THE ENTERPRISE IS TRYING TO SAVE SOME LOST HUMANS FROM BEING RIPPED APART BY TWO BLACK HOLES!

 

Name: The Galactic Whirlpool

Author: David Gerrold

Publication Date: 10/1980

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 223

Historian’s Note:  At the very end of this book Kirk orders the ship to the K-7 Space Station.  This led me to believe that this episode was a prequel to The Trouble with Tribbles. However, earlier a character makes a tribble joke and there are characters only seen in Star Trek: The Animated Series.  Therefore, I would say this book takes place sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and The Motion Picture.

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Lasker                       Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant  Kevin Thomas Riley                   Lieutenant Arex                Lieutenant M’Ress                   Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Ensign Specks                   Ensign Susan Kelly              Crewman Munker             Crewman Mante N'Komo                Crewman Micah Omara                          Crewman Ussef Stokely            Katholin Arwen  AKA Katwen          Captain Frost                    Captain Jesus Garcia Gomez                    Marilyn Garcia                         Dr. Hobie                    

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, The Wanderer

Planets: None

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  The Enterprise is exploring a region of space that is near the border with the Klingon Empire.  It is feared that the Klingons will become active in this region that is of great strategic importance.  The sensors pick up an unknown object.  Fearing it might be some Klingon ship or weapon, Captain Kirk orders that they investigate. 

What they find turns out to be a gigantic ship.  As they look closely, they discover it is a non-warp capable vessel.  Since it can only travel under light speed it becomes clear that if there is a crew then this vessel is most likely a generation ship.  The crew that launched knew they would not live to see their destination, and their immediate descendants for multiple generations would live and die on the ship.  As the Enterprise continues to observe this discovery, they find something not good. Large parts of the ship have been damaged.  Three out of four power plants aren’t operational.  Spock theorizes that at one point there may have been a civil war aboard the vessel.  Perhaps arising out of munity due to disagreement over their destination.

Enterprise finds something big

Lt. Riley leads a boarding team to the strange craft.  They enter through an outer hull and proceed through a secondary one.  When they get in a security team shows up to oppose them.  To everyone’s shock they are human beings both on clear appearance and tricorder readings. There is a brief phaser fight and one of the locals is stunned.  It is a young woman; Riley decides to bring her back to the ship. 

The fact that they are humans raises some interesting questions, such as when was this ship built and when did it leave Earth?  Scotty is adamant that Earth never built or launched a vessel such as this.  Spock points out that it is nevertheless here.  They consulted the ship’s historian, Ensign Specks, for his idea.  The reason Scotty didn’t remember this was it was originally not supposed to be a ship at all but rather an off-world colony that was to help produce energy and resources of the great Earth powers at the time, the first and second world countries. Called a LV, the colonists eventually sought and gained their independence.  They decided to leave Earth and its problems behind and set off for the stars.  McCoy is concerned that such isolation is going to lead to culture shock once they recounter the rest of humanity.

The woman that the boarding party brought back with them wakes up in the sickbay. We learn that her name is Katholin Arwen and she goes by Katwen.  She is considered to be a warrior in her culture and works as part of the ship’s security.  The ship is named the Wanderer and Katwen thinks she is still on it.  She is convinced that she is on the lower levels that are currently held by the mutinous rebels.  Convincing her that this is not the case is going to take some doing.  In any traditional Star Trek story this would be the time where Captain Kirk would turn on the sexiness and seduce the young Katwen to their way of thinking.  However, Kirk will not take the center seat for this part of the adventure.  That will be filled by Lt. Kevin Riley.  Lt. Riley is a good choice to turn on the sexiness because he feels a natural attraction to Katwen, as she wears her hair more loosely and really light on the makeup.  That last part is important because women shouldn’t look made up.  Riley shows Karwen the Enterprise inside and out.  He is able to convince her of the truth.

People on ship are humans

While Riley is turning up the sexiness, Ensign Chekov is stuck doing the unsexy science work normally done by Spock.  There Chekov discovers that the Wanderer is on course to hit the galactic whirlpool, basically two black holes orbiting each other ripping all sorts of space apart.  Unless the Wanderer changes course in less than two weeks then they are doomed. 

The information is given to Katwen and she decides to return with Riley to the Wanderer via transporter to try to get her people to cooperate.  When they beam over there, she tells Riley that before they try to see the Captain the will contract Dr. Hobie the Chief Science Officer.  The reason for this is Captain Frost is a religious zealot, who won’t believe them.  We learned earlier that the once 30,000 crew of the Wanderer has been waddled down to a few thousand people aboard.  The surviving population continued civil war has caused the government of the upper levels to become run by fanatics such as the current Captain.  By recruiting Hobie, she hopes he will be able to reach out to Frost.

This turns out to be a mistake.  Hobie, although sympathetic, is within the Captain’s clutches.  Both Reiley and Katwen are taken prisoner as spies for the rebellion.  They are repeatedly tortured but do not change their story.  The Captain decides to execute them but before that can be carried out the floor opens up beneath the two prisoners and they two slide down to the lower levels. 

torture!

Katwen is afraid of the lower level “savages”, but Rieley feels he has to try to reach out to someone.  Fortunately, these poor souls do listen more closely than those on the higher levels.  It could be because they are desperate everyone Riley sees is malnourished and no one is old.  They take him to the “true captain,” a man named Jesus Garcia Gomez.  Captain Gomez points out their situation that they have to take the upper levels to get to the control room and that having been denied a basic education, they don’t know how to fix the engines anyway.  Riley is able to connect Captain Gomez with Captain Kirk and the two negotiate an agreement about regime change on the Wanderer and the Enterprise lending its medical staff for the poor souls on the lower levels.   

A joint attack is carried out on the higher levels from all sides, personally led by Captain Kirk.  However, despite the technological edge the allied forces are driven back with experience and adapted battle tactics.  Kirk then conceives of a plan to turn all of the Wanderer’s interior lights on and magnified.  His own side uses special glasses to protect themselves and pushes on the attack.  Kirk himself has a showdown with Captain Frost on the bridge of the ancient ship.  It becomes anti-climatic with Frost vaporizing himself by accident.  Dr. Hobie surrenders as Captain Gomez convinced his former adversary that Captain Kirk can be trusted to do the right thing.

Kirk and Spock can be trusted to do the right thing!

Despite going past the deadline to save the ship, Chekov thought of a way out.  They can use the gravity of a nearby star to sling-shot the Wanderer to safety.  Since they are going sub-warp drive there is no time travel risk. Lt. Reilly has to do the traditional Star Trek good-bye to his lost love Katwen, the girl is nice, but he has a destiny with the stars.   

Additional thoughts: This was an enjoyable, well done story.  The premise of the story may be a little overused.  We have seen the “people on generation ship not understanding that they are on a ship or that other worlds exist”-thing before.  It is what the Enterprise encounter in the episode “For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky” and in the earlier Trek novel The Starless World by Gordon Eklund.  However, it is still different enough to remain interesting.  It also takes full advantage of the novel from allowing us to get into the heads of the important characters. 

There is something that I want to address: Julius Caesar was not a Roman Emperor; he was a Dictator.  The first Roman Emperor was Augustus.  This makes Tiberius the second Emperor not the third.  This can sometimes be confusing, but it is important.  The office that Caesar used was an extraordinary office of the Republic that had been used before.  Augustus created the Principate headed by the Princeps.  Princeps simply means “First Citizen.”  All the Roman Emperors until Diocletian held that office.

Augustus, Roman Emperor #1

My general rule on this blog is to review everything based on where the franchise was when it came out.  So, in this case I can only use elements of Star Trek that were around back in October 1980, when this book came out.  I am going to violate that rule slightly because there are some interesting things that I would like to note.  So, Captain Kirk was referred to Starfleet Academy by Admiral George LaForge.  LaForge, that sounds like a familiar name.  According to the book, the Admiral comes from a long line of Starfleet officers.  Hmm.  I wonder if there will be any more of them.  Also, they discovered that the original destination of the Wanderer is Wolf 359!  Okay I won’t say what is going to happen there in a future Star Trek episode but let’s just say it’s like reading about a person in the 1990s who got a brand-new job at the World Trade Center.

One part about this book that makes it fun is how the author will randomly dive into these little bits of untold history of the characters.  Some might criticize the book for these distractions from the main story, but I like the added depth.  Since the author is one of the writers of classic Star Trek it also feels more authentic coming from him.  The best one of these little trips down memory lane happens in Chapter 15.  I first read this book back in high school and this chapter was the part I remembered the most clearly as I re-read it this last week.  When you come to that chapter it is a gem.  

Lt. Kevin Riley returns in a major way.  It is ironic that he falls in love with a woman named Katholin.  Riley was a fun character, and it is nice to see him used.  This is the story his character has been waiting for.  In addition to Lt. Riley getting some time in the sun, Ensign Chekov shines in this episode as well.  In the book, Chekov is seen as a reliable officer and scientist.  He is noticeably absent of his traditional jokes.  At no point does he try to claim the Wanderer was a Russian design. He both discovers and solves the Wanderer’s deadly course heading.

Kevin Riley 

I thought it was weird that the author decided to give Kirk a personality quirk of repeating his middle name to himself. He didn’t do this show so what is the point of adding it? Also, at one point Kirk refers to Uhura as the fourth-in-command, but she isn’t, Sulu is, and after him is DeSalle. 

Lastly, I wonder why Kirk and his command crew just didn’t choose to abandon the Wanderer and just evacuate the population.  They were supposed to settle on planet anyway and I am sure there are plenty in the Federation that they could settle. Kirk should just ask Starfleet to send more ships and begin taking people out of there.  Take the people in the lower levels first, as they don’t want to be there, then focus on trying to convince those in the upper levels.  Without their adversaries they might start to become more willing not to knuckle under the leadership of Captain Frost anymore.  If you can somehow save the ship so you can stick it in a space museum that’s great but not important. Well, that probably would be a less exciting story, but it would have made more sense.  

Should it be canon: Given the author is David Gerrold, who is one of the original series writers I would say yes.  The history given maybe altered by later canon, but the timeline is flexible after all Khan and his crew were originally from the 1990s.

Cover Art: The cover art has Captain Kirk on the viewer’s left near the top talking on a communicator.  Uhura is on viewer’s right near the bottom with her normal earpiece.  On the top right is an image from the battle where the upper levelers were using gliders.   The cover is a bit of a lie as Uhura doesn’t really play much of a role in the story, the cover should have probably featured Kevin Riley.  

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

A RUDE GUEST AND A GODDESS

 

Episode Title:  BEM

Air Date: 9/14/1974

Written by David Gerrold

Directed by Bill Reed

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk       Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock        James Doohan as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”, Lieutenant Arex, and Honorary Commander Ari bn Bem                          Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura and Goddess of Delta Theta III             

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets: Delta Theta III

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise getting set to explore the planet, Delta Theta III.  For the past few weeks, the ship has been hosting a guest from the planet Pandro.  The guest’s name is Ari bn Bem.  He has been sent by his people to observe the Enterprise and its crew in action.  For some mystery reason Starfleet has given their guest the honorary rank of Commander, which means he outranks everyone on the ship with exception to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Commander Bem has decided he wishes to go with the landing party on their assignment.  This seriously annoys Captain Kirk, who is apparently already frustrated with Bem as the so-called observer has done nothing but stay in his quarters the entire time refusing to interact with anyone on the ship and now, he wants to go on a highly sensitive mission.  Kirk relents however because he has two missions and one of them is helping the Federation establish a relationship with Bem’s people. 

Bem trying to work a transporter!

Bem was so eager to go on this assignment that he took the initiative and set up the transporter already.  Scotty overlooks it and determines it was set up alright.  Scotty should have checked a little closer because when they beam down Kirk and Spock’s standing placements were in the air with no ground beneath them.  The two men fall into the water below and now Kirk is really ticked off with his guest.  Bem jumps into the water with them.  This is where things start to get weird.  Bem then splits in two with his lower half detaching.  Since this occurs below the water no one sees it.  His lower half then goes and with some extra arms he had tucked swaps out Kirk and Spock’s phasers and communicators. 

He is sneaky splitting into parts. 

The three get out of the water and Kirk makes it clear that only Enterprise crew members are going to be operating the transporter for now on.  As they begin to explore the planet Bem decides to run away.  He goes into some thick brush but it appears that Bem can separate himself into multiple units, not just two.  Independent parts of a lower half, arms, torso, and a separate head makes Bem both a strange creature and one that can move through thick brush very easily.  So even though Kirk and Spock are in quick pursuit they quickly lose track of him.  The Enterprise starts to read a strange energy signature and due to Captain Kirk’s prior orders, Lt. Uhura beams up the rest of the landing party, over the objections of Mr. Scott.

As Kirk and Spock try to communicate with the Enterprise, they discover that their phasers and communicators have been swapped for fakes.  They quickly figure out that it was Bem that did it and as much as Kirk has grown to hate the guy, they can’t leave him on this planet.  It appears that their troubles have grown however as Bem was captured by the primitive locals.  They decide to wait to nightfall and rescue him.  When they do this Bem starts to argue saying that he is studying but Kirk and Spock try to get him out.  However, all three are caught and Kirk and Spock join their rude guest in captivity.

Moving through the brush in parts!

With all three captured, Kirk demands to Bem he explain what he was been doing.  Bem says he is here to observe and Kirk has developed such a reputation in this side of the galaxy that the Pandroians requested to post Bem on the Enterprise to see him first hand.  However now that Bem has seen him, he is very unimpressed.  He thinks Kirk is an utter disappointment and failure.  Bem continues to explain how much he despises him in detail.  Despite this Kirk still convinces him to give back the phasers and communicators that he took from the two of them.  In doing so Bem revels to the two Starfleet officers that he can take himself apart at will.  Spock concludes that the “Bem” personal is combination of a number of creatures.

Now that they have their weapons Kirk and Spock decide it is time for the three to leave.  Kirk orders the phasers on low stun.  This comes to nothing because at the very moment the interference that had been blocking communication and transporters from the ship turns out to be a living goddess.  This goddess demands to know what they are doing on her planet and when Kirk gives her a crap answer she shuts down their phasers allowing the two to be recaptured.

Bem captured!

Once again locked up, Bem determines that Kirk is a failure, tells Kirk this, and then takes himself apart so he can get out of his cage and walks away.  Although the goddess’s interference prevents them from contacting the ship, Spock reasons they could rig their communicators to allow them to communicate with the deity that they have been imprisoned by.  This works and this time Kirk speaks to the goddess with a little more wit and lets her know that he has no desire to harm her “children” (the inhabitants of the planet).  Kirk convinces her to let them once more communicate with Enterprise and they will voluntarily leave.  The goddess allows this and Kirk then beams down a security team.   

 

The goddess at this point starts to wonder why there are so many more intruders on her planet.  The good news is this time Captain Kirk is able to think more quickly on his feet and explains that they need to find their last crew member so he does not interfere with her “children.” The goddess accepts that explanation and allows them to continue.  They find Bem who is so impressed that Captain Kirk found a way out and proved his own analysis to be flawed.  Because he failed, Bem becomes suicidal.  It takes both Captain Kirk and the goddess to talk him out of it.

Showing Kirk he can leave whenever!

The Enterprise is now set to leave and go on its next adventure.  Bem is, although not suicidal, now filled with a low opinion of himself.  The goddess contacts them and wishes the crew farewell.       

Additional thoughts: Okay so why did Starfleet give Bem and honorary rank?  We have never seen them do that before, so what was the deal with it here?  At no point in the episode does his rank even matter. The story would have been exactly the same if he had been “Ambassador Bem.”  In fact, Bem as an ambassador would have made more sense in the opening scene in the transporter room, as Kirk would naturally want to please the diplomat as opposed to a commander who he could just order into compliance.

I do believe that this is the first time we have heard Kirk’s middle name “Tiberius” said allowed.  He had been known as James T. Kirk since the first regular episode made: “The Corbomite Maneuver.” However, what the “T” had stood for was anybody’s guess.  From this point on Star Trek fans could say it with confidence.

Kirk was really lucky with this one, as it turns out the goddess was very understanding of their situation.  When the first time the goddess demands their motives instead of breaking out his classical “We are explores seeking knowledge peacefully” he goes for “It’s our job to classify.” No wonder he ended up back in the cage.  When she agrees to let him contact his ship, Kirk goes back on his word to leave and beams down a security team.  He was lucky that she let him explain and plead his case. Otherwise, they all would have ended up in cages.

Talking to the Goddess!

Bem starts out as one of those characters you are supposed to initially dislike but gets redeemed in the end.  The bad part is he is never redeemed at all.  He starts off as an annoying loser and he is still an annoying loser at the end of it.  The only development he made was that he totally lost his confidence and is now aware of what a giant loser he is. 

I am surprised they didn’t try to learn from this goddess and what her designs for the planet were.  It is odd that Kirk never thinks of trying to free the natives from her control.  He does this in “The Return of the Archons” and “The Apple.”  However, it could be because Kirk doesn’t feel the goddess is holding “her children” back that he doesn’t want to interfere.

I do feel now that we are into the second season that the animation has actually improved. It just looks shaper like they are putting more work into it. 

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5

THE CUTE FURRY CREATURES FROM HELL HAVE RETURNED AND NOW THEY GROW BIG!!!

 

Episode Title:  More Tribbles, More Troubles

Air Date: 10/6/1973

Written by David Gerrold

Directed by Hal Sutherland

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”, Captain Koloth, and Korax        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel          David Gerrold as unnamed Ensign          Stanley Adams as Cyrano Jones            

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruiser, unnamed Federation scout ship, two unnamed robot ships

Planets: none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the USS Enterprise escorting two robot ships to Sherman’s Planet where there has been an outbreak of famine.  The robot ships are carrying shipments of the grain quintotriticale which is known to grow so well at Sherman’s planet before whatever caused this famine.  I assume whatever caused the famine had nothing to do with quintotriticale as they wouldn’t be bringing more of it if it had completely failed in just two years.  It must have been a weather-related disaster I imagine.   

Robot ships

The Enterprise gets a distress single from a Federation scout ship.  Kirk orders his ship in on the rescue.  The scout is being attacked by Klingons, the Enterprise moves in and demands the Klingons stop. The Klingons ignore them but Scotty is able to beam the pilot out of his ship before it is destroyed.   The Klingons then turn their attention to the Enterprise and in doing so release a powerful new weapon that immobilizes the Enterprise and shuts down her shields and weapons. It turns out they are fighting Captain Koloth again and he demands they surrender the pilot or prepare to be boarded.  Spock realizes that the power being used to shut them down is so draining that it also prevents the Klingon ship from doing anything offensively while they have it activated.  Kirk refuses Koloth’s demands and since they still have control of the robot ships, he sends them both at ramming speed.  The Klingons try to expand their energy weapon, but it overwhelms them and they have to shut it down.   They manage to damage one of the robot ships but our forced to retreat.

Jones with new tribbles 

With the Klingons gone Scotty can finally get the transporter to complete.  Once complete the crew are once again face to face with Cyrano Jones and his bag of tribbles.  They are quite shocked to say the least. The last they saw of him he was picking up tribbles at the K-7 space station.  Now he is free trying to sell more of them.  However, he claims that these new pink tribbles are different, they don’t multiple like the others do, they only grow fat when they consume food.  McCoy later confirms this.  When asked how he got rid of all the tribbles at the space station Jones introduces them to a “glommer.” The species that eats up tribbles rather quickly. 

The Tribble eater

Since one of the robot ships was damaged and can’t warp, the Enterprise is forced to take on the cargo.  There is so much of it that it takes up a great deal of room.  Almost every hall way in every corridor has buckets of grain.  The Klingons return and the Enterprise quickly fights them off.  They don’t try their new weapon leaving Spock to speculate that they might not be able to just yet.  During the battle the storage units of grain get knocked over and the tribbles get a feast, growing nice and big.  This new breed of tribble is creating its own level of nuisance.  In addition to that the other robot ship is damaged forcing the Enterprise to take it in tow. 

Oh no! Now its Tribble food

 

The Klingons return a third time and with their new weapon working.  With no robot ships to entrap the Klingons their ship is stuck.  When Kirk looks for suggestions, Spock says that they “might throw tribbles at them.”  This gives Kirk and idea he has Scotty use the transporter to once again take the majority of their tribble population and transport it on to the Klingon ship.  The Klingons get the surprise of their life when they head to their transporter room to invade the Enterprise only to find the transporter room overwhelmed with giant tribbles.  Koloth contacts the Enterprise and explains that they only wanted the glommer and they could keep Jones.  Kirk accepts the plan that doesn’t require that they hand over one of their citizens to their enemies. 

Fat Tribbles 

As they proceed to Sherman’s Planet McCoy discovers the truth about the new tribbles.  The giant tribbles are in fact tribble colonies.  When McCoy injects one of the giants it breaks down into tiny tribbles, however they are tribbles that have been sterilized.  The Klingons are not so lucky before the giant tribble colony broke down; its size scared the glommer.  Back on the Enterprise, Kirk tries to break up one tribble colony and gets buried in tribbles for the second time in his life, but this time no carcasses.  

Additional thoughts: After being off the air for four short years the cast was brought back to make Star Trek again, only this time in animated form.  To this we owe to the magic of re-runs! As the number of TV stations grew, they needed content.  So, they started running re-runs of shows no longer on the air. So, Star Trek returned to the small screen and it was doing so much better in the second, third, and fourth go rounds.  With its popularity growing fans started asking for new Star Trek content.  Thus, Star Trek: The Animated Series was born.

The Enterprise under attack!

Like its predecessor series, the Animated Series was aired out of order in an attempt to grab the largest audience they could.  However, as I have already established, with classic Star Trek, I am a production order person, and therefore I will be watching these for review in production order. Or as I like to call it, the true order.

The Klingon ship under command of Koloth

So, I generally enjoyed episode, I did notice some animation errors, like Mr. Scott having a mustache randomly appear on his face and go away.  Also, at one point Scotty had a captain’s rank insignia on his sleeves.  Speaking of rank insignia when did Dr. McCoy get his promotion? He is wearing commander stripes throughout the episode. I kept expecting them to revert to his normal lt. commander stipes but it never happened.  I haven’t seen this series since I was a kid so I am interested to see if that tiny detail stays.

McCoy in a commander's uniform!

It is telling that the first episode they decide to make upon their return is a sequel episode.  Nothing says “we’re back to continue what we started” like the follow up to an earlier story.  Considering how popular the original “The Trouble with Tribbles” was it was a great decision to start there.  They have had a sequel episode before with “I, Mudd” from season 2 to follow up “Mudd’s Women” from season 1.  You could argue “The Menagerie” was but I don’t consider a Part 2 a sequel just the second part and “The Cage” to which the episode was following never aired.  

I really enjoyed the battle with the Klingons.  It was fun and exciting.  It also showed off Kirk’s skill as a tactician with his use of the robot ships and the tribbles against the Klingons.  Poor Koloth, twice he messed with Captain Kirk and his Enterprise crew and each time walked away with ship invested with tribbles. How insulting for such a proud warrior.  You don’t mess with the best Koloth!

The Klingons’ new weapon was interesting but I also like how the plot disposes of it.  Otherwise, we would wonder every time we see them why they aren’t using it.  The power drain and the fact that it seemed to paralyze the user as well as the victim earn it a spot on the failed inventions list.

Poor Captain Kirk once again buried in tribbles.  That was a very funny easter egg that I greatly enjoyed.

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

 

Episode Title:  The Cloud Minders

Air Date: 2/28/1969

Written by Margaret Armen, David Gerrold, and Oliver Crawford

Directed by Jud Taylor

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          Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley        Jeff Corey as Plasus         Diana Ewing as Droxine                        Charlene Polite as Vanna          Kirk Raymond as Cloud Guard #1      Jimmy Fields as Cloud Guard #2                Ed Long as Midro       Fred Williamson as Anka      Garth Pillsbury as Prisoner     Harv Selsby as Guard          Louie Elias as Troglyte #1          Dick Geary as Cloud City Sentinel #1       Jay D. Jones as Prisoner #2        Bob Miles as Cloud City Sentinel #2          Marvin Walters as Troglyte #2

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Ardana

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise on a desperate mission.  The planet Merak II has been infested with a botanical plague.  The lives of millions are at stake.  Fortunately, there is a substance called zenite that can save them and wipe out the plague.  The Federation world Ardana, is zenite rich and regularly produces it.  The Enterprise is heading there in order to pick up a shipment and bring it to Merak II.

Kirk and Spock looking up at Stratos

The leaders of Ardana want to welcome Kirk, but the Captain instructs Lt. Uhura to apologize for he will be going down to personally oversee the delivery.  Kirk beams down with Mr. Spock only to find no shipment or any people who would normally be there.  Then the two officers are jumped by a group of miners being led by a woman. The would-be-kidnapers start to learn that Captain Kirk is the greatest fighter in the known universe and Mr. Spock isn’t so bad either.  They successfully fight them off but don’t need to finish, because men from Stratos beam down and use weapons to make the attackers retreat. 

Their leader identifies himself as Plasus, the High Adviser of the Council, and he goes on to explain that these were a group of individuals known as the “Distributors.”  With that Plasus takes his two guests to the cloud city of Stratos.  When they get there, they are introduced to Plasus’s daughter Droxine.  Plasus describes his daughter as a work of art.  Spock and Droxine seem to hit it off really well.  However, after having a good time with the nice work of art Spock reflects on the conditions of the planet.  There are two classes of people on Ardana.  The Troglytes who perform all the labor of society but get little to no benefit.  Then there are the Stratos city dwellers who do none of the work but receive all of societies benefits and sit around making art all day.  When this is pointed out to them, they explain how the Troglytes are mentally inferior to themselves and our only good for manual labor.

These people will try to kidnap Kirk and Spock! They will fail!

The Disruptors, a group of Troglytes upset with the situation, are behind the lost shipment.  They are in revolt against the society imposed by Stratos.  One of them, a woman named Vanna, led the group that tried to kidnap Kirk and Spock at the beginning.  She returns to Stratos in an attempt to kidnap Kirk again.  This fails just like the last time, except this time she herself is captured by Kirk.  Plasus recognizes her as one of his former servants and has her tortured.  Just when it seems the episode is going the way of bondage torture porn, Kirk shows up and demands that such treatment stop.  Plasus responds by kicking Kirk out of Stratos, forcing him to wait on his ship.  If Kirk doesn’t like it, he will complain to Starfleet about Kirk’s internal interference.

Spock was excited to meet this work of art!

 Back on the Enterprise, McCoy has some news.  It turns out that it is true that the Stratos city dwellers are mentally superior to the Troglytes in every measurable sense, however it is artificially induced.  In the caves the Troglytes are exposed to an odorless gas that dulls their mental capacity.  The reason household servants like Vanna rise to become leaders of the Disruptors is they are removed from the gas’s influence and regain all of their abilities.  McCoy has already come up with a mask to be used as safety equipment to protect against the gas’s effects.  

Spock in a spot normally reserved for Captain Kirk

When attempts to get Plasus to do the right thing fail due to the Advisor’s long-held prejudice, Kirk decides to go down in violation of Plasus’s wishes and break Vanna out.  Kirk does this and explains to Vanna about the mines and the gas.  He shows her the mask McCoy designed.  This turns out to be for nothing as she betrays him the moment they are amongst her people.  They take away his mask and force him to work.  This lasts only for a brief period of time before Kirk shows off his supreme fighting skills and gets the upper hand once more.  He contacts the Enterprise and has them kidnap-by-transporter Plasus.  Kirk orders him beamed straight there.  Once he has both of the two under his control, he forces both of them to work.  As Kirk and Plasus start to be affected by the gas, Vanna realizes the truth and takes Kirk’s communicator and pleas for the Enterprise to beam them out.  Spock orders follows through and once on the ship Kirk starts to recover.

The Enterprise gets their shipment of zenite to bring to Merak II and Troglytes get their masks to protect them from the gas.  There are negotiations between the Troglytes and the city-dwellers.  From the body language of Vanna and Plasus this looks to be more of a good time for the Troglytes than the city dwellers.  Droxine says her good-byes to Mr. Spock.

Bondage photos this episode moved in odd direction

Additional thoughts: I really enjoy this more than I thought I would.  When I was younger, I found this episode boring. To be fair there is not a lot of action in this one, it is one of their cerebral episodes.  I felt that this was a great analogy to real-life oppression and bigotry.  In fact, I think it is far superior to “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.”  Why the previous episode has a more visual hook, it gets lost in the confusion and direction of that episode.  Where this episode’s message is far clearer. 

point clear execution not so much!

                In this episode you have the elite dwellers of the cloud city who live in a paradise where they get to make art all day and the Troglytes who work hard labor getting nothing but basic food and shelter.  By every measurable test the city dwellers are intellectually superior to the Troglytes and in their minds this justifies the social relationship.  The Troglytes do the labor because that is what their mental skills are good for while the citizens of the cloud city peruse their natural talents in intellectual purists.  However, Dr. McCoy pulls the plug on that idea by proving it is the environment this society created that creates the disparity.   

Kirk forced to work the mines

This is reflective of some many real-life situations in our own society.  Such as the rich/poor divide.  When someone grows up in a secure home with a good education complete with tutors if necessary, of course they will seem intellectually ahead of someone whose parents had to work three jobs to keep barely afloat.  The second kid’s parents can’t find the time to make sure they are hitting their bench marks before their first day of school.  The school funded by local property taxes has a lot less resources than one from a more influent community.  Another example is the situation between White and Black people in the United States.  When one group is segregated and deprived of equal opportunity to resources and education it should come as no surprise when they don’t perform as well on standardized test as the other.  In both cases the beneficiaries of society then see the difference not in terms of their own privilege but instead they are given confirmation of their prejudice.

Kirk showing of his supreme fighting skills

The thing that has me the most concerned is the Federation.  If the Ardana has such an apartheid society then why in the galaxy were they invited to join the Federation?  When Kirk, a Federation official, confronts Plasus about what he is doing, Plasus shoots back by declaring he will report Kirk for interfering with intra-planetary affairs.  He says that with the firmness of a Southern slave-holder or segregationist arguing about his “states’ rights.” Granted the government of the Federation is poorly developed throughout the Star Trek franchise but this is a galling case.

Well, this episode became the answer to the—at this point—year long question that Star Trek fans have had after “Amok Time.” The question was, “are Vulcans restricted to mating during the pon farr or can they engage in sexual activity at any time?”  Now you might have said we already answered that because of Spock’s actions during “This Side of Paradise.”  However, Spock may have broken off his relationship with Leila because of that issue and who knows how the spores were really affecting him.  Spock has no problem getting to know Droxine really well and telling her that he can “always appreciate art.”

Spock can always appreciate a work of art

Speaking of Spock, what was up with the internal monologue bit?  I didn't like it in "The Paradise Syndrome" and I don't like it now.  It makes less sense now, before Kirk was marooned with no memory, there is no reason for Spock not to just be making a log entry.  

If I lived on Ardana I don’t know where I would want to live.  I mean I don’t want to work in mines exposed to gas that makes you stupid, but I really hate heights.  I didn’t like the views from over the edge, and I don’t know why anyone would.  I felt bad for the guy who jumped.  Cities do not belong on clouds.

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5