TOS - 2.21 - By Any Other Name

When the Enterprise answers a distress call, Kirk finds his ship being hi-jacked by the Kelvans, an alien race from another galaxy who have been sent to find a new home since there's is destined for destruction, They quite fancy our galaxy and want to use the Enterprise to return home to marshall their forces and invade.

This is very much an episode of two halves. The opening act, in which Kirk's landing party is captured on an unconvincing alien planet, is somewhat tedious. The Kelvans are a suitably dangerous foe with the ability to freeze people and also turn them into dodecahedrons, but they are very boring. Warren Stevens plays Rojan, the Kelvan leader, with absolutely no emotions, showing how badly wrong the character of Spock could have gone in the wrong hands. Even when the Kelvans take over the Enterprise things don't really pick up since this is a scenario that we have seen in "Space Seed" and "I, Mudd".

However, the episode improves substantially as Kirk realises that there is no way that he can use force against the Kelvans and we get a much more imaginative solution. Spock has learnt that the Kelvans are actually a gigantic non-humanoid species with 100 tentacles but they have taken on human forms in order to operate in our galaxy. Kirk realises that this is having an effect on the Kelvans, as they are actually now starting to become more human by experiencing emotions and so he develops a plan to give them a little push. This does all seem reminiscent of "Catspaw", but it is handled much more effectively here.

Somewhat inevitably, Kirk's role in proceedings involves him romancing a beautiful female Kelvan who doesn't yet understand what love and romance are all about; this is somewhat reminiscent of Shahna in "The Gamesters Of Triskelion" but at least Kelinda here has an academic understanding of the concepts rather than being completely naive. Kirk's gambit is successful in making Rojan jealous, prompted by a nice scene in which Rojan and Spock talk about emotions, a clever exploitation of the similarities that I originally misjudged.

Kirk's plan also leads to a lovely comic subplot in which Scotty endeavours to drink another Kelvan under the table. This features some amusing drunk acting from James Doohan and some very funny dialogue ("It's...green").

The needling of the Kelvan's emotions finishes with a big fist fight between Kirk and Rojan that is very effective before peace finally breaks out as Rojan finally accepts his humanity. It's a surprisingly happy ending given how things started, and a good example of Star Trek not just being about the Enterprise crew beating its enemies in a straight battle.

Planetary Gazetteer

The planet on which the Enterpise crew meet the Kelvans (and on which they subsequently settle) is not named.

Starship Spotting

The fact that Scotty and Spock have to do something clever with the Enterprise's anti-matter fuel as a means of potentially destroying the starship indicates that it does not yet have a proper self-destruct system.

The Kelvans modify the Enterprise's engines so that it can travel to their galaxy in 300 years rather than several thousand as would normally be the case. There is no reference to this modification being removed after peace is established but I'm guessing that we don't see the ship travel quite so fast again in the future.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode - 4657,5 and 658.9.
• George Takei is still away and so Sulu does not appear. The initial landing party includes two guest crew members - Lt Shea and Yeoman Thompson. The latter is executed by the Kelvans (a clever reverse since we naturally expect the male lieutenant to be killed), and I see that this makes her the only female Redshirt to die in The Original Series.
• The Enterprise passes through the barrier at the edge of the galaxy; when Kirk says that he has already been there, he is referring to the events of "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Although passing through the barrier doesn't seem to give anyone strange powers this time.
• There is another continuity reference when Kirk suggests that Spock again uses his "Vulcan mind trick" to fool their guard, referring to a trick that was successful in "A Taste Of Armageddon".
• We see Scotty's quarters in this episode and find out that it is full of every Scottish cliche going including a kilt, bagpipes and plenty of alcohol!