"Who Mourns for Adonais" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2
Added 2024-02-23 19:00:03 +0000 UTCSync up with me using your own copy of the episode!
Comments
You are spot on about Scotty here. I think the writers felt that if they needed a hothead then Scotty was the guy. It happens several times. I will talk more about this lazy writing when you get to a later episode. It's a shame because he is such a great character, and James Doohan is a great guy. I actually met him once when he came to town to do a lecture. He was Canadian, and was wounded and lost a finger on D-Day during the invasion. He does a really good job of hiding his right hand during filming. You will find that Star Trek touches on religion a lot. It was an area that Roddenberry was always fascinated with exploring. I am not a theologist, but I have always felt that any god that forces worship from followers is unworthy of that worship. Nonetheless, I was always sad for Apollo at the end. Worship, like love, is best when freely given.
John DiGiantomasso
2024-09-07 04:30:37 +0000 UTCThanks!
bunnytails
2024-02-27 06:07:15 +0000 UTCAnother great reaction 😃 the WOST are so beautiful. They have a set of cards for Women of Star Trek. It was great watching the show when I was a teenager 😍😍😍
Perry Campbell
2024-02-27 05:35:41 +0000 UTCI thought so too
bunnytails
2024-02-26 20:17:25 +0000 UTCI did not 😲
bunnytails
2024-02-26 20:15:59 +0000 UTCDid you see the juxtaposition between this episode and Charlie X? Both Apollo and Charlie wanted the same thing.
Carlos Stevens
2024-02-26 06:38:09 +0000 UTCThanks for a wonderful thoughtful reaction. I did wish Kirk would have offered friendship, a relationship as equals to Apollo… even if he was challenged to accept it. Scotty being occasionally reckless, despite his extreme levelheaded demeanour in most episodes, does happen… In one episode he starts an actual brawl with a bunch of klingons - against explicit direct orders from Kirk!
Gregory Middleton
2024-02-25 06:07:06 +0000 UTCI appreciate your pointing out the character assassination done to Scotty here, Bunny. If the producers needed a lovelorn officer losing his head over Lieutenant Palamas' courtship by Apollo, they could've had a new character in that role, instead of someone who has demonstrated cool-headed determination under fire on numerous occasions. I'm all for seeing the main characters in romantic circumstances, but not when it means undermining them. The cut scene with Carolyn's pregnancy and the meaning behind the title have already been explained, so all I have to add is a movie recommendation: "Bright Star" is a 2009 biography of the poet John Keats and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. I realize this has almost no relevance to the episode, but your research into the meaning of the title reminded me of it. I hope you have a chance to see it someday, and that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Lee
2024-02-24 03:50:36 +0000 UTCYeah, Scotty acts very out of character in this episode. Compare his emotional inability to control himself here to the way he focuses on his tasks and the problems at hand in The Galileo Seven. He doesn't even seem like the same guy...
Derek H.
2024-02-24 00:17:05 +0000 UTCBunny Once again refering to our favorite show bible - “Adonais was an elegy written by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1821 after the death of fellow poet John Keats. Line 415 reads, “Who mourns for Adonais?” The Hebrew word “adonai” translates to “god.” Adonis was the name of the Greek god of beauty. Shelley combined the word “adonai” with the name “Adonis” to come up with “Adonais.” And continuing from the same chapter - Leslie Parrish on the pink gown: “I especially loved Bill Theiss for that crazy gown. What happened is he threw a bolt of cloth over me--this beautiful cloth--and just pinned it at my waist and said, ‘There, that’s your costume.’ The weight of it held it over my shoulder.” “Ahh, the gown,” said Dorothy Fontana. “The Theiss theory of titillation was that you could show a lot of basically nonsexual flesh, like the back, the side of the leg, bare arms, bare shoulders, skimpy in those areas, and people would be waiting for the dress to fall. But, of course, Bill made sure the outfit never did fall ... well, sort of. The weight of the cape over her one shoulder kind of held the front of the dress up--so that was okay if she was just moving easily--but when she had to be throwing herself on the ground, rolling around, she had to be glued into that thing.” — These are the Voyages - TOS: Season Two by Marc Cushman, Susan Osborn - Chapter 6. The book refers after many rewrites and tweaks the story had Bones reveal to Kirk in the closing scene that Carolyn was pregnant. NBC said NO!
Dave Riley
2024-02-23 22:43:56 +0000 UTCThis is probably the most recognizable episode of Star Trek for me. Why? My earliest memories come from this episode, and it was among the first I'd seen. I've almost completely memorized the sequence of events, from the giant hand to Apollo fading away. Iconic. On Kirk's line regarding God, I thought it was a clever way to respect religious viewers while also throwing some shade. I've always interpreted Kirk's tone with a little sarcasm, as if he was saying "One God is annoying enough; we don't need any more". Also, this is one episode where I preferred the original hand effects. FYI Gene Roddenberry used his own hand in the original FX while this updated version uses CG. So I feel some historical authenticity was lost here.
SuicuneSol
2024-02-23 22:42:34 +0000 UTC"Adonai" was the ancient Hebrews' word for "The Lord" or "God," as opposed to the NAME of God, which was Yahweh. So ... "Adonais" is plural for that term, so ... "Who Mourns for the Gods?" — Star Trek's poetic way of referring to Apollo's people. Shelley also used the term poetically for his Keats elegy. A lot of people misread the title as "Who Mourns for Adonis?" But Apollo was not the same god as Adonis. i guess Adonis spread himself thinner and thinner like the rest, so is gone, too. In that regard, the misreading makes some sense. But the reference is to the ancient Hebrew.
J. Scott Phillips
2024-02-23 22:13:07 +0000 UTCGreat reaction as always Bunny! Once again you gave me new stuff to think about and consider, and I agree with you about most of your thoughts. For me, this episode is totally in the 'average' or 'C' grade for me -- a very good and interesting idea with some great sets and location and amazing acting again (once again, two experienced guest stars) which was badly hurt by lazy scripts, weird dialogue, and not having characters act the way they should. (Scotty being the prime example here). The first part of the episode with the conversation on the Bridge bothers me some to hear it in 2024 but I understand that was common behavior and thoughts about men and women back in the 1960's. Your research on the title is correct -- the only thing I can add to it is that the poem, in a VERY rough sense, is asking the reader 'who mourns for these gods of ancient times, if anyone does at all?' -- which is the main theme for this episode. Despite not being a fan favorite, events and characters from this episode have been used a few times since, in some fan made faction such as books. You may also be interested to know that the original script for this episode called for Carolyn Palamas to be pregnant with Apollo's child, whom she names Athena. This was removed from the filmed version, but again that point has inspired some fan fiction over the years. It was nice to see Uhura doing something besides just working at her station or singing -- she was actually using her technical skills to good effect. In conclusion, I can only guess Apollo was so fascinated, and in love, with the people of ancient Greece -- and ONLY those people -- that the idea of starting over somewhere else was just totally alien to him, and not something that he would ever consider. And yes, that was a very sick burn that Carolyn gave Apollo compared him to bacteria. Ouch!
Greg Polander
2024-02-23 20:49:22 +0000 UTC
