The Man Trap
Star Trek’s second episode lives down to expectations
Have you ever been to the beach, right at the start of summer, before the heat has settled in? You wonder whether the water will be warm enough. After ten minutes of self-talk, you dive in.
The water’s delightful! Huzzah!
Triumphant, you return to the shore for a break, before braving the breakers again. Uh oh … this time the water’s cold, much too cold for comfort.
So it was with The Man Trap and I. In a previous post, I described how I watched the first pilot of the original Star Trek series with trepidation but was pleasantly surprised. This was a different experience altogether.
Oh, sure, there remained the sweet whimsy of 1960s sci fi: an upgraded Enterprise; high hair, and higher hemlines; Gertrude the hand flower — but beneath these cosmetic delights lurked something darker.
In this episode, we met some of the iconic characters of the series which even Star Trek virgins like myself have heard of: Captain Kirk, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy, Uhura, Sulu. The Enterprise visits a dead planet to make scheduled health checks on two archaeologists, Professor Crater and his wife, Nancy. Nancy is a former flame of McCoy’s but unbeknownst to them has died and been replaced by a shape-shifting. The alien feeds on salt, which is in short supply on the planet, and kills humans by removing all the salt from their bodies. The crew unwittingly beam the alien back up to the Enterprise where it preys on humans until its true nature is unmasked.
Wherein lies the darkness, you ask? Well, let’s look at how the genders are portrayed in this episode. The men are powerful (Kirk), passionate (McCoy), principled (Carter, who argues that the “salt vampire” is worthy of saving because it is the last of its kind) and perceptive (Spock). The women are seductive (Uhuru), servile (Janice), scheming and savage (the monster).
If you pressed me to pick positives from this episode, I would point to Carter and Kirk’s arguments for preserving endangered species. I would also, tenuously, write about how this vampire is female and preying mainly on males, unlike many vampires in pop culture: Buffy; True Blood; The Vampire Diaries; even Twilight.
Is this enough to save The Man Trap from itself? I think not. This unfortunate sexism is what I expected from the original series of Star Trek, and — sadly — my expectations have been met.
However, I am persistent. I’m that person who will jump back in the water, just in case it’s warm enough this time. Some people call this idiocy. I choose to see it as … optimistic. (My detractors may use “obdurate” instead.)
The next episode is called Charlie X and I look forward to sharing my reflections with you tomorrow.
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