From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: rikp@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: The Time Trap (TAS): my review   
      
   > 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.   
      
   Some of the pacing problems seem to be in the soundtrack editing.  In   
   this episode there's a shot towards the beginning that's nothing but a   
   slow zoom to Spock's eyes, at the end of which he raises his   
   eyebrows.  There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for this other   
   than the audio track (edited before the visuals are produced) has   
   music instead of dialogue and they need to show *something*.  I've   
   noticed this in other episodes.   
      
   I've read that TAS went into production at the last minute which   
   invariably means rushing scripts into production.  It was a Saturday   
   morning show so I can't believe the budget for writing and rewriting   
   would have been that high anyway.  We're probably lucky the stories   
   are as varied and imaginative as they are.  Even the lesser ones can't   
   be accused of being unimaginative or of having patently un-Trek ideas.   
      
   I did find this episode quite enjoyable, though.  A mass of ships like   
   that is something we wouldn't see again in Trek until the Borg attacks   
   or the Dominion War.  Seeing a Klingon briefing room is certainly a   
   first.  I usually like ship-board stories and the joining of the   
   Enterprise and Klothos predates Arthur C. Clarke's use of a similar   
   device in the novel "2010: Odyssey Two" to escape from Jupiter by   
   almost a decade.   
      
   But one of the Trekiest bits would have to be the resignation of the   
   Elysians to stay where they are while our heroes continue to make   
   escape plans.  Devna wants to return home but refuses Kirk's offer of   
   a lift simply because she has accepted that escape is impossible.   
   They won't make it.  Case closed.   
      
   Rik   
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