| Review : |
I like the shuttlecraft concept. It's basically just a flying box with a few seats inside (which could do with being bolted down and having belts added) meaning that there is nothing unnecessary in there at all. There was also this bizarre mix of futuristic and dated; gauges with dials, measurement in angstroms and lb/psi vs energy from phasers in a craft with warp engines. A bit like the contrast between the wonderful new effects shots of the shuttle and the polystyrene rocks on the surface! Some minor characters seemed to be there for no reason; Commissioner Ferris was a pain in the backside most of the time, while Latimer and Gaetano were just Redshirts wearing the wrong colour, and Yeoman Mears served mainly as ballast. It's also a bit odd that Scotty was with the shuttlecraft, why do they need an engineer on an astronomical survey? Still, whatever the reasoning, the whole thing made a good episode in the end. They created several effective character conflicts, and it all played out very well. The ape creatures were a credible threat, and it helped that we did not see too much of them most of the time, imagination is a great suspense-builder. Leonard Nimoy, of course, put in by far the best performance as Spock holding things together to save his crew. Although they stand out a bit, the new effects are excellent. As usual, there was a nice moment at the end. We can excuse the faults this time, it worked well. |
