James Gregory was the go-to actor for authority figures, good, evil or comedic; Most remembered for his role as Inspector Luger on Barney Miller.

Devices that make people's "minds right" would certainly be utilised by contemporary governments if they had them.

"Their minds made right..." I appreciated the reference to the Babylon 5 episodes (a repeating theme) about one or another form of mental re-writing for criminals (ethical or political), but also think of A Clockwork Orange (1962 novel and 1971 film) for the horrifying possibilities of this form of "treatment", even when the "original" personality is definitely antisocial.

I think I first saw this around age 11 and found the episode memorable because the uniform patches, based on the device, and because it was terrifying and cruel.

Kirk not being able to properly resist the device makes some sense. It seems the longer the beam hits you the worse your thinking and decision making ability gets, at least during the process. Apparently the neural neutralizer makes you a little dumber too. The writers must have tested it on themselves. The Picard show,Lower Decks and STD writers must be spending a great deal of time on it as well.

Spock's comment about violence is especially funny given all the additions to the Vulcan culture from Voyager onwards, from Tuvok's using his logic to deduce the need for violence on more than one occasion, the generally belligerent and militaristic Vulcans in Enterprise, the "using violence to illicit an emotional response" kids in JJ Trek and of course "The Vulcan Hello" from Discovery, all of which I really like as ways to flesh out their culture and history... Oh and of course the Ritualistic fight to the death in Amok Time. :p

Thinking about how they talk of this..."weapon" as I will call it from now on; It wouldn't surprise me one bit to find the early formation of Section 31 behind or tied to something like this. Like seriously, the ability to write 'programing' into someone that IMO is not relegated to only "you will feel pain when you say no no information". Reminds me a lot of what "Deputy Director" Sloan was accusing Bashir of being for the dominion. And now that I think about it...also a lot like Sloan's mind when they went to retrieve the cure. The way he was still "Luther Sloan" in his subconscious but there was "Section 31" stopping him from being a friend to Bashir. I don't know if that makes sense but it's a nice little headcanon for me that the Federation isn't as spineless as it publicly appears (back to your video talking about how the Federation having Section 31 makes sense). Also might just throw a question here since I can; are you going to do a Top/Bottom list for TNG and DS9?

Yeoman is not a rank in starfleet, its a civilian post. They are personal assistants to the captain. Also beta canon has Rand as only 18 via being trapped on a ship escaping the destruction of her colony withher younger brother, trapped at reletavistic travel speeds at sub light. In fact biologicallly, Rand is 15 at the 1st season.

11:00 In the modern day Navy yeoman is an administrative clerk billet filled by enlisted, with the senior most yeoman being a 1st-Class Petty Officer (E-6). Since the only enlistedmen that exist in trek are crewman (Chiefs are Cheif Warrant Officers, a sort of specialist officer outside of normal seniority and who answer only to the CO/XO), I could easily see Starfleet requiring a degree to even just be the captain's secretary.

I didn't remember this one either, was this the mental institution one? Spocks line was great, deducing Kirk would lose the fight, ha ha What, this isn't the one where Kirk fights an inmate disguised as him?

Maybe one of my favourites of the early ones. Helen Noel is a great character and it's a shame we don't see her again (notice how she saves the day too?), but I also like how this -- and Whom Gods Destroy -- show that future humanity is *not* flawless. Facilities like this wouldn't be necessary in a society where humans didn't still have very human failings.

TMP is when the Chevron becomes the symbol for all of Starfleet.

A single deranged person can get lucky and slip by security, but it should look like an unlikely event.

"The Vulcan Hello" from Discovery was a logical use of violence, omg did I just say a nice about Discovery -- what's the 'face palm emoji?

In 1966 my family had a B&W Magnavox television, low resolution of course. The idea of hypnosis via NBC was laughable, we were happy to get both picture and sound simultaneously. Anything beyond that was just your imagination.

Here's another one if you don't have him already: Finney (did I get the name/spelling right)? I really enjoyed the part where you talked about Leonard Nimoy and how he kept his character consistent. Even if Spock isn't precisely a Vulcan, I credit Leonard Nimoy with the things I love most about the Vulcan race.

"People will just have their minds made right." So.... in other words.... we'll just re-educate them. God in Heaven! The more I learn about Roddenberry the less and less respect I have for the man! I'll admit.... I have a much higher opinion of this episode then Lore does. I thought the interplay between Kirk and Noel worked well enough (they did have some decent chemistry together). Shatner really does sell the horror of the mind-device when it's being forced on him. I've always assumed the episode was saying that such practices (making peoples' "minds right" was immoral.... maybe I should rethink that opinion). And, we have the introduction of Vulcan mind-melds (world-building is always a plus). I've always assumed the reason for Dr. Adams' villainy was part of a noticeable theme throughout TOS - people of prestige always feeling that they must live up to their achievements and never being able to rest on their laurels. Dr. Korby, Dr. Adams, Dr. Daystrom, and even Captain Tracy (to name just a few) constantly feel the drive to bring about "the next big thing", even if it drives them into insanity territory. And, don't forget, the whole "no money society" nonsense didn't start until TNG, so these people might have a financial motivation for constantly pushing themselves in unhealthy ways. But even that seems minor compared to their desire to always live up to their previous accomplishments. Either that or maybe Adams just wanted to set up his own little fiefdom where he ruled supreme and didn't have to adhere to Federation medical practices and standards. 8/10

Clearly this device was developed to help treat all the overwhelming trauma and depression caused by the recent, devastating, and thoroughly dark war with the Klingons.

The Chevron was not in universe retconed but done in honour of the Enterprise.

Just watched this episode in preparation of Lore doing it. Not a bad episode,not amazing but good enough. The best stuff is the interplay with Kirk,Spock and Mcoy at the start and then Spock doing the first Mind Meld later on. It's interesting to see Nimoy feel his way thru the scene and develop it. Kirk's stuff with the doctor is a little less interesting but it was still watchable. I like the idea that he didn't do anything with her at the party they but that she had fantasies that he had. Of course that was used against him later. My only real problem is how quickly it wraps up.

I do remember this episode well, I kinda liked it as a kid cause it was a little...creepy? but yeah watching it now it really doesnt have much to offer

This is more memorable because of the South Park remake than the episode itself.

I remember the South Park parody

Title origin: Shakespeare's "Scottish Play" (Don't mention the title 🤣) 'Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible, to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but *a dagger of the mind*, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; and such an instrument I was to use. Nine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses.' The parallels here are in Shakespeare's suggestion that 'a dagger of the mind' is a dangerous false memory, somewhat reflecting what the chair does to Kirk.

To each his own I guess I have always kinda liked Dagger of the Mind but as always your criticisms of it are valid. I never realized Dr Noel was originally meant to be Rand but yeah looking back it makes sense. It's been awhile since I last watched it so I will to see if I still like it or if I agree with Lore. I think the premise always has appealed to me but I can see the execution issues that you point out. I'll keep that in mind when I re-watch the episode. Still, another great Rumination thank you

At least James Gregory didn’t go on and on talking about Foster, Kleiner and especially poor old Brownie who ended up like a vegetable… 😜 Wait! that’s Inspector Frank Luger, NYPD.

Spock lords it over his friends that there is no crime on Vulcan, then about a year later, those friends have to save him from an attempted murder by his fiancee.

I agree about Nemoy. His having largely created the character.

I wonder if this was used on Daystrom, during his stay in the "total rehabilitation colony"

You need to keep track of the kill count

Without a functioning legal system how would you decide which people were criminals and therefore needed their minds fixing?

I could see the change to Helen as a way to get rid of, not the character of Rand, but the actress because the only other episode she is in is Miri. Now in season 1 you have a few episodes with a characters similar to Rand, the yeomen in Shore Leave, Galileo Seven, Gothos, Taste of Armageddon, and Operation Annihilate, all of these yeoman writing wise come of as Rand in many ways. So I could see Roddenberry liking the character but if what happened to the actress has already occurred in real life I could see him saying we need to replace the actress/character only to end up doing it in the laziest way possible.

I have to say that this was one of my favorite episodes back in the 70s. You seem to have mispronounced Helen's last name as "Nohl." I guess you must not have picked up on the idea that they met at the Christmas party, so her name is therefore Noel ("No-El" as in Christmas and the first Noel). I thought she was the most attractive woman on the show, but then I may have been hypnotized through the TV. "Helen, for years I've loved you!" Almost every TV show back then had someone crawling through ductwork to escape, by the way.

I would like to point out that however chilling you find "mind made right" and that the trained psychiatrist found this mundane. At the time the show was being written people were getting labotomised. One of the people who pushed and popularised the practice had no surgical background and sometimes did two at a time. Other practices were electroshock therapy or drugs that had horrible side effects. Psychiatry has always been chilling.

I think I'm going to have to watch this episode again because I want to watch the episode with the perspective of that girl being Rand I didn't know that part was written for Rand it is a low-tier episode but not the worst you can watch

Helen reminds me of "I am familiar with experiments of LSD. " and yes she is but most on Earth are not.

The sad thing is that I have to put most of my hope in TOS to get a positive rumination each week….cause the other series is Enterprise. So I mean….enough said.

Another episode where a slightly maddened person is all sweaty and deranged. Makes me wonder what acting schools were like back then.

I actually liked the episode a bit. I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and the scenes with the assistant that had his brain messed up, even if the villain was evil because the episode needed an evil villain. Yeah, story wise it was a mess, but it did have some redeeming qualities.

We need more Yeomens in Trek

Actualy a realy intelligent premise. And a good ilustration of the problems with objectifying people. Even (or especialy) for their own good, or any suposedly greater purpose. In my personal opinion quite a memorable and important Episode.🖖

I LOVE this episode. A tad bummed Lore didnt like it that much. I think it's a very well told story that identifies its subject matter and executes it with a great pace and follow through

Lore i was wondering if you know what the term for camera move at the beginning the cage is where they Circle around the Bridge dome before they zoom in on the Bridge crew?

"KIRK IS AN IDIOT" ha ha

I know what killed him: “Loneliness. Terrible Loneliness…”

In regards to hypnosis, from what I've heard, the scientists in that era were unsure of what it was or how it worked, so for T.V. exec's to be cautious about it is understandable. But even if they knew, can you honestly say that someone in the general viewing audience would NOT have tried to claim being hypnotized by the new science fiction show that caused them to do something bad? I think the exec's were smart not use it, if not for the reason they thought.

I didnt remember this one either, but then I wasn’t that in to tos, so it’s possible I actually had missed it. I actually like the premise and set up (at least in comparison to other early tos episodes). Until Kirk picked up the idiot ball and intentionally sat himself in that seat under the suspicious machine. Even Staying there for yet another third test after his first suspicions were confirmed! Even the otherwise interesting set up didn’t go anywhere. Motives are never explained. None of them. What is even the doctor’s goal with using this machine? While we could easily hypothesize many nefarious goals with such a power, the show doesn’t give us one. In fact, when Kirk pretty much hands himself over to be mind controlled, The first thing he programs Kirk to do does not seem useful to him in any way. What is his end game? Why did did this respected doctor turn evil? Van Gelder said something about him having died - but then that isn’t explained either. Noel tried so hard to get Kirk not to investigate the machine, I had expected her to have been programmed previously by it. But nope. No motive given for her actions either. Then it’s topped off with an, at lease partially, still brainwashed Kirk just returning to command. no one seems concerned by this. Doctor McCoy standing beside him doesn’t even consider giving him a checkup first? His vacant expression and lack of closure with programmed love of Noel just hang there, leaving me to expect more, then the credits roll. It’s over? Oh, ok. I guess. nothing started is ever going to be resolved? - I wrote that before watching all of your review. Was neat to hear that those were some of your main complaints as well. I forgot, but you pointed out, Kirk’s coming and going ability to resist made no sense either. Another interesting take away I got from your review was your explaining that Noel was originally intended to be a character we already knew. Had they gone through with that version, she may have come off as a little less suspicious. But being as she didn’t turn out to in on the plot, or brainwashed herself, her nonchalant attitude brushing off Kirk’s every very valid suspicion, and determination to prevent him from investigating the device, is still really bizarre. I was actually hoping I had missed some explanations for some of the many unresolved plot points. But having now watched all of your review, I guess the explanations just weren’t there.

I like this episode a lot. What is bothersome to me is how naive Helen Noel is and how much she sucks up to Adams early in the episode. The episode also does not explain why Van Gelder undergoes the neural neutralizer “treatment.” He was not initially an inmate but rather a psychiatrist assigned to the asylum. Does he discover what Adams is doing and gets forced into the brainwashing?

Yes I like this episode and see it as flawed.

Curiously on TVTropes page for Complete Monsters in Star Trek, Adams is the chronologically the first one in the franchise. Though I suppose that shows how low the criteria is to be a Complete Monster. Simply don't have a real motivation while doing villainous things I guess.

Time for some Clockwork Oranges, my fellow droogies ! Or, that Roger Ebert should lay off the fatty food !

Such a forgettable episode. There are episodes I’ve seen many times, episodes I’ve seen a few times, and then there are episodes I’ve seen at least twice before, having done two complete watchthroughs on different DVD sets. Watching this last week it never broke into “oh I remember this” territory. I couldn’t remember it at all.

Is the character in the opening scene , the same actor in the Omega Glory?

ONE STEP ABOVE LAMENTATION??? WHAT THE FUCK?

What?! This is one of my favorite episodes. I used to be so excited for your Monday Ruminations where you'd talk 30-45 minutes on cool topics like space law and future politics, but with these TOS ruminations I feel like I'm getting a lot less to chew on. A shame!

23:40 fundamentally the Federation is much more flawed in this era, and maybe more frail/relatable. The 'perfect future' trope arguably wasn't codified until TNG. Characters in TOS are flawed. Humans are not yet above all their avarices. Money still exists. Rough and ready types like traders (Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones, etc) and miners exist alongside Starfleet. The Federation themselves are in perpetual cold wars with other galactic powers. Nobody in TOS is the enlightened future humans we see in the likes of Picard. On a wider level this is why you end up with monomaniacal Starfleet captains like Tracey or figures like Daystrom who have meltdowns. You've got Janice Lester or Garth of Izar, who are clinically insane. That's one of the things that arguably sets TOS apart from future Treks. Yes, humanity has come so far already, but it has not come as far as it has by TNG. I believe the invention of the replicator is a big innovation in the intervening century, as in TOS's time we still see our heroes scrambling for resources from time to time (Dilithium mining etc), something that will occasionally feed into their savage instincts for survival, where the Federation of Picard's time have no worries of that kind (even Dilithium can be regenerated in several episodes of TNG -- forget DSC season 3, the writers of that show knew not a scrap of the lore). Undoubtedly this is all a big reason why the people of Kirk's time use money (several references in TOS) and are more flawed people, a place where poverty still exists in some fashion, but by TNG's time they've moved beyond wanting material possessions. TNG might be the utopia we all want to live in, but TOS in debatably the future we're more likely to have.

My only defense for this episode is South Park spoofing it 😂

Yup. "Lethe" is an attempt to be a nod, horror ("lethe" refers to, among other things, a personification of "oblivion"), and lame joke all rolled into one. How will Dr Adam's take over the galaxy? Or is that his goal or desire? Yeah, there is no motivation, which seems anticlimactic. Morgan Woodward is fantastic in everything he does. Yeah, that one scene he did go over the top but not by much and TOS has done far worse over the top. Ask Lazarus from the goofy other-dimension dimension jumping episode that's coming up. Will look for Snodgrass' Discovery blog. Thanks!

I always thought it was weird that they mention a Christmas party in this episode, seems out of place for trek.

this episode was so tedious that i basically played gwent on the phone through the whole episode cuz i was so bored