Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 38 - Episodes 75 & 76: The Way to Eden / Requiem for Methuselah

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Gonna snap my fingers and jump for joy, gotta clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy!
So, the third season is usually panned but how could you not love Spock "reaching" the space hippies and, of course, all that great music? As silly as The Way to Eden is, it is one episode people usually remember.
In Requiem for Methuselah, how could you not be touched when Spock took away Kirk's mental pain at the end of the episode?

Wow! Could you get two episodes more different than these?

The better of the two - though the less entertaining - is "Requiem for Methuselah," which brings Kirk, Spock and McCoy into contact with a cultured older man named Flint (James Daly) and his daughter Reena (Louise Sorel), on an otherwise abandoned planet where the Enterprise can obtain much needed Ritalin (not the kind you're thinking of). How exactly these two came to be out in the middle of nowhere - and fully self-sufficient - is a mystery for the three Enterprise principals to solve, along with that of Flint's unprecedented collection of entirely unknown and uncatalogued DaVinci paintings, Brahms and Beethoven symphonies, Shakespeare sonnets, etc. And just what, exactly, is his relationship to his "daughter," who truly is "the only girl in the world"?

This one performs much like the 1950's classic film, Forbidden Planet. The performances are quite good, Sorel especially, whose particulars are as much a mystery to herself as they are to everyone else. The scenery is sumptuous.

"The Way to Eden" was the inspiration for the equally laughable later movie series entry, Star Trek V. Truly, nothing is ever funnier than Establishment portrayals of Counterculture, and that's what this one is all about. The Enterprise picks up a handful of space hippies from a stolen space shuttle, who go around preaching, like, really groovy peace-'n-love, man, to the starship's crew - an', like, y'know, Captain Kirk is just so, I dunno, like, not receptive, man. But - WHOA! - SPOCK really groks their scene, dig? He's sympathetic to their desire to find the mythical planet Eden (our equivalent of Atlantis), even if their leader is a middle-aged mad doctor who's a real head-case (Skip Homeier). Well...things don't turn out well. (Bummer!)

A prize, to anyone who can watch more than five minutes of the Space Hippies and not crack a smile. If you're not laughing within ten, there's something wrong with you. If you're not cat-calling within fifteen, you're in severe need of medical attention.

Volume 38 of Paramount's complete reissue of Classic Trek contains two episodes which document the inconsistent quality of the series third season.

The Way to Eden is truly one of the worst episodes in all of Trek, terrible even by the lax standards of the original series' third season. The writers' pathetic attempt to create slang dialogue for the "space-hippies" is only surpassed by the cringeworthy songs they sing. Matters are not improved when Spock shows up to "jam" with the hippies. The Biblical parallels are also severely overdone. Trekker Trivia Notes: Charles Napier, who plays Adam, went on to be a regular in Jonathan Demme's films. Don't blink and you'll see my uncle, Jim Drake, as one of the medical interns in sick bay.

Requiem for Methuselah fares a bit better. The landing party is searching for Ryetalyn (not to be confused with Ritalin) to cure a shipboard epidemic of Rigelian Fever, when they meet the mysterious Mr. Flint--a real renaissance man who seems to have no past. This would have been a first rate episode, if it were not for Kirk's severely uncharacteristic behavior. While the Captain has certainly fallen for ladies before, he has never been so reckless as to jeopardize his mission or the Enterprise. (Kirk's behavior could have been explained away as the onset of Rigelian Fever, but the writers never bothered to make that clarification.) Spock again appears in a musical guise here, but this time the music is more palatable. James Daly's performance as Flint is one of the best performances by a Trek guest star. Trekker Trivia Note: James Daly is the father of actors Tim and Tyne Daly.

The picture and sound restoration are some of the best I've come across in this series.

A requiem is a mass for the dead. Methuselah lived 900 years but did die. Not so Mr. Flint, and old and tired man who cannot die but who has been dead for millenia.

This is one of the most powerful displays of television drama I have seen. James Daly, the guest star, creates a compelling character of depth, with pitiable resignation in a man who has known all there is to know--and yet is alone (sounds like V'ger, now that I think of it...).

Although there are inconsistencies in the plot, I find them minor compared to Shatner's portrayal of anguish and desperation in the final act, leading to Rayna's death from a broken heart.

All who have loved and lost will see themselves in "Requiem for Methuselah" and understand it perfectly.

Oh yeah--pretend "The Way to Eden" isn't here. It would be for the best.

These are two of my favorites. A way to Eden shows a different side of the crew I think. Spock is actually hip for once instead of just clueless to human emotion. He actually has a jam session with the hippies (my favorite part!). Spock breaks out the old Vulcan Lyre, and one of the girls plays a spoked bicycle rim! Sick stuff!! And the second episode features Spock playing the Piano, and drinking brandy!! Kirk plays pool with a hot robot chick, and the rest is just pure Trek!!
Highly recommended to the new and old Trekkie.

He fell but did not die. He loved a thousand times and lost them all. James Daly plays one of the most compelling parts in all of this series. Flint's weary smugness owing to all that he has seen, endured and created is truly a classic portrayal by Daly. Spock's comment after learning of Flint's impeding death is one of the most emotional that he could express. "On that say I shall mourn"

Having reached this stage of the 3rd and final season of Classic Trek, I find myself wishing someone would put this dying horse to sleep out of mercy. It was truly heart-wrenching for this fan of TOS to have to make myself watch through the entire 3rd season with its many ups and far too many more downs while remembering the great acting, scriptwriting and overall quality of the first two seasons and here in what would be the 3rd last volume of the 3rd season, we get two average quality episodes.

For the first episode, "The Way to Eden", one has to put the episode and hence the story into the context of the times i.e. 1969. Obviously, taken in today's context the episode is ridiculously bad but for an audience in 1969, the plot has deep meaning what with the civil rights movement and the growing dissension against the Vietnam War, that audience could definitely relate to this parable of those very troubling events of their time. Viewed from that context, I think this is actually not too bad an episode which tries to show the points of view of the various parties involved: the demonstrators (Adam and the rest), the sympathisers (Spock) and the non-sympathisers (Scott and Kirk). I thought taken as an overall episode, this metaphor of the major civil demonstrations of the late 60's was very good. The moral is that one should fight for what is right but one should also beware of being made a tool for someone else's agenda who may not have as pure an intention as you. So why do I still rate this average? Because, I too didn't like the far too frequent outbreaks of pop ditties ala Love or The Zombies that Adam breaks into. Still, an average episode overall.

For the second episode, there were some pluses and some minuses as well. The plot that sounds a lot like the idea from which the whole "Highlander" series came about is a good one but what I don't understand is why Daly's character becomes jealous of Kirk and an android! Also, just because a man is immortal why does that automatically make him have to be the greatest geniuses of history? This is why the "Highlander" series that this episode spawned is far more believable for me; that individual was just a normal immortal trying hard to suppress his immortality to avoid persecution and not Einstein or Newton or my Grandpa. Still, for giving us the whole "Highlander" premise, this makes it to the average category of me.

Overall, this volume falls under the "nice to have but not essential" category if you are deciding which volumes to keep.

Two of the worst stories in the history of TOS, but for different reasons. The 'Way to Eden' makes the mistake of trying to be trendy, and so dates badly. What the real problem is though is that it makes the Enterprise crew seem to be the disapproving establishment, especially of all people Captain Kirk. 'Requiem for Methuselah' is at heart a reasonable story with the assertion that one man could be responsible for the work of Da Vinci, Brahms and others. What it completely fails to do is have any appreciation for Kirk's relationships with women. Threre is no way any woman would have Kirk obsessed to the point he would fight for her, he is far to full of his own importance for that. This effectively trashes any credibility that the story would have had because this is the crux of the whole episode. A real pity.

If ever there was a nice, creamy (yet sharp), salaciously-melting, pleasantly-pungent-aroma-producing (whoa- for some strange reason, I've got a sudden hankerin' for clabbered & processed dairy products!) chunk off the cheese ball that was the third season of Star Trek, `The Way To Eden' is it! Along with `Spock's Brain', this little misadventure proves that even at its worst, classic `Trek is pretty freakin' entertaining! Even the squarest `Herbert' will enjoy goofin' on this one! Space hippies takin' over the Enterprise, and a `paradise' planet that's not as idyllic as it seems is what awaits you in this cornball `Trek!

Then there's `Requiem for Methuselah', featuring yet another version of the "would-be-romance-between Kirk-and-the-show's-babe-of-the-week-going-tragically-awry" plot element. Speaking of tragic Kirkian romances, I heard rumors about William Shatner insisting on doing take after take after take of the kissing scenes until he felt he'd gotten it just right! Who knew the man behind Jimmers was a perfectionist with a strict work ethic? I tell ya, if it were me, I'm not sure I would've been able to endure that much punishment! But Shatner managed to take it like a man, and his extra effort really paid off!

`Late

Volume 38 of The Star Trek DVD series contains one decent third season episode and one of the most infamous episodes in the entire Star Trek series.

THE WAY TO EDEN has to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever. By 1969 it was obvious that Star Trek's ratings had hit rock bottom. In order to appeal to the younger generation and the fast growing hippie culture. A bunch of very unhip network executives came up with the idea of bringing flower power to Star Trek. This was a blatant and weak attempt to try to make Star Trek hip. The results are completely laughable. This episode basically finds the Enterprise picking up a band of space hippies. Led by the mad Dr.Sevrin (played quite well by Skip Homeirer) these hippies basically run around the ship singing awful songs about the legendary planet they want to venture to called Eden. Eventually the hippies take control of the ship when their demands are not met but in the end Eden proves to be as deadly as it is beautiful. This episode is really bad. Chekov's relationship with his old flame is totally unconvincing and the acting is so bad it's laughable and the hippie songs will make you cringe. In fact this episode is so bad it's great. This may well be the (unintentionally) funniest Star Trek episode ever! Ungroovy people trying to make something groovy. This episode is a campy joke but that's what makes it a hilarious classic.

The other episode here, REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH is actually better but it's overshadowed by the colourful campiness of THE WAY TO EDEN. This episode however has a plausible plot about control and the value of life in general. Good acting and nice plot twists and turns makes this episode a must. Somewhat of a tragic story brings out how serious this Trek outing actually is. This episode ends on a very low note, however it's incredibly effective showing us that (despite the production wos) the Star Trek series still had some life in it, even by 1969.

Overall a good pair of episodes definetly worth getting. WAY TO EDEN is so laughable it has to seen no matter what and if it disappoints you then REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH can always compensate for it. Highly recommended!