Back in the day, the similarities between episodes wouldn't have been as apparent when you had a span of weeks or a season between them. But watching them in series order a day at a time, one becomes acutely aware that a number of themes were recycled with some regularity. 'The Apple' reminds me a lot of the first season's 'This Side of Paradise', where the resident population has become accustomed to having all their needs taken care of at the expense of individual and societal growth. The story is particularly lazy in using an exact same plot point from the earlier episode, that of the spore shooting flower, and at the same victim no less - Spock.
Given the setting, one can capably make the connection between the title and the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, but if that was the intent, the story didn't do a very good job in explaining a lot of the plot flaws. No mention of the origin of Vaal, how the machine processes real food (a real head scratcher), and within the context of the Star Trek universe, how and why Captain Kirk sees fit to violate the Prime Directive. The one interesting tidbit I managed to pick out of the episode was Captain Kirk's comment to Spock that Starfleet Command considered their officers an investment. I actually stopped to think about that, since an Academy education would have to have been a sizable sum if an Ivy League school goes for upwards of forty grand a year today. You're talking a heck of a student loan program.
Given the setting, one can capably make the connection between the title and the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, but if that was the intent, the story didn't do a very good job in explaining a lot of the plot flaws. No mention of the origin of Vaal, how the machine processes real food (a real head scratcher), and within the context of the Star Trek universe, how and why Captain Kirk sees fit to violate the Prime Directive. The one interesting tidbit I managed to pick out of the episode was Captain Kirk's comment to Spock that Starfleet Command considered their officers an investment. I actually stopped to think about that, since an Academy education would have to have been a sizable sum if an Ivy League school goes for upwards of forty grand a year today. You're talking a heck of a student loan program.