“The Empath”
Written by Joyce Muskat
Directed by John Erman
Season 3, Episode 12
Production episode: 3×08
Original air date: December 6, 1968
Star date: 5121.5
Mission summary
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are on the second planet around the star Minara, doomed to nova in classic stars-nova-left-and-right Star Trek style. A research crew was dispatched there six months ago to take some last minute readings, but now that the Enterprise has arrived with their ticket out of there no one’s around. The station is covered in dust and cobwebs and hasn’t been inhabited in at least three months. Scotty, at the Enterprise’s helm, alerts the captain that a solar flare is about to dump cosmic plot device rays that force the ship to retreat a safe distance from the planet, leaving the trio all alone.
As soon as our heroes are stuck and the Enterprise is out of range, they play a videotape lying around. In it, two scientists bitch and moan about “this godforsaken place”–which seems to have infuriated some locals, because a high-pitched screech and cheesy camera effect later, both scientists have disappeared into the ether. Then Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hear the same sound themselves and in just moments, vanish one by one. It turns out the sound was a transporter effect, and they’ve all been beamed beneath the planet’s surface to some kind of German Expressionist Hamlet. The walls, floor, and ceiling are inky, black darkness; the rest is silence. Literally, actually–they find a pedestal with a lady draped over it, but McCoy reveals she has no vocal cords: she’s mute. Her big, soulful eyes reveal a kind of childlike wonder and concern, but she can’t communicate at all, even telepathically. She gestures like she’s in some kind of invisible ballet and it’s clear she’s a little frightened by the men.
MCCOY: We can’t keep referring to her as she, as if she weren’t here.
KIRK: Do you have any ideas?
MCCOY: Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to call her Gem.
SPOCK: Gem, Doctor?
MCCOY: Well, that’s better than “Hey, you.”
Two Talosians Vians appear in swishy silver robes and trap Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in some kind of technicolor forcefield. The more they resist, the stronger the forcefield becomes. Kirk tries to make peace with the Vians but Lal, the spokesperson, isn’t interested. They vanish and the forcefield disappears. Gem seems to be all right though, and when Kirk goes to check on her she touches him. A minor cut that was on his forehead disappears and appears on her own head, before vanishing as well.
MCCOY: The wound is completely healed. It fits, Jim. She must be an empath. Her nervous system is so sensitive, highly responsive that she can actually feel our emotional and physical reactions. They become part of her.
That’s an awesome racial ability! She’ll make a good addition to the party. They set off to investigate the lair and find a bunch of zany sculptures–they’ve found the MoMa! Actually the art installation is supposed to be a high-tech equipment, accoutrement to an alien laboratory. In two life-size test tubes are Linke and Ozaba, the research team in the home video. That’s a little disconcerting. Even worse: there are three empty tubes next to them, each neatly labeled “McCoy,” “Kirk,” and “Spock.”
Dun dun dun.
One of the Vians shows up again and claims it wasn’t his nefarious experiments that killed those men, it was the puny humans’ “own imperfections.” Like, you know, a vulnerability to their experiments. Kirk tries to explain that the nova-ing sun should be enough reason to abandon the little shop of horrors, and a ninja-like Spock manages to neck pinch the alien while he’s distracted by the bad science. (A weakness we can all sympathize with, I’m sure.)
They take this opportunity to get the hell out of there–without noticing that the alien has recovered and doesn’t seem to be pursuing them. They manage to emerge from the underground complex and head towards the research station, where a landing party would have begun its search. In the distance they can see Scotty smiling and waving to them, but Gem isn’t much of an athlete and has to be dragged there by McCoy. Kirk, on the other hand, noticed the Vians watching them from a rock outcropping–and decides to confront them and let the others go ahead. The Vians explain that “one specimen” should be sufficient, and Kirk agrees to submit to their experiments on the condition that his men can go free.
The others join up with him and explain that the image of Scotty and the landing party was a mirage. They try to talk Kirk out of his sacrifice but he won’t hear it. It doesn’t matter, though–the Vians blink everyone else away from the surface.
KIRK: One specimen, you said. One specimen! What happened to my men?
THANN: Indeed, the prime ingredient.
KIRK: Where are they? Tell me! You said you’d let them go!
Well, they were lying, obviously. And what’s this talk of a prime ingredient? Iron Chef: Minara II?
Later, Kirk is strapped into some kind of torture device, dangling from chains attached to the ceiling, barely conscious. Gem looks on, horrified, a cipher for the audience.
LAL: We’ve already observed the intensity of your passions and gauged your capacity to love others. Now we want you to reveal to us your courage and strength of will.
KIRK: Why? What is it you hope to prove? If my death is to have any meaning, at least tell me what I’m dying for.
THANN: If you live, you will have your answer.
Mmmm Dead Captain’s Goulash, coming right up…
Thank goodness we’re spared the torture scenes. Later, Kirk and Gem are beamed over to rejoin McCoy and Spock, who are promptly placed in a forcefield. Kirk collapses almost immediately but McCoy is stuck behind the forcefield and can’t help him. Gem instinctively reaches out to Kirk to absorb and heal his wounds, but she recoils from the pain. McCoy urges her to try again. She does so, frightened, and collapses from the effort.
The forcefield is released and McCoy diagnoses Kirk with–wait for it–the bends. Seriously? In any case, the Vians show up again and this time explain that they’ll need either Spock or McCoy. McCoy will likely die from the experiment, but Spock would go insane, and Kirk must choose which of his friends to sacrifice. They disappear and Spock explains that he’s been jiggering the transporter controller they swiped to try and get it to work for them. He has left notes for McCoy, because he volunteers for the experiment. McCoy, however, has hypos, and he drugs both Kirk and Spock so that the Vians take him away and not his friends.
When Kirk finally comes to, he demands to know what happened:
KIRK: Why did you let him do it?
SPOCK: I was convinced in the same way you were, Captain. By the good doctor’s hypo.
But by then Spock has gotten the transporter device to work and they agree to beam back to the lab and try and save the doctor. Joined by Gem, they find McCoy in the same crucifixion position that Kirk was in–but he’s in much worse shape. Gem looks like she’s about to throw up as Spock cuts down the chains. They put McCoy on a bed but Spock confirms the obvious: McCoy will die.
KIRK: Can’t we do something?
SPOCK: I’m afraid not.
If only we had some kind of healing magic… person….hmmm…. hmmmmmmmm….
The solution comes to them slowly but surely, and they discuss enlisting Gem to save him. This seems to be outside of the experiment’s parameters, though, and the Vians appear and warn Kirk and Spock not to coerce or persuade Gem in any way. And so it’s proven, finally, that Gem is the heart of their experiment.
LAL: Of all the planets of Minara, we have the power to transport the inhabitants of only one to safety.
THANN: If Gem’s planet is the one that will be saved, we must make certain beyond any doubt whatsoever they are worthy of survival.
KIRK: How will the death of our friend serve this purpose?
LAL: His death will not serve it, but her willingness to give her life for him will. You were her teachers.
KIRK: We were? What could she learn from us?
LAL: Your will to survive. Your love of life. Your passion to know. They are recorded in her being.
THANN: Her planet will be fortunate.
LAL: Each of you is willing to give his life for the others. We must now find out whether that instinct has been transmitted to Gem.
Surprise surprise, it has. Gem goes to McCoy and begins to heal some of his wounds, but the internal injuries are too much and she recoils. This pisses the Vians off–she’s supposed to go the whole nine yards! But eventually she returns on her own and tries again to save McCoy. As he slowly regains consciousness and figures out what Gem is doing, he weakly pushes her away from him.
MCCOY: Don’t let her touch me. She’ll die. Jim, I can’t destroy life, even if it’s to save my own. I can’t. You know that. I can’t let you do it.
Spock comes up with an idea: if the forcefield is feeding off of their emotional energy, which he just decided was what was happening for some reason, then he can suppress his emotions enough to escape it. He concentrates and soon the forcefield disappears around Spock. Kirk, meanwhile, is still arguing with the Vians. Gem has already offered her life to save McCoy, but they’re still not satisfied.
LAL: To offer is not proof enough.
KIRK: If death is all you understand, here are four lives for you. We will not leave our friend. You’ve lost the capacity to feel the emotions you brought Gem here to experience. You don’t understand what it is to live. Love and compassion are dead in you. You’re nothing but intellect.
Oh, snap! This seems to humble them enough that they finish healing McCoy, and then carry an unconscious Gem off into the darkness.
Back on the Enterprise, the men contemplate the episode we were all forced to endure:
SCOTT: Not to dispute your computer, Mister Spock, but from little what you’ve told me, I would say she was a pearl of great price.
KIRK: What, Scott?
SCOTT: Do you not know the story of the merchant? The merchant, who when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
KIRK: Yes, she was all that. And whether the Vians bought her or found her makes little difference. She was of great value.
MCCOY: Well, personally, I find it fascinating that with all their scientific knowledge and advances, that it was good old-fashioned human emotion that they valued the most.
And with that irrelevant story, the end.
Analysis
Every copy of this episode should come with its own empath, to absorb away the pain of watching it. Riddled with cliches, it feels like a distillation of some of the worst Star Trek episodes: people mysteriously disappearing, space douches, torture porn, awful special effects, even more atrocious music, and disturbing parables that fail to elicit anything from me but disgust. Usually I can see a gem (sigh, now they’ve ruined another word for me) that, in another’s hands, might have been impressive–but here the main premise is so flawed I can’t imagine any execution of it that would satisfy.
Why is the third season obsessed with torture? The Vians are so reprehensible and their intentions so deeply disturbing that it’s a wonder the Federation doesn’t come back and try them for crimes against humanity (broadly speaking). It’s not just that they’re unfathomably cruel, for no discernible reason, but they take that at least two levels beyond where it needs to go to prove their villainy, attempting to drive a doe-eyed woman to suicide. How is this entertainment? It’s unnecessary and sickening, and I resented the emotional manipulation of such a set-up.
Perhaps this is trifling in the face of the other flaws, but the allusions to Scripture made me wonder about the real motives behind this episode. We get not one, but two direct quotes from the Bible. First, there’s the videotape of Linke and Ozaba where Ozaba says, “In his hand are the deep places of the earth. Psalm 95, verse 4.” Okay, so alien stuff, god, yada yada, got it. But then things start to get less subtle: Kirk and McCoy, when hanging from the chains, look like they’re being crucified. They’re both compassionate and selfless individuals who had decided to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others. When Kirk recovers, Gem heals his wounds–which include wrist abrasions like stigmata. And if you look at the couch/bed that they use throughout the episode, it’s shaped like a cross. What’s with all the Jesus imagery? To top it all off, Scotty whips out the parable of the pearl at the end, but I can’t for the life of me figure out the relevance. Is Gem supposed to be a Jesus figure, taking on others sins and sacrificing herself for them? Is that supposed to be the divine presence in all people? It sounds even more inane to type that out than to think it, so I have to hope that wasn’t the intended meaning.
I will say one thing: this episode is beautifully directed. It has some of the most artful and bold tableaux of the series, strikingly blocked. I mean, look at these:
Isn’t that beautiful? You can read the relationships between the characters instantly, with no context, no dialogue. The minimalist set is evocative and mysterious, with the “scientific instruments” standing out starkly amidst the darkness. I love the way the actors walk in and out of the shadows–despite the fact that there are no walls, the rooms feel claustrophobic and suffocating. And while the Vians are Talosian clones, I liked Gem’s costume–it was elegant, and combined with her fluid gestures (as stupid as they were) it lent her grace.
And I am, right now, enacting a ban against child-women. Ugh.
Was anyone else in watching this reminded of The Green Mile? Both stories feature people who can absorb the hurt and pain of someone else into themselves, and both explore the idea of love and compassion as tools for pain and suffering when used by terrible people. To use compassion against someone, to hurt them with their loving kindness and empathy, represents the kind of moral bankruptcy that I wish only existed in science fiction.
Torie’s Rating: Warp 2 (on a scale of 1-6)
Eugene Myers: This episode unintentionally causes us to empathize with Kirk and McCoy’s suffering, unfortunately by torturing us along with them.
“The Empath” is a mashup of stories we’ve seen before: powerful, big-headed space douches testing the crew by messing with them physically and mentally. It borrows heavily from “The Cage” (and, of course, “The Menagerie“), with the Vians appearing as a cross between the cerebral Talosians and The Twilight Zone‘s towering Kanamits. The twist that the aliens are actually testing Gem may be surprising, but this premise introduces a slew of other logistical problems–most of which Kirk and Spock point out.
The idea that the Vians are evaluating Gem’s worthiness, and thus the worthiness of her entire planet for salvation, is intriguing, but it isn’t a fair test. They’re manipulating the results, attempting to alter her very nature by pushing the limits of her compassion, while demonstrating their own callousness and cruelty. They don’t have the moral high ground, just a position of power, and one wonders why they are interested in saving anyone. If they value human qualities so much, how can they so casually kill people for their misguided cause? And how did they even know that the human race possesses these desirable qualities anyway? Presumably the Organians and Metrons have been talking them up at Space Douches Anonymous. Thanks, guys.
Not only do the Vians fail at the scientific method–they explain their experiment right in front of the subject, which has to skew the results–but their basic argument is inherently flawed. They won’t be satisfied unless the empath is willing to sacrifice her own life, never mind the fact that she takes on a stranger’s wound spontaneously and voluntarily, with no discernible personal benefit. Many humans wouldn’t even do that much. On the other hand, aside from some temporary weakness and discomfort, there’s no real disadvantage to her powers; the injury is briefly transferred, and then she somehow heals–a disappointing bit of magic that considerably lowers the stakes and value of her selfless gesture.
What bugs me most about this episode is that McCoy goes from not knowing anything about Gem to suddenly becoming an expert on her unusual physiology. Similarly, the Vians conveniently know everything about the Enterprise and its crew, and Spock figures out how the Vians’ weapon works well enough to tune it to his brain pattern and operate it flawlessly. (I don’t even remember how he acquired one of them in the first place!) These ray guns can do anything: a Jedi-like Force push, teleportation, slow motion, holographic projection, emotion-based containment fields (why?), and resurrection. I suppose it merely focuses the Vians’ powers like a handheld version of Trelane‘s generator. Whatever, it doesn’t make any sense.
There are some neat things in “The Empath.” As usual, I liked the teaser (though I think it’s hilarious that a Starfleet researcher is on record as saying “I can’t stand this for one more day!”), especially Kirk’s imprint left behind in the dust after he’s been teleported away. The minimalist set kind of works, and I loved the lab and the creepy specimen tubes complete with nameplates, as if the Vians are collecting poseable, life-sized Star Trek action figures. But I hate everything about Gem, especially her interpretive dance, flowy outfit, and weird-looking eyes; the sappy soundtrack; and the shoddy time-lapse photography, some of the worst effects in the series. Even more of a problem is Dr. McCoy’s “highly unethical” drugging of Kirk and Spock, which is inexcusable no matter how good his intentions. And what is up with Scotty’s little story about pearls at the end of the episode? I don’t see the connection. (Is this why McCoy arbitrarily names her “Gem”? Sheesh.)
Most disappointing of all, I can’t even see any promise in this episode, even without its incompetent execution. It was poorly conceived, through and through.
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 2
Best Line: MCCOY: She seems harmless enough.
SPOCK: The sand-bats of Manark IV appear to be inanimate rock crystals, doctor, until they attack.
Syndication Edits: None.
Trivia: This was reported DeForest Kelley’s favorite episode.
Like with “Miri” and “Plato’s Stepchildren,” this episode was not aired in the UK until the 1990s because of its depiction of sadistic violence.
Other notes: Joyce Muskat was one of only four fans to have her episode produced for the series, the other three being David Gerrold (“The Trouble with Tribbles“), Jean Lisette Aroeste (“Is There in Truth No Beauty?“), and Judy Burns (“The Tholian Web“). It was her only television sale.
Previous episode: Season 3, Episode 11 – “Wink of an Eye.”
Next episode: Season 3, Episode 13 – “Elaan of Troyius.” US residents can watch it for free at the CBS website.
This is one of the few episodes where I would spontaneously decide to watch something else/read a book/clean out the gutters. It’s just awful. You both touched on the obvious connections to “The Cage” and I wonder if Freiburger wasn’t trying to do another remake/improvement. If so he failed.
They also clearly saved a lot of money here. Infinity set? Even cheaper than a bucket show! Primary character who doesn’t have any lines? Lower pay scale! Fan writer? We can pay her minimum!
When I saw the story author’s name, I was surprised. The mother of someone I went to school with had the same name and she would have been in her mid to late 20s in 1968. But a bit of thought and a quick check in my recently refound yearbooks shows that they spelled their name with a c instead of a k. Too bad. It might have made this episode a little more interesting.
I first saw this episode decades ago when I was much younger and I was instantly confused because while McCoy says ‘Gem’ I heard ‘Jim’ and that just made no sense at all. (Like anything else here makes sense.)
Frankly I sum up this episode as “Dr MCCoy is saved by a Mute Liza Minnelli.” Sounds better than what really transpired.
@1 DemetriosX
Maybe when she saw how the episode turned out, she altered the spelling of her credit to maintain deniability.
I hadn’t even considered that they could shortchange the actress by not giving her any lines!
@2 bobsandiego
I thought her name was spelled “Jem,” which made sense because this episode was “truly outrageous,” albeit not in a good way. But hey, there were holograms…
“Dr MCCoy is saved by a Mute Liza Minnelli.”
I would rather have watched that.
Torie, I somehow blocked out all that Biblical imagery! But I was oblivious to most of that stuff the first time I read the Narnia books, too. Good observations, and you’re right about the direction being something special, particularly given the content. I must have been too busy comparing Kirk’s half-naked torture to Picard’s similar predicament in TNG’s “Chain of Command”… and wondering why Kirk gets to take his shirt off while McCoy gets his shredded. Plus the episode doesn’t exactly invite much reflection on its “deeper” meaning.
@ 1 DemetriosX
I found my attention wandering during this, too. I hope it’s not supposed to be a remake of “The Cage”–though if it is, at least they didn’t try to get Gem to breed with one of them. *shudder*
@ 2 bobsandiego
That makes me want to see a Dr. McCoy/Cabaret crossover.
@4 Eugene
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense as some kind of Bible story. As in, Kirk and the others are imbued with a selflessness that mirrors the divine, and they have to impart that onto Gem as a kind of conversion metaphor. Bleeeech.
How people change with time. I had missed this one first run, but I remember that I enjoyed this episode back in the 70s. I was under the influence of heavy doses of Arthur C. Clarke and James White at the time so maybe that explains it. But now, apart from the beauty of the blocking which Torie has pointed out, I don’t care much for this episode. Part of me still likes the basic premise – testing a species for worthiness of surviving – but the execution here falls short (By a mile? An astronautical unit? A light year?) of the idea’s potential.
I had not realized that this was a fan written episode. That changes my thoughts a little. While Gem was not in your face about it, could she be viewed as a Mary Sue type character?
I also wonder just what it was about the first two guy that made the experiment fail. Were they such jerks that ‘gem’ let them die? Did they hate each and have no selflessness?
Any the whole concept is stupid. Let’s see we’re going to try to force ‘gem’ to learn to be selfless, so she can pass this ‘instinct’ (instincts aren’t learned butt-heads!) and then we’ll save her people from certain destruction. But the only way to know she has learned her new ‘instinct’ is if she kills herself. ummm your paln is for a dead girl to teach her people new tricks. This might not work.
some kind of German Expressionist Hamlet
Next time I am discussing interior design, remind me to use this in a comparison as soon as I possibly can.
I’m pretty sure that Gem’s outfit is the only good thing about this episode. Someone who has the skillz (such as, not me) should do a cosplay!
This episode is a highly polished turd.
Fascinating setting, clever interplay (between Our Heroes, not so much with the Space Douches), attention to detail- lavished on a weak premise.
Gen must be intended as a Christ figure. Her willingness to help others, even at the cost of her own life, will save her people. Okay, got it. But could the LalThalians at least try to save others? Save what percentage they can from however many planets there are? At least try- maybe the nova calculations are off, and there really is plenty of time.
I also wonder what kind of test the other planetary champion(s) got.
And, come on- physical injury absorbed emotionally? Ack!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukah!
Oops. That’ll teach me to preview next time.
Another thing here: am I the only one who found Gem more creepy than anything else? Maybe it’s the mime vibe, but she really just weirds me out.
@6 Ludon
While Gem was not in your face about it, could she be viewed as a Mary Sue type character?
I think you could make a good case for it. She does save everyone, after all!
@9 sps49
Thanks, and happy holidays to all of you, too! We’re (still) working on a much-belated present for everyone, probably around the New Year…
@11 DemetriosX
Gem freaks me the hell out. I hated the way she moved, and her eyes often look like they’re different sizes! She’s a big reason for why I’ve never liked this one. I can’t even appreciate her outfit the way Torie and WonderGirl do, depriving me of any enjoyment of her character at all.
@ 11 DemetriosX
Oh hell yeah she creeped me out. Frankly an early thought I had was.
“Mime! The First Directive is clear…we can kill mimes!”
Hah! I am glad I am not the only one who thought Jim (whatever y’all say, Bones was naming her after his BFF) totally looked like Liza Minelli.
I am still wondering: what exactly were the Big Head Space Douches going to do if their experiment failed? Sit around in space for another couple years until the nova happened or some more subjects showed up? Where are the other alien species? What are they planning to do that they can’t do with the other planets?
How many inhabited worlds are there in this star system, anyway?? Where did this ep’s SDs come from? If they live Miles Beneath the Earth’s Crust, what’s the big deal with the nova anyway?
I like some of the ideas here — I can almost forgive them their evil, if it weren’t for the DEEPLY SEATED INESCAPABLE LOGIC FAILS that surround the entire thing.
Torie, you were generous.
@ 14 Deepthought
Yes Torie was generous, but cut the woman some clakc this is her first trip through 3rd season Drek. Bouncing of ‘Wink of an Eye’ and ‘Plato’s Step Children’ this certainly looked– better?
I feel dirty just typing it,
@14 DeepThought @15 bobsandiego
I did give this the same rating. I’m not sure why… Though we don’t grade on a curve, you’re right that something like “Plato’s Stepchildren” does make everything else seem better in comparison.
Oh, and here I was wondering if I’d ever get down to Warp 1 just a couple weeks ago. Full Reverse! Scotty, I need more power!
The GF is a huge TOS fan, and when I said we needed to watch this again, she was pained.
And I actually said during our rewatch, “This episode makes me want to punch Liza Minelli.” The GF started yelling “Mimes!” ala Shakes the Clown.
The last couple episodes make me wonder if the writers weren’t amusing themselves by writing the scripts ‘exquisite corpse’ style, with nobody having any idea what the overarching plot is supposed to be.
@ 6 Ludon
I wouldn’t say she’s a Mary Sue, unless you want to call Jesus a Mary Sue…
…hmmm…
@ 7 bobsandiego
I was wondering about that, too! Did they not sacrifice themselves valiantly? What the hell was the “prime ingredient”? Were they just jerks?
@ 8 WonderGirl
Oh I wish I had made that up! It’s an actual movie, which was torn to pieces by the MST3K guys. One of my favorite MST3ks.
@ 9 sps49
It’s not just that–in the time it takes them to fully “test” Gem, they probably could have saved ALL the planets. The research guys disappeared three months ago, right? So couldn’t they have evacuated both planets, even without special powers?
@ 11 DemetriosX
I didn’t think she was creepy, but she reminded of big-eyed anime characters.
@ 14 DeepThought
I don’t think it was generous. It’s watchable, sometimes even compelling, and has some nice Kirk/Spock/McCoy moments. I like the emphasis on selflessness and compassion, and I like the way all three of them display it in their own ways. It wasn’t AWFUL…
@ 17 ChurchHatesTucker
I’m sure that would’ve come out waaaay more interesting. But the story is coherent enough, it’s just repugnant.
@16 Eugene “… something like “Plato’s Stepchildren” does make everything else seem better in comparison.”
Seriously? Plato’s is like a scriptwriting clinic compared to this.
@18 Torie & @6 Ludon
Mary Sue is far more interesting.
Yeah, Plato’s Stepchildren was way better than this. (Though that’s not saying much admittedly). This episode was just *dull,* from the plot to the sets to the characters. One of the five worst episodes of the series.
I dunno, folks. I actually think that, while deeply flawed, this is one of the more watchable episodes of S3.
Look, it has A Mime. And a terrible, awful “sensitive” musical score to accompany The Mime’s ridiculous rolling and gybing, so I’ll grant it starts out way in the deficit.
But the mime does serve some function in depicting an alien, an alien culture, and a somewhat original one at that. She’s at least as interesting in this regard as most bump-head “aliens” on TNG.
I think the sparse sets created a unsettling, nightmarish milieu that helped accent the unsettling, unfocused predicament the characters found themselves in. The set is, at once, austere and half formed as in dreams. Similarly, the fisheye lensing on the Vians helped create an unsettling, horrific effect.
At some point herearound the cast and staff must’ve learned from NBC the gas tank would not be refilled, the series would not be renewed, and they had to finish the trip with what they had. Given that scarcity of resources, I think “The Empath” created a setting and a mood handily on a restricted budget. Even the aliens floating away in the end was eerie in its simplicity.
Speaking of aliens, in this episode they were notably inscrutable–actually alien!–from the Vians (who never actually stated their goals or rhetorically fenced with the Captain’s Three in the usual fashion, preferring instead to simply frame their grisly intents in scientific probabilities) to Gem (whose thoughts and motivations were withheld from us). The landing party were bugs under their cruel microscope, but still worthy of being informed exactly how they would be dissected. I think they treated the landing party ethically if coldly. Like a vivisectionist might talk to a dog. The effect was one of nightmares.
In a season full of clumsy parallel earths and bludgeoning morality plays, this one stands out as creating a startlingly unfamiliar, weird milieu.
Refreshingly, the Vians weren’t particularly interested in the landing party except as set pieces for their experiments. The way the Vians analyzed the probable fate of the landing party was something Spock might do, utterly stripped of compassion.
The episode fares much better in its handling certain tropes than other episodes, including the odd three-way compassion of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, all of whom show an almost unbearable willingness to sacrifice themselves for one another. Spock is tender in his treatment of McCoy, and Gem’s warm reaction in touching Spock helps undergird what we already know about him–he is an alien of great feeling and tenderness, even kindliness. She sees inside him in a way I don’t think has yet been depicted in the series.
Much was made of mental discipline under emotional duress in “Spectre of the Gun” and “Day Of The Dove,” but Spock’s escape from the Vian’s “angst prison” handles those tropes by seconds rather than by episodes. Smartly and efficiently done.
In terms of acting, Shatner reins it in here in a notably less-than-over-the-top performance while other stars are allowed to shine to the furthest limits of their characterizations. Some soliloquy and scenery-chewing, but not a lot.
Finally–and I don’t think this gets enough credit–at no point were the three deprived or deceived of their senses or instruments. They know everything knowable about their situation. I bring this up because, by this point, most S3 episodes have revolved around the crew being technically or intellectually bereft or misled. Here, they have all their gear and all their wits. Spock quickly figures out their location, their status, and–never at a loss–analyzes alien technology for escape. The aliens, meanwhile, are (somewhat uniquely) on par with the landing party, neither loftily magical or denigratively primitive as in so many episodes, but Federation equals but in strangely different ways. Are the Vians superior to the Federation? It doesn’t seem so, but they have engineered the upper hand.
I think this episode engages in what Trek does best, an exploration of the limits of human compassion. It does this more ably than many.
@21 Lemnoc “I think this episode engages in what Trek does best, an exploration of the limits of human compassion.”
Well, we can agree on that.
@ 19 and @ 20
You guys are insane. “The Empath” is sheer brilliance compared to “Plato’s Stepchildren.”
@ 21 Lemnoc
Many interesting points.
My problem with the empath as a potentially interesting species is that she just doesn’t make sense. It’s a neat idea, but any creature whose sole characteristic is the ability to absorb others’ physical ailments should already by instinct do those things. The idea that the Vians had to “train” her to do what seems to be the only obvious purpose of such a species is just baffling.
The Vian experiment seemed utterly pointless. At least in “Arena” and “Gamesters” Kirk knows he’s being tested; Gem has no idea what they want or why, and training “instincts” is kind of contradictory. Besides, why not save both planets and have them face off to see who is more worthy? They certainly had the time.
Their selflessness was heartening to see but it did become kind of absurd in its extremes–like watching friends fight over who has to pay the dinner check.
@Torie #23
Just thought of something; maybe the Vians didn’t save Jim’s people because of some non-time constraint? Like energy? Don’t they say they only have the power to save one of the planets?
But it still doesn’t make sense because where are the other candidates? Did they all fail the test?
I do take Lemnoc’s point that they’re *supposed to be alien* and therefore a bit incomprehensible, but then why are they trying to justify themselves to the earth-men using human logic? If their motives and methods are inscrutable because our psychologies are mutually incommensurate, because we literally cannot think the same way, then they should be as limited in that regard as we. Otherwise they’re back to the role of super-intelligences whose breadth encompasses and surpasses our own, and the problem with that trope is that it just isn’t *interesting*.
Still, Lemnoc, good show on a spirited defense of the ep; you make a lot of good points and I find myself liking it better with your commentary.
@23 Torie
I guess I can envision a society of empathic creatures who glean so much harm from one another’s ailments and emotions that they actually DO NOT interact or consider self sacrifice, simply as a matter of self preservation. We don’t really know if Gem, in trying to heal McCoy, was herself in danger of fully experiencing his death, but it is strongly implied that, had she continued, she’d have died. Perhaps Gem’s people have had a bellyful of “feeling and healing” for one another.
Where it breaks down is that the Vians (or any race) could “teach” or awaken compassion as an “instinct” to a race of empaths estranged from one another. I mean, what’s Gem going to do? Convince millions of the errors of their ways…or will her awakened sacrifice [*gag*] washeth away the sins of her generation?
I gather Kirk’s comments alerted the Vians to just how foolish and vain their efforts were. Even big-brains can be pretty dumb at times.
I think that arguing which episode is better “Plato’s Stepchildren” or “The Empath” is like arguing which tastes better, a crap sandwich or a crap sandwich with mustard.
you know there is something elese that has always bothered me about this episode. That fantasic pectoral muscles of Kirk and McCoy. These two men are chained by the wrists, then suspended in air by those same wrists, and while being totured mainatin a perfect crucifixation pose. Arms straight out. Hell I know in my case my arms would have been straight up right away just like I was being mugged.
@20 Mercurio
I weep for you.
@21 Lemnoc
You make a good attempt at defending this episode, but despite the many good elements you mentioned, when you put them all together it’s just a mess. I think it’s a bad sign when you cite a mime as one of the best qualities of a show, though at least we didn’t have to put up with any more bad dialogue from her.
I do wonder when they learned that the series wouldn’t be renewed–it would be interesting to gauge the (further) drop in quality from that point. Then again, looking at the air order vs. the production order, there’s no rhyme or reason from week to week–it’s just a mixed bag.
@26 bobsandiego
I think that arguing which episode is better “Plato’s Stepchildren” or “The Empath” is like arguing which tastes better, a crap sandwich or a crap sandwich with mustard.
Best. Comment. Ever. You should be writing these! Seriously, do you want “The Way to Eden”? Anyone?
@ 28 Eugene: Thanks but I’ll stick to what I know, snide remarks from the peanut gallery.
Sadly I have no talent for writing funny. (not like my friend Gail. Bless her heart.) I have an idea for a short story about evil time traveling historians that would only work as tragic comedy but it’s what I cannot write. *le sigh*
Yay, brother.
@ 29 bobsandiego: I see a story idea in your comment – and not your stated idea. A writer forced or tricked into writing something he ‘knows’ he can’t write – but with a twist.
@21 Lemnoc: You are right that there are some interesting things and ideas in this episode. Some of those are what I had responded to and liked about this episode back in the 70s. In fact, I realize now that this episode planted the seed of my fondness for characters with empathic abilities. However, despite those interesting elements, the end result fell short of the idea’s potential. Think of this episode as the opposite of the movie (or play) “The Producers” in which they set out to create a flop but all the bad elements happened to fall together and made their effort a hit. Or, let me suggest a different angle. Chicken soup, mashed potatoes and chocolate are each good food items but they will not combine to make a good stew.
@ 20 Eugue
Anyway, looking ahead Tori has “The Way to Eden”, “The Savage Curtain” AND “Turnabout Intruder.” You, you lucky dog, get ‘The Cloud Miners.” LOL
@32 bobsandiego
*sigh* I think we’re both in the middle of a no-win scenario… :P
I’m drawing a blank on some of the upcoming episode titles. I’m sure I’ve seen them, I just don’t remember anything about them. So, this should be interesting.
So happy Torie gets Turnabout. I feel like this whole enterprise has been leading up to that.
@34 ChurchHatesTucker
After that we may need to buy her booze.
@33 Eugene
Your geek-fu is week. I recall back in the late 80’s a friend and I driving around at night discussing Star Trek (TOS) and we ended up discussing every single episode by title save one, We had to rush to another friends shouse – he had the whole CBS VHS set of the series — to see which one we missed. Oh we hung our heads in shame, while recalling episode like THe Empath and Plato’s Stepclidren we had somehow forgotten “Mirror Mirror.”
@34 ChurchHateTucker
Well, turnabout is fair play. I started the re-watch with “The Man Trap” so Torie gets to finish it!
@35 bobsandiego
Don’t make me show off my Star Trek credit card again! Or my shuttlecraft alarm clock…
I used to remember every episode title of Star Trek and TNG, and could identify an episode within seconds. Then I went through an Enterprise-induced breakup with the franchise and didn’t watch or think about it for years, pretty much until this re-watch dragged me back into it. I’m sure all that useless trivia is still lurking around somewhere in my brain though.
@36 Eugene
Oh, you stuck with it longer than I did. I watched TNG and was mildly entertained but found the characters flat. DS9 I started but fell out fo the habit of watching. Voyager I lasted three episodes and threw up my hands in disgust and Enterprise I watched the pilot — most of it anyway. TOS is the only series in my library, but I have it on blu-ray and man they look great.
BTW I have the soundtrack to The Doomsday Machine/Amaok Time on my ipod. Great writing music.
@36 Eugene
I swear I’m going to make a Trek fanfilm just so I can give it a confounding title like “All of Tomorrow’s Yesterdays.”
@38 ChurchHatesTucker
That would be brilliant.
bobsandiego@35: Missed one, did you? Shame, that. I remember standing at the bus stop on my way to school, writing out all 78 episode titles and not missing one.
And I had little use for any of the later series, either. There were a few good TNG and DS9 episodes. The rest was dreck.
@ 40 NomadUK
Oh we hung our heads in shame. We didnlt forgot a bald episode like “The Empath”, no we forgot one of the collest freaking episodes ever. “and some of my associates are Vulcans.”
What a bad-ass line.
FORGET a BLAND– where’s a proofreader when I need one.
“Without speech, how will she be able to understand us?”
This is a very, very common human fallacy; that those who do not or cannot speak, cannot hear or understand. People who work with autistic children often make this error, and it can be very damaging.
Gem picked up emotions through touch (you see that when she “reads” Spock), but was non-telepathic, and lacked a formal sign language. Nor was she a mime. More like a dancer, she communicated through facial expressions, postures and attitudes. Perhaps that’s sign language for Minarans. Maybe she was talking her head off and we didn’t understand her. (I liked Nell, too.)
In any case, certain types of people are made uncomfortable by this type of communication and even by standard Sign as used by the deaf. They react to it by calling it ridiculous, or say that it’s “creepy” to teach babies to sign, in spite of the fact that this is known to help with language acquisition. I’ve often wondered if this is some kind of cultural conditioning.
If anything was ridiculous in this episode, it was the long, long shots of Kirk collapsing in slow motion. Plus the whole flimzy idea of the Vians trying to “awaken” Gem into sacrificing her life to prove her people “worthy”. Dammit, you save everyone you can!!! All people are worthy of survival, and just because they don’t now have certain concepts doesn’t mean they won’t have them in the future; isn’t that what Star Trek was all about?
Other than the fact that self-sacrifice unto death is overrated (how can you help others if you give so much of yourself that you have nothing left?), there’s no reason to assume that an empathic people would not have the concept. We saw that she instinctively helped the men when they were hurt. I’m more inclined to go with Lemnoc’s idea that the Minarans were all too aware of these concepts and had ethics which prevented overdoing it. The concepts in this script needed a lot of work and didn’t get it.
Gem is one of my favorite Star Trek characters. When I first saw this (when it initially aired), I wanted to know more about her world and people. I imagined being like them and marrying a girl like her. I never wrote any fan fiction, but if I had, it’d have been about her.
Both my parents suffered chronic pain during my childhood, and I’d have given a great deal to be able to do what Gem did.
The look of this episode really won me over. The direction, the setting, the extremely inventive use of light and shadow make this very memorable. I agree that much of this is rehashed themes, but it really did feel like an alien setting. I have to admit that its visual impact really did trump a lot for me…and there were a handful of good character moments that were derived from the bizarre situation. It’s not Star Trek at its best, but I couldn’t help but admire it.
On Utube, Brent Spiner commented that “Gene Roddenberry had nothing to do with religion” I wonder why there was a few references to Christianity in the original series? At the end of “Escape from Rome” Uhura picks up radio talking about Christ and Kirk says” I wonder what it would be like, to see it all happen all over again?” In the episode “The Empath” again at the end, SCOTT: “Do you not know the story of the merchant? The merchant, who when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” This clearly in the Bible, Mathew 13:45.
Again late, and not much of a comment. I do wish that when Kirk asked McCoy why he chose the name “Gem”, McCoy had replied something like: “A rare thing of beauty hidden under the ground”.
Many years later, I have to chime in… I spent half the episode wondering why Spock didn’t just do a mind meld with her.
A similar question came up for us yesterday watching “The Lights of Zetar.” Don’t forget the mind meld!
As I recall, DeForest Kelley said that this was his favorite episode mainly because of the cinematography, which is admittedly pretty cool. The fact that it’s a fan-written script is also pretty cool. There are some interesting things to think about: for example, how Vians set themselves up as the judges of the moral worth of Gem and her species, while failing to question the morality of their own behavior… not unlike a certain Captain, or, in fact, most of us (at least at some times). If they measure a species’ moral worth by its capacity for compassion, and their own compassion only extends to those they consider “worthy,” then they are failing to meet even their own measure.
Then again, the Vians are saving the population of an entire planet; all the Federation did was build a small observatory. Apparently, the Federation is pretty much okay with millions of people being killed, as long as they collect some astronomical data.
When I was a kid, the end of Act One — with the dead scientists in the tubes, followed by the empty tubes with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy’s names on them — gave me chills. This time around, I found myself surprisingly affected by McCoy’s bravery in Act Three when he is about to be tortured, looks at the tube with his name on it, turns to the Vians and says, “Well? Get on with it!”
The main philosophical contention of this episode seems to be the idea that sacrificing oneself for others is the highest virtue. This is a major theme in Christianity, of course, but it’s a tenant of many other major religions as well, as well as many non-religiously-based ethical codes. That being said, the reference to the Parable of the Merchant at the end of the episode is pretty much impenetrable, at least to me.
For all its flaws (for example, Gem’s ballerina-like gestures), this episode has some interesting ideas, and some really striking visuals. To me, it’s one of the high points of Season Three.
I don’t understand how the crew of the Enterprise can act all high and mighty when they’ve known about a star going nova for at least six months but have done absolutely nothing about the planets inhabited by millions of people who are about to die, whether they know it or not.
I know the Prime Directive forbids interfering in pre-warp societies’ natural progress, but Kirk violates the Prime Directive all the time, and who gives a fuck about natural progress if that progress with be stopped by mass extinction?
It’s like the Flight 93 conundrum: If you believe that killing is always wrong, is killing acceptable when the people you’re killing are trying to commit suicide anyway?