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| Spock travels to his own past. |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise is assisting a team of historians who are using The Guardian of Forever to scan Federation history. Kirk and Spock come back from a trip to the founding of the Orion civilization... only to discover that no member of the crew recognizes Spock, and that an Andorian is First Officer in Spock's place.
An examination of Spock's family in this new timeline shows that he died as a child during his test of maturity, and that his mother died soon after. Now Spock must go back in time to save his own life - without affecting anything else in the past!
CHARACTERS
Unsurprisingly for a D. C. Fontana script, the characters in Yesteryear are dead-on. This brings out the best in the leads. It almost goes without saying that Leonard Nimoy is outstanding. But William Shatner is also on fine form during his limited screen time, sharpening his performance to match the quality of the material.
This is a Spock-centric episode, one that offers a lot of insight into his character, moreso than most of the live action episodes did. Spock's admission to his younger self that Vulcans do feel emotion, they just control it, is actually a key moment in the development of the Vulcans for the entire franchise. Later series and movies would very much follow that template, though sometimes with mixed results.
THOUGHTS
Another episode scripted by a TOS veteran, in this case D. C. Fontana. This episode is much better than the last, with Fontana's skills with the characters really making this feel like a TOS episode that happens to be animated.
This episode is one that was clearly influential on the rest of the franchise, particularly on the 2009 movie. The scene from Spock's childhood, as he endures taunting from Vulcan bullies and finally attacks them, is almost directly recreated in the J. J. Abrams film. Another direct lift is the line (spoken by Spock here, by Sarek in the 2009 movie), that logic "offers a serenity that humans seldom experience." Finally, references to the desert area known as The Forge and the sehlat fight obviously influenced the Vulcan 3-parter in Enterprise's fourth season.
But beyond its impact on the franchise, Yesteryear is also a very good drama, probably as good as is possible in the restricted running time. I've already mentioned how much sharper both characterization and performances are here than in Beyond the Farthest Star. This is also a plot that works in 25 minutes.
Fontana keeps her structure lean and simple. The first third sets up that history has changed and does so with maximum economy. The next third introduces us to Vulcan of the past and to Spock's childhood. Again, this is accomplished with great economy: one scene of young Spock being teased, one scene of his father disapproving of his emotional reactions, one conversation to set up young Spock's decision to test himself. The last third pays it off, with just enough of a twist to have an emotional impact. Structurally, it is just about perfect. And with such limited running time, I think structure is probably going to be even more paramount to the success or failure of the animated episodes than it was to the live action ones.
A few continuity nit-picks could be made between this episode and The City on the Edge of Forever. In City, everyone on the Guardian's planet was fully aware of the origial timeline. In this episode, the people on the planet have no memory of Spock. Still, that's a very minor point, not one that impacts my scoring of the episode. Yesteryear is a triumph, an episode I strongly suspect will remain the best episode of the animated series. It's arguably a better episode than any of TOS' third season offerings, as well.
Rating: 10/10.
A few continuity nit-picks could be made between this episode and The City on the Edge of Forever. In City, everyone on the Guardian's planet was fully aware of the origial timeline. In this episode, the people on the planet have no memory of Spock. Still, that's a very minor point, not one that impacts my scoring of the episode. Yesteryear is a triumph, an episode I strongly suspect will remain the best episode of the animated series. It's arguably a better episode than any of TOS' third season offerings, as well.
Rating: 10/10.
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I agree. It's a marvel what a capable writer can do with 22 minutes of screentime. Everytime I watch that episode it feels more like a TOS episode than a TAS one to me. Spock as a child is probably the least annoying child the Enterprise encountered in the 23rd Century too. I loved seeing an Andorian again too. I am really enjoying your reviews although I do disagree at times.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Jack. I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews!
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