CAPTAIN KIRK GIVES HIS BEST SPEECH AND AN ALIEN USES HIS BODY AS A TAXI

 

Episode Title:  Return to Tomorrow

Air Date: 2/9/1968

Written by John T. Dugan and Gene Roddenberry  

Directed by Ralph Senensky

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Sargon    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock and Henoch             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty” and the Voice of Sargon       Diana Muldaur as Dr. Ann Mulhall and  Thalassa                  George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Mike Howden as Lieutenant Rowe        Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli                        Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley      Cindy Lou as unnamed Nurse       Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Jeannie Malone as unnamed Nurse       Eddie Paskey as unnamed security guard                

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Sargon’s unnamed Homeworld

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise has received a strange message from an unknown source compelling them to head to a particular set of coordinates in space.  The information they needed was already entered into their systems without any of the bridge crew having to touch anything.  The whole thing is making the Captain quite a bit nervous.   As they arrive at their destination Mr. Spock observes that they have come across a planet that was once like Earth but its atmosphere was stripped away in nuclear war. 

At this point a booming voice is heard on the bridge.  According to Lt. Uhura it is not coming from any of the communication frequencies.  The voice identified himself as Sargon.  He explains that he is thousands of years old and has been waiting for someone to come along who he could communicate with.  He asks the Captain to come see him on the planet and gives the Enterprise coordinates that, according to Mr. Spock’s readings, is an underground cavern with air that humans could survive in.  Given their primary mission is exploring the unknown Kirk decides to lead a team but wants Spock to stay behind because he does not want to risk both of them.  (This is odd because that concern never stopped them before.)  However as soon as Kirk turns to leave the power of the ship goes out causing Kirk to reconsider this position and have Spock come along.  With that the power has been restored.

Kirk trying to explain the experience!

As Kirk and Spock enter the transporter room Mr. Scott and Dr. McCoy are waiting for them with the rest of the landing party.  The rest of the team consists of Dr. Mulhall and two security guards.  Dr. Mulhall doesn’t realize how she was assigned to the landing party just that she was, which Spock assumes is also the work Sargon.  Kirk doesn’t even know who Mulhall is.  (That is odd and I will talk about that more in the additional thoughts section.)  Scotty is not happy about a transporter seeming to program itself.  McCoy is naturally apprehensive as he doesn’t like transporters under normal circumstances.   The two red shirts are among the luckiest to wear that color because the transporter run by Sargon doesn’t take them at all.  

The four that made it down are fine and they find out that Sargon, who earlier claim to have been dead, is a bodiless consciousness whose entire essence is contained in an orb.  He explains that his species seeded the galaxy long ago and that they are Sargon’s people’s descendants.  Kirk and Mulhall somewhat doubt this and Sargon acknowledges he could be wrong but they should just agree to disagree.  Myself, I think gives a good explanation to why we keep finding duplicate Earths everywhere they go.  Kirk also points out that unlike Sargon’s people Earth never wiped itself out with nuclear weapons.  Sargon says they survived their early nuclear age as well but started to fight amongst themselves when they assumed the power of gods.

Kirk taken

Kirk’s body suddenly jerks and when he speaks he is speaking with an amplified voice like Sargon.  It becomes very apparent that it is now Sargon controlling Kirk’s body.  This causes McCoy to freak out and threaten Sargon/Kirk with a phaser.  Spock points out to him the uselessness of that action.   Sargon explains that it is now Kirk’s consciousness in the orb but Kirk’s mind hasn’t the power to communicate out.  He then leads them to a room with two more functioning orbs and a bunch of broken ones.  Sargon explains that these are the survivors of the final conflict 500,000 years ago.  Members of the both sides of the conflict were preserved but only two survivors besides himself.  The additional survivors are Sargon’s wife and a member of the other side.  Her name is Thalassa and his is Henoch.

Sargon explains that they just need to borrow three bodies for a temporary period of time while they use them to build android bodies that would act as more permanent vessels.  The three individuals Kirk, Spock, and Mulhall were selected because they are the most compatible.  However Sargon needs to get Kirk back into his body because McCoy points out to him that he is overheating Kirk’s physical self. When Kirk is restored he is rather philosophic about the whole experience which he thought was beautiful.  McCoy thinks that response is insane considering how Sargon pulled his mind out his body and placed it into a bottle while he used Kirk’s body and almost destroyed it.  However Kirk is fully convinced of Sargon’s sincerity and wants to help him.

Survivors of a forgotten war!

Kirk holds a senior officers meeting onboard ship and Scotty is just as much against this as Dr. McCoy.   The three people who are most in favor are the three selectees.  That is I suppose a good thing since it is going be their bodies.  Kirk announces that he doesn’t want to order he wants consensus.  So Kirk then gives the speech of his career that will be played on most Star Trek reunion shows, on Star Trek fan webpages, and few times on YouTube.  With Kirk’s great speech given it is decided to go ahead. To sweeten the deal Sargon will give Starfleet access to their technology that will cause them to leap frog ahead hundreds of thousands of years. 

They undergo the procedure which is quite painless.  Henoch wakes up in Spock’s body and immediately hits on Nurse Chapel, which must have made her very happy.  Thalassa wakes up and starts looking for Sargon who calls over to her in the body of Captain Kirk.   Henoch starts gloating about how awesome Spock’s body is with all its Vulcan abilities and wonders why the Vulcans haven’t conquered the humans long ago.  McCoy tells Henoch that the Vulcans are a people of peace.  Henoch brushes McCoy off and suggests to Sargon that he get to work on the sermon that will allow them to use these bodies for a longer period of time.  As the human bodies start to overheat again, Sargon agrees and Henoch gets to work with Nurse Chapel assisting him. 

Same old married couple with two new bodies

When Henoch prepares the hyprosprays with the formula to allow the entities to use the host bodies for a prolonged period of time, he hands each hyprospray to Nurse Chapel with instructions on who each was for.  Chapel notices that the one meant for Kirk/Sargon is the exact opposite of what he should be getting.  That is when Henoch pronounces that he has no intention of surrendering Spock’s body back to him and his attention to kill Kirk/Sargon.   Before Chapel can protest Henoch takes control of her using Spock’s mind meld abilities combined with his own powers.

Sargon and Thalassa are now back in their host bodies and getting to work.  Thalassa begins work on the artificial bodies they plan to live in and Scotty tries to pick her brain about their technology but is chased off when Henoch enters the room.  He teases her about how their new bodies would not be able to feel and he suggests to her that they should appeal to keep these bodies as a price for how they will advance the Federation’s technologically.  She rejects him but is clearly tempted. 

He is a bad man!

Sargon is more thinking in a half-glass full fashion.  Despite bodies that can’t feel they however are able to move among the living and that is something to look forward to.  While they are working he starts to feel sick as Henoch’s sabotaged formula is actually making him weaker.  Sargon tries to work through it but he collapses.  McCoy comes in only to find that the Captain has died and he no Jim to tell.  The Doctor does manage to revive the body however it is now seemingly mindless and they have no idea how to get Kirk back into it.   

An attempt of seduction 

Back in the lab Henoch torments Thalassa by showing her the android body that she will occupy.  The body is genderless but Henoch lets her know that they can add feminine features to the body once they get it working.  This causes Thalassa to snap and she comes to the conclusion that she wants to keep the body that she is in.  She confronts Dr. McCoy about it and tries to argue that she should be allowed to keep the body given all that she will do to help humanity.  McCoy, correctly guessing that Thalassa is trying to get him to give her his approval so she can relieve herself of some of the burden of stealing the form, proclaims to Thalassa that he doesn’t “pedal in flesh.”

Sargon?

Upon receiving McCoy’s objection Thalassa reacts with anger and uses her powers to cause pain on Dr. McCoy.  However she quickly feels guilty, relents, and asks for McCoy’s forgiveness as she lets him go.  With that she hears Sargon’s voice, he explains that he has developed powers that Henoch is not aware of.  He left Kirk's body and went into the Enterprise itself! He wanted to be sure that Thalassa would not give in to Henoch’s offer, seeing as they have been disembodied for so long he understood her temptation. 

Thalassa summons Nurse Chapel and dismisses Dr. McCoy letting him know that Sargon has a plan.  An explosion occurs in sick bay causing McCoy to come running back only to find Nurse Chapel leaving looking very determined.  When he enters he finds that the orbs have been destroyed and Kirk and Mulhall have been restored to their bodies.  McCoy then asks about Spock to which Kirk informs him that he is dead.  Now they have to kill Henoch in Spock’s body and Kirk orders Dr. McCoy’s whip up a batch of enough poison in one hyprospray to kill ten Vulcans. 

Powers are useful to cover up evil

As they enter the bridge Henochis now seems virtually unstoppable.  He shuts Kirk and McCoy down with his powers quickly but ignores Chapel assuming she is under his control.  She isn’t and she hits him with the hyprospray.  Henoch is angry and tries to escape from Spock’s body and into another but his escapes attempt is foiled by Sargon.  Henoch is now completely defeated and vanishes into oblivion. 

Seemingly unbeatable

It turns out it wasn’t poison but they were all tricked into thinking it was so Henoch wouldn’t read their minds and know that Spock’s body wasn’t dying and have no need to abandon it.  Spock’s consciousness was in Nurse Chapel’s body with her.  With Henoch chased out Spock is now himself again.  Sargon and Thalassa have decided to embrace oblivion but ask for one last moment together physically.  Kirk and Mulhall lend their bodies for the moment.  They then seem shocked when they discover themselves embracing when they wake up.  So ends a conflict that started 500,000 years before any of the crew of the Enterprise were born. 

All good in the end!

Additional thoughts: Last week we meet the Kelvans, advanced aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy that could freeze people in place with a touch of a button.  They claim to be our complete superiors but their ship broke up entering the Milky Way so they need to take ours so they can get home.  Today we meet Sargon and his people, who claim to be completely superior with powers we can barely comprehend.  However they can’t put things together in their present state so in order to build themselves a new home they need to borrow our bodies for a little while.  Last week the Enterprise needs to provide the taxi service and this week human and Vulcan bodies do.  What is it with aliens who think they are so damn superior but they always need to try to hitch a ride?  I think they should be a little more humble. 

We are superior! Can we have a lift? 

I don’t really why they needed the bodies to begin with.  If they can reprogram a transporter at will and give hypnotic suggestions to people light years away why can’t they find a way to use their powers to construct what they needed?  Maybe there is just some fine toning that requires a real steady hand and they don’t trust anyone but themselves?

It seems that the actual moral of this story is: “if you are in a nuclear war don’t invite anyone from the other side in to your survival chamber.”  Sargon says Henoch was one of those from “the other side” and look who turns out to be the bad guy!  In a half million years he still hasn’t learned anything.  If you are going to destroy your whole planet in a nasty war going out of your way to include those from the other side in your survival chamber seems to miss the point of the war to begin with.  Next time remember to be a little more selfish. 

So if they were unsatisfied with the artificial bodies that they are about to build seeing as they won’t be aesthetically pleasing and will lack ability to feel, why don’t Sargon and friends have the Enterprise bring them to the planet Mudd.   The androids there are remarkably good at building android bodies that can not only house a natural intelligence that are also beautiful and can experience the full spectrum of human senses.   They are also more practical with Sargon and company can only build an android to last a thousand years, while the androids of planet Mudd can go on for 500,000 years.  That is 499 less times you need to build a new body to transfer your intelligence into.  Now to be fair we only hear the three talk about their android building skills with themselves, so it might have been possible that the crew Enterprise was not aware of how much Sargon’s android-making skills suck in comparisons with those of planet Mudd.  Therefor they would have no reason to tell the strangers.  I had little bit of a hard time watching realizing that such an obvious solution was staring them right in the face.

Not that good at making androids!

We are good!

How did Kirk not know who Mulhall was?  I realize it’s a big ship and it’s unlikely that he has every single crew member memorized especially if they just joined at the last starbase.  However she is a lieutenant commander.  The same rank held by McCoy and Scotty.  That alone puts her very high on the ship’s hierarchy.  I thought it was odd when he didn’t know who Ensign Garrovick was but such a high ranking officer I find very improbable.  As Hitchcock says it is easier to believe the impossible than the improbable.     

Speaking of Mulhall what is the purpose of her character?  The show has plenty of characters who aren’t being over used.  Wouldn’t have been better to have the character’s actions be done by Lt. Uhura?  I find it odd when we get to meet members of the crew who are some cases are really interesting in other cases they are there to fill out a story plot point, but then we never see them again.  There was Dr. Helen Noel from interesting character from Dagger of the Mind that I wish we got to see more of.  Then there were characters such as Ensign Garrovick from Obsession, who has such a personal connection to Captain Kirk but then we never get to see him again.  Wouldn’t it have been better if instead of creating the character of Ensign Garrovick we learn instead that Kirk had served under Chekov’s father?  Then the regular actor that you already have in Ensign Chekov will have that personal connection to Captain Kirk that is ongoing.  In this episode you can have given the Mulhall role to Uhrua and give Nichelle Nichols something more interesting to do.  The interracial kiss could have come one year earlier and with a better reason. 

This has to be the best McCoy episode yet.  Deforest Kelley always said McCoy’s role was to be the normal person on the ship.  In this episode we see it.  I love how he needs to slap some sense into Captain Kirk and explain that “No, it’s not a good thing that an alien mind took of your body and nearly killed you."  His sarcastic “happens every day” to Kirk explaining what a normal thing mind transference is was priceless.

 FINAL GRADE  4 of 5

ALIENS WHO TRY TO BE HUMAN FALL DOWN

 

Episode Title:  By Any Other Name

Air Date: 2/23/1968

Written by Jerome Bixby and Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by Marc Daniels

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”        Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura                 Carl Byrd as Lieutenant Shea                     Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant  Leslie                 Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley           Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli                Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                Julie Cobb as Yeoman Third Class Leslie Thompson          Warren Stevens as Rojan                       Barbara Bouchet as Kelinda                  Stewart Moss as Hanar            Robert Fortier as Tomar             Lezlie Dalton as Drea               

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  unnamed and uncharted planet

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise answers a distress call on an unnamed and uncharted planet.  When they get there the landing party, consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Lt. Shea, and Yeoman Thompson, have a hard time finding any survivors or a ship at all.  Then out of nowhere arrive a man and a woman who we learn are named Rojan and Kelinda.  Rojan is the leader of his group, and he thanks Captain Kirk for responding to their distress single so promptly.  With the same breath he then demands that the Captain surrender his ship to him immediately.  His directness makes Kirk think for a moment that the man is joking.  Then Rojan presses a button on a device he has which causes the entire landing party to freeze in place.

Rojan and Kelinda

Having disarmed the landing party, Rojan unfreezes them and explains that he and his crew are Kelvans.  They come from an empire that rules the Andromeda Galaxy.  It turns out that rising radiation in that galaxy will render it unable to support life.  However even though they can’t stop it, the rising radiation is happening slowly enough to make some plans.  So they sent a multi-generational scout ship on a mission to our galaxy to evaluate for conquest.  Kirk tries to offer the Federation’s help but Rojan dismisses this out of hand as, like the Greyjoys, they do not sow.  Kelvans are conquerors and if they need a new home they will conqueror for it.  However their ship was destroyed when they entered the Milky Way and passed through the barrier.  That is something Kirk understands since he had been there before.  With that the Rojan sends the rest of his people up to the ship via their own transporters that are clearly superior to the Federation as they are instantaneous.  The Kelvans quickly conquer the Enterprise with their freezing technology.

Wearing red on away mission

Despite being a generational ship they are able to get from one galaxy to another within centuries as opposed to millennia that it would take a Starfleet vessel to do so.  The Kelvans plan to modify the Enterprise with their technology to make the return trip on their planed schedule. This takes a bit of time so they hold the landing party hostage on the planet to insure the crew’s corporation.  As they are preparing for takeoff, two of the Kelvans note the strange sensations that they have in these human forms in a statement full of unabashed foreshadowing.

Vulcans are normally touch-telepaths but Kirk remembers on an earlier mission where they decided to blatantly violate the Prime Directive, Spock was able to use his abilities at a distance.  Spock attempts it again here and despite some blow back this works and the landing party gets out of their cave-like cell.  Only to be caught and frozen in place again.  The Kelvans are not happy about this and decided that punishment is in order.  They separate Thompson and Shae from the rest of the landing party because they are wearing red or it has something to do with them not having necessary skills, I forget.  Then using another button on his device he transforms the two dressed in red to from flesh and blood humans into a distilled cuboctahedron shaped form the size of a softball. 

Rojan explains to Captain Kirk that these cuboctahedron objects are his crew members and they are still alive in this state.  Then he crushes one of them and explains that this person is now dead.  Then he restores the remaining one to human form and it is Lt. Shae.  Yeoman Thompson is dead.

With the loss of one Yeoman instead of creating compliance among the Starfleet crew it just increases the urgency to do something.  They decided to get McCoy and Spock back to the ship by having Spock fake an illness.  This works but it’s pointless because the Kelvans have finished their work and Rojan brings the rest of the landing party up anyway.

A strange way to kill a person!

Spock and Scotty try to get at the source of the Kelvans technological power but when the find it in engineering they discover that the metal surrounding it makes it impossible for them to do anything. The last resort Spock and Scotty can come up with is a way to rig the Enterprise to explode the moment its hits the galactic barrier killing the entire crew and their captors.  Kirk rejects the suicide option. There is a dramatic-not-dramatic moment as head to the barrier of will he or won’t he.  However since this is an ongoing television show we were all aware that the crew the Enterprise was going to survive.   We later found out Rojan knew about and had the means to stop the suicide mission so it’s moot point.

 Now that they are out of the Milky Way the Kelvans don’t need most of the crew so Rojan and company turned all but Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty into distilled cuboctahedron balls.  So it looks like our crew is defeated fated to live out their lives as slaves to the Kelvans or as neat looking paperweights.  Or are they?  At that moment one of the Kelvans, a man named Tomar, challenges the four officers to explain why they eat actually food where pill supplements would work fine.  McCoy challenges him to try actual food and Tomar takes him up on his offer.  He orders from the processor and the four men are amazed that he practically gorges his food.  Spock notes that when his mind connect with Kelinda he learned that their natural forms were nothing like humanoid species and they have no experience with human like emotions and senses.  This will be their opening.

You don't want to challenge this Scotsman to drink!

Just keep taking this.

Each officer takes a Kelvan and has a mission to get their control device.  Scotty invites Tomar for a drink, in fact for several drinks.  They go back to Scotty’s quarters for some binge drinking.  McCoy gets the Kelvan Hanar to accept injections of stimulants because he maybe malnourished but all it the drugs will do is make him irritable.  Kirk decides to seduce Kelinda, which seems to be rejected at first but it turns out she likes the way he “apologizes.” This allows Mr. Spock to provoke the emotion of jealousy in Rojan by bringing up the subject of Kelinda and Kirk during a game of chess.   Rojan pretends to be unaffected but later he forbids Kelinda from seeing Kirk and that is something that Kelinda refuses to do.  

Kirk putting the moves on Kelinda

The plan works and doesn’t. They never get the devices from the Kelvans.  Scotty almost did, but after clearing out his liquor cabinet including this weird green stuff and 200-year old scotch, it causes both men to pass out.  However it is working in other ways.  Hanar can’t focus, Kelinda is chasing after Kirk for some more of that “apologizing,” and Rojan is chasing after Kelinda afraid he will lose her to Kirk.  After getting in a fight with Kirk (which is a mistake considering Kirk is greatest fighter in the known universe) and getting pinned in the process Kirk makes Rojan understand something: that in taking human form they have become human and by the time they get back to their own galaxy their descendants will be a crew of humans.  Kirk reoffers the Federation’s assistance. Rojan accepts their help.  He and his crew will colonize that world they were on and an unmanned vessel will be sent to Kelva with the Federation’s offer of assistance.  Kelinda now wants to “apologize” with Rojan now.  A happy ending for all involved except for Yeoman Thompson. 

Spock winning in chess and in life!

  

Additional thoughts: Since the Kelvans ended the episode agreeing to be friends shouldn’t the Enterprise have kept the great upgrades that the Kelvans added to their ship?  Alter all, as explorers, wouldn’t they want their ship to be able to go as fast as possible?   In my head canon I came to the conclusion that long term use of Kelvan technology was ultimately unstable and would cause warp cores to explode if kept.  They didn’t mention this is the episode because it would have killed the drama to realize the Kelvans never really could win.  This is just as well because despite the speed how good could their ships have really been?  They couldn’t go through the galactic barrier without suffering from damage beyond all possibility of repair.  The Enterprise has now made multiple trips.

Apologizing 

So I guess there were no ESPERs on the ship this time?  Last time Gary Mitchel and Elizabeth Dehner got all silver eyed and developed god-like powers.  That would have been some major shock to the Kelvans who always believe the superior should conqueror.  “Well who is inferior now?  You think you’re going to turn me into weird shaped object I am going to turn you into pea!  Then I’ll send you back to the Andromeda Galaxy to show your people what happened.”  If only we weren’t limited to an hour in each episode.

Surprise Kelvans! Just what happens when some humans go through the barrier!

Shouldn’t they do something for the crew that was transformed into cuboctahedrons instead of leaving them in their chairs and on the floor?  Leaving them there seems to invite a possible accident with someone carelessly stepping or sitting on them.  I would have placed them all in the unused beds. What did that feel like to be turned into one of those things?  I wish they had explored that a bit.  Perhaps had another scene with Shea begging not turned into one again or violently charging them instead of standing still?

It is one of those episodes with a diplomatic feel good ending.  Unless you are the family of Yeoman Thompson, then you are rather sad.  It will also become really awkward when Rojan is told apologize and he tries just like Kelinda showed him.

FINAL  GRADE  4 of 5

KIRK AND SPOCK GO GANGSTA STYLE!

 

Episode Title:  A Piece of the Action

Air Date: 1/12/1968

Written by David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon

Directed by James Komack

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”        Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura                 Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant  Leslie                 Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley           Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Anthony Caruso as Bela Oxmyx            Victor Tayback as Jojo Krako            Lee Delano as Kalo             John Harmon as Tepo             Sheldon Collins as unnamed Tough Kid                Dyanne Thorne as  unnamed First Girl                      Sharyn Hillyer as unnamed Second Girl             Buddy Garion as unnamed Hood                Steven Marlo as Zabo        Diego Barquinero as unnamed Radio Voice               Nick Borgani as unnamed Hood                           Marlys Burdette as unnamed Krako's Girl                            Tony Dante as unnamed Hood                Jay D. Jones as Mirt        Jim Michael as unnamed Hood                

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Sigma Iotia II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is heading toward Sigma Iotia II a planet that was last visited a hundred years ago by the Horizon. The Horizon’s mission took place a before the Prime Directive was established.  Because the Horizon did not have a subspace radio a century ago it took that amount of time for its logs to reach the Federation after the ship was destroyed.  Uhura is able to get communication with one of Iotia’s leaders, a man named Bela Oxmyx whose only title is “Boss.”  The conversation between Kirk and Oxmyx is rough but they are able to arrange a meeting.  As Spock and McCoy enter the bridge and Kirk then literally grabs and leads them back to the turbo lift to accompany him on the leading party to meet with “the Boss.”

The Bela Oxmyx greeting party

                The three men beam down and to their astonishment it appears that they have beamed down into Earth back during the 1920s.  Everything the buildings, the vehicles, and the clothing all say the 1920s.  McCoy makes note that it is just as he always read about, momentarily forgetting about the time where all three of them did go back to Earth in the 1920s.  (McCoy can be forgiven for this oversite he was drugged for a good deal of the time.)   There are some differences for every single man without exception wears a suit and carries a Tommy gun.   Granted those things were popular but not everyone would be dressed and openly carried like that.

A very stereotypical 1920s group of people

                When the three head to the arranged meeting place the landing party is shocked when the individuals sent out to meet them point their guns, which they call heaters, and take them hostage.  The armed party forces the Starfleet trio to hand over their weapons and their communicators.  As they begin to bring the three to their Boss, suddenly there is drive by shooting!  One of the men is killed as the other fires back.  Kirk wants to know the meaning of this to which his captor responds by asking if he has never seen a hit before.   

The three Starfleet officers arrive in the office of Bela Oxymx.   This planet has no real government save for gangs.  These gangs provide all the services from money from their “protection” tributes and other forced taxes, such as taking a ‘piece’ of all business that is done in their territories. Oxmyx gloats that he has the biggest territory on the planet but the problem with having the biggest is that everyone wants to challenge him.  When Spock mentions Krako Oxymx immediately demands to know how they know of him.  His own men inform him of the earlier hit to which Oxymx orders retaliation.

No choice but to go with them!

Oxmyx invites Captain Kirk to play pool with him. Oxmyx has no real idea how to play pool as he just randomly hits balls that have nothing to with one another.   Kirk just holds his pool stick while Oxmyx talks.  The Boss figures that the Federation must have its have improved on its technology in the last hundred years and would like assistance from the Federation in taking over the rest of the planet.  If they do this he would cut Kirk in for a percentage.  Kirk of course refuses and with that Oxmyx tells Kirk that he is going keep all three of them hostage until the Enterprise hands over what they want.

With landing party “on ice” Oxmyx uses Kirk’s communicator to call up Scotty to make his demands.  Scotty wouldn’t give in anyway, if he were inclined to however he would have been delayed as he can’t truly understand what it is Oxmyx is trying to tell him about “heaters.”  While being held prisoner Kirk discusses with Spock and McCoy what it is they saw in there.  The Iotians have based their entire culture on a book that they saw in Oxmyx’s office.  The book was titled the Chicago Mobs of the Twenties and it was written in 1992.  Using that book and some technical manuals left behind the Iotians organized their planet into mafia territories of the 1920s, except there isn’t any actual government but the said gangs.  They Federation are the “the Feds” and the gangs handle all the issues in their territory.  International diplomacy is all on a 20^th century gangsters’ code of honor.  Nevertheless Spock points out that Oxmyx is correct in wanting to unify the planet.

You are an effective Mafia Leader, but as pool player you leave a lot be desired!

Kirk notices that Oxmyx’s men are as at good at playing cards as their boss is at pool.   So he decides to teach them the game of Fizzbin, a fictitious game that he just made up.  While distracting them with the confusing rules Mr. Spock is able to apply his never pinch on one and the trio defeat the rest using normal fisticuffs.  Kirk orders Spock and McCoy to return to the ship.  They achieve this by going to a local radio station and contacting Lt. Uhura who was monitoring the transmissions.  Kirk heads out to Oxmyx’s place but he is then captured by man from the rival gang of JoJo Krako. 

When Kirk is brought to Krako the new boss behaves in a predictable manner, in fact Kirk is able to tell him his plan before Krako gets it out of his mouth.  Krako does offer better terms but Kirk is no more tempted then before.  Krako decides to have his men hold Kirk but with the Captain’s quick wit and fighting skills that are unequaled anywhere in this galaxy he easily beats up his capturers and has an escape.

Kirk gets back to Oxmyx’s office just in time to rescue Spock and McCoy who had for some reason allowed Oxmyx to talk them into beaming back down.  (Say what you want about Mr. Spock, but you can’t say he is not an optimist.)  Kirk pulls a terminator-like strip and swap, sixteen years before first the Terminator movie came out.  Then Kirk and Spock leave McCoy to watch Oxmyx why they head over to Krako’s to kidnap him and force him and Oxmyx to talk.  They decide it would be better to take one of Oxmyx’s cars.  Captain Kirk demonstrates an equal talent to me when it comes to driving a stick.  He barely gets the car to Krako’s place without casualty.  Then Spock delivers one of his best lines.  He shows a great and excellent way to give constructive criticism.  “Captain, you are an excellent starship commander, but as a taxi cab driver you leave a lot to be desired.” 

With the help of a smart young kid Kirk and Spock get into Krako’s place and stun a few of his men.  However Krako then gets the drop on them and has them out numbered. Kirk then tricks Krako into letting him talk to his ship and he has Scotty beam him up.  Then Kirk and Spock use their supreme fighting skills to defeat Krako’s men.

A kid wants a piece of the action!

To Spock’s horror they get to go on another car ride.  They get back to Oxmyx’s place where McCoy was still holding them.  They have Oxmyx call the all the other bosses and Scotty uses transporter to beam them all into Oxmyx’s office.  Using his new found gangster talk Kirk explains to the bosses that the Federation is taking over and they are going to form a syndicate.  A discussion does begin between the bosses but part way through they start questioning Kirk.  None of them have seen this ship, except Krako and he only saw two guys up there.  This is strange considering that Kirk brought all these people to the office via a transporter.  You would think that someone who can apparently make a person else magically appear miles away in mere seconds would be an individual you didn’t want to mess with.  Nevertheless Krako gets excited when his men come to spring him by attacking Oxmyx’s headquarters.

Kirk is once again uses his communicator to get himself out a jam with Krako by ordering the Enterprise to fire phasers with a stun setting on the streets knocking out all of Krako’s men.  With that the bosses capitulate a syndicate is formed with Oxmyx as the chairman and Krako the deputy chairman. 

Kirko the big winner! A front man for the Federation

As the Enterprise gets set to leave Captain Kirk explains to Spock that the 40% cut that the Federation agreed to receive and collect would go into a public treasury for the planet’s development.  Spock is reassured as he was wondering how he was going to explain that part to the Starfleet Command.  McCoy is more concerned.  It turns out the Doctor left his communicator behind.  Given the Iotians ability for mimicry there is now the legitimate concern that they may disassemble the communicator and learn the basis of their technology.  Kirk jokes that in the near future they may start looking for a piece of their action.  

Additional thoughts: I was very disappointed when I went on Amazon and looked up “Chicago Mobs in the Twenties 1992.” Try as I might I couldn’t find this book.  I couldn’t believe it; with a twenty-four years notice and not a single Star Trek fan-20^th century historian thought to write a book about Chicago mobs of 1920s and give it this title.  How foolish, you would have had a built in audience you silly professional historians.  Although I think that a 20th century gangster book would have been somewhat incomplete with no information about the Five Families of New York.

Someone should have written this twenty-eight years ago!

               What I think I love most about this episode is the Iotians try to replicate 1920s gangster culture so much that they are complete parody of it.  It was amusing that every man was dressed in a suit and carries a Tommy gun.  Even more amusing is that fact that each boss gangster has a sign on the front announcing who they are and that this place is theirs. Krako has a plaque and Oxmyx goes so far as to have photograph of himself holding a Tommy gun!

Oxmyx, explaining the book!

What strikes me as odd is that each of the gangster’s territory is supposed to be like a nation state, yet the distance between the headquarters of Oxmyx and Krako is only a few blocks from the other.  Also Krako talks about not getting arrested.  Who arrests anyone? Last I checked they don’t have a Federal Government to make arrests.  In fact they seem to view the Federation as “the Feds.”

The Big Boss: Bela Oxmyx

In real life under the leadership of Lucky Luciano a national syndicate was formed that governed gangland activity amongst the mafia in the United States.  The unnamed committee would be the deciding factor in dividing up the criminal action among the various families and would meditate any disputes. They had an enforcement arm called Murder Inc. that would deal with wayward members.  They didn’t give us too many details about the organization except Oxmyx as the Chairman, but it seems strange the ultimate solution of Captain Kirk was out of the page of Lucky Luciano. 

Lucky Luciano

I liked when Krako’s men woke up after getting their butts kicked by Kirk and Spock a second time and one of them mutters “not again.”  You would have thought they learned something but they knocked out one more time with the power of the Enterprise. 

Spock didn’t like Kirk’s driving but I noticed he didn’t volunteer to drive himself.  You would think being able to master a stick is something a Vulcan would be good at.  It wasn’t Spock’s best episode seeing as he was successfully conned by Oxmyx when he clearly should have known better. In this episode Spock seems to have picked up Kirk’s bad habit of entering official logs at weird times, such as about to be in the middle of duel with Trelane.  Spock thinks a good time to make a log entry is while he is captured by Oxmyx. 

A good way to ignore the prime directive by showing that is doesn’t apply in pre-contaminated cultures.  It is also way more creative than just coming up with another fake Earth.  I really enjoyed this episode it was funny without being out right silly.  Star Trek can be great served either funny or serious.  

FINAL GRADE  5 of 5