“Is There In Truth No Beauty?” is an episode which just cannot muster any real drama or suspense. And what’s worse is that the episode manages to take a fairly compelling concept and turn it into an embarrassment of a production. To be fair, this isn’t the worst that Star Trek has to offer, but it is an episode which is indicative of the bad writing, acting and directing which ultimately made the series the subject of a great deal of ridicule. Indeed, this episode is, by definition, ridiculous in its presentation.

As the title suggests, this is an episode which wants, desperately, to be a serious exploration of beauty – and how our ideas of beauty influence, and are influenced by, the world around us. And whenever the episode sticks to its discussions and speculations about this idea, it remains fairly interesting and compelling. Unfortunately, the narrative is filled with inexplicable twists and turns which are little more than clumsy, contrived plot devices designed purely to add a false sense of suspense.

In this episode, the Enterprise is transporting an ambassador from an alien species called the Medusans – aliens which are said to cause madness for any human who looks at them. Except for one. Along with this Medusan, named Kollos, is a human woman, named Miranda (played by Diane Muldaur of TNG) who is both blind and telepathic – and striking in her physical appearance. The juxtaposition of these two characters, as well as their natural affinity for one another would have been more than enough to form the basis of a solid episode. Sadly, the writers decided to add too many ingredients into the soup.

Such as Miranda’s jealous boyfriend – who is jealous of Kollos and angry that Miranda refuses to return his love. After trying to murder Kollos, this man takes over the Enterprise and sends it hurtling out of the galaxy. And then there is Miranda’s inexplicable jealousy of Spock. And then there is Spock’s mind meld with Kollos and subsequent madness. And then there is Kirk yelling at Miranda, manhandling her, pushing her against a bulkhead.

Seriously.

There’s no subtlety to the story nor confidence in the subject matter – or respect for the audience, for that matter. Sadly, this episode can only get skin deep into the conflict between beauty and ugliness – especially in terms of what constitutes true beauty and true ugliness. Is it merely physicality? Purely the mind? A combination of the two? Something else entirely? We get, at best, passing platitudes on the subject matter … and then it’s back into the nonsensical and poorly executed plot. Indeed, even the camera angles and so forth are strictly amateurish.

“Is There In Truth No Beauty?” just isn’t a very good episode.

Filed under: Original Series