Review Text
A probe scans Earth's star system, turns around, heads in the opposite direction, transmits a message into deep space, and then self-destructs. Why was it here and who did it contact? The Enterprise investigates and soon finds itself facing a ship of unknown origin, which opens fire and has the appearance and name of the ancient Earth serpent god Kukulkan. Ensign Walking Bear, who happens to be on the bridge today with the right information, recognizes the name from Earth's history, and says Kukulkan had made a vow to return.
With the Enterprise trapped within a forcefield, Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Walking Bear are transported off the ship by the alien entity and find themselves on his ship, which can generate large environments within it. Kukulkan generates a city from several ancient cultures (the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Egyptians, etc.) and the team has to figure out what it means. They eventually deduce they have to turn the heads of the statues toward the top of the pyramid to reflect the sun into a focused energy beam that acts as a transmitter. Or something like that.
Kukulkan, thousands of years ago, visited Earth and asked the ancient civilizations there to build their cities according to exacting specifications, and once that was done, he would be contacted and return. Except he apparently did this across multiple cultures and they all did it in different ways and never figured out what Kirk's team does here. When Kukulkan never got a reply, he eventually sent the probe. Sort of like Star Trek IV, except way more convoluted than talking to whales.
Where "Albatross" was a grounded example of classic Trekkian procedure, "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" is a much more fantastical and ambitious melding of multiple concepts and historical elements. I mean, this is pretty weird. It gets even weirder when we see what's going on in Kukulkan's main room. He has a bunch of creatures from various worlds that live in glass cages, except they're hooked up to VR machines that allow them to experience full worlds and learn what he teaches them. It's like The Matrix, except populated by sentient animals. One of these animals is a "power-cat," which is like a vicious predator plus 2,000 volts of electricity. (Inevitably, Kirk releases this creature and unleashes chaos.) Kukulkan himself is like a serpent with eagle wings crossed with the Wizard of Oz.
Does this make sense? Not really. Can I endorse this? Not exactly. This is nearly as nuts as "The Magicks of Megas-Tu," except it has the benefit of being way more interesting. There's at least some strange energy here, and we don't have to sit through a trial. We do, on the other hand, have a cartoon snake-eagle with a boomy voice.
Kukulkan, it turns out, is the lone creature from a long-extinct race who has taken it upon himself to parent his adopted species as children because he was so lonely. At one point, that included humanity, but I guess the experiment failed? (Why make your "children" solve impossible puzzles beyond their grasp before you accept them? As a test?) Kirk is able to talk Kukulkan into releasing them with a well-meaning humanistic speech. I enjoy the optimism of his persuasion. We have to have hope for communication and understanding somewhere. Might as well be here.
Previous episode: Albatross
Next episode: The Counter-Clock Incident
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10 comments on this post
Elizabeth Palladino
Yes, this was a really off-the-wall weird and whacky one. It made more sense than the Magick's of Megas-Tu, and I thought was quite watchable, except for all the animals in glass cases living in Virtual Reality. Those made me wince--I just wanted them to be set free, whether they were contented or not--it didn't seem right for them to be cooped up like that. I felt sorry for Kulkulan--just like that entity on the first ep of season 1, it didn't seem right just to go off and leave him alone. At least set up a plan for further communication or socialization. But whatever.
Rahul
Far too similar to "Who Mourns for Adonais?" with Kukulkan in place of Apollo. There is literally nothing original here, with Spock aboard the Enterprise trying to break through a force field and Kirk explaining to the "God" that they can't be (his) children anymore.
The idea is that humans are ungrateful children as the Shakespeare line goes something like "How sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child". I suppose it is noteworthy that the Enterprise had a native American on board and we get some mention of other ancient Latin American cultures -- something VOY did. Thought it was quite convenient how Kukulkan just lets the Enterprise go and gives up on his idea to continue to guide "his children." Disappointing in how unoriginal this episode is given that it is written by 2 writers who didn't write for TOS.
2*
Jason R.
Thanks to M'Baku for explaining that Kukulkan is the Serpent Feather God.
Trek fan
Fascinating episode that earned TAS the first Emmy in the history of Trek. It bears careful rewatching to catch the subtle plot. But a bit derivative and not the most fun to watch. I give it 3 stars.
Rob K
This is the one episode I remember from childhood as Kukulkan frightened me as a very young kid. The rest of the visuals are quite stunning from the mix of cultures in the architecture to the caged animals.
But the story has about every TOS cliche possible: powerful “god” being, random crew member with expertise in the exact field necessary joining the away team (although this time, not by choice), Spock figuring out to get the Enterprise out peril. Even some Shakespeare sprinkled in. A bit of a bore watching it all these year later as the same flying snake animation seemed to be onscreen for at least 10 min.
I’m probably being too hard on it as the visuals elevate the so/so rest of the story. 3 stars with 1 of them just for the backgrounds and character designs for me. Doohan sounded exactly like he did when playing Sargon, which was kind of fun as well.
Black Oat
For some reason I find it irritating that Shatner had to hog the Shakespeare quote at the end. Maybe it was written that way, but he did have a reputation for stealing lines.
Maybe watching this derivative episode put me in a bad mood. We've already seen this story in Adonis and again, sort of, with Magicks, and it hasn't improved any in the retelling.
I've never liked it when Trek becomes too Earth-centric.
Dark Kirk
Black Oat I noticed that too and completely agree. To quote The Practical Joker "'Kirk' is a jerk "
Dark Kirk
In fairness Shatner made amends and Nichelle Nichols set him straight too. He even was able to poke fun at himself in Futurama"s Where No Fan Has Gone Before: "And when I directed Star Trek 5, I got a great performance out of myself, because I respected me so much."
The Queen
Dark Kirk, could you note where I could find a reference for your "amends and Nichelle Nichols" sentence? I'm interested to read about it.
Proud Capitalist Pig
I get it. This is a space opera fantasy, not to mention an animated series on Saturday morning. It’s not *only* for kids, but it’s sure written and executed with kids in mind. I dove into Star Trek: TAS knowing this completely, promising myself that I’d never hold its fundamental trappings against it. This time, however, I can’t describe the second-hand embarrassment and absurd laughter I experienced while watching a part-snake/part-eagle god-thing drunken-lecturing at me in a bellowing, booming bass-deep voice while wantonly flapping its gigantic wings for good measure. This, friends, was TAS in a nutshell. Despite its campiness, I think I’ll always have a soft spot for the sheer audacity and courage of the creative team.
Is “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” a good episode? Well, certainly not! At this point, Star Trek has made far too many trips to the superbeing well. As Rahul points out, “Who Mourns for Adonais?” already did this (I guess it might be slightly original to a kid who never watched that prior episode), not to mention a whole bunch of scientific conspiracy theories about “aliens visiting Earth in the past” that I guess they might have decided to embrace. “We have no need for Gods anymore” strikes me as appropriate for a live-action Star Trek show to declare, but it’s a little heady and tone-deaf for Saturday morning, frankly. In “Tooth’s” defense, however, I will say that it managed to deliver the exact same clarity of message in 24 minutes that “Adonais” needed fifty to do, so that’s something. At least TAS had a fairly consistent story economy with its shorter running time.
I want to give the giant alien cat a quick shoutout. It lunges at the snake and our people, Kirk gives it a tiny shock, and the dazed cat quickly reorients, settles down and starts grooming himself. Deeply accurate. Deeply cute.
To fully absorb this episode, I suggest you don’t even try. There’s nothing here that anyone doesn’t already know. Just kick back, shut off your brain, and laugh at snake-eagles.
Speak Freely:
Spock -- “Vulcan was visited by alien beings. They left much wiser.”
My Grade: C
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