Sadly, Gerald Fried, who composed “Amok Time”, died this morning at the age of 95. A very timely reaction video, especially considering your fondness for his music!

A lot of famous firsts in the "Amok Time" episode: The first occurrence of the famous "fight music" The first occurrence of the Vulcan greeting The first occurrence of the phrase "Live long and prosper" Fight music was composed by Gerald Fried Leonard Nimoy actually came up the Vulcan greeting, great story behind that. Live long and prosper was from the author, Theodore (Ted) Sturgeon.

That salute is actually from ancient Rome

I always love the gag that after raising the terrifying possibility of what evil Kirk could do on the regular Enterprise, we finally see... that he was exposed immediately and thrown in the brig.

When Spock requests McCoy accompany him to Vulcan and McCoy says "I would be honored sir" is one of my favorite moments on the show.

There is a great homage to the Kirk and Spock fighting scene in “The Cable guy” 1996. It’s an underrated comedy starring Jim Carrey.

The salutes were based on Roman- same thing the Yahtzees took it from

Both great episodes. Mirror Mirror is especially one of my all time favorites. Glad you are picking a lot of the best episodes.

You got it with Chekov. He was added for two reasons: to say we got past the Cold War stuff and treat Russians like anyone else, and for youth appeal. They deliberately gave him a Monkees/Beatles style haircut.

"Is he trying to be a Beatle?" That's not far wrong: they were thinking of Davy Jones from The Monkees, actually.

The story of how Chekov got on the show is actually quite simple. After the first season, Gene Roddenberry read in the Russian newspaper Pravda that the Russians were annoyed at no representation on the show despite their contributions to advancing space flight. Roddenberry thought he could kill two birds with one stone with Chekov... He could please the Russians with the inclusion, and he could get more youth appeal with the young Walter Koenig. Side note: It's a longstanding continuity error that Chekov wasn't on the show yet when Space Seed was made; so, Khan shouldn't have recognized Chekov in Star Trek 2. Koenig had a funny explanation. He said that Chekov was probably working on the lower decks and irritated Khan by making him wait for the bathroom. 😆

Mirror Universe Sulu may suck at fighting, but in our universe, don't ever call him "Tiny."

The salute was a Roman rather than German, the chest bump is the difference.

The salutes were modelled on Roman salutes, not Nazi salutes. It's the same as the Romulan salute.

If it makes you feel any better, the Nazi salute was actually based on the Roman salute, which is exactly what the Empire does in the Mirror Universe. Obviously, it still invokes the other conotation as well, so in short, the idea was the "evil empire salute."

"Altair their course." Have you watched 'Forbidden Planet'?

I wonder what you'd think about the episode "Patterns of Force"...

I"m glad you liked these episodes. 2 of the most iconic and infamous episodes. Amok Time's music is classic; they do the fight scene in alot of stuff like family guy, in the old movie cable guy and others. the music is better going forward in tos. From Amok Time Chekov was there to show during that time (in the 60's) everyone could work together and no hatred etc. It was extremely daring for back then and it was important. Also look up about Dr. King meeting Nichelle Nichols and their interaction. And the opening theme is sung by Nichelle.

You should know that the "rock-bridge" landscape leading to the arena in Amok Time was inserted into the episode only when Star Trek(TOS) went through its' "remastered" improvements, which I believe occurred in the early 2000's, or possibly 2006 to 2008. The rock-bridge and the distant image of the arena were not in the original release.

The mirror universe is revisited in a couple episodes of DS9 & in an episode of Enterprise. It's also addressed in Discovery.

Jerome Bixby, who wrote the Mirror, Mirror screenplay, was a fairly prolific science fiction writer and editor with dozens of short stories to his credit (and four Trek episodes). But perhaps his most famous work was the short story, "It's a _Good_ Life!", which was adapted into a particularly popular episode of The Twilight Zone, with Billy Mumy as an terrifying child with apparently omnipotent abilities. The fact that anyone who has seen the episode can identify it immediately from that description says it all. One of the good things about Mirror Mirror is that every character, not just the 'big three', had plenty of action and dialogue, for which I am sure they were all grateful.

Wow, two real CLASSICS!

"Amok Time" was the first episode of season two but it didn't debut on NBC. A couple weeks before it was set to air, Roddenberry attended the World Science Fiction Convention; three episodes of Star Trek had been nominated for the Hugo Award which was presented there. As a surprise to those in attendance, Roddenberry revealed he'd brought the reels of the season 2 opening episode and showed "Amok Time" to a standing ovation. Star Trek went on that night to win the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (it would win the Hugo the following year as well as sweep all five nominations).

The "deep bass" in the score is a Fender Bass VI. It has 6 strings like a regular guitar but it's tuned an octave lower.

Loved Mirror Mirror. Nice to see you watched this one. Another episode that was interesting and fun is called 'This Side Of Paradise' It reveals to us just how much Kirk loved his ship and being a captain as well as in the episode we get to Spock show the most emotions in the series, though there's a reason for this of course but still funny because it was so rare and odd looking.

Mirror Mirror is a good episode because it utilizes the whole main cast and gives them all something to do.

I believe the "salute" is supposed to be more "Roman Empire" inspired (At least Hollywood Roman) - who I recall were also an inspiration to the Nazi's.

Some of the matte paintings in TOS have indeed been replaced with new images in Remastered Edition, but those that haven't been replaced DID have an enhanced version of the original matte painting put in instead of the original original version.

The matte painting shots you admired were not from the original versions of the episode. They were added in the remaster they did which also redid all the space shots in CGI.

Here’s how you can tell which season it is, just by the titles: Seasons 1 & 2 - yellow lettering Seasons 2 & 3 - vocals (aka opera singing) Season 3 - blue lettering So, if it’s yellow lettering & no opera, season 1. If it’s yellow & opera, season 2, and if it’s blue lettering & opera, it’s season 3. Don’t forget to react to some of the animated series from the early 70’s... in particular “Yesteryear” and “More Tribbles, More Troubles.” 🖖

Amok Time had one the best lines I've ever heard: "Ston, she is yours. But after a time you may find that having is not nearly so desirable a sensation as wanting. It is illogical, I know, but so often true." Truer words have never been spoken. Anyway, in Mirror, Mirror's sickbay fight, I love the way Kirk was so badass, he was the only one who could even begin to be a match for Evil Spock.

It is actually really touching to see a young man like you enjoying this classic TV show. It looks like you genuinely fell in love with TOS. Thank you for this video, your reaction and analysis.

No, the matte painting that is far away was added as part of the remastered effects. They do this occasionally to cover up the joins between scenes, and to make it feel more epic. It is a matte painting, but it's entirely digital, made on computers. If you want to see some remastered effects that really help the episode, you need to watch "Tomorrow is Yesterday." IT also ties in somewhat with the fourth movie--and honestly looks better in some ways.

Jerome Bixby, the writer of Mirror Mirror was a very prolific sci-fi writer of the era. He's best known from his works in the 50s and 60s. His last finished work was the screenplay for the 2007 indie sci-fi movie "The Man from Earth" though. It's quite philosophical and entirely focused on the characters, but it's very much worth watching too.

Mirror Mirror is my favourite episode.

If you want to see more evil Kirk and what happens after they are switched back you can check out Star Trek Continues: Fairest of Them All, it picks up in the Mirror universe exactly where Mirror, Mirror leaves off.

Hey Ollie. There's one other TOS episode you should do because it involves an important character from the ST movies and it's called "Metamorphosis" in season 2. When you watch it understand that we fans back in the 60s did not know who this person was and his importance, until a little way into the episode, but you will know him right away when his name is mentioned! One of the reasons suggesting the two episodes you did here, as well as others, is not just because they were good stories, but they have a LOT to do with the TV series The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. If you get to those series someday you'll understand and be glad you saw all these first. 🖖👽

Walter Koenig (Chekov) is actually wearing a wig in these early episodes. Roddenberry wanted the look of Chekov to be based on the pop group The Monkees, who were popular at the time. This was in service to Chekov's character appealing to a younger audience. Since Koenig's hair was not yet long enough, he wore a wig until it grew out.

And with these episodes, you have now seen the birth of perhaps the most famous "evil goatee", as well as the first instance of what may be the most recognizable musical fight cues ever written!

They bring back the multiverse of Star Trek in the comic books with mirror mirror universe and such, pretty awesome that continue from this if you're curious, highly recommend. And I had to LOL@ The "are you serious"? Siri turns on "I'm serious"! 🤣🤣

The Spock/Kirk fight scene in "Amok Time"was parodied in the dark comedy movie "Cable Guy" starring Jim Carrey-it would be interesting to see your reaction to this movie!

In the original series, it was Nichelle Nichols, who sang the “operatic” part of the opening. I don’t know of her voice was remastered and reused or not for these special edition updates though.

In the DS9 continuation of the mirror storyline. Mirror Spock did listen to Kirk, leading to Earth being conquered by several other powers.

I scanned the comments and I don't think this was mentioned yet. But nurse Christine Chapel was played by Majel Barrett. She was wife of Gene Roddenberry. In TNG she is Lwaxana Troi (Deanna's mom) and also the computer voice of the Enterprise.

I had heard before too about Chekov's hair not just being about the Beatles, but The Monkees were also very big on TV, thus the hair.

2 of my favorite episodes of Star Trek. I love the evil alternate universe story, and Star Trek comes back to it in every generation.

If you want more evil Chekov, I recommend Babylon 5.

21:05 that wide shot of vulcans surface when they beam down, the bridges leading to the circle, was a more modern CG shot spliced in for the special editions just like the shots of the enterprise out in space The original episode had the three beaming down in front of a wall as seen in the circle, then walked off to the side, the camera panned a little, then cut to a shot from inside the circle showing the three entering the area…

Great way to start Season Two. You think the scrap in Amok Time was rough ? Go sit in on a few hours of divorce court. Mirror Mirror is a solid episode. After this episode aired, it became common knowledge that if Spock has a beard you were going to have a bad day.

That 'salute' had various variants, but goes back at least to the ancient Roman Empire. Although, if you want a real shock? Look up how people in the USA greeted the flag before WWII (see 'Bellamy salute').

Very good picking up on the reason Chekov joined the show. That's exactly why Gene Roddenberry pushed to get a Russian character, because they were in the height of the Cold War. In particular, Roddenberry sought to recognize Russia's contribution to space travel (being the first country to launch a human into space). Roddenberry's vision of the future was that all of humanity would be united, and that space travel and meeting new civilizations would not just be a venture of Americans. This is the first mainstream television program in the United States to feature minority characters in non-stereotypical roles, women as competent officers, and non-American crewmembers as equals.

Sulu had much more to do in some of the first season episodes, such as "The Naked Time" - which would make a great reaction video paired with "The Corbomite Maneuver"!

Amok Time is my favorite Star Trek episode of all time! This was one of the first episodes I ever saw. This explains a lot about my all time favorite TV character. I've always loved how this explains so much about Vulcan culture. And it gives so much to the rich backstory of Spock. One of the most enjoyable things of the new show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is that it shows the relationship between Spock and T'Pring and the growing frustration she feels as she realizes more and more about Spock's dedication to Starfleet, Captain Pike and the crew of the Enterprise. There's even an excellent episode called Spock Amok where he tries to spend some Shore leave time with T'Pring and while mind melding they have a Freaky Friday moment and they switch essences with one another, spending a day in the life within each other's bodies. Mirror, Mirror is such a great one as well. The funnest episodes of TOS, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise are the Mirror Universe episodes!

Actually, Chekov was attempting to be a Monkee, not a Beatle. The character of Chekov was created to appeal to the demographic making "The Monkees" so popular.

"We're in the evil dimension..." Welcome to the Terran Empire and the Imperial Starship I.S.S. Enterprise.

"Mirror, Mirror" was the first episode I remember seeing Chekov in, so my first impression of him was basically of his evil version, lol.

Even though Russia and the US were mortal enemies at the time with nuclear bombs aimed at each other's cities and school children practicing nuclear bomb drills in class, Chekov's inclusion as a vital crew member represented Star Trek's aspiration of a united Earth and humankind in the future. Uhura's placement on the bridge as a Black person, and a woman, which would have been unthinkable at the time in the US, and prompted quite a bit of consternation, also represented the promise of the Star Trek future. Even as a young kid of the 70s watching Star Trek in reruns, I understood that premise. "The air is the air" and "... having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting" and "in a pig's eye", I always loved those lines. Amok Time is a great episode with insight into Vulcan culture. I was always shocked by the savagery of the mating challenge and thought it was out of place with Vulcan logic. Spock has also always struggled with his human half and has been the target of discrimination and humiliation by Vulcans for it; another incongruity with Vulcan logic that I had trouble with but, I love TOS as my favorite of all of them. Mirror, Mirror is one of my favorite episodes. To me, it represented the total opposite of Star Trek's premise by allowing our human savagery to conquer our future. I think that was the point. It was well done and Spock with a goatee is incredibly sinister, yet attractive. I think that alludes to the often seductive qualities of the dark side of human nature. Uhura shines in this episode showing both her vulnerability and strength, always with grace. The kill button of the Tantalus Field looks home made and out of place. I always wondered about that but maybe its to show that it came as a covert and illicit after thought and not part of the intended purpose of the machine. The theme of this episode comes back time and again in the various Star Trek series. In "Discovery". it's a season-long arc and is fantastic. Spock and McCoy have a tempestuous and often humorous relationship, couched in mutual admiration, that is one of the most endearing character plots of the original series and related movies.

You are correct in that Checkov was placed on the show because of Russian involvement in space exploration. Plus they thought having a younger male character would maybe attract more young women viewers.

Fun fact: mirror mirror is actually the first trek episode to feature a interracial kiss (actress who plays mirror kirks love intrest is half Filipino)

I watched these in the 70s with my dad, who had seen them in the 60s. He used to mess with me and say 'I think this is the last episode" and stuff like that so I'd think Kirk was really dead lol

Actually, in the Mirror Universe, if you follow the salute closely, it begins with the right fist against the heart or left breast(Roman Salute), followed by the right arm extending out straight as the fingers open in a WW2 German Salute.

Before you get too offended over the Nazi salute, consider that in 1967 it was just over twenty years since the end of World War II, and the Nazi regime was fresh in the memories of a lot of the talents involved in Star Trek, including Shatner and Nimoy, who are both Jewish. Note also that this generation had a lot more to say about how terrible the Nazis were, and they did so in television, in literature, in film, in music and every other artistic avenue available. This was also around the time when Hogan's Heroes debuted on CBS, a comic parody of a prisoner of war drama set in a Nazi concentration camp, and of director Mel Brooks' The Producers, which immortalized the infamous musical tribute to the Third Reich, "Springtime for Hitler." By the way, this is another great reaction. I'm so glad you enjoyed the episodes so much, and I really dig the Bowie NASA shirt.

Love what DS9 does with the Mirror universe...especially filling in what "happened' to Beardy Spock.

They made more mirror universe episodes in other shows. ( deep space nine) and in the fourth season of enterprise. ( to celebrate the 700th hour of Star Trek on television) they did a special two part mirror universe episode. A prequel to this and related to another tos episode. . They also did books one that followed what happened next with mirror spock. Ds9 gave us an update. But the story covers events like ( the undiscovered country) in the mirror universe. . They also did a few in discovery. .

The planet Vulcan is much larger than earth, therefore has stronger gravity. Spock grew up in a high gravity environment, so while he looks pretty lean he’s probably the strongest person on the ship. That’s why he can throw people around like rag dolls. Also Vulcans learn something sort of like a marshal art when they are little. Just some lore that comes out over the years.

Rest in peace, Gerald.

Music in the a cappella style was a very popular fad in the mid '60s. There are some KZfaq channels are dedicated to a cappella. T'Pring is my favorite Star Trek antagonist. She won. No other Trek villain can make that claim.

For me, I see it as everyone's emotions changed, their mirrored version. And since Spock does not have emotions he was not effected by the change.

The ‘Amok Time’ episode did indeed have a number of firsts: First Chekov appearance, first instance of that distinctive ‘Season 2’ music. …And, first appearance of the Vulcan hand salute, along with the first utterance of the accompanying “Live Long And Prosper” Vulcan greeting. As you may know, Nimoy (who, like Shatner, is Jewish) took the Vulcan hand gesture from a portion of the Jewish Rosh Hashana (New Year) services, in which the Kohanim - the genetically-descended Hebrew priestly class - bless the rest of the congregation. One is supposed to cover their eyes and not look, during this process. Nimoy, as a kid, being curious, did of course look, and saw the hand gesture, in which the palm and fingers are arranged to resemble the letter ‘Shin’ in the Hebrew alphabet. We have mainly author Ted Sturgeon to thank for this episode: He basically made up the entire Pon-Far and vulcan society feel - with its logical element combined with powerful secrecy - out of whole cloth! (He also wrote, "Shore Leave.") •••• As others have mentioned, if you search on KZfaq for the truly excellent STAR TREK CONTINUES episode, “The Fairest Of Them All,” you’ll see those creators’ take on, “What happens after Mirror Kirk returns to the Mirror universe?” To call it a ‘fan production’ is true, but misleading: with the level of painstaking detail these people put into every aspect - the writing, casting, set and costume re-creations, music, lighting, editing - this production easily matches the professional level of the original series. (Did the copyright holders clamp down on fan productions primarily because the whole society is moving towards an ever-increasing bureaucratic-legalistic mindset generally, or because they recognized that fan productions were becoming so good that they were moving away from tributes-homages, and were starting to enter the realm of ‘competition’? Probably, some of each.)

Btw, there is an episode of the fan-made (but professional and very high quality) show "Star Trek Continues" that shows what happens in the mirror universe after the evil crewmembers get sent back. This show might be worth reacting to.

You mentioned Alexander Courage again. To remind you, he doesn't score the episodes. He only wrote the title theme. He did cue music for the pilot, but that was it. He did not score any of the regular episodes. So, he's not "gone." He was never there to begin with.

The Nurse Chaple/Spock thing is touched on deeper in The Naked Now 1st season

Example #926 of why you should ask about the rules of a fight before volunteering for it.

9:50 you are watching the enhanced edition. That rockbridge it's not a matte painting. It is a digital rendering with digital Kirk Spock and McCoy walking across. The original episode had them wandering through the set for a while.

The Vulcan mating urge (called Pon Farr) is purely biological and doesn't matter if they have a specific "marriage" connection. It can be assumed that Spock will have to find a different partner for the next one 7 years from now.

I've been waiting for Mirror Mirror, it's probably my favorite of the whole series

Great job as always. Check out "Star Trek Continues" for yourself and one of the episodes shows more of evil Kirk.

What I always wondered is How did they end up in their counterparts' clothes?

26:02 purple and green? Ha ha! It’s Planet Hulk!

There is a part 2 to this episode Mirror Mirror in a series called Star Trek Continues. It's absolutely fantastic. You have to see it man.

Now Ollie, you can see the origins of Pon Phar from.ST III.

You'll get to visit the Mirror Universe much later down the line with DS9.

well, with "the actual salute" you are referring to, it's also not always the same upward angle. When you look at footage from the time you can see the people doing it anywhere from almost straight ahead to almost vertical...

So you may have heard of a type of fanfic called "Slash". The term comes from early Star Trek fandom which would denote romantic pairings by putting a slash / between character names, the most popular pairing being Kirk / Spock. K/S Slash fics existed before season two, but given the social mores of the time, it was talked about in hushed tones, mostly between young housewives who were some of the most enthusiastic fans. One club of fans had invited Nimoy to a meeting between seasons one and two, and while they didn't mention to him the idea of Kirk and Spock being romantic partners, he did let on to them that season two was going to open with a very Spock centric episode. Even without a global computer network, fans are going to fan. Word got around fast, so everyone was hyped even before the season premiere. Finding out said episode not only directly dealt with vulcan sexuality but also ended with Spock's feelings about Kirk overriding that most primal of vulcan urges -- the episode hit with the explosive energy of a warp core breach. Of course, even those who didn't buy in to the premise that Spock and Kirk might secretly be lovers found plenty of fuel for their fandom in Amok Time. Nimoy has said that after the episode aired, his fan mail went from 400 letters a week to 10,000.

You can see more evil Kirk in "The Enemy Within." Shatner should have won an Emmy for his performance.

23:18 we're missing one character from season 1. Janice Rand.

You should have watched the entire series in order. By missing certain episodes, you also miss the development of the characters, causing you to ask questions already answered in previous episodes!

*FUN FACT:* Lieutenant Sulu & Ensign Chekov only appear in 24 episodes together. Usually the budget could only afford one or the other... and George Takei was off filming "The Green Berets" w/John Wayne for a time.

41:12 in the 60s, people didn't get all bothered by a fictional depiction on a prime time TV show. They understood context.

Amok Time: Chekov was not trying to be a Beatle, he was trying to be a Monkee. With the wig, he looked a bit like Davy Jones of the Monkees TV band. This was an attempt to draw some more of the youth crowd by mimicking the popular singer/musician. Also, he was Russian in response to complaints from the Soviets that although they had scored more firsts in the space race to that point, the imperialist western entertainment industry was snubbing them by excluding them from a depiction of future space travel. So Roddenberry expanded his diverse crew in that direction and took care of two issues simultaneously. He really did want to portray an inclusive and advanced human future. Nurse Chapel did have a crush on Spock and it played into several episodes. You saw her reaction when T'Pring was described as Spock's wife. Rather crestfallen. Admirably, you picked up early on the "puberty" aspect, bravo! Now you are qualified to watch the Futurama episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean In Love" and really appreciate it.

Both are classic episodes!

Stonn and Uhura went on to marry 12 years after Kirk was assumed dead after the events at the beginning of Star Trek Generations and Scotty was lost in the disappearance of the USS Jenolan. The movie starred Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Grace Lee Whitney, Alan Ruck, Chase Masterson, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Ethan Phillips, J. G. Hertzler, Cirroc Lofton, Gary Graham and Lawrence Montaigne reprised the role of Stonn. The characters of Gary Mitchell and Charlie Evans also make an appearance with different actors portraying them.

For 'background' episodes, go watch Star Trek: Enterprise "In a Mirror, Darkly" 1 & 2.

Interesting story about Chekhov: at the time the Russian premier Krushchev (sp?) saw Trek's first season and liked it. So he wrote a letter to Gene Roddenberry asking him why the highly diverse Enterprise crew didn't have any Russian representation (we were the competitive "space powers" at the time). In response, Roddenberry created the Russian Chekhov character as the Enterprise navigator.

These were 2 of my favorites as well from TOS. Well done! 😁

Mirror Mirror Sulu was a fencer (see The Naked Time and ST2009). So he wasn't so good at hand-to-hand. He wasn't killed because he was a main character. Kirk has great speeches throughout the series, and this is one of his best. Freedom or tyranny...ah, the impact on a young impressionable mind. Spock had many good statements here as well (terror must be maintained...); he was at his core the person we already knew. Logical, disciplined, intelligent, but here Vulcans do not disavow violence. Yes, the evil versions, and their parallel universe were so fascinating that later series revisited the place with equally entertaining results. Star Trek Continues, the fan-made show, followed up on this in Episode 3 Fairest of Them All when evil Kirk returned to his ship to a changed Spock. Uhura was at the MAX in this episode. As to the salute, back in the 60s it was everywhere in entertainment, both that directly addressing WWII and elsewhere if appropriate (pledge allegiance to Hedley Lamar in Blazing Saddles comes to mind) so it fit in here. We even had comedy shows about WWII (Hogan's Heros and McHale's Navy on TV - even Monty Python sketches, and many movies). It wasn't disturbing, it was an understood part of certain landscapes. Really great reactions!

I'd also recommend you watch "The Enemy Within" due to a comment you made about one of the episodes.

You missed a really great evil Kirk, in the first season episode, "The Enemy Within". That episode really highlights William Shatner's amazing acting range and ability.

I just saw that the Marlena actress, Barbara Luna turned 86 yesterday and she still looks AMAZING for being that old! I swear, she's one of those people who will live past 100.

I would imagine it would be a problem for Evil Kirk if they had to move him to a different stateroom for a week or so while doing renovations on that part of the ship.