Star Trek Remastered - 2x12 - The Deadly Years 3942502 TPB

*****************************************************

* S O U N D T R E K K E R \' S B L U R B *

*****************************************************





Hi, fellow trekkers!



Here, at last, is THE DEADLY YEARS-Remastered for you, the final November episode from CBS! Sorry for the delay.



The Story - the Performance

One of the weaker stories featuring the Romulans and way behind The Balance of Terror or even Elaan of Troyius.Here the Romulans just serve to highten the danger factor (there are no visible Romulan aliens, we only see some attacking ships, more on that later). The actual story is how our crew copes with the effects of a rather terrifying disease caused by some strange cosmic rays: its rapid aging and dying of old age within mere hours, and they have to find an antidote to stop and reverse the effect! Add to this an incompetent Commodore who takes over command of the Enterprise from Kirk (who is declared unfit for command), and an encounter with (again) a former love interest of Kirk, and you get all the ingredients of a real melodramatic episode. On top of that, the Enterprise has an encounter with some Romulans who choose to shoot first and ask later (the latter of which they dont get the opportunity to do thanks to Kirks good old Corbomite Maneuver!), and finally an antidote is found, and all is well again! Its interesting to see how Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and Dohaan were made older by the make-up team and to compare it (in the case of Shatner and Nimoy) to the actors as they look today, being in their 70ies! They both look better now, I would say (well, Shatner could loose some pounds at least!).

(If I could include screen caps here, I would have chosen a picture of Kirk in his old-age make-up with the words: In the year 2016: No, no, I am STILL not in Star Trek 15! What a stupid marketing decision to not include me!).

Not much to say performance-wise; Shatner chews the scenes of old-age Kirk, as was to expected, overplaying some scenes, but mostly he shows all the stubbornness and anger a captain should feel when taken away from his command. DeForest Kelley fittingly expands his southern speech pattern even more than usual, while Nimoys Spock isnt much different, which is to be expected considering the long lifespan of Vulcans.

The guest actors are solid, but not special. The way their roles are written doesnt give them much to do besides acting foolishly (Charles Drake as Commodore Decker) or, as in the case of Janet Wallace (played by Sarah Marshall), just doing nothing besides standing around for the most part (or lamenting to Kirk about their earlier break up).





Script and Direction

The script by David P. Harmon tries to focus on old age and the emotional effects it has on people, and some parts of the story are quite interesting in that regard. David P. Harmon has commented on his script:



\"I was inspired to write the script by examining the American syndrome versus the Oriental reverence of old age. The concept of youth and beauty is such a shallow one, simply because it doesn\'t last very long. That\'s the inch of truth I was looking for. How important is it in the overall sheme of things in a person\'s life, if at all? But WE make it important!\" (Trek Classic - 25 Years later, by Edward Gross, 1991)

The episode was routinely and effectively directed by trek veteran Joseph Pevney.



The Music

No original score here, but effectively tracked music by Sol Kaplan (from Doomsday Machine) and, especially by Gerald Fried (from his Catspaw score) for the more terrifying moments. The love theme (or love reminiscences, to be exact) for Kirk/Janet are from Fred Steiner\'s score from Mirror, Mirror (Marlena\'s theme).



The Enhancements

A new planet Gamma Hydra IV with brownish color and the usual Enterprise orbit flybys in the first part of the episode, and later some remastered Romulan Bird of Prey\'s - very well done by the digital team, with various point of views for both the Romualan ships and the Enterprise! The space battle scenes are short, but what wee see is spectacular and effective!



Okay, thats it for today, except to remind you, as usual, to seed after downloading, or I will leave the pirate ship for a very, very long vacation with my Orion slave girl, so you wont get any new remastered episodes as long as Im gone!



Next episode:

As mentioned before, no new FIRST SEASON episodes from me - my source has stopped with aquiring them for me (for obvious reasons! Dont ask, just wait and see...). You WILL get all new SECOND and THIRD SEASON episodes from me, beginning with DAY OF THE DOVE, which will premiere on CBS in January next year! Stay tuned...



All right, people, thats it for today! Take care, and



LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!!



Best regards,

Captain Soundtrekker