Search - Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 38 - Episodes 75 & 76: The Way to Eden / Requiem for Methuselah on DVD

Aimee M. (AimeeM)
Reviewed on 2/22/2010...

THE WAY TO EDEN
"If you don't reach this episode, you are a Herbert!"

(If you've seen it, you'll understand the line above)

Ok... this episode is the hippie one. Yes... hippie. If you like to watch Spock playing his harp with a group of hippies, or like seeing someone play a bicycle wheel as an instrument (not kidding) or like musical episodes... this is the one for you.

(I personally consider it the worse one ever made, however my brother says it is the best one. I'll leave that decision to you.)

REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH
This would have been a pretty good episode early in the series. But sadly at this point in time... it was way too predictable.

Kirk falls for the blond (shock) and then can't have her (gasp) and will never be the same again because he really loved her (ignore the last twenty girls he loved) but fortunately Spock can make him all better (grin)

Actually this episode is worth watching... pay close attention to the actress who plays the blond... she has a better and much more dramatic role in a certain famous movie... Jaws.

Leonardo DaVinci Meets the Space Hippies

Bruce Rux | Aurora, CO | 08/25/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Wow! Could you get two episodes more different than these?The better of the two - though the less entertaining - is "Requiem for Methuselah," which brings Kirk, Spock and McCoy into contact with a cultured older man named Flint (James Daly) and his daughter Reena (Louise Sorel), on an otherwise abandoned planet where the Enterprise can obtain much needed Ritalin (not the kind you're thinking of). How exactly these two came to be out in the middle of nowhere - and fully self-sufficient - is a mystery for the three Enterprise principals to solve, along with that of Flint's unprecedented collection of entirely unknown and uncatalogued DaVinci paintings, Brahms and Beethoven symphonies, Shakespeare sonnets, etc. And just what, exactly, is his relationship to his "daughter," who truly is "the only girl in the world"?This one performs much like the 1950's classic film, Forbidden Planet. The performances are quite good, Sorel especially, whose particulars are as much a mystery to herself as they are to everyone else. The scenery is sumptuous."The Way to Eden" was the inspiration for the equally laughable later movie series entry, Star Trek V. Truly, nothing is ever funnier than Establishment portrayals of Counterculture, and that's what this one is all about. The Enterprise picks up a handful of space hippies from a stolen space shuttle, who go around preaching, like, really groovy peace-'n-love, man, to the starship's crew - an', like, y'know, Captain Kirk is just so, I dunno, like, not receptive, man. But - WHOA! - SPOCK really groks their scene, dig? He's sympathetic to their desire to find the mythical planet Eden (our equivalent of Atlantis), even if their leader is a middle-aged mad doctor who's a real head-case (Skip Homeier). Well...things don't turn out well. (Bummer!)A prize, to anyone who can watch more than five minutes of the Space Hippies and not crack a smile. If you're not laughing within ten, there's something wrong with you. If you're not cat-calling within fifteen, you're in severe need of medical attention."

Spock Plays Brahms & Jams with Space-Hippies

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 05/29/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Volume 38 of Paramount's complete reissue of Classic Trek contains two episodes which document the inconsistent quality of the series third season.The Way to Eden is truly one of the worst episodes in all of Trek, terrible even by the lax standards of the original series' third season. The writers' pathetic attempt to create slang dialogue for the "space-hippies" is only surpassed by the cringeworthy songs they sing. Matters are not improved when Spock shows up to "jam" with the hippies. The Biblical parallels are also severely overdone. Trekker Trivia Notes: Charles Napier, who plays Adam, went on to be a regular in Jonathan Demme's films. Don't blink and you'll see my uncle, Jim Drake, as one of the medical interns in sick bay.Requiem for Methuselah fares a bit better. The landing party is searching for Ryetalyn (not to be confused with Ritalin) to cure a shipboard epidemic of Rigelian Fever, when they meet the mysterious Mr. Flint--a real renaissance man who seems to have no past. This would have been a first rate episode, if it were not for Kirk's severely uncharacteristic behavior. While the Captain has certainly fallen for ladies before, he has never been so reckless as to jeopardize his mission or the Enterprise. (Kirk's behavior could have been explained away as the onset of Rigelian Fever, but the writers never bothered to make that clarification.) Spock again appears in a musical guise here, but this time the music is more palatable. James Daly's performance as Flint is one of the best performances by a Trek guest star. Trekker Trivia Note: James Daly is the father of actors Tim and Tyne Daly. The picture and sound restoration are some of the best I've come across in this series."

Yea, Brother!

03/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gonna snap my fingers and jump for joy, gotta clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy!
So, the third season is usually panned but how could you not love Spock "reaching" the space hippies and, of course, all that great music? As silly as The Way to Eden is, it is one episode people usually remember.
In Requiem for Methuselah, how could you not be touched when Spock took away Kirk's mental pain at the end of the episode?"