The Practical Joker by: Chuck Menville and Len Janson and directed by: Bill Reed

 

“The Practical Joker” is written by: Chuck Menville and Len Janson and is directed by: Bill Reed.  It was produced under production code 22021, was the 3^rd episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 2, was the 19^th episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and was broadcast on September 21, 1974.

 

Sometimes you just want an episode of television that is a bit of fun and that’s exactly what “The Practical Joker” brings to Star Trek: The Animated Series.  Like the previous episode this is one that introduces a piece of lore, mainly the predecessor to the holodeck which as far as I am aware is one of those things that will be a big part of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  What’s kind of funny is that here the rec room is just a small part of an episode that decides to have fun by going full weird.  The central mystery is the Enterprise crew experiencing a series of practical jokes from their glasses being full of white liquid that spills on them, forks bending and dropping food, food dispensers dispensing ludicrous amounts of fruit, and laundry writing “Kirk is a Jerk” on the back of his uniform which I could not believe was an actual thing that happened in an episode of Star Trek and not a shitpost because of William Shatner’s general demeanor.  Doing an episode like “The Practical Joker” in animation could be a worry due to how limited Filmation’s animation standards were.  Yes, there’s still something quite static when the dialogue is happening, but even with the shortcuts being taken for very good reason in getting the episode in under the deadline.

 

Chuck Menville and an uncredited Len Janson write a script that actually increases in tension, the jokes start harmless as mentioned but eventually become more dangerous.  There’s also a secondary threat of the Romulans, the Enterprise accidentally entering Romulan space and by the end of the episode providing their ship with the same practical jokes the crew have had to deal with.  The big twist is that there isn’t a single joker on board, but the actual computer of the Enterprise is malfunctioning because of an energy field it passed through and playing these jokes.  Majel Barrett actually might be giving her best Star Trek performance here as the computer, using just enough emotion to communicate a childish sense of glee at the jokes being played while still holding back that artificial voice.  In fact, the entire cast of the episode seems to really be cutting loose, they know the episode has quite the silly premise and are playing into it with the slight exception of William Shatner who is just giving his usual performance as Kirk.  Menville and Janson also do a surprisingly good job of balancing the episode so everyone in the cast at least has something to do, which is an especially good feat since this is still just a 25-minute episode of television.  Okay, it’s accomplished by keeping characters in groups, but historically Star Trek has even struggled with doing this in even the standard hour-long episodes of the original series.  The weaknesses of Menville and Janson as writers, not usually writing in science fiction, does mean that the resolution of the episode is particularly ridiculous, just going through the field again to fix the computer and make the Romulan’s computer become a joker.  It's a resolution that doesn’t make sense but I can’t help but still enjoy the episode because of how much fun everyone is having.

 

Overall, “The Practical Joker” is an episode that isn’t particularly deep and has very little to say on anything, but it does fulfill a brief of being an entertaining episode of television.  The cast is clearly having a lot of fun performing their parts and that shows in the finished product, meaning the audience is going to have fun.  If Star Trek: The Animated Series was more like this it might get tired fast, but after a few weeks of boredom, this feels like a shot in the arm to finish the episode count strong.  7/10.

Bem by: David Gerrold and directed by: Bill Reed

 

“Bem” is written by: David Gerrold and is directed by: Bill Reed.  It was produced under production code 22018, was the 2^nd episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 2, was the 18^th episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and was broadcast on September 14, 1974.

 

The one thing about “Bem” that stuck with me is that this is where Kirk’s middle name, Tiberius, is first spoken.  Outside of that, it’s among one of those episodes that just kind of exists.  David Gerrold is responsible for the script and there are clearly some ideas there that Gerrold should make work.  Gerrold as a writer has a general understanding of Star Trek, and this episode has a premise that largely should work.  The Enterprise has an ambassador in Bem, an alien with his own morality and an attempt at personality.  It vaguely wants to tackle the question of a space faring civilization encountering aliens and being treated as a god, something that is a tried and true Star Trek premise.  It’s something that Gerrold should really excel at, but honestly this isn’t one that works at all.  Bem as a character feels like an almost needless addition to the plot of the episode that bares his name.  There is this attempt to make some conflict between the crew and Bem, but with the godlike alien acting as a third party which has most of the focus pulled to it there isn’t enough for Bem to work as a character.  He is a character that is basically a troublemaker who strongarms his way into the episode’s plot that he really doesn’t contribute anything too.  The character can detach his own limbs and move them of their own accord which should be a great image, a perfect one for animation, but like so much of this episode it feels like it's there to fill time.

 

“Bem” as an episode is also one where the rest of the cast just feels as if they are getting tired of playing these roles.  Shatner and Nimoy both realize what sort of script this episode is and are just not really caring enough to make much of it interest.  Nichelle Nichols is providing the voice of the godlike alien in addition to Uhura for this episode as Majel Barrett is absent, and once again she is the best thing about a rather bad episode.  So much of the episode also plays into the rather problematic trope of the noble savages, the civilization on this planet is portrayed as completely savage and locks everyone up immediately with the godlike alien being the one that guides their actions.  This honestly also feels like a choice because of the limited casting of Star Trek: The Animated Series not allowing the civilization to be an actual civilization, but knowing the show it is equally likely as a flaw at the original conception of the script.

 

Overall, “Bem” is the second time Star Trek: The Animated Series really falls flat, but this time it’s from a writer I generally really like.  The idea of the character of Bem really deserved focus and characterization, but this is honestly an episode where it feels as if no effort was put in, Gerrold likely having to rewrite his script to make it work in the context of the animated series.  It’s an episode made to just fill a slot in the episode order, making it one of the worst.  2/10.