Journey to Babel
- Episode aired Nov 17, 1967
- TV-PG
- 50m
The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.
- Amanda
- (as Miss Jane Wyatt)
- Lieutenant Hadley
- (uncredited)
- Babel Conference Attendee
- (uncredited)
- Montgomery
- (uncredited)
- Small Copper-Skinned Ambassador
- (uncredited)
- Vulcan Aide
- (uncredited)
- Purple-Skinned Delegate
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFor two weeks after the airing of this episode, Mark Lenard received more fan mail than Leonard Nimoy.
- GoofsKirk is attacked and clearly stabbed in the lower back. McCoy later reports that the knife narrowly missed Kirk's heart and Kirk is bandaged across the upper chest, nowhere near where the knife wound occurred.
- Quotes
McCoy: Spock, I've always suspected you were a little more human than you let on. Mrs. Sarek, I know about the rigorous training of the Vulcan youth, but tell me, did he ever run and play like the human children, even in secret?
Amanda: Well, he, uh, he did have a pet Sehlat he was very fond of.
McCoy: Sehlat?
Amanda: It's sort of a... a fat teddy bear.
McCoy: [grinning] A teddy bear?
Sarek: Excuse me, Doctor. It has been a rather long day for my wife. Captain.
Captain James T. Kirk: Ambassador.
McCoy: [needlingly Spock after Sarek and Amada have gone] "A teddy bear."
Spock: Not precisely, Doctor. On Vulcan the "teddy bears" are alive, and they have 6-inch fangs
- Alternate versionsSpecial Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
- ConnectionsEdited from Star Trek: The Galileo Seven (1967)
I think it's this episode, more than any other, in which Spock's lonely place in the Trek universe is spelled out. We, as the audience, had already gathered as much during the past forty or so episodes, but here, Spock's mother, the ideal choice to voice such concerns out loud, makes apparent the pain Spock has endured during his life - in terms we had only guessed at earlier. She had known since he was a little boy that he belongs in neither the human nor the Vulcan worlds and, as a mother, she had no choice but to feel his pain, that ultimate form of alienation - but, as a human, her feelings are much more obvious to us. Nimoy gives another subtly excellent performance; his demeanor is slightly different when speaking with his mother about 'the situation' between himself and his father. Despite the Vulcan reserve, you sense his discomfort and sadness.
The great thing about a Trek episode such as this is it propels us full throttle into this universe of the Federation, its allies, its enemies (Orion pirates - who would've thought?), its politics and even its social customs. We learn about a Vulcan method of the quick kill, as another sample, and it's 'interesting' to hear Spock speak of his father's killing capability in that unemotional tone. It's almost like a handbook on the 23rd century done up in episodic video style. The drama is balanced out by some nice action scenes and thrills. Kirk does pull an odd move in his fight with the assassin, but there was no stuntman involved, to Shatner's credit (uh, maybe that's why they did use stuntmen usually). Mention should also be made of actor Nalder as the lead Andorian; as in a couple of other episodes, an actor's accent and appearance made him the ideal choice to play the alien.
- Bogmeister
- Sep 16, 2006
- Permalink
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