Starlost Reviews 11: "The Astro Medics"

[james_davis_nicoll]

In which we learn Gregory House is not the most disfunctional doctor ever to live.



Garth manages to get trapped in some sort of sonic blasting chamber. Devon and Rachel race to his aid but while Garth is freed, Devon is trapped in the chamber and zapped. When his companions drag him out, Devon is out cold. When the sphere projector (grumpy glasses-wearing AI guy) is asked for help, he arranges for the Astro Medic space craft to race to the trio's aid.

It seems the Ark has an entire dome devoted to nothing but medicine. Alas, although they have a space craft, they do not know enough to repair the Ark and it has never occurred to them to use their resources to organize a repair effort. Instead, they try to treat those who they can, despite the fact that their ability to help is increasingly insufficient to meet demand. Perhaps they should abandon the single-payer model and went to something more akin to what France uses.

On board are a navigation crew, young Dr. Doctor and old Dr. Doctor, as well as Dr. Loveinterest (Garth is smitten by Dr. Loveinterest but he doesn't get anywhere with her). Young Dr. Doctor sees that Devon is in a bad way and he comforts Garth and Rachel with the news that although Devon will probably die, there is a small chance he might survive as a brain-dead vegetable. Although he does not see much point in trying to deal with such a hopeless case, young Dr. Doctor makes a cursory attempt at treating Devon.

We learn that the old doctor that young Dr. Doctor mistreats and verbally abuses is young Dr. Doctor's father, who handed command of the medical unit over to his son when age began to destroy old Dr. Doctor's eyesight and coordination. Young Dr. Doctor was not always an ass but ambition has made him so.

The medical ship gets a message from a passing alien space craft. The crew are dying, perhaps of a virus, but they cannot find the source of their malady and appeal to the humans for help. They can offer some help in repairing the Ark, or at least they can if the humans help them while the aliens are within range. Although the alien ship is just at the edge of the range the medical ship can reach and still be able to return to the Ark, the doctors decide they must save the aliens.

The alien malady is far more interesting than helping Devon so young Dr. Doctor essentially abandons his patient. A guilt-wracked Garth is angry that Devon is being left to die and he turns the space ship's drive off until such time as the doctors will help his friend. The navigation crew informs him that this has probably doomed the ship.

Old Dr. Doctor then suggests that there is a risky operation that might save Devon's life and after some encouragement from Dr. Loveinterest, old Dr. Doctor begins the operation. Sadly, it becomes apparent that he is old and physically not up to the challenge of the task. Meanwhile his son has completely failed to solve the puzzle of the sick aliens and since the son is the better surgeon while the father is the better diagnostician, they trade jobs.

Devon survives without any significant cognitive deficits.

Old Dr. Doctor eventually realizes that the aliens are cold-blooded and also lack any conscious awareness of temperature. There is no virus. Instead the problem is that their ship is too warm. The aliens don't see the point of adjusting the temperature (a blind spot that must have made their history of exploration interesting) but they follow the advice and are saved.

Although a way is found to allow the medic ship to return home safely, the aliens are not able to help repair the Ark.

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

This is like Gilligan's Island, isn't it? Anything promising to get the ark fixed / get them off the island is guaranteed to be a delusion?

[avram]

Just wait for the musical Hamlet episode.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

I can only ever think of Polonius with reference to a dancing/singing Jim Backus anymore. Gilligan's Island has much to answer for.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Mostly. Though the upcoming comet episode does derail the premise somewhat.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Must be a very crowded part of space...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

It does seem to be pretty thick with aliens. Maybe not as many as the region the Moon was traveling through on Space: 1999.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Say, Space: 1999 could be James's next review project.

One can (at least partly) rationalize the frequent contact with new worlds on that show with the assumption that the effect that sent the Moon on its way wasn't a reaction drive, but a space-warp effect that remained active and depended inversely on the local curvature of space. While the Moon was travelling through empty space, it would be moving very quickly; as it got closer to a star, the warp effect would decrease.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

There were actually some in-show hints that the explanation was more like "God did it". But that's probably attributing more coherence to the show than it merited.

RE Koenig's career...

[seawasp]

Is this worse than "Moontrap"?

Re: RE Koenig's career...

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

That depends...are there differing levels to "OHMIGOD I JUST RIPPED OUT MY EYES PLEASE TAKE A SPIKE TO MY EARDRUMS!" bad?

[grimjim.livejournal.com]

Presumably the cold-blooded aliens are outsourcing their climate control systems, if they can adjust the temperature after all. Either that or they're using second-hand or salvaged ships.

[abidemi.livejournal.com]

I prefer to think of them as just incredibly stupid.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

"We look for things. Things that make us go."

[tceisele.livejournal.com]

You'd think that cold-blooded beings would be *keenly aware of the temperature*, like *practically every animal, and some plants, on earth*. If one is utterly dependent on the environment to keep one's body at a functional temperature, then knowing when it is too hot or too cold is, if anything, even *more* important than it is for us warm-blooded types.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Is it, perhaps, an indirect reference to the "frog in the slowly heated pot" effect? Maybe the temperature climbed so slowly that they were not aware of any change.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

At this point, my heart is really going out to Garth.

Are these Dr. Who-style aliens? ST:TOS aliens? I'm curious.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

They are out-of-focus posterized blobs on a viewscreen. They gradually become less out-of-focus as the distance decreases. It's been a while since I watched the episode but I don't think we ever got a clear view of them.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

At the end we get a good look and the captain is indeed a lizard man.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Ah, well.

See, James? There is hope for forgetfulness with time.

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

You know, I can't believe no one has brought up this until now.

Devon: Keir Dullea, probably having flashbacks to "2001" and wishing Kubrick would burst through a wall and rescue him, much like Jurgen Prochnow did during that scene in "Wing Commander" when he was channeling "Das Boot" in order to retain his sanity.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

The DVD set includes a promotional presentation with Dullea and Douglas Trumbull, intended to try to sell the series to network executives. They describe their hopes and intentions for the series, with reference to the skilled people signed up for the project. If they ever watched it afterwards, it must have been mortifying.

Flabbergasted!

[(Anonymous)]

WHat shocks me about the show is just . . . how. . . long they spend standing over X-Object spouting meaningless technobabble. This episode was rife with it, with long and countless scenes of Young Doctor leaning over Devon saying things like "Reverse the polarity of the Neutron Flow".

Of course if they cut out all the Trek-Speak and padding, the episode would be 45 seconds long.