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"That Which Survives" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: TOS Season 3 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-11-22 19:36:50
Imported:
2026-06
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Follow along with me using your own copy of the episode!

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"That Which Survives" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: TOS Season 3

Comments

Skyman's Follies

Yeah, Bunny, this is one of the very few TOS episodes that, I don't think, has a greater moral or theme that its writers are trying to explore. In that sense, I think it belongs in a group of lesser episodes, not just of Season 3, but of the entire series. Redeeming it is a fantastic subplot/conflict between Spock and Scotty and some nice moments with the bridge crew and another nail-biter with Scotty preventing the destruction of the Enterprise. Other than that, not much to say, except that Lee Meriweather was completely underused. Oh yeah, and that expression you made into the camera, Bunny, when the episode finished.... classic. On to next week : )

dave zink

Hey Bunny , not a bad episode- some makeup job on Lee Meriwether robot lady - funny line from Scotty , Spock goes "you now have 8 min. 41 sec. -Scotty says "I know what time it is ,I don't need a blooming cuckoo clock" - thanks again for the reaction 🩷- there's an excellent ep. coming up *

Greg

I actually really enjoy this episode -- in fact for me it's just outside the Top 10, and is one of the two best episodes in Season 3 for me. I know it's not a popular opinion, but there's just so much here I really like. The set work and music is great as always, as is the guest acting. Lee Ann Meriwether who played Losira had a long career in TV and movies and even won the Miss America Beauty pageant in 1955 (and great makeup and uniform for her, as you noted). I love how the action was split between both planet and ship, with mysteries and dangers and drama in both. It keeps the episode fast paced and moving along nicely, without any slow plodding parts that weigh down some other episodes. You also got to see good screen time for people who didn't get as much of it, such as Sulu and Scotty. And once again you see both the strengths and weaknesses of Spock commanding. As noted in the past episodes, he's willing to do anything it takes to save someone, hence him deciding not to eject Scotty into space when the countdown had passed -- but he'll also then order that same person to do an impossible task after. It's a good thing the crew is trained as well as it is -- which is a concept that is explored in later episodes. I agree the story can be a bit confusing at first watch and I'm not a fan of the info dump at the end like that -- but to me that's the weakest part of this episode. More then one watch helps. A lot of the plot is just left open for you to 'assume', not actually clearly stated. Yes, Phasers can be VERY dangerous when set to overload. They have power cores, which I believe are mini matter/anti matter power systems (someone can correct me on that). Warp Speed in Star Trek has ALWAYS been loosey goosey and while there ARE set 'hard and fast' rules, the show winks at them or just ignores them SO MANY times -- not just for this series but later ones as well. The original Enterprise had a top cruising speed of Warp 7 with Warp 8 possible for short times. In later shows, that's bumped up slightly -- Warp 8 is max cruise speed, Warp 9 is possible for short times. The theoretical fastest speed per Star Trek's own notes is Warp 9.99999999 as Warp 10 means that your at all places at once and not really anywhere. Yet ships often are said to be going faster then that. It doesn't make any real science sense, and it's one of the things you just have to nod and smile at when it happens. Despite the cheap budget I felt this episode really worked well in everything -- they could do what they wanted with what they had on hand, and very little extra was needed, since the story was so heavy in drama and character development and so on. In short, I'll always defend this episode as being a really good one for it's character development and the interactions between the crew as well as a pretty good story. Some trivia about this episode, taken from Wikipedia again as it's the easiest place to grab this from: The original story outline was written by D.C. Fontana under the pseudonym Michael Richards. In this outline called "Survival", Losira is more brutal, encouraging the crew to turn on each other and fight. This is the second appearance of Naomi Newman on Star Trek, this time as Lieutenant Rahda, taking Sulu's place at the helm. Previously she played one of the natives in The Paradise Syndrome. Booker Bradshaw as Dr. M'Benga previously appeared in the Season 2 episode "A Private Little War".

Lee

I think the episode would have made a bit more sense if the Kalandan outpost's computer hadn't projected a replica of Losira to the Enterprise after sending it almost a thousand light years away. At that distance, what danger did it pose? I understand the narrative necessity of keeping the drama at a high level, but otherwise it doesn't really work within the story. This might also be one of the biggest wastes of a female guest star in the series' history. As Skyman's Follies already noted, Lee Meriwether barely had anything to do except beg to touch a specific Enterprise crewman and then fold herself into a two-dimensional space and vanish. Other than a fleeting moment of regret for her mission, she didn't emote at all. But her appearance did complete the hat trick of Batman '66 actors: Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Yvonne Craig (Batgirl), and Lee Meriwether (Catwoman in the 1966 Batman film). It isn't a significant connection, but in the third season, you take joy wherever you can. Minor correction: Dr. M'Benga's previous appearance was in "A Private Little War," in which his knowledge of Vulcan physiology allowed him to slap Spock back into shape (so to speak).

Lee

It wasn't until TNG that the Warp 10 cap was established. In one episode of the animated series, there's a vessel that travels at Warp 36! (Obligatory note regarding the questionable canonicity of TAS, etc.)

William Terry

I agree with bunny's take on this episode as far as interesting ideas but poorly designed storyline. I wish they would have avoided Spock's attempts at humor to show his human side, though him telling Uhura what just happened to him on the bridge was my favorite, closely followed by Scotty having a number of good scenes. I don't think I can blame Lucera for the bad programming as the problem wasn't her feelings of regret but the comuter not having enough bouncers on the planet or fusing more stuff on the Enterprise. "Beauty survives" is a poetic moral to the episode, now with AI it seems more like the evolutionary future.

Matthew Graves (Graviton)

This one is… fine? I guess? I think the main problem is that it just feels kind of thin. There’s a lot of walking around and saying “we’ve got to do this!” and Losira doing her thing, but not much of our characters doing anything other than walking around looking at their instruments, or much advancement of the story. Until the very end when they just dump a bunch of exposition on us in the space of a few minutes. Some neat concepts but the way the story was structured was poor IMO. I’ve always loved the Scotty in the tube scene though.

SuicuneSol

Oh wow, it's been a super long time since I've seen this. I remember the "I am for you" lady. I thought the bits with Scotty trying to repair the Enterprise were pretty dramatic. What the heck was up with Spock in this episode? Was he experiencing Ponfar again? He was really passive aggressive with the logic, almost like he hadn't played Spock for a long time and overdid the character.

Mark Chrisco

This is one of my favourites from season three. Your misgivings are the responsibility of the show runner Fred Freiberger and the reduced budget. An excuse I hate giving to good old Fred.

Carlos Stevens

heh... You would have know Di'Amato was going to die if he had a red shirt. I lost track, but last red shirt count was under 20.

Skyman's Follies

good Batman list, Lee, and I'll toss in Julie Newmar and the diagonal camera angle from "Wink of an Eye", lol

Skyman's Follies

yeah, I hear ya Greg. I'm being a little hard on it... I actually think the first half is really strong. It has a really nice, finished look (some subtle camera stuff, some VERY harsh yet cool cinematic lighting from Al Francis (who was trying hard as he could to distinguish his look from Mr. Finnerman), crisp editing and lots of good moments from Scotty and even Sulu, so I get your appreciation of it (and Mark's)

Carlos Stevens

sigh... you better watch some DS9. The conclusion episode was EPIC!.

Lee

How the heck did I forget Julie Newmar? Thanks for reminding me! Wikipedia says the Dutch Tilt dates back to a 1906 silent film, but Batman '66 clearly popularized it for a modern audience.

Lee

If there is a theme or moral, it might be one we've seen plenty of times in TOS: the implacable nature of artificial intelligence and the danger of it outliving it's creators. But you have to dig through the synthetic surface of the outpost to get to it. LOL

Skyman's Follies

haha, yes- dig because, of course, phasers aren’t going to get the job done 🤣

Skyman's Follies

yeah, the Dutch angle has been around nearly as long as motion pictures (and Orson Welles used it a bunch) and, as you state, Batman (‘66) made mid-1960’s audiences aware of it as shorthand cinematic language for “reality from a different point of view” and it was clever for the TOS crew to borrow it for an episode.

Ron

Definitely not one of my favorites, but I did like the interactions the other characters had with Spock. Yes, Spock, was annoying and a bit pissy, but I still laughed. And that scene at the end with Mr. Scott in the Jeffries Tube and just giving up. That was fun (for me anyway).

Dave Riley

It bothered me that the screenplay was written where Spock’s character is pretty much a “dick” to use an old term. Nimoy almost looks annoyed about playing him. Spock didn’t want to hear anything subjective or less than totally accurate. I’m surprised he didn’t get into an argument with the computer, too. We saw him loosen up a bit in episodes like “A Piece of the Action” and show a little non-verbal compassion for Kirk, in “City on the Edge of Forever” but here he’s a dick! Why?

Russell

I really liked this episode, it was unique and better than some of the others in Season 3.

Carlos Stevens

heh, I missed it... Red Shirt count +1 (the transporter guy) Sorry, I've lost track... something on the order of 20 or so.

Carlos Stevens

Ok... Red Jump suit kinda counts (alas Watkins)... Red Shirt Count +2.

bunnytails

I agree with your points about the set, the focus on less utilized cast members, and both planet and ship being used for the central drama. That was all really well done :)

bunnytails

Ohh thanks for the M'Benga correction!

bunnytails

Yeah, Spock was a little much in this one for me too

Andrew Westcott

What is this thing that Spock was playing with throughout the episode?