The Elysian Kingdom

Hey, guys. Just because it's Star Trek doesn't mean it can't be goofy. 90's Trek certainly had its share of silly moments in the holodeck.

The difference is that those episodes always had a side-story that brought us back to the sci-fi. While all the actors clearly had a good time playing alternate roles for this episode, I found myself mostly waiting for the silliness to be over so we could get back to the show about space ships.

But, gosh-darnit, they really tugged on my heart strings at the end.

Even then, I found the doctor's choice a little too quick, easy, and unlikely... but I was happy to see his story move forward.

Thanks for taking creative risks, Paramount. I remain a huge fan of this show.

Love it or loath it, this episode was pure Star Trek from start to finish. Everyone got to dress up and enjoy themselves while a fairly sound Science Fiction story propelled the narrative along. Concluding Rukiya's storyline in this way came as something of a surprise but was probably a lot more satisfying than having it drag on for several seasons.

Who cares if we've seen something similar before, The over-the-top performances helped endear us to some lesser known members of the cast, the script generated quite a few unforced laughs and it all looked absolutely fabulous. A sprinkling of light-hearted fantasy has been part of the Star Trek compendium for more than fifty years, all the way back through Voyager's Adventures of Captain Proton, TNG's Hollow Pursuits to the Original Series Shore Leave. The Elysian Kingdom is now a welcome addition to that company.

I hesitate to say that this episode is what fans have been waiting for because I'm old enough to remember that some of them never liked this kind of fantasy and their vociferous complaints have resonated down through the decades. Looking at today's reviews we can see that there are no changes there, then.

But never mind the rest; I loved every minute of it. This is what Senior Trekker had almost given up hoping for. The real thing.

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.

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.