You'd have thought the writers would've learned by now that Scotty only true love was his engines. The attempts at romance for our favorite chief engineer always came off as extremely creepy and 'The lights of Zetar' is no exception. The biggest problem is that we simply don't care about the never before or since mentioned Lieutenant Romaine. Jan Shutan and James Doohan have no screen chemistry whatsoever and the whole thing comes of as dirty old mannish. This episode would've been much better if the Lieutenant Romaine part had been given to a crewman we were emotionally invested in like Uhura or Chapel and they could've dropped the romance angle altogether. I liked the idea of incorporeal aliens as opposed to some guy in a suit or a hideous puppet head but the story was so dull and unfortunately because the budget had been slashed to the bone it was soundstage bound. There's just nothing to grab onto here and you'd miss nothing as a Star Trek fan if you never watched it.
Review of The Lights of Zetar
