TOS 2: The Man Trap

Original air date: 09/08/1966
Star Date: 1513.1

Summary:  Kirk, McCoy and another crewman named Darnell beam down to a planet called M-113 to perform required medical exams of Dr. Crater, a researcher, and his wife Nancy.  We learn that Nancy had long ago been romantically involved with McCoy.  We also learn quite quickly that there's something odd about Nancy; she can make herself appear different to different people, even when three people (Kirk, McCoy and Darnell) all view her at the same time.  And we learn that Crater and Nancy are in need of extra salt.

Then Enterprise crewman start dying of mysterious causes, starting with Darnell.  McCoy eventually identifies the cause of death as salt depletion, and we soon learn that the woman we thought was Nancy isn't Nancy at all; in fact isn't even a human woman, but is of some species indigenous to M-113 which has an abnormally strong need for salt.  'Nancy' is the one killing crewman, and although she is able to hide on the Enterprise for a while due to her ability to hide in plain sight, she is eventually trapped in McCoy's cabin and McCoy is forced to destroy her.

In the first Star Trek episode ever broadcast, Gene Roddenberry tells a tale of addiction.  It's clear that he didn't mean for it to be obviously about addiction; what's less clear is whether Roddenberry actually knew that's what his story was about.

Before getting into the weeds with that, however, let's pause a minute to note how really off the charts improbable the whole story is.  We're expected to believe that the planet M-113 was once home to millions of creatures like the one called 'Nancy' in the show.  This creature can cloud people's minds to make them see it however it wants them to see it, and we're supposed to believe it has a biological need for salt.  As we'll see, it's an addictive craving rather than a biological need, but that's for later.

How did these creatures, with a biological need for salt, evolve on a planet which (apparently) has essentially none?  I suppose it's possible the planet had ample supplies of salt long ago, then they vanished --- but how?  Salt doesn't evaporate like water.  So forget the idea that these creatures have a biological need for salt; instead, they simply desire it, crave it, to an unhealthy degree.

But even given that premise, why do they need to suck salt out of human bodies, and kill the humans in the process?  They're intelligent creatures with an amazing ability to appear to others in any way they please; why can't they set up some kind of trade agreement to get salt?  They could be models.  They're also apparently quite strong, so they could be laborers.  And not to stray too far off the tracks, but it seems these creatures would make excellent prostitutes.

No, they could get salt in lots of other ways than killing; so it was really hard to take this episode too seriously.  Roddenberry is not off to a stellar start.

But set that aside.  'Nancy' is the only one left of her kind, and her 'husband' Dr. Crater knows her secret.  Nancy and Crater also know that the Star Trek crew are coming along to conduct a physical exam on them.  So really, how badly do they need the salt?  Nancy can't be too badly off; she and Crater have a small supply of salt pills left, so surely she can wait a day, at least, to get more salt from the Enterprise.  But within literally minutes of meeting Kirk, McCoy, and extraneous crew member #1 (Darnell, he's called), she's flirting with Darnell and leading him out into the desert with the clear intention of draining his salt from him and killing him.  Is this the behavior of a creature with a simple biological need for salt?  No, these are the actions of a salt addict.

Before the show is over, Nancy has gone on a salt-harvesting rampage, offing three extraneous crew members and Dr. Crater, and she starts in on Kirk while Spock and McCoy are watching.  If she only needed salt to live, she wouldn't have needed that much in such a short time, and she wouldn't have behaved so recklessly.  She's a salt addict, no question.

Then there's the story Crater tells about Nancy's species.  He claims there were once millions of them on M-113, but they gradually died out like the American buffalo, and Nancy is the last of her kind remaining.  There's never any explanation about how they died out, but it's almost certain that they were not hunted to extinction like the American buffalo.  It's also a near-certainty that they didn't die from salt deficiency, because as I explained above, it's impossible to believe that a salt-dependent species evolved on a planet with no salt.

So how did they die out?  Possibly from salt addiction; however, I think it's more likely that this story of millions of her species dying out is simply a sob story Nancy told Crater to make him feel sorry for her, and in his compromised emotional state, her believed her.  So it's more than likely there are still more creatures of Nancy's kind on M-113 at the end of the show.

For a while, I really had a hard time wrapping my mind around Crater's behavior.  This creature killed his wife, after all; how can he live in peace with it, defend it, and try to protect it?  At first I found Crater's behavior totally unbelievable.  But then I figured he must have snapped when his wife died.  The creature was able to become the new Nancy, and replace the one it had killed.  And as grief-stricken as Crater must have been, it's possible he welcomed the opportunity to pretend nothing had happened, and go about his life with the creature (as Nancy) exactly as before.  The creature had taken Nancy away, and now it gave her back.

Also, I think Kirk nailed it in the discussion between himself, Uhura, Yeoman Janice, Spock, Crater and Nancy (now in the visage of McCoy) when he said:

You bleed too much, Crater.  You're too pure and noble.  Are you saving the last of its kind, or has this become Crater's private heaven here on this planet?  This thing becomes wife, lover, best friend, wise man, fool, idol, slave!  Isn't a bad life to have everyone in the universe at your beck and call.  And you win all the arguments!

Crater is ill, and the relationship between himself and Nancy is a lot sicker than could be deeply analyzed on TV in the 1960's.  Also, I would imagine that Nancy's addiction is not something that would pass the censors in the 1960's, so it was never described as such.  So I give Roddenberry marks for addressing such a subject, however obliquely, but as I said above, the premise is quite weak.

As for other aspects of the show ---

We first meet Sulu when Yeoman Janice (a sexy blonde) brings him a meal in the "Life Sciences Department Botany Section".  Sulu is a botanist!  Also, he is apparently third in command; he has the bridge when Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet.

There's a good bit of dialogue between Spock and Uhura in the early part of the show, which quickly establishes:

1. Spock is Vulcan.
2. Uhura is attracted to Spock.
3. Spock values logic and reason over emotion.

I think I saw traces of a limp from Spock, but it was hard to tell.  Perhaps Leonard Nimoy walks with a limp?

The Moral of the Story: Addiction kills.