Episode complete credited cast: | |||
William Shatner | ... | Capt. Kirk | |
Leonard Nimoy | ... | Mr. Spock | |
DeForest Kelley | ... | Dr. McCoy | |
James Doohan | ... | Scott | |
Nichelle Nichols | ... | Uhura | |
Walter Koenig | ... | Chekov | |
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John Winston | ... | Lt. Kyle |
Majel Barrett | ... | Christine Chapel |
The Enterprise is sent to investigate the disruption of the Gamma VII-A solar system and the destruction of the U.S.S. Intrepid, staffed solely by Vulcans. When they arrive they find a large dark mass floating in space that is draining energy from everything around it, including the Enterprise. Drawn into the mass, they find a huge amoeba-like creature and Kirk must decide which of his two friends, McCoy or Spock, to send into it aboard a shuttle craft on a mission of no return. Written by garykmcd
One of the most fascinating things I have always found about this particular Star Trek episode is that no one brought in the prime directive when dealing with what they found. In fact it was life in its most basic form after exponentially increasing to the size of a couple of solar systems.
No doubt in the world about what to do with a one cell organism that size. It can't think and reason, all it does is eat and reproduce and we don't want more than one of those roaming around the galaxy.
Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley do take their rivalry to some absurd levels in this episode. Nevertheless the whole Enterprise team pulls together as a team to beat this thing.
How do you deal with an organism? Go back to biology one for the answer.