decot@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Decot) (09/19/83)
The followup about the "Abraham Lincoln Episode" brought to my mind this idea: Why are most of the names of Star Trek episodes so tangentially related to the actual subject matter? Although, with a little thought and some mental video playback I can usually remember the subject matter given the title, there are still a few episodes with such stupidly-chosen titles that they always escape me. Perhaps I miss some subtlety, but I can't be that blind. WITHOUT checking, can you name, in less than 5 seconds each, the episodes for which the miniplots are given below? NOMAD terrorizes Enterprise Abraham Lincoln and Sarek help Spock & Kirk defeat historical nasties Crazy woman takes over Kirk's body with aid of corrupt doctor Transmutable asylum inmate wants to take over universe with Enterprise Asylum director tortures patients by emptying their minds Blind woman wants to mind-link with ugly ambassador-in-a-box Enterprise establishes first visual contact with Romulans Greek god wants worship from Enterprise crew Crazy starship captain phasers Yangs but stars & stripes prevail The titles of the following are forever fusing in my memory: Librarian invites McCoy, Kirk, and Spock to choose interesting pasts Glowing-globe people want to use crew's bodies to build new ones Enterprise accidentally energizes two Air Force personalities Don't respond, everybody KNOWS the answers. These episodes seemed to be foolishly titled to me. Defense of these titles is welcome. Dave Decot ..!decvax!cwruecmp!decot
rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (09/19/83)
Actually, the titles of the episodes Dave Decot cites are rather well chosen. You do have to remember that writers, being literary, will choose titles which you or I might not. Now, "The Changeling" is a perfect title. As stated in the episode, Nomad is in fact a changeling although it was not spirited away by gypsies. "Turnabout Intruder" is a good title because the woman intruded into Kirk's body, in a sense, and turned back out at the end. Likewise, "Dagger of the Mind" illustrates well the lobotomizing capabilities of the machine used against the patients. "Balance of Terror" refers to the means by which enemies can be kept at peace, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" captures the mood of Apollo in that episode, and "The Omega Glory" includes both the name of the star system within which the episode took place, the "end" (omega) of an all-out war, the glory of democracy, and 'Old Glory.' "Whom Gods Destroy" is a literary allusion to the quote, "Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad." [Shakespeare?] And (to answer your question) I can - and did - name each of the titles with no more than three seconds' thought each. However, I have been at it for almost fifteen years. -- Roger Noe ...ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe