"Star Trek" The Immunity Syndrome (1968)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Robert Sabaroff (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

19 January 1968 (Season 2, Episode 18)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Enterprise encounters a gigantic energy draining space organism that threatens the galaxy.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
John Winston	...	Lt. Kyle
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Chapel

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The giant space amoeba the Enterprise encounters measured over 18,000 kilometers in length. For comparative purposes the planet Earth has an average diameter of just over 12,500 kilometers.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Kirk refers to Lt. Kyle as "Cowell" throughout the episode; the correct name appears in the end credits.

Quotes:

Spock: That sound was the turbulence caused by the penetration of a boundary layer, captain.
Capt. Kirk: What boundary layer?
Spock: Unknown.
Capt. Kirk: A boundary layer between what and what?
Spock: Between where we were and where we are.
Capt. Kirk: Are you trying to be funny, Mr Spock?
Spock: It would never occur to me, captain.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Harlem Theatre (1968)

Well-written, visually-striking, mind-blowing.

One of the best and most memorable episodes of the original Trek series.

First off, the "star" of the show: the gigantic space-amoeba critter was such an impressive sight in the original series, that when it was re-released in the recent "enhanced" episodes with remastered HD format and state-of-the-art effects, the creature itself was left virtually unchanged. In fact, IMO, the critter looked better unenhanced.

This is doubly impressive in light of the show's budget limitations, being a relatively inexpensive process put to very good effect.

On top of that, the writing doesn't fall into the bogus-science 'treknology' gibberish and continuity problems that plagued and dragged so many episodes into mediocrity. The science in this episode is rock-solid, one of the few Trek episodes that qualifies as true hard-core science fiction.

The story itself is slowish for Star Trek, more brooding than action, but it works without insulting your intelligence in the process.