Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty and Dr Wallace visit a planet and suffer a rapid ageing condition.
I enjoyed this episode for the performances of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.
I like the concept of this one, but find the plot fairly contrived to bring about a situation for a young again Kirk to make a last gasp heroic appearance to save the day.
I find it's depiction of old age rather depressing. I won't deny that I have a pretty pessimistic outlook on growing old, so a lot of what is portrayed hit home with a lot of my own personal fears on the subject. It feels like it's written by someone who had the exact same hang ups and very much emphasises the negative aspects of ageing.
A more positive way of doing it would be to put Enterprise in a situation where Kirk could have saved the day whilst still being old. Seeing him use a specific skill or strength of character not impacted by physical age would have allowed the character to make a meaningful contribution to the story. This would work as a nice theme showing that older people can make valuable contributions to society.
On the other hand, crippling conditions like dementia and arthritis, along with the general physical and mental weakening associated with age are very real and it is refreshing to see them acknowledged in popular culture. The scenes where Kirk's memory problems and episodes of confusion are exposed, plus the reaction of people around him is quite consistent with my own experiences with family members. Quite often individuals are either unaware or in complete denial of what is happening and this makes for a number of awkward interactions. This is excellently portrayed in a number of scenes and Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Nichelle Nichols and other cast members make it feel very real. Nimoy in particular gives one of his finest performances portraying Spock as starting to suffer effects of ageing, appearing incredibly conflicted by his loyalty to Kirk, and taking the right actions for the safety of the ship.
The visuals are as good as they can be for sixties sci-fi. The makeup and hairstyling does it's job of making the characters appear to be rapidly ageing as long as you don't look too closely.
I am always conflicted watching this as a lot of it rings true, but it quite negatively says to me that once you get to a certain age you might as well forget about life. Scotty's ailments, aside from looking grey, depressed and generally frail, aren't even made clear, which is a bit lazy by the writer.
I enjoyed this episode for the performances of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.
I like the concept of this one, but find the plot fairly contrived to bring about a situation for a young again Kirk to make a last gasp heroic appearance to save the day.
I find it's depiction of old age rather depressing. I won't deny that I have a pretty pessimistic outlook on growing old, so a lot of what is portrayed hit home with a lot of my own personal fears on the subject. It feels like it's written by someone who had the exact same hang ups and very much emphasises the negative aspects of ageing.
A more positive way of doing it would be to put Enterprise in a situation where Kirk could have saved the day whilst still being old. Seeing him use a specific skill or strength of character not impacted by physical age would have allowed the character to make a meaningful contribution to the story. This would work as a nice theme showing that older people can make valuable contributions to society.
On the other hand, crippling conditions like dementia and arthritis, along with the general physical and mental weakening associated with age are very real and it is refreshing to see them acknowledged in popular culture. The scenes where Kirk's memory problems and episodes of confusion are exposed, plus the reaction of people around him is quite consistent with my own experiences with family members. Quite often individuals are either unaware or in complete denial of what is happening and this makes for a number of awkward interactions. This is excellently portrayed in a number of scenes and Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Nichelle Nichols and other cast members make it feel very real. Nimoy in particular gives one of his finest performances portraying Spock as starting to suffer effects of ageing, appearing incredibly conflicted by his loyalty to Kirk, and taking the right actions for the safety of the ship.
The visuals are as good as they can be for sixties sci-fi. The makeup and hairstyling does it's job of making the characters appear to be rapidly ageing as long as you don't look too closely.
I am always conflicted watching this as a lot of it rings true, but it quite negatively says to me that once you get to a certain age you might as well forget about life. Scotty's ailments, aside from looking grey, depressed and generally frail, aren't even made clear, which is a bit lazy by the writer.