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The Final Frontier Podcast continues our Star Trek: The Original Series review with “The Paradise Syndrome,” an episode where Captain Kirk gets amnesia, becomes a god, gets married, gets someone pregnant, and somehow all of that is only part of the problem.
While Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and the USS Enterprise desperately try to stop an asteroid from destroying an Earth-like planet, Kirk falls through a trap door, forgets who he is, gets adopted by a Native American-inspired society, and begins living what is apparently his best life.
Naturally, we have questions.
Jake and Justin break down Star Trek: The Paradise Syndrome scene by scene, including Kirk’s selective amnesia, Miramanee, Salish losing his job and fiancée to a random white guy from space, Kirk’s extremely questionable 1968 CPR technique, the infamous Native American representation, and William Shatner making some truly incredible acting choices.
We also dig into the genuinely interesting Star Trek lore surrounding the Preservers, the mysterious alien obelisk, and one of the earliest attempts to explain why so many human-looking civilizations exist throughout the galaxy.
And then there’s the science.
Why does the Enterprise struggle so badly to move an asteroid in space? Why does Spock repeatedly insist they have no time while having extremely long conversations? Couldn’t they just use the tractor beam? And why does Kirk apparently know how to perform CPR while being completely unable to remember his own name?
Also discussed:
Kirk’s parrot cape.
Spock seeing things during the mind meld that he can never unsee.
Whether Kirk sniffed a pine tree.
The possibility that “The Asteroid Problem” would make an excellent ska band.
And perhaps most importantly: How did a woman write this episode?
Is The Paradise Syndrome an interesting Star Trek concept trapped inside some very questionable 1960s storytelling?
Or is this entire episode just one gigantic “oh no”?
Join us for another episode of The Final Frontier Podcast as we continue our journey through Star Trek: The Original Series.
đź–– Watch along and prosper.
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