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  Non-Film Score Discussion: Star Trek TOS- It's All A Big Joke!
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  Last Post 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 10:27 AM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

One thing that always annoyed me about Star Trek TOS, (and probably true of NG) are the episodes always ended on a joke with the crew snickering or laughing out loud.

I was watching the Doomsday Machine. An entire solar system was wiped out. The entire crew of the Constellation were killed. Yet, immediately after the destruction of the Doomsday Machine Spock and Kirk quip about anymore being out there in the galaxy and Kirk jokes, "I found one quite sufficient".

In the The Enterprise Incident a couple were going to be newly weds but the male dies in the battle.
Right after a gut wrenching scene of Kirk trying to comfort the female crew-member, Kirk, Spock and McCoy joke about Kirk's Romulan make-over.

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 10:49 AM   
 By:   Spinmeister   (Member)

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 11:01 AM   
 By:   Adam.   (Member)

In the The Enterprise Incident a couple were going to be newlyweds but the male dies in the battle.
Right after a gut wrenching scene of Kirk trying to comfort the female crew-member, Kirk, Spock and McCoy joke about Kirk's Romulan make-over.

That would be Balance of Terror you're thinking of. But I know what you mean about a little levity after a major disaster.

Several episodes end with a joke after billions of people die. The Immunity Syndrome and The Changeling come to mind.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 11:45 AM   
 By:   Zooba   (Member)

After watching the series for so many years, I always thought it would have been nice to, after each episode, where crew members were killed, they could have done a mini memorial stating that "we fondly remember such and such who gave their life for the Federation." And show a photo of that crew member. Like one of those FBI Series Epilogues where they wrap everything up. No, maybe not. That could have been a downer, as throughout the years it seems more and more crew members, especially "Red Shirts" were killed off in almost every episode. Space is dangerous. I wonder if anyone has ever done a body count of each episode where Enterprise crew members were killed or lost?

But yeah, those little jokes at the end of some of the episodes, where so many were lost, seemed a tad inappropriate.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 12:00 PM   
 By:   Zooba   (Member)

I think the crew member death that touched me the most was in BALANCE OF TERROR where the two were about to be married at the start of the episode. I'm just so glad Kirk had the restraint to keep from making out with the "to be" bride at the end where he is there to comfort her.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 12:21 PM   
 By:   Octoberman   (Member)

This is going quite a long way back.
I recall reading about an opening scene in one of the novels (or it may have been a script idea) where the Enterprise finally returns to Earth upon completion of Kirk's 5-year mission, with ship and crew relatively intact.
The bridge crew all turn around to face Kirk and applaud (for getting them home, I presumed).
He holds up his hand to cut them off and says something to the effect of, "No, not for me. For those who didn't make it.".
I thought that was quite touching.

Can anyone confirm this? I know I'm not imagining it.
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 12:46 PM   
 By:   Jeyl   (Member)

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

But only one episode ends with a still frame. big grin

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 1:36 PM   
 By:   riotengine   (Member)

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

But only one episode ends with a still frame. big grin

A Piece Of the Action?

Greg Espinoza

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 1:52 PM   
 By:   Justin Boggan   (Member)

And "CHiPs" would end with a thumbs up, almost always regardless of what happened in the episode.

A laugh was had at the end of many "Police Woman" episodes no matter what events happened, and that same Morton Stevens whimsical closing cue was used nearly every time.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 1:57 PM   
 By:   Last Child   (Member)

In the The Enterprise Incident a couple were going to be newly weds but the male dies in the battle.
Right after a gut wrenching scene of Kirk trying to comfort the female crew-member, Kirk, Spock and McCoy joke about Kirk's Romulan make-over.

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

Did you intentionally get this wrong so someone would correct you and start "a nerd war"? As Adam more or less answered, you conflated two episodes (I dunno how any fan could do that by mistake). The most that could be said about "Enterprise Incident" is the private romantic farewell between Spock and the Romulan commander in the turbo lift is offset by the make-up joke. But it wasn't on a "City On The Edge"-level tragedy.

As for episodes where people died much earlier in the show, I don't see how a joke at the end directly makes light of that. Usually it's used as relief for the Enterprise crew themselves having just survived by the skin of their teeth. It's generally made in the immediacy of the action. There are a few exceptions like "Galileo 7" or "Operation Annihilate," but most of the serious or tragic episodes don't end with a joke.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:24 PM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

In the The Enterprise Incident a couple were going to be newly weds but the male dies in the battle.
Right after a gut wrenching scene of Kirk trying to comfort the female crew-member, Kirk, Spock and McCoy joke about Kirk's Romulan make-over.

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

Did you intentionally get this wrong so someone would correct you and start "a nerd war"? As Adam more or less answered, you conflated two episodes (I dunno how any fan could do that by mistake).

Yes, it was an honest mistake. I'm old and I work way to hard for my age. (just got done working a 16hr shift the other night) The brain gets confused sometimes.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:34 PM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

I guess they were worried if you ended a serious episode on a downer the audience wouldn't return the following week. Especially back then when they considered the audience far less sophisticated. But I find it off putting. I think tragic episodes should end on a serious note like City on the Edge of Forever.

Another bothersome episode was The Trouble with Tribbles. While a comedic episode it ends on a dark note but played for laughs. When Kirk asked Scotty what he did with the Tribbles (and he initially refused to say) Kirk appeared concerned Scotty beamed them into space. When Scotty revealed he beamed them all aboard the Klingon ship everyone begins to laugh. Well, what do you think the Klingons are going to do with the Tribbles? Beam them all into space!

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:43 PM   
 By:   Jeyl   (Member)

A Piece Of the Action?

Yes!

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:48 PM   
 By:   Last Child   (Member)

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

Did you intentionally get this wrong so someone would correct you and start "a nerd war"? As Adam more or less answered, you conflated two episodes (I dunno how any fan could do that by mistake).

Yes, it was an honest mistake. I'm old and I work way to hard for my age. (just got done working a 16hr shift the other night) The brain gets confused sometimes.

I recall that episode "Solium's Brain." McCoy must have crossed a few wires during the reinstall.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:50 PM   
 By:   Adam.   (Member)

Well, to be fair, people often tell humorous stories and (harmless) jokes about the deceased at funerals to lighten things up. I've been to two funerals in my life and that's what I did.

I agree about the Tribbles episode ending. The Klingons would have slaughtered them! Bizarre.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 2:59 PM   
 By:   Last Child   (Member)

Although they had cat-like appeal, tribbles were more like a plague of locusts. The Federation would have had to return them to their home world where natural predators would have culled them. Who knows - maybe some Klingons learned to like and neuter them.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 3:57 PM   
 By:   Jeyl   (Member)

Some notable episodes that end on a somber note.

BALANCE OF TERROR
Angela: I'm all right.
*She walks out of the room leaving a silent Kirk*

CITY OF THE EDGE OF FOREVER
Guardian of Forever: Time has resumed its shape. All is as it was before. Many such journeys are possible. Let me be your gateway.
Uhura: Captain, the Enterprise is up there. They're asking if we want to beam up.
Kirk: Let's get the hell out of here.
*The crew beams up leaving the Guardian of Forever in

REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH
*Kirk is in Dispair*
*Spock Mindmelds with him*
Spock: Forget...
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 4:05 PM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

There's so many episodes that end in tragedy and then a joke!

Did you intentionally get this wrong so someone would correct you and start "a nerd war"? As Adam more or less answered, you conflated two episodes (I dunno how any fan could do that by mistake).

Yes, it was an honest mistake. I'm old and I work way to hard for my age. (just got done working a 16hr shift the other night) The brain gets confused sometimes.

I recall that episode "Solium's Brain." McCoy must have crossed a few wires during the reinstall.

McCoy did the best he could. My brain is mush half the time.

 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 6:22 PM   
 By:   ZapBrannigan   (Member)

Several episodes end with a joke after billions of people die. The Immunity Syndrome and The Changeling come to mind.


That's right. They had to show that the situation is serious (Galaxy Quest), but still keep it from being a downer. Kirk loses four security guards in "The Apple" and it ends with a joke. In "The Changeling" he loses four security guards and is aware that all four billion Malurians have just been killed. And it ends with a joke. They wanted high stakes and at least some semblance of a happy ending.

"Balance of Terror", "A Private Little War", and "The Paradise Syndrome" all get it right. And Kirk remembers his lost crewman at the end of "Catspaw", although it's not an episode I'm fond of.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 18, 2021 - 7:11 PM   
 By:   Last Child   (Member)

Several episodes end with a joke after billions of people die. The Immunity Syndrome and The Changeling come to mind.

Except again, the jokes didn't follow the discovery of mass deaths. It was the relief from their own brush with death, which those two episodes perfectly show. Of course, they could have had a funeral at the end of every episode since usually someone died. Statistically I'm sure there were more serious episodes that ended seriously, or where the joke was pretty inoffensive.
 
  Non-Film Score Discussion: Star Trek TOS- It's All A Big Joke!
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