Obsession (15 Dec. 1967)

Capt. Kirk obsessively hunts for a mysterious cloud creature he encountered in his youth.

Director:

Ralph Senensky

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Art Wallace

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
Stephen Brooks	...	Ensign Garrovick
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Jerry Ayres	...	Rizzo
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Christine Chapel
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov

Storyline

Captain Kirk is haunted by a creature from his past when conducting a mining survey on a planet. He first encountered it as a lieutenant aboard the U.S.S. Farragut and blames himself for freezing in a moment of crisis, causing the death of many crewmen. The creature is a cloud-like, gaseous being that lives on the red blood cells found in humans. Obsessed by his desire for revenge and to erase the memory of 11 years ago, he pursues the creature relentlessly, putting in jeopardy an assignment to collect essential medical supplies.

---

Plot Keywords:

hunt | death | cloud | self doubt | predator | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 December 1967 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene in the medical records library between Spock and McCoy, there is a large object which looks like a vertical DVD rack. The same large object was in Harry Mudd's laboratory in Season 2, Episode 8 "I, Mudd."

---

Goofs

Near the end of the show, Kirk and the ensign get into a brief fistfight on the planet, and when the fight's over, Kirk's hair is all messed up. Almost immediately after that, the two characters beam up to the ship, and at this point Kirk's hair has been freshly combed.

---

Quotes

Nurse Chapel: Your self-pity's a terrible first course. Why don't you try the soup instead?
Ensign Garrovick: I told you, Christine, I'm not hungry.
Nurse Chapel: Dr. McCoy thought you might say something like that. This is his officially logged prescription for you. It has one word on it: eat. Now if you don't follow his orders, Dr. McCoy could and possibly would have you hauled down to Sickbay and fed intravenously.

---

Connections

Featured in Bring Back... Star Trek (2009)

User Reviews

Military Drama Posing as a Space Monster Adventure

Obsession features a great Art Wallace script and solid performances by Shatner, Kelley and Nimoy. An away team is investigating a seemingly uninhabited planet, while carrying a cargo of medical supplies to a rendezvous for which they can't be late. A mysterious gas cloud attacks and kills a trio of red shirts by consuming their red corpuscles. Kirk recognizes the smell (literally) of all of this and explains that the last time he encountered this creature, half of his ship's crew was killed. The son if the captain Kirk served with is now a member of the Enterprise crew (Stephen Brooks) and Kirk believes that his hesitation doomed his crew mates. Soon, Kirk's obsessive behavior regarding the gas cloud has the crew questioning his sanity.

Ralph Senensky's direction keeps this classic Shatner episode tight, exciting, and well shot. There are many memorable scenes and the script allows for some very good character development for the young ensign as well as the principal cast members. And unlike the standard Star Trek Space Monster story, this ends up being as much a human-military (naval) drama as it is an adventure tale.