STARDATE: 6770.3
The
U.S.S. Enterprise ferries Commodore Robert April, the first captain of the
starship, and his wife, Sarah, to the planet Babel, where they will be honored for
their many years of service to the Federation.
In fact, Robert is now nearing the Starfleet’s “mandatory retirement age” of 75, and laments the fact that his
journey is nearing its end.
Captain
Kirk (William Shatner) diverts the Enterprise’s course, however, when sensors
detect an alien space vessel traveling at Warp 36 and heading straight into the
Beta Niobe supernova. The Enterprise
uses a tractor beam to grab the racing vessel, but only ends up being pulled
into the nova itself.
Miraculously,
the Enterprise and the other starship survive to emerge in another universe,
one where the stars are black, and space is white. As Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
soon learns, however, time is also moving backwards, meaning that the crew will
soon become too young to manage the controls of the starship.
As
the Enterprise teams with the captain of the alien ship -- which sought to
return home to the negative universe -- Commodore April assumes command of Kirk’s
starship to help guide the Enterprise safely back to its own plane of existence…
At
first blush, “The Counter-Clock Incident” is another one of those very gimmicky
Star
Trek: The Animated Series episodes; one that seems to exist primarily
because the concept is highly visual, not because it makes good story (or
scientific…) sense. Here, the
Enterprise crew ages in reverse, becoming young children in the process, and
yes, we’ve seen this kind of tale before.
“The Terratin Incident” featured the crew shrinking while “Mudd’s
Passion” involved a love potion, and so on.
But
two qualities make “The Counter-Clock Incident” an enjoyable episode. First and foremost, the episode examines the
issue of ageism in Starfleet, which we learn here possesses a mandatory
retirement age of 75. “The Counter-Clock
Incident” should indeed be commended for noting that people of various
experiences and ages have something valuable to offer.
I
wonder, does the age requirement also apply to Vulcans, or only to humans?
And
also, I couldn’t help but think about Peter Capaldi here and his recent casting
as the new Doctor in Doctor Who. Have we learned anything
in almost forty years, or are we still judging a person by his or her age?
Secondly,
“The Counter-Clock Incident” practically overdoses on original series
continuity, and frankly, that’s impressive.
Here, we learn of the building of the Enterprise at the San Francisco
shipyards, and get mentions of Babel (“Journey to Babel”) and f the super-novas
at both Minara (“The Empath”) and Beta Niobe (“All Our Yesterdays.”) A Capellan flower also makes an appearance,
and Capella was visited in the Star Trek episode “Friday’s Child.” Considering that this episode was aired in
1974, before our culture had overdosed on sequels and such, it’s rather
remarkable to consider the internal continuity.
Clearly, someone was paying close attention to the details of the
mythos.
Still,
the whole person “aging backward” trope in “Counter-Clock Incident” is one that
has appeared frequently in cult-television history, and is one which I actively
dislike. This concept doesn’t possess
even a borderline plausibility. How is a
baby-sized mammal (an elder) to give birth to a full-sized body (a youngster),
purely from a physical standpoint?
Series such as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
(“The Golden Man”), Mork and Mindy (in terms of Mearth), and Star Trek: Voyager (“The
Innocents”) have utilized this illogical idea too, and it never quite seems plausible,
in my opinion. Is the idea that as an
old person, or baby, you are just spontaneously born from “death?” If so, how do you get the genes from your
parents?
By
the same token, “The Counter-Clock Incident” uses the same deus-ex-machina
ending as “The Terratin Incident” and Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes
such as “Lonely Among Us” and “Unnatural Selection.” The sick or “affected” individuals go through
the transporter device and are restored to normality. As I noted a few weeks ago, the transporter
is really Star Trek’s miracle medicine.
It can be used to fix anything, and renders Dr. McCoy a dunsel.
Despite
the illogical story I do feel like “The Counter-Clock Incident” is one of
those “feel good” episodes of Star Trek (not unlike The
Voyage Home [1986], one where the happy, re-assuring emotions and
pro-social value in some way trump science or even believability. The head may be unimpressed, but the heart
flutters.
“The
Counter-Clock Incident” is the last episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series,
and I must say, I’m sorry to be at the end of the catalog. I have thoroughly enjoyed re-visiting these
stories, and feel that there are several “undiscovered” gems here. Sure, there are stinkers too (“More Tribbles,
More Troubles,” “Mudd’s Passion,” “The Terratin Incident”), but there are
perhaps six-to-ten absolute stand out installments too, and that’s not a bad
batting average for a series that ran for 22 episodes.
Next
week for Saturday morning blogging, I start two new series. I'll begin my retrospective of the 1990s Land
of the Lost and also the 1975 animated series, Return to the Planet of the Apes.
John good review of a detailed "The Counter-Clock Incident" episode that builds on TOS established history.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that you are going to be reviewing the almost forgotten Saturday morning 1991-1993 Land Of The Lost following the adventures of the Porter family, not the Marshall. Also, the animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes which I enjoyed as a boy watching '75-'76.
SGB