THE WORST LIGHT SHOW EVER!

 

Episode Title:  The Lights of Zetar

Air Date: 1/31/1969

Written by Jeremy Tarcher and Shari Lewis

Directed by Herb Kenwith

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          John Winston as  Lieutenant Kyle            Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley        Jan Shutan as Lieutenant Mira Romaine         Roger Holloway as Lt. Lemli                        Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel          Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov      Frank Da Vinci as unnamed Crewman                Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman       Libby Erwin as unnamed Crewman      Barbara Babcock as voice of Zetar              

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Memory Alpha

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode opens with Kirk being very concerned about his Chief Engineer.  Mr. Scott is in love with the new officer Lt. Mira Romaine.  Considering that last time Mr. Scott fell in love it brought the wrath of a god upon them, Kirk has his reasons to be concerned.

Scotty's love life rarely leads to good things

They are bringing Lt. Romaine to Memory Alpha to do some work there.  Memory Alpha is the center for all the cataloged knowledge of the entire United Federation of Planets.  Then something strange happens.  This bizarre entity in space that emits random colors shows up and seemly attacks the Enterprise.  The ship’s shields protect them from the main part of the blast but bright rainbow lights flutter the ship like a strobe light.  Kirk finds himself unable to speak.  It is later discovered that each member of the crew lost some function, but not all the same indicting an attack on different areas of the brain.  Romaine gets hit the hardest and when they go to help her, she starts speaking with an odd voice.  It's total nonsense and she seems like a person possessed.  She recovers and is sent to sick bay for observation.

Sulu discovers that the entity that they encountered is now heading directly toward Memory Alpha.  The facility on that planetoid does not have shields because it was determined that its scientific and peaceful mission would be open to all so defensive measures wouldn’t be necessary.  (I have some ideas about that in my “additional thoughts” section.)  While hanging out with Scotty, Lt. Romaine has a vision that the Chief Engineer explains away as common space sickness.  In the vison she sees people dying.

"I think I am alright not quite sure."

When the Enterprise gets to Memory Alpha, the landing party discovers that nearly all the occupants are dead, the memory banks had been damaged, and the one survivor was talking in a way similar to Lt. Romaine.  They bring Romaine down to the station and she freaks out when she sees the bodies are all positioned just like in her vison.  

A bad day for the cause of science

The energy light show returns and chases the Enterprise around the system.  Kirk attempts to communicate with it but has no luck.  The thing leaves the Captain no choice to but to defend the ship so he has Mr. Sulu fire phasers.  This works at getting the entity to back off but at the same time Lt. Romaine screams in pain.  Scotty calls the bridge to inform them of the situation.

She doesn't survive

    

They have a meeting to figure out what to do about the situation.  McCoy has discovered the Romaine’s brainwave pattern has been altered to match the entity outside. It appears to be trying to make a new home out of the Lieutenant.  Romaine is also concerned that she has seen images of Mr. Scott dying.  They brainstorm that the entity is so use to be non-corporal that if it enters her body, they may be able to force it out with a compression chamber.

Coming for Romaine

The entity is able to get through and enters the body of the Lieutenant.  Speaking with an augmented voice the possessed Romaine explains that the light entity is actually a collective.  They are from the planet Zetar, a world that had died.  The last hundred survivors were able to transform their consciousnesses into a disembodied form.  They have been searching the universe for a host that can receive their consciousnesses so they can live out their lives.  Kirk insists that Romaine’s life is her own and when they don’t release her the four men stick in the compression chamber.  This works the Zetars can’t take it and they flea the body and the Enterprise.  In the end Lt. Romaine is judged healthy enough to begin the repairs at Memory Alpha.  

Additional thoughts: Poor Scotty every time he falls in love some great power in the universe tries to show up and take her away.  First it was Apollo the God of the Sun, and now it is a great job on Memory Alpha.  Also, the annoying Zetars.  In the end the day Scotty’s on true love is the Enterprise and no woman will change that. 

When Romaine first got zapped it made me wonder what would happen if they had brought her to the edge of the galaxy.  However, the episode does make it clear that she had no prior ESP ability. I wonder if that would change now?

The Zetars are not the first disembodied-aliens-looking-for-some-bodies that the Enterprise has encountered. It is however the first time they decided not to even attempt to help them. When talking to them through Romaine you think Kirk would at least suggest that they could work together to find some solution.  Heck maybe the androids on planet Mudd might be willing to help. But no, its “that is her body you get out of it. You had your time but dead aliens need to stay dead.”  To be fair when they did lend their own bodies out to disembodied aliens in the past it didn’t go well.  So maybe Captain Kirk is just operating on his own experience.

I don’t know how I feel about the ending.  On one hand its to simple for me.  They have a quick meeting, discuss what they are going to do, and then do it.  No problems, no set backs and no drama.  However, since it is an ongoing series where we see greater struggles in other episodes, it is nice to show how capable the crew is with a quick brainstorm and an easy win.   

Just lie down and let the machine do the work!

Now to Memory Alpha. Okay for a place that is supposed to house all the knowledge of all worlds of the Federation, who hired some turd-brain to design its defenses.  Despite it the facility’s having no military objective or use there are still all kinds of natural disasters where shields are very useful.  I mean in a universe where doomsday machines drop by, nomads go loose on multiple planetary systems, giant cells dropping down from heavy galaxies, cloud vampires move from planet to planet, or a random asteroid knocked off course by a passing starship.  There are many nonaggressive reasons to get yourselves some shields.  Hopefully the new staff at Memory Alpha will figure that out.

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5