Arena
Arena
Each block represents a single tweet from the initial livetweet thread
“It took 3 attempts to livetweet this episode (due to technical difficulties), and Spock and Bones bickering at the start still never fails to amuse”
“”Doctor, you are a sensualist”
“You bet your pointed ears I am”
I mean, subtle Vulcanphobia aside I love these 2 going at each other”
“Why can Sulu fire phasers from the bridge now, when I few episodes ago he had to tell people in a weapons control room of some kind to do it?”
“And now he’s having to speak to the control room to get them to arm photon torpedoes, only to then again fire them from the bridge, what are the rules here damn it 😂”
“”He’ll be dead in half an hour” well shit Bones, he’s still conscious, your bedside manner is appalling”
“The look of utter disgust on Spock’s face at the thought that the enemies could lock on to and destroy his tricorder is iconic”
“”The threat is clear and immediate. Invasion”
I mean, the threat is also currently running away from you Kirk, I’m not convinced it’s going to plan”
“Look, sometimes you’ve just gotta let Shatner chew up the entirety of the scenery, and I get the feeling him shouting “THIS IS NOT A DRILL” down the intercom was one of those times”
“Kirk seems way too excited at the prospect of being able to destroy a dead-in-the-water ship that he has zero contact with and doesn’t know for sure actually caused the massacre on Cestus 3”
“”This far out? That’s impossible!”
“We ARE being held”
Spock is done with your shit Kirk, don’t doubt him”
“Okay, I know someone vanishing into thin air right in front of you is not something you see every day, but a blood-curdling scream hardly seems the appropriate response Uhura”
“Oh my god, I know the budget was low, but that Gorn is clearly a bloke in a rubber mask, come on now”
“Kirk throwing a rock at the Gorn and the Gorn just completely disregarding it and then picking up a fucking boulder is exactly the kind of dry humour that makes me love this show”
“And then immediately followed by Scotty telling Spock that yes, I definitely fucking tried all of your ideas already stop fucking asking”
“DeForest was really channelling his inner Shatner with his annunciation on “it’s SIMPLY not POSSIBLE that we’re IMMOBILISED””
“Y’know, it occurs to me that the early days of TOS have a lot of “the gang encounter an alien/alien race that just completely outclasses them and acts godlike, and the gang can do nothing but appeal to that species goodness””
“I mean seriously, what notable difference is there between the Metrons and Balok in terms of how they treat the Enterprise?”
“Spock watching Kirk fight the Gorn on the Enterprises screen and critiquing his performance is hilarious ngl”
“I can’t help but assume this episode is going to end with Kirk killing the Gorn and learning absolutely fuck all from all the “you invaded our space, not vice versa” shit but I’m open to being pleasantly surprised”
“Okay, the godlike Metrons literally look like greek gods. I can’t tell if this is bluntly to the point, or an ironic jab at people like me calling the show out for having too many god-like species 😂”
“”And the good captain learned that day to ask questions first and shoot later”
This episode does feel a bit tropey ngl”
“So we established earlier that Warp 7 is too much, but Warp 6 is fine. Why then do they bother setting off at Warp 1? Why not travel at Warp 6 the whole way to their destination? Kirk says they’re going back to Cestus 3 so it’s not like they’re exploring new areas”
“Well that was Arena! I feel like it suffers its own legacy to an extent, as so much from this episode later became Sci-Fi trope, but it was overall a very enjoyable episode and I can only imagine it was even more so in its time”