Rating: 
Summary: Pure 60¿s cheese, as you like it
Review: "This Side of Paradise" - 3.865 stars(a.k.a., "James T. Kirk: Wet Blanket") "For the first time in my life, I was happy" - so says Mr. Spock, when asked to comment upon his experience on Omicron Ceti III. Of course, the duty-bound Joe Friday of space, Captain Kirk, would have none of this nonsense. Perfect health? Bah! Peace? Hooey! Love? He'd rather fight than switch. What a creep. "Man was meant to struggle" Kirk/Friday somberly intones, perfectly embodying the hair shirt anti-pleasure ethic. Living in harmony with nature and one another bad; tearing up the landscape to "accomplish" (i.e., build more starships to endlessly repeat the process) good. Don't ever invite this guy to a party, unless you want it to end. "The Devil in the Dark"- 2.135 stars (a.k.a., "Super Smackdown with The Rock") Our heroes are summoned to a Federation mining operation on Janus VI that is being troubled by one man-eating monster, and quite a few bad actors. Well, they've got quotas to meet, mister, and production is suffering. Who cares about environmental rape - hey, that's what other planets are for! Shoes for industry! The creature looks like a heapin' helpin' of Hamburger Helper dumped on a chenille rug, and man is it ticked off. Good thing Spock can connect because, unlike most of the other aliens in the Star Trek universe, it's English-speaking skills are lacking. It's writing skills, however, are surprisingly good.
Rating: 
Summary: Spores & Aliens
Review: "This Side of Paradise" A planet laced with plants that shoot out spores which make everyone happy & content infects the crew of the Enterprise. How will they break free? "Devil in the Dark" An underground monster is killing a bunch of miners. Why? Watch & find out.
Rating:
Summary: Nimoy in the Spotlight
Review: Both these episodes do a stellar job of spotlighting Leonard Nimoy at his best, and Shatner and DeForest Kelley do pretty well in them too. "This Side of Paradise" finds Spock possessed by alien spores, which - as they have for the human settlers of Omicron Ceti III - give him immortality and a remarkably sunny disposition. As he and the rest of the Enterprise crew succumb to the spores, they lose all ambition and seek nothing more than to become happy stargazers lolling in the fields. Kirk, of course - the ultimate Type A personality - will have none of that, and has to snap his wayward crew out of their lollygagging by inducing violent emotions in them to kill the symbiotically parasitical spores. And that starts with getting Spock really, really mad... Nicely produced, clever story. Nimoy is great, playing against his usual strait-laced character as the laughing, lovesick fool, with the beautiful and charming Jill Ireland. DeForest Kelley gets to put on his natural, down-home Southern drawl, and jus' be a good ol' boy for a while. The confrontation between Kirk and Spock is terrific, and Spock's painful transformation brought on by the spores is very well-handled. "Devil in the Dark" is not as great as most people seem to think it is, its script actually pretty derivative and trite. It is, however, excellently produced and acted, with believable sets and matte shots suggesting a massive, underground mining complex, and great performances from Shatner and (especially) Nimoy. Nimoy had great emotional range and rarely got to show it, but he makes up for it in spades here by mind-melding with a highly lethal alien being that turns out to be more sinned against than sinning.
Rating:
Summary: Mmmm... Meat Loaf...
Review: REVIEWED ITEM: Star Trek® Original Series DVD Volume 13: This Side of Paradise© / The Devil In The Dark© THIS SIDE OF PARADISE© PRELIMINARY BRIEFS: Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: "Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than what he is"- Captain Kirk Expendable Enterprise Crewmember ('Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: None REVIEW/COMMENTARY: All I can say is, it's about time Spock be mackin' the-mad hottie-of-the-week instead of the charming Captain Kirk! Especially entertaining is the setup to this little romantic romp: the official Star Trek love theme starts up, followed by alternating reaction shots of guest-star Jill Ireland (as the crush-ridden Leila Kalomi) and Mr. Spock as they stare at each other in "that way"! Well, actually she stares in "that way"; Spock looks a bit confused by it all. But don't worry, he'll come around! A nice touch to this initial scene is the gentle glowing aura surrounding the love-struck lady! Kudos to the show's lighting department for getting this effect just right! The real fun begins when Spock cops a whiff of some intoxicating flower spores, which cause him to become a way-too-cheerful ball of sickly-sweet happiness who is now deeply in love with Charles Bronson's future wife. He also acquires a penchant for literally hanging out on tree limbs like he was some kinda monkey! Ironically, for a man who's no longer afraid to show his emotions, Nimoy didn't put much feeling into his character's dialogue here. Fortunately, Jimmers finds out how to relieve Spock's (and subsequently everyone else exposed to the spores, including the entire ship's crew) newfound dorkiness by making insulting remarks to his face regarding his mom and dad, with a few racial slurs thrown in for good measure! But before Jimmers can bring the Spockster around, he has to snap outta his own little trip to La-La-Land. He manages this with his angered utterance of "I... Can't... LEAVE!", spoken in that distinctive manner that has become a staple of many a second-rate standup act! Adding to this scene's funkiness, our beloved captain's face is illuminated in a spooky quasi-fluorescent, light-blue hue! Needless to say, the dramatic lighting department was in rare form for this eppie! Another memorable lowlight to goof on here: Dr. McCoy breaking into a way-too-overdone Deep South accent after his exposure to the happy-spores. I am aware that DeForest Kelley hails from Georgia, but never the less his character's drawl was a bit too much, even for a native southerner! Adding to the overdone good-ol'-boy charm is his concoction of a mint julep! Sheesh, why doesn't he just break out the grits and pickled pigs' feet while he's at it! THE DEVIL IN THE DARK© PRELIMINARY BRIEFS: Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: Don't mess with Mom! Historical Milestone: Spock's first mind-meld with a non-humanoid life form Expendable Enterprise Crewmember ('Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: 1 Dead, 3 Incapacitated REVIEW/COMMENTARY: 'Devil' features one of the most entertaining cheeseball moments in Star Trek history: Spock's mind-meld with the rock-creature-thingy! His anguished utterances of pain and sorrow are very similar to Counselor Troi's little trances whenever she uses her empathic abilities to check out the entity-of-the-week's emotional state on NextGen. Speakin' of emotional states, am I the only person who gets a hankerin' for meat loaf (no, not the singer, silly!) whenever I grab a glimpse of the creature-thingy? I can't be the only one... Another especially goofy scene-well, several scenes, actually-- are the reaction shots of the doomed miners and/or red-shirts right before they get toasted by the vengeful creature. Most of 'em seem to have enough time to get off a phaser shot or two before they start to feel the burn, but instead they spend their last two seconds of life all petrified and screaming like the total sissies they are (were?)! These amusing moments reminded me of the death-by-steam-roller scene in 'Austin Powers'! Actually, a better parallel would be the death of Darth Maul in 'Star Wars Episode I'! In any case, it appears the average human's reflexes in the face of certain doom ain't gonna improve all that much in the next three hundred years... 'Late
Rating:
Summary: Two of the best classic episodes
Review: The first Spock kiss. During Star Trek's first season, female horomones raged for Leonard Nimoy's stoic portrayal of Spock. Writers debated on how to give fans their wish of a "romantic" Spock story. "This side of Paradise" was the result. The Enterprise arives on a colony planet with plants that shoot spores that "relax" an individual, Spock gets hit and falls in love. The series would try Spock love stories later, but the first was the best ans most belivable. A must have.
Rating:
Summary: Two of the best episodes of ST:TOS
Review: This is the first (and so far only) set of episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series that I've purchased. One of the main reasons is that so few of the sets contain more than one good episode. The highly erratic quality of the show and the (correct) decision to release the episodes in the exact order that they aired often means that one has to pick up a dud to get a favorite. Fortunately, the two episodes on this disk are real gems. The first, "This Side of Paradise" is a great "Spock" episode, letting the viewer get to know the coldly logical Vulcan and explore his past. The second episode, "The Devil in the Dark" is a well-done sci-fi monster story. Sadly, little is done to take advantage of the DVD format. There are no commentaries and only minimal extras in the form of trailers for the episodes. I hope Paramount does a better job when they release the DVD's for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Rating:
Summary: Two of the best episodes of ST:TOS
Review: This is the first (and so far only) set of episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series that I've purchased. One of the main reasons is that so few of the sets contain more than one good episode. The highly erratic quality of the show and the (correct) decision to release the episodes in the exact order that they aired often means that one has to pick up a dud to get a favorite. Fortunately, the two episodes on this disk are real gems. The first, "This Side of Paradise" is a great "Spock" episode, letting the viewer get to know the coldly logical Vulcan and explore his past. The second episode, "The Devil in the Dark" is a well-done sci-fi monster story. Sadly, little is done to take advantage of the DVD format. There are no commentaries and only minimal extras in the form of trailers for the episodes. I hope Paramount does a better job when they release the DVD's for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Rating:
Summary: Both a bad and good episode on Trek DVD
Review: This Side of Paradise is one of Star Trek's few disapointing episodes from the first season. Alien plants turn the crew into love zombies or something and Spock gets to be happy for once in a very troll love story written for him. The Devil in the Dark however is a much better story, written by Gene L. Coon, and really showcased the acting talents of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner in most of the episodes key scenes. Buy this for that episode but not the other.
Rating:
Summary: Both a bad and good episode on Trek DVD
Review: This Side of Paradise is one of Star Trek's few disapointing episodes from the first season. Alien plants turn the crew into love zombies or something and Spock gets to be happy for once in a very troll love story written for him. The Devil in the Dark however is a much better story, written by Gene L. Coon, and really showcased the acting talents of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner in most of the episodes key scenes. Buy this for that episode but not the other.
Rating: 
Summary: Two more must-see episodes
Review: This Side of Paradise-Yet another excellent episode, this one concerns a planet where plant spores have caused an epidemic of joyful inebriation. Like many of the best early shows, the slow pacing here allows a sense of mystery to develop before the hook is revealed to us. This is one of the more convincing of the 'Enterprise in danger' episodes, but it is more than that. The plot device enables several crew members to flesh out their characters, most notably Leonard Nimoy. It is difficult not to feel angry at Kirk as he goads Spock with racial slurs, even as we understand why he says what he does. Certainly the conflict between the happiness provided by drugs and alcohol on the one hand vs. their 'unnatural' tendency to hinder personal development and achievement is as resonant today as it was in 1967. (4.5 stars) Devil In the Dark-Yet another in the string on winning episodes, this one concerns a conflict between miners and a silicon-based life form. This unusual episode has a strong element of suspense, since we are not only trying to figure out just what's happening, but also worried about what lurks in the dark tunnels. The episode is more than just suspenseful though. Themes explored include the rights of all creatures to survival, and the mammal bias inherent in our notions of both ugliness and maternal love. Star Trek must have been one of the first shows to devote so much thought to ecological/environmental questions, which like so many themes explored by Star Trek has only grown in importance. More research is of course devoted today than ever before to boundary conflicts, and more generally to finding ways to balance our human resource needs with the survival of other species. Tidbit: William Shatner's father died during the production of this episode. (4.5 stars)
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