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This episode is an absolute must for fans of Star Trek's recurring shirtless-Kirk-being-tortured motif. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are taken to a strange laboratory and tortured by powerful aliens while a mute woman is forced to watch--a woman whose empathic abilities are being put to the test. There is, of course, a broader scheme to it all--this is one of the early manifestations of Trek's eternal conflict between the needs of the many and the needs of the few, or the one. Keep an ear out for one of the all-time great Bonesisms ("I'm a doctor, not a coal miner!") and hang on to those fragile but oh-so-important human emotions. --Ali Davis
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The Enterprise's Vulcan-born first officer, Mr. Spock (Leonard
Nimoy), generally smiles about as often as Greta Garbo. But in episode 25 of
the original 1960s series, not only does Spock smile, he laughs, dangles from a
tree, kisses a good-looking blonde woman, and gets into a fight with his
best friend. Could this be some long-lost episode in which Nimoy's stoic hero
regresses into a 6-year-old? No, but it is one of the most popular
stories from Gene Roddenberry's classic Trek. Spock, Captain Kirk
(William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Sulu (George Takei), and a
couple of crewmen beam down to Omicron Ceti III hoping to find out what happened
to a group of scientists who built a research colony on the planet. What they
discover is a little spooky. The self-satisfied colonists claim they've
created a true paradise where no one has needs or wants, where no one ages
or gets sick, and everyone is part of a collective mind bent on positivity.
Kirk, naturally, argues that paradise robs men of their need to suffer and
crawl toward progress. Meanwhile, Spock is zapped by an exotic flower that
is the real source of all this community goodwill, and he instantly gets
happy--acting like a kid, renewing a romance with a comely biologist (an angelic
Jill Ireland), and giving the sputtering Kirk an earful of entertaining
insubordination. Story editor D.C. Fontana's script contains some obvious
parallels between a chemically induced "paradise" and a drug-induced high
in the '60s. But the real draw here is Spock's uncharacteristic joy and the
drama behind Kirk's shattering decision to break his friend's heart. --Tom
Keogh
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Volume 3 in this terrific DVD library of original Star Trek
programs
includes "The Man Trap," the first broadcast episode of the Gene
Roddenberry
series. Though it was not the first story produced for the show, the process was
still new enough that contracted writers were obliged to fill in various
blanks, develop some of the key characters, and smoothly introduce some of
the Trek technology we've come to take for granted. Writer George
Clayton Johnson conceived a story in which an old flame of Dr. McCoy's
(DeForest Kelley), a woman named Dr. Nancy Carter (Jeanny Bealy), is in
need
of medical supplies on a planet where she and her husband (Alfred Ryder)
are
the only humans. "Nancy," however, turns out to be a shape-shifting
creature
that sucks the salt from the bodies of humanoids. Once it's loose aboard
the
Enterprise, the "salt vampire" can look like anyone in its pursuit of
nourishment.
With McCoy having such a pivotal part in the narrative, Johnson worked with
the series' story editor and episode director (Marc Daniels) on fleshing
out
his underdeveloped character. There were other issues to think about: this
premiere show introduced the Enterprise's transporter technology as well
as
Star Trek's realistic take on scary extraterrestrials. Everyone
involved survived the episode, and while it played only to a meager
television
audience, Trek was off and running for three-plus decades.
Also on this DVD is episode 4, "The Naked Time," in which an alien disease
that strips inhibitions from individuals affects the Enterprise crew.
Sulu
(George Takei) frees the swashbuckler in his soul, Kirk (William Shatner)
battles his demons, and a young lieutenant, Riley (Bruce Hyde), serenades
the
entire starship and steers her toward certain doom. Still early in the
proceedings, this episode introduced a psychological aspect that would
become a cornerstone for the storytelling on all four Trek
series. --Tom Keogh
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Volume 4 from the DVD collection of original Star Trek programs
includes broadcast episode 2, the memorable "Charlie X," starring Robert
Walker Jr. as a troubled teen presenting two big problems: pathological
immaturity and powerful telekinetic powers. After he wills the destruction
of
a starship that drops him off with the Enterprise, the titular delinquent
stalks a female member of the crew and creates havoc using his terrifying
ability to
make people, in his own words, "go away."
Also on this disc is "Balance of Terror," a terrific drama that was
essentially an outer-space version of a 1950s submarine movie. Writer Paul
Schneider introduced both the Romulans and the concept of a "neutral zone"
to
Trek lore, wrapped up in this story about the first encounter
between
a Federation and Romulan ship in 75 years. The resulting face-off between
two
vessels and their strong, noble captains--Kirk (William Shatner) and his
Romulan counterpart (Mark Lenard, who later played Spock's Vulcan father,
Sarek)--is directed and edited with suspense worthy of the classic sub
movie,
The Enemy Below. It's an example of how the original Trek
series took lots of risks and constantly invented itself, in contrast to
the
more codified look and feel of The Next Generation and subsequent
series. --Tom Keogh
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There's an emergency on Janus VI, a seemingly uninhabited planet rich in
metals and rare minerals crucial to Federation operations.
There's a lot of money to be made by the mining contractor involved, but
there's a swift-moving, unseen monster roaming the
snaky tunnels of Janus's interior, turning miners into acid-drenched goo.
Fifty men have died, and it's up to the Enterprise to find the alien
culprit and defuse the lynch-mob mentality spreading among the paranoid miners.
Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and
Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam down to initiate the
detective work, leading Spock to quickly conclude that the thousands of
silicone balls mysteriously strewn about the planet's deepest caves might
have something to do with the reasons behind the atrocities. Written by
series guru Gene L. Coon and directed by mainstay Joseph Pevney (who
alternated directorial chores with Marc Daniels during the show's second
season), "The Devil in the Dark" is a breathlessly paced episode reflecting
a delightful variety of cross-genre influences--Westerns, creature features,
gritty noir. Add one of the most effective and moving instances of the
Enterprise's search for new life on Star Trek (plus McCoy's
infamous complaint, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer"), and this is a memorable
program indeed. --Tom Keogh
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A war between the Klingons and Federation is imminent, and it's up to
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to persuade the peaceful, agrarian planet Organia
to sign on with the good guys before the Klingons overwhelm the place. What's
the rush? Organia is in a strategically valuable position for whichever warring
side claims it first. The only problem is, the Organians don't seem to care.
Kirk and First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) make an awfully good pitch for
Federation protection, but the planet's Council of Elders rejects the offer as a
tacit invitation to violence on their world. Worse, the Council takes little
heed of a Klingon invasion, insisting there is no problem and earning the enmity
of both Kirk and Klingon Commander Kor (John Colicos). Essentially a Cold War
satire disguised as a Federation-Klingon showdown in most unusual circumstances,
"Errand of Mercy" is the brainchild of producer-writer Gene L. Coon, who makes a
wonderfully convincing case for the absurdity of each side's claim to moral
superiority. Highlights of the episode include the enigmatic, retiring
performances of the Council members, and the Butch-and-Sundance banter between
Kirk and Spock as they set about trying to become a two-man Resistance targeting
Klingon munitions. The episode is directed by John Newland, best known as the
host of the supernatural television series, One Step Beyond. --Tom
Keogh
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The standard-bearer for the entire Star Trek canon, this episode begins with a medical accident that leaves Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) a paranoid madman. Leaping through a time portal to Earth's Great Depression of the 1930s, McCoy causes disastrous changes to history that include the disappearance of the Enterprise. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) must follow him and undo whatever disruptive action he took centuries before. There, Kirk meets a kindly social worker, Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), with whom he falls in love before realizing that her fate is the key to a restored future.
A shattering drama, "City" brings out the best in the cast and production teams, looking like a feature film that found its way onto television. The background on this show is equally compelling and sometimes hysterically funny, beginning with a highly fanciful script by Harlan Ellison (including a scene with cast members riding a carousel that passes in and out the side of a mountain) that was either rewritten by series creator Gene Roddenberry or producer Gene L. Coon, depending on who's telling the story. Ironically, Ellison's original version won a Writer's Guild award, while the revision captured a Hugo, but the real prize is the episode itself. --Tom Keogh
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"Operation: Annihilate" is undoubtedly the only science fiction drama in
history in which the requisite Scary Monster resembles a three-dollar item
from a novelty store--specifically, a rubber puddle of fake vomit. Moreover, the
shooting locale for much of the story, which is set in a research community on
the Federation planet Deneva, brings to mind the plush, friendly, L.A. exotica
of Frank Capra's Shangri-La in Lost Horizon rather than an
extraterrestrial outpost. Having said all that, however, this episode is
deservedly a minor classic that becomes most interesting in its final act.
Rushing the Enterprise to Deneva is Captain Kirk (William Shatner), whose
brother Sam and his family are among the victims of an unknown invader that
feeds on human nervous systems, driving people wild with pain and ultimately
killing them. Once arriving, Kirk's problems are compounded when Mr. Spock
(Leonard Nimoy) is attacked by one of the nasty "flying pancake" killers (blobby
critters of the aforementioned fake-vomit variety). The script (by Steven W.
Carabatsos) feels as if it did not survive the series' editorial committee
process intact. There's a certain amount of obvious padding in the action, while
next to nothing is made, dramatically speaking, of Kirk's discovery of his
brother's fate. The best bits are reserved for a story twist in which Dr. McCoy
(DeForest Kelley) develops a cure for Spock's ailment that is almost as bad as
the affliction. --Tom Keogh
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Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy
(DeForest Kelley) accompany a Federation ambassador (Elinor Donahue of
Father Knows Best) aboard a shuttle bound for a rendezvous with the
Enterprise. The ambassador, Commissioner Nancy Hedford, needs to be
treated for possible contact with an alien disease, and she haughtily insists
that her escorts get through this interruption in her work as quickly as
possible. But a vaporous, translucent life form called "the Companion" has other
ideas, traveling across space in search of humans who can ease the loneliness of
a pilot (Glenn Corbett) marooned on a barren planet for more than a century.
Kirk, however, offers the stranded man an alternative: a return to
civilization. Whether he wants it is another matter--he and the
Companion share an extraordinary intimacy of the mind and heart. A kind of
chamber drama largely set in a single locale, "Metamorphosis" was written
by series producer Gene L. Coon and directed by frequent Trek helmsman
Ralph Senensky. Guest stars Corbett and Donahue are a bit monotonous in
their performances, a little under par for a guest shot on the series. But
Coon's story compensates with another fascinating application of one of his pet
themes: empathy shared between different species. Kirk and Spock's knowing
looks, as they begin to understand the Companion's true feelings for her
captive man, by themselves make this episode worth watching. --Tom Keogh
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Our favorite Starfleet trio, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock
(Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam down to Capella IV to
persuade the resident warrior race to sign up with the Federation.
Unfortunately, a Klingon agent named Kras (Tige Andrews, the captain of TV's
Mod Squad) has preceded them and set enough doubt into play that the
take-no-prisoners Capellans decide to give Kirk and company a hostile reception.
Written by story editor D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana, "Friday's Child" has the broad
outlines of a Western, with the good guys getting rebuffed by hostile Indians
and a final showdown with crude weapons set up in the barren hills. Julie
Newmar's guest role as Eleen, wife of a former ruler and a pawn in the barbed
politics between Kirk, Kras, and the Capellans, even has something of the
frightened but stoic native princess about it. Viewers hoping to catch Newmar in
a Capellan catsuit, however (an extension of her iconic, sleek presence as
Catwoman in the old Batman TV series), will be sorely disappointed: Eleen
is quite pregnant, fit to burst and placed in McCoy's capable hands. Trek
stalwart Joseph Pevney directed this action-adventure piece, which contains one
of the good doctor's most memorable utterances, spoken when Eleen expects McCoy
to carry her up a steep hill: "I'm a doctor, not an escalator!" --Tom
Keogh
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A nifty idea: the Greek god Apollo turns out to be quite real, a
powerful extraterrestrial (Michael Forest) waiting some 5,000 years for the
human race to develop enough to meet him out in the cosmos. Catching sight of
the Enterprise, he immobilizes the ship and demands that the members of a
landing party--Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley),
Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and
antiquities specialist Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish)--bow before
him and prepare to spend the rest of their lives being cherished through his
insistent love. A doubting Kirk recruits his people to secretly find the
mechanical source of Apollo's power to throw lightning bolts, become a
giant, and punish his naughty Enterprise children by tossing them around
like rag dolls. The stern god gives Kirk a sword, so to speak, by falling for
Lt. Palamas, setting the stage for some stormy drama late in the game. Written
by television veteran and Greek myth aficionado Gilbert Ralston (with a polish
by producer Gene L. Coon that enhanced the story's relationships), and
directed by Marc Daniels, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is one of those classic
Trek episodes that lingers in the memory for the creative
incongruity of its story line (starships and Olympians) and principal set (an
Athenian temple with a few trees, shrubs, and confused Starfleet personnel).
Wonderful stuff. A subplot involving Scotty's big-time crush on Palamas provides
a rare glimpse into the emotional life of one of the supporting players--even if
his gallant efforts to save her from Apollo's wooing result in a concussion or
two. --Tom Keogh
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Easily one of the best episodes from the original Star Trek
series, "Amok Time" was written by the novelist Theodore Sturgeon, who came up
with a story about a Vulcan mating cycle that occurs every seven years and
drives the normally stolid, logical, pointy-eared humanoids wild. When Spock
(Leonard Nimoy) is suddenly caught in the grip of pon farr, a
crazy-making urge to mate, he sets a course for his home planet despite
orders to the contrary from Captain Kirk (William Shatner). Kirk comes
around, however, and accompanies Spock and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to
Vulcan, where Spock is to wed T'Pring (Arlene Martel) in an arranged
marriage. But T'Pring formally rejects Spock, forcing a duel in which the
captain must participate or let Spock die. There's high drama galore in
this one, beginning with Spock's feverish savagery and extending to the
fascinating complexity of Vulcan rituals, set against the eerie emptiness
of the planet's landscape. For good measure, there's also the startling sight
of Kirk and Spock fighting it out to the death. Supporting performances are
terrific, including that of Celia Lovsky (the real-life wife of Peter
Lorre) as the matriarch T'Pau. This is also the episode that gave birth to the
split-fingered Vulcan salute (inspired by Nimoy's memories of the kohanin
blessing at Jewish temples) and the phrase "live long and prosper." One of
Trek's more highly charged episodes, you can feel a certain
spontaneous energy here--indeed, some of the more inspired actors even made up
their own lines. --Tom Keogh
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Writer Norman Spinrad had in mind a futuristic Moby Dick when he
conjured up this story, though things didn't quite work out that way. The
original idea was that the Enterprise would encounter an obsessive, Ahab-
like captain whose Starfleet crew had been destroyed by a planet-killing robot
ship, and who sought revenge by taking command of James T. Kirk's vessel for a
private hunt. Alas, the tough-as-nails actor Robert Ryan proved unavailable for
the guest spot, and Trek producers cast the more visibly vulnerable
William Windom instead, softening the script accordingly. "The Doomsday
Machine," as a result, falls short of its potential. The story still concerns
the destruction of life aboard the starship Constellation and Kirk's
inability to beam back aboard his own ship. But, while a major conflict between
Windom's unsteady character, Commodore Matt Decker, and that of Spock (Leonard
Nimoy) for control of the Enterprise is entertaining enough, one yearns
to see a real showdown. (In karmic terms, that face-off took place later in
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, between then-Admiral Kirk and Decker's
son, Captain Will Decker, played by Stephen Collins.) Also a little dubious is
the tubular robot ship, which is supposed to look both mechanical and organic,
yet resembles moldy cannoli. --Tom Keogh
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This first DVD volume of episodes from the original Star Trek
begins with a show that saved the series even before it launched. "Where No
Man Has Gone Before" was actually the second Trek pilot produced by
Gene Roddenberry after NBC rejected "The Cage" (now a subject of cult
fascination). A retooled cast now included William Shatner as Captain
James R. Kirk (the middle initial T came later), Leonard Nimoy as
Mr. Spock,
George Takei as Ensign Sulu, and James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery
Scott. (DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig signed on in
subsequent episodes.) A lot of thought went into scriptwriter Samuel L.
Peeples's story about a crewman named Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) who has
a
close relationship with Kirk and some natural ESP abilities. When the
Enterprise approaches an energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy,
Mitchell
metamorphoses into a godlike being with silver eyes, awesome psychic
abilities, and a rapidly developing ego. As Mitchell becomes an increasing
threat to the ship, Kirk is faced with making a terrible choice to save his
crew.
The episode locked in the very character and themes of Star Trek:
science fiction stories told in mortal terms, the conflict between
relationships and duty, and a strong emphasis on exploring personalities.
Lockwood's disciplined, modulated performance was a big plus. (He went on,
of
course, to play astronaut Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.)
The second show in this volume was the tenth to air, "The Corbomite
Maneuver." While exploring an uncharted region of the galaxy, the
Enterprise
encounters a cube-shaped alien probe (a predecessor of Borg vessels?) that
Kirk promptly destroys. That action brings the wrath of a spaceship called
the Fesarius, which locks the Enterprise in a tractor beam from
which it
can't escape. The show is perhaps best known for something of a surprise
ending when the "captain" of the Fesarius (played by Clint Howard,
brother
of Ron and child star of TV's Gentle Ben) is revealed. Directed by
Joseph
Sargent (Colossus--The Forbin Project).
--Tom Keogh
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This second volume of episodes on DVD from the original Star Trek
includes the popular and sexy "Mudd's Women," which introduces the
character
of interstellar huckster and fugitive Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel, later to
return in another classic episode, "I, Mudd"). The Enterprise beams
aboard
Harry and
three beautiful and scantily clad women whom the con man is carrying as
cargo.
The transport damages the starship, forcing Captain Kirk (William Shatner)
to take a detour to a mining world for a supply of dilithium crystals.
Harry
uses the women as bait to get the miners to help him flee from the
authorities--but a revelation about his liberal use of an
attraction-enhancement drug adds a twist to things. This clever and novel
installment in the series grafted the unlikely element of a petty, colorful
crook onto a science fiction show, an obvious forerunner of Deep Space
Nine's inclusion of Quark among its own major characters.
Also in this volume is another outstanding episode, "The Enemy Within."
Written by renowned novelist-screenwriter Richard Matheson (The
Incredible
Shrinking Man), the story proposes a transporter malfunction that
results
in Captain Kirk being divided into two versions of himself, one aggressive
and brutal, the other sensitive and good. Essentially, the personality mix
that makes Kirk an effective leader and balanced man is scattered like so
many marbles, and the result is one captain running around mauling women
and
wreaking havoc while the other is frightened and indecisive. The production
is very effectively done, and Shatner's performance is among his most
interesting. --Tom Keogh
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Hippies on the Enterprise! This 1969 episode presents an unusually jaundiced view of flower children as Kirk and crew attempt to deal with a group of young--and so misguided!--idealists in search of the legendary planet Eden. Oddly enough, it is Spock who best understands these free spirits, and this episode offers the rare pleasure of seeing the Vulcan join in a jam session with his Vulcan harp, as well as the spectacle of Enterprise crew members attempting to get down. This episode is enjoyable in its own right, and also as an interesting look at how the kids of the '60s came off to those a few years their senior. Only a "Herbert" (that's slang for "square") could fail to enjoy watching duty-bound Kirk wonder whether he's a little too rigid. (Movie trivia buffs may notice that the hippie who gets "a clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy" is none other than Charles Napier, a character actor who would later appear in nearly all of Jonathan Demme's films, including his rather grisly fate at the hands of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.) --Ali Davis
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The Enterprise prepares for the evacuation of doomed planet Sarpeidon, but Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) find that all inhabitants have left via a time-travel device that has sent them to different periods of their own choosing. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy accidentally pass through the device, with the captain landing in the middle of an 18th-century-style witch-hunt while Spock and McCoy travel back 6,000 years to the Ice Age.
The script, by UCLA librarian and spec writer Jean Lisette Aroeste (who also wrote "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" for the original series), gives the episode a special charge with its dual story lines set in the past. The dramatic weight of the story, however, is clearly with Spock, who regresses into the savage emotions of his prehistoric ancestors--eating meat, choosing another transportee (Mariette Hartley) as a mate, and nearly killing McCoy when the good doctor insults him. This is a favorite among some Trekkers, made all the more enjoyable by the anxious, White Rabbit-like performance of Ian Wolfe as a Sarpeidon librarian in charge of the time-travel facility. --Tom Keogh
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This, the final episode of the original Star Trek series, is a doozy. Dr. Janice Lester, scientist and ex-flame of Captain Kirk, uses alien technology to switch bodies with him. As Kirk fights to regain control of his body and the Enterprise, the ship's officers must choose between going along with the increasingly erratic behavior of "Kirk" or risking mutiny. Setting aside Trek's rather quaint view of feminism--Lester's ambitions are tied to a hatred of her own womanhood--the episode is a corker to watch. Tension builds well as the officers try to figure out how to ally themselves, and William Shatner clearly has a good time playing a woman in his own body, enjoying his manly physique and casually filing his nails as he discusses policy with Spock. Although this episode has often been ridiculed by hardcore Trekkers, it provides a fitting end to a great series. --Ali Davis
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A randy Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and
Scotty (James Doohan) take shore leave on Argelius II, a trip that becomes
a nightmare when Scotty is suspected in a series of murders. From its opening
scene featuring a seductive belly dancer to the ultimate revelation of the
killer's identity, "Wolf in the Fold" has the aura of a psychological horror
story. No wonder: The script is by Robert Bloch, author of the novel
Psycho (basis for the Hitchcock film), who also came up with the idea of
the Enterprise computers being overtaken by none other than Jack the
Ripper. Actor John Fiedler, whose raspy, high-pitched voice is most familiar as
the sound of Piglet in Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh, is very good as the
ultra-annoying Hengist, a skeptical prosecutor out for Scotty's head. One of the
few Trek episodes to focus on Scotty, "Wolf" is downright exotic at times
in its spooky tone and depiction of the sensual life on Argelius II.
(Director Joseph Pevney even spent some of Paramount's money getting a startling
overhead shot of a seance.) Here's a weird factoid: Harlan Ellison, author of
Trek's great "City on the Edge of Forever" episode, also once wrote a
futuristic Jack-is-back story called (ta-da) "City on the Edge of Tomorrow."
--Tom Keogh
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After destroying 4 billion people in the Malurian star system, a 21st-
century NASA probe called Nomad--carrying friendly greetings to whatever
unknown, extraterrestrial race might find it--has a violent encounter with the
Enterprise, nearly blowing the starship out of space. Hoping to sidestep
another attack, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
invite the diminutive, computer-driven, impossibly powerful spacecraft aboard to
learn how its peaceful mission was supplanted by a program to destroy life.
Written by John Meredyth Lucas, who was intrigued by the idea of a sentient,
almost godlike machine that turns against its creator, "The Changeling"
transcends, fortunately, Star Trek's cash-strapped special effects
department to become a compelling drama. (Let's just say that Nomad looks
like a cross between the Tin Woodman and a 1960s beach radio.) Particularly
memorable is Spock's mind-melding scene with Nomad, in which the Vulcan
is shaken by the probe's chaotic memories of being captured by a machine planet
and given destructive impulses. Frequent Trek director Marc Daniels was
particularly proud of the way his crew made Nomad appear capable of
independent movement: There was one model for hanging from a wire, a second for
standing on a floor, and a third for riding on a dolly (to get a sinister,
point-of-view traveling shot). If "The Changeling" sounds vaguely familiar, it
should: The script was rewritten as the basis for Star Trek: The Motion
Picture. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com video review:
A landing party beams down to Gamma Trianguli VI, a lush planet that's
just like paradise... or is it? This is not the episode to be caught
wearing a red shirt in: dangers abound and crew members drop like flies.
Soon the party discovers a seemingly unspoiled tribe of innocents who
spend their lives serving the god Vaal. Can it be that it's time to
disobey the Prime Directive? The natives are all beautiful people with
loincloths and entertaining hairdos, and of course Mr. Scott has an
engineering dilemma. Another highlight is the sequence in which the
natives learn a few facts of life from a particularly randy Chekov.
Skip this one at your peril. --Ali Davis
Amazon.com video review:
While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr.
Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Scotty (James Doohan)
are infected with an unknown disease that causes rapid aging. The only member of
the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy's guinea pig
while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise. A nifty idea with some
poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the
sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and
suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character
as a unique individual, as in real life. Kirk slows down more than the longer-
lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen if physically brittle. As for
poor Scotty, well...the dramatic subtext in "The Deadly Years" concerns the
perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old
to carry out crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels
constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: Let's just say that some of these
actors play "old" a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has
reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves
from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles
Drake is a truly familiar face, having appeared in such classic films as The
Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com video review:
Lovable scoundrel Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) returns following his debut appearance in the first-season episode "Mudd's Women," this time as the leader of a race of helpful (and leggy) androids. Mudd tries to take control of the Enterprise, but soon finds that the androids have plans of their own. This is one of Trek's few purely comic episodes, and it hits a nice level of whimsy as Kirk and the crew fight android efficiency with good old human illogic. "I, Mudd" also sets a benchmark achievement for the Star Trek design crew: It called not just for beautiful women in revealing costumes, but for beautiful twins in revealing costumes. Truly a tough one to top, cheesily foreshadowing the "Fembots" of Austin Powers infamy. --Ali Davis
Amazon.com video review:
This is one of the more entertainingly sadomasochistic Star Trek
episodes. Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov are kidnapped from the Enterprise
and taken to Triskelion, where they are forced to participate in
gladiator-style fights for the amusement of the mysterious "Providers." In
addition to the borderline kink of training harnesses and punishment
collars, there's plenty of hand-to-hand combat and odes to the human
spirit to enjoy. There is also, of course, plenty of romance as Kirk
tries to find the soft side of his beautiful trainer Shahna (played by the
slender '60s sexpot Angelique Pettyjohn). Back aboard
the Enterprise, we get to see more of Spock and Bones's prickly
relationship as they try to find the others. This is a terrific episode,
with just the right balance of fighting, kissing, and speechifying. --Ali
Davis
Amazon.com video review:
The final broadcast episode of Star Trek's second season was this clever and funny story in which the Enterprise travels back in time to 1968 (the year this program aired) to discover how the nuclear arms race came to an end. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) encounters a strange fellow named Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), who claims to have been trained by extraterrestrials in sabotaging the escalating nuclear threat. With the ambivalent aid of a nervous secretary (Teri Garr), Seven (yes, there was a Trek character with that name before Voyager) attempts to carry out his assignment, but Kirk isn't sure if he can be trusted.
Lansing's droll and somewhat imperious performance is nicely counterpointed by Garr's cute confusion, and the eerie presence of his familiar--a black cat named Isis--adds a hint of hoodoo exotica. (Don't blink at the end or you'll miss the really exotic creature Isis briefly turns into.) "Assignment: Earth" was actually the pilot for an intended Gene Roddenberry-produced TV series that never happened. Too bad... But speaking of eerie, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) at one point refers to an important assassination that will soon take place. A week after this episode's original airdate, Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com video review:
The Enterprise arrives at a distant research outpost to find all the adults dead and their children eerily cheerful. No sooner are they aboard the ship than the children begin taking over, using strange powers bestowed on them by a malevolent "friendly angel.. The kids make for an engagingly creepy episode as they alter the crew's perceptions to play on their worst fears, all with angelic smiles on their faces. Kirk's stiff-necked nature is well played against the manic playfulness of the kids, and legendary attorney Melvin Belli (who enjoyed a moderately busy acting career in the late '60s) does an interesting turn as the smooth-talking angel. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com video review:
"Mirror, Mirror"
When their mission to secure a mineral trade ends in failure, a freak ion storm catches Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty in mid-beam-up and sends them to a parallel dimension where Federation leaders are as ruthless as the Klingons, and Star Fleet promotions are attained by assassination. They find themselves on an alternate Enterprise, peopled with evil counterparts to the people they know (all attired in glittery, glam-rock uniforms), including most famously an evil, goateed Spock whom Kirk must convince to overthrow the empire. Kirk and his landing party try to fit in with this crew of villains who are threatening with annihilation the planet where the mineral trade went sour, while searching for a way back to their world and fending off assassination attempts. Mirror, Mirror achieves the best of what Star Trek is capable, which is to say space opera brought to a high pitch by melodrama. Everyone appears to be having great fun turning their characters to the dark side, especially George Takai, whose evil Sulu beams when making his assassination attempt against Captain Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who makes Spock's shift from the meditative logician to the ruthless goateed one seem, well, quite logical. This episode in particular fueled popular culture in such a way that in some circles it is now impossible to sport a goatee without being called "the evil Spock." The story of the evil Spock is continued in the Deep Space Nine episode Crossover. --Jim Gay
"The Deadly Years"
While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are infected with an unknown disease that causes premature aging. The only member of the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy's guinea pig while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise.
A nifty idea with some poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character as a unique individual. Kirk slows down more than the longer-lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen, if physically brittle. As for poor Scotty, well...
The dramatic subtext in "The Deadly Years" concerns the perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old to execute crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: let's just say some of these actors play "old" a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles Drake is a truly familiar face, having been cast in The Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. --Tom Keogh
