‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘Journey to Babel’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​Something that I’ve always lowkey enjoyed seeing in the overall Star Trek franchise when a particular series is willing to go there; are species or forces that are vehemently against what the Federation stands for. Which is not to say that I don’t like the Federation and its ideals, because the notion of a cadre of planets that believe in peace and harmony is a wonderful idea to say the least. But I love seeing others stand against it, simply because that outright offers up a better and more realistic story. Because there are people in this day in age that cannot stand the idea of peace and prosperity for numerous reasons too big to outline here, and seeing how Kirk and the good people of the future deal with and handle that, allows for us to ponder upon how we should approach that kind of conflict in modern times.
 
As it turns out, the next episode of The Original Series is one that takes the time to dive into such matters and that made ‘Journey to Babel’ quite the fascinating story. For in this particular tale Kirk and a ship of delegates had to deal with the fact that there were entities out there, who did not want to see the planet Coridan join the United Federation of Planets and that added a sense of mystery and dangerous intrigue to this story. For it featured a mysterious assassin aboard the ship who was working to undermine negotiations in the hopes of starting a war so that the Orion Syndicate could profit from it, and it was just fascinating to see how far the Syndicate would go in order to get what they wanted out of this matter, and their actions genuinely spoke to the fact that clearly there are folks who believe the Federation is nothing more than a joke and will oppose it in the most extreme ways imaginable.
 
Yet while that mystery was fascinating in its own right, since it definitely captivates you over the course of the hour, there was an unexpected surprise to be found in this tale as well. For one of the delegates aboard this vessel was Spock’s father, Sarek. Which means that for the first time in the saga’s history, we got to spend a little bit of time with Spock’s family, since his mother came along for the ride as well and all of this made for some supremely compelling television. Because this wasn’t some happy reunion between father and son, there was tension between the two of them and this allowed for a grand exploration of how Spock’s decision to join Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy, made waves on his home planet. And it was just incredible to learn that his decision was such a big deal back home and to watch these two interact in such frosty fashion.
 
But truly, the grand payoff when it comes to this storyline, was learning how much Spock loves his father, which is saying something since he so rarely shows emotion. But some semblance of genuine care was present from Spock, after he came to learn that Sarek put off major heart surgery in order to complete the negotiations. Which is the most Sarek thing that Sarek could have done here, but I digress. Because Spock went the extra mile to solve this problem mid-flight, in a dangerous manner, and while he was able to save his dad and make peace with their problems in the process, what made this part of the story so powerful was that Spock had to choose between duty and logic, and his father’s fate. And that difficult conflict was handled in beautiful fashion when all is said and done, and this entire plot thread added incredible depth to this already compelling story.
 
If anything, I have to admit that I really enjoyed this particular tale because it offered everything that an audience could ask for. For there was mystery, action, intrigue and danger present over the course of the hour, all with some important canonical moments thrown in for good measure and that just made for one entertaining episode. Plus, the acting here is top notch since you really do feel for Spock and his plight, and how Nimoy and Sarek (Mark Lenard) play off one another on screen is just a delight and oddly enough Shatner does a fine job here as well. For he really makes Kirk’s suffering in the third act feel genuine and that too adds to the brilliant tension of this tale. Which means that in the end, this is just another quality episode from an already stellar season and this kind of unique and powerful story compels me to continue year two of the five-year mission. Until next time. 

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