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.