- Galactic alien scouts capture the Enterprise for a return voyage and a prelude to invasion. Kirk's one advantage - they're not used to their adopted human form.
- Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a couple of red shirts beam down to the surface of a planet in answer to a fake distress call. There they are overpowered by a small group of human-looking aliens from the Andromeda galaxy, led by Rojan. Their galaxy will be uninhabitable within a few thousand years, so they intend to conquer ours, to give themselves a new home. The aliens' spacecraft had been damaged by the energy barrier around the galaxy, and they need the Enterprise to return home, enhancing its engines so that the journey will "only" take 300 years. They take over the Enterprise using their two main weapons - a paralyzing beam, and a ray that can reduce a person to a gray block of material - revival only being possible if the block is not damaged. After successfully negotiating the energy barrier, the aliens reduce all the crew into the gray blocks, with the exception of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott, who must somehow overcome the aliens, revive the crew and return home.—Dave Brown
- The Enterprise is taken over by Kelvans, an advanced race from the Andromeda galaxy that are intent on making the 300 year journey home. Their leader, Rojan, immobilizes all of the crew but for Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott. As the trip progresses, however, Spock realizes that, having taken human form, the Kelvans are now developing emotions. Kirk introduces romance into the equation by purposely wooing Kelinda thereby rendering Rojan insanely jealous.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise answers a distress call, but the landing party is told to surrender by Rojan, who establishes body control over them, as Hanar, also of his kind, the Kelvans, which has assumed human form posing as colonists, does aboard the starship -entering and leaving on his own-, declares the Kelvans end humanity's former way of existence, and improves the ships engines so in 'merely' 300 years they can make an intergalactic voyage to the Andromeda system. When a Vulcan mind probe to attempt escape fails, as punishment two crewmen are instantly reduced to solid organic matter, one crushed irrevocably but the other restored as a demonstration. Spock deduces such is the Kelvans' normal state. Kirk tells him to fake sickness and modify diagnostic equipment to attempt reversing the Kelvan nervous control field; McCoy is allowed to bring him aboard the Enterprise. Spock finds the engine modification is cased in an impenetrable material and proposes a sabotage which will make the ship explode while it passes a natural energy barrier but Kirk fails to order the explosion; the Kelvans were aware of the plan and 'neutralize' all non-essential human crew as revivable matter. Spock observes the Kelvans have sacrificed all non-intellectual mind functions, and are thus vulnerable in their present human form to sense-stimulation, so the remaining crew bombards them with sensuality, which indeed throws them off balance, even striving amongst each-other. When they realize being weakened, Kirk makes them an an offer...—KGF Vissers
- The Enterprise answers a distress call to a verdant planet, only to be met by a group of aliens, called Kelvins, who have adopted human form. They immediately imprison Kirk and the landing party and commandeer the ship, which they need in order to return to their home planet in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, as their ship had been damaged in an attempt to penetrate an energy barrier between the galaxies (while entering the Milky way). No form of communication can penetrate the energy barrier. The Kelvins were looking for alternate homes as their own galaxy will be poisoned by radiation within 10 millennium. The Kelvins will modify Enterprise engines so that the return journey will take only 300 yrs. But the current race of Kelvins will die and the mission will be completed by a commander of their descendants. Once the Kelvins reach their Galaxy, their entire race will shift to the Milky way and eliminate all the existing species, including humans, in the Milky way, to occupy it.
They keep the humans in line by use of a device on their belts that paralyzes them. While imprisoned on the planet, Spock fails and is slightly injured in a mind meld attempt with the female alien (Kelinda (Barbara Bouchet)). As Kalinda is distracted, Kirk uses the opportunity to escape the cell with his crew. But they are captured by the Kelvin leader Rojan. As punishment, the aliens shrink two "non-essential" personnel down to their essence: small, crumbly blocks, one of which the Kelvin leader, Rojan (Warren Stevens), crushes, and the other he restores to life.
But Spock did succeed in gaining a glimpse of the aliens' original form - huge, multi-tentacled creatures, who must adopt human form in order to physically fit aboard the Enterprise. Kirk asks Spock to pretend to be sick. Spock slows his heartbeat and his pulse is practically non-existent. Kirk insists to the Kelvins that he needs to get Spock back to the Enterprise sick bay, else he may die. Only McCoy and Spock are beamed back. Rojan then takes Kirk back on-board the Enterprise, but wants him to understands his duties under Rojan's command. With all back aboard, the crew realizes that the energy source from which the aliens employ their weapons is protected by an impenetrable material, and the crew is not able to jam the energy source.
With the situation seemingly hopeless, and the Kelvins gunning the Enterprise's engines beyond their capacity toward the teeth of the barrier (the Enterprise will arrive at the barrier within an hour), Spock and Scott inform Kirk that, upon his order, they will blow up the ship (this will stop the Kelvins and save the Milky Way galaxy from being conquered), but Kirk can't bring himself to do it. Once through the barrier, the entire crew, except for Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott are reduced to blocks (since there isn't enough food on-board the Enterprise)
Spock notices one of the aliens savoring human food and deduces that in the process of converting to human form, the Kelvins may be vulnerable to human weaknesses. Each of the four go about exploiting these soft spots in his own special way: Scott sacrifices his cherished bottle of vintage scotch to get one drunk, McCoy makes one extremely irritable through injections. But the most critical is the tag team approach of Kirk's seduction of the beautiful Kelinda and Spock's arousing of Rojan's jealousy. Rojan confronts the kissing Kirk and Kelinda. Kirk, through words and slaps, goads Rojan into fighting. Employing numerous submission holds as a means to get Rojan to listen to reason, Kirk convinces him that for the Kelvins, there's no going back, that they now are truly human. On behalf of the Federation, Kirk offers them a chance to inhabit the same verdant planet back in the Milky Way Galaxy. Furthermore Kirk offers to help Rojan find other uninhabited worlds in the Milky Way for the Kelvins to colonize. Spock says that a robot ship can be sent to Andromeda and the Kelvin home world to deliver the message. Kelinda goes with Rojan.
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