If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana
The main thing I noticed when I watched this episode is Julie Newmar as Eleen. I never missed her on Batman.
Once again the crew of the Enterprise are in negotiations for an alien planet’s mineral rights… McCoy has been there before and cautions the captain about the importance of not breaching local etiquette; infringements can mean death. These aliens, the Capellans are intelligent but not advanced; fighting with swords and throwing weapons. The landing party, consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and security are shocked to discover a Klingon is already there; leading to the red-shirt drawing his weapon and being killed.
The leader of the Capellans is keen to negotiate but his underling thinks they should deal with the Klingons as they offer military items and fights for the leadership. With the old leader dead his pregnant wife is expected to die but McCoy attempts to save her and the away team flees to the hills with her. Here Kirk and Spock must prepare to fight without use of their phasers while McCoy helps deliver the baby. Meanwhile, the Enterprise, commanded by Scotty, has been called away by a distress call, apparently from a freighter under attack from Klingons.
It was a strong episode for Scotty. Faced with the decision to rescue the crew that was on the planet from Capella or answer a distress call from an unarmed freighter, Scotty stays consistent with Federation duty and leaves orbit to help the ship under attack. Turns out it was a Klingon ruse, but no harm was done. Doctor McCoy also has some good scenes with Eleen and her new born baby.
Not one of my favorites but a decent episode.
From IMDB:
This is the only episode in which Uhura and Sulu call Scotty by his nickname. Otherwise, they call him “Mr. Scott”.
For his first four appearances in the series, including this episode, Walter Koenig wore a The Monkees (1965)-style wig, which he absolutely detested. In one interview, he made joking and uncomplimentary references to that wig.
The actors playing Capellan warriors were given elevated shoes to make them appear like giants. Maab’s high headgear served the same purpose.
Third time Bones uses the saying “I’m a doctor, not a …” (In this case, escalator)
Lots of dialogue looping was used in this episode because of the outdoor setting. Some of the dubbing was crammed together, nearly on top of other lines.
When Chekhov is scanning the Klingons, he uses the term vessel as opposed to his normal “wessel.”
Temperatures reached 110 degrees in the Vazquez Rocks filming location, making it quite uncomfortable for the actors in the Capellan costumes. This location was also a setting for Star Trek: Arena (1967), Star Trek: Shore Leave (1966) and Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967).
This is the first episode where all seven “classic” crew members (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov) appear in the same scene, in the teaser, discussing the background for the Capellans, although Sulu is seen only on a view screen reporting from the bridge. The other six are all in the same briefing room together. The six also appear in the same scene together at the very end on the bridge, and Sulu is still absent, although the right arm of a helmsman that should be him is seen at the right edge of the screen.
In D.C. Fontana’s original script, Eleen sacrificed her child for her own life. But Gene Roddenberry objected to this and changed the ending. Eleen was originally written to be a stronger character who rebels against the male-dominated Capellan society but this was also changed.
In the footage seen in the briefing room of Dr. McCoy’s previous visit to Capella IV, he is seen wearing his present day Enterprise tunic, rather than a Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966) era tunic, which would have been appropriate for that time period. However, it can also be seen that the tunic’s sleeves show a lieutenant’s stripes, whereas McCoy’s present rank is lieutenant commander, as often indicated by his sleeves. This is consistent with his visit to Capella having taken place in a previous time period.
Eleen’s baby, Leonard James Akaar, would make numerous appearances decades later as a high-ranking Starfleet officer in many Star Trek novels from the Original Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) relaunch novels, and the Star Trek Titan series. In the latter, he holds the rank of Admiral.
The remastered version of this episode included new shots of the Enterprise herself. Several new, more realistic views of Capella IV from space were inserted into the episode. Other changes include cleaned-up mattes of the viewscreen during the briefing room scene, a more realistic sensor readout on the bridge, a corrected insert shot while Chekov is working the controls at the science station, updated phaser effects, and the establishment of the Klingon ship on screen as a D7-class.
Contained in Dr. McCoy’s emergency medical field kit, Magnesite-nitron tablets when crushed provide emergency illumination and heat through a bright flame. The tablets also could be used for ignition of a larger fire, heating of food, or sterilization of water.
The name of Tige Andrews’s character Kras is never spoken. He is only called “Klingon”.
This is the first episode that inn which makes the dubious claim of something being invented in Russia. In this case, he claims that the old Earth saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”, was invented in Russia. In fact, the earliest occurrence of the phrase, as listed in the OED, dates back over 300 years and comes from Italy.
When Scotty is in command of the ship, they receive a distress call from a Federation freighter, the S.S. Deirdre. Deirdre is the name of James Doohan’s second daughter.
A sequence in the blooper reel shows William Shatner entering the tent too quickly when Tige Andrews is looking for his weapon and exclaiming, “Oh, shit!”
Phaser One almost has enough power to explode rocks, as seen when the Klingon hits the one Spock is sheltered behind.
(at around 40 mins) This episode marks the first time Sulu’s attack scanner is shown deploying from underneath the helm console when Scotty orders “Battle Stations”.
In production order, this is only the second episode to feature Klingons; interestingly, the Klingon make-up design is different from their first appearance in “Errand of Mercy”; in the latter, their complexions were dark and swarthy, with stereotypical “Asian” facial hair. Kras, the Klingon in this episode, is bearded, but without the dark makeup and “Ming the Merciless” facial hair.
Capella, the planet where the action occurs, has the same name after a form of singing. Upon receiving the script, associate and supervising producer Robert H. Justman shouted, “Ah Capella!” (as in ‘acapella’) and burst into song, to much laughter. Although the pun story is probably true, it is more likely that the planet, Capella IV, is the fourth planet of one of the four stars in the Capella system. In reality, Capella is the name given to the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, and is also known as Alpha Aurigae. Its name is the diminutive of the Latin noun “capra” (“she-goat” or “nanny-goat”), hence “little she-goat”. The system’s four stars are in two binary pairs, and none of them have shown any evidence of containing exoplanets.
This is the second and final episode where Spock is knocked out in a fight (the first being Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967), though in that case it was the mirror Spock who was incapacitated). In this one, a Capellan hits him with a sword while he and Kirk protect Eleen.
Summary
The Federation is in competition with the Klingons for an alliance with the inhabitants of Capella IV. The Capellans are a warrior tribe and there is dissension among them as to who to sign the mining rights treaty with. McCoy is familiar with their customs having once spent several months there. When a Capellan, who clearly favors the Klingons, stages a coup, Kirk, Spock and McCoy flee with the now dead leader’s wife, who is about to give birth. Meanwhile, the Enterprise receives a distress call from a Federation vessel under attack and, with Scotty in command, leaves orbit.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Julie Newmar … Eleen Tige Andrews … Kras Michael Dante … Maab James Doohan … Scott George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Cal Bolder … Keel Ben Gage … Akaar Walter Koenig … Chekov Kirk Raymond … Duur (as Kirk Raymone) Bob Bralver … Grant (as Robert Bralver) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Vic Christy … Capellan (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Capellan Warrior (uncredited) Walker Edmiston … SS Dierdre (voice) (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana
An episode I’ve always liked a lot. We meet Spock’s parents in this one. The actress that played his mom was Jayne Wyatt. To show you how bizarre this show was in the 1960s…Wyatt never watched the show before and after she read the script…she thought it was a comedy. That is until she got on set and saw how everyone took the show so seriously.
I think it’s this episode, more than any other, in which Spock’s lonely place in the Trek universe is spelled out. We, as the audience, had already gathered as much during the past forty or so episodes, but here, Spock’s mother, the ideal choice to voice such concerns out loud, makes apparent the pain Spock has endured during his life – in terms we had only guessed at earlier.
She had known since he was a little boy that he belongs in neither the human nor the Vulcan worlds and, as a mother, she had no choice but to feel his pain, that ultimate form of alienation – but, as a human, her feelings are much more obvious to us. Nimoy gives another subtly excellent performance; his demeanor is slightly different when speaking with his mother about ‘the situation’ between himself and his father. Despite the Vulcan reserve, you sense his discomfort and sadness.
The personal story is played out as part of a larger plot element involving diplomatic negotiations among ambassadors on board the Enterprise headed toward the planetoid Babel. Competing interests among the representatives threaten (and eventually lead to) hostilities, as the impending conference will decide whether planets of the Coridan System will become part of the Federation. If that wasn’t enough going on, a third party is presented as a foil in order to profit from the dissension…but the story centers around the Vulcans and their relationship.
While describing this episode I realized what a deep episode this is. There’s a lot of plot to it and a lot of new alien species and characters. The introduction of Spock’s parents was interesting and I really enjoy the dynamic that Spock has with his mother especially. While the politics of the Federation is the focal point of this episode, it really focuses more on Spock’s relationship with his parents.
From IMDB:
For two weeks after the airing of this episode, Mark Lenard received more fan mail than Leonard Nimoy.
In the first episode to feature Spock’s parents, actors Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt asked Leonard Nimoy for advice on how the two of them could display their affection for one another in a subtle way since the Vulcans supress their emotion. Since it was Nimoy who had devised the Vulcan neck pinch and the Vulcan salute, Nimoy suggested they touch and stroke each others hand by the index and middle finger.
Gene Roddenberry wrote the scene in which Amanda tells Kirk of the rift between Spock and Sarek. Writer D.C. Fontana felt that it would be inappropriate for her to discuss this with someone she had just met. But Roddenberry wanted Kirk to be more involved with the story.
This episode introduces the Andorians and the Tellarites. Later episodes established that, along with Humans and Vulcans, they are two of the four founding members of the United Federation of Planets.
Actor John Wheeler, in character as Gav, had so much trouble seeing through the prosthetics over his eyes that he was forced to raise his head to see his castmates. This added to the early mythos that all Tellarites were arrogant as well as belligerent and aggressive.
Jane Wyatt would only play Spock’s mother one more time, in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). In Star Trek: The Animated Series: Yesteryear (1973), to save costs, Majel Barrett voiced the role. Mark Lenard, however, reprised his role of Sarek in the animated series and again in the films Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), as well as the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes Star Trek: The Next Generation: Sarek (1990) and Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unification I (1991).
Writer D.C. Fontana chose the name “Amanda” for Spock’s mother because it means “worthy of love” in Latin.
Mark Lenard had also been a potential candidate for the recasting of Spock if Leonard Nimoy were to quit the series.
Though they play father and son, Mark Lenard was 42 years old at the time and Leonard Nimoy was 36.
Jane Wyatt has said that some years after “Journey to Babel” first aired, while waiting in an airport she heard someone cry out the name Amanda. Wyatt said that at first she had no idea it was a fan trying to get her attention, as she had completely forgotten the name of the character she had played.
The original script called for an establishment shot of the city Sarek and his party travelled from. However, painting a matte to depict the city became budget prohibitive. Likewise, Sarek was initially to be beamed aboard the Enterprise, but use of existing shuttle craft stock footage was cheaper than employing Transporter effects.
Amanda’s description of Spock being bullied by other children for his human heritage was later shown in animated form in Star Trek: The Animated Series: Yesteryear (1973), and in live action form in the movie Star Trek (2009).
In the original draft script, there was a banquet scene featuring the three main diplomats: Sarek (the Vulcan), Shras (the Andorian), and Gav (the old Tellarite). When this scene was scrapped, the dialog was inserted into the final version of the buffet scene. Other dialog was scrapped that would have indicated that Sarek was an engineer before he became a diplomat, and that he was the son of the famous Vulcan diplomat Shaleris.
As a tribute to her long and distinguished career, Jane Wyatt is called “Miss Jane Wyatt” in the closing credits.
In the remastered version, the Enterprise shuttlebay and landing sequence was completely redone digitally, featuring a number of background actors visible within the viewing galleries. Also revamped were shots of Vulcan (now more closely resembling its appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise) and the battle between the Enterprise and the Orion ship, now featuring a more identifiable design.
The Andorians cock their heads for better visual acuity. According to Star Trek lore, the Andorian antennae are sensitive light beyond the normal human spectrum. Thus, Andorian vision is literally quadroscopic.
Before he was cast as Sarek, Mark Lenard played the first major Romulan character seen on Star Trek, the Romulan Commander in Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966).
Scotty does not appear in this episode. Other characters refer to him as being nearby, but he never has to appear on-camera.
D.C. Fontana had become curious about past references to Spock’s background, and was inspired to more fully flesh them out. In particular, Fontana was inspired by information Spock had revealed about his parents in Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967). Fontana also felt such an episode would be an interesting way to reflect issues relating to the Generation Gap.
Many of the costumes worn by extras in the hallway and reception room scenes were recycled from several first season episodes, including the outfits worn by Galactic High Commissioner Ferris in Star Trek: The Galileo Seven (1967) and by Lazarus in Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967).
This is listed as one of the “Ten Essential Episodes” of TOS in the 2008 reference book “Star Trek 101” by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann.
Russ Peek, who plays one of Sarek’s aides, also appeared as mirror Spock’s Vulcan bodyguard in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
The Orion ship was recycled as the missile in Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968), although this has been changed in the remastered version of the latter.
If one goes by airing order, this is the first episode in which Vulcans are mentioned to have a longer lifespan than humans. If one goes by production order, that title goes to Star Trek: The Deadly Years (1967).
The matte shot of Uhura appearing on the screen in engineering is one of the smallest mattes ever used in the series, until the view discs in Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays (1969).
Star Trek: Metamorphosis (1967) starring Elinor Donahue and Journey to Babel starring Jane Wyatt aired back-to-back. Both actresses had been regular cast members on Father Knows Best (1954), where Donahue played Wyatt’s daughter.
The Tantalus field controls used in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967) can be seen behind McCoy while Amanda is inquiring about Sarek’s condition.
The noise of the coded message sent by Thelev is also used in Star Trek: Miri (1966).
Bill Blackburn, in an unused make-up scheme for the Tellarites from a make-up test, can be seen in the end credits of Star Trek: The Deadly Years (1967) and Star Trek: A Private Little War (1968).
Mark Lenard, who played the 102-year-old Sarek, was 42 at the time of filming.
Summary
The Enterprise is transporting several diplomatic delegations to a conference on Babel regarding the future of the mineral-rich planet Coridan. Among the passengers are Spock’s parents, Ambassador Sarek and Amanda. There is obviously a chill between father and son owing to Spock’s choice of pursuing a career in Starfleet. Unknown to Spock or his mother is the fact that Sarek is seriously ill. There is also much tension among the delegations and a spy on board is transmitting coded messages to a ship that attacks the Enterprise. With Captain Kirk wounded in an earlier knife attack, Spock is in temporary command just as his father needs a transfusion that only he can provide.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Jane Wyatt … Amanda (as Miss Jane Wyatt) Mark Lenard … Sarek Nichelle Nichols … Uhura William O’Connell … Thelev Majel Barrett … Nurse Chapel Walter Koenig … Chekov John Wheeler … Gav James X. Mitchell … Josephs Reggie Nalder … Shras Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) John Blower … Babel Conference Attendee (uncredited) Jerry Catron … Montgomery (uncredited) Billy Curtis … Small Copper-Skinned Ambassador (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Vulcan Aide (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Purple-Skinned Delegate (uncredited) Jerry Maren … Small Copper-Skinned Ambassador (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Russ Peek … Sarek’s 2nd Vulcan Aide (uncredited) Kai J. Wong … Doctor (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon
One of my top episodes of Star Trek. This one was directed by Ralph Senensky. I’ve mentioned Ralph before… he will be 100 years old on May 1st of this year. He has a website and still posts about his adventures in directing many episodes of Star Trek and so many other shows including The Twilight Zone, The Waltons, Mission Impossible, and too many to mention. Please visit his site…he has a lot of fun stories about each episode he directed.
This one has everything you could want from a Star Trek episode. Great acting, writing, and even romance.
Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy are traveling with Commissioner Hedford, trying to get her back to the Enterprise so that they can hopefully cure her of a rare and deadly disease that she has. They are pulled down to a planet. They meet Zefram Cochrane, who supposedly died 150 years ago.
He tells them that he had been out in space because he had gotten old and his wish was to die in space. However, he and his ship had been brought down to the planet just as they were. An alien entity he calls the companion was responsible for this as well as for rejuvenating him and making him back to around the age of 35. This companion has been able to keep him healthy, well, and at the same age for all these years.
They find a way to have a direct conversation with the companion. Spock is wanting to spend time asking the companion questions so that they can learn more about it. It is a very different species and part of their mission is to find new species and learn about them. I concur with Spock on this. Of course, because they made an error when writing this and made it so that the companion cannot heal the commissioner, Kirk stops Spock from asking the questions, pointing out that they need to hurry and try to get the companion to let them go so that they can get to the Enterprise, hopefully in time, to heal the commissioner.
Strong performances from Glenn Corbett and Elinor Donahue help raise this episode to classic status. A touching love story between a man isolated on a planet by himself, and a caring, alien life form he refers to as ” the Companion” is a thoughtful and moving story.
From IMDB:
A few scenes featuring Elinor Donahue had to be re-shot, because the original film negatives were damaged and couldn’t be used. Portions of the planet set had to be rebuilt, since other episodes were shot there by that time, using different sets. Meanwhile, Donahue got pneumonia and lost ten pounds. To hide this, they put Hedford’s scarf around her neck and upper body. However, her weight loss is still visible on her face. The re-shots were not directed by Ralph Senensky.
This is the first story to feature Zefram Cochrane, inventor of warp drive technology and an important figure in Federation history. He would later re-appear in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Enterprise: Broken Bow, Part 1 (2001), played by James Cromwell.
A view of the starship from dead center in front of the saucer section is used only in this episode.
This is the only episode in the first two seasons in which Captain Kirk is not on the Enterprise at any time during the plot. Likewise, the Enterprise does not appear until twenty-seven minutes into the episode. In four third season shows, Kirk also spends the entire episode off-ship: Star Trek: The Paradise Syndrome (1968), Star Trek: Plato’s Stepchildren (1968), Star Trek: Whom Gods Destroy (1969), and Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays (1969).
The scenes of Cochrane communicating with the Companion were all shot at one time. The set was then completely redone with his house added for all of the sequences with Kirk and company. The inconsistencies between the two versions of the same set can be seen in alien trees that are near Cochrane in one view and absent in the next.
To give an illusion of open space to a confined stage set, wide angle lenses were used. Although Glenn Corbett appears to be hundreds of yards away when he first runs toward the shuttle, he is much closer. Strategically placed rocks also allowed the camera to be very far away without seeing the edges of the set.
In the first draft, the Enterprise is temporarily commanded by Sulu, and the helmsman is an officer with an African background, named Lieutenant Ackrumba. The character later appeared in the novel “Mission to Horatius” by Mack Reynolds.
In the first draft script, Scotty is also on board the shuttlecraft (here called the Edison) with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Hedford. It was originally he who was to encounter the Companion while attempting to repair the shuttlecraft.
In a rare effect, slowly moving “clouds” were blown in from hidden vents, adding a touch of reality to the usually static planet set. This was also used in Star Trek: Obsession (1967).
George Takei disappears from the cast for the next 9 episodes after this one as he was off filming The Green Berets (1968) at the time.
Elinor Donahue recalled about this episode, “I remember watching it at home. And I am quite often nervous about watching something I’m in because there is nothing you can do about it once it’s out there. But I was very pleased with it; very happy.”
This was George Duning’s first Star Trek score, the strength of which got him rehired for many more assignments, including Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968), Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968), Star Trek: And the Children Shall Lead (1968), Star Trek: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968), and Star Trek: The Empath (1968). Portions of the score were reheard throughout the season, but the love themes were reused only once more, in Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion (1968).
Ralph Senensky named this episode as his favorite among those he directed. Senensky recalled, praising the work of Gene L. Coon, “I just thought the script was absolutely wonderful. As I remember Gene, he was the least author-y type of person. He just didn’t seem like an author. He didn’t present that kind of sensitivity that his writing had expressed. It was just a deep, deep script and scene after scene had so many angles to come at it from. It was a complex script.”
The sparkling effects of the Companion would be reused in Star Trek: The Apple (1967) when the Enterprise fires phasers at Vaal, and again in Star Trek: Obsession (1967) inside of the deadly vampire cloud.
All the footage of the shuttlecraft in outer space was reused from Star Trek: The Galileo Seven (1967), some with the Companion animation added in post-production.
Technically, Zefram Cochran is 237 years old (87 plus the 150 years the Companion kept him young.)
When Kirk asks Cochrane for his first name, he replies, “Zefram”. Kirk then asks him if he is from Alpha Centauri and the inventor of the “space warp”. Cochrane then confirms he is. Yet in the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Zefram Cochrane is from Earth. However, having invented the warp drive, it is conceivable that he went there and took up residence. It is possible he left to “die in space” from there. Therefore, he could be described as “from Alpha Centauri.”
A Gold Key Comics comic book was released as a sequel to this episode, #49: “A Warp in Space”.
The original voice of the Companion was too emotionless and robotic, and all of her dialog had to be re-recorded by another actress (apparently Elizabeth Rogers).
The Companion was designed by Richard Edlund at Westheimer photographic effects company.
Summary
While transporting ailing Assistant Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford to the Enterprise aboard a shuttlecraft, Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy encounter a gaseous creature that forcibly takes them to a planet with only one human inhabitant. The man turns out to be Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive who supposedly died 150 years ago at the ripe old age of 87. The creature, whom he calls the Companion, found and brought him to the planet where it rejuvenated him and kept him alive. They can communicate but only on a non-verbal, empathic level, (which unintentionally lead to the shuttlecraft’s abduction when the man conveyed to it his loneliness). As Commissioner Hedford’s condition rapidly deteriorates, they need to free themselves to get her back to the Enterprise before it’s too late.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Glenn Corbett … Zefram Cochrane Elinor Donahue … Nancy Hedford James Doohan … Scott George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Lisabeth Hush … The Companion (voice) (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, Stephen Kandel, and David Gerrold
It’s a comic turn for guest star Roger C. Carmel. This was Carmel’s second appearance as Harry Mudd, a futuristic enterprising con man and he thinks he’s found heaven. I think this sequel was better than the one that Carmel did originally, Mudd’s Women.
In an attempt to get revenge on the Enterprise, he plans on having a planet of robots take the entire crew prisoner in order to serve them–whether they want it or not. The robots feel that the human race is very chaotic and must have the robots run their lives for their own good (they might just be on to something here). So, thousands of robots are ready, willing, and able to cater to humans’ every need. That reminds me of computers and cell phones.
My favorite scene was with Chekov. Chekov contemplates being with two such androids as he realizes they were programmed by a man as depraved as Mudd. The look on his face is priceless.
The resolution here is a bit corny (plus it was used before) but the concepts brought up are undeniably fascinating and really do the Mudd character justice. The entire crew has to act illogically and even Spock joins in on the fun.
It’s not a great episode but is a humorous one. Like I said before…I do think it’s much better than the first one with the Mudd character. The ending is poetic justice also with Mudd.
Gene Roddenberry really liked the character. Carmel was slated to reprise his role as Harry Mudd in a first-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but died before filming started. He was in the 1973 Star Trek: The Animated Series in the episode of Mudd’s Passion. The animated series of Star Trek with the original cast is worth tracking down!
The character Harry Mudd returned to Star Trek Discovery played by Rainn Wilson from The Office. He was in two episodes in the first season…the 1st Choose Your Pain (2017) and Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad (2017). He also appeared as Mudd again in “The Escape Artist” in Star Trek Short Treks released in 2019.
Rainn Wilson:I read about it in the paper that they were going to reboot Star Trek at CBS/Paramount. Bryan Fuller was the original creator [of Star Trek: Discovery] and I met with Bryan and some other folks. I said, “Hey, just so you know, I want to throw my hat in the ring.” I love Star Trek. I’d love to be a part of this somehow. I don’t know what that looks like. I’m not sure I want to move to Toronto for years. I’m not sure I want to sit in a chair and get makeup put on for two hours every morning. Because that’s brutal, what Doug [Jones] does, but it’s amazing. And then I didn’t hear anything and things came and went, and up and down. And and then, fortunately, they gave a call, “What about Harry Mudd?” It was fantasic!
From IMDB:
During the filming, casting director Joseph D’Agosta was in a panic because he needed at least two female identical twins and couldn’t find any suitable for the show. Then one night while driving home he saw Alyce Andrece and Rhae Andrece walking down a street. D’Agosta literally pulled up beside them, jumped out of his car and told them that they were going to be on television! (In some tellings of the story Gene Rodenberry is substituted for D’Agosta, but Steven Whitfield’s “The Making Of Star Trek” confirms it was D’Agosta.)
A third-season appearance of Harry Mudd was planned but axed due to the producers’ desire to move away from comedy episodes. However, Roger C. Carmel would reprise the role of Mudd as a cartoon voice in Star Trek: The Animated Series: Mudd’s Passion (1973). Mudd was considered for a return during the Star Trek movies in the 1980s, but Carmel’s failing health nixed that.
This was Roger C. Carmel’s favorite Star Trek episode.
With the exception of those actors who played members of the Enterprise crew, Roger C. Carmel was the only actor to play the same character in more than one episode of Star Trek the Original Series.
According to Walter Koenig, NBC considered making a Harry Mudd spin-off show after the success of “I, Mudd.” They assigned Gene Roddenberry to develop the idea, but being busy with Star Trek and other projects, he didn’t have time for it, and the series was never conceived.
David Gerrold did an uncredited rewrite on this episode. One of the significant changes he made, at Gene L. Coon’s request, was to get the crew on to the planet by the end of the first act. Other notable contributions were the gag of the five hundred identical female robots, and more material relating to Stella. Coon offered to submit the script for arbitration so that Gerrold would receive credit and residuals. However, Gerrold declined as he felt it would be stealing from Stephen Kandel, who had created Harry Mudd.
Using identical twins for each android “series” aided the photographic-effects budget for the episode. With imaginative use of twins and split screens, as many as six of one model were shown at once, while two of the same model required nothing but an additional costume. This ultimately gave the illusion of a planet of thousands of androids.
This episode marks George Takei’s last appearance in the series until Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968). During his nine episode absence, Takei was on the East Coast filming The Green Berets (1968).
The first draft of the script devoted more attention to Norman’s act of diverting the Enterprise to Mudd, with the crew only arriving at the end of the second act. After an examination revealed Norman as an android, Scotty expressed an urge to take Norman apart – quickly adding that it was “nothing personal.” Norman understood.
While searching for identical twins to play androids, casting director Joseph D’Agosta found two young girls (apparently prostitutes) walking on Hollywood Boulevard with their pet wild cat, Marlon. He brought the two girls to meet producer Gene L. Coon and associate producer Robert H. Justman. While they inspected the girls (who were ultimately deemed unsuitable for the role), Coon had to hold Marlon, which consequently scratched him with its claws and tore his entire shirt.
At approximately 5 minutes and 35 seconds, this episode’s teaser is the longest in the original series.
As a result of its unusual use of several pairs of twins, this episode was featured in an article in TV Guide for the week it aired.
The piece of equipment found in Norman’s lab and workshop would be recycled for future episodes, appearing in the corridors of the Enterprise. Parts of the device that contained the nanopulse laser were later seen in Dr. McCoy’s lab.
The body suits worn by the male androids were later reused on Bele and Lokai in Star Trek: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969).
The Maisie series and the Barbara series androids are wearing costumes left over from Star Trek: Mudd’s Women (1966), worn by Karen Steele and Maggie Thrett respectively.
Although ‘I, Claudius’ may be an inspiration for the title, a more likely source is Isaac Asimov’s ‘I, Robot’.
The title, referring to the absurd “king” of the robots, spoofs the 1934 Robert Graves historical novel “I, Claudius,” about the fourth emperor of the Roman Empire, who ruled between Caligula and Nero.
The Trudy series android is wearing a costume worn by an Argelian woman in Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold (1967).
Stella Mudd is wearing a dress (with slight modifications), which was seen on Martha Leighton in Star Trek: The Conscience of the King (1966).
Near the end, Dr. McCoy says, “It’s worked so far, but we’re not out yet.” This line was sampled on the song “What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy)” on Information Society’s titular 1988 album.
Although there are 500 Alice models, we only see fifteen or sixteen. In order of appearance, they are: 1, 2, 66, 99, 19, 263, 118, 322, 471, 210, 27, 11, 3, 73 and 500. The number of the Alice that throws Scott into Kirk’s group is too far away to read (although it does seem to be a double-digit figure.)
The Annabelle series android is wearing the costume originally worn by Marlys Burdette in Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold (1967).
This takes place in 2268.
In his review of this episode in ‘The Star Trek Compendium’, author Allen Asherman states that many of the actors had great difficulty keeping their composure while filming. However, actor Richard Tatro (Norman) had successfully performed his scenes without ever breaking character.
Roger C. Carmel would later voice the G1 Decepticon Stunticon leader Motormaster in the animated series ‘The Transformers’ (1984.)
Summary
When an android takes control of the Enterprise, Kirk and his crew spend four days traveling at warp speed to an uncharted planet. When they beam down they find none other that Harry Mudd, the apparent ruler of the planet made up entirely of androids. It turns out there is one major problem with Harry’s idyllic existence: the androids who serve him hand and foot simply won’t allow him to leave. Kirk and Spock devise a way to disable the androids but have their own special plans for Harry.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Roger C. Carmel … Harry Mudd Richard Tatro … Norman Alyce Andrece … Alice #1 through 250 Rhae Andrece … Alice #251 through 500 James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov Kay Elliot … Stella Mudd Mike Howden … Lt. Rowe Michael Zaslow … Jordan Bobby Bass … Android (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Android (uncredited) Marlys Burdette … Female Android (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Ted LeGarde … Herman Series (uncredited) Tom LeGarde … Herman Series (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Bob Orrison … 1st Engineer (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Colleen Thornton … Barbara Series (uncredited) Maureen Thornton … Barbara Series (uncredited) Starr Wilson … Maisie Series (uncredited) Tamara Wilson … Maisie Series (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, Robert Bloch, and D.C. Fontana
A black cat, witches, fog, and a spooky castle.
I saw this in a comment elsewhere and it’s true. If you understand the premise of this episode, that the black cat, witches, zombies skeletons, magic, etc. were derived from the aliens’ mistaken interpretation of human nightmares, rather than human reality, then, this episode does make sense.
This 1967 Halloween episode is not just about Trick or Treat – It’s about the clash of two cultures that meet in passing. It’s about how badly things can go wrong when communication is set aside to make room for personal wants and desires that can become greed.
There is truly a great line in this episode. When the crew faces the 3 witches from Macbeth. When the witches are done reciting their lines, Kirk says to Spock, “Spock . . . comment.” “Very bad poetry, Captain,” Spock replies to Kirk’s obvious annoyance. I loved that.
When they beam down, they see thick fog, 3 witches, an eerie castle, and a black cat entering the castle. They meet Korob and Sylvia, end up in a dungeon, and find that Scotty and Sulu are in a trance of sorts and obeying the will of the two sorcerers.
The sorcerers use their magic against the Enterprise, Bones ends up in a trance-like state while Kirk and Spock try to figure out a way to beat the sorcerers and save their ship and crew. Sylvia becomes very cruel and disputes with Korob. Korob decides to help Kirk and his crew because he feels that Sylvia is going way too far.
This episode is Star Trek Halloween special basically… The crew land on a weird foggy world complete with monsters…
From IMDB:
The voices of the little creatures in the final scene are the sounds made by newly-hatched alligators calling for their mother.
A detailed metal prop miniature of the Enterprise was created for this episode, then laminated in lucite as one of Korob’s tricks. The miniature was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum by Gene Roddenberry.
First appearance of Pavel Chekov, though not the first one broadcast. That honor goes to Star Trek: Amok Time (1967). Notice that Walter Koenig was still growing his hair out and therefore had to wear a rather unconvincing wig.
The title of this episode, “Catspaw”, is a term that describes a person used by another as a dupe. As McCoy points out, Scott and Sulu are used as catspaws to lure more crewmen down.
Fittingly, the episode was first aired during the week of Halloween.
James Doohan (Scotty) lost his right middle finger during World War II. Most of his scenes are shot to hide it; however, it is very noticeable here. When Scotty is holding a phaser pistol on Kirk and Spock, only two fingers are holding the butt of the phaser.
Scotty’s only dialogue is the statement, “Everything’s vanished”. Sulu doesn’t speak at all; he simply nods “yes” and “no” when queried by Kirk, and later cries “aha!” before engaging Kirk in hand-to-hand combat.
This is the first episode to feature all 7 of the “classic” cast members who would be brought back for future big screen adventures: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov, although they do not all appear in the same scene together.
The three witches seen towards the start of the episode were intended to be shown as floating severed heads. Hence the reaction from the landing party at their appearance. The characters wore black turtlenecks against a black backdrop, with light shining directly up into the face. Unfortunately, the effect did not work and the turtlenecks worn by the actors can clearly be seen. Even in the remastered version of the episode, this oversight is still present.
Theodore Marcuse (Korob) died in a car accident one month after “Catspaw” aired.
Korob and Sylvia refer to their leaders as the Old Ones, and imply that they are close by. Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft referred to the inhuman gods in his short stories as Old Ones; their being “nearby” was standard fare in his writings. Episode author Robert Bloch was a friend and disciple of Lovecraft. A similar reference occurs in Bloch’s Star Trek: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966).
The ornithoid lifeforms were marionettes composed of blue fluff, pipe cleaners, crab pincers, and other materials. The marionettes were operated with thick, black threads that were clearly visible; most of this was corrected in the remastered version of the episode.
When Gene Roddenberry originally outlined the chain of command, Lt Uhura was fourth in command. One of the reasons Dr Martin Luther King Jr convinced her to continue in the role (which she was considering quitting) was that he thought it was progress for a black woman to have such a prominent role for that time, although he was probably unaware that she was to be fourth in command. In the original script, Lt Uhura was to be in command when Kirk, Spock and Scott were all on any planet, but NBC was against having a female in charge of the Enterprise.
The Three Witches are iconic characters from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a play which inspired frequent allusions throughout this series.
The role of Crewman Jackson was played by regular Trek stuntman Jay Jones. Jones is credited as “Jimmy Jones”, whom some sources believed was Jones’ brother. However, in a 1996 retrospective interview, Jay claimed he played Jackson, as his first assignment on Star Trek, and makes no mention of a brother named Jimmy being involved on the show.
First time Assistant Chief Engineer, Lt. DeSalle was in command of Enterprise. Captain Kirk and second-in-command Mr. Spock beamed down on the planet Pyrus VII to rescue third-in-command Chief Engineer Scotty and fourth-in-command helmsman Sulu, leaving the command to Lt. DeSalle. Lt. DeSalle became fifth officer in charge of Enterprise command. Also, this was the third and last appearance of Lt. DeSalle in the show. He had appeared previously in Star Trek: The Squire of Gothos (1967) and Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967).
First episode produced for the second season.
This is the first episode in which a scope can be seen at the engineering station on the bridge. The science station scope was slightly altered for this episode; it is of a lighter color than the science scope used in episodes of the first season and has a circular control added to its left side. This dial control, as first seen in this episode, would remain throughout Seasons 2 and 3.
Robert Bloch based this episode very loosely on his own short story “Broomstick Ride”. Bloch also wrote Star Trek: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966) In both episodes, the “Old Ones” figure into the guest characters’ backstories.
One of the cat’s roars was recycled as the trademark growl for Bowser in various games such as Mario Party (1998) and Mario Golf (1999).
The short scene of crewmen in turtleneck uniforms walking in a corridor during red alert is stock footage from Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966). This marks the last time that these uniforms are worn by Enterprise crewmembers.
This is Sulu’s only non-speaking appearance in the entire series.
This episode marks several changes to the episode credits. From this point on, the episode titles and end credits are in the same typeface as the main title of the series. Directors and writers are credited at the beginning of Act One instead of the end of the last act. DeForest Kelley’s name is added to the opening credits. Also, Gene Roddenberry is credited as series creator in the opening credits.
Several bloopers from this episode can be found in the second season blooper reel.
The robe worn by Theodore Marcuse as “Korob” was previously worn by Bob Denver as “Fairy Godfather” in a dream sequence in Gilligan’s Island: Lovey’s Secret Admirer (1967) ten months before. So either the Trek Wardrobe Department borrowed it, even though the shows were produced by different studios, or they loved the design so much they copied it.
In this episode, DeSalle wears a red engineering tunic, unlike the gold command tunic he wore in Star Trek: The Squire of Gothos (1967) and Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967). The character started out as a navigator in the former, then served as a science officer in the latter, ending up as an engineer here.
The blue planet used in this episode as Pyris VII (albeit a darker blue, to illustrate the spookiness of the planet) was reused in subsequent episodes, representing Argelius II in Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold (1967), Sigma Iotia II in Star Trek: A Piece of the Action (1968), Troyius in Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (1968) and Scalos in Star Trek: Wink of an Eye (1968) which were all lighter blue.
‘Catspaw’ introduces two plot elements that were revisited in stories later in season 2. First, Star Trek: By Any Other Name (1968) explored the theme of extra-galactic aliens taking human form and then becoming inundated with human sensations. Second, Star Trek: Assignment: Earth (1968) revolved around an eccentric man with uncommon powers, who is accompanied by an apparently intelligent black cat which later turns into a black-haired woman.
Body Count: 3, and he isn’t wearing a red shirt, it’s yellow. Given that Scotty, Sulu, and Jackson all beamed down to the planet and that only Jackson was killed, it is unusual that Jackson wasn’t a red shirt, as a red shirt’s life expectancy is typically shorter than a crewman’s who is a gold or blue shirt. The other 2 casualties were not Enterprise crew members at all.
This was the first of two times that Captain Kirk and Spock were cornered by a giant cat. The second was in Star Trek: The Animated Series: Once Upon a Planet (1973).
Spock’s reference to the witches’ “very bad poetry” echoes his earlier remarks about the Air Force’s “poor photography” in Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967).
Summary
When Captain Kirk and his landing party arrive on Pyrus VII, they are met by eerie mists, a dark castle, wailing witches, zombies and a black cat. They soon learn that they are under the influence of a wizard, Korob, who tries to bend them to his will. They also soon learn that the black cat they saw is more than she appears and is in fact a powerful witch in her right. This beautiful witch, Sylvia, who wears a diamond pendant on her black dress, explains that they are explorers from another galaxy; however, Kirk and Spock must find a means to escape their grasp before they return to the Enterprise.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Antoinette Bower … Sylvia Theodore Marcuse … Korob (as Theo Marcuse) James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov Michael Barrier … DeSalle (as Mike Barrier) John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Rhodie Cogan … First Witch Gail Bonney … Second Witch Maryesther Denver … Third Witch Jay D. Jones … Crewman Jackson (as Jimmy Jones) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and Norman Spinrad
A true 5-star episode. This would be in my top 5 Star Trek episodes of all time. The story is about obsession…if you get too caught up in it…it can hurt you or worse. This could be the most well-written episode.
The crew of the Enterprise comes across the wrecked hull of the Constellation with only its commander, Commodore William Windom aboard. His crew was sent down to a planet that no longer exists because it was destroyed by a Doomsday device, a miles-long machine that looks like a hollowed-out log floating through space. It’s not floating and it isn’t hollow. It is self-fueling feeding on the planets and other objects in its path and its hull is impervious to starship phaser fire. It doesn’t look like it but it’s one of the best weapons I’ve ever seen. When it comes to your galaxy…you would have no galaxy left.
Commodore William Windom is in shock, for good reason, and he is beamed to the Enterprise so the doctor can take a look at him.
While Kirk is away trying to repair the other ship, communications are circumvented, allowing Dekker, crazy as he is, to take over the Enterprise. He decides to wage war with this gaint eater of planets, endangering another crew. The episode draws on some wonderful twists and turns as Kirk has to deal with Dekker and then with the force that is now a danger to everyone.
The cosmic threat of this huge alien weapon, while exciting in itself, takes on a much more darker tone thanks to the presence of Decker on the bridge of the Enterprise. The whole plot seems to take a back seat, for a while at least, to the strange, awful relationship between Dekker and this unfeeling machine. Everyone else becomes an incidental side player to the conflict between these two, but, of course, it’s Decker who sees this thing as his personal devil who killed his crew.
Spock didn’t give up power easily but he had to when faced with Starfleet rules. Dekker wants to kill a machine with phasers that he knows won’t hurt it. On the communicator, Kirk gives Spock the command to relieve Dekker of power…against regulations but Spock complies and the following exchange takes place…video below of this.
Capt. Kirk: Mr. Spock, relieve Commodore Decker immediately. That’s a direct order.
Matt Decker: You can’t relieve me and you know it, according to regulations…
Capt. Kirk: BLAST REGULATIONS! Mr. Spock, I order you to assume command on my personal authority as Captain of the Enterprise.
Mr. Spock: Commodore Decker, you are relieved of command.
Matt Decker: I don’t recognize your authority to relieve me.
Mr. Spock: You may file a formal protest with Starfleet Command, assuming we survive to reach a Starbase, but you are relieved. Commodore, I do not wish to place you under arrest.
Matt Decker: You wouldn’t dare.
[Mr. Spock signals two security guards who immediately step forward at his command]
Matt Decker: You’re bluffing.
Mr. Spock: Vulcans never bluff.
Matt Decker: [sadly] No. No, I don’t suppose that they do. Very well, Mr. Spock, the bridge is yours.
It’s a well-written episode and the acting by William Windom as Dekker is flawless. If I say too much more it will give it away…watch this episode.
From IMDB:
James Doohan’s favorite episode for its highlighting of the engineering aspects of the Star Trek world.
According to William Windom, he did not enjoy working on the show. He said that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were not getting along at the time, which made the set’s atmosphere tense. He also said that he felt that the episode was silly so he purposely overacted. It was not until many years later that he realized that his character was a reference to Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”.
This episode marks the first time Scotty is heard cursing in Gaelic. He later utters the same expletive in Star Trek: I, Mudd (1967) and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).
This is the most effects-heavy episode of the second season. When the series was digitally remastered for its 2007 DVD release, the upgrade required nearly 200 new effects shots.
According to William Windom, he had Decker compulsively twiddle with “cassette cartridges” (sic; data tapes) as an homage to Humphrey Bogart, who did the same thing with ball-bearings as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
Norman Spinrad was displeased with the model used for the planet killer. As he told Allen Asherman in The Star Trek Interview Book, he envisioned a doomsday machine bristling with all sorts of evil-looking weapons. For budgetary reasons, the actual Doomsday Machine model was made by dipping a windsock in cement.
Director Marc Daniels finished this episode in five days instead of the usual schedule of six. Daniels made a bet with the producers that he could finish the episode in five days. When he succeeded, he got a $500 bonus.
Nichelle Nichols does not appear in this episode. Uhura’s duties were assumed by Lt. Palmer, played by Elizabeth Rogers. Walter Koenig is also absent.
This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, at the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention.
When Spock describes the two innermost planets of the solar system that was destroyed, he says “The surface temperature of the inner planet is that of molten lead. The other has an atmosphere poisonous to human life”. Commodore Decker says he beamed his crew down to the third planet. This accurately describes the first three planets in our solar system.
The first of two appearances of Elizabeth Rogers as communications officer Lt. Palmer, the other being season three’s Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969).
This episode marks the debut of the re-designed engineering set. The dilithium crystal storage units now occupy the center of the floor (complete with recycled Horta eggs), a ladder and upper level have been added into what was just a high bank of lighted panels in the first season. The set also is entered through a short spur hallway now, rather than as a side door off a main corridor. The console across from the forced-perspective end of the set has been replaced by a doorway and moved to the main wall to the left of the red grid. The huge structures among which Kirk’s evil self and Ben Finney once hid are not seen in detail again, but the emergency manual monitor set was built on stilts on that spot, making its debut in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
Besides the Constellation and the Enterprise, the other Constitution class ships seen in the original series are Hood, Potemkin, Excalibur, Lexington, Defiant, and the Exeter.
Re-used stock footage of Scott being tossed around engineering is from Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967). A console that appears only in that episode can be seen. Scott wears a tricorder throughout this episode. But, when the old footage of him being thrown against the grating in “Tomorrow is Yesterday” is spliced in, the tricorder vanishes.
Captain Willard Decker from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), played by Stephen Collins, is the son of Commodore Decker from this episode. In the William Shatner vehicle T.J. Hooker: Second Chance (1982) there was a character named Decker.
Commodore Decker’s first name was originally to be Curt, but it was felt that it sounded too much like “Kirk”, so it was changed to Matt.
This is the first appearance in the series of another vessel identical to the Enterprise. The Constellation is a Constitution class vessel which is virtually the same as the Enterprise. Its registry number is NCC-1017, which implies that it was produced earlier than the Enterprise. Kirk said in an earlier show that there were only 12 Constitution class ships in service.
Writer Norman Spinrad recycled a short story of his called “The Planet Eater” which had been roundly rejected by publishing houses, despite being heavily influenced by “Moby Dick”. He was able to convince Gene Roddenberry that it would make a viable subject for an episode.
Although considered to be a classic episode by fans and critics alike, story editor D.C. Fontana named this as her least favourite episode.
This was one of very few episodes to have its entire score composed specifically for it. Sol Kaplan’s outstanding music was subsequently used in several of the other best episodes of the 2nd season, including Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968), Star Trek: Obsession (1967) and Star Trek: The Ultimate Computer (1968). Many listeners have noted similarities between its “planet killer” theme and the “shark” theme of John Williams’ score for Jaws (1975).
Strangely, there are two armed red-shirt guards posted on the bridge throughout much of this episode, even though there is no apparent reason requiring their presence. This doesn’t happen on any other episode of the series, unless there is an apparent security threat.
Norman Spinrad has expressed disappointment that the actor whom he envisioned playing Decker, Robert Ryan, was not cast. Ryan was a fan of the series and wanted to do the episode. Scheduling conflicts prevented this, so William Windom was cast.
The auxiliary control room is first seen in this episode aboard the Constellation. Its large viewing screen was previously used in the briefing room in Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I (1966), Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966), and Star Trek: Space Seed (1967), and on the bridge set used in Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966).
The character of Lt. Washburn (played by Richard Compton) was named after the show’s longtime assistant director, Charles Washburn.
In the original script, Enterprise actually fires several phaser shots into the machine’s mouth, but the beams just ricochet around harmlessly, if energy beams can be said to ricochet. (‘Reflect’ is probably a better word.)
In Norman Spinrad’s original version, Spock makes an unusual comment after the machine has been destroyed. He calls the weapon “not very efficient”, pointing out that a fusion bomb disguised as space rubble could be easily fed to another version of the machine, should one appear.
The picture of the star field on the bulkhead of the transporter room makes its last appearance in this episode.
Kirk’s second season green wraparound tunic debuts in this episode and will appear intermittently throughout the season. In contrast with the first season version, the collar is now edged with gold piping, although it lacks the black trim that it will gain for later (shooting order) second-season episodes such as Star Trek: The Apple (1967) and Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968). The other key difference is the location of the rank braids: these were seen on the shoulders in the first season, whereas this version of the tunic sports the standard braids on the sleeves. Kirk never wore the green tunic in the third season.
In many of its profile shots, the planet killer is semi-transparent and stars show through it. This was an overlay of film footage of the doomsday machine model over an existing star field. This money-saving technique also was used in Star Trek: The Squire of Gothos (1967) when Trelane’s planet blocks the Enterprise’s path.
The modified Nuclear-Chicago Model 2586 Radiation Survey Meter is again used by a member of the landing party as a sensor device.
In the Star Trek novel “Vendetta”, author Peter David related that the planet-killer was actually a prototype for a much larger version. The weapon had been built by a race called The Preservers, who were fighting (and losing) a war with the Borg.
The three crewmen who beam over to the Constellation with Kirk, McCoy, and Scott were named after three of the series’ assistant directors. Washburn’s namesake was Charles Washburn; Russ’ was Rusty Meek, and Elliott’s was Elliot Schick.
The digitally remastered episode shows a much better idea of the doomsday machine’s ominous design. There is also a believable view of the disabled and heavily damaged Constellation.
This episode has six alumni from The Twilight Zone (1959): William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, George Takei, William Windom, and Jerry Catron.
The trident scanner Scott pulls out of the new storage area near the doorway to engineering is the same prop Spock uses in Star Trek: Metamorphosis (1967) as he works on the shuttlecraft, and which Ensign Harper uses to plug in the M-5 multitronic unit in Star Trek: The Ultimate Computer (1968). It is identified in The Making of Star Trek as a “Ray Generator and Energy Neutralizer (Spock-Built).”
Here we see a Federation style of martial art in the fight scene between Mr. Montgomery and Commodore Decker. In most episodes, the fighting is not as structured. Two of Kirk’s default moves are to use a knife-hand strike to the neck (strike with the side of the hand, commonly known as a ‘karate chop’) and a flying side kick.
One of the legendary “bloopers” occurred during the filming of this episode: Spock says to Decker, “If you don’t veer off, I shall relieve you on that basis!” In the blooper, Leonard Nimoy forgets part of his line and says, “If you don’t veer off, I shall…blow my brains out!”
Summary
While on patrol, the Enterprise approaches a recently mapped solar system only to find that all but two of its planets have been destroyed. They also find another starship, the USS Constellation, floating in space and apparently abandoned. Beaming aboard the Constellation, they find only one occupant, Kirk’s friend and the ship’s commander, Commodore Matt Decker, who tells them of his encounter with a huge planet-killing machine. With Kirk attempting to re-start the Constellation’s engines, Decker takes command of the Enterprise and, in his irrational state, announces he is going to try and destroy the doomsday machine.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy William Windom … Commodore Decker James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Elizabeth Rogers … Lt. Palmer John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Richard Compton … Washburn John Copage … Elliott Tim Burns … Russ Jerry Catron … Montgomery Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Roger Lemli (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, Max Ehrlich, and Gene L. Coon
This is not the greatest episode of Star Trek, but I like it because it really has most of the classic Star Trek themes and situations. There’s a landing party that gets mixed up with natives, and to save his crew Kirk has to take drastic steps to alter the course of their civilization. There’s a lot of romance in the air, (though interestingly, no romance for Kirk.)
There is something about Star Trek that I haven’t mentioned. The Red Shirt Syndrome. It seems that any security personnel with a red shirt…has a high mortality rate in the Enterprise. The ones that get it…usually are just stock performers we never saw before and certainly won’t again. Scotty is somehow safe from this occurrence… well he rarely beams down to planets.
In this episode, there is plenty of time for Spock and McCoy to debate concepts like free will, change, and material comfort versus freedom. Of course, several red-shirt crew members are killed along the way here also. There’s a big fight and plenty of storms and lightning.
***Spoilers***
The Enterprise crew are exploring a planet that seems idyllic, but turns out to have deadly plants and explosive rocks, as well as a simple native race that worships a sophisticated machine they don’t understand and deify as an entity called “Valla”. Valla’s story is never really explained… it provides for the natives’ needs while needing periodic ‘feeding’ for some strange reason.
Valla basically serves as a plot device to temporarily disable the Enterprise and place the ship and crew in mortal danger. Valla also has the ability to control the weather and direct deadly lightning bolts at ground targets. Kirk’s dilemma is to take out Valla and free both his ship and the natives from their seemingly benevolent dictator.
The episode is alright but the storyline has been done before on Star Trek and Twilight Zone.
From IMDB:
Spock’s lightning-burned shirt was auctioned off at a science-fiction convention in 1967, the same year filming wrapped.
Chekov’s first name, Pavel, is established in this episode, when his love interest, Yeoman Landon, calls him “Pav”.
Originally, the script for this installment called for Vaal’s stone dinosaur head to be destroyed by Enterprise’s phasers. The props department had put in a lot of work creating it with paper mache’ and refused to allow its destruction.
Walter Koenig seems to have discarded the wig he used in his earlier episodes. Since his own hair was now long enough, it was not necessary for him to wear it anymore.
Spock’s appearance is jokingly compared to Satan in the final scene. This resemblance caused discomfort to would-be advertisers when Star Trek was first being marketed (see series trivia).
This episode contains confirmation of a much-speculated upon topic: whether the Enterprise could separate the Engineering section and warp nacelles from the primary vessel. Mentioned in Kirk and Scotty’s conversation by communicator, half-way into the show, after Kirk beams down to the planet with an away team, and Scotty takes a seat in the captain’s chair on the bridge.
This is the only time we see a landing party that comprises more than 6 members.
Actress Celeste Yarnall, who played Yeoman Martha London, said it took a while to film the scene where she asks how the planet’s inhabitants would “do it” after Vaal is destroyed because William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Deforest Kelly kept making up hilarious methods for procreating. Network censors we’re on set and Yarnall said they were getting upset, which made everyone laugh more.
Security Guard/Red-Shirt Casualties: 4.
Leonard Nimoy kept playing practical jokes on Celeste Yarnall while filming the episode. In an interview, she said that she was terrified every time she saw him coming because she had no idea what he might do.
After the first crewman is killed by the poisonous flower darts, the captain is trying to understand it all and foolishly plucks a flower and smells it, not realizing that this could be a fatal mistake.
Censors made producers cut out footage of Yeoman London during the cave scene because they didn’t want the audience to make the assumption that she slept in the same cave with the male characters.
It is debated whether or not Kirk is in violation of the Prime Directive by interfering. The Prime Directive states “Don’t interfere with the natural evolution of the planet.” In Kirk’s opinion, the planet’s inhabitants are living in servitude of a machine that is impeding their natural growth and development. Mr. Spock’s point is that the natives are healthy, happy, and content with their lives. This means that life on the planet is exactly as it should be, and doesn’t need to advance.
In addition to Lt. Hadley, Bill Blackburn also appears as one of the natives.
The deity called “Vaal” is curiously similar to “Baal”, the Semitic deity.
According to Celeste Yarnall, she and William Shatner were very attracted to each other. He wanted to act on that attraction but understood when she said no, because she was married at the time. They did end up dating for a while, a few years later, after she got divorced.
“The Apple” refers the forbidden fruit (of the “tree of knowledge”) eaten by Adam and Eve in Genesis, Chapter 3, which caused them to be cast out of Paradise by God. The fruit was never specifically identified in the text, but popular culture regards it as an apple. The fruit was first called an apple in John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost,” which also inspired a famous line in Star Trek: Space Seed (1967).
The villager’s greeting to the Enterprise crew, wrists together with hands apart and fingers slightly curled inward, is similar to the Ferengi greeting. The gesture used here places the left hand below the right, unlike the Ferengi gesture.
George Takei and Nichelle Nichols do not appear in this episode.
David Soul (Makora) would go on to play Detective Kenneth Hutchinson in Starsky and Hutch (1975) as well as author Ben Mears in Salem’s Lot (1979).
When the landing party meets with the villagers, Kirk asks Akuta where the children are, but he fails to comprehend. But, after Kirk makes a gesture simulating the height of a child, Akuta interprets it as “replacements”. Since an accidental death of a villager would cause an imbalance, there is no explanation by Akuta as to how Vaal replaces a villager, since Vaal has prohibited “holding” and “touching”. But, during the final scene, it is implied that the villagers will be able to procreate naturally.
This takes place in 2267.
54 years after this episode aired, William Shatner made a space flight on October 13, 2021 aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard 4 capsule. On this flight he officially became the oldest human to fly to space.
Not unique to this episode, but worth noting. Using the failed beam-up sequence as a reference, when several people beam up, they’ll arrange themselves to stand approximately where the transporter pad that’ll receive them will be. Exception for the unconscious Mr. Spock, notice how Kirk, Checkov, Yeoman Landon, and Kaplan stand in a somewhat circular formation.
Three years earlier, James Doohan and Keith Andes had appeared together in The Outer Limits: Expanding Human (1964) along with Skip Homeier. Skip Homeier would go on to play Melakon in Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968) and Sevrin Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969). The latter also has a Genesis-themed story-line as leader a group of space hippies in search of Eden.
At the end when Kirk advises the villagers that they are free of Vaal and now have the right of autonomy, there is no mention of retribution for the crewman killed during the villagers attack. Likely because they are a gentle, childlike people who were simply beguiled by Vaal and obeying a command.
Summary
Kirk and a landing party beam down to what seems to be an ideal, Eden-like planet. They soon find however that the planet is ruled by a powerful computer that keeps its local inhabitants – primitive and simple tribesmen – happy and healthy. With the Enterprise locked in a tractor beam and slowly being dragged into the planet’s atmosphere, Kirk and Spock must find a way to disable the computer. Realizing the threat to its existence, the computer orders the tribesmen to kill the visitors.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Keith Andes … Akuta Celeste Yarnall … Yeoman Martha Landon James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott David Soul … Makora Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov Jay D. Jones … Ensign Mallory (as Jay Jones) Jerry Daniels … Marple John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Mal Friedman … Hendorff Shari Nims … Sayana Paul Baxley … Native (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley / Native (uncredited) Ron Burke … Native (uncredited) Bobby Clark … Native (uncredited) Vince Deadrick Sr. … Native (uncredited) Dick Dial … Kaplan (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and Jerome Bixby
I do love time travel stories and I also love parallel universe stories which this one is a good one. An evil Star Trek crew… it also reminds me of the later Star Wars where the government is evil.
In the opening scene, a landing party which consists of Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura are unsuccessfully negotiating with a race of pacifists; they refuse to allow dilithium crystals to be mined in case they are used violently. They state that the Enterprise could take them by force but Kirk states that they won’t do that. As they beam up there is an ion storm that affects the transporter… instead of finding themselves on the Enterprise they know they materialize on a ship that is almost exactly the same yet somehow totally different
An excellent episode! It is another 5-star in the 2nd season. Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura get thrust into an alternate reality where the Federation is an evil empire and their shipmates and friends are now malicious, dangerous adversaries. Now the four have to find a way to get back to their own reality without being discovered and killed.
This is a classic episode that serves to introduce us to the parallel universe… a universe that will be visited more than once in the later ‘Star Trek series. It is immediately apparent that the Star Fleet in the parallel universe is an organization with fascist tendencies which immediately raises the tension. The fact that the villains have familiar faces serves to make it even more interesting.
it is also interesting that this goateed Spock is just as logical as his ‘good’ counterpart. This is one of those can’t-miss episodes…if you haven’t seen it…give it a shot.
From IMDB:
It took about a month to complete this particular episode. After filming had begun, BarBara Luna was diagnosed with strep throat. Since the script called for Capt. Kirk to kiss her, they had to postpone the kissing scene for three weeks until she was medically cleared, since they couldn’t risk William Shatner getting infected.
To further denote the inverted nature of the parallel universe, phasers are worn upside-down on the left hip.
This proved to be one of the more popular Star Trek segments in terms of follow-ups. The Mirror Universe would be depicted on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), while several non-canonical Star Trek novels and comic book series featured sequel stories to the episode.
In Jerome Bixby’s original outline, the Mirror Universe Federation was not evil, but simply backwards in terms of some technology, notably phaser weapons. Initially, Mirror Kirk was to be married to a nurse on board the parallel Enterprise, and Mirror Spock was more Vulcan in temperament. In addition, McCoy’s counterpart, and not that of Spock, was to be bearded.
Star Trek was usually not allowed to show women’s navels, but Uhura’s navel is visible in the mirror universe. Reportedly, this was accomplished by filming while a PA took the Standards representative to lunch. This is a popular myth in Star Trek but it is untrue. By the fall of 1966, the networks had removed this prohibition from their standards. In fact, Star Trek had already done this, as seen at the end of season one’s “Shore Leave”, when McCoy shows up with two women by his side, both of whom had exposed navels. Besides, Uhura is seen several times with her bare midriff, and they would have never risked the problem of doing this if it meant re-shooting all of the scenes she appeared in.
As Mirror Sulu is the security chief as well as the helmsman, George Takei wears a red uniform in this episode. Since he normally wore gold, and had worn Science blue as an astrophysicist in Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966), this makes Takei the first Trek actor to wear all three uniform colours.
In the wake of this episode, a group of child fans started a neighborhood-wide letter campaign suggesting that the concept of a “Captain’s Woman” be carried over into the series as a whole, and requesting that Stefanie Powers be cast in that role. Eventually Gene Roddenberry’s assistant had to write to the group’s two “ringleaders”, telling them to ask their parents exactly what a “Captain’s Woman” was.
Actor Vic Perrin, who portrays Tharn, made his second appearance on Star Trek in as many weeks, having supplied the voice of Nomad in the previous episode Star Trek: The Changeling (1967).
First appearance of the emergency manual monitor set.
Jerome Bixby based this episode very loosely on his own short story “One Way Street”. In the original draft script, Kirk traveled to the parallel universe alone and the parallel universe Federation was battling a race called the Tharn. This name was later given to the leader of the Halkan Council, although it is not spoken on screen.
A modified brig makes its debut here. Its location on the set was in the short hallway leading to the Engineering set.
In the opening scene (prologue), the universe-switch shows the I.S.S. Enterprise orbits Planet Halkan right to left, in contrast to the U.S.S. Enterprise, which always orbits left to right (except in Star Trek: Shore Leave (1966)). By the beginning of Act I, however, it changes to orbiting from left to right. Note that in the re-mastered version, this error has been corrected, and the I.S.S. Enterprise orbits right-to-left.
In the original story outline, Captain Kirk was trapped in the Mirror Universe alone, and it was gradually rejecting him, treating him like he was an invading germ by poisoning his systems. Both ideas were dropped.
There is a second Vulcan serving on the ship. During the walk with Kirk, passing Chekov being tortured, you can see Spock’s security guard is Vulcan.
Inspired the name of the progressive/alternative rock band Spock’s Beard.
This is listed as one of the “Ten Essential Episodes” of TOS in the 2008 reference book “Star Trek 101” by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann.
The only time in the series when someone replies to Doctor McCoy’s “I’m a doctor…” line. McCoy says “I’m a doctor, not an engineer.” Scotty answers, “Now, you’re an engineer.”
The Star Trek books ‘Spectre’, ‘Dark Victory’, and ‘Preserver’, all written by William Shatner, are about the mirror universe. They take place in the 24th Century at around the same time as the Next Generation movies, and give a 100-year history of events in the mirror universe starting after this episode.
In the late 1980s, the pop band Information Society sampled Kirk’s line “It is useless to resist us”, at the very beginning of their song “Walking Away”, as well as “In every revolution, there’s one man with a vision”, in “Over the Sea”.
This is also the only episode in which Uhura is seen in a moving turbolift.
The Mirror Universe was the subject of a Star Trek graphic novel in 1991, written by Mike W. Barr, and published by DC Comics.
This episode was a primary inspiration for Blake’s 7 (1978).
The mirror universe Sulu wears a rank badge of a real-life ARVN (Army Republic Viet Nam) Captain. George Takei plays the role of an ARVN Captain in The Green Berets (1968) and in fact was unable to appear in Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion (1968) due to his commitment to that film.
In the mirror universe, the male computer explains that James Kirk became Captain by murdering his predecessor Christopher Pike, a character played in previous installments by Jeffrey Hunter and Sean Kenney. This is possibly the only time in TOS where Pike is mentioned but does not appear.
This is the only time in TOS where Scotty addresses Captain Kirk as “Jim”. He did it twice in the movies: in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), while en route to the refitted Enterprise, and in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), when he tries to convince Kirk not to take the 72 torpedoes on board the Enterprise. In fact, he does NOT address Kirk as “Jim” in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
Ronald D. Moore (a prime writer and producer of the later Trek series) once cited this episode as one of his favourite installments of the original Star Trek series.
This title of this episode is said to be influenced by Disney’s Snow White where the wicked queen invokes the power of her mirror by saying ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all’. However, the wicked queen actually says: ‘Magic Mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all’. The line is often misquoted as ‘Mirror, mirror…’.
This show was nominated for science fiction’s Hugo Award.
There are physical changes in the “Enterprise” sets, to emphasize the difference between the parallel universes, one of which is the Empire’s symbol of a planet bisected with a sword, which accents its barbaric principles. Another difference is that Kirk’s command chair is given a higher back, to make it look more like a throne, in line with the idea that the alternate Federation is an empire. (This chair would be seen later in the season as Commodore Wesley’s in “The Ultimate Computer”.)
The voice of the computer on the alternate Enterprise was James Doohan’s.
This takes place in 2267.
The line from McCoy, “What kind of people are we?” was sampled in the song “Still Here” on Information Society’s 1992 album “Peace and Love Inc.”
Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) is the only major cast member not accounted for either in the beamed up landing party or among the crew of the Mirror Enterprise.
George Takei and BarBara Luna had previously appeared together in Hawaiian Eye: Sword of the Samurai (1960).
South Park: Spookyfish (1998) is a parody of this episode, where a portal is opened to the mirror universe, and the mirror version of Cartman has a goatee.
Summary
While beaming back to the Enterprise during an ion storm, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura materialize aboard an Enterprise in a parallel universe. Here, the Federation has been replaced by the Empire and its inhabitants are violent and cruel. Members of the crew advance in rank by killing their superiors and Kirk is constantly a target. Their only hope is to artificially reproduce the effects of the storm to facilitate a return to their own universe. Spock also realizes that all is not as it should be and uses the Vulcan mind meld on Dr. McCoy to learn the truth.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy BarBara Luna … Marlena (as Barbara Luna) James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Vic Perrin … Tharn Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Garth Pillsbury … Wilson Pete Kellett … Kirk’s Henchman Bobby Bass … Chekov’s Helper in Mirror Universe (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Bobby Clark … Chekov’s Guard #2 (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Johnny Mandell … Sulu’s Guard (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Russ Peek … Spock’s Vulcan Guard (uncredited) Paul Prokop … Phaser Control Guard (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and John Meredyth Lucas
The Enterprise investigates why a star system, where billions of lives once inhabited, is no longer showing life signs, with the ship encountering a lifeform with immense power, using a type of beam that exhausts the shields with only a few bursts, leaving them vulnerable until Kirk is able to communicate with it. Through mathematical communication, the Enterprise establishes contact.
After that, they beam the machine aboard. It believes Capt. Kirk is its creator. Apparently, it has mistaken Kirk for the long-dead Dr. Jackson Roykirk. They find out the name of the machine…Nomad. Nomad was an interstellar space probe designed by Jackson Roykirk and launched from Earth in the year 2002 with a mission of seeking out new life. It was a prototype and the only one of its type built. There is a problem though with Nomad. It was damaged by a meteoroid in 2005 and thought lost. It combined with an alien probe to be deadly.
Kirk plays along with Nomad’s belief that he is its creator. Nomad’s original program was to search out new life forms but now has changed; it is now searching for perfect life forms and is ‘sterilizing’ anything it finds imperfect. As it learns more it states its intention to return to its launch point, Earth, and sterilize any imperfections there… Kirk will have to use a logical approach if he is to destroy Nomad before it kills everybody aboard his ship.
I really liked this episode…this machine is capable of anything and it takes some fast thinking by Kirk and Spock to save the crew.
From IMDB:
In conventions, Nichelle Nichols frequently tells a story of getting into a dispute with director Marc Daniels over the filming of this episode. As it had already been established that Uhura’s first language was Swahili, Nichols believed that, after her mind was erased, Uhura would revert to her first language. However, as Nichols herself did not speak Swahili, Daniels wanted Uhura to just speak English. Nichols refused to, telling Daniels, “Nichelle Nichols doesn’t speak Swahili, but Uhura does!” Gene Roddenberry was eventually brought in to settle the dispute, and he sided with Nichols. A linguist specializing in Swahili was then brought in to write the few lines of Swahili that are spoken in the episode.
The biographical photo of scientist Jackson Roykirk is of the director Marc Daniels wearing Scotty’s dress uniform.
Although never credited, this episode – which depicted an Earth-launched space probe that acquires almost unimaginable powers in the course of the search for its “Creator” – became the inspiration behind Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). (It also inspired The Questor Tapes (1974), a rejected series pilot written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon which also featured a robot with a damaged memory who searched for its creator.) For this reason, some fans have appended to the 1979 movie the punning subtitle “Where Nomad Has Gone Before.”
Nomad was launched from Earth in 2002.
Lt. Leslie has two unusual aspects in this episode; he is at the helm and he is wearing a gold uniform as opposed to the red uniform that he is normally seen in.
The song Uhura sings is the same song she sings to entertain Lt. Riley in Star Trek: The Conscience of the King (1966), after he is transferred back to lonely duty in Engineering. The lyrics were written by Gene Roddenberry himself.
First time Scotty uses the famous “giving them all we got” phrase.
Spock mentions that Nomad’s first attack on the Enterprise was the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes. Surprisingly, this attack only reduced the shields by 20%. This seems even stranger a few moments later, when Nomad absorbs the energy of a single photon torpedo and Kirk wonders how anything could “absorb so much energy and survive”. However, the implication is that “absorbing” the energy from a photon torpedo is different than merely “shielding” against it (or against ninety).
The alien probe that Nomad collided with was called Tan Ru.
First appearance of the new, redesigned engineering section.
Bill Blackburn appears in three different uniform colors in this episode: his usual gold (as Hadley), a blue uniform in a corridor scene, and in a red technician’s jumpsuit in main engineering.
Bears a striking resemblance to The Outer Limits: The Probe (1965), aired just two years earlier.
Per Irish mythology, a “changeling” is a demon child substituted by the spirits for a human child they have stolen. That is the context used here. However, the word can also mean a shape-shifter, as in several other contexts within the Trek Universe. The most famous shape-shifter changeling in Trek was the regular character Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).
Actor Joe Paz who portrays one of the security guards killed by Nomad (the guard on the left outside Nomad’s cell) would appear again in Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968) as an SA Brigadier. (He can be seen among those saying “Hail To The Fuhrer!”)
Footage of Nomad exiting the turbolift is recycled to show him leaving sickbay.
Vic Perrin, who provided the voice of Nomad, had previously performed the Control Voice that narrated the opening and closing segments of the “Outer Limits”. His delivery of Nomad’s dialogue, with just enough inflection to remain automated without being monotonous, greatly enhances the show.
Lemli’s first name, Roger, is given in this episode. His last name wasn’t revealed until the following season, in Star Trek: The Lights of Zetar (1969).
Summary
The Enterprise encounters a powerful energy force that has apparently killed all human life in a solar system with over one billion inhabitants. They identify the culprit as a small space probe that had its origins on Earth. Called Nomad, it merged with another and, as a result, took on a new mission to destroy all biological beings as being imperfect. It believes Captain Kirk to be its creator and, as such, has spared the Enterprise and its crew, at least temporarily.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Majel Barrett … Nurse Christine Chapel Makee K. Blaisdell … Singh (as Blaisdel Makee) Barbara Gates … Crewwoman Meade Martin … Crewman Arnold Lessing … Security Guard Vic Perrin … Nomad (voice) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent / Security Guard (uncredited) Marc Daniels … Prof. Jackson Roykirk (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and Gilbert Ralston
I thought this was a good episode of the series. Thought-provoking, very well-written, and well-paced, with a nice balance of attention paid to the various performers.
Kirk and his crew are waylaid by a powerful alien who claims to be the ancient Greek god Apollo. Apollo demands they abandon their ship and become his worshipers like the Greeks of old Earth had been, and Apollo is not taking no for an answer. The crew has to figure out how to escape his clutches without falling victim to his extraordinary powers and his violent temper.
The idea that the ancient gods were, in fact, visiting aliens is interesting and has been used many times since however here it seems like a way to make an apparently all-powerful being a bit more interesting. Lt. Palamas, we can guess that she will somehow be important in this episode and indeed she is as she appears to fall for Apollo.
The speech that Kirk gives to Palamas was brilliant, I thought. A great piece of rhetoric that is strongly moving, and is potent enough to induce her to betray her heart and act for the good of her fellow humans.
In the end, the combined efforts of Kirk and the landing party on the planet and Spock back on the Enterprise work independently to sort out the challenge. This episode is a great one for Chekov…a very good introduction to him.
From IMDB:
.The title is taken from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Line 415 reads “Who mourns for Adonais?”. Shelley’s Adonais is derived from Adonis, a male figure of Greek mythology associated with fertility. Also, “Adonais” would be the English plural of the Hebrew Spoken Name of God (the Hebrew word ‘adonai’ simply means ‘lord’), so it would mean “Who Mourns for the Gods?”
In the original script, the gods and other mythological figures were mentioned in their Latin names, but, in the revised final draft (and the finished episode), they are called by their Greek equivalents (possibly at the suggestion of series researcher Kellam de Forest).
The producers were looking for someone with an English dialect and Shakespearean theatrics to pull off the Apollo role. First, they wanted to find someone in England, but rather decided to look for an actor at the San Diego Shakespeare festival. The head of the theatre recommended Michael Forest, who was already in Hollywood, making films at the time. Forest was called in for an audition, where he first had to take off his shirt, to let them see if he had the muscles needed for the part. Next, they asked him to read some lines in a British accent. Forest refused, claiming he couldn’t do it, but is able to speak in a Mid-Atlantic accent, probably more suitable for the character. He did it, and they gave him the role.
Michael Forest recalled working with his co-stars, “Leslie Parrish was a delightful person to work with; no problems; never any difficulties; we would just discuss what we were going to do and we would do it. She was excellent and very personable. William Shatner was a bit of a problem, however. You never saw me standing with him; we were always in different shots. We would be talking to one another, but we wouldn’t be on camera at the same time. I’m sure that’s what he stipulated – because I was so much taller.”
William Shatner was so concerned with the height disparity that he disallowed any shots which would show him and the much taller Michael Forest side-by-side in the same frame. According to Forest, whenever Shatner would speak to him, Forest would notice Shatner inadvertently standing on his tip toes.
This is the very first episode of Star Trek (1966) (in broadcast order) to feature all seven members of the original cast – including Walter Koenig who was the last to join the cast at the very beginning of Season 2.
Apollo’s temple was constructed on an indoor studio set. Swaying trees (courtesy of hidden stagehands) and dubbed-in bird sounds were combined with stock footage of an outdoor lake and adequately conveyed the illusion of being outdoors.
The fused, charred phaser Kirk holds up as he is speculating about Apollo visiting Earth is the one crushed by Khan Noonian Singh in Star Trek: Space Seed (1967).
This is the first time Kyle is shown in an officer’s uniform (colored shirt, black pants) instead of the noncommissioned officer’s and enlisted man’s jumpsuit. He must have been exceptional since he has jumped past Ensign and Lieutenant Junior Grade to full Lieutenant.
The gown Leslie Parrish wore was glued to her skin to keep it in place, which was painful for her because it tore her skin when it was removed.
In the trailer, the phasers fired by the Enterprise at the temple are blue. In the episode itself, they are red. They would once again be blue in the remastered version of this episode.
This is the only time in TOS that a star is both referred to as its Bayer designation and ancient name, specifically Beta Geminorum aka Pollux.
This was released in 1967. Erich von Däniken published theories concerning ancient aliens coming to earth and being taken for gods due to their advanced technology being witnessed by early humanity only in 1968.
Michael Forest reprised his role as Apollo in the fan-made sequel Star Trek Continues: Pilgrim of Eternity (2013) 46 years later.
This is the first episode, in broadcast order, to feature Chekov’s Russian pride. When Apollo identifies himself, Chekov says “I am the Czar of all the Russias!” Later, after Chekov notices Apollo is fatigued and disappears, Chekov says “He disappeared like that cat in the Russian story…”
The producers originally wanted Jon Voight for Apollo, but he was hired for another project.
A traveling matte was used to allow a giant Apollo to appear with the landing party in the foreground at the end of act one.
Marc Daniels cited this episode as his favorite among those he directed, claiming “it all came together so well”.
Michael Forest and Leonard Nimoy had played brothers on Laramie: The Runt (1962). They also worked together on the play and television adaptation of Deathwatch (1965).
The scene in which Apollo flips Scott to the side was actually executed by stunt double, Jay D. Jones, who was wearing a special harness with which he was pulled backward on cue. Jones nearly slammed into a step prop which could have caused serious injury.
Jason Alexander cites this episode as his favourite of the original series, describing it as “thought-provoking, beautiful, and very sad.”
Summary
The Enterprise is stopped dead in its tracks by a powerful energy force that appears in the form of a human hand. Soon, a being claiming to be Apollo orders Kirk (William Shatner) and several others down to the planet below. Apollo (Michael Forest) claims to have visited Earth 5,000 years ago and Kirk theorizes that he may be telling the truth. Apollo’s demand for unquestioned servitude, however, doesn’t give the crew much choice and it becomes imperative that they locate and destroy his power supply.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Michael Forest … Apollo Leslie Parrish … Lt. Carolyn Palamas James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Theodore Sturgeon and Gene Roddenberry
A 5-Star Classic episode of Star Trek. They don’t get much better than this one. This is a good episode. The series was renewed for another year and began with a very original story. Spock’s physiology demands that every seven years he must mate. Mr. Spock is overcome with desire, and his emotions are raging on fire, must return to Vulcan, the flames he must fan, if he can’t the prognosis is dire.
This requires a trip to Vulcan. When Spock and his crew mates arrive, it becomes obvious that Spock must be a very important figure because he is in the presence of the matriarch ruler, T’Pau. Unfortunately, his trip proves a difficult one in that his soon-to-be bride has decided, according to Vulcan law, to choose a different mate. She also has the privilege of choosing someone to fight for her. Instead of choosing a Vulcan hero, she picks Kirk.
This is one of the most memorable shows concerning Spock and his home planet of Vulcan. You get to see Spock in a different light completely. The scene between Nurse Chapel and Spock is very good and shocking in some ways.
I can’t really pick on this episode. It has the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and Bones and is an excellent episode. This was the first episode in that Walter Koenig appears as Pavel Chekov.
From IMDB:
First appearance of the Vulcan phrases “Peace and long life” and “Live long and prosper”. Also the first ever Star Trek episode to feature any Vulcan characters other than Spock.It’s also the first episode to air since filming began for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
First appearance of the Vulcan hand salute. Leonard Nimoy improvised this symbol during the production of “Amok Time,” modified from a traditional Jewish religious hand gesture.
Season 2 introduced new opening credits. DeForest Kelley’s name was added to the “starring” cast and the theme music was extended and had the female soprano voice Loulie Jean Norman and percussion added to it.
The prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) considered having its regular Vulcan character (played by Jolene Blalock) be a younger version of T’Pau. Since that would have required paying a fee to the estate of Theodore Sturgeon the author of Amok Time, this plan was abandoned and the new character was rechristened T’Pol.
Romulan helmets are reused from Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966), this time worn by Vulcans during the pon farr ritual. In both productions, the helmets were a de facto economy measure as they precluded the need for the actors to wear ear prostheses.
Another innovation of the second season was the further-expanded sickbay that now includes McCoy’s new office.
First time we hear the now-famous “Star Trek fight music” (in 5/4 time), when Kirk and Spock battle. The theme is also played, albeit differently and more slowly, when Spock first informs Kirk of the details of his condition in Spock’s quarters and during the entrance of T’Pau.
When child model Mary Elizabeth Rice posed as seven year-old T’pring (fitted with only one ear prosthetic, since a single still photograph taken from the side was all the script called for), she was ill with chicken pox, replete with fever. She later commented that her sickness had been a plus, as it made her appear more serious.
One of only two times in Star Trek (1966) where Spock shows an emotional reaction without being influenced by something – if only for a few seconds. The other example is the first pilot Star Trek: The Cage (1966), filmed when the rules hadn’t been established for this character.
Summary
Lately, Spock’s behavior has been increasingly and unprecedentedly erratic. When McCoy finds it to be a growing medical risk, Kirk drags the truth out of him: it is the ‘blood fever’, the one time in a Vulcan’s life he regresses to a primitive, hormonal state of mind, setting out to mate for life. He is granted the first request for shore-leave in his entire career to go to Vulcan, asking Kirk and McCoy to join him in his equivalent of a marriage ceremony with his since-age-seven arranged fiancée, T’Pring. But, once on Vulcan, T’Pring halts the matrimony by calling the ancient challenge, whereby a champion of her choice will fight Spock for her. Surprising all, she selects Jim Kirk. He accepts after due consideration only to find, when the first of two dueling weapons are handed out, that the fight is to the death – too late to decline in front of T’Pau, the presiding top official for Spock’s family and the most powerful of all Vulcan dignitaries.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Celia Lovsky … T’Pau Arlene Martel … T’Pring Lawrence Montaigne … Stonn Majel Barrett … Nurse Christine Chapel George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Walter Koenig … Ensign Pavel Chekov Byron Morrow … Admiral Komack Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Vulcan Ceremonial Aide (uncredited) Walker Edmiston … Space Central (voice) (uncredited) Charles Palmer … Vulcan Litter Bearer (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Joseph Paz … Vulcan Ceremonial Aide (uncredited) Russ Peek … Vulcan Executioner (uncredited) Mary Rice … T’Pring as Child (uncredited) Mauri Russell … Vulcan Litter Bearer (uncredited) Gary Wright … Vulcan Litter Bearer (uncredited)
The first season was a tremendous opening season. Out of 29 episodes I had 11 with 5 stars. Only one episode was under 3 and that one was at least interesting. Some of the most classic episodes are in Season 1 but we have more in Season 2. We will also see a new crew member Pavel Chekov, a Russian who joins the crew in the 2nd season. The Monkees were huge at the time so the producers wanted to have their own “Davy Jones” for the girls watching.
Lucille Ball... without her, it might not have happened. She wasn’t in on the creative side of the show but she and her studio Desilu did help finance Star Trek. A studio accountant named Edwin “Ed” Holly is on the record saying “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today.”
Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand… only after 8 total episodes Yeoman Rand just vanished from the series. Janice Rand was supposed to be a major character on Star Trek but was written off the show after season 1. Gene Roddenberry once stated that Whitney’s firing was purely financial. Whitney tells a different story. Only a few days before her firing, she was sexually assaulted by a studio executive on the Star Trek set. Whitney discussed the incident in her autobiography years later and, although she deliberately did not mention the executive by name, stated that she had a hard time believing the assault wasn’t at least in some way related to her exit from The Original Series.
Gene Roddenberry later apologized for giving in to pressure from the network to let Whitney go, even going so far as to say that writing Janice Rand off “was the dumbest mistake” he had ever made. To show how much she was loved by the fans and cast…she returned when the movies started in 1979.
William Shatner once said that their budget was lower than what it takes to cater a cast and crew in today’s time. What they had were great writers and good actors who had extremely good chemistry. The leading three men will always be known for their roles in this series. William Shatner as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and DeForest Kelley as “Bones” or Doctor McCoy. The supporting cast was great also…with Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel, Nichelle Nicols as Nyota Uhura, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, and James Doohan as Scotty. I can’t forget Grace Lee Whitney who should have been in the entire series.
Thank you all for reading each Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. We have some more in front of us and I’m looking forward to it.
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Steven W. Carabatsos and Gene Roddenberry
We have hit the last episode of the first season. This weekend I’ll have a First Season review.
The Enterprise is tracking a strange straight line pattern where all of the inhabitants of the planets in line are going crazy and dying – some are killing themselves. The next planet in line is Deneva, a Federation Outpost where Kirk’s brother Sam is stationed. Kirk, Spock & McCoy beam down to the planet to investigate and to visit Sam and his family. What they find are strange flat flying creatures attacking people and everyone on the planet are either going crazy, dying or already dead.
When they get to Sam’s place they find Sam is dead, Sam’s wife starting to go mad then suddenly dies and Sam’s son in a comatose state and dying. Spock is attacked by one of the creatures. The 3 beam back aboard the ship with Kirk’s comatose nephew. Kirk, Spock and McCoy race to find the answers.
Spock is infected with one of the aliens, who cause such great pain as to drive their hosts mad. Spock uses his Vulcan half to control his emotions, even under extreme pain, and this provides Nimoy something to really sink his teeth into.
Unless a method of destroying the creatures can be found, Kirk is faced with the possibility of having to kill millions of people to prevent the creatures from spreading further throughout the galaxy, Spock and Peter, Kirk’s nephew included.
This time there are no mind melds or any kind of communication with the flat-looking creatures. They want them exterminated immediately and for good reason.
From IMDB:
This is the first time McCoy’s lab is seen. Inside the lab, the prop used previously as Balok’s lamp device in Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966) can be seen sitting on a shelf. Different components of sickbay were added over the first season, such as the decompression chamber seen in Star Trek: Space Seed (1967). McCoy’s lab contains one of the life support canisters used on the Botany Bay.
The Deneva outdoor scenes were shot at the headquarters of TRW Space and Defense Park in Redondo Beach, California (currently [2021] the Northrop Grumman Space Technology headquarters). The establishing shot of Kirk’s brother – Sam’s lab was a building on the campus of UCLA, and the entrance of the building was the cafeteria at TRW. See Google Earth for location. The actual location where Spock is attacked by the parasite is the lobby of TRW Building E1 next door to the cafeteria where the outdoor scenes were shot. It is now (2021) Northrop Grumman Aerospace Building E1.
The parasites bear a strong resemblance to the titular enemies from the 1951 Robert A. Heinlein novel The Puppet Masters, sometimes considered to have started the “body snatchers” sub genre of science fiction. The same story was the unofficial basis for The Brain Eaters (1958) which also starred Leonard Nimoy. See also Star Trek: Charlie X (1966) and Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967), additional Star Trek The Original Series episodes with Heinlein resemblances.
William Shatner portrays Kirk’s brother Sam in the scene where McCoy rolls his body over to identify him. The shot is brief, but freezing the frame reveals Shatner in light character makeup and a mustache.
Craig Huxley (Kirk’s nephew Peter) reappears in Star Trek: And the Children Shall Lead (1968) as Tommy Starnes, and composed some music for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Also invented the “Blaster Beam”, the musical instrument used for the distinctive “V’Ger” sound from Star Trek:The Motion Picture.
Steven W. Carabatsos had an obligation in his contract, that he must deliver at least one script of his own while serving as story editor. Carabatsos left the series in late-1966, but still had to fulfill this task before departing. Having no idea of his own, Gene Roddenberry suggested him one, entitled Operation: Destroy!, which was the basis for this episode.
The fly-by of the Enterprise that opens this episode was only seen one other time. It is re-used in Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968) as the ship is thrown clear of the Tholian force field.
Stock footage of Leslie’s hands from Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967) is used to represent the personnel in the satellite control room. This shot was removed from the remastered version of the episode.
The voice of the Denevan who cries out, “I did it. it’s finally gone! I’m free!” is clearly that of Leonard Nimoy’s.
Some non canonical Star Trek novels have given the explanation that Sam Kirk’s two other sons (spoken of in Star Trek: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966)) were away from Deneva during the events of the episode. It has also been suggested that Sam Kirk having three sons was part of the misinformation Kirk planted in his robot double in that episode.
The clubs used by the Denevans during their attack on the landing party appear to be thick Lucite rods. Curiously, the gray, grooved clubs used by Spock during his fight with Kirk in Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967) and some of the miners on Janus VI in Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967) were not recycled for this use.
Summary
The Enterprise traces a virus-like outbreak that seems to be traveling in a direct line across a planetary system. The next planet is home to Kirk’s brother Sam, his sister-in-law and their young son. The Enterprise arrives too late however for Sam. They find flying jellyfish-like creatures that attach themselves to humans. They take over the victims nervous system forcing them to bend to their will. Spock finds a weapon to use against the creatures but it leaves him hopelessly blind.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk / Samuel ‘Sam’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott Joan Swift … Aurelan Kirk Maurishka … Yeoman Ellen Zahra Majel Barrett … Nurse Christine Chapel George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Craig Huxley … Peter Kirk (as Craig Hundley) Fred Carson … First Denevan Jerry Catron … Second Denevan David Armstrong … Kartan (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Guard (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Ron Veto … Harrison (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Harlan Ellison and Gene Roddenberry
If someone asked me the best episode of Star Trek…this would be the one. This one has drama, comedy, romance, and most importantly…Time Travel!
McCoy is accidentally injected with a stimulant that makes him paranoid and aggressive. He attacks crewmen and beams himself down on a planet the ship is orbiting. There, he jumps into a time travel device that resembles a giant donut called the Guardian. The Guardian has time running through and you can watch history. He manages to totally disrupt time…so much so that the Enterprise no longer exists.
Kirk and Spock ask the Guardian to start again and Kirk and Spock jump through into a period a few weeks before McCoy lands in depression-era New York. They take refuge in a homeless shelter run by Edith Keeler and prepare for McCoy’s arrival. Spock works to create a method of viewing the history he had recorded and Kirk grows close to Edith. When Spock finally finishes his work he sees that he has recorded two contradictory histories… one where Edith dies in the near future and one where she does on to work for peace
The question is which history is the ‘correct’ one, which led to the future being changed and how will McCoy interfere with what is meant to happen? I cannot say enough great things about this episode.
This episode is considered to be one of the best episodes of the series and rightly so. It uses the time travel device to set up a moral conundrum and surprisingly doing the right thing might mean allowing a good woman to die. Guest star Joan Collins does a fine job in the role of Edith and DeForest Kelley’s portrayal of the drug-affected McCoy is one of his best performances in the series.
We have one more episode to wrap up the first season!
From IMDB:
To emphasize on the extremely high age of the Guardian in the upper millions, or well into the billions, the starfield of its planet is surrounded by red dwarfs and red giants.
When William Shatner and Joan Collins are walking together on the street, they pass in front of a shop with the name Floyd’s Barber Shop clearly painted on the window. This is the same Floyd’s Barber Shop which is often seen on The Andy Griffith Show (1960), adjacent to the sheriff’s office, in the town of Mayberry.
Gene Roddenberry apparently denied Harlan Ellison’s pseudonym request because he knew everyone in the science fiction community was aware that the “Cordwainer Bird” credit was Ellison’s way of signaling his dissatisfaction with the way production people treated what he wrote. It would have meant that Star Trek was no different than all the other “science fiction” shows in mistreating quality writers, and could have resulted in prose science fiction writers avoiding contributing to the program.
In Harlan Ellison’s original story, Beckwith’s change of the past is revealed by members of the Enterprise team who are beamed back to the ship, only to find it is now a pirate vessel named the Condor. This idea was later used in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
Widely considered by both fans and critics to be the best episode of the series.
At the 50th anniversary “Star Trek” convention in Las Vegas in August 2016, fans voted this the best episode of the “Star Trek” franchise.
Gene L. Coon is mainly responsible for the small comical elements of the story, including the famous “rice picker” scene, which Harlan Ellison reportedly hated.
The footage seen through the time portal is, for the most part, lifted from old Paramount films.
This was the most expensive episode produced during the first season, with a budget of $245,316 ($2,163,601.87 in 2022 adjusted for inflation), and also the most expensive episode of the entire series, except the two pilots. The average cost of a first season episode was around $190,000 ($1,675,733.97). Also, production went one and a half days over schedule, resulting in eight shooting days instead of the usual six.
When asked in February 26, 1992 interview whether the makers of this episode consciously intended it to have the contemporaneous anti-Vietnam-war movement as subtext, associate producer Robert H. Justman replied, “Of course we did.”
The Guardian of Forever was designed by Art Director Rolland M. Brooks. Normally, set design was the purview of his colleague Matthew Jeffreys, but due to illness, Brooks took over his chores for the Guardian. When Jefferies returned to his duties and saw the donut-shaped set piece for the first time, he reportedly exclaimed, “What the hell is this?!”, according to D.C. Fontana. Special effects artist Jim Rugg was responsible for the light effects for the Guardian.
Clark Gable, who was by no means a leading man in 1930, was not the original choice of reference. The final shooting draft of this script has Edith reference “a Richard Dix movie”, but the crew on the set felt Dix’s name wouldn’t be familiar to viewers in the 1960s.
Originally, then-story editor Steven W. Carabatsos got the job to rewrite Harlan Ellison’s script, but his draft was not used. Instead, Ellison agreed to make a rewrite himself, which was again deemed unsuitable. Producer Gene L. Coon also got himself into the rewriting. Finally, the new story editor, D.C. Fontana got the assignment to rewrite Ellison’s script and make it suitable for the series. Fontana’s draft was then slightly rewritten by Roddenberry to become the final shooting draft. Much of the finished episode is the product of Fontana, who went uncredited (as did all the other writers) for her contribution. Only two lines from Ellison’s original teleplay survive in the final episode, both spoken by the Guardian: “Since before your sun burned hot in space, since before your race was born,” and “Time has resumed its shape.”
The title of this episode refers to both the dead city on the time planet and New York itself, where the timeline will either be restored or disrupted. In Harlan Ellison’s original script, Kirk, upon first seeing the city sparkling like a jewel on a high mountaintop, reverently says it looks like “a city on the edge of forever”. In Ellison’s first treatment for this episode, the city they travelled back in time to was Chicago.
The alley in which Kirk steals the clothing from the fire-escape is the same alley seen in Star Trek: Miri (1966), in which Spock and the guards have debris dumped on them by the children and the same alley seen in Star Trek: The Return of the Archons (1967) where the townspeople are stunned.
Leonard Nimoy characterizes the episode as a high-water mark in the series, calling it “good tragedy”.
Harlan Ellison’s original story had the time portal manned by people who were the real guardians of time, rather than a machine entity.
In Harlan Ellison’s original story, Kirk and Spock are aided in the 1930s by a vagrant called Trooper who reveals himself to be a veteran of the Battle of the Somme. This character was renamed Rodent, and has a smaller role as the bum who incinerates himself with McCoy’s phaser.
In one scene in this episode, a poster can be seen advertising a boxing event at Madison Square Garden featuring “Kid McCook” vs. “Mike Mason”. For Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Past Tense, Part II (1995), scenic artists Doug Drexler and Michael Okuda created a near replica of this boxing poster for a scene set in 1930 San Francisco; the DS9 poster features the same boxers, and says that it is “their first rematch since Madison Square Garden”.
The network heavily objected to Kirk’s last line, “Let’s get the hell out of here” and wanted it to be removed from the episode. The word “Hell” was used five times in The Original Series, the other four being: Star Trek: Space Seed (1967)(#1.22), when Kirk quotes Milton, “It is better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven”, Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967)(#1.27), when Lazarus tells his counterpart, “I’ll chase you into the very fires of hell!”, and Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967)(#2.6), when Decker describes the berserker as “right out of hell.” Kirk also says “What the hell is going on?” when he activates the Constellation viewscreen and sees the Enterprise being pulled into the maw of the Planet Killer. These are the only two times that the word was used as an expletive, rather than a reference to the domicile of the damned.
Harlan Ellison’s script was unusable for the series for many different reasons. Gene Roddenberry objected to the idea that drug usage would still be a problem in the 23rd century, and even present among starship crews. Also, the production staff was heavily against Kirk’s final inactivity. It seemed that being unable to decide and act, viewers could never be able to accept him as the strong leader figure in later episodes. Elements, such as the Guardians and the Condor and its crew were simply impossible to create on the series’ budget.
One of William Shatner’s favorite episodes.
William Shatner recalled that he attempted to talk to Harlan Ellison during the writing dispute to try and calm things down. According to Shatner, Ellison responded by yelling at him.
After Kirk and Spock talk about the “flop”, the scene changes to a street view, where a kosher meat store, with a conspicuously large Star of David on its front, is displayed in the center of the scene. This is one of the very few times a human (Earth) religious symbol is displayed in this series.
Desilu Stage 11, usually not a Star Trek stage, was used for filming the mission interiors. The stage was occupied by My Three Sons (1960) previously, but as that series was moved to another location, it became available for the crew to film.
Harlan Ellison’s original script later won the Writers’ Guild of America Award.To emphasize on the extremely high age of the Guardian in the upper millions, or well into the billions, the starfield of its planet is surrounded by red dwarfs and red giants.
When William Shatner and Joan Collins are walking together on the street, they pass in front of a shop with the name Floyd’s Barber Shop clearly painted on the window. This is the same Floyd’s Barber Shop which is often seen on The Andy Griffith Show (1960), adjacent to the sheriff’s office, in the town of Mayberry.
Gene Roddenberry apparently denied Harlan Ellison’s pseudonym request because he knew everyone in the science fiction community was aware that the “Cordwainer Bird” credit was Ellison’s way of signaling his dissatisfaction with the way production people treated what he wrote. It would have meant that Star Trek was no different than all the other “science fiction” shows in mistreating quality writers, and could have resulted in prose science fiction writers avoiding contributing to the program.
In Harlan Ellison’s original story, Beckwith’s change of the past is revealed by members of the Enterprise team who are beamed back to the ship, only to find it is now a pirate vessel named the Condor. This idea was later used in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
Widely considered by both fans and critics to be the best episode of the series.
At the 50th anniversary “Star Trek” convention in Las Vegas in August 2016, fans voted this the best episode of the “Star Trek” franchise.
Gene L. Coon is mainly responsible for the small comical elements of the story, including the famous “rice picker” scene, which Harlan Ellison reportedly hated.
The footage seen through the time portal is, for the most part, lifted from old Paramount films.
This was the most expensive episode produced during the first season, with a budget of $245,316 ($2,163,601.87 in 2022 adjusted for inflation), and also the most expensive episode of the entire series, except the two pilots. The average cost of a first season episode was around $190,000 ($1,675,733.97). Also, production went one and a half days over schedule, resulting in eight shooting days instead of the usual six.
When asked in February 26, 1992 interview whether the makers of this episode consciously intended it to have the contemporaneous anti-Vietnam-war movement as subtext, associate producer Robert H. Justman replied, “Of course we did.”
The Guardian of Forever was designed by Art Director Rolland M. Brooks. Normally, set design was the purview of his colleague Matthew Jeffreys, but due to illness, Brooks took over his chores for the Guardian. When Jefferies returned to his duties and saw the donut-shaped set piece for the first time, he reportedly exclaimed, “What the hell is this?!”, according to D.C. Fontana. Special effects artist Jim Rugg was responsible for the light effects for the Guardian.
Clark Gable, who was by no means a leading man in 1930, was not the original choice of reference. The final shooting draft of this script has Edith reference “a Richard Dix movie”, but the crew on the set felt Dix’s name wouldn’t be familiar to viewers in the 1960s.
Originally, then-story editor Steven W. Carabatsos got the job to rewrite Harlan Ellison’s script, but his draft was not used. Instead, Ellison agreed to make a rewrite himself, which was again deemed unsuitable. Producer Gene L. Coon also got himself into the rewriting. Finally, the new story editor, D.C. Fontana got the assignment to rewrite Ellison’s script and make it suitable for the series. Fontana’s draft was then slightly rewritten by Roddenberry to become the final shooting draft. Much of the finished episode is the product of Fontana, who went uncredited (as did all the other writers) for her contribution. Only two lines from Ellison’s original teleplay survive in the final episode, both spoken by the Guardian: “Since before your sun burned hot in space, since before your race was born,” and “Time has resumed its shape.”
The title of this episode refers to both the dead city on the time planet and New York itself, where the timeline will either be restored or disrupted. In Harlan Ellison’s original script, Kirk, upon first seeing the city sparkling like a jewel on a high mountaintop, reverently says it looks like “a city on the edge of forever”. In Ellison’s first treatment for this episode, the city they travelled back in time to was Chicago.
The alley in which Kirk steals the clothing from the fire-escape is the same alley seen in Star Trek: Miri (1966), in which Spock and the guards have debris dumped on them by the children and the same alley seen in Star Trek: The Return of the Archons (1967) where the townspeople are stunned.
Leonard Nimoy characterizes the episode as a high-water mark in the series, calling it “good tragedy”.
Harlan Ellison’s original story had the time portal manned by people who were the real guardians of time, rather than a machine entity.
In Harlan Ellison’s original story, Kirk and Spock are aided in the 1930s by a vagrant called Trooper who reveals himself to be a veteran of the Battle of the Somme. This character was renamed Rodent, and has a smaller role as the bum who incinerates himself with McCoy’s phaser.
In one scene in this episode, a poster can be seen advertising a boxing event at Madison Square Garden featuring “Kid McCook” vs. “Mike Mason”. For Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Past Tense, Part II (1995), scenic artists Doug Drexler and Michael Okuda created a near replica of this boxing poster for a scene set in 1930 San Francisco; the DS9 poster features the same boxers, and says that it is “their first rematch since Madison Square Garden”.
Harlan Ellison’s script was unusable for the series for many different reasons. Gene Roddenberry objected to the idea that drug usage would still be a problem in the 23rd century, and even present among starship crews. Also, the production staff was heavily against Kirk’s final inactivity. It seemed that being unable to decide and act, viewers could never be able to accept him as the strong leader figure in later episodes. Elements, such as the Guardians and the Condor and its crew were simply impossible to create on the series’ budget.
One of William Shatner’s favorite episodes.
William Shatner recalled that he attempted to talk to Harlan Ellison during the writing dispute to try and calm things down. According to Shatner, Ellison responded by yelling at him.
After Kirk and Spock talk about the “flop”, the scene changes to a street view, where a kosher meat store, with a conspicuously large Star of David on its front, is displayed in the center of the scene. This is one of the very few times a human (Earth) religious symbol is displayed in this series.
Desilu Stage 11, usually not a Star Trek stage, was used for filming the mission interiors. The stage was occupied by My Three Sons (1960) previously, but as that series was moved to another location, it became available for the crew to film.
Harlan Ellison’s original script later won the Writers’ Guild of America Award.
Summary
When a drug-crazed Dr. McCoy leaps through a time portal to 1930 Earth, he does something to change history resulting in the disappearance of the Enterprise. Kirk and Spock soon follow hoping to arrive just before McCoy. They soon find themselves working at the 21st Street Mission for the beautiful Edith Keeler. Spock builds a crude computer and finds two newspaper articles about Edith: one dated 1936 about a meeting she had with President Roosevelt and the other her obituary dated 1930. The question then becomes which of the two are correct. Is Edith Keeler, with whom Kirk has fallen in love, supposed to live or to die?
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock Joan Collins … Edith Keeler DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura John Harmon … Rodent Hal Baylor … Policeman David L. Ross … Galloway John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle Bart La Rue … Guardian (voice) (as Bartell La Rue) Walter Bacon … Onlooker on Street (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Bill Borzage … Drunk (uncredited) Dick Cherney … Passerby on Sidewalk (uncredited) Noble ‘Kid’ Chissell … Server (uncredited) Jane Crowley … Onlooker on Street (uncredited) Joe Garcio … Man in Mission (uncredited) Joseph Glick … Man in Mission (uncredited) Carey Loftin … Truck Driver (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Eleanore Vogel … Onlooker on Street (uncredited) Max Wagner … Man in Mission (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Don Ingalls and Gene Roddenberry
Only two more episodes after this and we are done with the first season! I’ll write up a Season 1 review for next weekend and we will tackle the 2nd season after that.
Ok…this is one of the unpopular episodes of Star Trek. It’s not one of the better ones but I find it interesting…but saying that…it’s hard to get a handle on exactly what is going on. This is the first episode where even Spock has more questions in his answers than answers. The funny thing is…the next episode coming up is maybe the best in the entire series.
Robert Brown does a good job of performing the rather maniacal Lazarus…an interesting biblical allusion, but a bit difficult to interpret the meaning given the character. The cinematography and the script impose limitations that inhibit dramatic development.
The known universe is, apparently, about to be destroyed by a malevolent humanoid from a parallel universe of antimatter. If antimatter meets matter…the results will be catastrophic. Lazarus has been chasing this being for years to exact revenge for the destruction of his world. The Enterprise crew is stymied and confused (as well as us the viewers), until the identity of the would-be destroyer is revealed.
In closing… this is some hard-core science fiction with a wonderful mystery setup. The script hints at the possibility of an invasion from the antimatter universe and/or the destruction of all existence due to the collision of both. The execution, however, leaves much to be desired. It could have been so much better…maybe in a movie format or with a much better script.
In other words…you will do better seeing this episode than reading about it. That doesn’t mean everything will make sense…at the end of the episode I saw what was going on but it’s like describing a train wreck getting to that point.
From IMDB
This is the first time that live two-way communication with Starfleet Command is depicted. In previous episodes, communication with Starfleet Command was through delayed radio messages.
John Drew Barrymore (Drew’s dad) was originally cast as Lazarus, but failed to show up for shooting and had to be replaced by Robert Brown, causing the episode to go two days over schedule. Star Trek’s producers subsequently filed and won a grievance with the Screen Actors Guild, which suspended Barrymore’s SAG membership for 6 months.
Along with Star Trek: Friday’s Child (1967), this is one of the only two episodes where outdoor planet scenes were filmed both on Desilu Stage 10 and on location (both times at Vasquez Rocks). Originally, all planet-side scenes were scheduled to be filmed on location, but due to the turmoil during production, director Gerd Oswald couldn’t finish shooting at Vasquez. Matt Jefferies and the art department prepared a spot on Stage 10 which could accomodate the missing “alternate universe” sequence.
At the 50th anniversary “Star Trek” convention in Las Vegas in August 2016, fans voted this the ninth worst episode of the “Star Trek” franchise.
Depending on which version of this episode you watch, the closing stills change. The original syndicated version and the VHS version show the still as the Enterprise leaving the Earth-like planet from Star Trek: Miri (1966). However, the Sci-fi Channel and DVD version show the still as just a blue planet, possibly Rigel 12 from Star Trek: Mudd’s Women (1966) or Starbase 11 from Star Trek: Court Martial (1967).
Actor Eddie Paskey appeared in 59 episodes of the original Star Trek series, 50 of them playing Lt. Leslie – a character name that came from William Shatner himself inserting the first name of his eldest daughter Leslie Carol Shatner into the show – but only in ‘The Alternative Factor’ does Eddie’s role as Lt. Leslie ever appear in closing credits, and when it does – in contrast to the spelling by which it has become widely known and accepted – it is spelled ‘Lesley’. Also, this was the second episode in which Leslie was seen in the command chair.
James Doohan and George Takei do not appear in this episode. For unknown reasons, Scotty and Sulu were substituted in the roles of engineer and helmsman by Charlene Masters and Mr. Leslie, respectively.
The visual of the iron-silica planet from orbit is reused footage previously representing Alfa 177 in Star Trek: The Enemy Within (1966) and M-113 in Star Trek: The Man Trap (1966). This planet effect was reused again as Argus X in Star Trek: Obsession (1967) and Ardana in Star Trek: The Cloud Minders (1969).
When Lazarus sabotages the Engineering Panel to create an overload, and eventually steal several dilithium crystals, the electrical plugs he switches around are actually Dual Binding Post Plugs (banana plugs), very common when this show was made in the 1960s and still in use in 2021.
A still image in the closing credits of Star Trek: The Squire of Gothos (1967) shows the corridor between universes set unaltered by the effects and double exposure. Titled at a 45 degree angle, William Shatner stands ankle deep in smoke in a near pose of the crucifixion, falling back into a purple corridor, where an orange line draws the horizon to a vanishing point.
Although this episode isn’t the best of the series, it does serve as the springboard for other plot lines concerning parallel or alternative universes as well as time travel. These subjects would be expanded upon through the original series seasons as well as in sequel television and film productions.
Summary
While mapping the uninhabited planet below, the Enterprise – indeed the entire galaxy – is affected by a powerful force after which a single human, Lazarus, is found on the planet. He claims to be after an evil creature who destroyed his entire civilization, but Spock can identify no other creature on the planet. Lazarus is in fact a time traveler who has been battling an alternate version of himself from an alternate universe. When Lazarus’ opponent steals the ship’s dilithium crystals, solving the mystery becomes a matter of life and death for Kirk and the crew.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock Robert Brown … Lazarus DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Janet MacLachlan … Lt. Charlene Masters Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Richard Derr … Barstow Arch Whiting … Assistant Engineer Christian Patrick … Transporter Chief Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Vince Cadiente … Security Guard (uncredited) Bill Catching … Anti-Matter Lazarus Being #2 (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Crewman (uncredited) Carey Foster … Enterprise crewmember (uncredited) Tom Lupo … Security Guard (uncredited) Ron Veto … Security Guard (uncredited) Al Wyatt Sr. … Anti-Matter Lazarus Being #1 (uncredited)
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