"Star Trek" Journey to Babel (1967)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

D.C. Fontana (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

17 November 1967 (Season 2, Episode 10)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide Pill | Federation | Space | Starship | Computer

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Jane Wyatt	...	Amanda Grayson (as Miss Jane Wyatt)
Mark Lenard	...	Sarek
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
William O'Connell	...	Thelev
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Chapel
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
John Wheeler	...	Gav
James X. Mitchell	...	Josephs
Reggie Nalder	...	Shras

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The reason Andorians cock their heads is for better visual acuity. According to Star Trek lore, the Andorian antennae interpret light beyond the normal human spectrum. Thus, Andorian vision is literally quadroscopic.

Goofs:

Continuity: Gav (the Tellarite ambassador) is sitting at a table holding a drink which repeatedly switches hands between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
McCoy: [Captain Kirk is adjusting uniform in mirror, Dr. McCoy pacing behind him, tugging at tight collar] Dress uniforms - spit and polish. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to stand this. I feel like my neck's in a sling.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Star Trek (2009)

Very good show with some great insights into Spock

This is perhaps one of the best episodes for the Spock groupies out there. In this one, his personality is allowed to show through much more than usual and these insights are gained by watching Spock with his parents, Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard. We learn that he had a teddy bear (of sorts) as a child and we also learn of Spock's anguish growing up as a "half-breed". On top of all this great family interaction, it was great to finally see multiple species other than humans in an episode, as the ship was ferrying ambassadors to a peace conference.

Pluses for the episode apart from the insights into Spock were much, much better than usual dialog, an exciting and multi-layered plot and plenty of action despite the episode taking place entirely on the Enterprise. All in all, one of the better episodes and one nearly meriting a score of 9.