Issue 2: Life in Space
By Mr. Atoz, The Librarian

All Our Yesterdays Review

All Our Yesterdays
Rating: “Indeed, Captain“

Synopsis:
Spock, Kirk, and McCoy beam down to Serpeidon to warn the planet of a nearby star that will supernova and destroy the planet. However, they discover the planet is deserted except for Atoz the Librarian (No, it’s not me…………..or….is it?) Not only do they discover Atoz, but his duplicates, which have been programmed to occupy the library with him. The three heroes discover that the planet’s inhabitants have retreated to different eras of the past, thanks to a device called the Avachron. As the Enterprise boys are checking out different eras, Kirk hears a scream and finds himself in Olde English 17th Century. McCoy and Spock run after him, but end up in an icy location.

Kirk saves the woman, but is arrested for trial as a witch, while McCoy gets sick in the new cold habitat. He and Spock also meet Zarabeth, a woman who is a prisoner there, exiled by a tyrant for really doing nothing wrong. Being in the past, Spock begins to revert back to being a Vulcan of the past- barbaric and passionate. He and Zarabeth fall for each other. Meanwhile, with the help of a reluctant constable, Kirk is able to escape prison and find the point in the Avachron door he went through. McCoy has to convince an angry, passionate Spock that they must find Kirk. They eventually do make it back to the present and back to the Enterprise before the supernova destroys the planet.

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Let’s get one hard, indisputable fact out of the way: time travel is cool. There aren’t very many aspects of this episode that aren’t classic science fiction. Not only do you have time travel, but you also have a planet about to be destroyed by supernova and you have android duplicates. AWESOME!! On the other hand, I think the story drags somewhat, especially in the scenes with Kirk stuck in the 17th Century (or wherever he was). The best aspect of the episode that gives it some intelligence is Spock’s reverting to a Vulcan of thousands of years ago. The things I like about Spock are his infallibility, calmness, intelligence, and mysticism. Contrast that to the angry, violent, passionate, Spock we see here and it’s hard not to be intrigued.It would have been easy to just make the sudden change in Spock’s demeanor, but I like how it’s treated here as a slow development in character and temperament. (”Slow” is relative in that the story is confined to a one-hour episode). The best moment in the show is when McCoy gives Spock one of his typical cracks on Spock’s heritage, and Spock just turns on him. It’s a little surprising. One thing that I actually don’t like about the episode is that I can’t understand why Spock falls so hard for Zarabeth. There’s nothing that special about her that would make Spock not want to go back to the Enterprise (which is an important plot point). My best guess is that Spock is just so passionate that it doesn’t take a whole lot to bring his sexual and emotional impulses to the surface. (That, and Zarabeth being the only female in sight.) If I think long and hard about it, however, I am left to ponder if Spock’s ancient Vulcan makeup would have allowed him to be attracted to a humanoid female. If Spock had reverted back thousands of years, we’re left to wonder, if not assume, that the Vulcans had not yet had contact with humans or humanoid. Would he not have been possibly violent against an unknown species? Then again, it was a slow reversion.

Another major thing that holds the episode back is the sheer boredom of Kirk’s plotline. You have to have a plot with Kirk since he is the captain, but it’s just your typical “How is he going to get out of this one?” It really drags. The Spock/McCoy/Zarabeth storyline is 100 times more interesting and keeps the episode afloat.