After just watching it a few minutes ago, probably for the 40th time, I have even more appreciation for this episode. Is the the absolute best? Probably not, but in terms of being exemplary Star Trek and everything that made the show great, it's perfect. It begins on a strange new world, has more character development outside of the "big seven" than you normally see, and we see that even drunk out of his mind, Kirk's innermost passion is for his ship. And once again... Uhura's best line ever. I now return you to my original review!
Naked Time is a rip roaring good time. It also established many important personality traits of the crew. Only the Doctor, Uhura, and Scotty are unaffected by the PSI 2000 madness. Kirk and Spock have to be, to reveal their innermost selves. Scotty would just be a drunken version of himself, McCoy would still be himself but sloppy. Even Kirk and Spock overcome the madness, proving their duty bound personalities - something that was very important to the series over time.
It is unfortunate that The Next Generation remade this episode too soon, before the ensemble had a chance to really gel. That's for it's own review - but if TNG's Naked Now had been episode 10, or 15 rather than episode 2, it might have played a lot better. The trouble was the characters were not well established at all, and it was kind of forced. In the original, the story became canon to the personalities of everyone who was affected.
It's a pity we didn't see much more of Kevin Riley. He is poisoned in "The Conscience of the King" but it is not revealed if he survived or not. And he's never seen again. Star Trek had a real shipboard, military feel in this episode and it's something that slipped away fairly quickly. Gene intended the stories to be more important than the characters but that fell by the wayside within the first 10 episodes. I actually posed this question to Majel at a convention, i.e. Was Gene surprised that the characters became the focus of the fans almost immediately, when it wasn't what he originally intended. The question when whooshh right over her head based on her answer.
Anyway, there is a feel, a magnetism to the first 10-12 episodes of season one and Naked Time, Corbomite Maneuver, What Are Little Girls Made Of? - they are essential to understand before indulging in the formula of season two, or the camp of season three. I think the people who adore Star Wars but not Star Trek are giving George Lucas way too much credit. By the time he got around to doing the prequels he was jaded and thought he could do no wrong, and he sure did. Gene Roddenberry had TNG headed into a series of reruns of stuff he'd been talking about for two decades, until handing the reins over. TOS died in its third season, TNG hit the ground running in its third season and didn't let up until the seventh when things were winding down.
But back to the subject at hand. I love the pacing of this episode. This is a combination of directing and editing, both very well done. There are no wasted moments. The mayhem builds throughout. Sadly the stupid "remastered" version kills one of the best scenes as it fades to the last commecial break, with Riley's distorted voice over the intercom and the planet's surface rolling by wildly on the viewscreen. "Cleaning up" this shot didn't do it any favors. I despise retconning (speaking of Star Wars... Han shot first!) or upgrading special effects. Star Trek was a very modest budget show of the 1960s that used film layering and simple split screens and plywood sets and "automatic doors" hooked to curtain rods that were yanked open and shut manually. Changing it to some hybrid of 1960s and 1990s tech is really nothing more than a lie... a transparent one, and an offensive one.
Uhura has her best line ever, and according to the trivia entry it was improvised. I never knew that and I thought I'd heard every piece of Trek trivial ever leaked out of the great seive of the universe. Fantastic, wonderful line. Uhura's two best moments in the series come opposite Sulu - in both cases he's not exactly himself. In this one he's on the equivalent of a 12 pack of ale and a handful of quaaludes; in "Mirror Mirror" he's his own evil twin.
Stuart Moss, who plays Tormolen, appears in "By Any Other Name" as one of the Kelvans - unfortunately his character is the only casualty aboard the Enterprise. His personality is a bit morose at least when exposed to the disease, but he could have been an interesting semi-regular.
Naked Time is one of the small number of "stupid grin" episodes of Star Trek. One where the moment it starts, I just sit back with a stupid grin and say "Ohh, this is gonna be gooood". Others are... Mirror Mirror, and the fabulous "Yesterday's Enterprise".
One of the trivia bits was this was supposed to be a 2-part episode, although it was really just two stories linked by the ending event. When the Enterprised goes into the time warp at the end - IMO a brilliant twist - it would have segued into the beginning of "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" when the Enterprise ends up over earth in 1967 and gets spotted as a UFO by a fighter pilot. As it was the two were separated and a new beginning was written. I think Naked Time stands on its own and probably would have been weakened by a "to be continued". It was exciting and fun enough. It's a great episode and one of the true TENS in TOS.
Naked Time is a rip roaring good time. It also established many important personality traits of the crew. Only the Doctor, Uhura, and Scotty are unaffected by the PSI 2000 madness. Kirk and Spock have to be, to reveal their innermost selves. Scotty would just be a drunken version of himself, McCoy would still be himself but sloppy. Even Kirk and Spock overcome the madness, proving their duty bound personalities - something that was very important to the series over time.
It is unfortunate that The Next Generation remade this episode too soon, before the ensemble had a chance to really gel. That's for it's own review - but if TNG's Naked Now had been episode 10, or 15 rather than episode 2, it might have played a lot better. The trouble was the characters were not well established at all, and it was kind of forced. In the original, the story became canon to the personalities of everyone who was affected.
It's a pity we didn't see much more of Kevin Riley. He is poisoned in "The Conscience of the King" but it is not revealed if he survived or not. And he's never seen again. Star Trek had a real shipboard, military feel in this episode and it's something that slipped away fairly quickly. Gene intended the stories to be more important than the characters but that fell by the wayside within the first 10 episodes. I actually posed this question to Majel at a convention, i.e. Was Gene surprised that the characters became the focus of the fans almost immediately, when it wasn't what he originally intended. The question when whooshh right over her head based on her answer.
Anyway, there is a feel, a magnetism to the first 10-12 episodes of season one and Naked Time, Corbomite Maneuver, What Are Little Girls Made Of? - they are essential to understand before indulging in the formula of season two, or the camp of season three. I think the people who adore Star Wars but not Star Trek are giving George Lucas way too much credit. By the time he got around to doing the prequels he was jaded and thought he could do no wrong, and he sure did. Gene Roddenberry had TNG headed into a series of reruns of stuff he'd been talking about for two decades, until handing the reins over. TOS died in its third season, TNG hit the ground running in its third season and didn't let up until the seventh when things were winding down.
But back to the subject at hand. I love the pacing of this episode. This is a combination of directing and editing, both very well done. There are no wasted moments. The mayhem builds throughout. Sadly the stupid "remastered" version kills one of the best scenes as it fades to the last commecial break, with Riley's distorted voice over the intercom and the planet's surface rolling by wildly on the viewscreen. "Cleaning up" this shot didn't do it any favors. I despise retconning (speaking of Star Wars... Han shot first!) or upgrading special effects. Star Trek was a very modest budget show of the 1960s that used film layering and simple split screens and plywood sets and "automatic doors" hooked to curtain rods that were yanked open and shut manually. Changing it to some hybrid of 1960s and 1990s tech is really nothing more than a lie... a transparent one, and an offensive one.
Uhura has her best line ever, and according to the trivia entry it was improvised. I never knew that and I thought I'd heard every piece of Trek trivial ever leaked out of the great seive of the universe. Fantastic, wonderful line. Uhura's two best moments in the series come opposite Sulu - in both cases he's not exactly himself. In this one he's on the equivalent of a 12 pack of ale and a handful of quaaludes; in "Mirror Mirror" he's his own evil twin.
Stuart Moss, who plays Tormolen, appears in "By Any Other Name" as one of the Kelvans - unfortunately his character is the only casualty aboard the Enterprise. His personality is a bit morose at least when exposed to the disease, but he could have been an interesting semi-regular.
Naked Time is one of the small number of "stupid grin" episodes of Star Trek. One where the moment it starts, I just sit back with a stupid grin and say "Ohh, this is gonna be gooood". Others are... Mirror Mirror, and the fabulous "Yesterday's Enterprise".
One of the trivia bits was this was supposed to be a 2-part episode, although it was really just two stories linked by the ending event. When the Enterprised goes into the time warp at the end - IMO a brilliant twist - it would have segued into the beginning of "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" when the Enterprise ends up over earth in 1967 and gets spotted as a UFO by a fighter pilot. As it was the two were separated and a new beginning was written. I think Naked Time stands on its own and probably would have been weakened by a "to be continued". It was exciting and fun enough. It's a great episode and one of the true TENS in TOS.