Episode Title: Metamorphosis
Air Date: 11/10/1967
Written by Gene L.
Coon
Directed by Ralph
Senensky
Cast: William
Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H.
McCoy AKA “Bones” James
Doohan as Lieutenant Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”
George Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant
Leslie Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley Glenn Corbett as Zefram Cochrane Elinor
Donahue as Assistant Commissioner Nancy Hedford Elizabeth Rogers as The Companion
Ships: USS
Enterprise NCC-1701, Galileo NCC-1701/7
Planets: The Companion’s World
My Spoiler filled
summary and review: The shuttlecraft
Galileo is on route to rendezvous
with the Enterprise. The Galileo
is transporting Federation Assistant Commissioner Nancy Hedford to the ship for
medical treatment. On this mission are
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy.
The Commissioner has been infected by Sakuro's Disease, a rare but
potentially fatal illness but one perfectly treatable. The treatment does require a Starfleet medical
facility such as a ship or starbase. The Commissioner is part of a team of
diplomats that are currently working to end a violent conflict elsewhere in the
galaxy; she is infuriated that she’s had to leave this assignment to seek
treatment. She blamed Starfleet Medical
for not inoculating her against this illness to which Dr. McCoy and attempt to
defend his colleagues states the chances of somebody getting such condition
were literally billions to one. The
Commissioner is nevertheless irritable and rude. It is unclear if this is the
way she just normally is or the pressure of having a potentially fatal illness
is causing her to snap.
 |
| Nancy Hedford, not well |
However just then, as the plot
would demand it, the shuttlecraft is pulled off course. The Captain and Mr. Spock try to figure out
what is happening and although they can identify the location of the source of
the problem what it is leaves them
baffled. Kirk and Spock are able to
manage a soft landing and after some quick sensor readings discover that the
planet, although unusual for its size, is fully capable of supporting
life. As the party exit the shuttlecraft
they hear a “hello” being shouted at them.
They are found by another
shipwrecked human, he introduces himself as “Cochrane.” Cochrane shakes hands with all of the crew
members and identifies Spock as a Vulcan.
When he sees Commissioner Hedford he proclaims that the sight of her is
“food for a starving man,” then corrects himself after he sees how negatively she took
that comment. He becomes fascinated with
their shuttlecraft and its propulsion system.
Cochrane talks a lot but doesn’t say much and for some reason Kirk
thinks he looks very familiar.
 |
| Cochrane treating his guests |
Cochrane invites them all over to
his house a small comfy place where his tools and equipment are to Mr. Spock
antiques. Hedford complains about the
heat while everyone else is comfortable at 75 degrees. This is a sign that her sickness is starting
to come on strong. Cochrane goes onto
explain to his guests that he has been marooned on this planet for 150 years
and he was an old man of 87 when he arrived. Kirk is
taken back pointing out to the man that he is not over 35. Cochrane explains that he was restored to
youth and health by the Companion. The
Companion is the energy creature that runs this place and gives life to this
otherwise small little planet. He lets
them know that it was the Companion that brought them here. It did so to keep him company. Cochrane can communicate with it in a strange
way and he let it know he was lonely. The Companion reacted by finding other humans to be with, even through Cochrane himself did not order it to do so.
 |
| Not just a Cochrane, he is the Cochrane! |
 |
| Cochrane communicating with the Companion |
He quickly requests that Cochrane
use his contact with the Companion to see if it can cure the Commissioner. Cochrane gives it a shot and the trio gets to
see how it is that Cochrane communicates with the cloud of energy. Basically the cloud envelops him and they
communicate through feelings.
Unfortunately for plot convenience the Companion can’t help the
Commissioner. This increases their need
to get off planet and fast. While Spock
is trying to fix the shuttlecraft, which is problematic because while nothing
works nothing is actually broken, he is then attacked by the Companion. He survived and came to the conclusion the
Companion was primarily electrical and could be overloaded.
 |
| The Companion attacks Spock |
Cochrane had expressed feeling that
he was a prisoner in a gilded cage so they wanted him to act as bait in a trap
they built to overload the Companion. Cochrane starts to have second thoughts; he
thinks about all the good things that the Companion has done for him. Kirk has to talk Cochrane into it explaining
how interesting the universe now is and how Cochrane doesn’t want to spend
eternity as the creature’s pet. Cochrane
reluctantly agrees complaining the whole time calling himself a “Judas goat.”
Spock’s claimed to Cochrane that
their device could not fail but confides to Kirk there was a chance of failure as
Cochrane sat out there in the middle of the trap. The Companion arrives to communicate with
Cochrane, Spock pulls trigger and Cochrane gets knocked out but the Companion
just gets mad. The white cloud turns
red, flies into the room, and starts killing Kirk and Spock. Fortunately, Cochrane wakes up and gets the
Companion to break off.
While this is all going around
Scotty is command of the Enterprise and
he is leading the crew trying to figure out where the Galileo went. With no
apparent breakup of the shuttlecraft Scotty begins a planet by planet search
for their missing companions. This could
have qualified as a solid sub-plot like in “The Galileo Seven” but the episode
doesn’t spend much time there.
Since trying to kill the Companion didn’t
work, Dr. McCoy encourages a different approach: just try to talk to it. They grab one of their universal translators
from the shuttlecraft and make their approach.
Cochrane summons the Companion and it arrives. Kirk tries to talk to it with the translator
and gets through. The Companion is
beyond impressed as no one had tried to communicate this way before. The Starfleet trio is surprised to learn that
the Companion is not just an entity but she is female. They learn that she greatly cares for
Cochrane who she calls “The Man” and wants to make sure he continues. She says he needs company to continue or he
would be lonely. Kirk tries to appeal
about their dying member but the Companion only cares about “The Man” and can’t
let them go.
 |
| The Trio find a way to talk with the Companion |
After their first conversation with
the Companion Cochrane wants to know why they gave her a female voice, to which
Spock replies they didn’t, the computer reads her as female and she loves
him. This makes Cochrane angry, he comes
to see his bonding with the Companion was some sort of sexual thing he didn’t
consent to and starts to react like he had been slipped a roofie. The Starfleet trio tries to convince him that
it is not like that and to view his experience with the Companion as one that
is very positive. It probably doesn’t
help Cochrane that these same men were trying to convince him that the
Companion had to be destroyed only a short time ago.
As Cochrane goes off to sulk
Hedford starts to sink into a depression.
As her own life is drawing to a sudden end she starts to reflect on her past
and finds that she was so obsessed with her job that she neglected her personal
life and was sad over that lack of love and family. Her rantings kind of remind me of the drugged
Captain Kirk in “The Naked Time.” When
she hears Cochrane push the Companion’s love, a creature who nurtured him for
150 years, away like it was nothing she grows angry at the foolish Cochrane
wishing that she could be loved like him.
In Captain Kirk’s continued talks
with the Companion he tries to appeal to her love and show her that if she
truly loves someone she will set them free.
Kirk does put an idea in her mind but not the one that he intended. The Companion disappears and the
Commissioner comes out fully restored, referring to herself as “we” she
explains that the Companion and Nancy Hedford have become one. The unified Companion-NH approaches Cochrane,
explains her feelings, and lets him go.
She can’t go back with them as she is tied to the planet but her impressive
powers are gone, she will age normally and Cochrane will too. She lets them know they all can leave and she
wouldn’t be able to prevent them leaving if she wanted to. Companion-NH is sad to be seeing them go but
through her Hedford side she understands the human need for freedom and must be
willing to let those she love move on even from her. However Cochrane is in love with Companion-NH
and he decides to stay! He asks Kirk not
to tell the galaxy about him and Kirk agrees leaving the two lovers (or is it
three?) with their happy ending.
 |
| The Companion-NH |
Additional thoughts: Poor
Scotty! Kirk, Spock, and McCoy all get
to meet the Father of Warp Drive while he is stuck on the bridge of the Enterprise scanning uninteresting
planets one at a time. What you think is
the first thing he did when Kirk told him?
Yes, I know Kirk promised he was a going to tell anyone, but seriously could you not tell Scotty that you met the guy who made warp engines possible for
humans? I imagine as he greeted his
crewmates as they returned to the ship in the shuttle bay, as soon as Kirk and
McCoy blabbered about their encounter I imagine you see Mr. Scott run to the
intercom as fast as he could to call the bridge and demand Mr. Sulu turn the
ship around. In my Head Canon I like to
think that they did talk Cochrane into accepting this one visitor.
Speaking of Zefram Cochrane what is
up with his request for Kirk not to tell anybody he’s there? That didn’t make
sense with everything that had gone on in the rest of the episode. He speaks about being lonely and he was
interested to see what the rest the galaxy looked like, I understand he
wants to stay behind with Companion-NH but why the request for no
visitors? It was completely off of his
character arc.
I hope Kirk didn’t take their request
too seriously frankly any request from him too seriously, for emotionally he
seemed to be all over the place. At
first is excited to see new people and then he’s secretive with them. He originally clearly appreciates everything
the Companion had done for him, and then suddenly feels like a prisoner, but
when they want to move against the Companion he resists. Then later he becomes irrationally angry
before deciding to commit the rest of his life to this new unified being. I clearly get the he is found love but you think he
would appreciate if you platonic friendships as well? How about another couple to get to go on a
double date with or stay up one night playing The Settlers of Catan?
Granted I understand him not wanting mobs of people to show up and get
all crazy about celebrity resulting in them tearing this place apart, but
couldn’t Starfleet help regulate the amount of people to come visit him at any
one time? I think the couple (or trio)
might benefit greatly from interaction with others.
Now the story of Nancy Hedford was
shielded by a lot of plot armor. The
Companion can’t cure her illness directly but can do so by bonding with
her? I’m assuming that her importance in
her diplomatic team was not as great as she tried to make it seem. Maybe she is a type of person who is always
overstating or overestimating her own importance. Kirk didn’t seem too concerned about the
conflict she was helping reside and states that Starfleet will probably just
find another woman to help end that war, that makes me feel that she was not
really that much of a force as far as those negotiations were concerned. She may have been a great researcher and was
able to add value to her team that way but she didn’t seem to have any
diplomatic skills that I could see.
I did feel for her during her
breakdown though. Is completely natural
if you feel like your life may be suddenly coming to an end and look back on it
to find your regrets start to pile up real high. This then combined with the
realization that you can’t do anything about them. As I stated in the summary it reminds me a
lot of Captain Kirk’s breakdown when infected by the naked virus in the episode
“The Naked Time.” **After writing the initial draft for this review I myself was involved in a serious accident where I feel down my basement steps and shattered the lower half of my left leg. I spent the next few weeks in the hospital regretting my accident and many other unrelated decisions.**
I do want to point out that I
really love the scene when the combined being Companion-NH was having some
downtime with Cochrane and she attempts to look at him through her veil recreating
her view of him when she was the cloud creature. With this great ending it in a way reminds
me of the ending of “The Devil in the Dark” when the Enterprise encountered a new life form that was threatening some
miners and was able to come out with a solution that benefited all parties.
When I was a kid I used to read a
book called The Giving Tree. Actually, hated it and I still do. It is a
rather messed up story about a sentient tree that’s in love with “The Boy” and
sacrifices everything about itself its leaves, branches, ultimately its very
body to “The Boy’s” happiness. The
problem is “The Boy” is such a self-centered jerk who never once even seems to
appreciate the tree for all it is doing for him that he becomes impossible to
like. The story is supposed to represent a mother’s love but instead the tale comes
off as this very unhealthy one-sided relationship. This story could have ended up like that
particularly after the way Cochrane acted when he discovered that the Companion
was female. This resolution was much
nicer with the two of them (or three) coming together to form a real
relationship in which they both (or all) benefit. It left me with a much warmer feeling than I
ever got with the other story.
 |
| A messed up story |
One final note when they find out
the Companion was female they instantly assume that she has romantic feelings
for Cochran that they didn’t assume before.
Okay this assumption turned out to be correct but weird assumption to be
making. It’s right up there with Ned
Stark coming to the conclusion on Joffrey’s patronage because of hair
color. It turns out he was right but the
thought process was logically wrong. I
thought the first time I saw this episode that the Companion was keeping Cochrane
as some sort of pet. If I met a woman
who had a pet and I discovered that pet was male I wouldn’t conclude that the
two had a romantic relationship or that she thought of her pet in any other
respect but it just being a pet.
FINAL GRADE 4 of 5
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