Star Trek: The Original Series
(1966–1969)
Capt. Kirk obsessively hunts for a mysterious cloud creature he encountered in his youth.
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Title: Obsession (15 Dec 1967)
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Cast
| Episode complete credited cast: | |||
| William Shatner | ... | Capt. 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 Chapel | |
| Walter Koenig | ... | Chekov | |
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Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
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. Written by garykmcd
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Capt. Kirk: Something that can't possibly exist, but it does.
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Music credited to Alexander Courage, although it strongly resembles the main title music for 'Hollow Triumph (1948)' by Sol Kaplan
Sung by Loulie Jean Norman
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The writer of this episode, Art Wallace, created and developed the story for the daytime soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966), which featured vampires, though Wallace was long gone from that series by the time they were introduced. See more »Goofs
When Kirk is re-materializing in the transporter after baiting the creature a black spot appears on his face momentarily during the process. See more »Quotes
Mr. Spock: You think you know what it was, Captain?Capt. Kirk: Something that can't possibly exist, but it does.
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Alternate Versions
Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song See more »Soundtracks
ThemeMusic credited to Alexander Courage, although it strongly resembles the main title music for 'Hollow Triumph (1948)' by Sol Kaplan
Sung by Loulie Jean Norman
See more »
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Details
Country:
USARelease Date:
15 December 1967 (USA) See more »Filming Locations:
Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USACompany Credits
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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.