159: Star Trek TOS Season 1, 'Arena”

Matt and Sean talk about a brand new threat on Star Trek: The Original Series! That we’ve seen before. Do the new Star Trek show’s retcons break the enjoyment of this episode?

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00:00 - Intro
02:01 - Viewer Feedback
04:50 - Today's Episode
10:12 - This Time in History
15:32 - Episode Discussion

[mark_loveless]

Listening to your comments on the whole superior beings thing, remember the context of the time in which this was written. The Cold War era, Vietnam War protests had started in earnest in 1965, a general growing opinion amongst Americans that Vietnam was a mistake, and these type of political topics were becoming more common in "fringe" television. The" superior beings" showed that in the bigger picture, maybe we humans aren’t always right. The Federation represented Americanized democracy, and the "good" aliens and "bad" aliens represented other nations. To me in the context of this time, Arena really emphasized this. Remember, nuclear war was a real threat, we needed hope that we - humans i.e. Americans - could make good decisions, learn from mistakes, and actually survive into the future, exploring space and beyond. Heavy shit, yes, but these were heavy times.

[mark_loveless]

Plot to Alternative Factor: The story evolves around a musical group led by Scotty and Uhura, they play go-go music with bagpipes and scat jazz improvised vocals with lyrics that make no sense. They call their band Alternative Factor. Most of the rest of the crew hates their music. Later, when attacked and boarded by Klingons, Alternative Factor recordings are accidentally played, driving the Klingons mad and they retreat. Scotty and Uhura are mortified, and the crew has a good laugh. The later episode The Trouble With Tribbles is considered a complete ripoff of Alternative Factor, with Tribbles instead of music.

[PaleGhost]

It took kirk way too long to figure out gunpowder. The moment i saw sulfur and saltpeter it clicked. How he ever beats Spock in chess, I have no idea.

[leaaugusta]

To me the Gorn has always looked like he's ready to bake with that apron and those arm protectors on

[samhigdon]

Great episode did you know that they tried the bamboo gun on myth busters

[erikdunn]

In regards to Hogan's Heroes and covering a sensitive topic with levity this was not the only one that I remember. M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals) the television dramedy series aired on CBS for 11 seasons (1972–83) and covered the Korean War (1950–1953). The caveat was there was some drama but outside of a few episodes (thinking of a character death and a mental breakdown episode) I mostly remember it as a comedy.

[wesleyrodgers]

I can never remember if it was Fritz Leiber or Theodore Sturgeon.
😳🙄

[teknophyle]

I think I prefer HR Giger’s reimagining of the gorn

[packet]

The Gorn's eye blinking effect was added much later during the dvd release days when the special effects were updated. It wasn't in the original broadcast.

[Wayouts]

Just assumed this Gorn was either old or The Gorn were dying out as a species or this Gorn hatched from a very old slow creature so he absorbed those qualities.

[stile]

I too was surprised when I watched the episode a while back at how much happens apart from the one-on-one fight on the arena planetoid, but not because of faulty memory but because for years my main source was James Blish's short version. In that version, everything on Cestus III and the chase after the unknown ship is summarised on the first page or so, e.g. "after five minutes inconclusive exchange of shots, the landing party was whisked away". The two ships being stopped and the discussion with the Metron take up another page or two and then the majority of the story focuses on Kirk's fight with the Gorn Captain. The Enterprise is not seen again until the very end.

Some other interesting differences are that the Gorn is described as having a strong thick tail, used for balancing, and enabling him to move quite swiftly although turning and agility is more difficult. The Gorn and Kirk are wearing identical robes supplied by the Metrons. Kirk manages to partially dodge the Gorn's vine and boulder trap, breaking a rib but escaping to a cave. Kirk has an earlier discussion with the Gorn suggesting they have some sort of truce but the Gorn feels that they have no choice but to follow the rules set by the Metrons or die. The Metrons are also slightly different, revealing in their final speech that they had lied and had actually intended to destroy the ship of the Winner of the fight since they would be the more dangerous.

One other amusing sidenote: in the tactical board wargame Star Fleet Battles (which is based on the Original Series and developed from there), this incident is described in its history as "a small incident where two brash young captains shoot first and face embarrassing questions later". Always tickled my fancy.

[AnnoyingCritic-isrp]

I think if you actually want to get a an indepth podcast about TOS you should listen to the Enterprise Incidents podcast. Although they have some valid criticisms, Trek in Time just misses the value and significance of many of these episodes.