From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: ryon@dslnorthwest.net   
   Subject: Re: The Time Trap (TAS): my review   
      
   On Aug 27, 8:12apm, "jph...@gmail.com"  wrote:   
   > THE TIME TRAP: PLOT   
   >   
   > The Enterprise is investigating The Delta Triangle, an area of space in   
   which an unusal number of ships have disappeared. As soon as they reachit,   
   they are attacked by three Klingon ships. Kirk's old adversary, Commander Kor   
   (this time voiced by James Doohan), is in the lead. The battle begins... but   
   ends abruptly, as Kor's ship vanishes before their eyes.   
   >   
   > Kirk orders the Enterprise to those exact coordinates and finds his ship   
   following Kor's into a pocket universe. Here, races from various ships that   
   disappeared in the Triangle have learned to live in harmony. Kirk and Kor are   
   welcomed into the community, known as Elysia, and are even welcome to attempt   
   escape. But there is one rule which they cannot countermand, on penalty of   
   being frozen for 100 years - no violence of any kind, from any member of their   
   respective crews!   
   >   
   > CHARACTERS   
   >   
   > Spock behaves with excessive friendliness toward the Klingons in order to   
   use his Vulcan Voodoo on them, tipping him off that they are planning some   
   sort of sabotage. When one of Kor's men breaks the Elysians' non-violence law,   
   Kirk gets to make a speech championing home over the Elysians' perfect   
   society, showing (not for the first time) that even cartoon Kirk can always   
   find a soap box to climb.   
   >   
   > THOUGHTS   
   >   
   > Better than the last two episodes, this riffs on Lost Horizon to reasonable   
   effect. It's still rushed, though. The Elysian society is established through   
   a couple of brief scenes, but there's no chance to really explore it.   
   Similarly, Kor's plan to sabotage the Enterprise and Spock's atypical behavior   
   covering his attempts to figure out and stop the sabotage are plot turns with   
   a lot of potential - but the rushed pace doesn't allow either strand to be   
   properly developed. Spock's ruse is a story strand that ends up being dropped,   
   with the resolution of the sabotage subplot being provided by the Elysians at   
   the eleventh hour.   
   >   
   > In other words, The Time Trap is another episode that's kept short of its   
   potential by the short running time. There was enough story here for a   
   2-parter, which would have allowed the breathing space the various plot   
   strands require in order to develop it all. It also would have made good   
   economic sense - a 2-parter would offer Filmation even more opportunities to   
   recycle shots and artwork than is already the case!   
   >   
   > Even with the rushed pace, this is a decent episode. I enjoyed seeing Kirk   
   put in the position of working with the Klingons, and the glimpse we got of   
   the Elysians was interesting enough to make me wish the episode could actually   
   spend more time with them. The ongoing pacing issue is aggravating, though. By   
   this point in the series' run, the writers and producers really should have a   
   stronger sense of how much story can fit into 22 minutes. As it stands, we   
   seem to move back and forth between episodes with virtually no story and   
   episodes with too much story, with only an elite handful of shows managing to   
   strike the balance just right.   
   >   
   > Rating: 6/10.   
   Perhaps a crappy episode, but it becomes canon in a DS9 episode where   
   it's mentioned that Kor captained the IKS Klothos. Oy.   
   Ron   
   ______________   
   "Don't you ever feel frightened?"   
   "All the time. I just don't let it get to me."   
   --Teilani and Captain Kirk (Ashes Of Eden) --   
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