Luke
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Post by Luke on Jul 31, 2010 8:13:38 GMT -6
The Entreprise finds a planet called Gothos in the middle of a space desert where no planet has any right being. And it turns out to be the realm of the whimsical General Trelane.
I have to say this is one of my favorite episodes. William Campbell just ruled this one from the start.
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Aug 2, 2010 7:45:28 GMT -6
I have mixed feelings about this one. Generally I don't like episodes where the aliens have unexplained magical powers, but I can't deny that Trelane (as portrayed by Campbell) was an interesting character. It doesn't quite make it to my top ten list, but it was pretty good. Maybe my top twenty.
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Aug 4, 2010 11:27:58 GMT -6
Trelane was a clueless moron but at least he was a charming moron.
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Post by Atoz 77 on Aug 9, 2010 7:38:46 GMT -6
True, but the story itself was not the best. Even Kirk's deduction that the mirror was Trelane's machine of power was pretty much a lucky guess on his part.
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Aug 11, 2010 11:20:50 GMT -6
Yes and the end was kind of deus ex machina.
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Post by Atoz 77 on Aug 16, 2010 7:45:03 GMT -6
But here's a puzzle. Lieutenant Jaeger pointed out that Gothos was 900 light-years from Earth, so Trelane was only seeing things that happened 900 years ago. But 900 years before the 23rd century would be the 14th century. And yet Trelane mentioned Napoleon, who was a 17th century figure. How is this possible?
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Aug 19, 2010 11:23:26 GMT -6
I noticedd that myself. The Burr/Hamilton duel took place in 1804 which pushes it up the nineteenth century. I suppose there could be a blackhole between the Earth and Gothos that acts like a gravitational lens?
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Post by Atoz 77 on Aug 20, 2010 7:39:31 GMT -6
Even if there were, that would only magnify the light rays. It couldn't accelerate them faster than the speed of light. One solution to the puzzle is simple. Jaeger is a meteorologist, not an astrophysicist. Perhaps he meant 500 light-years, and just misspoke.
But obviously Trelane has to have more than just the light rays from Earth at his disposal. Otherwise, how did he learn to speak English, French and German? We get the impression that in a way Gothos also serves as his "classroom". The two others implied that he was supposed to be "studying". So obviously he also has some access to whatever information his species had already accumulated about Earth.
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Aug 26, 2010 12:39:44 GMT -6
So Trelane's parents had been studying EArth too, youthink? I suppose that makes sense. Clearly they thought he was supposed to be learning something from watching our behavior.
But I think the episode also provides a good moral. Power has to be used responsibly. And Trelane wasn't doing that.
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Post by Atoz 77 on Aug 27, 2010 7:40:46 GMT -6
I see your point there. Any power worth having requires discipline to attain it. Take commanding a starship. Sure you learn the basics at the Academy, but you don't go straight from Cadet to Captain. The time you spend as Ensign, Lieutenant, and so on, is an apprenticeship, where you learn from watching your Captain how to use your power responsibly. Trelane obviously didn't have this kind of discipline, which is why Kirk concluded that his power was a second-hand power, obtained from some kind of device.
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Post by RECK-U-TUS on Sept 20, 2010 21:34:20 GMT -6
he was a Q...at least thats what i figured out in hindsight
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Sept 22, 2010 7:46:08 GMT -6
I dont know. Weve argued this before on another topic somewhere. Theres pros and cons to that view.
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 24, 2010 7:41:21 GMT -6
I'd say no, because Trelane needed the mirror (at least at first) to augment his abilities. I don't imagine a Q needing a device of any kind. Add to that the fact that his "parents" apparently had him studying human culture.
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Sept 29, 2010 11:32:17 GMT -6
We had the training wheels argument before. But what if he didnt need the machine, or if it was just like a toy he was playing with?
There were several energy beings in TOS werent there. There's the Organians, the Arretans, the Medusans...
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Post by Atoz 77 on Oct 1, 2010 7:43:07 GMT -6
I've often thought about that. Obviously he could get along without the device, so why was he using it in the first place? Apparently it only controlled the environment of his "playhouse", so when it was shut off, he lost control over it and the fires went out. So, yes the idea that it was a toy he was playing with makes some sense.
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