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Star Trek Review: SHORE LEAVE
Director Robert Sparr's, SHORE LEAVE, is fun, pure escapist Sci-Fi entertainment. Sparr's other directing credits include: "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".
Sci-Fi novelist Theodore Sturgeon, ("Alien Cargo" and "The Dreaming Jewels"), who later wrote the well liked ,"Amok Time" Trek episode, seems to have had a great deal of fun with his fantasy premise. There's something for everyone in this episode, including the white rabbit, from "Alice in Wonderland", a tiger, a knight on horseback, and a samurai warrior.
A scene, where Dr. McCoy is killed by a jousting knight, has much impact. The fact that the viewer knows a series regular will not be permanently "dead," does not reduce the scene's wallop.
This is one of those relatively rare episodes where the planetary scenes are shot on location, instead of in a cramped sound stage, or on a back lot street. Director Sparr makes good use of the location, particularly in a scene where Kirk and company sprint across a meadow in response to a crew member's scream.
Bruce Mars ("Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea") plays Finnegan, in an entertainingly cocky, mocking manner.
My favorite scene is when Kirk encounters, and fist fights Finnegan, a bully from his Star Fleet Academy days. The scene is long, a bit improbable, and very satisfying.
SHORE LEAVE should be highly watchable for most Sci-Fi viewers. Captain Kirk/William Shatner fans will enjoy watching Kirk battle his old classmate.
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