TOS 36: The Doomsday Machine

Original air date: 10/20/1967
Star date: 4202.1 (from Commodore Matt Decker's log)

Summary: The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from the starship Constellation, when they notice several star systems in which the known planets have been completely destroyed.  They then come upon the Constellation, which has been badly damaged itself and is drifting through space.

Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and a damage control party beam over to the Constellation to assess the damage, leaving Spock in command of the Enterprise.  Initially, it appears that the ship contains no crew members, living or dead, but then Kirk and McCoy find the ship's commander, Commodore Matt Decker, in a state of shock.  Decker explains that they were attacked by a huge ship, miles long, which has consumed several planets in the system.  Kirk theorizes that the planet-killer is a sort of "doomsday machine" developed by aliens in another galaxy, which has accidentally wandered into ours and is on track to destroy many populations.  In addition to destroying several planets and crippling the Constellation, the planet-killer also emits a form of radiation which makes it impossible to communicate with Starfleet.

Decker is in a state of shock and wracked with guilt because, once the Constellation was on the verge of destruction, he beamed his entire crew down to one of the planets in the system.  The planet-killer attacked again, disabling the Constellation's transporter.  The planet-killer then destroyed the beam-down planet, and Decker's crew along with it.  McCoy returns with Decker to the Enterprise while Kirk and the others remain behind to repair as much of the Constellation as they can.  The Enterprise takes the Constellation with it in tow.

However, once McCoy and Decker arrive aboard the Enterprise, the planet-killer attacks them.  Spock, realizing that there is nothing one ship can do to affect the planet-killer, makes it his number one priority to move away from the planet-killer's subspace interference, in order to warn Starfleet.  However, Decker is intent on taking all steps possible to destroy or disable the planet-killer, even though such action seems futile at best and suicidal at worst.  He pulls rank on Spock and takes command of the Enterprise, then stages several attacks on the planet-killer, which accomplish nothing more than making the Enterprise a target of the planet-killer's considerable power.  Fortunately, Kirk, Scotty and the others have made sufficient progress in repairing the Constellation to have limited impulse power and one bank of phasers available.  Kirk distracts the planet-killer long enough for the Enterprise to escape, but when he learns that Decker has taken command of the Enterprise, he orders Spock on his own personal authority as Captain of the Enterprise to relieve Decker of command.  Decker reluctantly steps aside, and Spock orders him to sickbay for medical evaluation.

However, on the way to sickbay, Decker overpowers his guard, steals a shuttlecraft, and flies toward the planet-killer with the goal of destroying it by flying "right down its throat".  Despite the pleas and cajoling of both Spock and Kirk, Decker completes his suicide mission, making a negligible impact on the planet-killer.  But Decker's actions give Kirk an idea.  He has Scotty rig up a mechanism to overload the Constellation's impulse engines on a 30-second delay, then sends Scotty and the damage control party back to the Enterprise.  Kirk then steers the Constellation toward the planet-killer's "mouth", and waits until the last possible second to activate the 30-second delay.  After a few tense moments of waiting while Scotty works furiously to repair the Enterprise's transporter, Kirk is beamed aboard at the last instant and the Constellation blows up inside the planet-killer, which does not destroy it, but renders it completely inactive and "dead".

The record for season two now stands at 3 above-average shows, and 3 pretty bad shows.  I'm not sure why it's so difficult for the Star Trek writers to find some consistency.

I don't have much to say about this episode, except that it was good.  Good setup, good plot, good guest appearance by William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker.  Good chess match between the two Starfleet ships and the planet-killer, good twist with the battle over command of the Enterprise, good resolution at the end.  Good, but not great.  Given the collection of clunkers we've had in this series, I'll take good, not great.

The main message of this episode was only lightly touched on, but it was again an anti-war message.  Kirk likens the planet-killer to a "doomsday machine" like the H-bomb, something intended only as a deterrent, and never meant to actually be unleashed on the universe.  The point here is that mutually assured destruction can have unintended consequences, even for those who are far removed from the parties involved.

Other observations about this episode . . .

The whole time Decker is in command of the Enterprise, he is constantly fiddling with two small rectangular objects about the size of 1990's-style floppy disks, and which seem to serve roughly the same purpose on the show.  This is reminiscent of the demented Lt. Cmdr. Queeg, played by Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny.  I'm pretty sure this was intentional.

In this episode, we learn that McCoy is "a doctor, not a mechanic."

Decker is obviously traumatized by the loss of his crew, wracked both with survivor's guilt, and also with guilt because when he beamed his crew down to the planet, he thought he was doing his duty: remaining with the ship and ensuring the safety of his crew.  But of course it turned out just the opposite, with his entire crew dead and him the sole survivor aboard the Constellation.  It's hard to imagine Kirk/Shatner having the same reaction in Decker's place.

And anyway, why is Decker, a Commodore, commanding the Constellation while Kirk, who is "just" a Captain, in command of Starfleet's flagship, the Enterprise?

While it is true that Enterprise security gets pwned yet again when Decker overpowers Montgomery to hijack an Enterprise shuttle for his suicide mission, at least Montgomery puts up a decent fight, which you don't usually see from a member of Enterprise security.

The Moral of the Story: Mutually-assured destruction is MAD.

TOS 35: The Apple

Original air date: 10/13/1967
Star date: 3715.3

Summary: Under Starfleet orders to investigate the planet Gamma Triangula 6, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Chekhov, Yeoman Martha Landon and four redshirts beam down to find an Eden-like planet.  Before long, however, one of the redshirts is killed by poisonous darts shot from a flower.  Kirk thinks this is just an unfortunate accident, but then Spock detects a humanoid native following them secretly in the bushes, then runs across a strange type of rock which is both lightweight and highly explosive.  Shortly afterward, Spock sees that Kirk is about to be struck by poison darts and pushes him out of the way, taking the darts in his own chest.  He falls to the ground unconscious, and remains unconscious even after McCoy gives him an injection to revive him.  At this point, Kirk decides it's time to return to the Enterprise, but some force from the planet is preventing the transporter from working.

In the meantime, due either to McCoy's injection, his Vulcan blood, or both, Spock revives with seemingly no ill effects from the poision.  However, tragedy strikes again when a storm appears out of nowhere and a bolt of lightning vaporizes a second redshirt.  Not long after, a third redshirt dies when he steps on an explosive rock.  Fed up, Kirk sets up an ambush to capture the native following them.  This turns out to be Akuta, a member of a primitive yet peaceful tribe of people who call themselves the followers of Vaal.  Akuta is the only one who can speak to Vaal, and Kirk insists on meeting Vaal.  Akuta takes the remaining members of the landing party to a cave entrance which looks like a large serpent's head.  Spock and Kirk conclude that Vaal is a machine intelligence which controls all life on the planet, and which is currently holding the Enterprise; but to the simple natives, Vaal is their deity.  The natives do what Vaal instructs them to do, and follow Vaal's prohibition against love and procreation.  In return, they have perfect health and never age, and thus never need to have children or "replacements".  They are also responsible for feeding Vaal, thus providing the source of Vaal's power.

Scotty then reports that Vaal has the Enterprise in a tractor beam and is pulling them toward the surface.  They cannot break out, and will only be able to last 16 hours before plummeting to the planet's surface.  Meanwhile, Kirk and Spock are unable to talk to Vaal, and are left to sit around their hut and ponder the ethics of destroying the natives' deity and saving their ship.  Meanwhile, two natives see Chekhov and Yeoman Landon kissing, and experiment with it themselves, in violation of Vaal's orders.  Vaal finally orders Akuta to assemble the male natives and kill the landing party by bashing their heads in.  As part of the attack, the final redshirt is killed, but the main cast and Yeoman Landon subdue and detain the natives.  As a result, the natives can no longer feed Vaal and replenish Vaal's power supply.  Seeing an opportunity, Kirk orders Scotty to direct phasers at the snake's head entrance to Vaal's cave.  Vaal defends "himself" from the phaser attack with a force field, but this drains all of "his" power, thus freeing the Enterprise.

The show ends with Vaal "dead" and the natives free to manage their own lives: to love, procreate, and die.  Spock questions whether this was the right thing to do, but Kirk laughs him off, comparing him to Satan in the Garden of Eden.

This episode combined the cult-worship aspect of "The Return of the Archons" (only without the good mind-control, assimilation and confrontation of the "deity") with the simple life versus productive life discussion of "This Side of Paradise" (only without the angle that anyone who visits the planet can participate) and the ending of "Who Mourns for Adonais?" (only without involving a mythic Earth deity who spreads himself on the wind in the end).  In other words, this episode features a lot of recycled ideas with a lot of the interesting stuff taken out, and not much new added in.

On the other hand, this episode also has: the obligatory death of several redshirts, yet another female Yeoman (tally so far: female Yeomen 356, male Yeomen 0), and Kirk making bad jokes at the end after just having lost several crew members.

So, really not too much to recommend it.

In fact, the only thing that makes this episode even remotely worth watching is the debate it presents over the as-yet-not-fully-explained Prime Directive --- and that debate can be summed up pretty quickly in exactly two of the interchanges which occur in the show.  First, between McCoy and Spock, as they (along with Kirk) observe the natives feeding Vaal:

Spock: In my view, a splendid example of reciprocity.
McCoy: It would take a computerized Vulcan mind such as yours to make that kind of a statement.
Spock: Doctor, you insist on applying human standards to non-human cultures.  I remind you that humans are only a tiny minority in this galaxy.
McCoy: There are certain absolutes, Mr. Spock, and one of them is the right of humanoids to a free and unchained environment.  The right to have conditions which permit growth.
Spock: Another is their right to choose a system which seems to work for them.
McCoy: Jim, you're not just gonna stand by and be blinded to what's going on here?  These are humanoids, intelligent.  They need to advance, and grow!  Don't you understand what my readings indicate?  There's been no change, progress here in at least 10,000 years!  This isn't life!  It's stagnation!
Spock: Doctor, these people are healthy and they are happy.  Whatever you choose to call it, this system works, despite your emotional reaction to it.
McCoy: Well it might work for you, Mr. Spock, but it doesn't work for me!  Humanoids, living so they can service a hunk of tin.

and the second between Spock and Kirk, as time runs short before the Enterprise is destroyed:

Kirk: Bones was right, these people aren't living, they're existing.  They don't create, they don't produce, they don't even think.  They exist to service a machine.
Spock: If we do what it seems we must, in my opinion, we'll be in direct violation of the non-interference directive.
Kirk: These are people, not robots.  They should have the opportunity of choice.  We owe it to them to interfere.
Spock: Starfleet command may think otherwise.
Kirk: I'll take my chances.

Of course, in the end, everyone but Spock is A-OK with the destruction of Vaal.  And let's be honest; there's no way Kirk would simply allow Vaal to destroy himself and his whole crew.  So there was never really a choice to be made.

On the other hand, let's be clear what Kirk did for the natives.  Yes, they are now free to make their own decisions about things, to create and procreate, to produce and reproduce.  They are now also inevitably going to die, and suffer from hunger and disease.  Is it clear Kirk's actions harmed the natives?  No.  But it's not clear that he helped them any, either.  In typical Kirk style, he's far too flippant about how the natives will adjust to life without Vaal --- and in a usual Star Trek stretch of credibility, the natives are far too willing to forget about Vaal and take Kirk's word for it that everything will turn out just fine.

Aside from this episode's painfully slow pacing and the fact that it lacks much originality, I had a few other objections to it as well.  For one thing, when Spock and Kirk first observe the natives feeding Vaal, Spock immediately concludes: "There is no living being there.  It is a machine, nothing more."  It's not at all clear how Spock arrives at this conclusion.

More troublesome, however, is the fact that NO ONE from the Enterprise crew makes any attempt to communicate with Vaal.  When they first meet Akuta, they ask to speak to Vaal and are told that Vaal speaks only to Akuta.  All well and good.  But Vaal makes numerous attempts to kill the members of the landing party (sometimes successfully), and is also trying to crash the Enterprise into the planet.  Kirk makes no further attempts to talk to Vaal.  It seems he should be quite a bit more persistent on that point before he "kills" the natives' deity.

And incredibly, when Scotty reports that the Enterprise absolutely will not be able to escape Vaal's tractor beam, Kirk temporarily despairs that his entire crew will die, and it will be his fault.  He then seems to come to a sudden realization that since Vaal is no longer feeding, perhaps he can drain Vaal's power --- even though that's been pretty obvious for some time.

Other observations on this episode . . .

Spock really takes a beating on this episode, getting poisoned, shocked, and struck by lightning.

While it's true that Vaal forbids the natives from physical intimacy, it's hard to believe that they don't have normal sexual urges --- and that they don't understand why Chekhov and Landon are making out.

This episode does a strike a blow for feminism, however, as Yeoman Landon takes out not one, but two of the male natives who are trying to bash in the heads of the landing party.  This following on the heels of "Mirror, Mirror", where Uhura disarmed Evil Marlena (in a much less impressive way).

One good line by McCoy in this episode.  When the landing party are asking the natives of this Eden-like planet where their children are, and what happens when two people fall in love, the following exchange occurs:

Akuta: Love --- strange words, "children", "love" --- what is love?
Yeoman Landon: Love is --- when two people are --- (Chekhov embraces her)
Akuta: Ah, yes, the holding, the touching.  Vaal has forbidden this.
McCoy: Well, there goes paradise.

The Moral of the Story: A productive, creative lifetime with occasional hardships and eventual death is preferable to an eternity spent in mindless contentment.

TOS 34: Mirror, Mirror

Original air date: 10/06/1967
Star date: Explicitly given as 'unknown' twice in the show

Summary: While on a mission to negotiate with the Halkan council for dilithium crystals, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura are caught in an ion storm.  When they attempt to beam back to the Enterprise, they end up on another Enterprise in a parallel universe, where the Federation is a barbaric Empire.  They need to find a way to return to their universe, but Kirk must also find an excuse to avoid carrying out the Empire's directive to destroy Halkan civilization and take their dilithium crystals.

When Kirk delays Halkan's destruction for 12 hours, Evil Spock informs him that he must report this breach of policy to the Empire.  Evil Chekhov takes things one step further, attempting to assassinate Kirk in order to advance his career.  Fortunately for Kirk, Evil Kirk has his own cadre of bodyguards who foil Evil Chekhov's plan.  Nevertheless, Kirk quickly learns that assassination is a common means of career advancement in this universe, and that Evil Kirk assumed his current position by assassinating his predecessor, Evil Pike.

Kirk sends Scotty and McCoy ("I'm a doctor, not an engineer!") to Engineering to rig the transporters to send them back to their universe, while Evil Spock tries to solve the puzzle of what has happened to his Captain.  Evil Spock violates protocol himself when he informs Kirk that the Empire has ordered him to assassinate Kirk and carry out the destruction of Halkan if Kirk does not do so himself within 4 hours.  Scotty informs Kirk that they have 30 minutes or less to return to their universe, or remain in the Evil universe forever.

Kirk also discovers that Evil Kirk has his own concubine aboard, a Lieutenant named Evil Marlena.  Kirk learns from Evil Marlena that Evil Kirk has a secret device called the Tantalus Field which he uses to spy on his enemies and make them literally disappear.

Later, when Kirk is in the transporter room, preparing the transporter for their return, Evil Spock detains him with a phaser and takes him to sickbay, where he finds McCoy, Scotty and Uhura.  The four 'good guys' are able to overpower Evil Spock and knock him out, but McCoy insists on staying and making sure Evil Spock survives.  While McCoy is treating Evil Spock, Evil Sulu arrives with three security guards, with a plan to kill both Kirk and Evil Spock, and take command of the Evil Enterprise himself.  However, Evil Marlena is spying on this activity, and uses the Tantalus Field to eliminate the three security guards, leaving only Evil Sulu, whom Kirk overpowers.  With time running out, Kirk, Scotty and Uhura then leave for the transporter room, leaving McCoy behind to treat Evil Spock.

However, Evil Spock revives and uses the Vulcan mind-meld to read McCoy's mind and learn the truth about the four of them.  Having no desire to ascend to the Captaincy himself, Evil Spock takes McCoy to the transporter room to return the four to their universe and get his own Evil Captain back.  With seconds to go before the window of opportunity closes, Kirk makes an appeal to Evil Spock to become Captain of the Evil Enterprise and work to make the Empire a kind and peaceful organization, rather than a brutal and authoritarian one.  As Evil Spock sends the four back to their universe, he tells Kirk "I shall consider it".

The uneven nature of season two continues.  After a strong opening show with "Amok Time," followed by two pretty weak episodes in "Who Mourns for Adonais" and "The Changeling," we now see possibly the best original series episode so far with "Mirror, Mirror".  It has an interesting premise, intrigue, skullduggery, a ticking clock and a fresh perspective on the Kirk/Spock relationship.  And while there are a couple of problematic parts, the ride here is so enjoyable it's easy to let them slip by unnoticed.

Perhaps the best bit of writing in this episode is in the first 15 minutes or so, as we gradually see the deeper and deeper layers of corruption on the Evil Enterprise.  We first see how barbaric this Enterprise is when Evil Spock punishes the transporter chief for a mistake by demanding his "agonizer" and torturing him with it.  Presumably all non-commissioned personnel on this ship are required to carry such a device in case they require punishment.  This is quickly followed by the "standard" practice of wiping out any civilization which refuses the Empire; in this case, the Halkans for refusing to give up their dilithium crystals.  Next we see the Big Brother aspect, as Evil Spock informs Kirk that his failure to wipe out the Halkans will be reported to the Empire.  Then comes Evil Chekhov's assassination attempt, and the revelation that assassination is a common means of advancement in this universe --- so common that all commanding officers routinely walk the ship with bodyguards.

The atmosphere of "everyone for himself" makes for a nicely complex ending, where Evil Spock is ordered to kill Kirk, but doesn't want to; Evil Sulu wanting to kill Evil Spock and Kirk; and Kirk not wanting to kill anyone.

It would have been too much for the show to end with Kirk reforming anyone, and thankfully it doesn't.  Evil Spock allows the four to return to their universe because it suits his needs, not because he's suddenly become a saint.  And the final dialogue between Kirk and Evil Spock, when there are just seconds remaining to return the four to their universe, strikes just the right tone:

Kirk: How long before the Halkan prediction of galactic revolt is realized?
Evil Spock: Approximately 240 years.
Kirk: The inevitable outcome?
Evil Spock: The empire shall be overthrown, of course.
Kirk: The illogic of waste, Mr. Spock.  The waste of lives, potential, resources, time.  I submit to you that your Empire is illogical, because it cannot endure.  I submit you are illogical to be a willing part of it.
Evil Spock: You have one minute and twenty-three seconds.
Kirk: If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn't logic demand that you be a part of it?
Evil Spock: One man cannot summon the future.
Kirk: But one man can change the present!  Be the Captain of this Enterprise, Mr. Spock.  Find a logical reason for sparing the Halkans and make it stick.  Push 'til it gives.  You can defend yourself better than any man in the fleet.
Scotty: Captain, get in the chamber!
Kirk: What about it, Spock?
Evil Spock: A man must also have the power.
Kirk: In my cabin is a device that will make you invincible.
Evil Spock: (raises right eyebrow) Indeed.
Kirk: What will it be?  Past or future?  Tyranny or freedom?  It's up to you.
Evil Spock: It is time.
Kirk: In every revolution, there's one man with a vision.
Evil Spock: Captain Kirk, I shall consider it.

By playing off Spock's defining trait --- that logic motivates all of his actions --- this exchange also makes the subtle point that tyranny is illogical.

Once again, I think this is quite probably the best episode of the the 34 I've seen so far --- but it wasn't without its problems.

Why would Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura try to beam up during an ion storm in the first place?  Isn't that known to be risky?  And there's no urgent need for them to do so.

Late in the show, Uhura makes a pass at Evil Sulu on the bridge to distract him while Scotty is makes changes in Engineering.  All well and good.  But then she smacks him across the face and pulls a knife on him.  Evil Sulu is chief of Security, and there are at least three security guards standing around watching this; why don't any of them make a move to detain Uhura?

Also late in the show, Evil Spock arrests Kirk and takes him to sickbay, where he correctly believes he'll find McCoy, Scotty and Uhura as well.  Evil Spock has his own henchmen; why doesn't he take some of them with him instead of facing the four alone --- who eventually overpower him?

Kirk's effort to turn Evil Spock to good is noble and uplifting --- provided you don't think about it too much.  But what Kirk is really urging Evil Spock to do is to kill Evil Kirk and become Captain, then try to reform the Empire, and destroy any enemies he makes in the process by using the Tantalus Field on them.  This really runs contrary to the ideals Kirk and McCoy try to uphold throughout the show, refusing to kill Evil Spock, Evil Chekhov, etc.

Other observations about this episode:

Interesting how in the "barbarian" universe, female crew members must bare their midriffs, while in the "civilized" universe, females only need to wear miniskirts short enough to show off their ovaries.  That said, Nichelle Nichols has a decent set of abs.

Another thing McCoy is not: an engineer.

Why does Evil Marlena use the Tantalus Field to kill of Evil Sulu's three henchmen, but not Evil Sulu?

And speaking of Evil Marlena, Kirk's kiss with her is over the top.  She's just as corrupt as anyone else in that universe, openly admitting that she'll sleep with every man in the fleet to get ahead.  Sure, Kirk is trying to reform her and make her believe that she can be more than just a concubine, but does he really need to get into a lip-lock with her?

The Moral of the Story: Tyranny is illogical.

TOS 33: The Changeling

Original air date: 09/29/1967
Star date: 3541.9 (given at the 41-minute mark)

Summary: Responding to a distress signal from the Mellurian system, the Enterprise crew is puzzled to find that the "more than 4 billion" Mellurians have all been killed.  While digesting this information, the Enterprise comes under attack from an extremely powerful, unknown source.  The sole photon torpedo volley the Enterprise manages in return is completely absorbed by the alien vessel.  Surprisingly, the alien vessel is remarkably small, measuring just over one meter long.  At the point when one more blow by the alien would destroy the ship, Kirk finally manages, after some difficulty, to communicate with the alien, indicating that his intentions are peaceful.  The alien responds in kind and agrees to be beamed aboard the Enterprise.

What appears on the transporter platform is the entire alien "vessel", and we learn that the alien is not an organic life form at all, but rather a computer intelligence which floats through the Enterprise.  After some questioning, Spock determines that the alien is Nomad, an Earth space probe launched several hundred years before --- or more accurately, a modified Nomad.  Nomad states that its mission is to find and sterilize biological imperfection; it is responsible for the death of the Mellurians.  It also turns out that Nomad spared the Enterprise from "sterilization" only because it confuses Kirk with its creator, Jackson Roykirk.

While Spock and Kirk ponder what to do about Nomad, it wanders up to the bridge, intrigued by Uhura's singing, which it considers nonsensical.  When Nomad starts to read Uhura's mind, Scotty attacks it, and Nomad instantly responds by killing Scotty.  When Scotty and Uhura are taken to sick bay, Nomad offers to "repair" Scotty.  After uploading Scotty's medical record and other medical information, Nomad proceeds to sick bay to revive Scotty.  When Kirk orders Nomad to repair Uhura, Nomad informs him it can't be done, because she is not damaged; rather, her mind has been erased.  McCoy and Nurse Chapel get to work to re-educate Uhura.

After Spock uses a mind-meld to better understand Nomad's origin, we learn that Nomad was partially destroyed long ago, but then encountered and merged with an alien probe which was designed to retrieve and sterilize soil samples.  The physical merging gave Nomad its remarkable abilities and indestructability, and the merging of instructions left Nomad believing that it must sterilize "imperfection".  Spock and Kirk quickly realize that it is only a matter of time before Nomad decides to "sterilize" the Enterprise and wipe out its crew.

In fact, Nomad vaporizes four security guards who attempt to use phasers on it, then shuts down all life support systems.  With little time to spare, Kirk confronts Nomad and points out that Nomad is also imperfect, because Nomad confused Kirk with its creator, Roykirk.  Kirk then demands that Nomad sterilize the imperfection by destroying itself.  While Nomad fights to resolve this seeming contradiction, Spock and Kirk load it into the transporter, beaming it into deep space just as Nomad destroys itself.

Uhura regains her knowledge with miraculous speed, and the episode ends with Kirk lamenting the loss of Nomad, since it looked to Kirk as its mother.

Okay, for the second consecutive episode, season two is failing to live up to its early promise.  The idea of an Earth-launched probe returning in a new (and dangerous) form is pretty interesting --- and, I believe, an idea which will be revisited in the future --- but both Nomad's abilities and the ultimate resolution require far too much suspension of disbelief.  Consider, the original Nomad was launched more than 200 years before, was badly damaged by meteors, and somehow managed to merge with an alien probe.  And it has the following abilities:

• Cannot be harmed by phasers or photon torpedoes.
• Carries enough firepower to destroy the Enterprise in 5 shots.
• Despite expending such deadly energy, has an apparently limitless energy supply.
• Has sufficient medical knowledge to raise Scotty from the dead --- superseding
      even Bones' medical knowledge, which is presumably much more current.
• Has engineering knowledge superior to the engineers who built the Enterprise.
• Can erase a person's memory.
• Can kill "over 4 billion people" in less than a week.

Okay, then.

As for the resolution, it's highly doubtful that Nomad's incorrect assumption that Kirk is his creator is enough to confuse Nomad into destroying itself.  In fact, Nomad makes it quite clear at other points in the show that it relies on information provided to it.  When Nomad first makes the assumption that Kirk is his creator, Kirk intentionally does not correct it.  So, when confronted with this "imperfection" at the climax, Nomad would be more likely to shrug it off as a consequence of bad information Kirk gave him.

Also, I'm getting a little tired of Kirk using his amazing intellect to talk computer/android villains into destroying themselves.

Other observations about this episode:

I earlier wondered whether anyone thought Nichelle Nichols' occasional musical numbers added anything to the show.

 I guess we now have one very definite critic.

On the subject of Uhura, it's interesting that she apparently retains her knowledge of Swahili (which is presumably her native language) when her mind is erased.  But she must have an amazing ability to learn and retain information if she can go from first-grade readers to back on the job in about a week.

Why do the four security guards try to detain Nomad by shooting it?  If they weren't aware that Nomad absorbed a photon torpedo, then Kirk was negligent not to inform them.  They should have known that shooting Nomad would accomplish nothing more than seal their own deaths.

But hey, wasn't Scotty lucky that Nomad killed him by electrocution, rather than vaporizing him like Nomad did to the security staff?

This is the second episode where one of the principal characters is killed and subsequently revived (the other being McCoy in "Shore Leave").

When Nomad is maximizing the Enterprise engines' efficiency, they hit warp 11 (and presumably higher).

And finally --- I understand that end-of-show comic relief is obligatory, but it's difficult to square Kirk's glib comments about Nomad as his son with the fact that Nomad killed "over 4 billion people", including 4 of Kirk's security personnel.

The Moral of the Story: Garbage in, garbage out.

TOS 32: Who Mourns for Adonais?

Original air date: 09/22/1967
Star date: 3468.1

Summary: While researching the planet Pollax 4, the Enterprise is detained by an energy field which looks like a giant, green human hand.  While trying to escape, a creature resembling a human initiates communication with the crew, inviting them to beam down to the planet to join him in a feast of sorts --- but specifically excluding Spock.

Kirk beams down with McCoy, Scotty, Chekhov and an anthropologist named Carolyn Palamas.  The creature claims to be the ancient Greek god Apollo, and demands that the Enterprise crew join him on Pollax 4 to spend the rest of their lives worshiping him.  In return, he offers them paradise.  Naturally Kirk resists, leading Apollo to demonstrate his abilities in a number of ways: shocking Scotty, ruining the crew's phasers, disabling the transporter and communicators, and rendering Kirk speechless.  Apollo also takes a fancy to Palamas, magically replacing her Starfleet uniform with a backless Greek(?) dress.  Apollo then takes Palamas off to talk, leaving the men of the landing party to try to figure out Apollo's nature and weaknesses.

Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, Spock and the rest of the crew work to escape the giant hand and restore communication with the landing party.  Independently of one another, the landing party and Spock on the Enterprise conclude that Apollo's powers rely on a power source of immense energy, and work to find its location so they can disable it.

Apollo explains to Palamas that he and the other gods (Zeus, Hera, Athena, et al) visited Earth 5000 years before.  Eventually they left as humans began to turn away from them.  He further explains that the gods need worship and love in order to survive.  Without it, they "return to the cosmos", like Hera, who spread herself on the wind until only the wind remained.

Palamas starts to fall in love with Apollo, but Kirk explains that she owes it to the rest of the crew to spurn him, thus robbing him of his power.  At about this same time, Spock figures out how to poke holes in the giant hand holding the Enterprise, and Sulu determines that Apollo's power source is a large building, or "temple" on the planet's surface.  Also, Uhura rigs a subspace bypass circuit to restore communication with the ground party.  Kirk orders the Enterprise to destroy the temple, thus robbing Apollo of his power.  Apollo attempts to fight back, but is ultimately unsuccessful.  Apollo cries that the other gods were right, and disappears, presumably returning himself to the cosmos.  Kirk and McCoy lament the necessity of destroying Apollo, pondering whether it would have been so awful to gather a few laurel leaves.

Wow.  After "Amok Time", I had high hopes for season two.  I still do, but this episode was pretty bad.  Just to list the obvious problems with it:

• McCoy's arm's length examination of Apollo concludes that he is essentially human, except that he has an extra organ in his chest, which is presumably used to harness his power source to perform godlike feats.  Of course, this doesn't explain how Apollo can grow in size to more than twice his height, or why he's immortal.
• A pivotal point of the episode is that Apollo needs someone to love and worship him, which is why Kirk orders Palamas to spurn him.  But it wasn't Palamas' rejection which destroys Apollo, it was the destruction of his power source.
• Early in the show, Spock orders Scotty and Chekhov: "Scout around with your tricorders, find the source of that power!"  Even though Scotty and Chekhov are literally standing RIGHT ON TOP of the power source at the time, they fail to locate the power source at any time in the show.
• Palamas eventually decides she loves Apollo, which is really hard to believe after Apollo (1) Detains the Enterprise with his giant, green hand, (2) Takes them all prisoner, (3) Smacks Scotty around, and (4) Threatens to kill them if they don't do as he demands.
• Even though Apollo claims to be lonely and insists on being worshiped, he leaves the males in the landing party alone roughly every two minutes, giving them ample opportunity to plot against him.

The idea that the Greek gods were really immortal space travelers who visited Earth 5000 years ago and thus seemed godlike to ancient Greeks is kind of interesting, but there's nothing else worth watching in this episode.

Other observations on this episode:

As Uhura is working on her subspace bypass circuit, Spock tells her he can think of no one better for the job.  This is the first indication that Uhura is more than a glorified telephone operator.

The Moral of the Story: We've come a long way, baby.

TOS Season 1: A look back

Well, I've finished watching all of the first season --- 30 episodes, including the original pilot.  And while some of the shows have been pretty good, most of them were fair to poor, with a few just flat-out awful.  I have to admit that I had my doubts about this whole endeavor more than once.  Special raspberries go out to:

• "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" - The first example (but sadly, not the last) of the Star Trek writers putting forth the argument that computers are soulless machines by writing a lot of computer characters with souls.  Plus, the scariest villain looked like Zippy the Pinhead.
• "The Menagerie", parts 1 and 2 - How do you get two Star Trek episodes?  Cut up a show that never aired, then stitch it together with a plot which makes no sense.  Introduce a lot of tension by getting your two principal characters in a lot of trouble with Starfleet, including the violation of a rule which makes no sense and is antithetical to Starfleet values, and let them off with no sort of punishment whatsoever.
• "The Alternative Factor" - Similar to "The Menagerie", this episode reeks of trying to squeeze another episode into the first season --- and actually, it just reeks.  A mishmash of nonsense about antimatter, hundreds of trips between the ship and the planet, and no security whatsoever on someone who has promised to steal the ship's dilithium crystals.  Still the nadir of TOS, in my opinion.

On the other hand, I would recommend the following episodes to my friends:

• "The Corbomite Maneuver" - This episode has everything.  In addition to suspense and intrigue, there's also some of the best dialog in the series so far.  Plus, an astonishing lack of plot holes.
• "Balance of Terror" - Great commentary on attitudes towards war, plus a great chess match between Kirk and the Romulans.
• "The City on the Edge of Forever" - A Trek classic, and deservedly so.  Great writing by Harlan Ellison, great cameo by Joan Collins, and a bit of emotion from Shatner.  The final few minutes of this episode more than make up for the stumbles in the first few minutes.
• "Errand of Mercy" - Sort of borderline, but worth seeing for its commentary about war and peace.  Also, a good cameo put in by the actor playing Kor, the Klingon commander.

I would also recommend "Space Seed", not because it's a great episode --- it isn't --- but because I'm sure it contains information which is good to know when watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

And although I haven't been keeping strict count, I think that so far we've only heard about two things McCoy isn't: a bricklayer and a psychiatrist.  We've seen four episodes where Spock saved the day with his special Vulcan abilities ("Dagger of the Mind", "A Taste of Armageddon", "The Devil in the Dark" and "Operation - Annihilate!").  And finally, we've seen about two dozen female Yeomen, even though we're supposed to believe women are rarely placed in such posts.

Ah, Yeoman Rand and your basket-weave hair --- we hardly knew ye.

TOS 31: Amok Time

Original air date: 09/15/1967
Star date: 3372.7

Summary: As the Enterprise is on its way to Altaire 6 to participate in a presidential inauguration there, McCoy tells Kirk he is concerned about Spock, and his increasingly agitated behavior.  Kirk is skeptical until he sees Spock throw a bowl of soup against the wall, berate Nurse Chapel, and then demand shore leave on his home planet of Vulcan.  When Kirk asks Spock his reasons for the request, Spock refuses to say anything more than that he needs rest, and it needs to be on Vulcan.  Given Spock's track record as the best First Officer in the fleet, Kirk grants the request and orders the Enterprise to fly to Vulcan.

However, soon Admiral Komack notifies Kirk that the inauguration has been moved up one week, and orders Kirk to proceed to Altaire 6 immediately.  Kirk complies, figuring that Spock can take his shore leave on Vulcan later, but after examining Spock, McCoy concludes that Spock will die within the week if he does not return to Vulcan.  This spurs Kirk to question Spock again, demanding greater detail.  Although Spock insists that the details are intensely personal, he eventually tells Kirk that it is his time for Pon Farr, the time in a Vulcan's life when the biological need to mate compels him to return home or die.  At this time, biological drives overtake Vulcan rationality, and Spock is driven almost to madness.  Kirk makes one last attempt to get the Admiral to accept a detour to Vulcan, and when the Admiral holds his ground, Kirk orders the ship to Vulcan anyway, concluding that Spock has saved his life many times over, so helping Spock is more important than his career.

Arriving at Vulcan, we learn that Spock has already been betrothed, in a sense, to a Vulcan woman named T'Pring.  Spock asks Kirk and McCoy to accompany him to his wedding, for although it is highly unusual for outsiders to participate in the ceremony, it is Spock's right to have his closest friends with him.  The ceremony is presided over by T'Pau, a high Vulcan dignitary known throughout the galaxy.  However, the wedding does not go as planned, for T'Pring exercises her right to have another challenge Spock for her hand, and she chooses Kirk.

T'Pau gives Kirk the option to decline the challenge, but Kirk accepts --- finding out too late that the fight with Spock is to the death.  Spock wins the first round, and McCoy goes on the field to give Kirk an injection to help him deal with the thin Vulcan atmosphere and heat.  However, under the grip of Pon Farr madness Spock kills his Captain before he realizes what he has done; McCoy confirms to T'Pau that Kirk is really dead, and returns to the Enterprise with the body.  Spock then asks T'Pring why she chose Kirk to challenge him.  T'Pring explains that she wants to be with another Vulcan named Stonn, and that the challenge was a win-win situation for her.  Had Kirk been victorious, he would have rejected her, and she could then be with Stonn.  Since Spock is victorious, she expects him to reject her because she requested the challenge, so she can still be with Stonn.

Spock returns to the Enterprise, and starts to explain to McCoy his plan to turn command duties over to Scotty while they fly to the nearest starbase so Spock can turn himself in for Kirk's murder.  However, his explanation is interrupted when Kirk makes a surprise appearance, alive after all.  Kirk explains that McCoy's injection on Vulcan was actually a drug to make Kirk appear dead, so that the duel would end before Kirk or Spock were seriously injured.  We then learn that T'Pau has contacted Admiral Komack and used her influence to get him to approve the Enterprise's detour to Vulcan.

Although this episode was apparently the fifth one made in the second season, it was the first one aired, and it certainly gets the second season off on the right foot.  It solidifies DeForest Kelley and his character Dr. Leonard McCoy as the third pillar of the series, along with William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock.  In addition to McCoy playing a pivotal role in this episode, Kelley's name also appears in the opening credits.

This show also gets the second season off to a fast start by showing us more about the most compelling character on the show, Mr. Spock.  We see the planet Vulcan for the first time, and learn more about its culture and rituals.  We also get a rare glimpse of Spock as being more than a walking computer, battling with biological drives seated deep within his race.

Apparently, in the case of Vulcans, at least, it really is true.  There comes a time when Vulcan men really really REALLY have to have it, or they'll die.

On top of everything else, the fight choreography is greatly improved over the first season --- it actually looks like Spock and Kirk are fighting, not just stage-fighting --- and the final scene on the Enterprise is great, with Kirk's reappearance perfectly timed, and just a glimpse of genuine joy and emotion from Spock at seeing his friend and Captain alive again.

Of course, there were also some minor points we have to overlook, like the fact that although T'Pau was very conscientious about telling Kirk he may leave, and he may decline the challenge, she somehow neglects to tell him the battle is a fight to the death until it's too late for him to back out.  Oops.  Also, although McCoy has concluded that if Spock doesn't return to Vulcan within a week he'll die, for some reason Kirk doesn't share this information with Admiral Komack when asking for permission to fly to Vulcan (unless that discussion takes place off-screen, in which case Komack is the worst sort of jackass for refusing permission).  But it's fairly easy to overlook those points, sit back and enjoy the show.

And hey, is T'Pring a bitch or what?  Falling for another man is one thing --- she and Spock were betrothed to one another at the age of 7 after all --- but to force Spock and Kirk to fight to the death just so she can be with Stonn?  Outrageous.  Good thing Spock kicks her to the curb.  And actually, it's a bit difficult to believe that T'Pau would even allow T'Pring to bring Kirk into it, since she's obviously trying to game the system.

I am left wondering about a few things at the end of this episode:

T'Pau thinks Kirk is dead, and she's a very important and powerful Vulcan.  I imagine she will be quite upset with Kirk, Spock and McCoy when she learns the truth.  It will be interesting to see if we see the three of them receive their comeuppance later in the series (I'm guessing no).

If this is how marriage/mating is handled on Vulcan, then how did Spock's father end up marrying an Earth woman?

Other observations about this episode:

This is the first time we see Chekhov.  I'm going to guess that the crew stabilizes this season with the usual suspects, and the only other faces we'll see are guest stars and disposable redshirts.

The Vulcan scenery is good --- although since the last time I complimented the scenery, I learned that the whole series was digitally remastered 4-5 years ago.  Which is all for the best,  I suppose.  Still, it would be nice to know what scenery is original, and what's remastered (probably anything worth looking at is remastered).

The Moral of the Story: Sometimes the animal comes out in all of us.

TOS 30: Operation - Annihilate!

Original air date: 04/13/1967
Star date: 3287.2

Summary: The Enterprise is tracking a case of mass insanity across the galaxy, with the Deneva system --- which happens to be the home of Captain Kirk's brother Sam and his family --- the next one at risk.  As they arrive, they find a Denevan space ship flying directly into the sun.  They are unable to save the lone occupant of the ship, but right before he dies, they hear him yell in exultation: "It's finally gone!  I'm free!"

They beam down to Deneva to discover Kirk's brother already dead, and that the mass insanity has overtaken that planet.  Kirk's sister-in-law Aurelan and his nephew Peter are still alive, but in great pain.  They return to the Enterprise with Kirk and McCoy, who examines them.  Aurelan can barely speak due to her pain, but tells Kirk and McCoy that "terrible things" have taken over the planet, and are using the Denevan colonists as their "arms and legs" to travel to other planets.  Kirk returns to the surface to search for these "terrible things" --- and they find them: strange creatures, like jellyfish without tentacles, which can fly, which do not register as life forms on the tricorder, and which seem to be unaffected by phaser blasts.  One of them attacks Spock, and inserts something into his back.  By the time McCoy examines Spock on the Enterprise, he finds the creature implanted an organism into Spock which has intertwined with his nervous system, and cannot be removed by conventional methods.

In this manner, the creatures have been able to overtake several human colonies, and control their actions by inflicting great pain on them unless they do as instructed.  In this way, they cause Spock to attempt to overtake the Enterprise.  Spock is subdued, and when he regains consciousness, he claims to have reasserted control over the parasite inside him, using mind over matter to handle the pain.  Spock returns to the surface and retrieves one of the creatures for further study.  The creature proves resistant to extreme heat and radiation.  Kirk is faced with a lose-lose proposition: either allow the creature to continue to spread and wipe out other human colonies, or end the creature's spread by killing all one million Denevan colonists, as well as Spock and his own nephew.

At Kirk's repeated insistence that Spock and McCoy find a third option, they recall the Denevan who flew his spaceship into the sun, and how that appeared to free him from the creature.  They conclude that the creature can be killed by extremely bright light, and prove it by destroying the specimen Spock retrieved in this manner.  They then apply the procedure to Spock, who refuses to wear any eye protection because: "There'll be none on the planet's surface."  The bright light kills the parasite in Spock, but also leaves him blind.  Too late, they discover that only one part of the light spectrum is required to kill the parasite, a part that is not visible to humans (or Vulcans), and thus Spock was blinded needlessly.  Using a system of 120+ satellites, the Enterprise bathes Deneva in the appropriate light to kill the creatures, thus saving the planet.

In the end, we learn that Spock's blindness was only temporary, thanks to the protective effects of an additional set of eyelids which Vulcans evolved due to living under their own bright sun.

I don't have a lot to say about this episode.  There were a couple of klunky parts to the script, but on the whole it was pretty good.  I was certainly mystified as to how they would resolve their problem --- I thought perhaps the sun's gravitational pull was the key factor, I didn't consider light.  And there's good dramatic tension after Spock's failed attempt to take over the Enterprise.  He claims sedatives and restraints are no longer necessary, that he is in control of his pain and can return to duty; but you don't know whether it's really Spock talking, or whether the parasite is making him say it as a bluff to once again position himself so that he might take over the ship.

The secondary plot, how this affects Kirk's family and is thus personal for him, is only touched on in the beginning of the episode, and Kirk gives no indication that he is deeply affected by his family's suffering or his brother's and sister-in-law's death.

The two "klunky" bits of the show are these.  At the time Aurelan dies, Kirk knows the following facts:

1. Some form of mass insanity has been traveling steadily across the galaxy.
2. Even when unconscious, affected individuals show enormous nerve stimulation.
3. "Terrible things" are causing Aurelan pain even as she lies in sickbay, and are using the Denevans as their arms and legs.

It seems pretty obvious that the mass insanity is caused either by a parasite or infection of some sort, yet Kirk takes no precautionary measures (nor does he order any for the rest of the landing party) when he returns to Deneva's surface.

What's more, after the landing party finds the creatures and sees them fly, they turn their backs on them when they leave, making it easy for one of the creatures to land on Spock's back and infect him.

The second problem with the show --- which is rather difficult to ignore --- is Spock's decision (supported by Kirk and McCoy) to be subjected to intense light without eye protection.  The discussion goes as follows:

McCoy: All right.  I'll rig up a protective pair of goggles.
Spock: There'll be none on the planet's surface, doctor.
Kirk: I agree completely.
McCoy: Unfortunately, you're both right.  It's the only thing we can do.

The logic appears to be that since the Denevans have no eye protection and may well therefore go blind, then Spock must as well.  Eye protection might prevent the light from killing the parasite (though that seems highly doubtful), but there's no reason they can't at least test it out first.  Denevans would no doubt use eye protection if they had the choice; since Spock does have a choice, choosing blindness makes no sense.  So much for Vulcan logic.

Other observations about this episode:

In "Devil in the Dark", Spock and Kirk both felt regret at the perceived necessity of destroying the Horta, the "last of its kind".  There were no such expressions of regret at wiping out the parasites in this episode.

The Denevan capital is too elaborate to be just a TV stage; I wonder that these buildings were in real life.

The Moral of the Story: Novel problems require innovative solutions.

TOS 29: The City on the Edge of Forever

Original air date: 04/06/1967
Star date: None given

Summary: The Enterprise is charting temporal disturbances above an unnamed planet, disturbances which periodically send shockwaves through the ship.  One of these shockwaves knocks out Sulu, and McCoy is summoned to the bridge.  After reviving Sulu with a small amount of cordrazine, another shock rocks the ship, causing McCoy to fall on his hypodermic, inadvertently giving himself an overdose.  The overdose sends McCoy into a state of raging paranoia, and he knocks out the transporter chief and beams down to the planet's surface before anyone can stop him.

Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura and two redshirts beam down to retrieve McCoy and find a large, sentient portal which describes itself to them as the Guardian of Forever.  After McCoy is found and subdued, the Guardian starts to show images of Earth's history to the landing party, which Spock starts to record.  Fascinated by the portal, the landing crew forgets about McCoy, who awakens and jumps through the portal.  Immediately after this, communication with the Enterprise is lost, and the Guardian explains: "Your vessel, your beginning, all that you knew --- is gone".  McCoy has altered the past in such a way that the Enterprise no longer exists.

Kirk and Spock also jump through the portal in an effort to find McCoy and restore the past.  They find themselves in the depression-era United States, a few days or weeks prior to McCoy's arrival, and end up working for Sister Edith Keeler in her mission house.  Spock's primary focus is building a primitive computer which he can use to read the recordings he made in front of the Guardian, in an effort to determine how McCoy changed history and how they can prevent the change.  Toward this end, Spock and Kirk do honest work (and resort to at least a couple of thefts) so Spock can obtain the materials he needs.  Kirk develops feelings for Sister Keeler, which she seems to reciprocate.

Unfortunately, Spock determines that McCoy will somehow prevent Keeler's death, which will delay the U.S. entry into WWII, thus allowing Nazi Germany to ultimately win.  It is therefore imperative that Kirk and Spock allow Keeler to die.  Despite this reality, Kirk continues to date Keeler.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kirk and Spock, McCoy has taken up residence at the mission while he sleeps off his cordrazine overdose.

One night, as Kirk and Keeler are walking to a Clark Gable movie, Keeler mentions McCoy's name to Kirk, letting him know McCoy is staying at the mission.  Kirk then leaves Keeler and rushes across a busy street back to the mission.  McCoy comes out the mission door just as Kirk reaches him, and Keeler starts across the street to join them.  McCoy sees that a large truck is about to hit her, and starts to rush out in the street to save her, but Kirk holds him back, allowing Keeler to be killed.  The scene then returns to the Guardian and we see Kirk, Spock and McCoy return through the portal.  History has been restored.

There are a number of problems with the initial setup for this episode, on the planet in front of the Guardian.  But the 40 minutes or so played in 1930's America is very good.  There are some lighter moments, provided by McCoy, and by Kirk and Spock, and Joan Collins gives a great cameo performance as Sister Edith Keeler.  And the ending is poignant and moving, with Kirk actively preventing the death of a woman he loves.  The story works in a lot of ways.

One particularly humorous moment occurs shortly after Kirk and Spock arrive in the 1930's.  Looking very much out of place in their Starfleet uniforms, Kirk steals some washing hanging on a fire escape.  Kirk's bravado and Spock's stoic calm heighten the amusement factor:

Kirk: I think I'm gonna like this century.  Simple, easier to manage.  We're not gonna have any difficulty explaining . . .
(Cop walks up)
Cop: Ahem.
(Kirk and Spock stare at Cop, speechless)
Cop: Well?
Kirk: You're a police officer.  I, uh, recognize the traditional accoutrements.
Spock: You were saying you'll have no trouble explaining it.
Kirk: My friend is obviously Chinese.  I see you've noticed the ears.  They're actually easy to explain.
(Kirk and Spock stare uncomfortably at one another)
Spock: Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child.
Kirk: The unfortunate accident he had as a child.  He caught his head in a mechanical --- rice picker.  But fortunately there was an American missionary living close by who actually a, uh, skilled, uh, plastic surgeon in civilian life . . .
Cop: All right, all right, drop those bundles and put your hands on that wall, there!

Spock eventually learns that if Keeler lives, she will become the leader of a peace movement, and meet with FDR.  Her peace movement will delay U.S. entry into WWII, thus allowing the Nazis to develop the atom bomb before the U.S., thus allowing them to win the war.  I wonder if some other change in history, some other explanation as to how Keeler's survival led to the ultimate non-creation of the Enterprise, would have been sufficient for Kirk to allow her to die.  Accepting an alternate reality is one thing; accepting the deaths of millions of people, and Nazi rule of the planet is quite another.

When Kirk prevents McCoy from saving Keeler, McCoy doesn't yet know all of the history that will change if she lives.  He only understands that Kirk actively prevented him from saving someone.  This makes for a great ending, with McCoy saying to Kirk in disbelief: "Do you know what you just did?" --- and as Kirk moves speechlessly away to deal with his grief, Spock says simply: "He knows, doctor.  He knows."

And Shatner does something dangerously close to acting at this point.  After Keeler dies, he goes from grappling McCoy to leaning on him for support.  Then he looks like he might cry, and finally leans against the mission window.  Actually a moving performance.

This episode is also notable for not one, but two big-name guest stars.  The first is obviously Collins, who was already well-known and established as a starring actress in 1967.  The other is writer Harlan Ellison, who apparently objects to changes Roddenberry made to the script, and who eventually sued CBS Paramount (now owner of all things Trek, after buying the original production studio, Desilu) for a share of the income from the episode, one of the most popular in franchise history.

Other observations about this episode:

Like I said, the show is good once it gets going, but the getting there is a bit rocky.  Problems in the show include:

• When they subdue McCoy on the planet, why don't they beam him up to sickbay immediately?
• Or at the very least, why doesn't security actually RESTRAIN him?
• When McCoy jumps into the past and causes the Enterprise to disappear, the rest of the landing party should disappear as well.
• When Kirk realizes that the Guardian is a portal into the past, which can be used to change the past, why is his first thought to try to prevent McCoy's accident, rather than, say, WARS?
• Kirk and Spock jump through the portal to prevent McCoy from altering history, but they certainly make no effort to ensure that they don't disrupt history themselves.  They steal on at least two occasions, they interact with a number of people, and Kirk continues dating Edith Keeler even after he learns that she holds the key to Earth's future.

The Guardian's existence is unbelievably dangerous.  How lucky we are that no one else has found it and used it for nefarious purposes --- like, for example, saving Edith Keeler's life so the Nazis win WWII.

At one point in 1930's Earth, while McCoy is still whacked out on cordrazine, he encounters a bum.  After McCoy passes out, the bum steals McCoy's phaser and accidentally kills himself with it.  I thought it would have made for an interesting turn if the bum were involved in the main story somehow (for instance, what if he were Keeler's killer, and now it's impossible for him to kill her?), but apparently there was no real purpose to that part of the script.

Apparently Spock is a vegetarian.  At one point, Kirk returns from shopping and tells Spock "I've brought you some assorted vegetables, bologna and hard roll for myself."

Another example of what McCoy is not.  He tells Keeler "I'm a surgeon, not a psychiatrist."

Even though Joan Collins is billed as "Sister Edith Keeler", she never mentions the Bible or religion, does not wear any habit or other religious artifacts, and seems to enjoy dating men more than your typical nun.

At the end of the show, 7 crew members beam up from the planet's surface simultaneously (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura and two redshirts).  But the transporter platform is only big enough for 6.

Interestingly, no star date is ever given in this episode.  I'm guessing this is intentional, consistent with the episode's time-traveling, time-altering theme.

The Moral of the Story: Sometimes one must die, so that many may live.

TOS 28: The Alternative Factor

Original air date: 03/30/1967
Star date: 3087.6

Summary: While researching an uncharted planet, an unexplained phenomenon occurs twice in rapid succession; a phenomenon Spock describes as "everything within range of our instruments seemed on the verge of winking out," or falling into non-existence.  Reports from Starfleet indicate that the phenomenon was observed throughout the galaxy, but most strongly on the planet the Enterprise is exploring.  Both Kirk and Starfleet suspect that the phenomenon might be a prelude to an invasion of some sort, and Starfleet orders Kirk to investigate.

At almost the precise moment of the phenomenon, a human in a small, one-man starship appears on the planet's surface.  Kirk and company beam down to investigate, and the man starts ranting that he has been pursuing a monster which destroyed his civilization, and asks for Kirk's help in finding and killing it.  The man, named Lazarus, is searching the planet's surface for the monster with the Enterprise crew when the phenomenon strikes again, and we see Lazarus wrestling with another man in what might be another universe or dimension.  Lazarus continues to have these episodes throughout the show, though the Enterprise crew is not always aware of them.  We later learn that during these times, Lazarus is actually struggling with another Lazarus from a parallel, anti-matter universe (and therefore, we will refer to him henceforth as 'anti-Lazarus').  Occasionally these struggles end with anti-Lazarus in 'our' universe.

Back on the Enterprise, Spock finds a radiation source on the planet's surface, but it is only detectable by sight: it does not register on any of the ship's instruments.  Spock mentions that he found the radiation source using the ship's dilithium crystals.  When Lazarus hears mention of the crystals, he first begs, then demands that Kirk give him the crystals so the monster can be defeated.  Kirk refuses, and --- after another episode which swaps the two Lazari --- anti-Lazarus steals two of the crystals.

After another episode which returns Lazarus to the Enterprise, Kirk accuses him of the crime, and Lazarus rightfully pleads innocence.  Kirk, Lazarus and others then return to the planet's surface to examine Lazarus' ship, and indeed the crystals are not there.  The search for the 'monster' --- who in reality is anti-Lazarus --- continues, and Lazarus has another episode which does not bring anti-Lazaurs into our universe, but which does result in him falling off a tall rock.  Lazaurs is once more brought to sick bay for treatment.   When he is left alone, he steals two more dilithium crystals and returns to the planet's surface.

By this time, Kirk and Spock have deduced the existence of the anti-matter universe and the anti-Lazarus.  Kirk races to the surface to apprehend Lazarus, and inadvertently falls through a corridor between the two universes into the anti-matter universe.  There anti-Lazarus explains that Lazarus is insane and driven to destroy him, even though if they were ever to meet outside the corridor, it would destroy both universes.  He explains that he stole two dilithium crystals from the Enterprise in order to escape Lazarus and thus prevent the meeting from occurring.  He also explains that his and Lazarus' starships are both portals to the corridor.  So he works with Kirk to develop a plan to trap Lazarus.  Kirk returns to our universe and throws Lazarus into the corridor, and anti-Lazarus holds him there until Kirk can return to the Enterprise and destroy Lazarus' ship, sealing the two Lazari together in the corridor forever.

The three shows prior to this one had me believing that perhaps the Star Trek writers were on a roll.  So much for that.  This was without a doubt the single worst episode of Star Trek so far, and that's saying something.
First of all, it's confusing as hell.  Second, it's inconsistent.  Sometimes the 'phenomenon' rocks the entire galaxy, but other times Lazarus and anti-Lazarus have their little struggle --- and even switch places --- without anyone else noticing.  Also, if Lazarus' spaceship is the portal to the corridor between the two galaxies, then how can Lazarus and anti-Lazarus switch places even when they're nowhere near the ship?

Third, there are LOTS of things in this episode that make no sense.  Why do Kirk and Starfleet think this phenomenon might be a prelude to invasion?  If some entity exists which can make the entire galaxy fall into nonexistence --- or even come close --- one little old Enterprise starship isn't going to prevent that entity from invading, if it wants to.  And if they ARE on heightened alert for fear of invasion, why do they let Lazarus --- ranting like a madman because, as it turns out, he is one --- wander freely about the ship?

After Lazarus tells Kirk, to his face, on the bridge: "I warn you Captain: you'll give me the crystals," and "I'll have my vengeance," Kirk doesn't order heightened security either on Lazarus or the crystals.  Later in sickbay, after Lazarus has taken his second fall from a tall rock (he's unbalanced in more ways than one), McCoy persuades Kirk to dismiss the security officer watching Lazarus, and then Kirk and McCoy both leave him unattended.  So Lazarus sabotages the Engineering room to steal two more crystals.  And all of this happens while the Enterprise is supposedly at a heightened state of alert, on guard against invasion.

Fittingly for the episode, the ending also makes no sense.  Really, the only option is to lock Lazarus and anti-Lazarus in the corridor for all eternity?  Here's an idea: how about you don't?  How about instead, you arrest Lazarus and give him the mental help he needs, and destroy his spaceship anyway, thus making it impossible for the two Lazari to meet, in the corridor or anywhere else, while also NOT forcing the two of them to spend eternity together?

And why does the destruction of Lazarus' ship also result in the destruction of anti-Lazarus' ship in the anti-universe?  When Lazarus got cuts and scrapes from his many pratfalls in this universe, anti-Lazarus was not affected.  So why would it be any different with their ships?

And even if the Lazari DID meet outside the corridor, why would it mean the destruction of anything more than the two of them?

And why are the Lazari stuck together in the corridor "forever"?  They're mortal, aren't they?  At worst, they're both just stuck there for the rest of their lives.

Other observations about this episode:

I understand that special effects in the late 1960's were laughable by today's standards.  But does the fight choreography have to be so bad, too?  The fight scenes between the Lazari are horrible on both levels.

The Moral of the Story: None.

TOS 27: Errand of Mercy

03/23/1967
Star date: 3198.4

Summary: When negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire break down, the Enterprise is dispatched to the planet of Organia to prevent it from falling into Klingon hands, which would provide the Klingons with a significant tactical advantage.

Kirk and Spock beam down to the surface to find a relatively primitive planet, with a culture similar perhaps to Europe in the dark ages.  They explain to the Organian Council of Elders and their leader, Ayelborne, that the Klingons are on their way with the intent to occupy the planet and enslave the Organian people.  They insist that the Federation be allowed to take up a defensive position on the planet to keep the Klingons out, but the Organians refuse the offer, insisting that they reject all violence and that they are in no danger from the Klingons.  Frustrated, Kirk continues trying to explain the danger to them until the Klingons arrive in full force, driving the Enterprise away from the planet to go seek reinforcements, and leaving Kirk and Spock under Klingon control, along with the rest of Organia.

For a brief time, Spock and Kirk masquerade as Organians, but after they blow up a Klingon munitions dump, they are caught.  In an attempt to prevent Kirk from being subjected to a Klingon "mind-sifter" which can read minds --- and in the process, destroy them --- Ayelborne tells Kor, the Klingon commander, about Kirk's true identity.  Spock and Kirk are arrested and given 12 hours in prison to consider the alternatives: either tell the Klingons everything they know about Starfleet's military secrets, or Kirk's mind will be destroyed by the Klingon machine, and Spock will be killed and dissected.

Before the 12 hours is up, Ayelborne rescues Kirk and Spock from prison, simply walking in and opening the door, when it appears the Klingon guards have disappeared.  Although the Organians want to protect Kirk and Spock from Klingon violence, they still refuse to engage in violence against the Klingons themselves.  So Kirk and Spock undertake a desperate suicide mission to capture or kill Kor on their own.  They make it as far as Kor's office, and are just about to go out in a blaze of glory against Kor and his troops when suddenly everyone's phasers turn red hot, leading everyone to drop his weapon on the ground.  Hand-to-hand combat is also out of the question, as a burning sensation occurs whenever someone moves to strike his enemy.  Kirk, Spock and all the Klingons are thus unable to commit any violence to their opponents.  Ayelborne and another elder then appear to explain that they are preventing the violence, and not only that, they have also shut down the full military of both the Federation and the Klingon Empire wherever they are in the galaxy, explaining that while they find interference in the affairs of others "disgusting", they cannot allow the Federation and Klingon Empire to go to war.

Both Kirk and Kor strongly object to this action, insisting that the Organians have no right to interfere.  But the Organians are steadfast in their position, and insist that Kirk, Spock and the Klingons leave their planet.  In the end, we learn that the Organians are really beings of pure thought and energy, who have only presented themselves in corporeal form so that outsiders might understand them better.

The Star Trek writers are now officially on a roll.  The past two episodes ("The Devil in the Dark" and "This Side of Paradise") have been good but not great shows.  Good, because they don't have a ridiculous premise and lots of plot holes, but not great because they are still flawed in some way.  And while Errand of Mercy has one or two flaws as well, they are easy enough to overlook for the payoff --- a powerful indictment of a war mentality.

Before discussing the positives of this show, I want to mention the one somewhat glaring negative I saw.  Early in the show, Kirk and Spock are stranded on Organia, masquerading as Organians under Klingon rule.  Even though they know the Enterprise will be returning soon with reinforcements, they decide to try to rally the unreasonably placid Organians around them by blowing up a Klingon munitions depot.

Really?  Ironically, Kor has selected Kirk to be his majordomo with the Organian people; his job is to make sure they toe the Klingon line as if his life depends on it (which it does).  Since the Organians have no desire to use violence against anyone, ever, this would seem to be the easiest job in the history of military occupations.  And given the Klingons' reputation as ruthless warriors, Kirk has to know that any act of rebellion will be punished with disproportionate retribution.  But instead of laying low until Sulu arrives with the cavalry, he chooses instead to stir the hornet's nest, which results in the capture of himself and Spock, and the supposed killing of 200 Organians (although as we learn later, no one really died).

Just the same, a military leader like Kirk should know better than to give the Klingons an excuse to make an example of a bunch of peaceful, innocent Organian citizens.

That said, that bit of the script was a fairly minor detail in the grand scheme of things.  And otherwise, the writers set up the final reveal at the end quite nicely, leading us to believe that the Organians are committed, if somewhat dimwitted pacifists, with a possible streak of cowardice.  And the conflict between the Enterprise officers and the Klingon occupiers encourages the viewer to see the story as Kirk and the "good guys" against Kor and the "bad guys" until the end --- when it becomes painfully clear that Kirk and Kor are both the bad guys.  It all comes down to the final scene with Kirk, Spock, Ayelborne and the Klingons:

Ayelborne: As I stand here, I also stand upon the home planet of the Klingon Empire, and the home planet of your Federation, Captain.  I'm going to put a stop to this insane war.
Kor: You're what?
Kirk: You're talking nonsense.
Ayelborne: It is being done.
Kirk: You can't just stop the fleet.  What gives you the right?
Kor: You can't interfere.  What happens in space is not your business!
Ayelborne: Unless both sides agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities, all your armed forces, wherever they may be, will be immediately immobilized.
 . . . (snip) . . .
Kor: You are liars.  You're meddling in things that are none of your business!
Kirk: Even if you have some --- power that we don't understand, you have no right to dictate to our Federation . . .
Kor: Or our Empire . . .
Kirk: . . . how to handle their interstellar relations!  We have the right . . .
Ayelborne: To wage war, Captain?  To kill millions of innocent people?  To destroy life on a planetary scale?  Is that what you're defending?
Kirk: Well, no one WANTS war.  But there  ARE proper channels.  People have a right to handle their own affairs.  Eventually, we . . .
Ayelborne: Oh, eventually you will have peace.  But only after millions of people have died.

Kirk and Kor both grow so frustrated with Ayelborne that Kor even hints at joining forces with Kirk to attack him.  The real contrast in this show isn't between human and Klingon; it's between warrior and pacifist, and the warriors don't come out looking too good.  This point is driven home in Kirk's final conversation with Spock on the bridge, when he admits: "I was furious with the Organians for stopping a war I didn't want."

That said, this episode fails utterly to point out that in real life, a pacifist perspective such as the Organians usually leads to a lot of suffering, since in real life, most pacifists don't have the ability to magically halt violence on a galaxy-wide scale.  But hey, what do you want?  It's a sci-fi show, and it's only 50 minutes long.

Other observations about this episode:

This is the first time we see Klingons, and they don't look the way we've come to expect Klingons to look.  The bony ridge along the center of their heads is missing.  I believe an explanation about this absence gets retconned into a TNG episode.

The Moral of the Story: War is not the answer.

TOS 26: The Devil in the Dark

Original air date: 03/09/1967
Star date: 3196.1

Summary: The Enterprise is called out to the Janus-6 pergeum mines in response to a series of deadly attacks on the miners by a strange, shaggy, fast-moving creature who has been destroying mining equipment and has killed 50 miners using a highly-corrosive acid.  The attacks began about 3 months before, when the miners opened up tunnels on a lower level.

When receiving the director's report about the attacks, Spock is intrigued by a "silicon nodule" on his desk, a bit smaller than a basketball.  The director explains that they are a geological oddity, found in the lower levels of the mine.

As the Enterprise crew begins its search for the creature, it attacks again, killing yet another miner and stealing the main circulating pump for the whole station, which is required to keep the mines filled with breathable air.  Scotty is able to jury-rig a short-term solution, but if the pump is not found soon, the entire mining colony will need to be evacuated.  Spock theorizes that the creature took the pump intentionally to force the humans to leave the planet.  Spock also makes a convincing case that the creature is a new kind of life form; silicon-based, rather than carbon-based.

Later in the tunnels, Spock and Kirk encounter the creature, and drive it away with phaser blasts, severing a piece of its body in the process.  Based on an analysis of the tunnels the creature makes through solid rock, Spock concludes that it must be the last of its kind, and that therefore killing it would be a "crime against science".  Kirk insists that the creature must be killed to allow the continued mining of pergeum, which is necessary to support life on other planets, and Spock reluctantly agrees.  Enterprise security personnel are beamed down to assist in the search for the creature, with orders to kill.

Kirk is the next member of the crew to encounter the creature, but he does not kill it.  He is able to keep it from attacking by threatening it with his phaser.  Spock arrives, and through the use of a Vulcan mind meld, we learn that the creature is called a Horta, and is in great pain from its injury.  Hoping that a show of friendship will encourage the creature to return the circulating pump, Kirk signals McCoy to beam down to treat the creature's wound.  Through the mind meld with Spock, the creature tells Kirk where the pump is located.  Kirk finds it in a room filled with more silicon nodules, many of them broken, and realizes that these silicon nodules are eggs.  The Horta has been attacking the miners because they had unknowingly been destroying her eggs.

McCoy successfully saves the Horta, and via Spock's mind meld, the Horta and the miners agree to peacefully coexist on the planet and leave each other alone.  The Horta and her remaining offspring also act as very effective drills for the miners, allowing them to extract far greater quantities and varieties of minerals than they had before, making them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

This was a pretty good episode.  Certainly it carries a great message of understanding and peaceful resolution of differences, and it has a happy ending for the Horta and certainly for the miners.  And this is the second consecutive episode where the writing holds together fairly well (though it's not perfect) --- dare we hope that the writers get on a roll?  I've been disappointed before.

My main disappointment with this episode is that the outcome was fairly obvious.  As soon as Spock argues that the creature is a silicon-based life form, it's obvious that the "silicon nodules" are either the Horta's eggs or its feces --- and the show wouldn't be as compelling if they were feces --- but it takes another half-hour or more even for brainiac Spock to piece it together (or at least, he doesn't tell anyone until near the end of the show).  Maybe I was able to figure this out more or less immediately because I have the advantage of another 45 years of sci-fi shows and movies since this aired, but whatever the reason, I didn't feel nearly the suspense I think I was supposed to feel.

Other observations about this episode:

When Spock suggests that the Horta is a silicon-based creature, McCoy objects: "Silicon-based life is physiologically impossible, especially in an oxygen atmosphere."  Yet at the end, Spock, Kirk and McCoy are walking around what is clearly the Horta nesting area, with eggs everywhere, and they're breathing the air just fine.  So I guess McCoy was just dead wrong, and the oxygen atmosphere makes no difference to the Horta.

The Horta is mostly a shapeless lump, and it burrows through rock (and kills people) using highly corrosive acid.  So how did it manage to take the circulating pump without destroying it?  For that matter, if it wanted the humans off the planet, why did it merely steal the pump instead of destroying it?

And yes, late-1960's special effects were pretty atrocious.  Not only is the Horta clearly foam rubber laid on top of some sort of wagon or something, but it actually moves very slowly --- despite the fact that it is supposedly so fast a man doesn't have time to aim a phaser at it.

At one point, Kirk wants Spock to return to the surface, to minimize the risk that they both get killed.  Spock calculates that the odds against the Horta killing both of them are 2228.7 to 1 against.  Of course, they then continue to search for the Horta together, which I think probably greatly increases the risk.

The Enterprise security team is its usual feckless self, allowing the miners to rush in to where McCoy is trying to save the Horta's life.

This is the first instance I recall McCoy telling Kirk what he's not.  When Kirk orders him to save the Horta, McCoy objects: "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!"

And finally, the episode concludes with a wonderful bit of dialog between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, when Spock reveals to them what the Horta thinks of humans:

Spock: She found humanoid appearance revolting, but she thought she could get used to it.
McCoy: Oh she did, did she?  But tell me, did she happen to make any comment about those ears? (Referring to Spock's pointy Vulcan ears)
Spock: Not specifically, but I did get the distinct impression she found them the most attractive human characteristic of all.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that only I have . . .
Kirk: She really liked those ears?
Spock: Captain, the Horta is a remarkably intelligent and sensitive creature, with impeccable taste.
Kirk: Because she approves of you?
Spock: Really, Captain, my modesty . . .
Kirk: Does not bear close examination, Mr. Spock.  I suspect you're becoming more and more human all the time.
Spock: Captain, I see no reason to stand here and be insulted.

The Moral of the Story: If you can understand your opponent's point of view, you may find a win-win solution.

TOS 25: This Side of Paradise

Original air date: 03/02/1967
Star date: 3417.3

Summary: The Enterprise arrives at planet Omicron Ceti 3, expecting to find a ghost town of Earth colonies founded there 3 years earlier.  In the intervening years, Starfleet scientists discovered that the planet is under constant bombardment by "Berthold rays", for which there is no known protection or cure, and which is always fatal in humans after prolonged exposure.  When Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy and two others beam down, they are shocked to find the Earth colonists not only alive but in perfect health.  In addition, one of the colonists is Leila Kalomi, a woman who knew Spock six years earlier and still harbors a love for him.

McCoy's investigations determine that not only are the colonists in perfect health, but that life on the planet has actually improved their health, removing scar tissue from lungs, re-growing removed appendices and so forth.  Leila finally reveals the secret of their health to Spock: spores from a certain flower give the colonists protection from the Berthold rays, perfect health, and a perpetual sense of well-being and contentment.  When exposed to the spores, Spock initially suffers some pain, but eventually discovers not only the sense of well-being the colonists have, but also a richness of emotion, including love for Leila.

Starfleet orders Kirk to take all colonists aboard the Enterprise and abandon Omicron Ceti 3, something the colonists refuse to do for obvious reasons.  Vexed by Spock's new behavior, Kirk leaves McCoy in charge of beaming the colonists and their belongings up to the ship.  However, McCoy is also exposed to the spores before long, and once under their influence, beams several of the spore-bearing flowers up to the Enterprise, sparking a mass defection of Kirk's crew to the surface.  Kirk himself seems to be the only member of the Enterprise crew unaffected by the spores, and before long is the sole occupant of the Enterprise.  Everyone else has departed to the paradise of Omicron Ceti 3, and Kirk is unable even to contact Starfleet since Uhura sabotaged the communications console before leaving.

When Kirk gets hit with a second blast of spores, he is temporarily affected by them, and plans to abandon ship as well.  But when a sudden surge of anger hits him, he realizes strong emotions neutralize the spores' influence.  Kirk tricks Spock into coming aboard, and insults him until he rises to anger and returns to his former demeanor.  Kirk and Spock them implement a plan to use sound waves to irritate everyone on the surface and return them to their senses.  The Enterprise crew eventually returns to the ship, along with all the colonists.

This was a good episode, in that it was fairly well written and had no obvious holes in the plot, as many of the preceding episodes have had.  It also has a very definite message, although it does an unconvincing job of presenting it.  The message, fundamentally, is that humans must not settle for a life of idle contentment, because (for some reason) we weren't meant to do so.

Although some Trek fans have promoted the show and Roddenberry as being somewhat brave and radical for presenting unpopular social messages in the show (equality of all races, equality of genders, condemning war), the message in this show is decidedly "establishment".  I can't help but notice that this show aired in early 1967, a time when there was a vocal political movement in the U.S. urging people to "tune in, turn on and drop out".  Although the spores in this episode are not presented as being addictive or physically harmful --- indeed, they are quite beneficial to one's health --- that is more or less precisely what the colonists have chosen to do.  They grow only enough food for themselves, and have no productivity or industry beyond what is needed to survive.  They mostly spend their days in idle, happy contentment.  And although it's never made clear why this is a bad thing, the show's conclusion is unambiguously opposed to this lifestyle.

Kirk and Spock found a way to harsh their mellow.

The strange thing is that, once again, the arguments presented in the show are contrary to the show's ultimate message.  Here is the case in favor of remaining on Omicron Ceti 3 in idle contentment, in a conversation between Kirk, Spock (under the influence of the spores), and the colonists' leader, Sandoval:

Sandoval: They give you complete health, and peace of mind.
Kirk: That's --- paradise?
Sandoval: We have no need or want, Captain.
Spock: It's a true Eden, Jim.  There's belonging, and love.
Kirk: No wants, no needs.  We weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.
Sandoval: We have what we need.
Kirk: Except for challenge.
Spock: You don't understand, Jim.  But you'll come around, sooner or later.  Join us.  Please.

Spock sounds like a true flower child of the 60's, talking about "belonging and love", and insisting that Kirk just doesn't get it.  But what does Kirk have to offer as a response?  An insistence that man stagnates without ambition?  That man needs challenge?  If someone believes they have all that they need, then they do.  It's not for someone else to tell them what they need.

On the flip side, the argument given for a return to the Enterprise, and a life of work and challenge, is pretty weak.  When McCoy and Sandoval first awaken from the influence of the spores, they have the following conversation:

Sandoval: We've done nothing here.  No accomplishments, no progress.  Three years wasted.  We wanted to make this planet a garden.
McCoy: You can't stay here.  You can't survive without the spores.  After you've cleared at the Starbase, you could be relocated.  It depends upon what you want.
Sandoval: I think I'd --- I think WE'D like to get some work done.  The work we started out to do.

Pretty weak beer.  Oh gosh, how silly of me.  Of course we need to do work.

Really?  Come on, guys.  Look at what most of America has for ambition.  Give me my iPad, my XBox 360, some beer and sex and I'm good.  Rarely do you hear people yearning for work, yearning for a challenge.  Far from seeking out work and challenges, this country has been striving for ever more inactivity and leisure time at least since the end of World War II.  As far as I'm concerned, if I can spend the rest of my life in idle contentment and perfect health, I'll sign up tomorrow.  The writers make no substantial argument as to why that's a bad thing.

Other observations about this episode:

It's not clear why Kirk is not affected by the spores the first time he is exposed.  Perhaps he's irritated at the behavior of Spock and his crew, which prevents the spores' effect.

As usual, nearly the whole command crew of the Enterprise (Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy) beam down to the planet's surface.  This happens with such regularity I'm not going to comment on it any more.

Puzzlingly, the female guest star in this episode (Jill Ireland) shows almost no skin whatsoever.  That's unusual for Star Trek.

There is no animal life on the planet except for the colonists --- apparently the spores' effect only protects humans.  So how do the plants grow without, say, bees?

Why do the spores cause McCoy to develop a southern drawl?

We learn a bit more about Spock in this episode.  For one thing, as half-Vulcan, his strength is much greater than that of an average human.  Also, he does have a first name, but as he tells Leila "you couldn't pronounce it".

I'm sure Leonard Nimoy enjoyed acting in this show --- climbing trees, laughing, showing emotion, which is rarely allowed to do.

Even if we accept the idea that humans shouldn't allow themselves to fall under the "peace, love and harmony" influence of the spores --- which as I said above, I'm FAR from convinced about --- why isn't there any interest in further investigating the health benefits of the spores?  The Enterprise crew could gather and hermetically seal away several pounds of the stuff --- they're spores, after all, they're designed to last forever --- and use them in medical treatments.  What a wonder drug!  Not only does it cure whatever ails ye (literally --- WHATEVER ails ye), it also gives you a wonderful feeling of contentment and happiness for a short time.  But as was the case in "Shore Leave", McCoy is happy to leave this medical miracle behind.

Finally, the absurdity of the show's "work, strive, achieve, produce" message is highlighted in the final line of the show, when Spock tells Kirk about his time on Omicron Ceti 3: "I have little say about it, Captain, except that for the first time in my life, I was happy."

Well, sure Spock.  Just don't let happiness get in the way of your job.

The Moral of the Story: Get a job, you smelly hippie freak.