#yeoman mears

[chernobog13]

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES The Galileo Seven S1E16

Yeoman Mears (Phyllis Douglas), Lieutenant Gaetano (Peter Marko), and Lieutenant Boma (Don Marshall) on Taurus ll.

Amazingly enough, the red shirt doesn't bite the dust in this episode.

[meant-forsomethingbetter]

1x16 - The Galileo Seven

5/10. An interesting diversion from business as usual with this one, as Spock is sent on an away mission to an unknown quasar with six crewmen, including McCoy and Scotty, only for them to become stranded on a hostile planet. Back on the Enterprise, Kirk must contend with a Starfleet commissioner whose sole purpose is to remind the captain that his duty is to deliver medical supplies to a plague-ridden planet, no matter that some of his crew are missing. Spock takes control of command this episode, although it’s a struggle to do so with dissent rising in the ranks of his subordinates, all of whom are repulsed by his cold logician’s approach to survival. Even McCoy takes his turn stirring the pot, incredulous that Spock refuses to risk the surviving members of the crew in order to bury a dead one, for example. Lieutenants Boma and Gaetano, not-redshirted redshirts, question Spock’s decisions at every moment, suspicious of the fact that he’s not falling over himself in hysteria every time something goes wrong. It’s implied that they probably wouldn’t talk back so much to their superior officer had it been Kirk, or another human, regardless of the decisions made; the chain of command would be adhered to strictly, and should be in times of crisis, lest order collapse completely. They simply don’t trust his Vulcan instincts. McCoy does stand up for Spock later in the episode, and Scotty too, and upon the moment of escape even Boma risks everything to save Spock on a whim; but it’s all done in a manner that belies how superior they think their emotion-driven actions are when compared to logic. It’s fascinating looking at it through the lens of ableism and racism more than 50 years after it was written. (Obviously only contained in a fantasy setting, not comparable to real racism.) I’m sure many POC and neurodivergent people will be able to identify with the rigorous suspicion and interrogation to which Spock is subjected, when he’s only performing his job to its specifications. This is not to say Spock was 100% right all the time, as the story dictated he should have been more prepared to anticipate others’ emotions, instead of assuming everyone and everything will follow logic. But there are interesting parallels to explore.

Favourite quote: “What a mess.” / “Picturesque descriptions will not mend broken circuits, Mr. Scott.” - Scotty and Spock. // Proof that I manage to be both of them in a crisis. Simultaneously bemoaning the state of things while chiding myself for not fixing it sooner. The Enterprise crew really make up one whole functioning person, don’t they?

[trek-tracks]

Well, at least we know where he got it from...

[redshirtgal]

The Way to Eden Redshirts

Certainly everyone admits being a redshirt is a stressful job. You wake up and wonder if this is your last day. You hear your name announced for the next landing party and break out in a cold sweat. You are not even safe on your own ship. Some alien force, an out of control robot, or a bratty kid with super-powers might blast you away. It would not be surprising if a redshirt would break down under all this pressure. He or she might even turn into the polar opposite of a Starfleet officer - a space hippie who just wants to get back to the Garden of Eden.  Which brings us to this interesting situation. How did two redshirts - one alive and one dead- become tie-dyed, multi-color hair flower children in “The Way to Eden”? Did Mears freak out after the events of “The Galileo Seven” and join the band? Did Watson’s ghost decide that a second life as a singing hippie would be safer after having his neck broken in “Elaan of Troyius”? No, as tempting as it is to make a case for a redshirt rebellion, the answer is that the same actor played both parts in each case.

Phyllis Douglas played both Yeoman Mears and Mavig. She was probably cast in her first role because the director, Robert Gist, had been her acting teacher. Two other actors in that episode, Peter Marko and Don Marshall, had also been in her acting class. In a Starlog interview (August 2008), Phyllis admitted while she was very proud of this role, she was not as happy with her appearance as Mavig in “The Way to Eden.” She found it so embarrassing, she tried to hide as much as possible.  To her, a bunch of singing hippies had no place on such a serious show as Star Trek. 

Her father was well-known assistant director Ridge Callow, who had cast her in the part of the two year old Bonnie Blue Butler, daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. In an interesting twist, years after his daughter’s appearances in Star Trek, he became the production manager for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Victor Brandt, on the other hand, has a more interesting story as to how he managed to land both the part of the Engineering crewman named Watson and that of Tongo Rad, Mavig’s fellow space hippie. John Meredyth Lucas had directed him previously in an episode of The Invaders in which Victor’s character dies. When it came time to cast “Elaan of Troyius”, Lucas himself contacted Brandt and said he had another death scene for him.  Victor had another plus going for him too. His father was Louis Brandt, another assistant director, who at that time was working on Mannix. His office was just down the hall from those of Star Trek. Because Victor occasionally visited his father, he would often run into Robert Justman and Herbert Solow. One day as he was walking down the hallway, they grabbed him to read for the part of Tongo Rad and later he learned he had been hired. Unlike Phyllis Douglas, Brandt rather enjoyed his time as Tongo, even though it meant spending hours in makeup and getting catcalls for his purple and silver hair. However, he stated his biggest challenge was learning to play the bongos. If you watch carefully, you will note that the movement of his hands does not exactly match the beat of the music. 

Whether you love it or hate “The Way to Eden,” you still have to admit that the odds of two actors portraying redshirts on one episode and space hippies in this one are pretty slim. But wait... that is not the only coincidence in this episode. 

It turns out that there were three actors in “The Way to Eden” who had acted in previous Star Trek episodes. Skip Homeier played both the Ekosian Deputy Führer Melakon (”Patterns of Force”) and Dr. Sevrin in “The Way to Eden.” Three out of five space hippies. Those are even more impressive odds. 

[chernobog13]

After the Grateful Dead concert everyone suspected Spock was too stoned to drive the van.

[scifi-women]

[theyboldlywent]

Stills, "The Galileo Seven"

[theyboldlywent]

Stills, "The Galileo Seven," 1967