7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great episode that can stand repeated viewings, September 19, 2001
This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 50: By Any Other Name [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is the one where aliens take over the Enterprise. They compress them into these strange cubes of salt or some alien substance. It was fun to see the crew take advantage of their human form and use human weaknesses as a means to prevent them from taking over the ship. These aliens did take human form for a temporary amount of time. To fool Kirk and crew of course. All in all it's one of those episodes that you can watch again and still find it good.
Especially the scene where Scotty gets the alien drunk.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Distant Galaxies, July 13, 2003
This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 50: By Any Other Name [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Synopsis:
When the U.S.S. Enterprise answers a distress call from a small planet, the landing party is captured by a group of agents from the Kelvan empire, located in the distant Andromeda galaxy. The Kelvans' purpose is to find planets suitable for colonization. However, their own ship was destroyed and now they need the Enterprise to make the 300-year journey home. To utilize the starship, the Kelvans â€" huge, tentacled creatures â€" take on human form. After several attempts at escape, Kirk accepts his fate and agrees to let the aliens take over his ship. The Kelvans use their technology to transform all but essential Enterprise personnel into small "cubes" which, unless broken or damaged, can be restored to human beings.
Recognizing that the Kelvans, in their new human bodies, are discovering human sensation and emotion, the remaining crew attempts to foster dissent amongst the aliens: Scotty succeeds in gettting one of them drunk, McCoy injects an irritant into another, and Kirk makes romantic overtures to the Kelvan leader's woman. With the Kelvans thus distracted, Kirk and the crew are able to regain control of the ship.
Kirk points out to Rojan, the Kelvan leader, that the Kelvans are already becoming less like they were before by encountering the humans. In 300 years, their descendants will be so human-like that they won't be able to live among their people on Kelva. Rojan sees the logic in his argument and sends a robot probe to Kelva, reporting what has happened. Pledging to restore the Enterprise crew, Rojan accepts Kirk's offer that the Enterprise find the Kelvans a Class-M planet to colonize.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Human Condition, Emotion, Interaction, Understanding, Compassion, and Behavior, August 30, 2006
This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 50: By Any Other Name [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Enterprise responds to a distress call and beam down to the planet surface. Crew members discover initial readings on the planet indicate no life forms present. Just after completing readings, two humanoid being approach Kirk telling him, "now you will surrender your ship too me". With a shocked look Kirk, the Kelvin name Rojan continues his dialogue, "this will be the end of existence as you have known it."
The Kelvins are intelligent. On their voyage from Andromedia to earth, their ship was damaged beyond repair, after crossing the energy barrier, at the edge of the universe. Like the "flat earth" no federation ship dare go beyond into the abyss, so the fact the Kelvins crossed the barrier suggested they had superior technology.
The Kelvin's are creatures of outer space and taken "perfect human form". Spock discovers after a mind connection that the Kelvins are immense beings with hundreds of tentacles. Kelvin tentacles symbolize covert clandestine operations in foreign countries by an unknown Empire; the Empire symbolizes imperialistic hegemony government seeking domination; and the perfect human form symbolizes the vanity of oligarchy aristocrat vanity. Rationally it would seem impossible for one too hope in humanity for such a creature. The tentacle monster operates independent of compassion, mercy, and empathy towards its host or prey.
Spock is thrown backwards by the power of the female, Kelinda's mind and the experience has exposed him to various equations, he does not grasp. It seems the Kelvins operative consciousness is mathematical and devoid of emotion. The Kelvins are logical kinsmen of the Vulcans but superior in metallurgy science. Kelvins view humans as parasitic and wasteful. The Kelvin's have one weakness; they have never experienced the power of human emotions.
The Kelvins home is Andromedia. The Kelvin's home is experiencing high radiant levels forcing them to look for remote locations to colonize. The Kelvin Empire wants too conquer and occupy the Federation. Kirk believes that the Federation will cooperate with the Kelvins proving inhabitable planets for the Kelvins. Rojan is not interested. The Kelvin's have a technology condensing a human into their trace elements. The process is reversible if the mineral structure is not damaged. Kirk attempts the attack Rojan presses a button on a box connected to his belt emitting a neutralizing beam that paralyzes the enterprise crew into frozen postures. Rojan but is frozen by the paralysis beam. Rojan decides too demonstrate this technology condensing two members. Rojan decides one must die and annihilates Yoman Thompson into crushed dust. Rojan then tells the group, "you will obey" and a harsh code of honor will apply to all those they conquer.
Rojan installs Kelvin propulsion technology allowing the Enterprise to exceed Warp 8 and Warp 11. The ship must pass through the energy barrier. The energy barrier is made of negative energy. Scotty discovers the material protecting the propulsion technology cannot be breached. Scotty programs the Enterprise to self-destruct at the energy barrier with a push of a button. Kirk decides not too destroy the ship and appeal to the humanity of the Kelvins.
Obviously, Rojan, Kelinda, and Hanar do not want too return back too the Kelvin empire. The 300-year intergalactic voyage will mean that they die in space and one their descendants report on their findings. Rojan, Kelinda, and Hanar experience human interaction and a wide range of emotions: anger, jealousy, passion, greed, and carnality. These Kelvins learned the human condition by their experience and interaction and gain an understanding. Once these Kelvins understand the humans they are willing to trust them because they have a human perspective again. The morality suggests people can learn peace by interacting with each other, gaining a health perspective, and learning to trust each other through their interactions.
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