Is There in Truth No Beauty? by: Jean Lisette Aroeste and directed by: Ralph Senensky

 

“Is There in Truth No Beauty?” is written by: Jean Lisette Aroeste and is directed by: Ralph Senensky.  It was filmed under production code 62, was the 5^th episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 60^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on October 18, 1968.

 

I have the sneaking suspicion that Star Trek’s third season is going to flip flop quite often in terms of quality.  After two weeks of mid to outright awful episodes, I have come to “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”, which while not an episode much spoken of, is an episode that perhaps should be given a second look by fans who may have forgotten it in what it’s generally surrounded by.  Jean Lisette Aroeste, according to Wikipedia, was a librarian who sold this and one other script to Star Trek with no prior television experience.  It’s something that feels out of place considering television today is rarely that easy to break into, so Aroeste managing to sell two scripts and be one of four writers to do so for Star Trek is already an achievement.  Aroeste’s Star Trek work would also be the only work in film or television, continuing her career as a librarian.  Now, not coming from a television background explains what is holding “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” back from reaching the heights of some of the best Star Trek episodes.  This is an episode that structurally has some rather large issues, mainly because the general plot of the episode shifts between the acts as problems arise and are resolved.  While it’s not uncommon for a new problem to arise at the end of the second act of a story, a risky gambit at the best of times, the plot of the episode largely shifts at the end of the first act as well, leaving some of the ideas Aroeste is exploring limited into essentially 20-minute segments.

 

“Is There in Truth No Beauty?” is largely a piece of very human drama about a woman attempting to live in a world that clearly does not understand her.  Dr. Miranda Jones is a psychologist, played by Diana Muldaur, putting her career over being a man and working with a Medusan ambassador, Kollos, a character that cannot be seen without going mad and only Jones and Spock seeing them through a visor.  Jones is perhaps one of the most fleshed out female characters in Star Trek, despite being a one-off character, largely being defined as a woman who wishes for more of her career and connection with helping the wider galaxy over tying herself to a man.  Muldaur’s performance is particularly fascinating throughout the episode, she is constantly being the one to discuss her own goals and retort to the crew largely diminishing her down to her looks.  It’s particularly fascinating since Star Trek has this problem of not really characterizing the female characters, Jones still ends the episode in a mind link with Kollos but Aroeste is clearly attempting to avoid the connection of women being defined by men.  Kollos, while portrayed by Leonard Nimoy as Spock in the initial mind meld in the third act of the episode, is characterized as truly alien, not understanding the need of senses nor necessarily understanding the madness they impart.  The second and third acts also strand the Enterprise leading to the mind meld, which is where the regular cast is generally occupied with conflict which is perfectly fine conflict but leads to large sidelining of the main cast.  It also has the fascinating reveal that Dr. Miranda Jones is blind, making her a disabled woman actively working in a world that is against her.

 

The first act is particularly the strongest, and the one with the most human drama, as Jones is pursued by the affections of Larry Marvick, played by David Frankham.  Marvick’s descent into madness is excellent, Ralph Senensky’s direction throughout this sequence and the final act is particularly great at setting up interesting shots and lighting to portray the madness, enhancing an already great performance.  It’s the part of the episode that largely explores Jones’ telepathic abilities and establish what may be the central theme of Star Trek’s vision of the future in a handy little catchphrase: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.  The only thing bringing that down is the fact that it is introduced in a handy little badge integrated to clearly sell replicas for the general audience.  As an idea, however, it’s something that is utterly fascinating and utopian, despite the fact that much of Star Trek has actively gone against that due to the biases of series creator Gene Roddenberry and the television culture of the time, and culture of the future of the franchise.

 

Overall, it’s genuinely surprising to me that the larger Star Trek fandom doesn’t seem to appreciate what “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” is largely going for.  Taking cues from The Tempest and from a writer clearly interested in pushing what she sees as deficiencies in Star Trek it’s actually a very interesting human drama that doesn’t quite fit within the usual fare for the show.  Structurally there are certainly issues with the script, and some of the messaging feels as if the editing by the series’ regular crew dulled some of the edges.  It’s actually a pretty good time if lacking in action and in need of a bit more structural stability and thematic exploration o push it into great territory.  7/10.