lives of the crew can be measured in minutes.  

A plan is formed to send a shuttle into the heart of the entity to figure out what the hell it is and how to stop it. Spock is designated to carry out this mission.  

MCCOY: The DNA code analyser will give you the fundamental structure of the thing. You'll need readings on three light wavelengths from the enzyme recorder.

SPOCK: I am familiar with the equipment, Doctor. We're wasting time. The shuttlecraft is ready.

MCCOY: You're determined not to let me share in this, aren't you?

SPOCK: This is not a competition, Doctor. Whether you understand it or not, grant me my own kind of dignity.

MCCOY: Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don't understand?

SPOCK: Then employ one of your own superstitions. Wish me luck.

(Silence and stares, then McCoy opens the hangar deck door. Spock walks across and into the Galileo. The doors shut.)

MCCOY: Good luck, Spock.

Aww! Despite all the constant ribbing and insults, McCoy is worried about his little buddy.

The mission into the entity goes well in that Spock is able to send back crucial Intel on what this damn thing is which in turns suggests ways to stop it.

BUT...

The mission does NOT go well in that it seems Spock is lost inside the dark zone with no hope of return.

A plan is put in motion to stop the entity but time is running out for the Enterprise to carry this out and escape from the dark zone.

When...

CHEKOV: Captain, metallic substance outside the ship.

MCCOY: Spock?

KIRK: Lieutenant, get me Spock's voice channel. Highest possible gain.

UHURA: Go ahead, sir.

KIRK: Spock, do you read me? Do you read me, Spock, do you read me? Come in, Spock. Spock! Scotty, get a tractor beam...

SCOTT: Captain, we don't have enough time to do it. We only have a fifty three second escape margin.

KIRK: I'm well aware of that, Mister Scott. Get two tractor beams on that shuttlecraft.

SCOTT: Aye, sir. Tractor beams on.

[Shuttlecraft]

SPOCK: Captain, I recommend you abandon the attempt, Do not risk the ship further on my behalf.

[Bridge]

MCCOY: Shut up, Spock! We're rescuing you.

[Shuttlecraft]

SPOCK: Why, thank you, Captain McCoy.

Long story made short, Spock is extricated from certain death and the giant space amoeba is disposed of.

In and of itself, "The Immunity Syndrome"  revisits the concept from "The Doomsday Machine" of the all powerful implacable enemy that cannot be negotiated with.

Point of order: the music for "The Immunity Syndrome" was lifted from the soundtrack recorded for "The Doomsday Machine".  

What makes this episode work for me is the character driven drama.

Spock "feeling" the death of 400 Vulcans and not necessarily coping well with that.

McCoy's sense of concern for Spock. Behind the incessant barbs directed at Spock, we see McCoy's genuine affection for his Vulcan crewmate.

Kirk wrestling with the burdens of command.  The shuttle mission into the entity is virtually a suicide mission and it's Kirk's responsibility to order someone to take that mission.  

The idea that has formed over the years that Kirk is some kind of headstrong space cowboy is undermined by the evidence of the Star Trek series showing Kirk as a serious minded, contemplative Captain.  

So that concludes my very cursory once-over of the second season of Star Trek.

Admittedly I did not cover everything that I watched, remembered and enjoyed but hey, this has gone on long enough.

Thanks again to Chrissie's Transcripts Site  for the script exerpts.

Coming up on future installments of Star Trekking:

We're taking another nostalgic spin around the block with Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Movie Time: Who Killed Teddy Bear?

So the countdown to Halloween is now measured in days.

7 days to go.

I did get the Halloween decorations up last week, if you count looking like a discount Mexican restaurant as Halloween decor.

We're still cycling through a series of movies of questionable quality. Today's movie is more of a crime drama than a horror film but I've watched this thing and I was horrified.

It's... Movie Time! 

The film for today's post is from 1965 and is called Who Killed Teddy Bear? This movie is about a young woman in New York City  just trying to live her life but damn if she doesn't have to contend with a sicko stalker who is terrorizing the city as a sex murderer.  

There's no nudity but the movie is a hot bed of taboo topics such as pornography, voyeurism, incest, and lesbianism. 

A lot of Who Killed Teddy Bear? was shot on location, providing a film document of Times Square and 42nd Street in a era of seedy and decrepit decline.

Norah Dain is trying to make the best of it in NYC as a nightclub disc jockey and aspiring actress living alone.  She's got her own apartment in Manhattan apartment so she's doing OK. Life could be better but it could also be worse.

And get worse it does when the obscene phone calls start. The creepy caller knows things about her, details he could only know if he was watching her everyday.  

When Norah finds a  decapitated teddy bear in her apartment, well, that's just one damn thing too many and she calls the cops.

Police detective Lt. Dave Madden is on the case.

Norah has trouble feeling assured. Lt. Dave is kind of weird.

Here's how Lt. Dave Madden goes about his work:

• secretly recording his discussions with Norah
• listening to tapes of Norah and other women talking about obscene phone calls
• obsessively studying pornography and the behavior of sex perverts

He does all this at home within earshot of his 10 year old daughter and quite frankly, that is SO wrong and just plain weird.

Lt. Dave Madden's superiors at work are concerned about how he conducts himself.

Hey! Could Lt. Dave Madden himself be Norah's obscene phone caller?  Wouldn't that be quite the plot twist, eh?

But he's not.

The filmmakers helpfully move that element of suspicion away from our disturbing detective and show us who the real caller is.

The obscene caller is seen to be Lawrence Sherman, a waiter at the nightclub where Norah works. 

Lawrence lives with and cares for his 19-year-old sister Edie, who is brain damaged and has the mind of a child. 

When she was a little girl, Edie suffered brain damage in a fall down the stairs while running away from seeing Lawrence having sex with an older woman.  

The story implies the older woman was their mother. Ewww! 

Lawrence is unable to have a normal romantic or sexual relationship due to his guilt over the accident and his duty to look after Edie following the death of their parents. 

Edie might have the child but she's in the body of a sexually maturing adolescent. Edie starts dressing a like an adult woman with high heels and makeup.  And she's flirting with Lawrence and... Double ewww!  Which Lawrence finds... frustrating?

OMG! What is this movie I've stumbled on to? Look, just because it's on TCM doesn't mean I have to watch this damn thing. 

But I've made it this far. 

Lawrence looks for outlets to relieve his... frustration.

• Visiting adult bookstores
• Pornographic movies 
• Making obscene calls to Norah

Norah is oblivious to all this back story. The Lawrence she knows from the nightclub seems like a nice of guy. She's friendly towards him, maybe even attracted to him. 

But the calls continue and Norah is very worried.  

Marian Freeman, the nightclub manager of the nightclub takes a personal interest in Norah and tries to advise and protect her. She offers to stay overnight with Norah at her apartment so Norah will not be alone and afraid. 

A kind gesture that goes awry when Norah thinks Marian is a lesbian and attempting to seduce her.  Norah demands for Marian to leave.  

Walking down the street alone in a coat she borrowed from Norah, Marian is attacked by Lawrence who kills her.

The next night after the nightclub closes, Lawrence attacks and sexually assaults Norah.  

Lt. Madden arrives before Lawrence can kill Norah. Madden beats the crap out of Lawrence then (inexplicably) allows him to leave the club.

While running through the traffic of Times Square, Lawrence imagines he's running through Central Park towards a smiling Norah.

Police officers pursue Lawrence and shoot him dead and the movie ends and does our misery.

WHAT the UNHOLY HELL was that?  

The co-writer of the screenplay was Arnold Drake with a long career writing comics like Doom Patrol, Deadman, Phantom Stranger and Guardians of the Galaxy. He also wrote one of the first graphic novels, It Rhymes With Lust, that was illustrated by Matt Baker and may offer some insight of how he came to this movie.  

Sal Mineo who played Lawrence attains a couple of milestones in American cinema.

• First man in an American movie to simulate masturbation
• First man in an American movie to appear in jockey shorts.

Who Killed Teddy Bear? was not well received.

• Leonard Maltin called the film "sleazy" and "a waste of talent".
• The British Board of Film Classification refused to certify the film for release in the U.K.  
• The Catholic Church called for a boycott of the film.

If you want to get more high minded in assessing this movie, Anton Bitel wrote: "The film’s sexual panic captures perfectly the mood between the repressive 1950s and the liberated 1970s."  

For some reason I do not understand, the film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews.

An Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Who Killed Teddy Bear? was announced in 2024.  

I found Who Killed Teddy Bear? to be repulsive and disturbing but to be fair, I think that's the whole idea. But it's oppressive atmosphere is unrelenting.  Poor Norah is just trying to keep her head down and get on her with life and all she gets for her trouble is unwanted attention. 

Norah was played by Juliet Prowse, an actor and dancer principally known for much lighter fare.   

All I knew about Juliet Prowse when I was younger was her ubiquitous presence in L'eggs Pantyhose ads in the TV Guide.

God yes, Juliet! I HATE wrinkles around my ankles! 

Tomorrow: Star Trekking!

Next Saturday: It's Halloween and the absolutely WORST movie we've covered this month. 

How Friday Video Link: Gilligan's Island the Band

 

We're about a week out from Halloween where you get to put together a costume and dress like somebody else.

On the subject of dressing up as someone else...

Your Friday Video Link this week are some short clips of a very unusual cover band, Gilligan's Island the Band.  

This band performs dressed up like Gilligan, the Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger and all the rest of those wacky castaways.

The sound quality may be a bit sketchy but they really look a lot of fun. 

We're back tomorrow with Movie Time as we continue our Halloween countdown of really bad movies.

Thanks for popping by and remember to be good to one another.