Assignment: Earth (29 Mar. 1968)

While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet.

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Art Wallace (teleplay),

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Robert Lansing	...	Gary Seven
Teri Garr	...	Roberta Lincoln (as Terri Garr)
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Don Keefer	...	Mission Control Director Cromwell
Morgan Jones	...	Colonel Jack Nesvig
Bruce Mars	...	First Policeman
Ted Gehring	...	Second Policeman
Paul Baxley	...	Security Chief

Storyline

When the Enterprise is assigned to observe Earth's history in 1968, suddenly it intercepts a transporter beam which originates at least a thousand light-years from Earth, bringing aboard a humanoid alien 'agent Gary Seven' holding a black cat called Isis, who warns them to step back and let him go to accomplish his mission to save Earth; initially phaser-struck down, he manages to beam himself away, actually on a mission to prevent a nuclear rocket being launched at McKinley base because earth is socio-politically not ready for its technological progress. He assumes a classified identity to override a powerful computer, and mistakes the wrong girl, Miss Lincoln, for another agent; the computer reports both other agents he seeks are deceased in an accident. Meanwhile Kirk and Spock beam down to investigate if the alien isn't hostile, realizing the risk of changing their own past. When they get on his trail, the girl sees Spock's ears, calls the police and Seven gets away; they must ...

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Plot Keywords:

rocket | computer | sabotage | escape | black cat | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 March 1968 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Three black cats were used for the role of Isis.

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Goofs

The same people can be seen passing - respectively - Kirk and Spock, and Roberta on her way into work, on four separate occasions (once in the same but split scene), going back and forth. The part of the walkway, however, is roughly the same on all occasions.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Captain James T. Kirk: Captain's log. Using the light speed breakaway factor, the Enterprise has moved back through time to the 20th century. We are now in extended orbit around Earth, using our ship's deflector shields to remain unobserved. Our mission - historical research. We are monitoring Earth communications to find out how our planet survived desperate problems in the year... 1968.

User Reviews

Terri Garr speaks for a generation

The thing about this episode that stands out for me is my reaction to it when I saw it premier in early 1968, when I was 14. Terri Garr's character, far from playing as a ditzy blonde, instead read to all of us as a member of the baby boomer generation saddled with the hypocritical bs of those over 30, who we were learning to Not Trust. Thus her character suspiciously blowing the whistle on one and all, ultimately leading to her fine peroration toward the end where she expresses the hopes and fears of a generation. We all marveled at this episode in school during the course of the following week, and all boomer trekies have a soft spot in their hearts for Terri Garr on the strength of this performance. I'd also add that you have to remember we were all too close in memory to the Cuban Missile crisis of Oct 1962 for comfort. The notion of a nuclear war was physically felt back in those days in a way that it hasn't been since, well, 1962.