The Paradise Syndrome by: Margaret Armen and directed by: Jud Taylor

 

“The Paradise Syndrome” is written by: Margaret Armen and is directed by: Jud Taylor.  It was filmed under production code 58, was the 3^rd episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 58^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on October 4, 1968.

 

Margaret Armen wrote her first episode of Star Trek in the second season with “The Gamesters of Triskelion”, an episode that I took particular ire with due to a rather uncomfortable plot about slavery full of sexual assault on top of collaring the only black person you have on your show.  Armen’s second script “The Paradise Syndrome” continues the trend of a racially uncomfortable A-plot and a B-plot that is superior in almost every way.  Now, Armen in between the episodes has improved because the script itself actually has some weight behind it.  The premise is classic Star Trek: there is an Earth like planet that the Enterprise discovers is in the path of an asteroid, the civilization is primitive and has not developed space travel or defense, but on a scouting mission Kirk falls down a hole and is rightfully abandoned so Spock can save the planet.  Kirk on the planet suffers memory loss and is brought into the society as a god destined to save the day and win the girl.  The Enterprise plot is once again the B-plot, obviously since William Shatner receives top billing so Kirk’s memory loss and integration into the society takes top priority, but it’s also the best thing about the episode.  Margaret Armen has this innate sense on how to write Spock and McCoy’s dynamic, slotting in Scotty as the third person in the trio just to add to some of the chaos.  It’s another example of a plot where Spock’s logic while the correct decisions does not lead to a smooth outcome: the Enterprise is unable to destroy the asteroid and it drains the ship’s power so two months pass before they get back to the planet.  James Doohan as Scotty has this amazing sequence of warnings and outbursts, plus the wry comments when the camera lingers on the engine rooms.  Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are also excellent in particular, overcoming the fact that in terms of direction there isn’t actually much vision for the episode.  Nimoy and Kelley are actors who have fully internalized their characters and know just how to play the scenes, Nimoy in particular proves why he’s the strongest link in the cast.

 

Shatner, on the other hand, really struggles with the material.  The script from Armen clearly has the character of Kirk underlying the complete amnesiac Kirk, but Shatner insists on playing the character as an almost complete blank slate.  Shatner plays going to integrate and lead these people to some sort of safety as if his character doesn’t understand what he’s doing instead of a more appropriate why his character is doing these things.  Some of this should be laid at the feet of director Jud Taylor in his first of five Star Trek episodes: Taylor doesn’t really direct any of the actors to emote in any way and that is particularly the case of Kirk’s love interest played by Sabrina Scharf.  The script is doing the work and Shatner as an actor generally can make some sort of chemistry with just about any female pairing, but Scharf in particular is just difficult to watch in terms of performance which is only expanded by the elephant in the room.  The society on this planet is Native American and yes that does mean that a majority of the supporting cast are not Native actors.  The costumes are essentially every stereotype for a Native American that you’d imagine from a piece of media from the 1960s, the script explicitly saying it is an amalgam of three separate groups, not drawing really from any of them.  Credit where credit is due Armen is clearly attempting to be respectful, but in doing so ends up baking this script in ideas of the noble savage as well as making Kirk and the Enterprise essentially white saviors.  It’s a story that’s incredibly predictable, there is a native rival for Kirk who is a true savage that must be defeated and his love makes her noble sacrifice because Kirk needs an excuse to leave.  There’s also this particularly uncomfortable moment early on where the characters muse on the possibility of other more advanced humans just waiting to come in contact with the tribe, which in a show that has in multiple ways shown planets that follow the history of Earth may be implying the centuries of imperialistic bloodshed and genocide to befall these people.

 

Overall, however, despite those many red flags “The Paradise Syndrome” is at least an improvement over “The Gamesters of Triskelion”.  While it’s clear that the script hasn’t been looked over by the usual team since this is the third season, Armen actually has a plot that under a different circumstance and a better director would at least be engaging in both the A and B plotlines and the minority characters aren’t entirely treated for laughs this time as her previous script.  There’s still the issue of Armen being a white woman who clearly means well but hasn’t thought through the implications of the way she includes minorities in her scripts but it has lessened.  The performances and poor direction are what’s stopping this from at least being an average episode of Star Trek, but subpar is certainly a better achievement than last time Armen wrote for the series.  4/10.