[9.0/10] I’ve talked before about how much atmosphere can make or break an episode of Star Trek, and “The Tholian Web” has that in spades. The episode functions as The Original Series’s take on a ghost story, and maintains that spooky sense from start to finish, immediately distinguishing it among TOS episodes.
Much of that is owed to the great production design, costuming, and effects teams. The trip over to the U.S.S. Defiant (no, not that one, DS9 fans) should feel chintzy, given that presumably they just shot on the regular Enterprise set. But from the moment Kirk and company step on that ship, it feels like a different, foreboding place. The lights are low, there are bodies strewn all over, and there is an eerie calm to a locus the audience thinks of as place typically buzzing with activity. There is immediately a sense that there is something very wrong about where our heroes are, and this is a great example of the design work really helping the story.
The same goes for the “environmental suits” Kirk, Spock, and the gang where over on the Defiant. The designs themselves are interesting -- sterile but colorful -- giving me a Power Rangers-meets-2001: A Space Odyssey vibe. But that look, and the way the episode is shot like a horror movie as the men in those suits skulk around the dead ship, helps drive home the alien circumstances the crew is facing. By the same token, the ghostly images of Kirk, fading in and out of mirrors and shouting futily for help are haunting, communicating the way that Kirk is lost and desperately trying to get back.
All those tone-establishing elements fit nicely with the pall that’s cast over the episode with the notion that Kirk is dead. That shouldn’t function as well as it does, because we (being savvy viewers) know that Kirk is going to come back at the end of the episode somehow. That should render the whole issue a little academic and dull, like it did for Bones’s supposed terminal illness in the prior episode. But instead, the episode soars by leaning into that atmosphere and having the rest of the crew play their reactions as understated but straight.
There’s little overacting here (one of the benefits of having Kirk sidelined for most of the episode). Instead, the crew is facing too much from the current crisis, without their fearless leader, to betray anything but concern coupled with steely resolve. Star Trek is a show that likes to go big, but by going small here, it manages to sell a “Kirk is dead” story that, given the inevitability of his return, shouldn’t feel as momentous and serious as it does.
“The Tholian Web” also goes with a tack I love in all television shows, but especially Star Trek -- characters having to make legitimately difficult decisions. When Spock is forced into command, he has to make some tough ones, chiefly whether and how long to stay in Tholian space in the hopes of rescuing the captain, while the risk of the crew going mad from the effects of “interspace,” the enemy ship that threatens the Enterprise, and the titular energy net being constructed in space to trap it, all seem to give him increasing reason to get the hell out of dodge.
The script does a nice job at constructing a problem for Spock and the crew of the Enterprise that is complicated, morally and strategically. There are so many moving parts: the frayed nerves of interspaced crewmen, the limits on energy use to avoid disrupting Kirk’s phasing schedule, the ticking clock of the latticework being built around the ship that threatens to strand it. Even setting aside Spock’s conflicting impulses of loyalty to his friend and captain and his “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” philosophy, there is a compelling rubik’s cube of strategy for him puzzle out here.
The episode also delves into the lifeblood of Star Trek -- the relationship between Spock and Dr. McCoy -- in an interesting way. The interactions between the two are usually testy anyway, but that’s heightened here by the ways in which both men are grieving, facing the stress of the current crisis and the need to synthesize a cure, and the new command structure. It makes sense that heart-on-his-sleeve McCoy would fly off the handle and accuse Spock of not doing everything he can to effect rescue because he wants command. (And in retrospect, it’s a nice touch that Spock initially volunteers to stay on the Defiant and is rebuffed by Kirk, to remind the audience of his selflessness on that front.)
While it’s a little convenient, I love Kirk’s little video about what they should do in the event of his death. (Though seriously, they should have played that tape several times over already, right?) It speaks to how well Kirk knows his two most senior officers and ostensible best friends. Spock is stoic and logical, and as much as he disdains Bones, he needs a humanizing influence like McCoy to help balance his decisionmaking. (I’m not 100% on board with that idea, but it fits with ethos of The Original Series.) And Bones, used to having his say and jousting with Spock, needs to remember that the Vulcan is in command now, and is owed the respect and deference of his position.
It’s a great instance of Kirk giving them both exactly what they need, even to the extent of being a little too perfect for the moment. Still, Spock and McCoy’s quick reconciliation and efforts to do their duties is heartening, and it works well as a catalyst for the two of them working together and each fixing their part of the problem.
That’s what’s impressive about “The Tholian Web”. It manages to make a lot of things work in sheer execution that otherwise have a high degree of difficulty. Telling a ghost story in space is tricky. A spooky tale of lost dimensions and a story about coping with the loss of a leader are not a natural or easy fit. And the captain’s last words spurring his lieutenants to victory should feel too clockwork. But it all just works. From the atmosphere of dread that permeates the episode, to the great performances that sell both the horror and loss of these events, to the quality character work with Spock and Bones, “The Tholian Web” is an absolute highlight of Star Trek’ third season and the show as a whole.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-06-24T19:42:31Z
[9.0/10] I’ve talked before about how much atmosphere can make or break an episode of Star Trek, and “The Tholian Web” has that in spades. The episode functions as The Original Series’s take on a ghost story, and maintains that spooky sense from start to finish, immediately distinguishing it among TOS episodes.
Much of that is owed to the great production design, costuming, and effects teams. The trip over to the U.S.S. Defiant (no, not that one, DS9 fans) should feel chintzy, given that presumably they just shot on the regular Enterprise set. But from the moment Kirk and company step on that ship, it feels like a different, foreboding place. The lights are low, there are bodies strewn all over, and there is an eerie calm to a locus the audience thinks of as place typically buzzing with activity. There is immediately a sense that there is something very wrong about where our heroes are, and this is a great example of the design work really helping the story.
The same goes for the “environmental suits” Kirk, Spock, and the gang where over on the Defiant. The designs themselves are interesting -- sterile but colorful -- giving me a Power Rangers-meets-2001: A Space Odyssey vibe. But that look, and the way the episode is shot like a horror movie as the men in those suits skulk around the dead ship, helps drive home the alien circumstances the crew is facing. By the same token, the ghostly images of Kirk, fading in and out of mirrors and shouting futily for help are haunting, communicating the way that Kirk is lost and desperately trying to get back.
All those tone-establishing elements fit nicely with the pall that’s cast over the episode with the notion that Kirk is dead. That shouldn’t function as well as it does, because we (being savvy viewers) know that Kirk is going to come back at the end of the episode somehow. That should render the whole issue a little academic and dull, like it did for Bones’s supposed terminal illness in the prior episode. But instead, the episode soars by leaning into that atmosphere and having the rest of the crew play their reactions as understated but straight.
There’s little overacting here (one of the benefits of having Kirk sidelined for most of the episode). Instead, the crew is facing too much from the current crisis, without their fearless leader, to betray anything but concern coupled with steely resolve. Star Trek is a show that likes to go big, but by going small here, it manages to sell a “Kirk is dead” story that, given the inevitability of his return, shouldn’t feel as momentous and serious as it does.
“The Tholian Web” also goes with a tack I love in all television shows, but especially Star Trek -- characters having to make legitimately difficult decisions. When Spock is forced into command, he has to make some tough ones, chiefly whether and how long to stay in Tholian space in the hopes of rescuing the captain, while the risk of the crew going mad from the effects of “interspace,” the enemy ship that threatens the Enterprise, and the titular energy net being constructed in space to trap it, all seem to give him increasing reason to get the hell out of dodge.
The script does a nice job at constructing a problem for Spock and the crew of the Enterprise that is complicated, morally and strategically. There are so many moving parts: the frayed nerves of interspaced crewmen, the limits on energy use to avoid disrupting Kirk’s phasing schedule, the ticking clock of the latticework being built around the ship that threatens to strand it. Even setting aside Spock’s conflicting impulses of loyalty to his friend and captain and his “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” philosophy, there is a compelling rubik’s cube of strategy for him puzzle out here.
The episode also delves into the lifeblood of Star Trek -- the relationship between Spock and Dr. McCoy -- in an interesting way. The interactions between the two are usually testy anyway, but that’s heightened here by the ways in which both men are grieving, facing the stress of the current crisis and the need to synthesize a cure, and the new command structure. It makes sense that heart-on-his-sleeve McCoy would fly off the handle and accuse Spock of not doing everything he can to effect rescue because he wants command. (And in retrospect, it’s a nice touch that Spock initially volunteers to stay on the Defiant and is rebuffed by Kirk, to remind the audience of his selflessness on that front.)
While it’s a little convenient, I love Kirk’s little video about what they should do in the event of his death. (Though seriously, they should have played that tape several times over already, right?) It speaks to how well Kirk knows his two most senior officers and ostensible best friends. Spock is stoic and logical, and as much as he disdains Bones, he needs a humanizing influence like McCoy to help balance his decisionmaking. (I’m not 100% on board with that idea, but it fits with ethos of The Original Series.) And Bones, used to having his say and jousting with Spock, needs to remember that the Vulcan is in command now, and is owed the respect and deference of his position.
It’s a great instance of Kirk giving them both exactly what they need, even to the extent of being a little too perfect for the moment. Still, Spock and McCoy’s quick reconciliation and efforts to do their duties is heartening, and it works well as a catalyst for the two of them working together and each fixing their part of the problem.
That’s what’s impressive about “The Tholian Web”. It manages to make a lot of things work in sheer execution that otherwise have a high degree of difficulty. Telling a ghost story in space is tricky. A spooky tale of lost dimensions and a story about coping with the loss of a leader are not a natural or easy fit. And the captain’s last words spurring his lieutenants to victory should feel too clockwork. But it all just works. From the atmosphere of dread that permeates the episode, to the great performances that sell both the horror and loss of these events, to the quality character work with Spock and Bones, “The Tholian Web” is an absolute highlight of Star Trek’ third season and the show as a whole.