UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek The Original Series - S2E13 Obsession
Added 2022-09-14 12:20:21 +0000 UTCHere is our full uncut reaction to Star Trek TOS Season 2 episode 13 - Obsession
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Comments
TOS Sex Scoreboard No scores because old people don't bang, they rock but not the fun way only in a chair. Kirk 5 Chekov 2 Bones 1 Spock 1
Prof Moff
2024-12-01 23:41:04 +0000 UTCGarrovick karate chops Kirk's neck Kirk "You dare use my own spells against me, Garrovick?" For a long time I considered this a guilty pleasure episode because for some reason I thought most people didn't like it. Reading the other comments it seems I was in good company. Definitely one of the better episodes of S2. As I said in the Metamorphosis comment, this is the era of "cloud entities". Yeah, the creature is kind of a gimmick, and while it's by nature intimidating, and there's some sense of primal intelligence in it's actions, it's not in and of itself all that interesting and definitely not what holds the episode together. I can understand not wanting to see Kirk losing his head. At the same time though, this episode really does humanize him. We all have our blind spots. Kirk carried around guilt for over a decade that his actions, or rather inaction, led to the death of a mentor and friend. We have a season and a half to show that he had moved on, but then this thing came back and brought it all to the surface again. I do like that unlike the last episode where Kirk's command was also called into question, McCoy and Spock brought their concerns to Kirk privately. I also like that as unhinged as he was starting to get, he's able to convince them that there is method to his madness. It wasn't just revenge, that thing was a threat to countless planets and ships with how fast it could move and how ineffective weapons and defenses were against it. This episode really overstates the power of antimatter though. 1 ounce would only be about 1.22 megatons equivalent. The biggest nuke ever detonated was about 40x as powerful, and we didn't lose half our atmosphere or have a continent sized crater left behind. Small nitpick. And finally there's Garrovick. I always felt it was a missed opportunity we never saw more of him. Given his father was a role model to Kirk, in a way he's almost like a younger brother to him. They have this whole bonding experience of both going through guilt over hesitating and later realizing it's not their fault, and then taking out the creature together. And then at the end you've got Kirk set to tell him all the stories about his father he otherwise wouldn't get to hear. Seems like they were setting him up to be a sort of protégé but we never hear from him again. Even though TNG is episodic in most of it's storylines, I do like that it's more serialized in terms of character arcs and has more recurring secondary characters. Stephen Brooks who played Garrovick died relatively young of a heart attack just before the turn of the millennium. He was 57. All in all, a fantastic episode.
Timothy Nikiforovs
2024-04-16 22:01:51 +0000 UTCThe writer of this episode was brought on to be a main writer of a Star Trek spinoff that didn’t get picked up. You will see the pilot of that spin-off as the final episode of season two.
Jonathan
2022-09-18 04:50:27 +0000 UTCReferring to what Alex said about the 2009 movie - I think it's a good film on its own, but for those concerned about keeping things consistent with the original series, it took a lot of liberties, and in some major points, completely broke the history. So it's basically a parallel-universe version of Star Trek.
John Schmitt
2022-09-15 14:37:29 +0000 UTCOops lol
Josh (Target Audience)
2022-09-15 13:05:39 +0000 UTCChekov is effectively the science officer if Spock isn't there. He was looking through the viewer at Spock's seat.
Chas Summers
2022-09-15 11:36:45 +0000 UTCThis was a very good one, and the highlight for me was Kirk and Bones, and Ensign Garrovick. The next one is very unique in that it takes on a genre not usually seen on ST and it focuses on someone not accustomed to being front and center. It's not great, but good enough and a little different. You guys might want to google Star Trek 50th anniversary poster, where Garrovick was included along with somebody from every episode.
Ken R
2022-09-15 08:41:01 +0000 UTCThanks for a great reaction. As a kid I loved Friday's Child and hated this episode because it was so serious. Although I still love the humor in FC, I really appreciate the writing and acting in Obsession. Looking forward to the next two, I've given up predicting what you will like...that's the fun of your reactions!
Gary Leyh
2022-09-15 04:39:39 +0000 UTCYup, another in my upper Top Ten. As a kid, this episode gave me the creeps. Dad called this the Vampire Cloud episode. it has the slow burn of the suspense, and really nice acting moments. You guys are awesome, I can just sit back and relax in the nostalgia, and also enjoy a good critical analysis.
Firekrys FWO
2022-09-15 03:28:02 +0000 UTCI’m not gonna lie, I thought Alex was going to ruin that scene in Kirk’s quarters w/ Spock and Bones by talking all over the dialogue. Thankfully, you guys just listen and appreciated the scene. I’m sure during editing, Josh gets to hear the dialogue that was probably missed during the reaction.
BURKE Wells
2022-09-15 00:35:42 +0000 UTCGood episode. Definitely good character interaction. As far as the phasers and the vampire cloud and what Alex was saying, the supposed way phasers work is as a focused beam of light that disrupts molecules on contact, which could also mean gaseous molecules as well as solid molecules, so that is why in the story Kirk and Co. thought hitting the cloud with phasers should work. Bones speech to Kirk in his quarters reminds me of a speech he gave Kirk in Balance of Terror: "In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of 3 million earth-type planets ..." and ends with "Don't destroy the one named Kirk." Art Wallace was a prolific screenwriter. In addition to Star Trek, interestingly he was main writer on the Dark Shadows daytime gothic soap opera in the late 60s. That show featured a vampire: Barnabas Collins. And I agree about the music: great use of the Doomsday Machine score.
Collin Freeman
2022-09-14 22:00:44 +0000 UTCThis episode made excellent reuse of Sol Kaplans music from the Doomsday Machine episode which fit perfectly for use in this episode
Sherman Lin
2022-09-14 19:59:46 +0000 UTCGarrovick is the redshirt’s name, but they’re addressing him as “Ensign.” You will have figured that out in the editing process, that his name’s not Henson.
James H
2022-09-14 15:40:07 +0000 UTCA cobalt bomb is a type of nuclear weapon. Described in some circles as a "doomsday device," which is probably why the ST writers mentioned it, but in reality it's not so much a "bigger bomb" as it is a weapon that throws out more radiation that typical nukes, and is designed to kill people over a wider area.
tyranusfan
2022-09-14 14:02:05 +0000 UTCRegarding Starfleet's recruiting slogans, you reminded me of a line from Babylon 5, in one episode the main character mused: "When I joined EarthForce, the sign said 'greatest adventure of all.' If they only knew...." :)
tyranusfan
2022-09-14 13:30:52 +0000 UTCThe JJ films took bits and pieces of references and cobbled together a new universe. (Example: Delta Vega, the planet they stranded Gary Mitchell on, became a moon in the Vulcan system.) Some things, like Spock rejecting a spot at the Vulcan Science Academy, were retained more or less intact.
tyranusfan
2022-09-14 13:25:01 +0000 UTC
