Since Spock was not on the bridge, it’s conceivable that he was off duty and asleep, lowering his defenses.
And when Pike suggested the jester, I half-expected a Steven Wright-ish Spock to appear as one.
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The problem of Spock occurred to me, too. I’m not sure why that didn’t happen, except maybe they wanted to concentrate on Hemmer since he’s been less used up until now.
I really felt that Celia Rose Gooding was channeling the older Uhura in her role.
TOS also dabbled in farce (see: I, Mudd). I loved seeing both the ‘fantasy’ Enterprise with the ‘real’ Enterprise showing underneath.
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When they tried to leave the nebula and Ortegas hit her head? He was…he had just mentioned the jinx, which also made me laugh. 
EDIT: And OMG, that would’ve been amazing!
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Oh, that’s right — I forgot.
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No joke, the scene where they short out Norman is one of my favorite Trek moments bar none.
“Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell BAD.” 
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And we never did find out what M’benga saw when he scanned the dog. Where the heck did that come from?
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I wondered where the dog came from, too.
According to Den of Geek, it’s actually Christina Chong’s dog, but that doesn’t explain where it came from in the story.
I think my head canon is going to be that it was window dressing, like Christine’s cauldron and M’Benga saw nothing when he scanned it.
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Perhaps Spock has yet to achieve the level of mastery he displays later in his life?
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Another random thought: When the stills of Spock came out for this ep, his look sparked fan speculation that Ethan Peck was also playing Sybok. Now that the possibility has been raised…I can see it. Sorta.
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As good an explanation as any. Maybe it just caught him super off-guard.
Or maybe it didn’t, he was Spock the whole time, and things got resolved before he could spring his plan?
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If Spock were in control of himself, he’d have found a way to signal Hemmer with science once he saw that M’Benga and Hemmer were also free to act. It didn’t happen.
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True enough, but I’m still amused by the thought of this younger, more uncertain Spock having a master plan, then completely muffing the execution.
I mean, Nimoy Levels of Smooth takes years to achieve. 
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And then Chapel comes along and cleans up the resulting mess. Again.
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Oh, that was a lot of fun. I so want to see the blooper reel from this episode. And was anyone else getting dwarf vibes off of Spock? That hair made him look like one of the dwarves from The Hobbit.
I wondered how they were going to explain M’Benga’s daughter not being there later in TOS, so this worked well.
Loved Hemmer’s the magic of science lines. It walked the line of the fantasy and still kept him in character.
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And all of Mount’s little mannerisms as “Sir Rauth” were so much fun to watch:
- Covering “Sir Adya’s” face every single time he flipped up his cape to bow to “King Ridley”
- His eyebrows. OMG, his eyebrows…
- The blocking of his hands. “Sir Rauth” tends to gesture expansively when speaking, and brings his hands back together before him when he’s not
- He wears his emotions on his sleeve, his face smoothly transitioning from dismay, to indignation, to disgust, to obsequious helpfulness, to scheming, etc.
- His slap and grab of the prison bars, with the subsequent indignant stomp. “I can’t take it anymore, I tell you! The walls! The walls are starting to close in on me!”
I agree with @LadyShelley — I want to see this episode’s blooper reel!
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Oh, you could tell he was having loads of fun as Sir Rauth.
And Christina Chong may have stolen the whole episode as the princess.
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This thread about Spock echoes what we were wondering in a hilarious way!
(Link blurred for spoilers and naughty words)
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I wonder if anyone here has tried reading Shatner’s post-Generations Trek novels.
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I read the first one. All I remember from it was 1)Spock went to visit Kirk’s grave on Viridian 3 before the body was moved and 2)A point was brought up with Kirk and the various women he had…but I can’t remember if it was “is she really the one” or “with how many you’ve been with, how do you not have more kids?”. It was a long time ago.
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