Remember Google Reader? I apparently used it back in 2009 for a while and then got bored of it, like most others did I’m guessing. But I did find this gem in my links … Star Trek stitch charts.
If you’re like … “OMG you like Star Trek?!” you should check out my 10 Days of Trek posts. Really. Star Trek was my first sci-fi love.
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Here I present part 1 of what I hope to be a continuing series of discussions comparing and contrasting Star Trek and Doctor Who episodes that aired in the same week. My focus is sound-driven, so there are clips to watch and listen to for illustration and reinforcement. This is kind of like a window into the research I do. Enjoy!
This week I’m giving a talk on my dissertation project, which is an historical study of television production in the UK using Doctor Who as a test subject. An idea that popped into my head to try and highlight the differences (and similarities) between American and British television at the time was to find an episode of Star Trek that aired the same week as an episode of Doctor Who, and play clips to show the difference. It seems like it would be a good jumping-off point into further discussion of the differences in television at the time. A logical starting point is the first aired episode of Star Trek, “The Man Trap,” which transmitted on Thursday, September 8, 1966 on NBC. Two days later the BBC transmitted part 1 of “The Smugglers,” which is unfortunately on the list of wiped episodes. While we have the remaining audio, the video is gone, and if I’m giving a visual presentation I should stick with something that the students can watch. The next overlap of existing episodes is “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” [ST], aired Thursday, October 6th, 1966 on NBC, and the first part of “The Tenth Planet” [DW] aired on Saturday, October 8th, 1966. So that’s where I’ll begin.
–video
Bulls 2OT win !!!
Cubbies snapping the Cards’ 9 game home win streak
Futurama Season 2 (yeah, pretty much the whole thing)
Star Trek episodes:
“The Cage”
“The Man Trap”
“The Corbomite Maneuver”
“The Balance of Terror”
“Amok Time”
“Mirror, Mirror”
“The Gamesters of Triskelion”
“The Omega Glory”
“Bread and Circuses”
–audio
… pretty much what is listed above
–knitting
Not much, busy with Star Trek
–spinning
Again, not much, busy with Star Trek
–other stuff
Did I mention that I’m working on an article about Star Trek?
Okay, so. As I alluded to in a previous post, I’m writing up a paper this semester on musical topics in Star Trek. I’d like to compare musical treatment of topics and tropes in episodes that are dramatically focused on irony or ironic situations. I’m writing here to see what recommendations I get about episodes to look into, and to share my background thoughts on my research.
Before digging into Star Trek it’s important to define what I mean by irony. Here are a few dictionary definitions:
Socratic Irony: a pose of ignorance assumed in order to entice others into making statements that can then be challenged.
Verbal Irony: the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Dramatic/Tragic Irony: a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
Situational/Cosmic Irony: the disparity of intention and result: when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect. Likewise, cosmic irony is disparity between human desires and the harsh realities of the outside world (or the whims of the gods). By some older definitions, situational irony and cosmic irony are not irony at all.
Historical Irony: a subset of cosmic irony, in which the element of time plays a role; irony through retrospection.
Alright, with that out of the way … I’m thinking about looking into these episodes:
- “The Corbomite Maneuver” – Balok being this mysterious, powerful being … but in the end turning out to be a somewhat mischievous, child-like creature. Both sides are using Socratic irony, while the music is hyperbolic in its melodramatic affirmation of a later discovered untruth.
- “Amok Time” – Spock and Vulcan culture are explored in a ritual that seems quite barbaric for a logic-oriented, emotionless race. The ritual of pon farr is one of situational irony, where a part of the Vulcan culture appears to be in direct contradiction to the edict of the race: logic. In the vein of cosmic irony, pon farr and the koon-ut-kal-if-fee show disparity between the Vulcan ideals of logic and suppression of emotion and the barbarism associated with the biological changes and rituals Vulcans go through during pon farr.
- “Mirror, Mirror” – This episode has a clear instance of music acting in a way similar to verbal irony, where it communicates information to the audience that is unclear to the characters. I’ll address this in more detail below.
Before moving on, here are a few more important definitions to know:
Musical topic: short melodic figures, harmonic or rhythmic formulae carrying literal or lexical meaning; meaning can come from literature, social history, and the fine arts.
Musical trope: the combining of two or more topics to create a new meaning, or comment on the meaning of the topics being combined.
To illustrate, think of Marlena’s theme from “Mirror, Mirror.” This is considered a musical trope, a combination of two musical topics: the barbaric/evil/enemy “threat” theme, and the singing/romantic/string “love” theme. The troping of these musical ideas tells us something that Kirk may or may not know about her: she is evil and a threat (if only because of her existence in the Mirror Universe), yet has the capability of being a heroine (which we find is true towards the end of the episode). This musical trope is then considered “ironic,” as we the audience are given a cue that she is a heroine while Kirk does not, nor does he anticipate that she could be.
Musical topics and troping can go across episodes as well. Consider the famous music played during the fight scene in “Amok Time.” It does transform during the course of the episode, starting off as a low, lyrical song while Spock relates his people’s customs, and is transformed into a booming march-like battle song during the episode’s climax. But the theme comes back in later episodes in different contexts, particularly as underscoring for enemies and in other battle situations. The meaning has changed again; rather than being about Spock/Vulcans, it is about anything barbaric or threatening. The element of time does not necessarily make the changes in musical use “cosmic irony,” though it can be argued that the element of time becomes important in the reception of musical topics over the course of the show. Through retrospection, however, the audience member can recall the music from “Amok Time” and wonder if it carried meanings not apparent at the time. (Though, to be honest, the reuse of music was simply an issue of using available resources and saving money. But at the same time, there must have been musical qualities of the theme that carried connotations appropriate for the later reuse, and this in itself brings a new and different meaning to the theme in retrospect.)
This is definitely a complicated subject, but I think you can see (if you read through all of that) that irony is a big part of Star Trek. In fact, irony is a large part of science fiction as a genre. And I admit, I am a bit obsessed with genre studies. So if you read through this and have any other ideas for episodes, or musical uses, or both, that deal with any form of irony let me know. And to be clear, I am focusing specifically on the original series, which ran from 1966–69. Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome!
I’ll just get right to it. Here is the best episode of Star Trek. Ever.
1. The City on the Edge of Forever
S1E28, Originally aired April 6th, 1967
Written by Harlan Ellison; Directed by Joseph Pevney
Captain’s log, supplemental entry. Two drops of cordrazine can save a man’s life, a hundred times that amount has just accidentally been pumped into Dr. McCoy’s body. In a strange, wild frenzy, he has fled the ship’s bridge. All connecting decks have been placed on alert. We have no way of knowing if the madness is permanent or temporary, or in what direction it will drive McCoy.
Star Trek, "The City on the Edge of Forever"
Who didn’t see this coming? This is an absolutely incredible episode, and it deserves all of the praise it has received over the years since it’s first airing. The script is incredible, the acting is terrific (particularly Shatner, this is quite possibly his best acting ever), and the story has a great mix of comedy and tragedy.
I immediately knew I loved this episode when Kirk and Spock have their encounter with a 1930s police officer. It’s absolutely hilarious. When you watch a show like Star Trek it’s so easy to feel comfortable with the characters and their surroundings. Seeming them as powerless, as fishes out of water, makes them that much easier to relate to and somehow seem more “real.” Once you see them here, and see that they are infallible in a way yet to be explored by TOS, you really just love Kirk and Spock.
Edith Keeler and Jim Kirk
Time travel is always a tricky issue. I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who (as you’ll note if you know me and/or my research) so I deal with time travel and canon in tv quite regularly. What happens when you travel into the past? What changes? The implications and ramifications of time travel are mind boggling and so so cool to think about. The fact that this one person, Edith Keeler, is so instrumental seems totally far-fetched. But the ramifications of her life, or death, makes the story so compelling. Throw in Kirk, a lonely and love-starved star ship captain (a character trait little explored in TOS during the first season, but something famously exploited in the remainder of the show), and you know you’re in for a ride. A tragic, angsty, ride.
Please, please go watch this episode. Right now.
