TOS - 1.28 - The City On The Edge Of Forever

This is an episode which has quite a reputation, often being held up as the greatest ever episode of any Star Trek show. It is very difficult to assess "The City On The Edge Of Forever" with fresh eyes since I was already pretty familiar with exactly what was going to happen and there have been numerous subsequent episodes of Star Trek and other shows that have featured similar storylines of history being changed and a great sacrifice having to be made.

This is the show's second attempt at time travel and it makes an interesting companion piece with "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" where Kirk was trying to prevent the future from changing. And I suppose that this episode is also a tragedy compared with the earlier comedy, although "The City On The Edge Of Forever" does have its lighter moments, such as Kirk's encounter with an unhappy policeman and the banter between Spock and his captain. The time travel here is facilitated by the mysterious Guardian Of Forever, an ancient force that owns a time portal. We find out absolutely nothing about the Guardian due to its habit of speaking in riddles, but it is essentially irrelevant to the story and just a device to get things moving. The design of the Guardian and its planet is also effective, enhanced very much by the alien background sound effects.

Things go wrong for the Enterprise crew when McCoy accidentally injects himself with cordrazine, a "tricky" drug that drives him to frenzied and manic paranoia and then leaping into the past where he does something that changes history so that the Enterprise and the Earth as the crew know it no longer exist. It's a startling transformation from DeForest Kelley despite him being hampered by make-up that is a somewhat over the top. This plot line with McCoy is actually one moment that surprised me since he is soon cured after arriving in his past and it would be normal McCoy's compassion rather than an artificial mania that leads to him changing things. Kelley is also effective as McCoy comes through the effects of the drug as we see the normal doctor starting to return.

Kirk and Spock follow McCoy through the time portal and find themselves in New York City in 1930, at least a week before McCoy's arrival. This means that we actually get to see them spend some time living in the past, working to earn money and buy components so that Spock can build a primitive computer and work out what McCoy has done. This gives the middle of the episode a surprising domestic feel and is a refreshing change of pace. It also gives time to develop a credible romance between Kirk and Edith Keeler.

Edith is a strong and intelligent woman by the standards of most of the female characters that we've seen in Star Trek, let alone the 1930s. She is a visionary with predictions of the future that are strangely specific as to what Kirk knows - atomic power, spaceships, peace and health for all. Joan Collins gives a winning performance, making Edith likeable when her zeal could so easily become annoying. It is just a little disconcerting to this viewer to see Collins play a character that is so far from Alexis Carrington and the similar powerful women that she played in the 1980s.

The fact that Edith is the key to the changes is revealed surprising early, with Spock discovering that he has too futures - one in which she lives and then one in which she dies. There is some attempt at suspense, but this isn't maintained that long since we are starting to run out of episode. Spock therefore soon discovers that if she doesn't die in 1930 then she will have an effect on American foreign policy that delays the USA's entry into the Second World War and resulting in the victory of Nazi Germany. As such, Edith Keeler must die.

To my mind, these climatic scenes do suffer from being somewhat rushed. It is barely minutes between us finding out about Kirk's dilemma until the event happens for us to get that emotionally involved. But the subsequent impact on Kirk is effective, and his silence speaks volumes, even when arriving back in the future.

So is this the greatest Star Trek episode ever? I can certainly see its strengths and the clever way in which it uses a science fiction concept to affect its characters. But I have probably enjoyed other episodes more even so far, and I know that I have other classics to come...

Planetary Gazetteer

We get the show's second trip to Earth, but it is again in the past (this time 1930).

The Guardian of Forever's planet is not named.

General Observations

• This is the first episode since "The Cage" not to have a Stardate (and that was before the concept had been created). After history of change, Kirk explains that this is because time as he understands it no longer exists, but there wasn't even a Stardate given in any of the earlier log entries.
• There is no explanation as to why Kirk and the rest of the landing party is unaffected when history changes. It is presumably due to their proximity to the Guardian of Forever, but this is not actually confirmed.
• We get another version of McCoy's developing catchphrase when he says that he is "a surgeon, not a psychiatrist".
• John Winston makes his third appearance as the transporter chief (not yet named as Kyle) after "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Space Seed".
• Despite the drama of the episode, there are some lovely moments that are almost reminiscent of a farce as Spock or Kirk keep missing McCoy when they are all in Edith's mission.
• Let's spend a moment to remember the poor man who accidentally zaps himself when he takes McCoy's phaser. Given the care that was taken in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" of returning everyone to their proper time and place, it is fortunate that he has no effect on future history.
• It is amusing to this viewer that the soundtrack for the episode includes the period song "Goodnight Sweetheart" since that was of course the name of a BBC sitcom featuring time travel.

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TOS - 1.27 - Errand Of Mercy

One of the surprises that I have had with this watch through of the Original Series is how little the famous alien races of Star Trek have featured so far. The Romulans were introduced back in “Balance Of Terror”, but they have not been seen or even mentioned since. And it is only now, right at the end of the first series, that we meet the Klingons. I was first introduced to the Klingons in the movies and The Next Generation and therefore remember being very shocked when I first saw what they looked like TOS – just swarthy men with dark skin make up and oriental style facial hair that does make them look uncomfortably like generic Eastern stereotypes. Their honour based society has also now yet been established. It is therefore interesting to speculate as to quite why they became so established, especially when compared with the Romulans who at least have their shared heritage with the Vulcans as a point of interest. Whilst it is likely the re-use of the Klingonds could have been down to budgetary concerns (what with all those pointy ears needed when Romulans appear), it is possibly not overstating to things to suggest that a lot of the success of these particular aliens could come down to John Colicos, who plays Kor, the Klingon commander in “Errand of Mercy”. Colicos gives an utterly charming performance, oozing smoothness as a ruthless character who could otherwise have come across as something of a pantomime villain. We are left in no doubt that Kor is formidable opponent for Kirk, but he is still able to admire and show respect for the Federation captain, and this makes him more three dimensional. Even though Kor does some horrible things and makes our heroes suffer, we aren’t really upset or annoyed when he doesn’t get any sort of comeuppance at the end of the episode. What Colicos is able to do with Kor is made especially clear when compared with that of Victor Lundin, who portrays the un-named Klingon lieutenant in a shouty monotone that is not a million miles from the Ogrons in Doctor Who.

“Errand Of Mercy” plunges us straight into a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Enterprise is sent to Organia, a planet in a strategic location, but Kirk’s negotiations are interrupted when the Klingons invade and claim the planet. The Enterprise cannot hold off an entire Klingon fleet and so Kirk sends it away, leaving him and Spock alone to not just survive, but to also defeat the Klingons and achieve their mission to convince the native population to let the Federation use Organia in the war. The set-up for the episode does make the viewer think that they know exactly where it is going, with Kirk and Spock undercover and undertaking guerrilla warfare against the invaders, presumably to succeed against all the odds. However, yet again Star Trek subverts expectations, due to the wildcard actions of the Organians. The script of the episode cleverly establishes that there is something not quite right about the inhabitants of the planet. They appear to be a medieval society, but certain individuals have an un-natural awareness when the Klingons do indeed arrive. They are keen to maintain peace and do whatever necessary to avoid violence – at one point turning on Kirk but the next moment helping him. This unpredictably could become somewhat annoying, but John Abbott, plays leader Ayelborne, is just so likable. And we do get finally get an explanation for their behaviour when it is transpires that the Organians are actually a race of powerful non-corporeal beings, and hence they clearly have nothing to fear from the Klingons. They are so keen for peace that they are able to instantly stop the war all over the galaxy. Given the episodic nature of The Original Series, it was inevitable that the war would not be able to play on into subsequent instalments, but this is a bit of a deus ex machina moment (and having two sides being prevented from fighting does seem a somewhat artificial way of delivering peace since the underlying tensions will still be there). It is also pretty similar to what happened in “Arena”, not that many episodes previously.

It is interesting to see the effect of war on Kirk during the episode. He does tell the Organians that he is a “solder, not a diplomat”, and this is clear since he very quickly gets frustrated when he doesn’t get what he wants. Following the Klingon invasion, he is very gung-ho when planning his guerrilla attacks, seemingly not caring about the consequences for the Organians (or himself, since he does give himself away very easily by not spotting what does seem to be a very obvious listening device ). But it is quite uncomfortable to see him quite so annoyed when the Organians stop him from fighting the Klingons and arguing for the right to wage war – a far cry from the more thoughtful character that we have seen previously, although at least the final scene on the bridge does at least provide an opportunity for him to reflect on his actions.

Planetary Gazetteer

Organia: The only M-class planet in an area of space that is claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It has an indigenous population that are believed to be primitive but it turns out that they have evolved into non-corporeal beings of pre energy and thought.

Starship Spotting (Or Not Actually...)

Although the episode features the Enterprise in a battle with a Klingon ship and a whole fleet then arriving at Organia, no Klingon starships are actually seen on screen in the original version of the episode as a cost saving measure. It is only in the remastered version that new CGI effects are used to show the Klingon ships in the design that would later be established (the D7 class, apparently).

The Enterprise travels at Warp Factor 7 and no one is very concerned, which is a contrast from "Arena" when operating at this speed but the ship at risk of being destroyed.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3198.4 and 3201.7.
• Neither McCoy nor Scotty appear in the episode.
• The Organians predict that the Klingons and the Federation will become “firm friends” in the future. This may be overstating things a little, but they do indeed become allies by the time of The Next Generation.
• There is not a lot of background information given about the Klingon Empire in the episode other than the fact that it is a ruthless military dictatorship. There is no real background to the conflict between the Klingons and the Federation, nor any reference to the fact that there has been an earlier war between them (which we will see in Discovery).
• Kor knows of Kirk as the captain of the Enterprise before they meet, but he presumably doesn’t know what he looks like. Spock is presumably less well known to the Klingons since he uses his own name when undercover.
• Kirk proposes that the Federation provide technology to improve life on Organia in return for being able to use the planet in the war. This doesn’t seem particularly consistent with what has already been established about the Prime Directive!

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TOS - 1.26 - The Devil In The Dark

When the Enterprise answers a distress signal from a mining colony that is being terrorised by an unknown monster that has so far killed over 50 people, it at first appears that we are in for a re-run of “The Man Trap”. At first, Kirk is again pretty gung-ho in wishing to hunt down and kill the creature, despite Spock’s concerns when he theorises that this could be the last of its kind. But, fortunately, we do see that Kirk isn’t quite so simplistic despite his “shoot to kill” reputation, and the script cleverly undermines out expectations as Kirk attempts to understand the creature and it turns out that it was only killing the humans since the colony was threatening its eggs. As such, this is probably the most archetypal Star Trek story so far, using the an analogy involving a blobby monster to show the penalties of fear and the benefits of empathy and trying to understand your enemy as we get a happy ending as both human and creature attempt to understand each other and compromise in order to get a happy ending that benefits everybody. The concept is not dissimilar from “Arena”, but it is handled more successfully here in the context of the tropes of a conventional monster movie.

The episode takes place almost entirely upon the mining planet of Janus V. The tunnel sets are surprisingly impressive, although this is undermined somewhat by the floor being unnaturally flat. They are also very brightly lit, so there isn’t a lot of menace in the sequences where various people are in danger of attack. The design of the creature, named as a Horta, is also surprisingly effective – it is clearly a man crawling on the floor whilst covered by some blobby plastic, but it isn’t completely comical and I actually found the scene where it cowers from Kirk’s phaser quite affecting.

Even though this is very clearly an episode with a message, it still manages to very entertaining, despite the fact that not a lot actually happens and there are an awful lot of scenes of people wandering around cave tunnels. It is also not an episode that should be thought about too closely. The tactics of the colonists are somewhat reckless – continuing to post lone sentries in areas of danger despite the fact that 50 people have already been killed (although Kirk essentially does the same with his security officers). There is also yet another countdown to danger when the Horta steals the main circulating pump from the colony’s nuclear reactor with the effect that it will soon go critical. This artificial time limit isn’t really successful in introducing any additional tension and it does raise all sorts of questions, such as why the colony doesn’t have a spare of such a critical component and quite how the Horta was able to delicately remove and transport it, despite being just a blob of rock.

In terms of the regular cast, the focus here is very much on Kirk and Spock. At one stage, it looks like there is going to be conflict between them over whether or not the Horta should be killed, leading to an odd moment when it appears that Kirk is attempting to marginalise Spock’s involvement in the hunt for the creature in order to stop him from interfering. But this doesn’t really come to anything, with Spock actually agreeing that it is necessary to kill the creature in order to protect the colony. Ultimately, it is very convenient that Spock is present since it the use of a Vulcan mind meld (although not yet named as such) which allows Kirk to understand the Horta’s motivations. The mind-meld gives Leonard Nimoy another reason to do some un-Spock-like emoting as her feels the pain of the Horta, although this doesn’t seem that unusual coming so soon after “The Other Side Of Paradise”. DeForest Kelley doesn’t have much to do in this episode, but he certainly has an impact. His reaction is priceless when Kirk asks him to treat the injured Horta, and his line “I’m a doctor not a bricklayer” will of course go on to spawn a number of variants in later episodes. But his joy when succeeding is infectious and he is given another line which was already familiar to me despite this being my first viewing of the episode (“By golly Jim, I’m beginning to think I can cure a rainy day!”).

Planetary Gazetteer

Janus VI: A mineral rich planet on which the Federation has established a colony and a production facility for the mining of pergium, an element that is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. The planet is home to the Horta, an intelligent silicon-based lifeform that emits a corrosive acid to allow it to move through rock. Every 50,000 years, all of the Horta die apart from one individual which is responsible for caring for thousands of eggs that will repopulate the species.

General Observations

• A single Stardate is given in the episode – 3196.1.
• Neither Sulu not Uhura appear in the episode. The absence of Nichelle Nichols means that there are no female speaking parts in the episode and the only time that we see any women on screen is in the background of the brief closing scene on the bridge.
• We see the largest number of Enterprise security officers yet – initially a team of six (one of whom is killed by the Horta) and then eight, all led by Lt Cdr Giotti (who appears to the Enterprise’s chief of security). The security officers aren’t that effective since they are somewhat easily overwhelmed by a few colonists wielding sticks.
• This episode introduces some terminology for the two type of hand-held phaser that we see being used during the series – the small devices are called “Phaser 1” and the pistols are “Phaser 2” and are more powerful.
• The scene where Kirk is confronting the Horta includes a number of shots for Kirk from behind when this is clearly not William Shatner. This was to cover for Shatner’s absence during part of the shoot due to the sudden death of his father.

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TOS - 1.25 - The Other Side Of Paradise

The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III where an agricultural colony had been established several years previously, not knowing that the planet was bombarded by deadly Berthold rays which would have killed anyone spending an extended period time. Kirk is therefore surprised to find the colony thriving, with McCoy’s examinations showing that the colonists are actually healthier than when they left Earth. The episode sets up an intriguing mystery, although this is resolved relatively quickly when it is soon revealed that the colonists have been infected by alien spores that give health but at the penalty of imbuing a sense of indolent happiness. The story then mutates into something that is reminiscent of “The Naked Time” as the Enterprise crew become affected although here the crew act as if they are high on drugs, rather than drunk. In a less than subtle allegory of the hippy drugs culture of the time, this causes a mass revolt of the crew who all now leave the starship in order to join the colony. However, it soon becomes clear that there won’t be a medical solution this time around with McCoy being affected with DeForest Kelley amusingly exaggerating the doctor’s Southern roots.

This is a key episode for Spock since the colonists includes Leila Kalomi, a woman from his past who it transpires was in love with him despite Spock’s nature meaning that he could not fully reciprocate. Spock become the first of the Enterprise crew be infected, leading to some amusing scenes in terms of his disinterest in Kirk’s orders whilst hanging playfully from a tree, as well as laughing and joking with Leila. Leonard Nimoy is wonderful in the episode, especially when he is cured and we can feel his pain and conflict at having been happy for the first time in his life. Nimoy has effective chemistry with Jill Ireland, who gives a lovely luminous performance as Leila which shines through despite the fact that she is victim to the horrible soft focus that is heavily used the shots of guest female characters in the show.

Despite this focus on Spock, William Shatner still gets plenty to do as Kirk is initially unaffected by the spores and becomes the last man standing. The scenes of him alone on the bridge are just as affecting as Spock’s emotional journey. The plotting of the episode does fall down somewhat here since it is not explained why Kirk is not affected by his first face full of spores but then succumbs to the second attack in what is an unintentionally hilarious scene as the alien plant rises in the foreground of the shot. It is also unclear how is ultimately able to break through from the subsequent effects – I think it is possibly to do with his anger at having to leave his beloved Enterprise, but some explanation would be nice since it is otherwise a bit of a leap for him to conclude that negative emotions can counter the infection. I’m not sure that this solution makes a lot of biological sense, but it does lead to a very effective sequence in which Kirk tries to rile Spock. Kirk’s insults have no effect on Spock until the captain starts criticising Leila, cleverly tieing the romantic plot back into the science fiction. The resulting fight is unfortunately marred by another instance of very obvious stuntmen.

All in all, “This Side Of Paradise” is successful in delivering an emotional and affecting story with a lightness of touch involving appropriate character based humour that doesn’t undermine the drama. I see that this is another episode to be written by DC Fontana who, after “Charlie X” and “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” is clearly proving to be the show’s secret weapon…

Planetary Gazetteer

Omicron Ceti III: The plant on which the colony has been established. Spock indicates that the alien plants that cause all the trouble did not originate on this planet, but have arrived there from space and are sustained by the Bertold rays.

Berengaria VII: A planet on which Spock has apparently seen a dragon.

General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode 3417.3, 3417.5 and 3417.7. Curiously, it seems like more time has elapsed between the first two log entries than between the second and third, despite them both equating to 0.2 units of Stardate time.
• James Doohan does not appear as Scotty in the episode, although the chief engineer is mentioned when a lonely Kirk tries to contact him from the bridge. There are some returning crew members – Michael Barrier as DeSalle (previously seen in “The Squire Of Gothos”) and Grant Woods as Kelowitz (returning from “The Galileo Seven” and “Arena”). However, there is yet another navigator – Mr Painter.
• Spock’s race is given as both Vulcanian and Vulcan. It is again mentioned that Spock’s mother is human and his father is from Vulcan, but we now find out that they are a teacher and an ambassador respectively. Spock also reveals that he has another part to his name, but this is unpronounceable by a human.
• Another Stabase is mentioned (27) as the location to which the Enterprise is intending to transport the colonists after the evacuation of Omicron Ceti III. There is also mention of an Admiral called Komack at Starfleet Command.

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TOS - 1.24 - A Taste Of Armageddon

The Enterprise is on a diplomatic mission to Eminiar VII only to discover that it is in the midst of a centuries long war with a neighbouring planet. There is a surprise to Kirk and his crew, since there is no evidence of this. It turns out that the war is being fought by computers which calculate the effects of virtual attacks in terms of the number of casualties within the population who then willingly submit to disintegration. This arrangement allows the war to be fought whilst leaving the civilisation intact. Kirk becomes directly involved when the ship is deemed to be a casualty of the latest attack and the Eminians demand that the crew surrender and be killed.

This episode is certainly built around an intriguing concept and it is interesting that it comes shortly after the Federation’s Prime Directive of non-interference has been established. I can very much imagine a Next Generation version of the episode in which Picard grapples with finding a way of saving his crew whilst avoiding direct interference in the affairs of the planet. But that’s not what happens here – Kirk makes his distaste for what is going on very clear and he is soon doing his best to stop things, first destroying disintegration chambers and ultimately threatening to destroy everything on the planet (I was expecting this to be a bluff but this seems not to be the case since Scotty seems to know exactly what General Order 24 involves and there has been no opportunity for him to pre-arrange a deception with Kirk). It turns out that Kirk is right in his theory that the computer war is making things too easy and the two planets have had no reason to seek peace and so his actions could end up saving thousands of lives in the future, but his actions all do seem somewhat heavy handed. Given that the episode was made in the midst of the Vietnam War and whilst the Cold War was intensifying, it does manage to avoid being overwhelmed by its anti-war sentiments. I think a lot of this comes from the fact that, despite the huge stakes, the episode features its fair share of humorous lines in the midst of the drama (such as Spock’s reaction when bursting into the council chamber to rescue Kirk only to find that the captain has already gained the upper hand). We do end on another big speech from Kirk at the end, about how humans must understand that they are killers and decide not to follow these instincts, but I actually found this one very effective.

After “The Return Of The Archons”, it is nice that we get a proper science fiction society with the Eminians rather than some unexplained Earth history throwback. It is interesting that all of the Eminians that we meet have a name with a number, which seems to be illustrative of a dehumanising element to the society and making people more compliant when submitting to suicide. Unfortunately, there are some questionable design choices on the planet – the men have odd costumes with different covered legs that makes them look reminiscent of Thunderbirds puppets (with added silly hats for the guards) whereas Mea-3 appears to be wearing something made out of a curtain, albeit one that is positioned to barely maintain her dignity.

It is interesting that Kirk faces two antagonists within the episode, both of which actually survive and go on to grow as characters. Anan-7, the Eminian leader, is a suitably devious foe, doing whatever he can to maintain the status quo but it is difficult not to sympathise with his position, at least at first. This contrasts with Ambassador Robert Fox, another stubborn civilians who orders Kirk around without and is very much cut from the same cloth as High Commissioner Ferris from “The Galileo Seven”. However, Ferris did at least have a point in the earlier episode. Fox is particularly here unlikeable since he doesn’t seem to have a clue what he is doing, but he is at least humbled when he realises that he has been wrong about the Eminians is rescued from absorption by the Enterprise crew.

This is a particularly notable episode for Scotty, with the Chief Engineer having a number of good moments, particularly showing his intelligence in working out that the communications from Kirk have been faked, and then later standing up to Ambassador Fox. James Doohan certainly makes the most of being let out of engineering and we can see him becoming a much more important member of the cast.

Planetary Gazetteer

Eminiar VII: The principal planet in star cluster NGC 321. It is an advanced civilisation that has had space flight for several centuries but its inhabitants have never left their own star system, presumably due to the distractions of the war that it has been fighting for 500 years. It is ruled by a High Council that is headed by the First Councilman.

Vendikar: The planet with which Eminiar VII is at war. It is the third planet in the Eminiar system and it was originally established as colony by the Eminians. The origins of the war are never explained.

Starship Spotting

The USS Valiant made contact with Eminiar VII fifty years previously but it then disappeared. It is implied that it was a casualty of the war.
General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode – 3192.1, 3192.5 and 3193.0. The last of these is notable since it is in a log by Scotty rather than Kirk or Spock.
• This is the first episode to give the full name of the United Federation of Planets, expanding from the mention of the Federation in “Arena”.
• Sulu does not appear in the episode; the fact that Scotty is left in command implies that he isn’t even on the ship at this point. Sulu’s position at the helm is taken by Lt DePaul with Sean Kenney reprising the role from “Arena” (where DePaul was a navigator rather than helmsman). Another returning character is Yeoman Tamura (played by Miko Mayama), who had appeared briefly in "The Return Of The Archons" (although the character had not been named there). She appears to be part of the security team that accompanies Kirk and Spock in the landing party, along with Galloway and Osborne. Yet again, all of these red shirts survive the episode indicating that that particular cliché has not yet taken hold.
• The episode gives Spock another intriguing ability in which he is seen to be able to mentally influence an Eminian guard to get him to open the door to the crew’s cell. He again refers to himself as a “Vulcanian” (rather than Vulcan as we later become established).
• I’m unclear how Ambassador Fox and his anonymous companion are able to beam down to Eminiar VII since this is still the point at which Scotty is refusing to drop the Enterprise’s shields and the Eminians are waiting for him to do this so that they can shoot the starship down.

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TOS - 1.23 - Space Seed

Due to the success of the second Star Trek movie, Khan Noonien Singh is probably the most famous and iconic villain in the series. It is therefore really interesting to see the birth of the character in this episode. Ricardo Montalban does indeed put in a fabulous performance, making Khan a suitably charismatic but still his-sable opponent for Kirk. We clearly see how Khan thinks that he is superior to everyone else, but he is not above manipulating them to get exactly what he wants. Montalban is noticeably lower key in his performance here than when reprising the role in the movie, which does suit the tone of the episode. However, great as Montalban is, he is somewhat bizarre casting for a character that is explicitly said to be a Sikh!

The first half of the episode sees Khan essentially a guest of Kirk's on the Enterprise and this definitely leads to an effective sense of foreboding as we know that things are going to be go very wrong. This does however have the effect of making Kirk look somewhat foolish in allowing Khan free reign over the Enterprise's technical specifications. When Khan makes his move to take over the Enterprise, things move really quickly and it isn't long before things look hopeless for Kirk and the crew. The rushed feel of the second half of the episode continues as Kirk is able to recover the situation almost as easily. This includes another fight which, although impressively staged, is shot in a way to make it very clear that this isn't William Shatner taking part in much of it. Given how much is made of Khan's immense strength, I was expecting this to be a nice reversal and a situation that Kirk cannot resolve with his fists. But no, Kirk does indeed win, helped only be a bit of metal that he extracts from an engineering console (precisely what is this supposed to be?)

The episode gives us some interesting information on what has happened to the Earth prior to the events of the series with the introduction of the Eugenics Wars (also referred to by Spock as World War III). Khan is one of a number of selectively bred individuals with immense intelligence and strength who went to become dictators, prompting a war with the rest of humanity. Khan ruled a third of the world, and was the last of the supermen to be defeated before escaping into space in a 1990s space ship. This is all a really interesting back story to the episode, but it is bizarre that it was decided by the producers that all of this would take place in the 1990s. This was, after all, not that far in the future from the time that the show was made so it must have been unlikely that we would have interplanetary travel by then, let alone genetically bred supermen given that, given Khan's age, he would have to have been born prior to 1967 when the episode was originally aired.

We have had a number of unprofessional female crew members appear in the series, but Lt Marla McGivers surely takes the prize. She becomes obsessed with Khan before he even wakes up, before completely ignoring Kirk's reprimand and helping Khan's mutiny without that much persuasion. She does end up saving Kirk's life, but she does get off quite lightly at the end of the episode by being given the choice to join Khan's exile. McGivers is another example of the show including female characters but then undermining them at every turn. At least Uhura stands firm and resists Khan, and it is quite shocking when she is hit by one of Khan's men.

I was of course aware of Khan's fate to be marooned on Ceti Alpha V since this is of course where we find him "The Wrath Of Khan". However, I was expecting this to be something that happened in the heat of the battle between him and Kirk. I was therefore staggered to see it actually being the result of Kirk setting himself up as judge and jury, instantly bypassing a more formal system of justice that would have seen him receive proper punishment for his crimes. It was also somewhat reckless, given the extreme likelihood that Khan would escape (almost as if deliberately setting up a sequel...) But even more surprising is Khan's passive response to this trial and the fact that he almost seems keen to build a new world. This makes for a very disappoint climax, with such a compelling villain so easily neutered.

Planetary Gazetteer

Ceti Alpha V: The planet on which Kirk abandons Khan and his people. It is habitable but "a bit savage [and] somewhat inhospitable". We will see from "The Wrath Of Khan" that this was something on an understatement.

Starship Spotting

Khan's ship is the SS Botany Bay, a DY-100 class vessel from the 1990s that is designed for interplanetary rather than interstellar travel. It cannot travel faster than light and so is a sleeper ship in which its occupants enter suspended animation due to the very long transit times. It is nuclear powered and, somewhat quaintly, has transistor based computers.

The DY-500 class is a similar type of ship that was built much later.

It is mentioned that faster than light travel was discovered in 2018. This will be later retconned in "First Contact" (the movie one) which was a sensible move since I didn't spot it happening last year...

General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode - 3141.9, 3142.8 and 3143.3.
• The Enterprise is originally planning to take Khan and his people to Starbase 12 in the Gamma 400 star system. Like Starbase 11, this is located on an un-named planet rather than being a space station.
• Sulu does not appear in the episode; his position at the helm is instead taken by Lt Spinelli. Two other bridge officers are named as Technicians First Class Thule and Harrison.
• The transporter chief overpowered by Khan is played by John Winston who had appeared in the same role in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday". I see that Winston will go on to appear in nine further episodes and his character will go on to be named as Lt Kyle.
• Lt McGivers is said to be the Enterprise's historian - this would appear to be a somewhat bizarre role on a Starship exploring the fare reaches of the galaxy, but perhaps not given the number of civilisations that we are meeting that seem to be based on some period in Earth's history (not to mention the fact that time travel is now taking place). However, Kirk doesn't really know her name, perhaps suggesting that she hasn't yet needed to do much and is spending all of her time obsessing over the past...
• The episode features a really bizarre scene in which Kirk, Scotty and McCoy show a great deal of respect and admiration for Khan and his fellow supermen. Given the death and destruction that he has wreaked, this seems a very flippant attitude from our heroes and, not for the first time, I was very much on Spock's side of the argument!
• There is more blatant sexism when we see Khan reviving his crew - all of the men have smart red jumpsuits while the women are stuck in gold bikinis!
• This is the first episode to establish that McCoy is not keen on the transporter - he has beamed around in previous episodes without any comment. McCoy is actually served really well in the episode, and their is a fabulous scene in which he shows no fear when threatend by Kirk, even advising him of the best place to use a scalpel to kill him.
• "Space Seed" is certainly an evocative title, but I have no idea what relevance it has to the episode in question! Reading some background, I think the title is left over from an early concept for the episode in which the SS Botany Bay was a "seed ship", transporting undesirables away from an overpopulated Earth in a parallel of the Australian prison colony set up by the English empire and from where the ship gets its name. This is retained in the finished episode only as Kirk's theory about the ship, which Spock is illogical.
• Many episode lists have "Space Seed" as the 24th episode in production, following on from "A Taste Of Armageddon". I've used the order from "These Are The Voyages", Marc Cushman's excellent series of books about the production of Star Trek which I am reading in conjunction with these episode viewings.

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TOS - 1.22 - The Return Of The Archons

The search for a missing starship leads the Enterprise to Beta III where the population is under telepathic control of a leader called Landru. This has apparently eliminated all crime and violence from the society, but only through the people passive and having no free will.

This episode is initially disorientating, especially as we are thrown straight into the mission with the initial landing party already in trouble. This odd feeling continues when Kirk investigates what appears to be an 19th Century American town but one where everyone has a blank jollity and is using very odd terminology in their language (“The strangers are not of the Body!”). If things weren’t strange enough, the town suddenly enters “the red hour” for something referred to just as “The Festival” in which everyone switches from passive contentment to unrestrained violence. This sequence is well staffed, especially given the number of people that we see fighting making Beta III stand in contrast to the somewhat sparsely populated planets that we have visited previously.

Somewhat conveniently, the Enterprise crew are able to team up with the few people on the planet who appear unaffected by Landru and one of these rebels is able to prevent Kirk and Spock from falling victim to the mind control. There’s some nice misdirection when we think that Kirk has been affected but is actually pretending (unsurprisingly, he’s a lot more convincing at this than Spock) and it leads to an affecting contrast with McCoy who is under control and whose loyalties are now with Landru. It is ultimately revealed that Landru is a computer, which is cleverly set up by some of the oddities and behaviours within the society to the extent that Spock and Kirk have already worked this out, even if they hadn’t properly explained to the audience yet. It turns out that Landru is acting through misplaced logic rather than any malicious intent and Kirk is able to essentially talk the computer to death. At this stage, this is a refreshing change from the regular climatic fist fight, but I don’t think this will be the last time that we get Kirk confronting a misguided computer in this way…

There’s some interesting ideas in this episode and we do truly feel that the Enterprise crew are in danger, although the fact that the Enterprise itself is being dragged down to the planet doesn’t really add much other than an artificial race against time that is less effective than similar threats in previous episodes. “The Return Of The Archons” is also rather po-faced, with the only humour really coming at the very end in the obligatory jokey final scene as Spock takes being compared to a computer as a complement (which is at least a funny line). But, I ultimately found it unsatisfying due to the sheer number of unanswered questions. There’s absolutely no reason for Beta III to resemble 19th Century America (well, other than budget saving, and Kirk does at least look good in his Wild West outfit), and no background is given to the Festival which appears contrary to Landru’s desire to maintain peace and order (indeed, it is never mentioned again after it stops). There are suitably creepy hooded creatures; they have and booming voices which makes them sound like robots, but are they just normal people with a different type of control? The script also makes a big point that their weapons are just hollow tubes with no mechanism. This makes for another intriguing mystery, but one which is never resolved and we don’t learn how they are able to use these in order to kill or exert Landru’s mind control (something that requires a big sci-fi machine later in the episode).

Planetary Gazetteer

Beta III: A planet in the star system C111. We don’t get an absolute history of the planet, but it is suggested that around 3000 years in the past it had a ruler called Landru. He built a computer that he gave his own name and also a powerful telepathic ability. The computer used this to control the population, believing that it was doing the right thing in order to provide the perfect society unaware that it was actually removing everything that made a person human.

Starship Spotting

The Enterprise is investigating the fate of the Archon which disappeared 100 years previously. It turns out that the starship had been dragged down to the planet and its crew killed or absorbed into the Body (i.e. placed under mind control with the rest of the population). There is some lingering memory of the starship amongst the population with the rebellion using the term Archons for visitors from beyond who might be able to help liberate them from Landru.

General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode – 3156.2, 3187.4 and 3158.7.
• The initial landing party consists of Sulu and Lt O’Neil. Kirk’s subsequent landing party includes a sociologist called Lindstrom who remains behind on Beta III to help the population rebuild their society.
• With Spock and Kirk on Beta III and Sulu incapacitated after being taken over by Landru, it looks like Scotty is in command of the Enterprise.
• This episode introduces Starfeet’s Prime Directive of non-interference, although there is a caveat that this only applies to living and growing cultures so Kirk decides that it does not apply here.
• Spock appears to sleep with his eyes open.

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