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It's not totally without redeeming features. Scotty gets to be a generation-gap grump, Spock gets to play the only song he seems to know, and Chekhov apparently reached puberty as we meet an ex-girlfriend who let's just say didn't attend the Academy. Otherwise, this episode aged terribly. It was out of date by the time it hit summer reruns, and now it's just embarrassing that the same people who gave us Tribbles and Hortas generated this. It doesn't provide any insight into the era, either; it might provide a hint of insight into the jaundiced view of the WWII generation, but for that to help you'd have to know the 60's in which case what's the point.

That said, one bit of trivia is actually sort of cool. Charles Napier, who plays Adam, later reappears on Deep Space 9 as a military officer who rapidly tires of the Ferengi way of business. It's a contrast that almost makes it worth watching this episode. Almost.

This is a film short without the massive budget needed to make a film feel like a comic book, and yet it does as good a job of capturing the essence of the Dark Knight myth as the original Batman (with Michael Keaton). The Batman looks like a vigilante, not like a film star, as should be, and conveys a genuine sense of menace. The depiction of the Joker is the best ever caught on film. The voice is reminiscent of Mark Hamill's without the cartoonish exaggeration; more of a snake's hiss, while the movements make the voice almost unnecessary. The facial expression, though, is the only one I've seen to capture the lunacy originally inspired by The Man Who Laughed. I very much hope Warner picks up the director going forward with Batman.