TOS - 2.12 - I, Mudd

Whilst there have been many recurring characters amongst the minor Enterprise crew members, “I, Mudd” is notable for being the first episode to bring back an earlier guest star with Roger C Carmel reprising the role of Harcout Fenton Mudd from “Mudd’s Women” back near the start of the first season. Fortunately, Mudd is a far less annoying character here with the script actually making him amusing and charismatic, but also sufficiently dangerous with Kirk who apparently powerless to prevent him from taking the Enterprise. Carmel has also dropped the unconvincing Irish accent that he used in his first appearance, which helps the character massively. One holdover from the earlier episode is Mudd’s sexist attitude to women as he has surrounded himself with 500 identical female androids who are “fully functional”. Fortunately, the episode is not quite as misjudged in terms of its handling of this element as it could have been since the female androids are generally just populating the planet rather than just being s**bots. However, another derogatory female trope is introduced when it is revealed that Harry travelled into space to escape Stella, his nagging and shrewish wife, who he has recreated as an android.

Aside from Mudd, the android society creates a novel threat to Kirk. The androids are not violent or nasty, but they are very much in control and their logical inability to give Kirk the freedom that he wants leads to an effective sense of frustration. Richard Tatro gives a good performance as Norman, the leader of the androids, since he uses a delivery that is sufficiently monotone whilst managing not to be completely boring (but one does wonder how Norman was able to get himself posted to the Enterprise as a new crewman and remain undetected for three days before putting Mudd’s plan into action). The use of identical twins (notably Alyce and Rhae Andrece as the Alice series) is a clever solution to creating a society of androids whilst minimising the number of split screen effects needed.

The first half of the episode is hugely entertaining. There is a lightness of touch, with some nice moments such as the “We’re in a lot of trouble” scene and sparkling dialogue like Mudd’s comment that Spock should be happy on the planet since the androids all talk like him. However, it does start to lose its way somewhat at about the halfway point. It is a nice idea to have the androids turn on Mudd and decide to try and take over the galaxy as a result of seeing how problematic humans are as a result of his behaviour, thus leading to Mudd then having to work with Kirk in order for them to escape, but Mudd doesn’t actually contribute anything to the plan. There are also some interesting plot ideas that don’t really go anywhere. Kirk wonders how his crew would cope with being imprisoned in a gilded cage with everything that they want except freedom, but this isn’t really explored other than McCoy’s enthusiasm for the scientific equipment available to him and Chekov’s enthusiasm for the Alice series. There is also a reference to the androids having the ability to transfer a human’s consciousness into an android body and give them eternal life. It is probably understandable that this element was not pursued since it sounds very similar to “What Are Little Girls Made Of”, and it does result in a nice reverse when it appears that Uhura is tempted by this and betrayed Kirk. But, it is with the resolution that things become more problematic. It is a nice idea to defeat the logical androids by having everyone act completely illogically (albeit a tactic that is essentially the same as when we have seen Kirk talk computers into destroying themselves in previous episodes such as “The Return Of The Archons”), but these scenes do seem to go on forever and the cast don’t seem exactly comfortable with the bizarre behaviour that they need to display. And given the threat that the androids possess, to have them all restored but merely reprogrammed in some unexplained manner seems a bit bizarre. Mudd himself is then left on the planet, surrounded by 500 android copies of his nagging wife. It is clear that Mudd’s fate is supposed to be amusing, but unfortunately it just comes across as Kirk being unnecessarily cruel.

Planetary Gazetteer

Mudd: The planet of the androids does not appear to have a proper name, so this is how it is referred to by Harry Mudd in a typically egotistical manner. It is a K-type planet which means that it can only be inhabited by humans through the use of pressure domes and life support systems. The androids were created by a race many years previously by a race that they call the Makers who originated from the galaxy of Andromeda. Their homeworld was destroyed in a supernova, leaving only a few exploratory outposts such as this planet.

Deneb V: Homeword of the Denebians, a race who were victim of one of Harry Mudd’s scams. The penalty for fraud on this planet is death.

General Observations

• A single Stardate is given in the episode – 4513.3.
• Chekov is not familiar with Harry Mudd. This makes sense given that Walter Koenig only joined the case for the second season, although “The Wrath Of Khan” will later imply that Chekov was on the Enterprise by the time that “Space Seed” took place since Chekov is recognised by Khan.
• Chekov refers to Leningrad, which was of course a city in the USSR at the time that the episode was made. It is forgivable that the production team did not foresee the break-up of the Soviet Union and this city’s subsequent return to its original name of Saint Petersburg in 1991.
• We briefly meet Lt Rowe, a security officer on board the Enterprise.

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TOS - 2.11 - The Deadly Years

When the Enterprise visits a scientific expedition on Gamma Hydra IV, Kirk finds that the four team members have died of old age and the two survivors appear to be elderly, despite all of them being under the age of 30. It isn’t long before most of the landing party are affected in the same way with Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty all facing premature old age.

“The Deadly Years” features an interesting premise, and there is some promising material as we see the effects of old age on our regular characters. While McCoy becomes even more curmudgeonly, Kirk develops into something of a pathetic figure, entering a state of denial over his failing memory and ultimately raging over what he sees as Spock’s disloyalty as his first officer refuses to support him. This is certainly a brave treatment of a lead character who has generally been infallible previously. The actors generally do a fine job in portraying older versions of the characters, aided by make-up effects that are generally highly effective, especially when portraying less significant ageing. It is only when the characters appear at the very eldest that the make-up looks unconvincing, especially that worn by Beverly Washburn as Lt Galloway (and I would imagine that the director agrees about this since we see her much less than anyone else).

The problem with the episode is that it doesn’t really know what to do once its characters have started ageing. There is an attempt to introduce conflict through the presence of an interfering senior officer in the form of Commodore Stocker. He is very different from previous authority figures such as Decker in “The Doomsday Machine”; he is very respectful to Kirk and is acting entirely reasonably in suggesting that Kirk is in no fit state to command the Enterprise as his mental faculties start to fail him. Somewhat bizarrely, Stocker seems to defer to Kirk by calling him “Sir” and not attempting to out-rank him and this means that a hearing is needed to assess Kirk’s competency. This is a nice attempt at introducing conflict between Spock and Kirk, but the hearing seems to go on for ever with it consisting of lots of people reminding us of all of the incidents of Kirk forgetting things that we have just watched in the early part of the episode. Any attempt to present a balanced view of Stocker is thrown away when the commodore takes command of the Enterprise having never done anything like this before and he proves completely incompetent by choosing to enter the Romulan Neutral Zone, presumably just because he wants to get to his destination a little quicker – this seems to be a really bizarre way of moving from part of Federation space to another, especially given that “Balance Of Terror” stated that entering the Neutral Zone was an act of war (although the speed with which the Enterprise is attacked by the Romulans seems to suggest that they had already made an incursion).

The episode also fills time through the inclusion of Dr Janet Wallace, an old flame of Kirk’s who just happens to be on the Enterprise for no explained reason. She had a relationship with Kirk some six year previously but has since married and been widowed. She is said to be an expert in endocrinology (the branch of science that deals with internal organ chemistry and function) which seems convenient given the problems that Kirk faces but she ultimately makes no contribution to the resolution. Indeed, her presence makes very little difference to the episode as a whole – her past romance with Kirk is superfluous since this plays into the storyline only in a bizarre moment when it is implied that she is finding Kirk more attractive as he ages because she was her late husband was much older than she was!

Chekov actually proves to be key to the episode, since he was a member of the landing party but was unaffected and this gives Walter Koenig gets some nice scenes as Chekov gets increasingly frustrated as he is continuously tested in an attempt to find a solution. It turns out that Chekov’s immunity comes from the fact that he was scared by seeing a dead body, which does at least explain the somewhat unprofessional behaviour that he shows in the teaser (his reaction here seems more like a child than a Starfleet officer, even a junior one). And this links into another problem with the episode, namely its absolutely bonkers science. It is revealed that the ageing is caused by some sort of strange radiation on the planet and it can be solved and reversed by a simple shot of adrenaline which instantly returns an aged character back to exactly as they were before. Yes, it was clear that there was going to need to be some scientific hand-waving to cure everyone, but this just seems far too easy!

Planetary Gazetteer

Gamma Hydra IV: A planet on which a Federation scientific expedition led by Robert Johnson has been taking place but which has been irradiated by a rogue comet, thus causing the rapid ageing. It is an M-class planet that is close to the Neutral Zone with the Romulan Empire.

Aldebaran III: Where Dr Wallace and her husband tried various carbohydrate compounds to slow down the degeneration of plant life.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3478.2 and 3479.4.
• Kirk states that he is 34 years old during the episode; this puts him a little younger than William Shatner who was 36 when the episode was filmed.
• Sulu states that he has served with Kirk for two years (presumably this how long he has been posted on the Enterprise).
• Majel Barrett appears as Christine Chapel (the 6th appearance of the character), although she doesn’t really do anything despite the medical theme of the episode. New crew members to feature include Lt Galway (a female science officer who is the only non-regular who is part of the landing party and who ages to death, despite her being much younger than her colleagues) and Atkins, the latest female Yeoman of the Week.
• This is the first episode to even mention the Romulans since they were introduced in “Balance Of Terror” near the start of the first season. We don’t see actually see any individuals, only a number of Birds of Prey.
• The Enterprise is transporting Commodore Stocker to Starbase 10 (this starbase had previously been mentioned in "Operation -- Annihilate!".
• Kirk saves the Enterprise from the Romulans by making them think that the Enterprise is equipped with the devastating “corbomite device” that will destroy everything in the vicinity. This is of course exactly the same bluff that he used in the “The Corbomite Maneuver”.
• It is mentioned that Vulcans age much more slowly than humans. Spock isn’t sure as to whether his half-human heritage will mean that this will apply for him, although it does appear to (fortunately as it turns out in terms of making the character available to turn up in The Next Generation).

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TOS - 2.10 - Mirror, Mirror

An ion storm leads to a transporter accident in which Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and McCoy are transported to a parallel universe. They find themselves on a version of the Enterprise which is operated by the Empire, a brutal and warlike institution, and they meet some very different versions of their crewmates…

It is really interesting to view this episode, given that the Mirror universe has become such an intrinsic element of Star Trek that has endured even up to Discovery. “Mirror, Mirror” is actually quite a low key episode, being essentially a bottle show as we follow Kirk as he comes to terms with his situation and attempts to find a way home for him and his crew. The show had previously dabbled with the idea of parallel universes in “The Alternative Factor” back in the first series. “Mirror, Mirror” is superior to that in so many ways, but its cleverest move is using the conceit to show us alternative versions of our regular characters. However, the episode is constrained in its decision to do this by sending four of our regulars into the Mirror Universe. Each of these characters does contribute something to them all getting home, but it’s unfortunate that this does reduce the number of Mirror versions that we meet. The Mirror Sulu and Chekov are both pretty vicious and nasty as I was expecting, but it is in the treatment of the Mirror Spock that the episode does something realty interesting. Despite him having a Beard of Evil, the Mirror Spock retains his logic and his interest in science, and also some sort of loyalty to Kirk (thus warning him of his instructions to kill his captain if he doesn’t fulfil the Enterprise’s mission). It’s actually refreshing that the script has not used the Mirror conceit to unleash a more emotional Spock again, and this subtlety actually makes him seem a more dangerous threat to Kirk

The storyline is cleverly constructed in testing Kirk. The episode uses the contrasting attitudes of the Mirror universe to emphasise Kirk’s compassion and showing that his determined to avoid committing genocide, despite the fact that this risks alerting Spock that something odd is going on. This also extends to Kirk ordering that McCoy should save Mirror Spock’s life, something which is ultimately rewarded when Spock helps him return. Kirk also encourages Spock to do things differently and make a difference in this universe. The multi-faceted nature of the Mirror Spock means that this does seem like a credible next step and a nice means of showing that Kirk is potentially making a difference even in this alternative universe.

The method by which Kirk and the rest of the landing party travel to the Mirror universe is quite novel in this episode, and seems to have shades of Quantum Leap, not least because they have replaced their counterparts and they arrive already wearing their Mirror style uniforms. This does raise all sorts of questions about the likelihood of the same crew members transporting at exactly the same time despite all of the other differences between the universes, which I guess are probably best ignored. But it does mean that Mirror Kirk and company have ended up on our Enterprise. This in itself would make for an interesting premise for an episode, but it was probably the right decision for this one to on the events in the Mirror universe and it is nice that we do at least get one scene to show that Spock has quickly detected the impostors and for William Shatner to have a bit of fun as the Mirror Kirk.

The episode still finds time to include a love interest for Kirk, although this cleverly exploits the morals of the Mirror Universe through introducing the concept of a “captain’s woman”, which appears to be an official position on an Imperial starship. The Mirror Kirk’s “woman” is a lieutenant called Marlena Moreau. Despite the trappings of her role, Marlena is a strong character and she is the first person to work out that this Kirk is not the man she knows. We are left a little uncertain as to what she will do about this knowledge, but she ultimately saves Kirk’s life. When Kirk returns to his normal universe, he discovers that a version of Marlena has just transferred to the Enterprise. This is not unexpected, but his attitude is just a little creepy as he indicates that he thinks she is a “nice girl” and that he thinks they could be friends…

The Mirror Marlena must have been close to the Mirror Kirk, since she was taken into his confidence about the fact that the captain had his own secret weapon. This is the Tantalus field, a device that had been invented by an alien scientist and which could make anyone just disappear. This had enabled the Mirror Kirk to hold his position, and our Kirk reveals its existence to Mirror Spock in the hope that this will enable him to change things. Giving such a powerful weapon to someone that Kirk doesn’t really know does seem like quite a gamble, since there is no guarantee that Spock won’t use this for his own ends. Indeed, the very inclusion of the Tantalus device in “Mirror, Mirror” stands out, since it is the one part of the episode that isn’t that elegant. It’s a powerful science fiction idea, but it doesn’t really add anything to the narrative and so is somewhat wasted.

Planetary Gazetteer

The Halkan Homeworld: A planet that is rich in dilithium crystals that the Federation and the Empire both wish to mine but they are refused permission by the native Halkans who have a pacifist society in both universes.

Vega IX: Where the Mirror Kirk executed five thousand colonists.

Starship Spotting

The Enterprise in the Mirror universe bears the designation “ISS”. It is not explicitly stated what this stands for, but it is presumably Imperial Starship. In a subtle touch to show the differences, the Mirror Enterprise has a male computer voice, rather than the usual female one. In contrast to the Prime Universe, Spock is not the only Vulcan on the ISS Enterprise (this is mentioned in dialogue and we see one acting as Spock’s bodyguard).

General Observations

• No Stardate is given during the episode – Kirk’s log entries record it as “Unknown”, presumably due to the complications of him having travelled to a parallel universe.
• Even though the Federation has become the Empire in the Mirror Universe, the ISS Enterprise still reports to Starfleet Command.
• The Mirror Sulu is the Security Chief as well as the helmsman (and so he wears a red tunic rather than his usual gold). He has a large scar on his face (although the make-up for this is unfortunately not that convincing).
• McCoy gives another (somewhat less colourful) version of his catchphrase when he tells Scotty that he is a doctor “not an engineer”.
• In a moment of continuity that is unusual at this stage, it is mentioned that the Mirror Kirk gained command of the ISS Enterprise by assassinating Captain Christopher Pike.
• John Winston makes his 9th appearance as Mr Kyle (including as a Mirror version).

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TOS - 2.09 - The Apple

The Enterprise is investigating Gamma Trianguli VI, an apparently idyllic planet that is not quite as welcoming as it seems after members of Kirk’s landing party are killed and even the starship affected and giving Scotty a race against time to prevent it from crashing into the planet. The secret to the planet is that it is being controlled some sort of machine, known as Vaal by the native inhabitants. Vaal maintains the conditions on the planet, and has also prevented the natives from advancing and developing – or even reproducing – since they never age.

“The Apple” is probably the very definition of an uneven episode. It’s based on a clever idea in terms of being a metaphor for the Biblical Garden of Eden with the Enterprise and its crew acting as the apple which brings knowledge to the People of Vaal and leads to the collapse of their paradise. This is all quite clear as the subtext, so it is something of a shame that the script choses to point this out in the final scene. The episode also features some lovely dialogue and character scenes – particular highlights being Kirk threatening to fire Soctty if he doesn’t save the Enterprise from destruction, and a whole scene in which the landing party wonder whether the People of Vaal know how to reproduce which is cleverly scripted in terms of getting its point across within the constraints of 1960s network television. The premise of the episode also gives us the first example of a proper debate about the Prime Directive (here just referred to as the Non-Interference Directive) and whether our crew should interfere in the development of an alien society. This is effectively shown through the prism of our regular characters, as Kirk and McCoy think that it is wrong that the native tribe has been held back whereas Spock takes the opposite position. Unfortunately, the episode doesn’t really follow through on the moral ambiguity of such a decision since the fact that Vaal is posing a direct threat to the Enterprise means that Kirk must attempt to defeat Vaal to save himself and his crew, regardless of the impact on the local society.

On the negative side, the episode does take a very long time to get to its premise with endless scenes of the landing party moving through the jungle whilst various Red Shirts get killed in various ways. The studio bound interior of the planet is effective, but unfortunately the appearance of the People of Vaal is somewhat comical – they look uncomfortable like overgrown Oompa Loompas with their orange skin and white bouffant wigs. The People of Vaal are pretty much the typical primitive alien species that people think of as a common Star Trek trope, even down to their ignorance of love and Kirk having to explain it to them. This means that one has to make a particular effort to think about “The Apple” in context and the fact that it is probably this episode that pretty much originated this cliché.

The portrayal of Vaal in the episode is somewhat disappointing. It is the antagonist for everything that happens, but it is portrayed just as a cave in the form of a snake’s head (more Biblical imagery) with flashing eyes. The natives do go inside the cave to feed it (with fruit, which is interesting since is apparently a machine) but we never see what is inside. And Vaal never actually says anything itself, so we never understand its motivation. Even when it has been destroyed, there is no explanation as to where it has come from, or how this strange society came into existence. I guess that this is not the point of the story, which instead is concentrating on the consequences of what Vaal is doing (and this is clear from the fact that this is a computer controlled world is revealed fairly early on, rather than being a big plot twist), but it would have been nice to have had a line or two to provide some background.

The subplot about the crew introducing love and s** to the People of Vaal works well within the context of the episode by itself, but is somewhat clumsy when viewing Star Trek as a continuing series due to the sudden introduction of Yeoman Martha Landon, who appears to be Chekov’s girlfriend. She hasn’t been seen before and I assume will never be seen again, and so she is clearly just there to give some substance to the discussion of love. However, Celeste Yarnall is charming in the role. She doesn’t get a lot to do, but it is refreshing that Yeoman Landen gets to take part in the climatic fight sequence and is seen to be just as successful in beating her opponents as the male crew members.

Planetary Gazetteer

Gamma Trianguli VI: The planet on which the episode is set. Vaal maintains its temperature at a constant 76 degrees, even at the poles, as well as operating a powerful planetary defence system that is able to affect orbiting starships, as well as people on the surface.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3715.3 and 3715.6.
• Neither Nichelle Nichols nor George Takei appear in the episode; Sulu’s position at the helm is taken by Lt Kyle (John Winston’s 8th appearance as the character). 
• Chekov is called “Pav” by Yeoman Landen – the first indication of his first name (Pavel).
• The landing party features no fewer than four red-shirted security officers (Kaplan, Marple, Hendorff and Mallory) – all of whom perish in various ways while on the planet (Hendorff by a dart firing plant, Kaplan is struck by lightning, Mallory by an exploding rock and Marple by the natives). Mallory is given some background since Kirk mentions that he knows his family, with Kaplan’s father having helped him get into Starfleet Academy.
• Spock is something of a fall guy in the episode – getting shot with darts from a poisonous plant and then hit by lightning. Fortunately, he appears to suffer no ill effects from this (unlike the unfortunate Hendorff and Kaplan).
• Kirk and McCoy joke with Spock about him looking like Satan. This is presumably a reference to some of the concerns that the network chiefs had about the character when the first saw “The Cage”, with the production team now feeling sufficiently confident to poke fun at their bosses given that Spock had by now proved to be immensely popular.

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TOS - 2.08 - The Changeling

It seems like a case of déjà vu when the Enterprise encounters a mysterious and immensely powerful machine that is wiping out all life that it encounters since “The Changeling” comes only a few episodes after “The Doomsday Machine” in which the Enterprise encounters a mysterious and immensely powerful device that is destroying all planets that it encounters. Much as I enjoyed “The Doomsday Machine”, I wasn’t sure that I wanted a rerun quite so soon. Fortunately, “The Changeling” does have a different emphasis to the earlier episode. The eponymous Doomsday Machine was just a device in every sense of the word, an unexplained threat just serving as the catalyst for conflict between Kirk and Commodore Decker. This time, the episode is very much about the device which is essentially the principal guest character.

I was aware of the plot of this episode from the fact that it provided the basis for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in which it is revealed at the climax that the mysterious V’Ger that is threatening the galaxy is actually a Voyager space probe that was launched from Earth hundreds of years previously but has been changed by encounter with aliens. Given this link, I was actually surprised how early it was that “The Changeling” revealed that the device encountered by Kirk was Nomad, a 21st Century probe that had been thought destroyed but had become changed through an encounter with a powerful alien probe, rather than leaving this as surprise twist. However, this is to the benefit of the episode since it can spend time exploring the implications of Nomad’s creation, which is actually a very clever idea given that it is not actually malevolent and is only intent on destroying all human life due to a corrupted conflation of its own programming (to seek out new life) with that of the alien probe that it encountered (sterilising soil).

“The Changeling” is another bottle show, with all of the action taking place on board the Enterprise with Kirk bringing Nomad on board. This means that so much of the episode is dependent upon the execution of Nomad itself. Fortunately, this is very successful – it is well designed and the effect of it floating around the ship is entirely convincing when it could so easily have been comical. Vic Perrin also gives Nomad a voice that manages to be convincingly robotic without being boring. This all makes Nomad sufficiently threatening, enhanced by its throbbing and menacing theme. There is actually great tension in the episode since the Enterprise has only survived destruction since Nomad has mistaken Kirk for its creator, a human scientist called Jackson Roykirk, and we are expecting it to find this out at any moment. The stakes are also raised when Kirk and Spock have realised that they have given Nomad the directions to Earth (which it remembers as its place of origin) and that is keen to return there in order to sterilise it of its problematic biological infection…

Whilst the episode has an interesting threat that is well executed, the script of the “The Changeling” unfortunately struggles to find much actual story and instead is reduced to filling time with old chestnuts with Scotty actually being killed before being “repaired” by Nomad in a manner that is reminiscent of what happened to McCoy in “Shore Leave” (it’s fortunate her the Nomad didn’t chose to completely disintegrate Scotty as he does with the four security guards later on). There is also a bizarre subplot in which Nomad becomes interested in Uhura’s singing (which she conveniently does over the intercom) and decides that this is illogical behaviour and so wipes her mind completely. This is not something that Nomad can reverse and so McCoy must re-educate her from scratch! This is addressed only through one interminable scene of Chapel teaching Uhura to read, but the plan is presumably successful since I can’t imagine that she will have any adverse effects in future episodes (with her memory and personality also restored somehow). Whilst it is nice that the script gives Nichelle Nichols something to do other than sit at the communications console, it is a shame that this subplot is so daft.

Fortunately, the episode does have a satisfying resolution. Whilst it is another example of Kirk talking a machine into destroying itself (as per “The Return Of The Archons”), it is clever that his argument hinges on him revealing that he is not Jackson Roykirk and therefore Nomad is not perfect as it claims to be. We also get a tag scene that manages to be amusing rather than completely tone deaf as Spock congratulates Kirk on his logic, and the captain refers to a Nomad as a promising son.

Planetary Gazetteer

The Malurian System: A star system of four planets with a population of four billion people who are wiped out by Nomad.

General Observations

• A single Stardate is given in the episode – 3541.9.
• Walter Koenig does not appear as Chekov. Majel Barrett makes her second appearance of the series as Christine Chapel. We also briefly meet Lt Singh (who works in Engineering) and a security officer called Lt Carlisle.
• Earth’s star is referred to as Sol by both Kirk and Nomad.
• We get another “He’s dead, Jim” from McCoy, this time referring to Scotty.
• Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld to understand Nomad (last used in “Devil In The Dark”), but it is still not named as such. This is a convenient way to explain Nomad’s background, but it does seem somewhat unlikely that a mind meld would work on a computer!
• Nomad’s weapons travel at Warp 15 and the device later increases the efficiency of the Enterprise’s engines so that it can reach Warp 11 – this beyond what the structure of the Starship can withstand. This indicates that the warp scale was still being developed by the show since, by the time of Voyager (and the episode “Threshold” in particular), no ship can reach Warp 10 since this corresponds to infinite speed.  
• One nice touch about Uhura’s mind wipe is that she is learning English whilst defaulting to Swahili which had been established as her first language in “The Man Trap”. She sings is “Beyond Antares” which was the song that she sang in “The Conscience Of The King”
• Nomad seems to have an inherent knowledge of which Enterprise crew members are regulars and which are disposable Red Shirts – as well as not disintegrating Scotty, it only knocks Chapel unconscious when she tries to stop it accessing Kirk’s medical records – and this occurs shortly after it has had no problem with zapping the security guards into oblivion.

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TOS - 2.07 - Wolf In The Fold

I was vaguely aware of this episode, albeit as one in which Scotty is possessed by Jack the Ripper. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite as daft as I was expecting, and this supposed foreknowledge actually resulted in me finding the resolution quite surprising.

 The bulk of the episode is essentially a murder mystery as Scotty is incriminated in murdering a number of women on the pleasure planet of Argelius II. Things look bleak for him as he is found next to each body with a bloody knife and no memory of what has happened. Unlike many episodes of shows in what a regular character is accused of a heinous crime and is clearly innocent, “Wolf In The Fold” does attempt to make the viewer uncertain since it is explained that Scotty has recently suffered a severe head injury and therefore may not be responsible for his actions. This does introduce some effective drama for Kirk, who also can’t be certain about what has happened as he must balance his loyalty to his friend against his duty of doing the right thing for Argelius II, especially given that this is a strategically important space port.

The episode does throw in another suspect in the form of the first victim’s rejected fiancé, but it is fairly obvious that he is a red herring. The investigation does take an odd turn with something similar to a séance taking place in order to determine the truth of the situation. This scene is superbly directed, with a notable overhead shot, and it does reveal that this is not a normal crime drama since the crimes are being committed by some evil force. It is eventually revealed that the culprit is a shapeless form that feeds off death and fear, and which had been responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders back in the 19th century and was now working its way across the galaxy. However, I was surprised when it was revealed that the host of this entity was not Scotty, but rather Hengist, the mild mannered administrator. This is actually a good example of a less likely character being responsible but where there is also effective foreshadowing since Hengist was the one local character who was suspicious of Scotty and dismissive of Kirk’s investigations, but not enough to be suspicious. However, the fact that Scotty is completely innocent does make his convenient memory lapses a bit odd – it would have been nice to have had an explanation for these!

James Doohan is great in the episode and its nice that he gets to show another side to the usually stoic Scotty. I was also very taken with Charles Macauley who plays the leader of Argelius II with an unexpected nobility, always keen to help Kirk and play fair even when his own wife falls victim. Macauley had previously played the fake form of Landru in “The Return Of The Archons” but is completely unrecognisable here.

The episode had further surprises after revealing the identity of the murderer since it takes a somewhat bonkers change of direction for the last 10 minutes as we learn that the entity has the completely random ability to take over the Enterprise computer, thus giving it the power to terrify the crew. It is interesting to read that this plotline was originally intended to be a key part of the episode, since it comes across as somewhat rushed in the final script since we don’t really feel that anyone at risk – there is a scene in which Spock narrowly avoids being cut in two by an automated door, but this isn’t really shot in a manner that makes it clear that this is what has happened. Kirk’s solution to the problem makes things even more bizarre as he gets McCoy to inject everyone with a powerful tranquiliser that has the effect of everyone appearing stoned. The resulting comedy should jar with the bloodthirsty murders that have come previously, but somehow it doesn’t – provided you don’t think about it too much…

Whilst “Wolf In The Fold” is generally an entertaining episode, it is unfortunate that the rampant sexism of “Star Trek” makes a return with a vengeance. The teaser scene consists pretty much entirely of Kirk, Scotty and McCoy ogling a belly dancer (Scotty very much appears to have got over Carolyn Palamas from “Who Mourns For Adonais?”). Worse, McCoy fears that Scotty could have a resentment of all women after his injury resulted by an explosion caused by a female crew member! This isn’t even used as further justification as to why he might be committing women in his concussed state. Further, the script treats its female characters as victims (all of them are murdered apart from the virtually non-speaking yeoman who sits in on the enquiry), attempting to justify this by stating that women get more deeply terrified than men! Whilst the victims of Jack the Ripper were indeed female, there was no real reason for this emphasis, especially when the entity becomes less discriminating when it has taken over the Enterprise..

Planetary Gazetteer

Argelius II: The setting for the first half of the episode. It has a hedonistic society which originated in a “great awakening” some two hundred years previously. Certain female inhabitants retain empathic abilities that were more common in the past.

Rigel IV: The home planet of Administrator Hengist and where he committed previous murders whilst under the control of the Ripper entity. The planet is home to “the hill people” of the Argus River region who produced the knife used by Hengist. It is presumably in the same star system as Rigel IV (as featured in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie”) and it could potentially be “the Rigel” colony mentioned in “The Doomsday Machine”.

Mars: Earth’s neighbouring planet has been colonised and was the location of an unsolved murder of eight women, which presumably were previous victims of the entity.

Alpha Eridani II: Another planet where the entity committed murders. These took place in a settlement called Heliopolis.

Deneb II: Yet another planet where the entity killed a number of women.

Alpha Carinae V: Home of the Drella, which derives nourishment from the emotion of love.

Alpha Majoris I: Home of a cloud creature mentioned by Spock.

Starship Spotting

The Enterprise is said to be inhabited by “440 humans”, which is slight increase on the figure of around 430 used during the first series.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3614.9 and 3615.4. This is something of a decrease again after the previous episode referred to a Stardate in the 4000s.
• This is the first episode to reveal that Scotty’s first name is Montgomery. It is also implied that he is from Aberdeen.
• Neither Nichelle Nichols nor Walter Koenig appear in the episode. John Winston appears again as Mr Kyle (his seventh appearance) and he gets to indulge in the fun of being stoned. We episode features a new crew member, a technician called Lt Karen Tracey, who is killed virtually immediately by Jack the Ripper (despite not even wearing a red shirt).
• McCoy uses the famous phrase “He’s dead, Jim” when it appears that Kirk has killed Hengist with a single punch

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TOS - 2.06 - The Doomsday Machine

The stakes are high when the Enterprise encounters an automated robotic weapon that is moving through the galaxy, destroying every planet that it encounters. The power of this Planet Killer is displayed by the fact that it has already severely damaged the USS Constellation, another Starship that is identical to the Enterprise.

The second season of the Original Series had a somewhat ropey start, but we’ve now had a second great episode in a row. “The Doomsday Machine” is hugely entertaining despite the fact that, if you think about it, not much actually happens. The Planet Killer is a daunting a threat but by itself is’t that interesting – it is just something of a Macguffin rather than a character in its own right with any motivation. Instead, the drama comes from inside the Enterprise and the presence of Commodore Matt Decker, the commanding officer of the Constellation and the last survivor after his mistakes have resulted in the death of his entire crew. Throughout its history, Star Trek often introduces senior officers as obstacles for respective captains to overcome, but Decker’s behaviour here makes perfect sense as he attempts to deal with what he has done. Indeed, Decker is said to be a friend of Kirk’s, which implies that he must have been an upstanding and rationale Starfleet officer before the events of the episode. However, Decker has now become a version of Captain Ahab from “Moby Dick”, obsessed with destroying the Planet Killer and prepared to put the Enterprise at risk in order to do so. With Kirk stuck on the Constellation, there are some great scenes as Decker pulls rank on Spock, who is powerless to stop him. McCoy is well used here as a means of presenting the emotion of the situation (I love the way that he manages to make adding “Sir” to one of speeches sound like an insult). When Kirk finally makes contact with the Enterprise again and realises what Decker is doing , we see probably his first act of real subordination as he is the one person prepared to stand up to Decker. Kirk’s anger at the commodore endangering his ship manages to be both satisfying and amusing.

William Windom's performance as Decker is great, making the commodore suitably restless in his body language and the way that he is constantly playing with some data bricks. It’s a role that gives plenty of scope for going over the top but Windom generally manages to avoid this; the closest he comes in his first scene and even there he seems subtle compared with William Shatner’s shouty line readings as he demand that Decker tell him what has happened. Despite Decker essentially being an antagonist for the first half of the episode, he is still ultimately a sympathetic character with his decision to sacrifice himself in an attempt to destroy the Planet Killer by flying a shuttlecraft in it. It is a nice inversion of the cliché that his actions aren’t actually successful, but he doesn’t die completely in vain as it gives Kirk the idea to create a bigger explosion using the Constellation. The climatic scenes as Kirk sets the Constellation for destruction but his attempts to escape are frustrated by inevitable problems with the transporter manage to be very tense even despite the fact that we all know that he will be fine.

No definitive explanation is given for the origin of the Planet Killer, other than the fact that It appears to come from another galaxy. Kirk theorises that it is a Doomsday Machine left over from an ancient war, but there is no evidence for this. His attempts to compare it the H-Bombs causing so much concern in the world when the episode was made are unusually clumsy for a show that doesn’t normally need to explain its metaphors. However, this is a very small problem in a script that manages to make so much from a very simple situation and which is satisfying in both its plot progression and character work.

Planetary Gazetteer

The Rigel colony: Located on a planet that is at risk from the Planet Eater. It is presumably in the same star system as Rigel VII as featured in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie”.

Starship Spotting

The USS Constellation is the first Starfeet starship other than the Enterprise to actually appear in the series. It has the same design as the Enterprise (not yet named as Constitution class) since it was portrayed by a commercial model of the Enterprise. Its registry number is very similar to the Enterpise (NCC-1017) as a result of the model kit’s decals just being re-arranged! The Constellation has been under the command of Commodore Matt Decker; there is no explanation as to why its captain has thus higher rank (other than to provide him with the ability to outrank Kirk with the story, anyway). The Constellation has been badly damaged in an attack by the Planet Killer, but Scotty is able to repair its impulse engines and a phaser bank. It is destroyed together with the Doomsday Machine. Decker wears a different Starfleet logo; since he is the only Constellation crew member to appear it is unclear whether this is due to his rank, or if this was worn by everyone on the Constellation. The Science Officer on the Constellation was called Masada.

The shuttlecraft that Decker steals is not named on screen but it appears to be the Galileo, resulting in the destruction of the shuttle featured in “The Galileo Seven” and “Metamorphosis”. This is problematic in terms of the order in which the episodes were originally transmitted since “Metamorphosis” was shown after “The Doomsday Machine”.

General Observations

• No Stardate is given for the current events, but Decker’s log states that the Constellation encountered the Planet Killer on 4202.1. This is the first Stardate in the 4000s.
• Neither Walter Koenig nor Nichelle Nichols appear in the episode. Uhura’s communications position is instead taken by a new female officer, Lt Palmer. John Winston appears again as Kyle (his sixth appearance), back in his familiar position as the transporter operator after his role as a bridge officer in “Who Mourns For Adonais?” A number of other Enterprise crew members appear in the episode – Washburn, Elliot and Russ who are all part of the damage control party sent to the Constellation (although only Washburn is named on screen with the other names used only in the credits), plus Montgomery (the security guard who is beaten by Decker in an unusual fight scene that doesn’t feature any of the regular characters).
• McCoy gives another version of his catchphrase when he states that he is a doctor, not a mechanic.
• George Takei doesn’t get to do much as Sulu in this episode, but I love his little satisfied smirk when Kirk and Spock finally convince Decker to stand down.
• “Space Dock” is mentioned for the first time (Scotty states that it is the only facility that would allow him to repair the Constellation’s warp drive.

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