Trek08: "The Man Trap"

Trek08: "The Man Trap"

Jan 14

Those well-versed in the Ways of Trekdom will already know the story behind this “premiere” of Star Trek, that it technically wasn’t the “first episode” of the series at all–though it was the first to air, “The Man Trap” was actually the sixth episode produced. It also aired a week earlier than expected, as a special “sneak preview” of the series, which has led some fans to suggest that perhaps it was chosen for this slot because of its lack of cereberal nonsense and emphasis on sexuality and action.

How’s that for kicking off with a seriously turgid dose of geek minutiae? WAKE UP JEFF! (That’s a Wiggles reference for all you toddlers out there. Holla.)

“The Man Trap” certainly isn’t one of Star Trek’s more mentally challenging episodes; in fact, its reliance on the woman-as-maneater trope makes it seem positively barbaric when compared to the show’s reputation for forward-thinking attitudes about gender, race, and everything else that was divisive and controverial in the 1960s. There’s another touch of mild chauvinism in a brief Uhura scene where she leans over the captain’s chair while Spock has the command and practically throws herself into his cold Vulcan arms. Then again, Uhura would later be the one to conduct a horrific strip-tease feather dance in Star Trek V, so maybe she’s always been a bit of a sexual libertarian, and we just haven’t seen it?

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Watching the early episodes of a favorite TV series can be like looking at old family movies; everyone’s hair is funny, and no one seems to be acting totally like themselves. So what’s perhaps most notable about this first episode of Star Trek is how much they got absolutely right, from the start, without stumbling at all. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are sharply defined, and are essentially the same characters that would live on for the next forty years. Even considering “The Man Trap” was in actuality the sixth episode filmed, for a segment from the first half of a show’s first season, it’s remarkably sharp.

Overall, it’s a good hour, but not a great one. Yet as in all things, I find I must turn to my Bible for more answers–and by “Bible,” I of course mean The Star Trek Companion, by Allan Asherman.

One of my lingering Trek obsessions is with books about the series–not the novels so much, but rather the behind-the-scenes tomes, which range from dishy to encyclopedic. The Star Trek Companion is one of the encyclopedic ones, and it was a big favorite of mine in my geek youth. I would sit on the bed for long stretches just flipping through the Companion and other books like it–the Next Generation Technical Manual, that book on the planets of the Federation, anything I could get my hands on.

With the “maturity” of my early thirties, Asherman’s insights don’t carry quite the weight they once did. Here’s his take on “The Man Trap”: “…a haunting tale, a study in loneliness and tragedy with elements of horror and mystery.” Dude, I see the Paramount logo stamped on the back of this sucker, but c’mon Allan–“a haunting tale”? Seriously?

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That right there…it’s something, but I wouldn’t call it “haunting.”

**

I almost posted this last night, but got sleepy, so I woke up instead riven down the middle by self-doubt.

Why am I bothering to do this?

Entire books have been devoted to writing reviews and commentary on Star Trek episodes. The goddamned things are over forty years old, in some cases. There’s probably not much new to say, and I can’t even guarantee that I’ll be able to say the same old shit in a new, entertaining way.

There’s two things going on here.

1) I have a fixation on Completing Something for the World–a book, a body of work, anything I can tie a neat bow upon and pretend I’ve “done something.” So I want to “do this thing” in the sense that I want to look back on the year and see a boatload of my Trek crap, all finished and ready for…I have no idea what for, actually.

2) I feel an ongoing need/desire to justify my geekdom by trying to make it into MORE than what it is. If I read something, watch something, then I have to talk about it, review it, bitch about it in some forum somewhere. Part of this is just endemic of the internet age and people who live part of the time online. The other part is like I need to take the things I love, or more specifically, maybe just the things I have always loved, or loved when I was young, and somehow bestow them with justification for my passion and/or their own value.

One of my life’s goals is to become the Geek David Sedaris–to write about my life and my geekdom in a down-to-earth, funny, emotional way. I would like to do this with Trek as my backbone, but I am afraid.

I need to shut the fuck up and write more, probably.

Trek08 is my attempt to review all of the original Star Trek in 2008. Read the intro.

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