“Yesteryear”
Written by D.C. Fontana
Directed by Hal Sutherland
Season 1, Episode 2
Production episode: 22003
Original air date: September 15, 1973
Star date: 5373.4
Mission summary
The Enterprise crew is assigned to help a bird creature and a woman historian with their survey of Federation history via Harlan Ellison’sTM Guardian of Forever, but they somehow end up altering the timeline. Again. Whoops!
It could be worse–at least Nazis haven’t taken over the galaxy this time. Instead, when Captain Kirk, a red shirt, and Commander Spock return from their jaunt to Orion’s past, they discover that no one recognizes Spock! Even Dr. McCoy has never heard of him. It’s a minor deviation in the grand scheme of things, but Kirk is still somewhat concerned, especially when he finds out his first officer in this new “timeplane” is an Andorian commander named Thelin. But hey, he seems like a nice guy.
The Enterprise computers reveal that despite the team’s best efforts not to interfere with history–strictly look but not touch, which must have been challenging for Kirk with all the Orion slave women–something got screwed up. In this reality, Spock died at the age of seven, and his mother was killed in a shuttle accident soon after.
Spock thinks back and remembers that he nearly died as a boy during kahs-wan, the Vulcan maturity test, but a mysterious cousin Selek saved his life. A cousin who, oddly enough, looks a lot like Spock and never visited again. It also turns out the historians were DVRing Vulcan history while Kirk and Spock were mucking about on Orion. Hmmm.
Kirk figures out that Spock must have saved himself in the past, but since he was too busy with Federation busywork on Orion, the historians recorded a Vulcan history without his timely rescue of his younger self. That may not make much sense, but one thing’s for sure: Spock’s going back in time to save himself and his mom.
While they wait for period-appropriate clothing and supplies for Spock, he shares a nice moment with his Andorian counterpart. The Andorian’s life as he knows it will be erased, but there are no hard feelings.
THELIN: This change in the timeline will put you in my place, yet I am not aggrieved.
SPOCK: Andorians are not known for their charity.
THELIN: True. A warrior race has few sympathies, but one we do possess is for family. In your time plane, you will live and so will your mother. That is valuable. Live long and prosper in your world, Commander Spock.
SPOCK: And you in yours, Commander Thelin.
Kirk shakes Spock’s hand and wishes him luck, then Spock takes the leap through the time vortex into the Vulcan of thirty years before. Bell bottoms are back in fashion and hula hoops are all the rage, but the best thing is he and his mom are still alive.
Spock the Elder witnesses the other Vulcan kids making fun of Spock the Younger, hurling insults like “Emotional Earther” and “Barbarian”–until young Spock tries to attack them, proving their point. Spock the Elder introduces himself to Sarek as “Selek,” and Sarek remarks that he looks strangely familiar.
Later, Sarek lectures young Spock on mastering his emotions:
SAREK: Spock. Spock, being Vulcan means following disciplines and philosophies that are difficult and demanding of both mind and body.
SPOCK THE YOUNGER: Yes, father.
SAREK: You constantly display your emotions. You have even been seen fighting in the street.
SPOCK THE YOUNGER: Yes, father.
SAREK: The time draws near when you will have to decide whether you will follow Vulcan or human philosophy. Vulcan offers much. No war, no crime. Order, logic and control in place of raw emotions and instinct. Once on the path you choose, you cannot turn back.
SPOCK THE YOUNGER: Yes, father.
He reminds Spock the Younger of his upcoming desert survival test, telling him that if he fails, people will make fun of him for the rest of his life. No pressure.
Meanwhile, Spock the Elder hangs out with his mother, the lady Amanda, reassuring her that Spock will turn out all right. If he isn’t killed by a wild beast in the desert, that is. Their conversation makes him realize he’s a month early for the kahs-wan. “I seem to have lost track of time,” he muses, worried that the timeline has been changed yet again.
That night, Spock the Younger sneaks out of the house, followed by his pet sehlat, I-Chaya, and Spock the Elder, who has remembered that he was attacked before the actual kahs-wan. But the boy’s practice session is interrupted when a le-matya, a large cat/lizard/thing, corners him in the mountains. I-Chaya struggles with the creature and falls, but Spock jumps on the monster’s back and subdues it with a neck pinch.
He has a heart-to-heart with Spock the Younger, telling him things get better:
There is some human blood in my family line. It is not fatal. What you do not yet understand, Spock, is that Vulcans do not lack emotion. It is only that ours is controlled. Logic offers a serenity humans seldom experience in full. We have emotions but we deal with them and do not let them control us.
Except during the ponn-farr, and under the influence of strange spores, or when you’re trapped in ancient times. But those are extenuating circumstances.
The moment is ruined when they realize that I-Chaya is dying from le-matya poison. Spock the Younger braves the dangerous desert on his own to summon a healer while Spock the Elder comforts his old pet. He doesn’t remember any of this happening before.
Spock the Younger eventually returns with a grumpy healer, but it’s too late. He decides to let I-Chaya die peacefully rather than suffer a painful extended life, and wonders how he’s going to break the news to Sarek.
Fortunately his father is a cold, emotionless automaton and all is forgiven, especially when Spock the Younger explains that he was simply trying to decide where his life would take him and that he’s chosen Vulcan.
Spock the Elder figures he’d better get out of there before he messes anything else up. He takes his leave of Sarek.
SAREK: You saved my son’s life, Selek. There is no way I can fully repay you for that.
SPOCK: Try to understand your son, Sarek of Vulcan. It will be repayment enough for me.
SAREK: A strange request, but I will honor it.
Spock returns to the present day and finds Kirk pining for him at Harlan Ellison’sTM Guardian of Forever. Seems like everything’s back to normal, except for poor I-Chaya. Kirk heartlessly says, “A pet? Well, that wouldn’t mean much in the course of time.” Thanks for your sympathy, Captain.
They return to the ship, where Dr. McCoy is anxious to run their crew physicals. Good to be back home. The doctor complains that he has to recalibrate the medical scanners for Vulcans, just for Spock. Life is so hard sometimes.
SPOCK: Dr. McCoy, you do not know your good fortune. If the times were different, you would have to recalibrate for an Andorian.
MCCOY: What’s that supposed to mean? If that was supposed to be a joke, Spock, I have to remind you Vulcans don’t tell jokes.
SPOCK: Times change, Doctor. Times change.
Get it?
Analysis
I’m not quite sure what to make of this. On the one hand, it has strong links to two terrific episodes of the original series, “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Journey to Babel,” and it’s written by D.C. Fontana, who revisits the characters and relationships she originated in the latter. But despite the joy I felt at seeing Harlan Ellison’sTM Guardian of Forever again onscreen, along with another fine performance from a (seemingly uncredited) Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek, the episode is strangely lacking.
First off, the odd references to “the time vortex” and the redesigned Guardian donut made me think they were using a cheap knockoff to avoid some kind of lawsuit from Harlan EllisonTM. That isn’t unheard of. But then they actually refer to it as the Guardian, so that clears things up. I’m still not sure why it’s voice sounds like someone (in this case, James Doohan) imitating a ghost though. Whatever, moving on.
Even after rewatching the expository scene where things went wrong in Spock’s past, I still don’t understand it. Or rather, it makes no kind of sense. Aside from the crazy paradoxes that demand that he have traveled back in time in the first place, why can’t he be in two places at once? Or three places, counting his younger self. The idea of the recording altering history is ludicrous, and it’s weird that the Guardian, who knows and sees and hears all, presumably, didn’t automatically correct for that or warn them in the first place. What kind of a guardian is he, anyway? I know this is all just handwaving to get Spock to revisit his childhood, and from there things do improve considerably.
Except there’s no, ahem, logical reason for the timeline to continue to change while he’s there. No logical reason within the narrative, but a good one from a storytelling perspective: there wouldn’t be any tension if Spock knew exactly what was going to happen at any given moment. Connie Willis uses the same technique in her time travel books Blackout and All Clear, to much better effect. Some of the inconsistencies can be attributed to Spock’s oddly faulty memory–faulty by Vulcan terms, I imagine. Must be the human blood. But the death of his pet sehlat? Why? How did events change to cause that? They set up this loss as being at least slightly significant, but Kirk’s insensitive comment aside, how does it matter in young Spock’s life and the course of Vulcan events? It’s all rather wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.
Removing Spock from the timeline also should have had a much bigger impact on history, at least as far as Enterprise is concerned. How many times did he save the ship and/or Captain Kirk’s life in the course of three seasons? Or Captain Pike’s, for that matter. I find it hard to believe that Thelin was ever an adequate substitute for him. Besides which, what’s an Andorian doing in Starfleet? If events had transpired differently in the Federation all because Sarek is short a wife and kid, there have to be some other huge differences in this timeplane, whatever that is.
I was also a bit disappointed that no one bothered looking up Thelin to see how his life was different once they put things back to normal. I get the impression that I will keep wanting more from these episodes than they can deliver and that I’ll have to fill in some of the gaps myself. I thought Amanda was a little disappointed that Spock had chosen Vulcan, but I might have been reading into things. It’s hard to gauge a reaction when all she does is blink in response to his announced decision.
I can’t overlook what I perceive as some major plot flaws, but this episode must be celebrated for its valuable contributions to the Vulcan culture and Spock’s childhood–which was even referenced in the 2009 Star Trek film. (In which an older Spock once again interacts with his younger self.) There are also some lovely character moments between Spock, his younger self, and his parents, and the dialogue is often terrific, even if the delivery isn’t. It sometimes sounded like the actors were reading the script for the first time, especially when Spock mispronounces the word “sacrifice.” Or maybe it’s just his Vulcan accent. In fact, episode trivia by the Okudas on the DVD revealed that Billy Simpson, the kid who played Spock the Younger, recorded his lines as an audition tape–which Hal Sutherland thought was so great he ended up using it for the actual episode. In my humble opinion, some more takes might have been in order, so I can only assume it was just cheaper and faster to use the taped recording. But those are the kinds of production decisions we’re dealing with here.
Still, I loved a lot of the background paintings for Vulcan and the Guardian’s planet, and I even caught some music cues adapted from the original series. And forcing a kid to put down his pet is pretty heady for a cartoon in any decade. But I can’t help wondering how things could have played out with live actors and another twenty-four minutes to play with. For instance, I’d expect Kirk to be a little melancholy at returning to that planet, given what happened to one of his great loves as a result of meddling in time. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to lower my expectations, huh?
If this episode is the best of the animated series, as many regard it, then I’m worried about how I’m going to get through the next twenty episodes.
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 3 (on a scale of 1-6)
Torie Atkinson: Jeez, another downer episode.
This one just didn’t work for me. For one, I still can’t figure out how, exactly, this paradox is supposed to work. Because Spock was in the past he couldn’t also be in some other past? Really? And if the sehlat didn’t die in the original timeline but he did fight the le-matya… what exactly happened? Did Spock the Elder originally intervene before the sehlat could jump in? Seems unlikely, as the sehlat was loyally following the boy. How is it that Spock, with an elephant’s memory, can’t remember with even a mild degree of accuracy the most formative adolescent experience of his life? The taunting scene bothered me as much now as it did when I saw it again in the new Star Trek movie–it feels like caricature and not character. Combine all that with a whiny, nasally child’s voice, some really stiff delivery, and the absolute worst boy’s outfit I’ve ever seen, and there doesn’t seem like much to love.
Yet there were some things I admired. Getting to see Vulcan, its architecture, it’s weird planetoid moon, and its cheesy flying cars was pretty neat even if, again, it doesn’t make much sense. I liked Thelin, who had everything to lose by this and yet respected Spock and his decision. They seem much alike and you can see why the alternate Kirk would have chosen him as a first officer. We learn so much about Spock in these twenty minutes. On the original series he always refers to Starfleet and the Federation as his home, but once he sees it all again Vulcan is home again. It’s an emotional response, not a logical one. I was moved by how much he loved his mother though he could never express it to her, and how much he felt he hurt her by choosing the Vulcan path. He still rejects her philosophy and we get a brief glimpse here of the reason for that: emotions cause pain. Any child can tell you that, but it’s all the more interesting to see Spock go through it. Kirk’s offhand remark that a pet is insignificant in the grand scheme of things hurts, you can tell.
The evocation of two excellent original series episodes didn’t hurt either, but I almost wish they hadn’t gone there because in comparison this is so flat and uninspired. I’m still nagged by so much that doesn’t add up. If the death of the sehlat made this Spock choose the Vulcan path, then what precipitated the change in the original timeline? Doesn’t that seem like a huge thing to just gloss over? And the cheap “Oh yeah, it’s my cousin Selek! We all remember him!” crap–come on. I don’t buy it, Sarek and Amanda wouldn’t have bought it, and even baby Spock would’ve probably demanded to know biggy Spock’s make and model, so to speak.
I do want a sehlat, though, so at least there’s that.
Torie’s Rating: Warp 4
Best Line: SPOCK: There is some human blood in my family line. It is not fatal.
Trivia: D.C. Fontana was a script consultant on the original series and served as story editor and producer for the animated Star Trek. She wanted to write an animated episode that would “touch-back” on the original series, allow Spock to revisit his childhood, expand his relationship with Sarek, and show more of the Vulcan homeworld than was possible in live action. The use of the Guardian of Forever was a convenient way of getting Spock into his own past without wasting valuable exposition, which was needed to fill in the rest of the complex back story.
NBC executives balked at depicting euthanasia, but D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry refused to change the ending. It was intended as a moral lesson for children.
The script indicated that Thelin’s skin should be blue, to match the skin color of the Andorians on the original series, but Filmation often had trouble with colors, leading to some interesting variations on the animated show.
Filmation artists also ignored Fontana’s instruction not to include a moon in Vulcan’s sky (to be consistent with continuity established in “The Man Trap”). Instead, they placed a gigantic planetoid in the background, which also appeared in the theatrical release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. They did, however, recreate the landscape of the Guardian’s planet from “The City on the Edge of Forever.”
Other notes: Mark Lenard (Sarek) was only one of three actors to reprise his character from the original series on the animated show. James Doohan recorded Sarek’s lines for this episode before Lenard became available.
The director’s son, Keith Sutherland, provided the voice of the bully insulting Spock.
In their Star Trek Chronology, Michael and Denise Okuda decided that this episode was the only one of the animated series to be included as canon because of Fontana’s importance in building Spock’s character in the original series and because material in “Unification” (TNG) and “Journey to Babel” reinforced events in “Yesteryear.” Consequently, other references began appearing in Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise.
This is one of three animated episodes that does not take place on the Enterprise bridge.
This was the second episode to air in most of the United States, but it was the first to air in Los Angeles. It was swapped with “Beyond the Farthest Star,” since George Takei was running for public office and NBC would have had to offer equal air time to his opponents if they had broadcast an episode which featured his voice as Sulu.
D.C. Fontana recycled the plot of this episode on Land of the Lost in the 1974 episode “Elsewhen.”
The animated series was nominated in the First Annual Emmy Awards for Daytime Programming in “Outstanding Entertainment Children’s Series” based on this episode.
Star Trek 101 by Terry J. Erdman and Paula M. Block named this the best episode of the animated series.
This episode was adapted into a View-Master reel entitled Mr. Spock’s Time Trek.
The story “The Chimes at Midnight” in Star Trek: Myriad Universes further explores the differences in the timeline in which Spock died.
Previous episode: Season 1, Episode 1 – “Beyond the Farthest Star.”
Next episode: Season 1, Episode 3 – “One of Our Planets is Missing.” US residents can watch it for free at the CBS website.
Wow, both of you are pretty tough on this. I think you need to adjust for the format more. There’s a very limited amount of time to tell a story and while it isn’t dumbed down as much as later cartoons would be, it is still geared toward children. I bet both of you will bump this up in the wrap-up.
Looking at some of your plot complaints: You could argue that because Spock was in the past while the historians were recording recent Vulcan history, they “taped over” events as they happened in the prime universe. Spock’s faulty memory can be put down to a combination of things. First of all, young Spock was in a rather emotional state during these events and was probably also not yet fully trained in Vulcan memory techniques. There’s also the fact that adult Spock’s timing was off slightly, making any memories he had faulty. As for Thelin, when they were researching what happened to Spock, it was determined that Sarek had been on over 30 ambassadorial missions. He obviously sublimated his grief over the loss of his wife and son by immersing himself in work. One of his successes may have been bringing the Andorians into the Federation.
All that said, within the continuity of the Guardian as established in “City on the Edge of Forever”, the people at the site should have remembered Spock. The problems should have come after beaming up. Also, Kirk’s final statement was a total dick move.
One thing that’s interesting to note is that animated Spock often looks more like Zachary Quinto than Leonard Nimoy. Look at the cast picture you’re using on the index page. Totally reboot Spock.
“What’s an Andorian doing in Starfleet?” Why wouldn’t there be? They were at least in uniform by the movie era, and I would be surprised if they hadn’t turned up sooner.
Wasn’t Andoria already a member of the Federation in Journey to Babel? Wasn’t the ‘Andorian’ who caused the problems in that episode identified (more like suggested) as really being an Orion? I can accept that Andorians were in Starfleet though we just didn’t get to see any in uniform during the Original Series.
Spock’s memory problems could have been one effect of act of going back to his past. The fact that that past had been changed once already established that the past was not something written in stone as soon as it happened. Had Older Spock talked to younger Spock a little bit sooner – or later – than he had in the timeline we saw, might younger Spock have left the house at a different time and his path not cross with the le-metya?
On Cousin Selek. I’m wondering if Spock would have been able to ‘remember’ him before his (Spock’s) timeline became disrupted. Did those memories appear as soon as Spock realized what had happened and he began searching for a way to correct it? He’s thinking about something he will do but he will be doing it in his past so what he is now only deciding to do is already in his memory. Additionally. You are thinking about Selek from our hyper-suspicious Twenty-First century American perspective. Selek/Spock was a part of their family and therefore would have been presenting all the correct cues that would have made his story acceptable to Sarek, Amanda and young Spock. And what I’ve understood of Vulcan society suggests that the family would not have felt the need to be skeptical.
One more thing. I still can’t help feeling that I-Chaya did not follow Spock in the original timeline. With the distraction of the pet removed, Spock may have either become aware of the threat soon enough to avoid it, or his timing may have been different and the encounter didn’t happen. This, then, leads back to the big unanswered question. What did cause the change that prompted Spock to have to go back?
Paradox – Time Quake – Force: Infinity.
Andoria was a founding member of the Federation, so finding one in Starfleet is as surprising as finding a paradox in a time travel story.
I’m pegging this as a 6. I’m curious to see if you give higher scores to another episode.
Oh, and Thelin wound up as a helmsman on the Farragut, according to the Farragut Animated fan film project.
This discussion of nonhuman Starfleet members has made me realize just how few of them we saw in TOS. If memory serves, there were only two: Spock, and Garth of Izar. Can anyone think of any others?
The time-travel paradox that sets up the plot doesn’t bother me as much as the Second Marty Paradox at the end: where is the Spock who remembers I-Chaya’s death?
I’ve read Foster’s novelization several times, but I think this is the first time since the original broadcasts that I’ve actually seen this episode. I didn’t remember what the Vulcan healer looked like (bald, with a beard?!?), and I also found Spock’s school uniform (I assume that’s what it was) to be kind of skimpy.
This was solid middle grade episode in my opinion. Not stellar but not horrid either. Yeah if you think about the time travel it seems kind of silly that Spock was ever in danger. However I liked the look at Spock’s family and his childhood.
That said I must imagine it galled DC to actually see it. She wrote an episode that requires dramtic performances and filmation animation just can deliver anything more expressive than a shifty eye and a raise eye brow. Thank goodness there was no love story.
@5 Johnny Perez
Garth of Izar was human, but augmented.
I can’t think of any alien Starfleet personnel that we see on-screen in TOS (There was a vulcan ship mentioned in the Doomsday Machine, but it’s not clear if it was in the fleet.) Obviously, that was for budget reasons.
The USS Intrepid was cited as having been manned by a Vulcan crew in The Immunity Syndrome.
@8 Ludon
Ah! Wrong giant space thingy.
@1 DemetriosX
Wow, both of you are pretty tough on this. I think you need to adjust for the format more.
I’m tough on lazy writing. Other episodes of the animated series manage to make a lot more sense with the same limitations on time and format.
@2 S. Hutson Blount
For some reason I didn’t even realize the Andorians were in the Federation in TOS-era. Was “Journey to Babel” clear on that? I know they establish much more of the Andorian backstory in Star Trek: Enterprise, but I’m still blissfully ignorant of most of that show’s “contributions” to the canon. Considering the series establishes that humans smell bad to Vulcans, I’m not all that anxious to see what other surprises it has in store for me.
@4 ChurchHatesTucker
I’m curious to see if you give higher scores to another episode.
As am I.
@5 Johnny Pez
where is the Spock who remembers I-Chaya’s death?
Man, the plot holes just keep getting bigger.
And Spock’s uniform kind of reminded me of a diaper. Someone should have gotten Bill Thiess to come up with costume designs for the animated characters.
@6 bobsandiego
Thank goodness there was no love story.
I imagine this is something that will be missing from all the animated episodes…?
There are some people who just hate the animated series, and absolutely refuse to give it any kind of chance even when they are watching it. That is OK. Speaking for myself, I still enjoy the show. Most old-school fans do, and most TNG-and-later fans don’t.
In fact, it seems like most people who began enjoying Trek during the TNG era don’t particularly like TOS, either.
I completely understand all the arguments against the animated series and share many of them, yet I don’t care. In my opinion it was good.
That much said, in my opinion this is one of the most interesting and best episodes of any Star Trek series, live-action or not. It’s definitely in my top 10. It’s also one of the best examples of TAS, because with its focus on the child Spock’s life, it was written to appeal more to younger viewers.
Anyway, I’m glad you watched it. “Yesteryear” is an example of televised science fiction at its finest. But if you didn’t like it, then I’d advise not wasting your time watching the rest of the series.
@11 cynos
But if you didn’t like it, then I’d advise not wasting your time watching the rest of the series.
Quitting isn’t an option! Just because I didn’t think this one deserves its lofty reputation doesn’t mean I didn’t like elements of it and the intent behind it. It just fell short of success for me. And I’ve enjoyed other episodes before and after this one much more, so I’m happy to see the rest of the series, however uneven it might be.
Oh, and if Selek hadn’t been there to incapacitate the le-matya, then the le-matya would’ve killed both I-Chaya and Spock.
Spock has said he doesn’t often think about the past. To me that sounds like a good way to go. Anyway, he would not tend to cling to emotional incidents from his childhood. That’s the whole point . . . He said goodbye to the minor details of his emotional life, in favor of devotion to logic. Those memories were repressed.
About the boy’s outfit . . . It’s hot on Vulcan. Pants are optional.
As for how this mess started in the first place . . . Apparently, a person can be in two places at once, but not even Spock can manage to be in three places at once.
I’ve not been keeping up lately because I’ve wanted to actually watch the episodes for the first time before I actually read the posts about them.
So I just finished watching this one and I completely agree with both Eugene and Torie. The story was seriously weak in a number of places. The whole concept of how Spock’s timeline got changed in the first place didn’t make any sense at all, and the added change of his pet dying was just as bad. I rolled my eyes a lot.
I also want to know what happened to the Andorian once the timeline was changed back (sorta).
Also, the death of a beloved pet has a huge impact on one’s life. I can’t imagine that Spock’s life wouldn’t have been rather substantially changed by that. And he should have noticed. And Kirk was just cruel. Obviously he didn’t have pets when he was a kid and he’s just jealous.
For the record, I was a fan of the original series long before I ever grew to like TNG. I might be overly critical of this episode given that it’s a cartoon but even as a kid I would have noticed the really bad explanations for the timeline changes.
I just watched this episode for the first time and I really enjoyed it, though I can understand your critical comments. I think a 4 is a fair score (maybe even a wee bit generous, but you don’t do half-warps, so…). After all, it’s totally fan service over substance.
The first eight minutes make absolutely no sense at all. I can buy the Federation taping the Guardian’s playback for historical research purposes, but I doubt it would sanction joyrides by Kirk and company, and I doubt Kirk would want to anyway, given his history. Then, when the timeline is apparently altered, the explanation makes no sense. If Spock was originally supposed to go to Vulcan’s past instead of Orion’s, what caused the change? What causes the timeline to change again so that Spock’s sehlat dies? Was it because Spock went back at a different time? There’s not enough (more like zero) explanation.
However, none of it matters because the whole point of the episode is to send Spock back to revisit his childhood, which is awesome. There are lots of nifty little additions to the canon, and it’s great to see Sarek and Amanda again. And Spock rides a giant poisonous mountain lion and nerve-pinches it! I mean, how cool is that? There’s even time for a Vulcan after-school special. It’s classic children’s television.
I had the Viewmaster reel for this episode when I was ~8 years old, so there’s no way I can be objective about this one. I disagree with the supposed weaknesses, however.
Folks are quite blasé about time travel on this thread. It’s so easy to understand, that we can say that its illogical for the time stream to have been disturbed in the first place, and Spock obviously can’t help but restore everything exactly the way it was, just because he did it the first time (even though obviously he can’t remember events from Selek’s perspective). I don’t buy that–once the time stream is changed, it’s changed, and there’s no reason Spock would be fated to imitate Selek perfectly (after all, we are given no reason to believe that the circumstances of Selek’s visit were the same the first time). The emotional thread here is Spock coming to terms with his past, confronting himself as a boy, and (more than just saving him during the kahs-wan) trying to impart some of the wisdom he wishes he had known then, precisely because they are things no one ever told him. Otherwise, why would he tell Sarek to be more understanding to his son?
The emotional truth of looking into your past as an adult is that it is never quite the same as you remember it to be. Messing around with history in the Guardian is, and should be, a dangerous, chancy, inconsistent endeavor. The death of the sehlat is what you remember about the episode. I don’t agree that some convenient technobabble explanation as to why it happened and all its ramifications would have made the episode better. I don’t see lazy writing here, but an episode that is daring and startlingly original. The things that aren’t fully explained (how is Spock different now? How else has the timestream changed? What happened to Thelin?) provide more satisfying food for thought than half a dozen other episodes that just retread themes from TOS and tie everything up in a nice bow.
I don’t mean to be negative! It’s just that I am usually only inspired to post here when I find something that I disagree with. Otherwise, I just post a comment on my own site, saying “Eugene and Torie nailed this one! You should check out their take!”
I agree that many are Way to critical of TAS especially seeing how it is the series that actually won an Emmy award. It is also now considered canon (mostly) and even J.J Abrams used various elements in his movies. Although I’m not a big fan of his reboot film’s. However, we first learn what the T in James T Kirk stands for thanks to TAS (Tiberius). The scene in 2009’s Star Trek with young Spock being bullied was inspired and culled from this episode. Another point is the mythos that was was a children’s show when it’s been acknowledged by the writer’s and Gene Roddenberry that it’s (another first) an adult/family animated series and is often recognized as essentially the the fourth and fifth season or continuation of TOS. Understandably compared to today’s standards in animation it may fall short technically. But, considering that The Slaver Weapon is based off of Larry Nivan’s The Soft Weapon and many original TOS writer’s wrote for TAS… Maybe check out well known writer’s (Trek) rewatched comments. They offer better insight and facts than I can. Also, I’ve noticed DemetriosX is a great contributor/commenter on the Tor.com rewatch site! I do enjoy all view points though and it’s fascinating to hear multiple perspectives. There’s also been various book’s written that follow up with these characters and some of the stories as well.