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Episode
072
That Which Survives
From Gideon – a planet of almost countless people – to a barren rock with one inhabitant. She doesn’t want to hurt you. She just wants to touch you. Sadly, that will kill you. Also, she’s knocked the Enterprise half way across the galaxy. What will the crew do? Find out when we put That Which Survives in the Mission Log.
The RCA TV AD
Great ad! The very fact that Star Trek was in color certainly had to play into the decision to renew it twice.
and I’m willing to bet that not a single Mission Log listener has ever seen an original Trek Episode on a 60’s B&W Tube TV before:
Well I cheated. We had a ’60s b&w TV in the guest room on which I saw some TOS in the ’70s and ’80s. I think Wil did too according to his interview!
Hey, the first 2 seasons of Sliders was awesome! Granted I grew up with that show….. maybe this was a re-used first season script, and that is why the characters seem a little off.
My take on the defence system of Losira’s avatar and the computer was that touching the other person was the means by which it could identify their genetic ID (“I must touch you. Then I will live as one, even to the structure of your cells, the arrangement of chromosomes.”). And if the person proved to be non-Kalandan, the defence system activated. Though if it could identify its targets by name, rank and role, I wonder why it didn’t go the extra figurative mile and work out that they were non-Kalandans immediately.
Was Losira evil for what she did? Since we’re projecting in this episode, I’m gonna project that Losira wanted to protect other races from falling victim to the same plague that brought down her and her people.
There was this weird sexist vibe throughout the episode. Apart from Kirk’s questions about Losira being lonely or not having men around, and Sulu talking about how she can be so evil while still being beautiful, there was the weird looks Radha and Uhura were giving each other when Spock annoucned they were looking for a female intruder. What was that about, some incredulity that a woman could cause such havoc?
I don’t see how Ken can assert that Losira’s internal struggle is only being imagined by the other characters or being projected on her by the viewer. It seems very deliberately depicted not just in Kirk & company’s commentary but in Losira herself. At one point Kirk asks Losira how she feels about killing them. She looks pained by the question and actually states “Killing…. is wrong.” What reason would there be to script this behavior and dialog from Losira if there is no internal conflict? Yes of course one side of it definitely wins out because whatever feelings Losira’s avatar inherited, they are not associated with any instructions. She’s similar to Ilea in TMP. She must follow the dictates of her programming (as indeed Losira does right after she says that), but whatever neural pathways or other brain conditions constitute personality have been also been mapped onto the “avatar” alongside these programed imperatives.
DC Fontana must have forgotten to write the rest of the episode.