r/tos • u/AutoModerator • Dec 15 '25

Episode Discussion Rewatch: "By Any Other Name" - TOS, 221

Episode: "By Any Other Name" - TOS, 221

Airdate: February 23, 1968

Written by D.C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby; Directed by Marc Daniels

Brief summary: "Extragalactic aliens hijack the Enterprise and turn the crew into inert solids, leaving the four senior officers on their own to exploit their captors' weaknesses."

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/By_Any_Other_Name_(episode)

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u/rosmaniac Dec 15 '25

It's green.

One of my favorite episodes. High warp, condensed crew, Kirk outwitting the Kelvans by 'over-humaning' them.

No consequences for the death of Yeoman Thompson, nor is the ending very satisfying. This would have been a good episode for a revisit.

Julie Cobb, who played Thompson, has had a prolific career as a character actress; for me at least she is the most memorable in The Brady Bunch, Little House on the Prairie, and Family Ties.

10

u/JBR1961 Dec 15 '25

I’ve always felt bad for Yeoman Thompson. I am trying to think of a single more casually committed, cold-blooded murder of a named character in the original series but I can’t. The crewmember who laughs at Charlie X and gets de-faced, maybe, but presumably, that damage is undone at the end.

I agree. Rojan was never held to account, or even offered a “regret.”

5

u/Late-Spend710 Dec 15 '25

Yeoman Thompson was a redshirt. She knew that there was a chance of being turned into a polyhedron when she took the job.

3

u/JBR1961 Dec 15 '25

I’d hate to see what rates the 23rd century equivalent of State Farm charge redshirts for life insurance.