Episode 1: The Man Trap (Production number 6149-06)
Plot:
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT
The Enterprise is to check on
the medical condition of a couple of archeologists on M-113. Wife is McCoy’s
old flame. Wife is also a salt addicted, shape-shifting alien. Three or four
people die; Kirk narrowly escapes death. McCoy kills the salt eating creature.
The Enterprise leaves in pursuit of
more adventures.
Fan fact: None of the murdered officers was a red shirt!
Analysis
Despite it being the 6th episode in the production line, “The
Man Trap” was actually the first episode to be broadcast on television on the 8th
of September 1966. One has to remember here of course that “The Cage” pilot was
never shown in its entirety before Kirk & Co. begun gallivanting across the
galaxies. So was this episode a good choice to kick off an entirely new series?
Let’s see:
First, the plot is somewhat pedantic (at least for my 21st
century standards). The idea of an alien masquerading as a human is not unique.
Maybe for the 60’s it was. Also, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it is the
woman who is dangerous and not the man. Nancy Carter (portrayed by Jeanne Bal)
however, is not your typical really hot looking female that would make Kirk
fall for her. That’s reasonable, considering that she was McCoy’s girl in the
first place.
I also do not know how plausible the whole “salt deprivation leads to
immediate death” C.O.D. explanation is. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t. The
premise of this particular aliens’ existence is to creep the hell out of the
audience, even though we only see its true semblance briefly in the end. The
scare succeeds because of this hypnotizing effect it has on everyone it
targets. As a result, the viewer might end up screaming at the TV screen “Uhura,
leave now! NOW!” Ok, maybe not scream, but it’s possible.
As a contrast to the seriousness of the threat presented by the alien –
which, by the way is a far more serious threat than the one in “The Cage” I
think – we have some really light scenes that don’t really add something to the
plot, but help a great deal in creating the illusion that, no matter what, this
crew will always pull through.
And there’s the “girl power” theme as well. You have both Uhura – who makes
a really bold pass at Spock in the beginning of the episode – and Yeoman Janice
Rand (a sassy Grace Lee Whitney). Of course the first thing one notices are the
really really short dresses they’re both wearing. But then it becomes obvious
that they serve a purpose on the ship – even if that purpose is bringing Sulu
his vegetable plate… They interact with the men on the ship (even though
clearly the men are caught in the 60’s mindset of viewing them as objects of
desire) and they are also witty in their responses and observations.
Curiously enough, the main focus of this episode doesn’t seem to be
Kirk, but McCoy. And I say that’s curious, because this is the first episode to
be broadcast and the Captain should probably take center stage. However, in a
sense, it is as much an episode about McCoy, as it is one about Kirk. Obviously
we hear a lot of excerpts from the captain’s log, but in a sense they are
somewhat impersonal, simply stating facts and making some predictions about
events that are about to happen. The viewer however gets the idea from
everything else: Kirk is cool in every sense of the word, he jokes around when
the situation warrants it, but he can switch to action hero and commander in no
time. He also has a very good sense of his people, understands when and where
to be lenient and when to draw the line. He doesn’t exhibit any of his famed
recklessness just yet and, since this episode is more like an Hercule Poirot
story, rather than a sci-fi thing, he assumes the role of detective and goes
about it quite methodically.
McCoy’s character on the other hand is very sympathetic. A male audience
will connect with his story, because who hasn’t been dumped by his “one true
love” and met her years later in compromising conditions (albeit not as
compromising as this particular one); and the female audience will connect with
him because he is sweet, caring, has a sense of humor and is compassionate (and
even for 21st century standards extremely good looking). In the end
one feels for McCoy even more, because he has to kill the alien and in so doing
both destroy the illusion that was kind of sweet for him and annihilate an
entire species – since this was the last of its kind; a pretty terrible
predicament for a doctor and scientist.
Curiously, Spock and Sulu are underrepresented in this episode and both
appear during lighter moments of the episode; although Spock has a dispute with
Uhura regarding his emotional detachment when they hear about the first death
and when Spock urges McCoy to kill the alien to save Kirk’s life. I guess if
Sulu were there, he would have charged at the alien with his saber and chopped
it to pieces. Other than that, both Spock and Sulu are more of a comic relief
than anything else for this episode.
This was the first episode to be broadcast, as we’ve mentioned before
and, to be quite honest, I’m not a fan of it. This disappointment stems mostly
from the fact that the famous Roddenberry “ideals” hardly succeed to come
forward. I mean, they kill the alien! And it’s not just any alien; it’s the
last of its kind, so effectively they destroyed an entire race! Not very
Roddenberyish I would think. But, there clearly existed no alternative to this
episode, right? It would have been even weirder to take the shape shifter along
in Nancy’s form for McCoy’s edification… And Kirk had his almost lethal and
final battle, out of which he only could come out alive if his team helped. In
the end too, Kirk does reminisce about the buffalo, and so maybe this shows his
remorse about the action that had to be taken in order to preserve the safety
of his crew (the end justifies the means). And that is probably Roddenberry’s
moral for this episode – although, humans didn’t need to annihilate the buffalo
to preserve the safety of their existence…
As far as the episodes’ modernity is concerned, well I can’t really
transfer any part of the story into today. It’s not really a plot that writhes
with messages and symbolism, nor does it stick to mind after seeing it once.
True, the femme fatale plot is universal and everlasting, but somehow this
particular one never truly breaks the rules and the screen to haunt the
audience. The scare is only momentary and everything goes back to normal very
easily. Even the deaths of the crew members are not really pondered upon by
Kirk, after he has solved the mystery. Still, this is an historical episode,
since with its airing the phenomenon called “Star Trek” opened its doors to the
public and it has been a spectacular ride ever since…
Acting – Directing
As far as the acting goes, I have to compare here for a moment “The Cage”
performances to those of “The Man Trap”.
The pilot was very dramatic and the acting was accordingly done. “The
Man Trap” on the other hand is a dramatic episode with doses of humor and wit.
It never reaches the dramatic culmination of “The Cage” obviously, because the
plot is definitely weaker. As a result the acting in “The Man Trap” is more
relaxed and even fluent.
As Captain James T. Kirk, William Shatner makes it obvious that he is
nothing like Pike. Shatner’s Kirk is cool, totally aware of his strengths and
not rigid as Pike was most of the time. He thrives on adversities thrown at him
and his caring about his people is genuine, but not over the top.
Leonard Nimoy, who is also the only actor remaining from “The Cage”,
revisiting and expanding the character of Spock is diametrically different from
the pilot Spock. I know that a number of theories regarding this huge
difference between the first and subsequent Spock exist, but my opinion is that
the Spock from “The Cage” would have gone an entirely different route had that
series been picked, than the Spock who becomes Kirk’s sidekick from “The Man
Trap” on. I don’t see that age has anything to do with that. Also, one has to
keep in mind that the show is only just beginning and the characters have not
been plotted out in their entirety yet. In utter honesty though, I do like this
second Spock more to the first one.
DeForest Kelley is a show stealer always. His McCoy is again the most
human of all in the episode. I don’t think this is the result of the episode
being set on him, but the result of his job: the doctor is both a scientist and
a caretaker, which puts him in an entirely different position than the one Kirk
or Spock are. Despite the relatively weak plot and writing of the episode, he
brings the most out of Bones and proves why he is the ultimate Trek Doctor.
George Takei is also his usual self. I wonder if people back then knew
that he was a homosexual! Because if they did, then his presence on such a show
is definitely a huge step. Well, even if they didn’t know, his presence was a
huge step for homosexuals all over the world. His Sulu is not really important
in this episode; he has some funny scenes that contribute little to the plot,
but his presence is solid and it introduces one of the secondary characters of
the main crew in a lovely fashion. The fact that he has an arboretum makes him even
more interesting, especially for the 60’s standards: how many self-respecting
gentlemen back then admitted they had a passion for growing plants?
Nichelle Nichols performance is very energetic. Her Uhura is a bridge
officer – a huge surprise for the audience of the time, as Nichols has admitted
many times herself in interviews – and she stands on equal grounds with the
male actors. I’d love to know what everyone thought at first when the idea was
pitched to cast a black actress in such a pivotal role. Pivotal, because, even
though her scenes aren’t huge or groundbreaking, they work on the subconscious
of the audience, trying to break down centuries of bigotry and race bias.
The writing was produced by George Clayton Johnson. I don’t know what
else he wrote, but this wasn’t one of his best stories. It flows quite well,
there are no inconsistencies, but it is so obvious from the first moment that
Nancy is behind the murders, that really the rest of the episode didn’t really
need to be made. There are some clever lines of course, which make up for the
poor writing, but all in all it is not a memorable episode.
Marc Daniel’s direction of the episode is not groundbreaking either. It
follows along the lines of “The Cage” with some long shots and scenes filled
with silence and all. We get a nice glimpse of some parts of the Enterprise because he necessarily
follows the crew around. Close-ups and dramatic angles are also used to
emphasize important scenes, but other than that, it is done pretty much by the
book.
The costumes do not really stand out. The main characters all wear their
uniforms, as is expected of officers on duty. The most cool thing costume wise
was definitely the alien. It looked like a ruffed gorilla from top to bottom,
with a hideous face and really creepy hands. Sadly, we only saw this costume
only at the end.
There were no spectacular scenes in space shot either, so the special
effects department didn’t have to g out of their league to create something
extraordinary. The shots on the planet were shouting “studio”, but then again
the shots from “The Cage” did too, so that’s not something to hold against the show.
They didn’t have the budget in the first place to try crazy stuff.
Once again too the music didn’t really stand out. I kind of expected a
theme for the wicked alien, but I don’t recall one, so if it existed, then it
was so insignificant musical wise, that it didn’t stick to mind. I know for a
fact though, that there are episodes with great music lying ahead, so I’m
simply going to be patient about that.
