So last night I was watching "The Naked Time" on my new Blu-Ray TOS set. For such an early Season 1 episode, the performances and characterizations are just amazing. Sulu, Chapel, O'Reilly are great and Spock in the briefing room is very moving and provides in that one season so much backstory for the character. But watching it this time, it was The Shat who really got me, especially when alone he looks up at the ceiling and speaks directly to The Enterprise and say,"I'll NEVER give you. Never." As great an actor as he is, patrick Stewart never made me feel that connection with the ship and it's something that was so uniquely, JTK.
I'm with you my TOS brother! And season one just shines! Shows how good these guys were and how well the scripts were written.
Indeed, though I won't deny Patrick Stewart is an amazing actor, he didn't have the intensity of The Shat.
I think, like I've said many times, each series is a little bit a product of the times. The 60's were certainly a wilder, more intense time than the late 80's early 90's of TNG. And I think that is reflected in the shows - to a degree. But, The Shat has just got that charisma! ;)
I really liked Kevin O'Reilly. It's a shame he didn't make it past the first few episodes. Rico, did you ever hear what the story was with his character and why he was written out? this was well before they decided to bring in Chekov for the younger audience.
According to the Star Trek Compendium, The Actor who played Kevin Riley was cast in the Conscience of the King, but in a different role, then they realized he had appeared before, so rewrote the script and changed the Character to Kevin Riley. So probably the reason why he appeared in the second episode as Kevin Riley was the performance in Naked Time was so memorable.
i like kirk the best
Another great episode from Season One is The Enemy Within. Shatner really shines in this episode.