I was always interested in cosmology. By modern standards, the physics don't check out, but watching the birth of primordial matter in the "center of everything" is fascinating. Until Lucian arrives that's a fine episode. After that point it's more like a fever dream than an actual plot. They are suddenly beamed to Massachusetts. They (and sadly do we) must listen to a sermon. Something about bad humans, witches and sorcerers or something. Parts of this reminds me of a the Q trial from TNG but that's maybe the only interesting take from this episode.
PS: Like in TOS, revisiting US history is a constant trope. Unnecessarily, it makes space exploration look like an exclusively American thing. Sometimes that feel very jingoistic.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-07-21T04:21:43Z
[4.2/10] There’s the old saw that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but in fiction, the difference becomes how you treat the supposed “magic.” We’ve seen Kirk gain magical powers through an injection from McCoy on “Plato’s Stepchildren” or the Puck-like wizardly of Trellane, but it always felt of a piece with the tone and vibe of the show.
“Magicks” doesn’t. Beaming down to a planet with a constantly guffahing, booming-voiced Satan, and world of literal wizards and spells just felt off-brand. The episode gets some excitement out of delving right into action from the word go, but once we meet Lucien and go to the another dimension where magic is real, things get really weak.
Lucien is a ridiculous character, neverminding how casually the crew seems to take a guy who dresses up like Satan. He just has that Sinbad the Sailor laugh and stilted “my friend” dialogue that quickly marks him as dumb. Plus, the whole “we were the real witches at the Salem Witch Trials” is the sort of “everything’s connected to Earth” historical revisionism that I get very tired of from Star Trek. (See also: “A Wolf in the Fold.”)
We put humanity on trial by godlike beings, in a fashion that isn’t nearly as interesting as when Q does it. Instead it’s bombast from wizards dressed like pilgrims and the usual “don’t you see, we’re a decent, kind species now” shtick. Plus, we get the typical “No, we won’t kill him/let him die” -- “That was a test, you showed mercy and so now everything’s alright” ending.
Overall, “Magicks” feels like an episode of a different show with the Enterprise Crew melded in, replete with the standard Star Trek clichés to end the episode. Big waste of time.