Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Star Trek: The Infinite Vulcan

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure.

Episode: "The Infinite Vulcan"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1, Episode 7
Original Air Date: October 20, 1973
via Memory Alpha
While Chekov was cut out of TAS for budget reasons, Walter Koenig, the actor who played the character, did write one TAS episode.  In "The Infinite Vulcan," our friends discover the planet Phylos where the intelligent life is vegetable rather than animal.  Also living on this strange world is Keniclius Five, a giant clone - apparently fourth in a line of clones - of a scientist from Earth's Eugenics War.  The Phylosians and Keni 5 abduct Spock with the intention of cloning him, too.  K5 needs a Spock 2 to help enforce peace throughout the galaxy.  The only problem is that the original Spock will not survive the cloning process.

I wasn't overly impressed by this episode but I love the idea of intelligent plant life.  Koenig actually fought hard against that concept through several re-writes.  The smart veggies were Roddenberry's inspiration and the producer ultimately got what he wanted.  One humorous wrinkle: K5's face is modeled after Koenig's own.  So Chekov made it onto the show after all.

*****
via Memory Alpha
Agmar is our heroes' primary contact among the Phylosians.  He introduces himself by saving Sulu's life, a strong play in the first impressions game.  Naturally, Agmar is voiced by James Doohan.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, sign on to the list below.  Please visit the other participants.  Next week: "The Magicks of Megas-tu."


14 comments:

  1. I don't remember this one at all. Poor Walter seemed to have no respect..oh well

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    1. It's hard to feel TOO sorry for him. He certainly had more of a career than he would have had without Trek.

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  2. I try to imagine being swooped into the air by a giant creature. If Lieutenant Ripley from Aliens was a target in this episode, she would've kicked *ss. I can almost hear her automatic rifle blasting away the swooper birds. Yeah! Do Something! Shoot outs rock!

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    1. The swooper birds are plant-based, too, right? I love that.

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  3. It is hard to wrap my mind around the idea of vegetables as the intelligent species, altho here, in the Farmer's Markets there are some remarkable vegetables. It might work.
    What I loved about Koenig's character is that he is forever young in each episode.

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    1. You know he was cast for his resemblance to Davy Jones of the Monkees?

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  4. Sounds like something really strange, intelligent plant life. They could do so much more with animation than they could with real people.

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    1. That was exactly why Roddenberry pushed for it: stretch the limits of what animation could do but live action couldn't, at least at the time.

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  5. Now I'm angry because Koenig should be a Star Trek feature, even in the cartoon...how dare they mess with an original. :-|

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    1. Well, yes. But I like that they found a way to keep the actor in the family.

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  6. Great trivia facts AS! I think this is not one of Koenig's finest written works, but it did make Roddenberry happy I guess.

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  7. The idea behind the show does sound interesting. I liked seeing the stills of the episode. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. The look of the intelligent plants is nice - dandelions with legs.

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