TOS - 2.17 - Obsession

When a landing party is attacked and the victims are found to have been drained of red blood corpuscles, this brings back haunting memories for Kirk who becomes convinced that the culprit is the same mysterious creature that killed his beloved captain and 200 other crew mates on his first deep space mission. Kirk becomes determined to destroy the creature, but what lengths will he go to in order to achieve this?

“Obsession” is clearly inspired by “Moby Dick”, Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, in which Captain Ahab is intent on killing the eponymous sperm whale. We’ve seen a similar storyline with Commodore’s determination to destroy the planet killed in “The Doomsday Machine”, but it is particularly disturbing here to see the usually reliable Kirk so affected, showing a recklessness that results in deaths amongst his crew members and disobeying orders with the effect of putting lives at risk on a colony which need medical supplies. Kirk does some show self-awareness in his log entries, but why couldn’t at least do his other duties first? This all means that it is very difficult to sympathise with Kirk and I was very much siding with Spock and McCoy when it appears that they are going to relieve him of command (although not that they actually go through with anything since Kirk is able to convince them that he is still behaving rationally).

Unfortunately, the fact that Kirk is our main character means that we have some questionable morality on show since he doesn’t really get any comeuppance for his behaviour – on the contrary, he gets some personal growth through learning that he was not responsible for the events that happened previously when having a momentary lapse of concentration before firing a phase at the creature. The episode attempts to explain this through vindicating Kirk’s belief that the creature is intelligent, as well as through it posing a significant threat through giving it the somewhat unlikely ability to fly between random planets at warp speed as well as by suggesting that it is about to reproduce. But I’m still not convinced that all of this was sufficient to justify Kirk’s behaviour, especially as the nature of the creature means that we don’t get to really understand its motivations and therefore there is no evidence for most of what Kirk suggests about it. And after all, it did seem to be Kirk that started the conflict this time when he sends the security team to investigate and then subsequently chased it through space...

There’s a nice attempt to parallel Kirk’s previous actions and the impact that this had on with a young ensign who has just joined the Enterprise crew. Unfortunately, the specifics of the execution of this subplot are just a little too specific to be credible. Not only does this young officer turns out to be the son of the captain of the ship on which Kirk was serving when he encountered the creature, but he also delays firing a phase at the creature in exactly the same way as Kirk had. Stephen Brooks is very likeable as Ensign Garrovick and the character gets an unusual amount of depth for a guest crew member, but I can’t help feeling that there are just too many coincidences going on here…

The end of the episode involves the Enterprise crew coming up with a plan to use anti-matter to kill the creature and, inevitably, it is Kirk and Garrovick who beam down to put this into action. The episode does at least avoid the temptation to have Garrovick sacrifice his life for Kirk or indeed having Kirk trying to do the same for the ensign, but this means that there isn’t much tension to this climax. There is an attempt at further jeopardy as Spock and Scotty struggle to transport Kirk and Garrovick back to the ship, but there is absolutely no doubt that they are not going to solve the problems by pressing a few more buttons.

Planetary Gazetteer

Argus X: The uninhabited planet on which the Enterprise crew encounter the cloud creature. It is rich in tritanium, a material that is twenty times harder than diamond.

Theta VII: Location of a colony that is suffering from a medical emergency and is urgently awaiting vaccines that are to be transported there by the Enterprise.

Tycho IV: Where Kirk originally encountered the cloud creature and which appears to have been its home planet.

Starship Spotting

USS Farragut: The starship on which Kirk served as a lieutenant for his first deep space mission. It was commanded by Captain Garrovick, who was killed by the cloud creature along with approximately 200 other crew members 11 years prior to this episode when they visited Tycho IV.

USS Yorktown: The starship that is schedule to rendezvous with the Enterprise in order to transfer the medical supplies that need to be transported to the Theta VII colony.

General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode – 3619.2, 3619.6 and 3620.7.
• George Takei is still away filming “The Green Berets” and so does not appear as Sulu.
• Majel Barrett makes her 9th appearance as Nurse Chappel. She actually gets a nice scene in which she tricks Ensign Garrovick in eating when he is reluctant. Indeed, this is an unusual moment of character building that doesn’t feature any of the entral trio of Kirk,Spock and McCoy. 
• This episode features a lot of Red Shirt casualties – Ensign Rizzo and two security officers after the first attack by the creature and then one other in the second attack (two other security officers who survive are named as Henson and Bardoli). One of the early victims is actually named as Mr Leslie, a regular background character played by Eddie Paskey (who was also William Shatner’s stand-in). Despite this, Leslie can be seen later in the episode (and he will go on to appear in some 13 later episodes).
• Jerry Ayres, who here plays Ensign Rizzo, had previously appeared as Ensign O’Herlihy, a similarly ill-fated security officer in “Arena”.
• McCoy uses cordrazine to briefly revive Rizzo; this is the same (fictional) stimulant that the doctor has previously accidentally injected himself with back in “The City On The Edge Of Forever”.
• It is explained that Spock’s blood is green since it is based on copper rather than iron. The episode cleverly exploits this previously established element of Spock’s biology since it makes him immune from the creature’s attack.
• We get a reminder that McCoy isn’t that keen on transporters – something that has been established in "Space Seed" but which hasn’t really yet become a big part of his character.

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TOS - 2.16 - A Private Little War

Kirk returns to a primitive planet that he last visited 13 years ago and is surprised to find that one of the native tribes has developed primitive fire-arms in this time. Kirk suspects that the Klingons are helping these Hill People, despite both the Klingon Empire and the Federation being forbidden from interfering in the affairs of the planet. Kirk’s previous visit resulted in him becoming friends with Tyree, who is fortunately now the leader of the tribe that is now being oppressed and a useful ally in Kirk’s investigations.

We are clearly back in allegory territory with this episode, with the events on this “primitive” planet being a direct analogue for the events of the Vietnam War, which was of course taking place when the episode was made. It’s a clever idea, but it is a shame that the script thinks it necessary to make things explicit but having Kirk directly reference the then present day events (well, he refers to “20th Century Brush Wars” involving two super-powers but it is still pretty clear what this means). It also leads to things being somewhat predictable – Kirk suspects that the Klingons are supplying weapons to the Hill People, and this is exactly what is happening. The drama ultimately comes from Kirk’s reaction to this and his reluctant decision that the only solution is for the Federation to arm Tyree’s people – maintaining the balance of power but potentially leading to years of conflict and many deaths. It is an unusually downbeat ending for The Original Series, albeit one that doesn’t make much sense if you think about it (why doesn’t Kirk just report back to Starfleet Command to tell them that the Klingons have violated the treaty, and let the Federation deal with the consequences?).

Spock is unusually sidelined in the episode – he gets shot in the teaser and is then stuck on the Enterprise fighting for his life. It’s not the most successful use of the character since it doesn’t really lead to any drama since the viewer is never in any doubt that he will pull through – there isn’t eve much in the way of treatment - after a very brief operation, Spock is just left in a coma in order to heal himself, leading to lots of inert scenes of Leonard Nimoy lying in a bed as various people look worried.. There’s ultimately some nice humour in Scotty walking in on Nurse Chappel slapping Spock to wake him up from his coma, but there is a lot of screen time to get to this pay-off.

Alongside a fairly straightforward and serious plot, the episode does attempt to introduce some colour and interest. We meet a Monster of the Week, the Mugato. Unfortunately, it is not at all convincing as a fearsome beast and a classic example of a man in a monster suit. It is not also helped by it being shot in bright sunlight on location, rather than in a studio when it could perhaps have been shot more sympathetically. This all makes it difficult to take it seriously as a threat whose venom is supposedly threatening Kirk’s life (and this is further undermined by William Shatner’s somewhat over the top acting at this point).

A more significant attempt to do something different is with the character of Nona, the wife of Tyree and a member of a tribe of witch people. She is is an usually strong female character with her own agenda. She is able to cure Kirk in a bizarre ceremony which she says will give her power over him, which I expected to be important especially given her interest in the phasers that Kirk and McCoy have, but this goes absolutely nowhere. Instead, she is seen to use another plant to induce lust in men and give them power over them that way. We first see this in an oddly erotic scene in which she seduces Tyree and ultimately Kirk. However, Nona’s motivations then become really unclear. It appeared that here interest in Kirk’s phaser was to help her tribe to fight back against the Hill People and thus cement her position but, when she finally gets the weapon, the first thing she does is try and take it to the Hill People. I don’t quite understand this and it does lead to a rather disturbing sequence in which we are left in no doubt as to what the Hill People intend to do with her. Fortunately, Kirk and Tyree and some others turn up, and the finally fight is quite impressive – it’s nice to see a mass brawl going on, rather than Kirk just facing off with a single villain as usual.

Planetary Gazetteer

The planet on which the episode is set is not named on screen, but is referred to as Neural in the script (presumably derived from the word “neutral”). Kirk was a lieutenant when he previously visited the planet – this was his first planetary survey.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 4211.4 and 4211.8. The second of these is given in McCoy’s Medical Log.
• George Takei is still absent. Majel Barrett makes her 8th appearance as Nurse Chappel, Again, she doesn’t do a lot but she gets some nice scenes showing her concern for Spock. We also meet another member of the Enterprise medical team, Dr M’Benga who is knowledgeable about the physiology of Vulcans having interned on their homeworld. It’s a shame that he wasn’t around in the previous episode... 
• Vulcan’s have a different anatomy to humans, with their hearts being where a human liver is. A Vulcan also enter a self-induced hypnosis in order to attempt to heal themselves.
• The treaty that prevents the Federation and the Klingons from interfering in the development of the planet is presumably the Organian Peace Treaty arising from the events of “Errand Of Mercy” and referred to in “The Trouble With Tribbles”. This clearly goes beyond the Prime Directive since the Enterprise crew aren’t even supposed to use their phasers there.
• This is the fourth episode to feature the Klingons (after “Errand Of Mercy”, “Friday’s Child” and “The Trouble With Tribbles”), although they aren’t in it that much – we meet a single individual (named as Krell in the credits) and the CGI version of the episode adds a D-7 class Bird of Prey (yet to have been designed in terms of the original production of the show). It is actually unclear exactly what the Klingons want to achieve by helping the Hill People. Yes, they want the planet to ultimately become part of the Empire, but it seems odd that they are risking war over what appears to be a fairly insignificant planet – there is no reference to Neural being strategically important in the way that Organia was.

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TOS - 2.15 - Journey To Babel

“Journey To Babel” is an episode with a lot going on, both in terms of its plotting but also its contributions to the mythology of Star Trek.

The Enterprise is transporting a number of delegates to a Federation council meeting that will decide whether the Coridan System should be admitted to the organisation. This is a controversial subject and so tensions are running high between the delegates which means that Kirk has a peacekeeping job on his hands. It is quickly revealed that the Vulcan ambassador is actually Spock’s father, something that comes as a surprise to Kirk. Spock’s parents had been mentioned a number of times in the first series so it is actually quite a good idea for them to be finally introduced and named as Sarek and Amanda. We learn that Spock and Sarek have been estranged for 18 years due to Sarek disagreeing with Spock’s decision to joint Starfleet.  This is an obvious but effective way of introducing some drama between the characters.

It is not long before there is trouble and there is a murder. The victim is another Ambassador with whom Sarek has disagreed and Spock’s father quickly becomes the main suspect. However, just as soon as we think that this is going to be an episode about an investigation into Sarek’s supposed guilt, perhaps dividing Spock’s loyalty, it very quickly changes direction as Sarek falls ill with a heart condition and only Spock can save him with a blood transfusion. With more human characters, this in itself would be enough to introduce some character conflict, but here there is no question as to Spock helping since it is logical. The script therefore needs to jump through some more hoops to make Spock reluctant, but it does at least do this effectively through having Kirk incapacitated and Spock therefore needing to take command, thus preventing him from helping his father.

Sarek is played by Mark Lenard, who had previously made such an impression as the Romulan Commander in “Balance Of Terror”. This seems to be unlikely casting since Lenard was only seven years older than Leonard Nimoy. Lenard is good here, but he doesn’t get a lot to do (what with Sarek spending a lot of the episode unconscious) and he is almost hampered by the emotionless nature of the Vulcan that he is playing who doesn’t even have the half-human conflicts of Spock. It is actually Jane Wyatt who has the showier part as Amanda who is caught in the middle in the conflict between her husband and son. Indeed, her performance actually makes Amanda’s relationship with Sarek credible as we see the deep bond that the characters have, despite Sarek’s inability to show emotion. They have a very simple but effective finger touching gesture that was apparently developed by Lenard and Wyatt themselves. This does at least make some balance against Sarek’s immense sexism in the early part of the episode where he just orders Amanda around – an attitude that seems somewhat odd given that “Amok Time” showed Vulcan to be something of a matriarchal society given the importance of T’Pau.

Despite its obvious focus on Spock, the script for “Journey To Babel” is also effective in giving Kirk plenty to do and presumably also therefore keeping William Shatner happy. There is intrigue on the bridge as the Enterprise is buzzed by a mysterious scout ship, and then he gets a big fight sequence. This starts somewhat suddenly, with no precursor and explanation, but it is shot much better than many previous Big Kirk Fights, avoiding obvious shots of Shatner’s stuntman. It is also Kirk who essentially saves Sarek, by pretending that his injury is not as serious as it really is so that Spock is free to take the time to do what is necessary.

“Journey To Babel” also introduces two other races within the Federation, although they are portrayed with somewhat mixed results. The appearance if the Andorians, with their blue skin, white hair and antennae, had the potential to be somewhat comical, but is actually quite well done (at least if you ignore the fight sequence where you can see bits the of the stuntman that are not painted blue). Unfortunately, Reggie Nalder gives a really odd and mannered performance as Shrav, the Andorian ambassador, which doesn’t really work. The other race to feature are the Tellerites and the make-up effects here are less effective, appearing very artificial and a bit too much like a pig…

 The episode packs so much in, that we get very close to the end and there has been no reveal as to who is behind the plot to disrupt the Babel conference. It has been revealed that one of the Andorians is not actually an Andorian, but is actually a surgically altered spy (an immediate re-use of this idea straight after “The Trouble With Tribbles”), but he and the scout ship crew all commit suicide without explaining anything. In a more modern show, it would appear that this would be setting up a story arc but that is clearly not the case in the 1960s. We therefore get a final scene in which Spock has suddenly remembers something that enables him to develop a theory as to what has been going on. It’s not that satisfying, but I suppose its better than the question being left open.

Planetary Gazetteer

Vulcan: The Enterprise returns to Spock’s homeworld in order to collect Sarek and Amanda, although there aren't any scenes on the planet itself.

Babel: A neutral planetoid that will host the Federation council meeting. It is named after the tower mentioned in the Bible that the human race attempted to build to Heaven which God then frustrated by introducing multiple languages; this is a very deliberate reference in DC Fontana;s script given that the storyline is very much about the importance of communication.

The Coridan System: A group of planets which wish to join the Federation. It is rich in dilithium crystals, but has previously been claimed by certain planets that are already within the Federation and this is therefore a controversial subject.

Rigel V: The planet on which medical trials have been conducted on the drug which McCoy uses to speed up Spock’s blood production. Rigelians have a physiology that is very similar to Vulcans. This is yet another planet in the Rigel system after Rigel II (mentioned in “Shore Leave”), Rigel VI (mentioned in “Wolf In The Fold”), Rigel VII (the location of Pike’s defeat in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie, Part I”) and Rigel XII (visited in “Mudd’s Women”).

Starship Spotting

Sarek and Amanda travel to the Enterprise in a shuttlecraft that is clearly named as Galileo. This is presumably a replacement for the shuttlecraft of the same name that was destroyed in “The Galileo Seven”. The CGI version of the episode shows a second shuttlecraft in the shuttle bay that is called Columbus. It does seem odd in the narrative of the episode that Sarek and Amanda use a shuttlecraft rather than just beam aboard the Enterprise, but this is apparently because this was a budget saving measure to eliminate the need for a transporter effect.

The scout ship that attacks the Enterprise is not named nor explicitly identified. It has a hull that is composed of high density trititanium that cannot be penetrated by the Enterprises sensors and it can operate at close to Warp 10. Spock theorises that it is being operated by Orion smugglers, presumably the same green race that provides the slave girls as featured in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie”.

General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode – 3842.3, 3842.4 and 3843.3.
• George Takei is still absent due to his commitments filming “The Green Berets”. James Doohan also does not appear, although Scotty is mentioned. Majel Barrett makes her 7th appearance as Nurse Chappel, although she doesn’t really do much. We meet a new security officer called Lt Joseph who, remarkably, survives the episode.
• Sarek has officially retired as an ambassador. He is 102 years old, which is relatively young for a Vulcan to take retirement. Sarek’s blood type is “T-negative”, which is apparently quite unusual for Vulcans. Spock does share this blood type; his blood has “human elements” but this can be filtered out to allow him to donate blood to his father.
• The Romulans and Klingons are both mentioned when Kirk and Spock are trying to identify the scout ship.
• Jane Wyatt, who plays Amanda, is rather strangely credited as “Miss Jane Wyatt”
• The episode mentions Starfleet Intelligence, a division of the organisation that will come to be important in the future, not least in Picard...

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TOS - 2.14 - Bread and Circuses

The search for the crew of a lost survey ship takes Kirk, Spock and McCoy to a planet that is identical to Earth in the 20th Century apart from the fact that the Roman Empire had never fallen. This is certainly a fascinating premise for an episode, which it attempts to justify the similarities through a throw-away reference to “Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development”, presumably in an attempt to avoid introducing another parallel universe so soon after “Mirror, Mirror” (since this would have been an obvious means of showing Earth developing in a different way), but it does take a somewhat large suspension of belief as to how very similar things have developed on this alien planet, even more so than the identical Earth featured in “Miri”, since we have even have identical cultures and religion, as well as technology, as well as identical English having evolved again (which is interesting since of course English would not have been spoken in Earth’s Roman Empire).

Unfortunately, even if one can accept the existence of this unlikely planet, the episode isn’t that successful since it pretty much wastes the concept, treating us mainly to a lot of Roman clichés. Aside from a few shots of Roman soldiers with machine guns, the only way in which it actually exploits the idea of a 20th Century Roman Empire is by having the gladiator matches taking place in a television studio, complete with commentator. This is indeed a lovely, incongruous image (and it allows for some nice digs about the primitive nature of television) but even the sequences here get tiresome, as they go on for ever and feature rather too many shots of dials activating canned cheering/booing/clapping.

The episode does throw in a nice early twist when it is revealed that the leader of this civilisation is actually Merrick, the captain of the lost survey ship. Unfortunately, we never get much an understanding of Merrick’s character and his motivation – it is not explained how he got into this position, and the script can’t really decide whether he is a true villain or not. He does ultimately save the lives of Kirk and his crew, but this very much comes out of nowhere and therefore isn’t really satisfying in terms of character development. Indeed, it’s unclear how much power Merrick actually has – the real power appears to lie with Proconsul Claudius Marcus, a character nicely played by Logan Ramsey who manages to be both charming but also dangerous, especially since he knows much about the Federation thanks to Merrick and is able to use the Prime Directive to his advantage – a nice example where a pre-existing element of the series prevents the Enterprise from using its superior technology.

“Bread and Circuses” is very much about the central trio of Spock, Kirk and McCoy, with Scotty, Chekov and Uhura only appearing briefly. The script features lots of banter between McCoy and Spock which does soon become somewhat wearisome. I was suspecting this was leading up to them having to face each other in the gladiator arena, but the episode avoids this (presumably due to similarities with “Amok Time”) and they end up fighting alongside each other. This pays off in a nice scene in which McCoy attempts to thank Spock for saving his life and the Vulcan’s reaction leads to the doctor theorising that Spock is too frightened to embrace any of his human side.

One initially surprising element of the episode is that, whilst Merrick is killed, Claudius Marcus is apparently unpunished and still in power as Kirk and his crew escape. This is of course consistent with the Prime Directive which would of course prevent Kirk from over-throwing him, but has the potential to be less than satisfying. However, the script does attempt to deflect this in its final scenes as Uhura reveals that she has been listening in to the radio transmissions from the planet and has established that Christianity is rising. This is a nice explanation of the new religion referred to by the escaped slaves featured previously (who we thought were talking about the Sun, not the Son) and does at least provide an indication that Marcus’s days are numbered and this Roman Empire will soon fall…

Planetary Gazetteer

The planet on which the episode is set is not named – it is just referred to as the fourth planet in the 892 system. It is an M-class planet that is very similar to Earth, with an identical atmosphere but differing land masses and is slightly different in size. Unlike Earth, it appears to have two moons (at least in the remastered version of the episode).

Starship Spotting

SS Beagle: A Class IV survey ship with a crew of 47 that disappeared six years previously. Kirk discovers that it suffered meteor damage and so the crew went ashore on planet 892-IV in order to obtain iridium ore for repairs. However, the crew never left, with most dying there and the Beagle was destroyed with the Enterprise ultimately finding its wreckage. The Beagle was named after the Royal Navy sailing ship on which Charles Darwin travelled the world in the 1830s.

General Observations

• Four Stardates are given in the episode – 4040.7, 4040.9, 4041.2 and 4041.7.
• George Takei is again absent as Sulu due to his continuing commitments filming “The Green Berets”.
• This episode is not exactly overburdened with female characters. Aside from Uhura and some non-speaking background artists, there is only Drusilla, a slave girl who is sent by Claudius Marcus to entertain Kirk for no apparent reason other than the fact that the captain hasn’t kissed anyone yet this week. Kirk is initially resistant to take advantage, suspecting some sort of trap but it isn’t long before he changes his mind for no apparent reason. This scene, which doesn’t add anything to the episode, does have a troubling morality since Drusilla is a slave who has been instructed to be with Kirk and is therefore unable to truly consent.
• It is mentioned that Earth has had a total of three world wars, building on the reference to World War III in “Space Seed”.
• The cave that provides the home of the escaped slaves is in Griffith Park in Hollywood and is probably better known as the entrance to the Batcave from the 1960s Batman series.

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TOS - 2.13 - The Trouble With Tribbles

When the Enterprise receives a distress call from Space Station K-7, Kirk is not amused when he finds that this is simply because his people are needed to guard a consignment of grain that is being held there, albeit grain that is needed to help the Federation firm up its claims on a region of space that is also wanted by the Klingons. However, Kirk's mission on the station is soon complicated when a ship load of Klingons arrive for shore leave and Uhura receives a cute, furry creature as a gift...

"The Trouble With Tribbles" is one of the most celebrated episodes of The Original Series, and it is easy to see why since it is hugely entertaining from beginning to end. I was prepared for the hilarity arising from the multiplying Tribbles, but there is far more to the episode than just this, what with Kirk's abuse of Undersecretary Baris, the various exchanges about quadrotriticale (the grain that everyone seems to have heard about apart from Kirk) and the big set piece bar brawl with the Klingons. But there is also far more to the episode than just the humour, since it is actually cleverly plotted in the way that it brings together the Klingon and Tribble sub-plots when it is the Tribbles that reveal that quadrotriticale has been poisoned, as well as being used to identify the culprit..

The episode also serves as a reintroduction to the Klingons (since "Errand Of Mercy" we have just had the appearance of the lone Klingon agent in "Friday's Child"). They are led here by Koloth, played by William Campbell who had previously appeared as Trelane in "The Squire Of Gothos". Unfortunately, Campbell is not particularly charismatic here, with Kolos failing to make much of an impression, especially when compared with Kor in"Errand Of Mercy". He's also not helped by the fact that the he isn't given much to do, only appearing in a small number of scenes.

The episode features a clever plot twist when it is revealed that quadrotriticale has been poisoned by Darvin, the assistant of Baris, a Klingon who has been surgically altered to appear human. This is effective in undermining the authority of the undersecretary, but is particularly interesting given the storyline about Ash Tyler that would later feature in Discovery.

Aside from the Klingons and Baris, the other key character in the episode is Cyrano Jones, an intergalactic rogue who is responsible for the trouble with the Tribbles. Stanley Adams is amusing in the role (and he gets some nice business in the bar, interacting with Guy Raymond's bartender and trying to carry his stolen drink through the bar brawl), but he is very much cut from the same cloth as Harry Mudd, a point that is particularly obvious in this production order when "The Trouble With Tribbles" comes straight after "I, Mudd".

Another of the joys of the episode is that pretty much all of the Enterprise crew get plenty to do (well, apart from the absent Sulu). Scotty in particular gets some great moments, starting with his reluctance to take advantage of shore leave (preferring to read his engineering manuals) and ultimately his initiation of the bar brawl as his relaxed attitude to the Klingons insulting Kirk very much changes as they start on the Enterprise - an idea that becomes even funnier when Kirk himself realises that this is what has happened...

Planetary Gazetteer

Sherman's Planet: A planet in an area of space which is claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Federation aims to increase their claim by developing the planet and this is why the quadrotriticale is so important since it is the only grain from Earth than can grow there.

General Observations

• There are three Stardates given in the episode - 4523.3, 4524.2 and 4525.6.
• George Takei does not appear as Sulu in the episode - indeed, he will be absent from a number of subsequent instalments due to his commitments filming "The Green Berets", the John Wayne movie.
• It is mentioned that the Federation's relationship with the Klingons is governed by the Organian Peace Treaty, referring back to the events of "Errand Of Mercy".
• Kirk already knows Koloth, which seems to be a reference left over from the fact that it was originally hoped that John Colicos would reprise his role of Kor from "Errand Of Mercy".
• We meet another senior officer in Starfleet, Admiral Fitzpatrick, who orders Kirk to do as instructed by Baris and guard the quadrotriticale 

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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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