08/09/1966    The Man Trap

Stardate 1531.1 - 1531.8

The Enterprise arrives at planet M-113 for an annual colony resupply and physical checkup of its residents and finds Professor Crater and his wife Nancy who is an old girlfriend of McCoy's. Crater immediately objects to the intrusion and tries to convince Kirk that an examination is not necessary and that their only need are salt tablets. Unknown to the landing party, each of them is seeing Nancy differently. McCoy sees her as the same youthful woman of his past while Kirk sees a hansome but older woman. Still, crewman Darnell sees Nancy as a blonde woman he met in the past and follows her into the nearby wilderness. Interrupted by the screams of Nancy, Kirk and McCoy race to the scene and find Darnell dead with Nancy standing nearby. Crater claims that the crewman died from the poison of the borgia plant found in his mouth, but Kirk is suspicious and orders everyone beamed up to the ship while he conducts an investigation. Unknown to the Enterprise crew, Nancy Crater is actually the sole survivor of M-113's native inhabitants, all of whom had the power to assume the shape of other life forms and to hypnotise their prey before killing them. Needing salt to survive, the M-113 creature killed Nancy for her body salt over a year prior to the Enterprise's visit, but the professor decided not to kill the creature because it was the last of its kind. Eventually, after several crewmen are killed on the planet and aboard the ship, Kirk and Spock learn of the creature and begin plotting its capture, but since it can assume the identity of other life forms, detection of the creature is difficult. Kirk asks Professor Crater for his help, but before any information can be obtained from Crater the salt creature, while disguised as McCoy, kills Crater and flees. Kirk corners the creature in McCoy's cabin but is overpowered by its hypnotic effect. Spock rushes in and strikes the creature until he himself is thrown against the wall. The creature returns to its true appearance and, horrified by the revelation, McCoy kills the creature before it can kill Kirk.

My review: Hmmm, very high brow stuff and it raises some of the hippy awareness concerns of the swinging 60's, namely the slow extinction of non-human life on Earth and also growing feminism. At one point Uhura chastises her superior officer quite openly and aggressively. On the other hand we have chauvanism too as Ran is made to bring Sulu his meal when there doesn't appear to be any reason why he can't go and get it himself. Then there's the pointless aggressive macho bit, in which Kirk and Spock are pinned down by a guy with a gun and they fight back to show how heroic they are, they could have just beamed the guy up into the brig! Anyway it's a reasonable opening episode to the show and the moments of genius between the banal shows that there's better to come.

15/09/1966    Charlie X

Stardate 1533.6 - 1535.8

The Enterprise makes a rendezvous with the S.S. Antares and picks up a 17 year old boy, Charlie Evans who is the only survivor of a colony expedition that crashed on the planet Thasus. Captain Ramart and his staff rave about the boy, but Kirk can't help but be puzzled when Ramart refuses luxury items and hurries back to the Antares. Charlie, without social skills of any measure, seems a bit strange and unrefined but states that he grew up alone with only the record tapes from the wreckage for company. Sometime later, Captain Ramart signals the Enterprise and tries to warn Kirk about something, but just then the Antares is destroyed. Kirk doesn't think much about Charlie's disinterested reaction to the deaths of his former friends, but Spock begins to suspect that there is more to the boy than they know. This is confirmed when Charlie makes a crewman disappear for laughing at him while in the gym. During this time, Charlie becomes infatuated with the first "girl" he saw after coming aboard the Enterprise, Yeoman Rand. Unable to control his desires, Charlie pesters Rand until she is forced to hurt him, first by rejecting the boy and then by slapping him while in her quarters. This, of course, causes Charlie to make her disappear as well. Now realizing the full extent of Charlie's powers and the danger he could pose to civilization, Kirk tries to alter the ship's course away from their next stop, Colony 5, but Charlie learns of his plans, seizes control of the Enterprise, and locks in a course for Colony 5. By this time the Thasians, noncorporeal beings who really raised Charlie and gave him his powers, discover that the boy is missing and intercept the Enterprise. Despite Charlie's pleas not to be taken away, the Thasians remove Charlie from the Enterprise and restore the crew back to normal.

My review: A clever satire on the ineptitude of the US schooling system as Kirk and co take in a young orphan boy and try to help him adjust. Charlie is a little too eager to try and fit in, he latches onto people like a limpet and interrupts people withour curtosy or manners. This to me suggests that trying to conform is wrong and you should never try to fit in. However when he stops trying to fit in and starts forcing himself on others then he gets more stern discipline, his repressed anger starts to leak out and his previously hidden psychic powers (the 3rd story in a row!) allows him to melt chess pieces, dissapear phasers and people and them more bizarrely he turns a young yeoman into a lizard, removes a woman's face and it turns out he also destroyed a ship. This to me shows the power of youth to change the world into what they want it to be, and the oldies don't like change. Finally the authorities come along and take him into care because they don't want someone changing the status quo. The moral of the story, no one knows what they want, but everyone hates someone who tries to get their own way.

22/09/1966    Where No Man Has Gone Before

Stardate 1312.4 - 1313.8

The Enterprise encounters a record-marker left behind by the S.S. Valiant years ago as it tried to go through an energy barrier at the rim of the galaxy. After reading the badly damaged tapes they learn that the captain of the Valiant became obsessed with information on human psionics just before he ordered the destruction of his vessel. Despite the mystery, the Enterprise continues on to the rim of the galaxy in its own effort to get through the barrier. Once there the same energy forces which turned the Valiant away damage the Enterprise's engines and cause a strange behavioral change in Kirk's close friend, Gary Mitchell, changes which begin to alarm the command officers, especially Spock who watches closely as Mitchell gains incredible extrasensory powers. As Mitchell's powers grow stronger he begins to feel less connected with humanity and more concerned with his god-like abilities. Soon, he begins to see humans as insignificant; things to be squashed like insects. Despite Kirk's reluctance, he and Spock manage to contain Mitchell long enough to get to Delta Vega, a mining planet, and transport him down to the surface. As repairs proceed with the Enterprise, Mitchell's powers grow beyond Kirk's abilities to control. By now, Dr. Dehner realizes that she too has been affected by the energy barrier and begins to gain powers similar to Mitchell's. Mitchell escapes with Dehner, but Kirk follows with a phaser rifle. When he finds them, Mitchell tries to kill Kirk with his powers. Dehner, now realizing how corrupt Mitchell has become, helps Kirk weaken Mitchell before she succumbs to his psionic powers. But before Mitchell can fully regain his strength Kirk creates a rockfall and entombs Mitchell, bringing the threat he represents to humanity to an end.

My review: Yes, another story dealing with psychic powers (was Gene obsessed with this sort of thing?) anyway, the story itself is a conjecture that intelligent people are more evil that stupid people. The plot treads heavily on the superstition side of the science vs. faith debate, here it conjectures that science doesn't have all the answers and that if one is steeped in the mystic then they can become a god-like being. This of course clashes with the point raised earlier, so it must mean that loq IQ people who believe in the supernatural are the chosen of god, which is basically how all the major religions work. So is this story a slamming indictement of fundamentalists or something more sinister, a call to arms to kill the intelligent and start an era of moronity and blind faith? The Kirk-Spock relationship is slowly established in this story as Kirk's old college buddy is killed off and he's forced to replace it and decides to pal around with the weird alien guy with the ears instead. Sulu in the blue uniform just looks wrong, and Scotty looks lost in the pinky yellow top that looks like it was a yellow one that got put in the wash with a red sock. Still it's an interesting story and one that raises a few topics for debate...

29/09/1966    The Naked Time

Stardate 1704.2 - 1704.4

The Enterprise arrives at planet Psi 2000 to pick up a Federation research party from a planet that is quickly disintegrating, but after beaming down to the research facility Spock and Lieutenant Tormolen find all the scientists have died from strange causes. One has been strangled, one sits frozen at his station, apparently without a care in the world, and another is discovered in the shower, fully clothed. After making recordings of the incident the two beam back to the Enterprise, but not before Tormolen is accidentally infected by a water-borne virus that is still alive in the research center. Soon, Tormolen becomes so depressed by what he has witnessed on Psi 2000 that he attempts suicide, only later do die after surgery is performed to repair the minor wound. In trying to stop Tormolen from taking his life Sulu and Riley become infected with the virus, and later while on the bridge Sulu decides that he needs some exercise and abandons his post. When Spock discovers what has happened Riley burst out into irrational speech patterns and is ordered to sickbay. In a short period of time the senior officers conclude that whatever was responsible for killing the scientists on Psi 2000 has come aboard the Enterprise and is now affecting the crew. The only certainty is that everyone infected exhibits some deeply hidden emotion which is unique to every individual. Riley fancies himself a decendant of Irish kings while Sulu becomes a rapier armed swashbuckler who chases crewmembers throught the corridors of the ship. Nurse Chapel declairs her love to Spock who himself can't keep from crying over his past inability to tell his mother that he loved her. Meanwhile, as McCoy frantically searches for the antidote to the virus Riley locks himself into the engine room and shuts down the engines. By the time Kirk and Scotty break throught the locked door, only a few minutes are left to restart the engines, a process that normally takes thirty minutes, and save the ship from spiraling into the atmoshpere of Psi 2000. Kirk, desperate for an alternative, remembers an intermix formula that has never been tried which mixes matter and anitmatter cold. Spock, after shaking off the affects of the virus, helps Scotty restart the engines and save the ship, and in the process they discover a method for travelling back into time.

My review: The first non-psychic powers story and it's a refreshing change.  The concept of an alien virus disrupting the mind is an intersting one, it's been done before in films but here it's given a novel twist, it just makes people act like they're drunk and smashes down the barriers of common sense and logic. Everyone's affected in different ways, one guy depresses himself to death, Sulu becomes a Muskateer, O'Reilley does some karaoke, while others giggle inanely, get flirty and Spock has to learn to deal with his emotions. Even Kirk is affected and he reveals a sadness and lonliness that comes with the position as ship's captain, still he seems to get over it in later episodes.  The cure is found in the end and McCoy can take the credit. Some of the over acting was pretty bad, Spock's breakdown is mostly believable, while O'Reilley's drunken Irish stereotype is just awful to watch and I'm with Uhura regarding the quality of his singing.

06/10/1966    The Enemy Within

Stardate 1672.1 - 1673.1

The landing party is conducting a geological survey of planet Alpha 177 when Geology technician Fisher falls from an embankment and is beamed aboard the Enterprise to be treated for an injured hand. After a rough beam-in, Scotty notices magnetic ore covering Fisher when the technician materializes and tells him to have the uniform decontaminated. Kirk beams up next and is unknowingly split into two seperate entities, one kind but weak and indecisive, the other vicious and cruel. Before anyone can determine what has happened, the evil Kirk demands brandy from McCoy and later attacks Yeoman Rand. When an animal is beamed aboard in an identical fashion, Spock makes the connection and concludes that the same thing must have happened to Kirk during a transporter malfunction. With the transporter out, the remaining crewmembers on the planet are forced to wait for repairs, but the nights on Alpha 177 are unbearably cold with the temperature dropping to -70 degrees. Meanwhile, Spock and a weakened Kirk conduct a search of the engineering deck where they find the evil Kirk hiding. They manage to capture the evil Kirk and restrain him in sickbay where Spock formulates his theory that it is the evil half of Kirk where the strength of command resides and that without his negative side Kirk is losing his ability to make command decisions. Worse still, the split appears to be killing the evil Kirk, and neither side can survive without the other. Scotty makes uncertain repairs to the transporter, and the split animal is sent through to be rejoined only to die in the attempt. With time running out, Kirk is convinced by Spock that the animal died from the fright of being rejoined and not due to a transporter malfunction and goes throught the transporter with this evil side. He returnes alive and whole and immediately orders the landing party beamed up, frostbitten but okay.

My review: An old story with a new twist. Good vs. Evil. In the red corner we have St. James the Pure, he's noble, compassionate, caring, considerate and as much use as a bunny rabbit. In the other coner we have Jimmy the Ripper. He's cold, mean, violent, aggressive, brutal and heartless. He's also neurotic, selfish and scared. Ot's interesting to see the two halves of the same character and both are done really well, the director must have had a seizure when he saw the script! Still Bill delivers the goods and Sulu gets some air time too, although he has to nearly die in the process. Spock is excellent in this story, on one had you can see the concern in his eyes for his friend and on the other he's itching to take over command should Jim fail. Bones and Scotty get their usual technobabble to speak and they make it sound convincing too, and McCoy get to say his very first: 'He's dead Jim.'

13/10/1966    Mudd's Women

Stardate 1329.1 - 1330.1

The Enterprise is pursuing an unidentified vessel which is overloading its engines in an effort to avoid capture. It enters an asteroid field, and Kirk decides to extend the ship's deflector screen around the helpless cargo vessel until the crew can be beamed aboard. While doing so, three of the four lithium crystals which power the Enterprise burn out and force the ship to seek replacement crystals on Rigel XII. Meanwhile, Kirk convenes a hearing where the captain of the cargo ship, Harcort Fenton "Harry" Mudd, and his "cargo," three women on their way to marry settlers, are investigated for their actions. Mudd's illegal activities are discovered along with his long list of past offenses. Mudd's women are not charged with a crime, but unfortunately for them Kirk's only concern is his ship and the replacement crystals and not what will happen to the women. When the Enterprise approaches Rigel XII, Mudd makes an unauthorized transmission to the miners and arranges a deal in which the three women will be exchanged for the crystals and the dropping of all charges against him. After seeing the women the miners agree, but Kirk refuses to comply and holds out until his ship nears a point in which it must have the crystals to keep from spiraling into the atmosphere. When Kirk finally agrees the head miner, Ben Childress, becomes more interested with Eve than with the fate of the Enterprise and makes Kirk wait until his ship is on the last few hours of emergency power. Eve, who has by this time become critical of Mudd and his buying and selling of the women, runs away. When Childress brings her back to the camp he learns that the women have been "pumped up" by the illegal Venus drug which makes the women more beautiful. By this time, Magda and Ruth have already married the other miners which angers Childress who now sees Harry's con. Childress turns Harry over to Kirk and allows access to the lithium crystals. With Kirk's help, Childress learns that Eve can be beautiful without the crystals, someone to care for him instead of being a useless pretty face.

My review: I'm really undecided wether this is 60's sexism taken to its limit or 60's feminism for the space age. On one hand you've got wheeler dealer Harry Mudd using the women's beauty to earn himself some easy money and on the other hand you've got three strong-willed women who are intelligent and confident and are using Mudd to escape lives of drudgery and depression to find husbands of their own choosing and be their equals. It also seems to me if the ship breaks its power crystals that easily then it's obviously got a serious design flaw and should never have been allowed out of spack dock until the flaw was corrected. Also Uhura sports a yellow uniform, I guess they didn't have the red ones ready yet, or communications gets moved from command division to auxilliary division for some reason...

20/10/1966    What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Stardate 2712.4

Christine Chapel is a passenger aboard the Enterprise as it travels to Exo III in search of her fiance, exobiologist Dr. Korby, whose last message was from this frozen planet where he had discovered an underground cavern. The landing party beams down to greet the doctor and almost immediately two crewmen die in the cavern. Irritated by Korby's disinterest in the deaths, Kirk tries to check in with the Enterprise but is instead relieved of his phaser and communicator and forced to listen to Korby's vision of an improved human civilization through the transfer of human souls into android bodies. Korby shows Kirk the machinery left behind by the Old Ones, machinery he uses to create a android duplicate of Kirk in order to impress the captain. During this creation process the human Kirk concentrates on insulting Spock, a thought pattern which is transfered to the android. When he sees that Kirk is anything but impressed, Korby uses the duplicate to take star map information from the Enterprise so that he can select the first world to populate with androids. Spock senses trouble when the android Kirk insults him. He then beams down to Exo III with a security team. Meanwhile, Kirk convinces Ruk, an ancient android left behind by the Old Ones, that Korby is infesting his world with inferior and illogical lifeforms. Ruk attacks Korby but is destroyed by phaser fire. The android Kirk is then destroyed by the android Andrea. Korby pursues Kirk who learns, after the doctor injures his hand, that Korby himself is mostly android, forced into transfering his soul into a machine after nearly freezing to death. Kirk criticizes Korby's ideal civilization, and after listening to his argument, Korby destroys himself and Andrea.

My Review: An interesting story with some religious subtext, being an insight into what makes a person alive, what makes them concious. It's also an examination of love, what it is and what it means to us. This is the kind of story that Star Trek excels at telling, chilling morality plays that question not only who we are as a people but also who we are as individuals. It's nice to see one of the c-cast get such a prominent role too, Nurse Chapel is one of the more interesting semi-regular crew members, her she holds out hope that the love of her life is still alive, only to later find out that he was already dead. The concept of replacements taking over our lives is pure Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the robot twist gives it freshness and extra territory to explore, like making the female robot begin to understand love, Kirk 'programming' his double as a way of giving a warning to Spock and Ruk being a mass murderer who doesn't want to be subjucated by illogical lifeforms. There's a lot of good scenes in this story and it's just as relevant today as it was back in 1966.

27/10/1966    Miri

Stardate 2713.5 - 2717.3

The Enterprise answers an old-style distress signal from an unknown planet and discovers a world that is virtually identical to Earth of the 1960's. Beaming down, the landing party finds a civilization populated only by children. After McCoy is attacked by a diseased humanoid, the landing party manages to corner and question a young female, Miri, and quickly learns that 300 years ago scientists attempted a life-prolongation project which instead created a virus that wiped out the adult population. The children, however, were altered in that their aging is slowed considerably until they reach puberty where the virus rapidly destroys their changing bodies. Soon thereafter, all members of the landing party contract the virus except for Spock who becomes a carrier. McCoy begins work on an antidote while Kirk tries to contact the other children, all of whom are afraid of adults after witnessing their violent behaviors when affected by the virus. Miri, however, becomes interested in Kirk and spends more time with him until she learns that Yeoman Rand has had an interest in the captain as well. She then helps Jahn steal the landing party's communicators and abduct Rand. When Kirk shows Miri that she too is contracting the disease she agrees to help him recover Rand and the communicators. Meanwhile, McCoy and Spock have developed what might be the antidote, but without the communicators to interact with the ship's computers they are unable to know if the antidote will cure or kill them. Frustrated, McCoy tests the antidote on himself and fortunately becomes the first of the landing party to be free of the disease. With the virus eliminated, the Enterprise leaves the planet in the hands of Federation truant officers who will help the inhabitants rebuild their civilization.

My Review: An interesting take on the 60's disaster movie, here we have a planet decimated of it's adult population and the Enterprise finds a small group of children who have survived. They learn that the planet is infested with a terrible disease that retards the aging process but accelerates the aging process once puberty begins. It's also quite a lot like Lord of the Flies in that the kids have turned into wild savage animals and possibly murderers too. Mind you the way Kirk treats one of the repellant little monsters they might feel agrieved. In the end though Kirk's appeals to let him help them somehow get through and the day is saved. This is a curious counterpoint to Charlie X, here the children are made to conform like good little nuclear family brats, there's no stern authority figure to punish the unruly and force them to get into line; liberalism or the carrot and the stick?

03/11/1966    Dagger of the Mind

Stardate 2715.1 - 2715.2

While transferring cargo to the Tantalus Penal Colony, one of the inmates beams aboard the Enterprise and manages to make his way to the bridge before being disabled by a nerve pinch from Spock. By the time the Enterprise returns to Tantalus, McCoy has run a few tests on their stowaway and urges Kirk to begin an investigation of the penal colony despite the reputation of its director, Dr. Tristan Adams. Kirk beams down with Dr. Helen Noel, a psychiatrist, to learn more about the colony's activities. Meanwhile, Spock and McCoy discover that their patient is Dr. Simon van Gelder who was, six months ago, a part of the staff at Tantalus. Eventually, Kirk and Noel learn about a device, the neural neutralizer, that Adams is using to brainwash his patients. While testing the device, Adams takes the controls and uses the pain of the neutralizer's beam to force Kirk into surrendering his phaser and communicator. Because of Dr. van Gelder's conditioning under the device, he is unable to fully explain what has been happening on Tantalus. Spock, therefore, decides to risk a mind meld with van Gelder in which he learns the entire truth. Meanwhile, on Tantalus, Dr. Noel escapes via air-conditioning duct from the room where she is held and finds the power room. After a brief struggle with a guard, she lowers the defensive shields which allows Spock to beam down with a security detail. Kirk, who had been under the neutralizer's beam when the power died, is able to fight and get away from Adams who is left on the floor of the treatment room. When Spock restores power the neutralizer engages and drains the mind of Adams who dies from loneliness while under the beam. Dr. van Gelder is returned to Tantalus as the director of treatment. He dismantles and destroys the neural neutralizer.

My Review: A great story, the mad psychologist brainwashing everyone's minds and Mr. Spock performing the mind meld was just super. This is a rather interesting play on the old phrase who watches the watchers (it turns up again in TNG) with the man in charge of rehabilitating loonies turning out to be a whack job himself! Wether this is a sly did by Mean Gene at the poor treatment of war veterans suffering from shell shock or just general concern over the treatment of the loopy it doesn't hold any punches at all. It could also be a commentary on the supposed conspiracy theory that Lee Harvey Oswald was made into an assassin by the CIA to get rid of JFK.

10/11/1966    The Corbomite Maneuver

Stardate 1512.2 - 1514.1

During a routine star-mapping assignment in an uncharted section of the galaxy, the Enterprise encounters a space bouy of unknown origin. At first the bouy blocks the ship's path, but when Kirk decides to maneuver around the bouy it charges the ship, forcing Kirk to destroy it with phasers. After consideration, Kirk decides to continue on in an effort to discover the intelligence behind the bouy. Soon the Enterprise is confronted by a gigantic alien vessel, the Fesarius, which promptly grabs the Enterprise with its tractor beam and scans its record banks. After a futile effort by Kirk to communicate with the alien ship, Balok, the commander of the Fesarius, decides that the Enterprise must be destroyed and gives the crew 10 minutes to prepare. Lt. Bailey, a young and inexperienced bridge navigator, cracks under the pressure and is relieved from duty. With only a few minutes to spare, Kirk tries to bluff Balok, telling him that Earth ships are equipped with a corbomite device which, when touched with destructive energy, has the power to destroy the attacking vessel. Balok balks and decides instead to tow the Enterprise with a small pilot ship to an area where the crew will disembark and the vessel can be destroyed. While being towed, the bridge crew monitor Balok's ship, hoping he will grow careless. After Balok pulls ahead a bit and lowers his power levels, the Enterprise breaks Balok's tractor beam. Balok sends a distress call to the Fesarius, but it is too weak to be heard. Despite the danger, Kirk, McCoy, and Bailey beam over to the pilot ship and discover that the Fesarius is manned by one small and very friendly alien who has been testing the crew of the Enterprise to discover their real intentions. After deciding that an exchange of information would benefit both cultures, Bailey volunteers to stay behind as the first envoy to the First Federation.

My Review: An interesting tale, Uhura's back in the yellow dress again and Rand seems to be making her debut as Rand, obviously this episode is shown way out of order, I think it's the 3rd made with Kirk, but it's the 10th broadcast. Anyway the episode itself seems to be designed to show how good a captain James T. Kirk really is, putting him through his paces (literally when McCoy makes him take a medical!) but it's intellectually that this ep really explores, as Kirk keeps his head as all those around him start to lose theirs, an engign goes mental and even Bones gets tetchy (well tetchier than normal) but it's all revealled to be a massive con, a trick, a test. I like to think that in the mirror universe Kirk took great delight in killing Balok.

17/11/1966    The Menagerie (Part 1)

Stardate 3012.4 - 3012.6

The Enterprise arrives at Starbase 11, as ordered, but Kirk discovers that no such orders were issued. The ship's computers are checked despite the fact that Spock was the only person to actually see the transmission. While waiting, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy visit the former commander of the Enterprise, Fleet Captain Christopher Robin Pike, who has been paralyzed and disfigured by delta rays during a starship accident. After Spock is allowed to remain alone with his former captain, he reveals sketchy details of a plan to take the Enterprise on a mission of his own design, knowing full well that his actions will be considered mutiny. Pike objects, but Spock disobeys Pike and, with the help of the starbase computer facilities, sends bogus orders to the Enterprise. Spock beams up with Pike and immediately warps out of orbit on a course for Talos IV, a planet no one is allowed to visit under penalty of death. Kirk and Commodore Mendez pursue the Enterprise in a starbase shuttlecraft, and when Spock discovers that the occupants of the shuttle have already passed the point of safe return to Starbase 11 he locks the ship's computers on course, allows the shuttle to dock, and presents himself for arrest. Because there are now 3 officers of command rank on board, Spock demands an immediate court-martial. For his defense Spock presents scenes from an Enterprise voyage 13 years ago where under the command of Pike the Enterprise responded to a distress signal and visited Talos IV where they discovered crash survivors of a failed expedition. Among the survivors is Vena, a young woman who immediately attracts the attention of Pike. The crash site and the elderly scientists, however, are only an illusion placed in their minds by the Talosians. Pike is captured in the hopes that he and Vena will breed and repopulate the barren planet. Suddenly, the film ends abruptly. Mendez demands that the Enterprise be released to manual control, but Spock refuses to comply even though he knows that his life and Kirk's career both are at stake!

My Review: The first episode of this two part story contains mostly new stuff filmed on pre-existing sets and reusing the formal dress outfits from the episode Court Martial (filmed first but transmitted later) This and the next episode were made to reuse the material from The Cage to get a free episode, by wrapping a new story around The Cage. If you've just seen the Cage recently it's quite a drag, but the new material in part one makes up for it. I liked seeing secret agent Spock in action, he could almost be in an episode of Mission: Impossible!

24/11/1966    The Menagerie (Part 2)

Stardate 3013.1 - 3013.2

Despite Mendez, the court-martial continues, and the images begin to reappear on the breifing room screen. Captain Pike rejects Vena despite all the efforts of the Talosians to make her irresitable. To counter his resistance, the Talosians kidnap Number One and Yeoman Colt from the Enterprise so that Pike will have a choice of female partners. Meanwhile, Pike discovers that strong emotions can block the Talosians from reading his mind. He and the others manage to escape to the surface of the planet, but when the Talosians reveal that this was all a part of their plan, Number One threatens to detonate a hand laser, killing them all, unless they are released. After scanning the record banks of the Enterprise, the Talosians discover that humans have a unique hatred of captivity, a trait which would make humans too violent a species for their purposes. The Talosains free all of the humans, but Vena cannot join the Enterprise due to the injuries she sustained in the crash and the need for the illusion of health which the Talosians provide. When the story ends, Commodore Mendez disappears. The Talosians then address Kirk from the view screen, admitting that Mendez was never really on board and that the illusion of a trial was necessary to prevent him from taking control of his ship before it reached Talos IV. Now that the Enterprise has arrived, the Talosians offer Captain Pike a life with them and an illusion of health to free him from the limitations of his body. Pike accepts, Starfleet Command suspends General Order 7 which prohibits contact with Talos IV, and the mutiny charges against Spock are dropped. Kirk watches the screen as Pike appears on the planet's surface with Vena, both happy with their illusions of health and beauty.

My Review: This episode is mostly recycled footage from The Cage, with a few shots in the 'present' to keep the story in touch with Kirk as the new captain. The story has some interesting edits, no doubt for time, mostly they cut away scenes that have little to do with the direct story of Pike's capture and testing. Personally I liked Number One, she was a rare example of a strong female character in the 60's and it'd have been interesting to bring her back as captain of another ship, perhaps sent to chase Enterprise? The ending's slightly rejigged, to make sense, here Vina has her looks returned and we don't see her getting her illusory Pike, instead it's made to suggest that the real Pike has returned with an image of the Talosians and a voice over. For such a cost cutting story it won the Hugo award and deservedly too, The Cage is often underappreciated at times, because it doesn't have Kirk and Bones and the rest of the series crew in it (apart from Spock of course).

08/12/1966    The Conscience of the King

Stardate 2817.6 - 2819.8

The Enterprise arrives at Planet Q, summoned by Dr. Thomas Leighton who claims to have developed a new synthetic food. When Kirk beams down he discovers that Leighton's real intention was to inform the captain that a travelling theatrical troupe's lead actor, Anton Karidian, is actually Kodos the Executioner. Kodos, 22 years ago, was the governor of Tarsus IV when it was suddenly hit with a food shortage. In an effort to relieve the crisis, Kodos executed 50 percent of the population. In the aftermath, Kodos was thought to have died but no body was ever recovered. Irritated at Leighton's actions and satisfied that Kodos is dead, Kirk beams back to the ship and prepares to leave orbit. Then, when Leighton dies of mysterious circumstances, Kirk arranges for the troupe's transportation to abandon them and then takes them aboard the Enterprise so that he may study Karidian while taking them to Benecia Colony. Soon after, Lieutenant Riley is poisoned and nearly dies. Concerned by the captain's growing obsession with Karidian, Spock searches the computers for information and learns that Kirk, Riley, and the late Thomas Leighton were the last remaining witnesses to the atrocities of Kodos and that all other witnesses have been systematically murdered when the theatrical troupe was nearby. When Riley overhears McCoy's report and learns that Kodos, a.k.a. Anton Karidian, killed Riley's parents, he enters the ship's theater intent on killing Karidian. Kirk intervenes and arrests Karidian but then learns that it is Lenore, Karidian's daughter, who has been killing the witnesses. She takes a phaser from a security guard and threatens Kirk, but just as she fires Karidian steps in front of the captain and dies. Horrified from killing her own father, Lenore goes insane.

My Review: An interesting adoption of Shakespearian methods, here they stage a play within a play within a play! I liked the return of Kevin Rilley, but he was sorely missing from the final scene imho, it just needed that final moment of closure. Kirk wrestling with his demons as he tries to determione wether Karidian is Kodos or not makes for some interesting scenes epecially as Spock wonders if Kirk is going off his rocker or not. Lenore as the real murderer is pretty out of the blue and asks wether she ended that way because of breeding or out of blind love for her father.

15/12/1966    Balance of Terror

Stardate 1709.1 - 1709.6

A wedding between two crewmembers is interrupted when an Earth outpost along the Romulan border is attacked by an unidentified vessel. Kirk orders battlestations and the Enterprise races towards the Romulan Neutral Zone, an area separating the two powers which was established by subspace radio over 100 years ago, just as another outpost is destroyed. Kirk continues to try and identify the attacker, but Lieutenant Stiles, whose ancestors fought in the Romulan War, believes there isn't much doubt as to their identity. Sulu manages to pick up a visual image of a fleeing vessel and is able to track it despite an invisibility screen. Deciding to remain cautious until he can learn more about the attacker, Kirk orders the helmsman to shadow the vessel as it makes its way back to the Neutral Zone. The Romulans notice the Enterprise on its scanners but cannot determine if it's an enemy ship or a sensor echo. After holding a tactical meeting, and with some prodding from Stiles and Spock, Kirk decides that he must attack to prevent the enemy vessel from returning to its base and reporting Federation strength. After pounding the Romulan vessel with phaser fire, the Romulan commander de-cloaks and fires its plasma energy weapon and the Enterprise narrowly avoids destruction. Kirk pursues further and forces the Romulan ship into another exchange. A nuclear weapon is detonated and temporarily disables the Enterprise. Thinking the human vessel at his mercy, the Romulan commander moves in for the kill but falls into a trap. Despite a phaser coolant leak, the Enterprise heavily damages the Romulan vessel. Unwilling to surrender, the Romulan commander destroys his own ship.

My Review: A great story, very excellent in fact. Mark Lenard totally steals the show as the Romulan Commander. The rest of the crew in return step up their acting too, giving us tension, drama and action previously unseen in the series. This is the first real all-out combat episode of the series and it's interesting to see how similar the two captains are, they both second guess each other most of the time, with Kirk only showing a slight advantage as his his is less specialised than the Romulan ship, which is limited to either fight or flight. Kirk is able to out play his opponant because the Romalan commander underestimates the Federation technology. Given equal ships the battle could easily have gone the other way! Truely a bona fide classic.

29/12/1966    Shore Leave

Stardate 3025.3 - 3025.8

When the Enterprise arrives at an uncharted planet with hopes of conducting shore leave, the initial scouting parties find no animal or insect life forms, but what they do find is a quiet and beautiful planet which appears perfect for their needs. Shore leave is cancelled, however, when McCoy sees a likeness of Alice in Wonderland follow a large white rabbit through a hedge and no explanation can be found for the sudden appearance of life forms. Sulu then finds a 20th-century firearm, Yeoman Barrows encounters Don Juan, and Lieutenant Rodriguez narrowly escapes from a Bengal tiger and a Japanese fighter aircraft which injures Specialist Teller. Kirk finds it hard to take McCoy seriously until he meets Finnegan, a practical joker at the academy, and an old girlfriend, Ruth. Spock manages to beam down to the planet just before the transporter becomes inoperative and informs Kirk that an energy field on the planet is draining power from the Enterprise. The two hypothesize that the thoughts of the landing party are being read and that objects are being manufactured based on their thought patterns. Kirk orders all personnel to meet at the beamdown point, but just as Kirk and Spock arrive, McCoy is killed by a mounted knight. Eventually, the caretaker of the planet appears and insists that his world is simply an amusement park and that nothing they have experienced is permanent. McCoy is revived by the sophisticated machinery below the planet's surface, and the caretaker invites the Enterprise crew to enjoy what his planet has to offer. Kirk accepts and wanders off with Ruth. Spock, meanwhile, insists that he has had all the shore leave that he cares for and retunes to the ship.

My Review: Trek's first all-out comedy story and it's an interesting mix of subtle and not-so-subtle ideas. The prankster whilegood on paper is horrendously over-acted, although this can be mitigated in that the character is more of a caracaure drawn from Kirk's memories. Alice and the White Rabbit are rather better done, probably because we don't see too much of them. Sulu seems to get some of the worst of it, he finds a handgun lying around!!! Then he's attacked by a samurai warrior but Bones gets the worst of all, as he's killed by a knight via a lance through the chest! However it's revealed that the planet is an elaborate entertainment complex (the origin of the holo deck concept?) and Bones has been healed and is back to his normal ascerbic self. Don Juan also appears and Spock gets all the best lines again.

05/01/1967    The Galileo Seven

Stardate 2821.5 - 2823.1

The Enterprise is scheduled to rendezvous with a ship which will deliver medical supplies to a plague-ridden Hansen's Planet but passes the quasar Murasake 312 and, under Starfleet orders, stops to investigate. Spock, McCoy, Scott, and four specialists board the shuttlecraft Galileo and head into Murasake 312 for observation. Unexpectedly, the Galileo is pulled off course and crashes on the planet Taurus II in the center of the Murasake phenomenon. While Scott attempts repairs, Latimer and Gaetano scout the area and eventually encounter the inhabitants of Taurus II, very large and hostile anthropoids armed with equally large Folsom Point spears. Latimer is killed by one of the anthropoids which brings Spock and the others running. When Spock shows more interest in the weapon than the dead crewman, Boma begins to criticize Spock's methods of command. The crew retreat to the shuttlecraft only to discover that the anthropoids seem to be preparing for an attack. Despite objections from the others, Spock insists that it will only be necessary to frighten the anthropoids, not to kill them, and uses their phasers to accomplish the task. Meanwhile, the Enterprise is searching Taurus II for the shuttlecraft and its crew but is hampered by instrument ionization and a belligerent Commissioner Ferris who urges Kirk to call off the search and proceed to the rendezvous point. On Taurus II, Scott manages to repair the shuttle and uses as a fuel source the power that has been drained from the hand phasers. As the anthropoids close in, the Galileo lifts off and manages to achieve a shaky orbit, but by this time the Enterprise has been forced to abandon the search. Without the power to pull away from the planets gravity field and with communications still disrupted by continued ionization, Spock dumps and ignites the remaining fuel in order to give the Enterprise a visual signal. Seeing the flare against the image of Taurus II, Kirk responds quickly and manages to beam the shuttle crew aboard just as the Galileo disintegrates from its decaying orbit.

My Review: The Spock story, and it's about time too. Of course Kirk gets 99% of the b-story but that's only to be expected given that Scotty & Bones are trapped with Spock and a few random small speaking parts. The concept of being trapped and having to risk your life to escape isn't exactly new, but the sci-fi twist is a welcome change. Spock of course plays it by the logical rule book and fails to understand why events don't folow the laws of logic. However Spock learns that command is not just about rules but also inspiring those under him to follow his lead. Then there's the horribly racist ending in which all the crew members stand around and laugh at Spock for being a Vulcan!!!

12/01/1967    The Squire of Gothos

Stardate 2124.5 - 2126.3

While on course towards Colony Beta VI to deliver supplies, the Enterprise encounters a lone planet in a region of space devoid of stars. Without the time to stop and investigate further, Kirk orders the planet logged for future exploration and to resume their original course. Suddenly, Kirk and Sulu are abducted from the bridge. Spock concludes that the two must be on the planet below, even though the planet's atmosphere and environment are lethal to most life forms without protection, and orders McCoy, DeSalle, and geophysicist Jaeger to beam down and conduct a search. The landing party enters what appears to be a castle and finds the captain and Sulu along with Trelane, a brash and impetuous being who, on McCoy's medical scanner, does not appear to exist. When he sees the landing party, Trelane invites everyone to stay on Gothos for awhile and to discuss his favorite subject; Earth's military history. Spock, meanwhile, manages to locate the landing party and beams everyone, except Trelane, back to the ship. Unwilling to let his guests leave, Trelane brings the bridge crew back down for a banquet. While Trelane dances with Yeoman Ross, Kirk and Spock notice that their host never stays very far away from a large mirror on the wall and conclude that the mirror might be his source of power. To test his theory, Kirk provokes Trelane into a duel and destroys the mechanism behind the mirror. The bridge crew beam back to the Enterprise, but once again Trelane prevents their escape and brings Kirk back to Gothos to face trial for his "treason." In order to have his ship released, Kirk offers himself as the prey for a royal hunt. Trelane accepts, and the hunt begins. But just as he is about to kill Kirk and invite all the others down to "play," two energy beings appear and put a stop to their child's fun, telling him it's time to come home now. After apologizing to Kirk, the beings disappear, along with Trelane, and Kirk is allowed to return to the ship.

My Review: A rather witty and light hearted tale about an all powerfull being who plays with the crew of the Enterprise for savage amusement. Obviously Trelane is the inspiration for Q in later sequels but here he's delightfully eccentric in an innocent sort of way. It's not often you seen a story this intelligently written in these post Babylon 5 days, maybe parts of episodes occassionaly but nothing with such verve and passion, at least none I've seen anyway, although if you wanted a modern day actor to play Trelane my first port of call would be David Tennant...

19/01/1967    Arena

Stardate 3045.6 - 3046.2

While in orbit above an isolated Federation outpost on Cestus III, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a few tactical officers beam down for a visit but soon discover that the outpost has recently been destroyed. Outnumbered, the landing party must fight off a mortar barrage from alien troops while looking for survivors. The Enterprise, meanwhile, is attacked by the alien's vessel and is compelled to disengage. Kirk finds the outpost's arsenal and, with the help of a Starfleet mortar, manages to halt the alien ground attack and force the aliens to transport back to their vessel. The landing party beams back to the Enterprise which begins pursuing the alien ship. Kirk decides that the alien surprise attack cannot go unpunished and becomes determined to destroy the attackers. The chase becomes a test of engineering capabilities for both sides as each ship pushes the limits of their warp drives. Suddenly, both ships are subjected to scanning beams and then brought to a complete stop with tractor beams from a nearby solar system inhabited by an advanced raced called the Metrons. The Metrons, who dislike trespassers and the violent intents of both the humans and the Gorns that they pursue, decide that the incident shall be settled in a different fashion and transport Kirk and the Gorn captain to an uninhabited asteroid where they will fight to the death. The winner will be free to leave while the loser, along with his ship and crew, will be destroyed in the interests of peace. Kirk then gets his first look at the Gorn captain, a very intelligent but equally powerful, lizard-like creature. During the contest, Kirk narrowly escapes the Gorn's attempt to trap and kill him with a chiseled dagger, and manages to combine the asteroid's mineral resources into gunpowder which he uses in a canon-like weapon to wound the Gorn captain. When Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn, a Metron appears and states that Kirk surprised them by displaying mercy to an enemy that certainly would have killed him. Because Kirk spared his opponent, the Metron concedes that there may be some hope for Kirk's species after all and allows both captains to return to their vessels and vacate the area.

My Review: A classic story, although I'd completely forgotten about the 15 minute set up on Cestes III, but it's Kirk's battle witht he Gorn captain that really makes this episode as we see Kirk, alone and unaided, struggle at first as ihs initial physical attacks all prove futile against his tougher and stronger opponant, it's only when he starts to use it mind that we see how clever Kirk is, although it's a testiment to human weakness that he constructs a gun as his preferred weapon of choice, still at least is wasn't a landmine.

26/01/1967    Tomorrow is Yesterday

Stardate 3113.2 - 3114.1

After successfully pulling away from a black star, the Enterprise is caught in a time warp that sends it back to Earth during the middle of the 20th-century. While the ship attempts to recover from a low orbit, Omaha Air Base detects the Enterprise on its radar and sends an interceptor to investigate and force the ship down. In an effort to keep the plane away from the Enterprise Kirk holds it with a tractor beam, but the plane breaks up under the pressure, and Kirk is forced to beam the pilot, Captain John Christopher, aboard. After being told that he cannot be returned to Earth for fear of changing history, Christopher tries to escape but is apprehended before he can do so. Spock then discovers that Christopher must be returned to Earth because his absence will effect history. While discussing the matter, Christopher reveals that he activated the gun camera on his aircraft during the encounter, so Kirk and Sulu beam down to steal the footage but are caught in the act by a police sergeant who is then accidentally beamed up to the Enterprise after activating the emergency signal on one of the communicators. As they continue their search, the landing party trips a silent alarm which brings the base security to the photo lab in force. Sulu manages to escape with the stolen records, but Kirk is arrested and questioned by a police colonel. To get the captain back, Spock and Christopher beam down and surprise the police. Christopher tries to escape again but is detained by the ever vigilant Spock. To get back to their time, Spock and Scotty manage to duplicate the conditions of the time warp. The Enterprise goes slightly back in time as it approaches the sun and then forward in time as it uses a slingshot effect to pull away from the sun. Captain Christopher and the police sergeant are beamed back to Earth before the incident ever happened, and after a bit of risky engineering and maneuvering the Enterprise returns to the 23rd-century.

My Review: A rather safe episode in which very little really happens, but it's nice to see something a little different to what's gone before. This is the first real Time Travel story of the series (The Naked Time only featured time travel as a by product of the story and it was limited to a few hours back into the past) and going back to the time of the 1969 moon launches was rather serendipitous on the part of the producers as they managed to predict when they would occur.

02/02/1967    Court Martial

Stardate 2947.3 - 2950.1

After suffering the effects of a severe ion storm, including the death of Records Officer Benjamin Finney, the Enterprise puts in for repairs at Starbase 11. Kirk gives Commodore Stone his sworn testimony regarding the incident which, unexplainably, does not agree with the log tapes of the Enterprise computer. A hearing is held to determine if a court-martial is in order, and at that hearing Stone urges Kirk to take a ground assignment and have the affair swept under the rug for the good of the service. Unwilling to admit to negligence, Kirk demands a trial and later learns that an ex-girlfriend, Lieutenant Shaw, will be in charge of the prosecution. Shaw, however, wants to help Kirk and recommends defense attorney Samuel T. Cogley who wastes no time in moving into Kirk's starbase quarters. The prosecution builds its case on Kirk vs. the Enterprise computer log which clearly shows Kirk jettisoning an ion pod that contained Finney before calling for red alert even though Kirk maintains that the red alert did, in fact, exist at the time. In addition, Shaw reveals to the court an incident several years ago where Kirk logged a mistake made by Finney and suggests that because Finney blamed Kirk for the blot on his service record, Kirk might have reciprocated the bad feelings and jettisoned the pod out of malice. Spock, meanwhile, tests the Enterprise computer by playing chess against what should be an unbeatable computer opponent, and after winning several games concludes that the programming has been altered. To illustrate his theory, the trial is moved to the Enterprise. After Spock presents his evidence, Cogley, to the surprise of the court, blurts out that Finney is not dead but in hiding somewhere on the ship. The bulk of the crew are beamed down to Starbase 11 so that Finney can be found. After masking out the heartbeats of the remaining occupants, Finney is discovered in engineering and eventually confesses to framing Kirk and sabotaging the Enterprise while in orbit above Starbase 11. Kirk manages to find the damage Finney caused and make repairs before the ship's orbit completely decays.

My Review: Another 'different' episode, as this time Kirk is put on trial for being a lying liar and a killer, basically this is a sci-fi courtroom drama, which is not my ideal type of viewing material, but all the classic ingredients are there: a love interest for Kirk, a fight scene for Kirk, witty sarcastic banter between Spock and Bones and a glaring continuity error (tm) in this case Vulcan has been suddenly renamed Vulcanis and Vulcans are now Vulcanians. There's all the usual archetypes too: the hardnosed superior officer, the grumpy luddite and the deranged psychotic whith a grudge, any more hack cliches and it could really have been a classic.  Still we knew Kirk would come out of it ok, because he always does, it was only a matter of how they were going to do it, obviously someone disconnected the internal sensors, so they had to use a microphone space age sensor probe. Despite the relative cheapness of the story there's some good scenes, all of them inolving Spock.

09/02/1967    The Return of the Archons

Stardate 3156.2 - 3158.7

The Enterprise arrives at Beta III to investigate the disappearance of the U.S.S. Archon which took place over 100 years ago. When Sulu's behavior dramatically changes after returning from an initial survey of the planet's culture, Kirk beams down with another landing party to investigate. They are met by a calm and courteous group of citizenry who suddenly change into a wild and violent mob at the beginning of what is known as Red Hour. The landing party seek cover in a nearby hotel but come under the suspicion of an older man who claims that the newcomers are not of the "body" and quickly summons the lawgivers to deal with them. Kirk, however, refuses to accompany the lawgivers and instead follows Reger, a native Betan who promises to protect the landing party from the will of Landru. Landru, Kirk learns, is the being who controls every aspect of a Betan society where all but a handful of people who resist are part of the collective conscious known as the body. Red Hour, it seems, is the only time that the citizens are allowed to be independent and vent their built-up emotions. Despite their attempt to hide, Landru imprisons the landing party until each of its members are brought into the body by the absorption chamber. Kirk and Spock are saved by another member of the resistance and are led to the hall where Landru resides. They discover that Landru is actually a computer which was programmed by the original Landru, a scientist who lived over 6000 years ago, to lead his people towards peaceful progress. The computer, however, was not programmed with Landru's wisdom and over the years has interpreted the original Landru's guidelines so rigidly that freedom and self-expression have been sacrificed for a controlled peace and harmony. Kirk argues that the computer, in it's attempt to carry out Landru's wishes, has harmed the society by not allowing freedom and individualistic expression. Landru cannot escape Kirk's argument and destroys itself leaving the Betans free to develop a more humanistic society.

16/02/1967    Space Seed

Stardate 3141.9 - 3143.3

In the area of space near Starbase 12, the Enterprise encounters what appears to be a derelict spacecraft of 20th-century Earth origin. After beaming on board, the landing party discovers human life forms and that the vessel is a "sleeper ship," designed to carry its occupants in suspended animation during interplanetary travel. While inspecting the vessel, now known as S.S. Botany Bay, one of the occupants is revived via computer control and is nursed back to health aboard the Enterprise. Curious but suspicious, he introduces himself as Khan and gives sketchy details about his starflight. After attending a social gathering and being grilled by Spock, Khan decides to take control of the Enterprise with the help of Lieutenant Marla McGivers, a historian aboard the ship who has had feelings for Khan ever since he was revived. By this time, Kirk and the other senior officers have discovered who Khan, known as Khan Noonian Singh, and his followers really are; a group of genetically engineered "supermen" who ruled part of the Earth during the Genetics Wars of the 1990's. Khan is restricted to his quarters but easily overpowers the guard stationed there and quickly seizes control of the Enterprise. Needing the crew to carry out his galactic ambitions, Khan tries to persuade them by killing the captain if they refuse. McGivers, unwilling to participate in Kirk's death, rescues Kirk and helps the crew take back the ship. In the hearing which follows, Kirk drops all charges against Khan and his followers and instead maroons them on Ceti Alpha V, an inhospitable but habitable planet. Given the choice of court-martial or accompanying them, McGivers chooses to resign from Starfleet and live out her life with Khan.

23/02/1967    A Taste of Armageddon

Stardate 3192.1

Kirk is ordered to open diplomatic relations with Eminiar VII at all costs, but the Enterprise is warned away from the planet as it approaches. On board is Ambassador Robert Fox who has been sent to head the dialogue and to extend an invitation to Eminiar VII and its sister planet, Vendikar, to join the Federation. Kirk and Spock beam down with a landing party, but they are immediately reminded of the warning to stay away from Eminiar. After investigating further, the landing party discovers that Eminiar VII has been at war with Vendikar for 500 years. The war, however, is fought with computers which select targets, compute damage, and assign groups of people as casualties. The people who are "killed" by the computer's computations then voluntarily report to disintegration chambers. While in orbit above Eminiar VII, the Enterprise is "attacked" by Vendikar and is recorded as destroyed. As a result, the crewmembers are required to beam down and report to disintegration chambers. To ensure their cooperation, the landing party is held hostage. After learning of their situation, Ambassador Fox decides to beam down in hopes of negotiating for the landing party's release, but then Fox himself is taken prisoner and held along with the others. Kirk is allowed to contact his ship so that he can convince the crew to cooperate, but instead Kirk uses the opportunity to issue a General Order 24 to Scotty, requiring that the engineer destroy Eminiar VII if Kirk and the landing party are not released. Eventually, Kirk and Spock manage to escape and find the computer control room where Kirk destroys the war computers. Rather than face the destruction and horrors of real warfare, the leaders of Eminiar VII decide to accept Ambassador Fox's help and make peace with the people of Vendikar.

My Review: Some of the guest aliens seem to be wearing prototype Klingon costumes, while the rest act like total weirdo freaks. This is a twist on the insane computer idea, here the people are not only willing slaves of their machine ruler but they also aide it in their own suicide culls out of sheer blind faith and baseless panic. They can't even be sure that the enmy has killed a single one of their own citizens and is just making it all up while having a wild Baccanalian feast. The chief crazy beard guy is one red shirt short of a landing party and Scotty gets some of the best lines in the story.

02/03/1967    This Side of Paradise

Stardate 3417.3 - 3417.7

The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III, hoping to find surviving colonists who have been exposed to deadly berthold rays for three years. Surprisingly, the colonists are not only alive but in perfect health. While McCoy tries to unravel the mystery, Kirk attempts to convince the colonist's leader, Elias Sandoval, that an evacuation of the planet is imperative. None of the colonists, however, want to leave despite their lack of accomplishments and the deadly effects of the berthold rays. One of the colonists, Leila Kalomi, had met Spock six years earlier and fell in love with him. Eager to keep him on Omicron Ceti, she exposes Spock to a plant that contains spores which cause feelings of peace and contentment. When the spores manage to break down Spock's emotional barriers, he suddenly finds happiness and falls in love with Leila. Soon, the spores infect all of the landing party, except Kirk, and are beamed up to the Enterprise where they quickly take hold of the entire crew and compel them to join the colonists on the planet. While alone on the Enterprise, Kirk is finally overpowered by the spores and prepares to leave the ship. But, just as he is about to beam down, the thought of leaving the ship causes a violent reaction which destroys the spores in his body. Armed with a theory and a large club, Kirk tricks Spock into beaming back aboard where he taunts the Vulcan into a fight which destroys the spores. They then use subsonic sound waves to provoke a mass brawl on the planet below. Sandoval, no longer influenced by the spores, realizes that the colonists have accomplished nothing in their three years on Omicron Ceti and agrees to leave with the Enterprise and relocate to a planet where the colony is free to make progress and grow.

My Review: A Spock love story, it's about time he had one, although the set up story is very contrived imho. Kirk vs. Spock, very good and we'll see round 2 in Amok Time. Bones was interesting in Southern Yankee drawal mode and we could have seen more of him and his mint julip imho. The scenes with Kirk watching his crew mutinying and then of him sitting alone on the bridge were particularly powerful and you really got to sense his isolation, although the sudden splashes of light on his face to indicate possession by the spores and his subsequent mental duel were a little overdone by a factor of lots. The scuffles at the end seemed to have been added just for the cast to have a bit of fun doing some really cod play fighting, although Sulu and DeSalle were the best of what little was shown.

09/03/1967    The Devil in the Dark

Stardate 3196.1

The Enterprise is ordered to the mining colony on Janus VI to investigate the deaths of several miners caused by an unknown menace. Kirk, Spock, and a security team beam down to help in the search, but shortly after talking to Chief Engineer Vanderberg, another miner is killed and a reactor pump is stolen. Scotty juryrigs a replacement but predicts an eventual reactor failure which would cause a planetwide contamination. Now facing a race against time, Kirk and Spock join the search directly and with the aid of Spock's tricorder, manage to find a silicon based life form that can easily burrow through the the planet's interior. They wound the creature with a phaser blast, but it escapes. While remaining on the same mining level, Kirk and Spock are forced to take separate tunnels. At one point the creature attempts to collapse Kirk's tunnel, but the captain avoids the debris and stumbles upon a large deposit of round silicon objects, the same objects that had been found throughout the lower mining levels and had somewhat interested Spock just after their arrival to Janus VI. Suddenly, the creature appears. Kirk draws his phaser, but the creature doesn't attack. When Spock discovers what's happening, he hurries to join the captain. After observing the creature for a short time, Spock decides to make telepathic contact and learns that the creature is a Horta, an intelligent and peaceful entity which turned to attacking the miners after the miners broke into her hatchery and destroyed many of the silicon objects which were her eggs. McCoy treats the Horta's injury, the reactor pump is retrieved, and a deal is struck which would bring the hostilities to an end. The miners will continue their operations while the Hortas burrow their way to the planet's mineral deposits. As the Enterprise departs from Janus VI, the miners learn to live among the Hortas and look forward to becoming embarrassingly rich.

My Review: A true classic in every sense of the word.  A simple investigation turns into a tale of murder, mayhem and monsters. Spock totally steals the show as he mind melds with the Horta, while Jim has to nearly get himself killed to get any attention and Bones utters the immortal line: I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer. There's a rentamob possee of irrate miners and I bet they didn't even get a reprimand when they mugged those poor red shirts too. A truely must-see episode of the series.

23/03/1967    Errand of Mercy

Stardate 3198.4 - 3201.7

While negotiations quickly break down between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, the Enterprise is sent to Organia, a planet of primitive people strategically located between the two sides. Kirk and Spock beam down in an attempt to convince the peaceful Organians to accept Federation aid and protection against the Klingons. The Organians, however, show no interest in their offer and suggest that they go back to the Enterprise as soon as possible. Confused by their response, Kirk tries to explain the benefits of Federation aid while emphasizing the horrors of a Klingon occupation. As predicted, the Klingons invade, and the Enterprise is forced to withdraw and wait for the Federation fleet. To help them, the Organians disguise Kirk and Spock as an Organian and a Vulcan merchant, but it isn't long until the two Enterprise officers sabotage a Klingon ammunition depot in an effort to keep the occupation army off balance and to show the Organians how to resist the Klingons. Shocked by what has taken place, the Organians reveal the identities of Kirk and Spock and allow them to be captured, but while they await execution the Organians set them free. Bewildered by their behavior, Kirk decides to ignore the Organians and concentrate on creating havoc for the Klingons while they wait for help. Meanwhile, the Enterprise returns to Organia, now reinforced with the Federation fleet. As both sides gear-up for battle, the Organians decide that something must be done and quickly deactivate every weapon on both sides. Not the primitives that they appeared, the Organians are actually highly advanced beings of energy who abhor violence. Both sides are forced to sign a peace treaty, leaving the Klingon commander musing over the glory that could have been.

My Review: The Klingons are finally introduced and it's a fantastic episode too. John Colicos totally steals every scene as Commander Kor, while Kirk and Spock fight over what's left. The rest of the Enterprise crew (Sulu and Uhura) appear in what can only be called cameo appearances and Uhura a non-speaking on at that. The Organians are an interesting if unoriginal sci-fi concept, at least here though they have a certain grounding and conviction given the excellent performances by the guest cast. There's a nod to the future too, we do indeed see the peace treaty established with the Klingons in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and regular partnership in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.  Although the Organians will be mentioned again they won't be seen again in the series' because they're far too limiting a concept especially for the cowboy diplomacy of the Enterprise.

30/03/1967    The Alternative Factor

Stardate 3087.6 - 3088.7

While in orbit above a barren planet, a strange phenomenon causes the planet to "wink out" and attain zero gravity, a state of non-existence, the effects of which are felt throughout the galaxy. Starfleet evacuates the area around the center of the effect and orders the Enterprise to investigate, fearing that what they are experiencing may be a prelude to an invasion from an alternate universe. Kirk, Spock, and a security team beam down to the planet after discovering a life form on the previously uninhabited world. The being they discover is Lazarus, a chaotic almost deranged, man who claims that the effect is being caused by his arch enemy who he is pursuing in a time traveling machine. Upon investigation, most of the wild claims appear to be lies, and Kirk becomes frustrated by Lazaurs. Adding to the confusion, Lazarus begins alternating from rage to calm, frantic insanity to complete control, while a wound on his head disappears and reappears. Lazarus learns of the ship's dilithium crystals and tells the captain that he needs the crystals so that he can find his enemy. Kirk refuses, but Lazarus steals the crystals anyway and then disappears. Kirk beams down to find Lazarus and accidentally transports to an alternate universe where he discovers that Lazarus is, in fact, two identical beings. Lazarus-A is a madman from Kirk's universe while Lazarus-B is a rational man from an alternate, anti-matter universe who has been shifting back and forth between both universes, trading places with Lazarus-A. Both beings cannot coexist in the same universe or both universes will be destroyed, yet this is precisely what Lazarus-A is trying to accomplish. Kirk decides to help Lazarus-B trap Lazarus-A inside a corridor between the two universes where both will exist until time itself is at an end. The plan succeeds, and both universes are saved. Kirk, however, can't help but wonder about the sacrifice made by Lazarus-B and what it would be like to fight a madman forever.

06/04/1967    The City on the Edge of Forever

Stardate 3134.0

While investigating a time disturbance above an uncharted planet, Sulu is rendered unconscious when his overloaded console bursts into flames. McCoy hurries to the bridge and administers a few drops of cordrazine which immediately stabilizes the helmsman's heart flutter. Suddenly, the Enterprise lurches and McCoy is accidentally injected with a large quantity of the drug. In his cordrazine induced frenzy, McCoy exits the bridge and manages to beam himself down to the planet below. After beaming down to find the doctor, Kirk and the landing party discover the object causing the time disturbances, the Guardian of Forever, which can show any point of time in galactic history. While watching Earth's history, McCoy leaps through the portal and as a result drastically changes history. The Enterprise suddenly vanishes, leaving the landing party stranded and speculating if even Earth itself still exists. With no other alternative, Kirk asks the Guardian to replay the history they were viewing when McCoy jumped through the portal. At the point just before McCoy went through, Kirk and Spock jump back into Earth's past, into 1930's New York. After nearly being arrested for stealing clothes, they manage to find shelter and in the process meet Edith Keeler, a social worker who runs the homeless shelter where they are staying. While they wait for McCoy to appear, Kirk becomes quite enamored with Keeler whose insight into the future of mankind is full of optimism and hope. Spock, meanwhile, is able to tap into the memory banks of his tricorder and finds that in order to set things right again Edith Keeler must die. If McCoy is allowed to save her life, Keeler will eventually start a pacifist movement which will delay the entry of the U.S. into WWII and give the Nazis enough time to develop the atomic bomb first and conquer the world. When McCoy is finally reunited with his friends Kirk prevents him from moving Keeler out of the way of an oncoming truck, and she dies. With their history restored Spock, McCoy, and a devastated Kirk return through the time portal and beam back to the Enterprise.

My Review: The big Kirk in love story (even more so than usual) with Joan Collins as the special guest star. The story starts out as usual with a minor emergency then McCoy gets injected with a dangerous drug and calls everyone murderers and assassins like he always does. Then we move to the plot device planet of the week and the big donut of time, McCoy goes through it and changes history so that the Enterprise never existed, but somehow Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura and a couple of random red shirts survive, although as this is Star Trek this is the las we'll see of anyone in a dre costume until the end of the story. The episode then moves to 1930's America, which looks a lot like 1960's Hollywood back lots but without the world weariness of most time travel episodes, maybe they gave the extras regular coffee instead of decaf? Anyway Kirk and Spock stick to the values of the federation and try to steal some clothing and are nearly arrested, but Spock assaults the copper with his Vulcan death grip. They then break into a homeless mission and this is where Kirk meets Edith and falls in love with her. Spock builds a ham radio set and after an accident he sees the future and realises that if Kirk's babe lives then the Nazi's will win WW2, so he plots and conspires with Kirk to kill her. McCoy meanwhile finally arrives back in time and after a short recovery he tries to help the nazis by saving edith's life but Kirk and Spock stop him and History is saved, while Kirk must live witht he knowledge that he may as well have pushed her under the truck himself, but at least the ship and everyone else is ok and we get another cameo by the red uniform gang before the end credits roll after what has been a really great episode full of drama, action, drama, more drama and of course our old friend drama.

13/04/1967    Operation -- Annihilate!

Stardate 3287.2 - 3289.8

An unexplainable epidemic of mass insanity has destroyed a line of civilizations through a portion of the Federation. The Deneva system, where Kirk's brother and his family lives, appears to be the next likely victim. When the Enterprise arrives, Kirk and a landing party beam down only to encounter a hostile reception and to discover that Kirk's brother Peter is dead. Aboard the Enterprise, Peter's widow gives Kirk information about the alien creatures on Deneva, but she dies soon after leaving many unanswered questions. After beaming down to investigate further, Spock is attacked by a flying creature and is infected by the same madness as everyone else on Deneva. McCoy soon discovers that these flying, single-celled creatures are separate parts of a single entity and are the cause of the madness. Tentacles from the parasites grow around a victim's nervous system and inflict considerable pain while forcing the victim to obey the entity. Spock, barely able to control the pain, returns to duty. He beams down to the planet and manages to capture one of the parasites for analysis aboard the Enterprise. After many tests they discover that the parasite creatures are vulnerable to intensely bright light, but when Spock is subjected to the same light which destroyed the parasite he is blinded in the test. Soon after, McCoy realizes that only ultraviolet light is necessary to destroy the parasites, but this information comes too late for Spock. Kirk orders satellite flares positioned around the planet which are able to fully eradicate the parasites and free the Devevans from their control. Surprisingly, Spock's blindness turns out to be temporary. The brightness of the Vulcan sun caused the development of an inner eyelid which protects Vulcans from intense light. With his sight fully restored, Spock returns to his station on the bridge.