Star Trek: The Original Series - "Miri" Full Reaction!
Added 2023-10-16 17:00:04 +0000 UTCWatch along with your own copy of the episode! :)
Comments
It’s a weird ep for sure…. A ‘season 1’ type misfire … a complex topic, horror, and mature themes… not quite handled with the nuance we would want today. However taking a big swing on these topics in 1968 was very brave and unconventional. One day we’ll get to the first on tv interracial kiss in an episode… (different times!)
Gregory Middleton
2024-03-10 19:18:21 +0000 UTCI wonder when there will be an episode where you don't start with "I've always really liked this episode" :D
bunnytails
2023-10-26 04:02:01 +0000 UTCThanks, I'll look for that girl too!
bunnytails
2023-10-26 04:00:22 +0000 UTChis real daughter??? Ohh I'll have to go back and look :D
bunnytails
2023-10-26 03:59:43 +0000 UTCWell, not to spoil anything but I watched 2 episodes recently that I really REALLY enjoyed! I'm gonna get one edited to render before I go to sleep so you should see it soon :D
bunnytails
2023-10-26 03:59:10 +0000 UTCI like the point you made about the lesson. I had not thought about it that way. Thanks :D
bunnytails
2023-10-26 03:56:50 +0000 UTCNot my favorite episode. There are worse, but this one feels longer because of the lackluster writing. Speaking of the suspension of disbelief, this is a problem I've had with modern sci-fi reboots (Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who) where the writing goes so far off the rails that I can't engage the with story. Thankfully, there is the classic Trek. * In addition to Shatner's kid, there is a little platinum blond girl wearing a red shirt in the background who gets a lot screen time. That's Dawn Roddenberry -- Gene Roddenberry's daughter.
Ron
2023-10-22 20:46:13 +0000 UTCThe girl who played Miri was 19 and the guy who played Jahn was 27 . The“just like Earth “ was for budget reasons by using sets on the studio lot, Miri wasn’t tricking them but she was jealous when she saw Kirk holding Janice . Also the girl Kirk was holding at the end was Bill Shatner’s real daughter
Michael Matthews
2023-10-21 16:16:10 +0000 UTCIf I'm putting this into my own weird and vague tier system of personal favourites I think I'd probably place it a pip or two below "Charlie X." If I'm calling that one something a little above average then I think "Miri" ends up somewhere a little below average. I have a hard time calling any of the episodes in my favourite series "bad." There's a lot of "bad" tv out there and this isn't it, but it's definitely not one of better TOS episodes imo. There's some expanded universe stuff (novels, etc) that create an entire backstory for this planet in an attempt to explain the whole "parallel" thing. I haven't read it myself but I always enjoyed the companion novels that were written and I'm sure that one is just as enjoyable as the others, you'll just have to decide for yourself how "canon" those things are. My own way of explaining it, and what I think the writers might have been going for, its that the planet was "parallel" with Earth in the sense that it had a similar evolutionary tract and that's why it developed human-like inhabitants. As a behind the scenes reason the writers needed different ways to explain why so many alien environments always look like Earth, mostly as a way to keep the costs of things like set design down. They often, such as in this episode, reused existing sets on the Paramount filming lot. The Miri/Kirk stuff is weird for all of the reasons, but I think what they were going for is that Kirk was able to use Miri's teenage crush as a good faith way to get the information he needed and not anything predatory or icky. At least that's what I choose to go with. I like the sci-fi concepts, the disease and whatnot, I just feel like the execution was off in this one. As if a bunch of different ideas were thrown together haphazardly in order to get us where we needed to be. I do love me some well-written out-of-context dialogue, however, and the exchange upon first meeting Miri is quite well done. At the risk of overhyping some things, the good news for myself anyways, is that some of my personal top tier eps are right around the corner and I'm very excited to see your reaction to them. Good stuff as always, see you in the next one 🙂
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2023-10-18 21:12:15 +0000 UTCI agree Bunny, this was not one of my favorite episodes either.
Carlos Stevens
2023-10-17 07:44:18 +0000 UTCThis was the first time in the series they filmed outdoors without using a set for the outside. This was the backlot at Desilu where "The Andy Griffith Show" was filmed
Ryan Leong
2023-10-17 02:12:16 +0000 UTCWow, this is definitely a weird episode, and all I remember from it was a bunch of diseased kids on an Earth-type planet. I had no idea that Kirk and Miri had this kind of... infatuation? I can totally understand why a modern audience would have a major issue with it, and I kinda thought Yeoman Rand was going to be the one to connect with Miri. Not Kirk. That said, I kinda get why it was written this way. I imagine a good chunk of Star Trek's audience at the time was older kids and teenagers, many of whom might have had a crush on Kirk or Spock. I imagine Miri was supposed to represent that audience. Kirk could have possibly acted as a father figure instead and Rand a mother figure, but I think that would have gone against the "lesson" of the episode which seemed to be that growing up is a good thing, and one should not be afraid of it. Also, Jahn, the leader of the kids, was in his late 20s during filming. :p
SuicuneSol
2023-10-17 00:24:14 +0000 UTCI've always really liked this episode, going so far as to put into my 'upper tier' listing of episodes. The idea of a disease that causes aging to stop and everyone to act like kids for hundreds of years is a powerful one, and some good acting with all of the people in this episode. Yes, there are planetoids that are not 'sphere' shaped, but only ones with atmosphere could support life. It's never really said how 'old' that Miri and the other kids are. I'd guess Mini to be around 16, and that the virus fully 'kicks' in about that age and becomes fatal. 'Copies of Earth's' and the like is something that is used a lot in Star Trek -- just have to accept it. LOL I always figured Kirk decided it was better for the kids to leave them on the world where they had lived for hundreds of years, they knew and liked and felt comfortable with, then to uproot them and send them somewhere else. The Kirk/Miri relationship is totally troubling when looked at by modern eyes, but I always saw it as Kirk realizing they needed help, and Miri was the best way to get it. He did use her, but he also cared about her -- and all of the other kids -- and wanted to help them. I do wish they hadn't glossed over the 'converting the kids to help' scene, though. This is probly the strongest episode that Janice Rand was in -- and yes, those uniforms were cut to be totally flatting to woman's figures. :) Finally, I agree with Spock when he says 'I will never understand the medical mind'. McCoy took a huge risk in trying the vaccine on himself, and it's more then just how Vulcans see Humans and vice versa -- as a scientist he can't understand a trained doctor taking that risk on himself. It's like how I can look at a nuclear physicist and be like 'I have no clue how the hell you think or live your life, but that's cool!' The writers were still trying to hammer out the love/hate relationship between Spock and McCoy at this point.
Greg Polander
2023-10-16 18:23:15 +0000 UTC
