‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘Shore Leave’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

Recently, Star Trek’s website did a lovely interview with Next Generation alum Jonathan Frakes, revolving around the second act of his career as a director, and how he got into that aspect of the business. And of the many wonderful vignettes that Mister Frakes shared with us about the business and what it is like to step behind the camera, there is a particular quote in that interview that continues to stand out in my mind. Wherein Jonathan discussed the fact that sometimes episodic television shows turn up a ‘stinker’ since they crank out so many episodes, and that quote stuck with me, simply because of its outright honesty. For no series can be perfect all the time, and even the most iconic of shows will lay an egg from time to time, Star Trek included.
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Which bring us to the next chapter of the five-year mission, ‘Shore Leave’. Because this is an episode that lives up to everything that Jonathan said in his interview because this particular tale is… downright awful to say the least and that’s a shame because this is another one that had some serious potential. After all, you had the crew of the Enterprise, tired and worn down after the events of ‘Balance of Terror’, stumbling upon a beautiful world that could help them rest and recoup, only to discover that this world features the power to bring old memories and fears to life and unfortunately how the writer’s room handled that particular plot twist is what allows for this episode to be a titanic failure in just about every way imaginable.

Because that idea could have led to a powerful mystery, one where Kirk and the away team worked to uncover what was the cause of this powerful ability, all while battling the darkest fears of their imagination. But instead, this story ended up being filled to the brim with silly filler moments, the kind that were extremely over the top and that allowed for out of place decisions to be made by the characters, and that made for some supremely awkward moments to say the least. Take for example McCoy’s journey in this tale, since he went from being one of the voices of reason aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to a playboy that lusts after Yeoman Barrows and indulges in wild fantasies involving knights and that was all just so weird to see, and the problems with this story don’t end there.

For even Kirk takes a step back character wise in this tale since we see him go from a collected and calculated commander to a raucous frat boy that loves to fight and romance the ladies, and this was just annoying. Because he was making so much progress in becoming the legendary captain we know him to be, so to see him get his shirt torn again and duke it out with a fictional bully from his youth, one that cannot decide if he’s Irish or not accent wise, is just dumb, and I know it was an earnest attempt to try and add depth to his past, but it really added nothing since it was so off the wall in its presentation. And while Spock’s arrival on the planet more or less saves the day with his logic, that ham-hocked ending leaves much to be desired since it crams every answer we’ve desired about this world into a two-minute summary.

If anything, this really was Trek’s first genuine misstep storytelling wise and no, we don’t count the first five or six episodes of season one in that category simply because this show was trying to find its voice at that point. But plopping this episode into the mix, after featuring a run of several iconic and quality tales, speaks volumes to the fact that the writer’s room likely patched this bad boy together on a late Friday afternoon when everyone was ready to head out for the weekend and it also goes to show just how hard it is to come up with plenty of material for a television series in general, lending gravity to everything Jonathan Frakes said in his interview and well, this episode is what it is I suppose. So, it’s just best to move on and dive into another episode, since there are still plenty of wonderful stories lying in wait down the line. Until next time. 

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