Star Trek Episode Review: Miri (1966)
Synopsis: When Enterprise encounters a planet that is identical to Earth, Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) and learn the planet is only inhabited by children because of a fatal disease that affects anyone that hits puberty. Unable to return to the ship because they too are infected, McCoy must figure out a cure.
Review: I had a chance to watch this episode yesterday, in the short time I had between church and going to my daughter's ice show. I was intrigued by the premise. But, as I watched it, I realized I just didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.
The disease itself was kind of interesting. I'm still a little confused about how a disease that is the side effect of a genetic experiment can infect people who weren't part of that experiment. But, I liked how the sores gave us a visible representation of how it spread and did think it gave the episode a bit of a thriller-like feel.
Unfortunately, while I liked that part of the episode, there were just too many things about it I just wasn't a fan of.
For one, the Enterprise travels to the far reaches of space and discovers an exact replica of Earth? I just feel that, alone, should have been a pretty big deal. Yet, the fact the planet has the exact same continents, etc. is pretty much just glossed over. I would have loved to have heard at least an attempt at an explanation for something that just seemed a bit unlikely.
My bigger problem with this episode was Kirk's constant flirting with the title character, Miri (Kim Darby). Yes, the episode later explains she's really hundreds of years old. But, that aside, she is, for all intensive purposes, a kid who is just hitting puberty. Him flirting with her just had too much of a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit vibe and I found myself getting kind of uncomfortable with it, especially since he didn't know she was as old as she was until later.
Final Opinion: Upon reflection, I think I wasn't a fan of this episode mainly because of the decision to add Miri and the other children. The disease was the most interesting thing and I feel the episode would have been better if Kirk and crew were on a completely abandoned planet or just had to deal with the infected inhabitants.
My Grade: C
Review: I had a chance to watch this episode yesterday, in the short time I had between church and going to my daughter's ice show. I was intrigued by the premise. But, as I watched it, I realized I just didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.
The disease itself was kind of interesting. I'm still a little confused about how a disease that is the side effect of a genetic experiment can infect people who weren't part of that experiment. But, I liked how the sores gave us a visible representation of how it spread and did think it gave the episode a bit of a thriller-like feel.
Unfortunately, while I liked that part of the episode, there were just too many things about it I just wasn't a fan of.
For one, the Enterprise travels to the far reaches of space and discovers an exact replica of Earth? I just feel that, alone, should have been a pretty big deal. Yet, the fact the planet has the exact same continents, etc. is pretty much just glossed over. I would have loved to have heard at least an attempt at an explanation for something that just seemed a bit unlikely.
My bigger problem with this episode was Kirk's constant flirting with the title character, Miri (Kim Darby). Yes, the episode later explains she's really hundreds of years old. But, that aside, she is, for all intensive purposes, a kid who is just hitting puberty. Him flirting with her just had too much of a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit vibe and I found myself getting kind of uncomfortable with it, especially since he didn't know she was as old as she was until later.
Final Opinion: Upon reflection, I think I wasn't a fan of this episode mainly because of the decision to add Miri and the other children. The disease was the most interesting thing and I feel the episode would have been better if Kirk and crew were on a completely abandoned planet or just had to deal with the infected inhabitants.
My Grade: C
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