The Elysian Kingdom

Three things every father wants to hear from his daughter. This originally aired the week of Father's Day in the US.

This episode is not as strong as the rest of the season thus far, and the direction is very disjointed, as we're dropped into the rabbit hole without any real preparation. Things don't start to get weird and get worse, no, we're dropped straight into worse without knowing how we got there.

Nothing makes sense at all, until the end. It's not quite deus ex machina, it's just there's is no real mystery that can be figured out, until the end when all is revealed.

Then it all makes sense, and it's satisfying.

I am sorry to see a promising arc end, but at least they ended it well. Very well.

Happy Father's Day, everyone. Especially to every daughter's father.

Seriously. This was a very bad idea poorly executed. If you do make a farce or, at least a comedic episode, hire somebody who can write comedy AND who knows Star Trek history.

This episode evokes episodes like "Plato's Stepchildren" and "Shoreleave" along with TNGs "Qpid", it is much more lighthearted with a sad undertone that hits hard at the end.

It wasn't this seasons best episode, but it was good, and allowed some growth for Dr. M'Benga and Lt. Hemmer.

I enjoyed it.

For fans of a certain age and fans of the original series, this episode resonates like an old friend. The beauty of Star Trek and of science fiction in general, allows us to throw rules out the window and play, explore, reinvent. I enjoyed the characters' alternate selves, love the fun the actors had in the episode, and enjoyed the ending with the significance of the father/daughter storyline. Give it chance and allow yourself the fantasy part of the genre and the series.

I don't mind when shows try something. This just didn't work. Shore Leave is one of my favorite TOS episodes so I don't mind weird when it's done correctly. Maybe if the rest of the ship was less campy and played it straight with a few quips it might have worked out better overall.