The topic of manipulation of minds and a future penal system maybe relevant but the whole episode is just boring. The Good Doctor selecting Dr. Noel as Kirk's assistance is perhaps funny but of course this turns way too quickly into some creepy sex story showing insatiable Kirk. At this point of the show, Captain Kirk is way too often center and focus of every episode.
Great episode, with some over-acting here and there typical of the 60’s
The Vulcan Mind Meld was an interesting first effort which clearly was refined later on. Even more so because McCoy almost pushed Spock into it. In later years people always try and stop Vulcans from doing it.
The power of suggestion; works every time. Just look at the recent BREXIT campaign. Say something enough times and people believe you!
I don't know how I made it through this one. Terrible acting and writing spread throughout, and another female character there just to accompany the captain. The first appearance of the Vulcan mind meld was sort of interesting.
Her name is Dr. Noel and they met at a christmas party. Who came up with that ?
The rest of the episode was rather plain. We get to see an early version of the Vulcan mind meld that clearly was rather crude at this stage.Spocks line that " You Earth people glorify organized violence for 40 centuries, but you imprison those who employ it privately." was clearly the best part but sadly they didn't follow up.
It was pretty stupid of Kirk to try this machine. But I didn't really understand Adams's motives. What was he planing to do with Kirk ? He couldn't send him back to, say, take over the ship as they had been warned by van Gelder (brilliantly played by Woodward).
The really interesting part about future penal systems and treatment of psychologically ill patients would've been interesting.
At least they get treatment instead of being locked in their rooms only to hang themselves later.
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
Seems like both crewmen operating the transporter need to familiarize themselves with penal colony procedures. Someone would keeps eyes on the cargo until it could be opened and examined or properly secured. Turning your back on it when you are the only one in the room could allow someone unauthorized to get to it, or... well...
Then we have security team members that don't watch their backs. WTF? Unfortunately this doesn't get better in more modern shows. Incompetent writing and directing is incompetent writing and directing, I guess.
The mind meld was a rough experience. I can see why that style was abandoned for what we later get to see. I wonder how many other mind meld styles they used before settling on the now standard one.
An overall decent story, but this could have been a better episode. The most annoying thing was that Kirk and Adam's kept cutting Noel off mid-sentence. What was that all about?
These sound fx of the period are 100% annoying af
STAR TREK: DAGGER OF THE MIND
WRITING: 40
ACTING: 60
LOOK: 50
SOUND: 50
FEEL: 45
NOVELTY: 40
ENJOYMENT: 40
RE-WATCHABILITY: 20
INTRIGUE: 30
EXPECTATIONS: 30
This episode returns us back to formula, with the Enterprise threatened by an outside intruder. Agonizingly slow and with a non-existent plot progression, this episode builds on Vulcan mythology but doesn’t achieve much beyond that.
41% = :heavy_minus_sign:
This one was OK. Wasn't too interesting, it was neat to see the Vulcan mind meld used (for the first time?). Was not quite sure about the female doctor, party and Captain Kirk thread -- but, it seemed pretty extraneous.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-01-06T18:57:31Z
7.2/10. Some very interesting stuff in this one. The first half of the episode was the better half for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I like the subtext about the nature of prisons, the debates about rehabilitation vs. “a cage is a cage,” and the concept of putting your best foot forward to the outside world with a different story on the inside. There’s ways in which this feels like a simplified and sci-fi’d up version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
It also features the strongest acting and the best teasing of the mystery in the episode. Marianna Hell was mostly serviceable, but I actually liked the back and forth between Kirk and Dr. Adams a lot. Both did a great job of seeming outwardly genial and even casual, while each was hiding their true motives and intentions. It’s Star Trek, so you pretty much know from the minute they make contact with the prison that all is not what it seems, but the pair playing coy with one another about it worked surprisingly well at playing out what exactly the dark secret was.
At the same time, Morgan Woodward as Dr. Van Gelder did get a little hammy at times (at some points, I mistook him for a wide-eyed Ric Flair) but there was something legitimately unnerving at his struggles to overcome his conditioning and communicate the horror of what had happened to him. The scenes with him, Spock, and Bones in sick bay were some of the most tense in the episode, and added a real sense of urgency and danger to the proceedings.
The problem is that the plot sort of changes gear in the second half, and not necessarily for the better after the reveal. [spoiler]The idea of a device that can control a person’s mind, change their memories, and alter how they think is a really interesting concept, but again, feels like a little too much combined with what else is going on in the episode. I don’t like to play “what if” but something closer to a lobotomy, that just made people docile and obedient, rather than let you implant memories and other psychic suggestions might have allowed the episode’s reach to match its grasp here.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Instead, we get a kind of tired meditation on implanting feelings of love and the torture of having your mind emptied that had me flashing back (er…forward?) to Harry Potter. I have to say, we’re not even ten episodes in, and I’m already tired of Kirk having sexual tension with every woman he meets, and the whole “Christmas Party” bit with Dr. Noel was a weak setup to boot. They were going for a certain “slap-slap-kiss” vibe between her and Kirk, but it never really clicked the way it needed to.
Still, we get to see the first Vulcan mind meld on the show, which is pretty cool! Nimoy and Kelley are a pair of the better actors on the show, and both are able to sell the gravitas and importance of that moment.[/spoiler]
it ends with a spate of not very compelling action and the villain being hoisted by his own petard in a fairly cliché fashion. The sound design for the brain way was pretty cool, but otherwise once the episode started to focus on its use, things took a turn.[/spoiler]
Nevertheless, it’s an interesting episode that, as has become the norm, dips a toe into some really interesting ideas even if the execution isn’t quite there, and features some quality performances and worldbuilding to boot.