Elaan of Troyus

Helen of Troy - get it?

Plot: The Enterprise is ferrying the Dohlman of Elaan to her royal wedding on the planet of Troyius. Elaan is uncivilized and after Ambassador Petri is stabbed, Kirk must prepare Elaan for her regal obligations. Meanwhile, a Klingon ship is tracking the Enterprise, and up to no good. Basically, its a mishmash of Journey to Babel and Taming of the Shrew.

Best Quote: “Am I a soft Troyian fawn to need pillows to sit on? And these ridiculous female trappings. They are an offense to my eyes.”

Guest Star:  Frances Nguyen turns in a engaging performance as the domineering Dolhman.  She's obviously having a blast playing the bratty princess, and has great chemistry with Shatner. Rating ****

Shatner:  One of Shatner's better performances as he deals with the arrogant Elaan, the Klingons,  and being in love aginst his will.  The Shatner Ham is kept to a minimum.  Rating ****

Spock/McCoy:  The boys stay in the background.  This episode is dominated by Kirk and Elaan. 

Supporting Characters:   I loved the gleem in Sulu's eyes when he's sees a chance to get back at the Klingons. The Klingon captain is suitably short of speech and threatening. 

Overall Rating:  One of my favorite Third season episodes. There's a lot going on and the episode moves at a fast clip. The closing space battle is short, but exciting. I can't praise Nguyen's performance enough or her interplay with Shatner.   Sidenote: this episode has very little SF.  With a few changes in dialogue, one could put the story and characters onboard an 1830s Sailing ship.   Rating:  **** 

Postscript:  I've been reading other reviews of this episode on the internent, primarily by "big guns" that are linked to by IMDB, or show up on a Google search...and...I was shocked.  They all hate the episode. And their reasons are incredibly stupid. It seems that the episode reminds them of "Taming of Shrew" and therefore is incredible "Sexist".  IOW, we get a strong female character, who's in charge, and they hate it!  They also don't seem to understand that Elaan is a "Shrew" that never gets "tamed".  She simply accepts that as a "Dolman" she must do her duty.

Besides the blinkered political stupidity, the other that struck me about these reviews is that they don't seem to understand one thing:  Elaan isn't human. She's a alien.  Y'see Star Trek is SUPPOSED to be about seeking out "New life" amd "New Civilizations" and going where "No man has gone before".  But these critics are really upset that Kirk and Elaan aren't standard American Leftists!  No "new forms of alien life" for these critics unless they are SJW approved.  Oh sure, we want "new civilizations - with aliens" as long as these aliens don't tresspass on the cherished beliefs of Liberal New Yorkers, circa 2010. LOL!

It reminds me of Barbara Eden laughing at the critics of Jeannie for not being "a strong woman".  She reminded them, with her usual grace and style, that Jeannie wasn't a woman.  She was 1,000 year old Genie who lived in a bottle!