MUSICIAN SAVES THE DAY

Name: The Tears of the Singers

Author: Melinda Snodgrass

Publication Date: 9/1984

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #19)

Page Number: 252

Historian’s Note: The book takes place three years after the events of Errand of Mercy, shortly after the episode The Time Trap

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura            Lieutenant  Bethany Wilson                    Lieutenant T'zeela           Lieutenant Kevin Riley                Lieutenant Fred Ragsdale               Lieutenant Brentano                Lieutenant Donovan                   Lieutenant Lindenbaum             Lieutenant Fred Ragsdale               Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Yeoman First Class Chou                 Crewman Ridly         Crewman Thomas        Commander Li            Guy Maslin                  Harvey Cumberland              Commander Kor               Captain Kandi        Lieutenant Commander  Karsul  Lieutenant Commander Kali          Khant                    Korax                    Captain Shibot         

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Starbase 24, IKS Klothos, IKS Emperor’s Pride, and third unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruiser

Planets: Taygeta V

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The opening of the story begins with a murder.  A native of the planet Taygeta, is killed for its tears that leave its body and form expensive gems upon death.  The Enterprise is getting a tune up at Starbase 28 and the crew has leave. Spock and Uhura convince Kirk to join them at the concert.  The composer and pianist are the same person, a man named Guy Maslin.  Maslin is considered to be a Mozart-like musical genius and perhaps the greatest of his era.  Kirk enjoys the concert but is called away by the commanding officer of Starbase, Commander Li.

Uhura and Spock team up to get the Captain to relax!

There is a strange space phenomenon that is engulfing starships that is getting bigger near a system of unexplored space that both the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been exploring.  There is a brief discussion of tear harvesting, the killing of these local animals by hunters to make money.  Spock is upset by this because the locals’ behavior shows they may be intelligent.  Indeed, the entire population seems to be involved in this planet-wide song earning the local Taygetians the nickname “the singers.”  While this is going on Uhura has met Maslin in person and the two have hit it off and are having a romantic date.  This comes to an end as Kirk calls everyone back to the ship although Uhura goes slower than normal.

Spock upon investigation forms a hypothesis that the songs that are being made by the Taygetians that are now being disrupted by the hunters are connected to the space phenomenon that is eating up ships.  With this Kirk decides to recruit the latest celebrity that they just saw into their mission.  Uhura is asked to find him which given where she was wasn’t hard.  Maslin shows he is good immediately after listening to the Taygetians song. He instantly points out that part of it is missing, and maybe on a frequency that we can’t here.  Kirk wants him to join them, but he refuses.  It turns out Maslin is a bit of a diva when it comes to things, and he is more concerned about his career than the common good.  This forces Kirk to use a little-known Federation law that allows him to draft Maslin into Starfleet.  This enrages the musician but there is nothing he can do about it. He does reveal he has a serious medical condition, but McCoy can successfully treat it with the ship’s resources.  

The Enterprise arrives to the Singer's world

When Maslin finally accepts that he has to go on the mission, he informs the Captain that he will need a team of musicians.  Now many members of the crew of the Enterprise have musical talents.  Maslin holds auditions and competes his away party with many including Spock, Uhura, and Scotty.  Maslin still has some work to do in regard to other people; he still questions things and offers his unsolicited opinion on matters in which he knows nothing.  He thinks it is his place to tell Kirk how to run his ship at times.

Two Klingon ships arrive under the command of Kor, the Original Klingon.  Despite his record as an adversary, Kor recognizes the threat of the space phenomenon that is eating starships and is willing to work with Kirk to see how to best solve the problem.  The only issue is his first officer abord his flagship, Karsul, wants to attack the Federation starship now while they have the advantage in numbers.  At the moment it is Kor’s way that will prevail, but it will soon become apparent to Kirk that now all is right on the Klingon ships.

Kor, the Original Klingon, is back

A number of things happen rather quickly.  Spock discovers that another world in this solar system was once life-supporting and had on it a sophisticated civilization that was on par with the ancient Sumerians.  They were wiped out some 3000 years ago when the sun went nova. Yet somehow the Taygetians’ atmosphere of their world survived, allowing them to live, while their neighbor who was father away from the star did not.  In addition to Spock’s discoveries a Klingon landing party arrives among them is a female Klingon named Kandi.  She is both a lieutenant commander and the wife of Kor.  She seems friendlier than most Klingons they have met.   

Uhura is torn between loyalty to Starfleet and newfound love

Maslin feels that the reason some of the great song is missing is because many of the singers have been killed and their voices not yet replaced. Maslin’s illness catches up with him and he is forced to accept medical attention on the ship.  Spock has the misfortune to run into the humans hunting the Taygetians for their tears.  Spock tries to reason with them and explain that they are killing an intelligent self-aware species.  The hunters’ response is telling Spock off while referring to their “rights.”  They are here to get rich, and they won’t let any annoying rights of sentient beings stop them.  These same hunters run into Kandi is more vocal and willing to do more to protect the Taygetians, the hunters take her prisoner.  That turns out to be their mistake as Kor shows up and attacks them, wounding some, and rescuing his wife.  Matters start to get worse as the Enterprise and the Klingon ships both start to lose power as something is wrong with their dilithium crystals. 

Another Klingon ship arrives

  Using Spock’s theory of the singer’s activity being connected to the space phenomenon, Kirk arrests the hunters with the help of Kor.  They cry their cries and Kirk could care less. Time is running out and they need Maslin to resume his work.  Uhura, who is now openly recognizing that she is in love with him, strongly objects and nearly resigns her commission before Maslin himself talks her out of it.  Maslin is now fully committed to the mission and wants to finish what he started.  Back on the Klingon ship, Kor needs to meet with Kirk, so he takes a shuttle to the Enterprise rather than beam over because he is having a harder time controlling his crew and doesn’t trust his first officer at all.   

While Kor is on the Enterprise, the Klingon ships move into attack. It is clear that Kor is no longer in command.  Kirk tries to maneuver his ship away, but a third Klingon ship appears with no power drain in its systems.  Kirk takes the Enterprise back down tricks the other two Klingon ships into shooting each other. As the three ships start to gain on our heroes Kirk decides they need to sacrifice for the sake of the universe.  He tricks the Klingon fleet into flying into the space phenomenon with him and his crew.

  On the surface Maslin manages to communicate first to the Taygetian children and then to the adults.  The great song was created to protect the planet from the solar threat 3000 years ago; it requires their 100 percent attention most of the time making them vulnerable to the hunters.  After some misunderstandings, Maslin gets one of the Taygetians to mind meld with Spock so they can learn that the threat is past, but a different one is here that they have created through their song.  They use their power to bring all four ships back with the small change of putting Kor on his bridge.  This allows Kor to kill his first officer and take back command of his ships.  He explains to the Klingon commander of the third ship the situation and he backs down.  Taygetians’ song comes to an end and with it the space phenomenon.  There is a cost however in helping the Taygetians coordinate Maslin exhausts himself, succumbing to his disease.  Uhura morns the loss of her recently found love.

Additional thoughts: This is a great classic Star Trek story, it uses a science fiction setting to tell a morality tale about our own society. The lesson is what happens when commercially driven activities have a large negative effect on our environment.  In this case the actions of the hunters cause the space phenomenon to get out of control and start consuming ships.  In modern times many industries in pursuit of profits have caused massive environmental damage.  Of course, the Taygetians songs were also going to lead to the destruction of their own sun if they were not told to stop.  Which arguably wouldn’t have happened without the space phenomenon eating ships and that was the fault of the hunters.  Maybe I shouldn’t overthink this.

Since Star Trek is a show that takes place on a starship, where everyone has a Starfleet career, it is nice to see those in the Federation who do different things.  In this case we still have in the 23^rd century celebrity musicians, who give live performances to their fans.  On the other side of the coin, we have the ruthless hunters who are more concerned with what types of fortunes they can build than the potential life they are snuffing out.   Also, it shows that human greed still will unknowingly harm the environment around them.  For some humans in this time period, the fact that we saved our own planet from such a fate hasn’t taught them any wider lessons for the universe.

A few things I noticed.  Maslin often complains about how his tax dollars are used.  Now, I try to keep these reviews focused on when they came out and not bring up other things that occur later in the series. The franchise, however, will try to claim to have a money-free society, it seems odd that anyone would complain about their “tax dollars.”  I suppose it could just be an expression.  I also early in the book, Spock compares the Taygetian singers to the humpback whales of Earth.  They are a species that has gone extinct by the 23^rd century.  Hmm…I wonder if we may have an adventure at some point addressing that.  Lastly if the sun went nova some three thousand years ago how are the terrestrial planets in this system still here?  You would think a nova would take them out.

Lt. Cmdr. Kandi, the wife of Kor, is an interesting character.  Proud to be a Klingon, but willing to stand against certain aspects of the Klingon Empire when she feels it is wrong.  It was brave of her to go after the hunters herself.  Her relationship with Kor seems to be built on mutual respect, this helps show the Klingons beyond their stereotypes. 

This brings me to Kor and the Time Trap problem.  When reading this book, I first thought it might have taken place before that episode, as the events weren’t referenced.  Yet, in that episode he tries to kill Kirk and the Enterprise under the guise of helping them.  It would seem to be a character regression if after this adventure that was how Kor acted.  I would like to think that his character has evolved more since that day so I would say this story happened sometime after “The Time Trap.”  Of course, there is the question of why Kirk would trust him after that encounter.  However, in this adventure Kirk suspects that Kor isn’t in total command of his ships.  Perhaps he doesn’t totally blame Kor from what happened at their last encounter.

We had classic character growth from Guy Maslin.  He begins as a full-of-himself-diva who can’t be bothered with things in the universe outside of his immediate interest. He has no sense of the greater good, he complains all the time about his tax dollars.  Although a genius in his own field, he likes to give lots of commentary on matters in which he knows nothing, like running a starship or overall strategy in dealing with Klingons.  He openly insults Kirk to his face, earning the ire of all fans.  Yet, by the end of the books he reforms completely, is totally likeable, prevents Uhura from leaving Starfleet, and sacrifices himself for the greater good of the galaxy.  A great character arch.  

Should it be canon: I have no issue with this book begin part of official Star Trek canon as it doesn’t conflict with anything and is a great story.

Cover Art: On the cover Spock and Uhura are on the surface of Taygeta V.  There are mountains in the background.  Uhura is kneeling down conversing with one of the Taygetian cubs.  Spock is behind her.  Their uniforms are off, Uhura is in pants and missing her rank insignia and Spock is dressed in his Motion Picture away uniform.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

THE STARS OF STAR TREK BEAM UP TO THE ENTERPRISE

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 4 “Visit to a Weird Planet--Revisited”

Author: Ruth Berman, with an introduction by Majel Barrett

Publication Date: 3/1976

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 16

Historian’s Note: Sometime between 1967-1969  

Cast of Characters:  William Shatner         Leonard Nimoy              DeForest Kelley              James Doohan    Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Vincent McEveety         Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov     Gene L. Coon        Commodore Kor      Unnamed Klingon Officer

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, IKS Klothos

Planets: Earth the Real One, unexplored planet name in dispute

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins on the set of a Star Trek episode.  I don’t know what episode exactly but it is one that is directed by Vincent McEveety.  Shatner trips getting off the transporter pad upsetting McEveety as it ruins the take.  They start over and get back on the transporter pad and that is when it happens. A strange feeling goes over the three actors as unbeknownst to them they are being beamed up to the actual USS Enterprise! 

                As soon as Shatner and Kelley step of the transporter pad, they know something is up.  They are now in an enclosed room and there are no cameras to be scene.  Nimoy is a little late to come around, he thinks this is a prank by Bob Justman and gets openly annoyed when “Jimmy” refuses to break character and continue to talk in his Scottish accent.  Shatner and Kelley force Nimoy out of the transporter room and into the corridor.  It’s at that point Nimoy realizes what his co-stars do.  That somehow and someway they are aboard the USS Enterprise for real.

Three actors on a big adventure.

                The three actors struggle but find sickbay and when they get there, they start talking about what has happened.  How did they get here and how do they get home?  Then they are called to the bridge they are being attacked by the Klingons.  Shatner has Uhura hail the Klingons and when they respond the actor finds himself face to face with Kor.  Kor tells the man he thinks is Kirk that they are claiming the planet for the Klingon Empire.  Since the Federation has the right to file a dispute that reduces the need to come up with a solution right away. 

                This convinces the three of them that something must be done about their situation.  While on the bridge Nimoy had to excuse himself before he broke into uncontrollable laughter.  He was also scared that someone might get too close to him and see that is not really a Vulcan and that his ears are fake. Shatner and Kelley didn’t have that problem since their characters are human.  However, Kelley doesn’t have any real medical knowledge to help if someone gets hurt. Only Shatner is comfortable to still “play Captain Kirk” for an unexpecting audience. 

Shatner's comfortable while the other two are in trouble

                  The three actors choose to confide in Mr. Scott.  Scott arrives armed with a phaser because is convinced the three of them are Klingon spies. They however convince him by reminding the Chief Engineer of the events from “Mirror, Mirror.”  Scott is convinced they are who they say they are, and a little concerned that he is now in command.  He realizes Shatner needs to continue to pretend to be Captain Kirk because the Klingons might want to speak with him.

                The three actors return to the bridge and there they brainstorm with Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu about what the Klingons could want with the planet.  The planet appears worthless however when Nimoy notices there are still tides on a moonless planet.  With an investigation the six of them discover that there is a new cloaking device that is hiding planet’s moon.  Since the Klingons got their cloaking technology from the Romulans they must be in on this as well. 

                Scotty has found away to swap the actors back to their universe with their counterparts.  The three of them wish Scott good-bye and good luck with the mission.  The three strangers pointed the crew of the Enterprise in the right direction but now it was time for the real Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to take over.   Back in the real world, Shatner tries to tell Gene Coon about their adventure but angers McEveety when his action once again ruins the take.

Additional thoughts: Well, that was a fun little story.  Apparently according to the introduction this one is a sort of play on another story from the fanzines that came around in the 1970s, titled “Visit to a Strange Planet.”  In the earlier story it was Kirk, Spock, and McCoy who came to the real world.  I have never read that original story in its entirety.  To be honest I don’t see how that wouldn’t turn into a horror story.  Kirk and crew discovering that they are fiction.  In this story when they explain their origins to Scotty he doesn’t completely understand what they are telling him avoiding that pitfall there.  However, if Captain Kirk showed up in the real world, wouldn’t everyone just assume William Shatner had gone insane?

                I do like how each actor responded differently to the situation. Leonard Nimoy had the hardest time coping.  If someone got too close, they could tell his ears were fake, that he didn’t have Spock’s scientific knowledge nor his Vulcan strength.  Not to mention the fact he has to be “on” all the time and not show any emotion what so ever.  Nimoy is deprived of the escape of the word: “cut!”  At one-point Nimoy has to remove himself from situation in order to prevent himself from laughing.  I love when he tried to check Spock’s viewer at his station and saw nothing since he didn’t know how to turn it on.  Although he did figure out how to work his tricorder with the help of the ship’s computer.  Kelley has the problem of no actual medical knowledge but it doesn’t come up. Shatner is actually at ease and slips into his role of Captain Kirk quite easily including handing a Klingon negotiation.

Klingons

                Speaking of the Klingons I thought it was great when Shatner, while talking with Kor, notices Kor’s assistant looks a little different despite clearly being a Klingon.  He then realizes that the other Klingon looks more like the one from “Friday’s Child” than Kor and his “Errand of Mercy” Klingons.  Fred Phillips, the make-up artist, had errored when he forgot to include the bushy eyebrows and facial hair on his second time doing the Klingons that he had done on the first.  It appears the look of Klingons has always been a problem for Star Trek.

               

Also a Klingon!

The only thing I think I would change is I would have the actors come up with a solution to the Enterprise’s problem by just remembering that they had already read the script and therefore know what the answer is. Then they just come up with an excuse to give it the crew.       

Should it be canon: No, I am sorry I love the story but I think it would be a bad idea for the suspension of disbelief if it were confirmed as a matter of canon that Star Trek wasn’t real.  Having the characters realize they are just characters in a TV show would be a terrible thing going forward. Therefore, I think it should it remain just a fun side story to enjoy.

Cover Art: What I said after the first story: 

“The cover is beautiful.  You have the Enterprise flying in all its glory in the bottom center of the image.  Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid.  Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown starship whose design I don’t recognize.”  

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

THERE ARE A LOT OF SHIPS IN HERE!

 

Episode Title:  The Time Trap

Air Date: 11/24/1973

Written by Joyce Perry

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”, Lieutenant Clayton. Commander Kor, Bell, Gabler, Kaz, and Xerius        George Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu and Commander Kuri              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Devna, Kali, and Megan       Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel          

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, IKS Klothos, two unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruisers, USS Bonaventure NCC-10281, and numerous other unnamed starships.  

Planets: none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise has been sent on a mission to examine an area of space where ships are known to disappear, again.  This time however the place, the Delta Triangle, has made ships disappear a little more often than the once-every-three-decades place.  You think this is the last spot you would want to send a starship if you were Starfleet but considering how well it went last time, where the male members of the crew were almost eaten by beautiful alien succubuses before the women led by Lt. Uhura were able to save them all, Starfleet decided to press their luck and send the Enterprise.   

While there they are attacked by a Klingon ship, the Klothos, under the command of Commander Kor.  Kirk remembers Kor from his pervious encounter with him.  Spock points out that if they are destroyed this was a great place for them to attack as everyone will just assume that the Enterprise was just another ship that vanished.  However, during the battle, it is the Klothos that vanishes.  The crew can’t figure out why but they notice that there are two more Klingon ships.  The other Klingon commander, Kuri, accuses Kirk of having destroyed Kor’s ship, although if they had it would have been self-defense.  Kuri says he will destroy the Enterprise in revenge.  Outgunned Kirk has the Enterprise race to where the Klothos was and then they too disappear.

The Klothos about to vanish!

The crew finds themselves trapped in a pocket universe.  An area of space cut off from the remaining universe.  Inside they find all sorts of old starships including the old USS Bonaventure, famously missing after only its third mission.  (That interestingly enough gives it a better record than the Titanic.)  The Klothos emerges and the two ships are about to resume their battle when they are suddenly stopped and the two commanding officers are transported to the chambers of the Council of Elysia.  Elysia is what the residents of the pocket universe call it.  The council is made of the leadership of the starships trapped here over the centuries, consisting of Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, and 118 others.  Their chairman, a Romulan named Xerius, explained that no fighting will be tolerated and anyone who does will see their ship’s power disabled and crew placed in suspended animation for a century.  When Kor remarks that they would be long gone it is explained that time works differently here and that everyone on the council has been alive for multiple centuries.  Both Kirk and Kor express their desire to leave to which the council tells them they are welcome to try but no one has ever succeeded.

The Klothos tries an escape and fails miserably.  However, their failure gives Mr. Spock and idea. According to his readings if the Klothos and the Enterprise were to combine power, they would be able to break free together.  Kirk contracts the Klingons and they arrange a meeting.  The meeting goes well in some ways a little too well with the Klingons eagerly agreeing to the partnership, which will allow both crews into each other’s engine rooms.  Spock touches one of the Klingons while thanking him, which Kirk finds weird.  Spock tells the Captain that he did so to gain telepathic knowledge of the Klingons intentions and he is sure they are hiding something.

Kirk and Kor before the Council

The Enterprise throws a party for their new friends. The former Orion slave girl, Devna, dances for Captain Kirk.  Kirk tells her although it is nice here it is not home and that is where they need to be getting back to.  The Klingons use this opportunity to plant their bomb that will go off once the Enterprise hits warp 8.  They almost blow the entire thing when one of them picks a fight with Dr. McCoy.  This leads the Elysian Council to order the Klingons to have their ship depowered and placed into suspended animation.  Kirk goes to bat for the Klingons explaining that they need them to escape.  Not wanting to punish Kirk’s crew for one of Kor’s crew’s actions.  They will allow the escape attempt to go through.

The Council 

The Enterprise and the Klothos join together in an escape attempt. At the last minute the telepath Megan realizes the sabotage and warns the Enterprise.  The crew finds the explosive in time and both Kirk’s crew and the Klingons escape from Elysia.  When they leave Kor contacts his high command to take credit for the escape, and Kirk couldn’t care less.   

The Enterprise knows how to put on a party 

Additional thoughts: This was a great episode it starts with the same premise as “The Lorelei Signal,” however the execution and overall story is much better.  This is sort of like a reverse of “The Return of the Archons” and “The Apple.”  With those two episodes it was the second episode that copied the idea of the first but poorly.  In this case it is the second story that works builds a stronger narrative. “The Time Trap” is just a better story for it is a lot more fun.  The Council of Elysia was very reminiscent to the ambassadors in “The Journey to Babel” with all the different species interacting.  All those ships in one place also added to the interesting story.

Spock getting along well with the Klingons

Correct me if I am wrong but I think this is the first time we hear about the Klingons having a cloaking device.  Up until now the Romulans had that but not the Klingons.  It does make sense that if the two are sharing technology that the Klingons might have it now. However, they didn’t in the original series and not even in the book, “Spock Must Die.” So, I think this is the first time.

We found the bomb!

Okay so what is the Bonaventure?  It clearly wasn’t the first ship with warp drive like Scotty said?  Maybe it was the first ship with a warp 6 engine?  Perhaps?  I don’t know that would make sense to me; it would have been nice to have explored it a little more.

The missing Bonaventure

Kirk’s conversation with Devna was interesting when she asked if Orion women had danced for him before.  This put Kirk in an odd position as the lost Orion woman who knew was insane and tried to murder him before she herself was killed by her own crazy boyfriend.  Kirk was polite and didn’t bother poor Devna with those not so nice details.

Her dancing can be quite entertaining.

Once again Kirk gets to encounter Kor with a possibility of matching swords when they're interrupted by a greater power.  Gee, that sounds kind of familiar.  It is like they have been down this road before.  I feel a little bad for Kor he just wants to meet Kirk in battle and powerful strange aliens keep getting in his way.  He did try to take Kirk out.  However, in the end of the day it just wasn’t enough.  Oh well, he can spin his tale to the Klingon High Council. 

Getting out of this hole together if you don't kill us first!

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

ONE SPOCK, TWO SPOCKS, WHICH SPOCK IS THE REAL SPOCK?

 

Name: Spock Must Die!

Author: James Blish

Publication Date: 2/1970

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 118

Historian’s Note: I am assuming sometime after season 3. The latest episode mentioned is “Spretre of the Gun.” Events that take place during the book means it has to take place sometime after “Day of the Dove.”  

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk    Commander Spock and another Commander Spock            Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Yeoman First Class Janice Rand           Admiral Kor         Commander Koloth             Ayelborne       Claymare            Trefayne    

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Fleets of unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruisers and support ships

Planets: Organia and Qo'noS

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The book begins with Captain Kirk walking into a discussion between Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott.  The two senior officers are having an argument about the transporter.  In what I think is probably the first time in what will ultimately become a major Star Trek fan debate: McCoy is wondering if the transporter kills its users and just makes copies of them.  Scotty thinks this is a lot of hogwash and Kirk mostly agrees.

That is when the horrible news came in.  The Enterprise had received word from Starfleet Command that the planet Organia whose powerful non-corporal inhabitants had forced peace between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire, has completely disappeared.  Almost if the Klingons were expecting it, a massive invasion begins with the Klingons scoring many victories against Starfleet.  To make matters worse the Enterprise was flying through disputed space at the time of the attack, and as a result our favorite starship finds itself behind enemy lines.  They brainstorm about what to do and Sulu suggests they use the fact that no one knows where they are to launch some sneak attacks on Klingon depots and supply lines.  This would cause damage that Starfleet on the front line should be able to exploit.  It has the downside of likely getting them killed but that is looking more likely anyhow.

The Federation is under siege 

Instead, the Captain decides to take the starship to where Organia was supposed to be.  Once there they discover that the area of space the planet was supposed to be occupying was covered with a type of shield.  They have no idea what this is and speculate it might be something that the Organians themselves have created.  If they get to close to it, they not only find themselves physically effected but mentally as well. 

They can’t penetrate the shield but Scotty thinks he has a way around it.  He can rig the transporter to create a temporary tachyon duplicate of whoever is in the transporter with all the memories of the original that will be sent to Organia faster than light.  There the duplicate will attempt to make contact with the Organians before returning to the ship and transferring all its knowledge to the original before vanishing.  Since they had been to Organia before, Kirk decides that it has to be him or Spock.  Spock volunteers.

Scotty sets up the main transporter room with the necessary changes. Due to the risk the transporter itself has to be closed up during the operation.  Spock climbs in and they begin the procedure.  However, something goes wrong and when they open up the transporter, they discover that instead of a temporary tachyon duplicate, the transporter created a full-fledged in the flesh duplicate of Mr. Spock.  Both Mr. Spocks however claim that they are the original.  

Kirk must figure out who is the true Spock 

Kirk labels them “Spock One” and “Spock Two.” He sends Spock One to his (their) quarters and has a meeting with Spock Two.  During the conversation Kirk is surprised at Spock Two’s violent thoughts toward his counterpart.  Spock Two is insistent there cannot be two and the duplicate has to be destroyed.  When he talks to Spock One, he finds him to be a little more reasonable and Kirk gives him his class ring so he can tell them apart. 

Kirk decides to have the two Spocks work opposite shifts and the only other crewmembers he lets in on this are Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel.  This however doesn’t work because it appears one of the Spocks commits sabotage that could leave them vulnerable to the Klingons.  This causes Kirk to relive both of them, explain the situation to the crew, and make Mr. Sulu the acting first officer.  (I thought it was odd that it was Sulu and not Scotty, as Scotty was next in the chain of command. However, Scotty was also trying to unwrap the mystery of the two Spocks with the transporter.  So, I assume that Kirk felt that the transporter work would take up too much of Scotty’s time.)

Scotty must find away to put this all back together, so Sulu rises to Kirk's right hand.

Shortly thereafter Spock One barricades himself in one of Dr. McCoy’s labs.  There he demands that the other Spock be destroyed.  While dealing with one Spock locked up, Kirk allows the other to return to limited duty at the science station but does not restore his command authority.  Kirk decides to get closer to Organia but doing so brings the entire crew under a type of mental attack.  After the retreat, Spock One also claims that he has information on Organia but will not share that information until after his demands are met.

Then a fleet of Klingon ships that consists of a K't'inga-class battle cruiser and a five support ships come into attack the Enterprise.  Using his superior tactical mind, Captain Kirk outwits and destroys the Klingon fleet.  They then must speculate to why the Klingons knew they were there.  Did someone tip them off (like one of the Spocks) or were the Klingons responsible for what happened to Organia and had a fleet there to guard it?

Uhura decides to channel her inner geek and sends messages to Starfleet using James Joyce’s fictional language Eurish.  Later in a senior officers meeting Kirk goes over possibilities with his crew and the two Spocks (with Spock One participating by intercom) actually have a rare moment of agreement on the presence of the Klingons.  McCoy announces that he has found a way to tell which Spock is the real Spock.  Scotty had run tests on some animals to see if he could recreate what happened with Spock and each time he did.  McCoy then examined the pairs and noticed that one in each pair died after a few days.  It turns out the dead ones were the duplicates, the process that created them made them mirror images and as such couldn’t process normal food without some accommodation. (McCoy has a very complicated explanation about this but I am not going to rehash it all here.)  Which ever Spock is the fake has been making modifications to his food.  To test they just have to give each Spock unmodified food and see who refuses to eat it.  Spock Two says okay while Spock One runs off. Spock One steals a shuttle craft and somehow equipped it with warp drive. 

McCoy solves the mystery of the Spocks

Scotty becomes convinced that the shield around Organia is artificial in nature and he is confident that he can fix the transporter so they can beam through it.  Taking all the bonus equipment that caused the duplication mess, they can now use it as a transporter again.   As they approach the planet again the same dreed feeling came over the crew, however they ignore it long enough to beam Kirk, the Real Spock, and Scotty down to the surface. 

Once they materialize on the surface Kirk and Scotty are instantly helpless as their nightmares come to life and paralyze them with fear.  To be fair, they probably should have expected that.  Kirk comes to and seems to be in ruins of the town he visited last time he was at the planet. He seems to have found Spock but it’s the wrong one.

Only one Spock is true Spock!

We get a showdown between the Spocks, and while I had almost no idea what was going on and neither apparently did Captain Kirk.  What the two Spocks seemed to do was to fight with the illusions however it was never clear to me.  The true Spock wins and the fake Spock perishes.  They meet up with Council of Elders of Organia.  Spock and Scotty work together to get the shield off of Organia.  Then the three officers are magically sent home to the bridge of the Enterprise.  Which is just in the nick of time too.  Up to this point Mr. Sulu was leading a ship that was being chased by a Klingon fleet commanded by Koloth, and although he was giving the Klingons a good chase it was inevitable that they were going to be destroyed. However now that the Organians were out of their cage the Klingons were in a lot of trouble.    The Organians punish the Klingons by taking away their space flight capabilities for a thousand years.

Kor and company are in for a shock!

The book ends with Spock explaining to his crewmates that he and his duplicate had a semi-telepathic connection.  That connection allowed him to sense that nature of his thoughts and Spock discover that his duplicate has no loyalty to the ship and crew and might even do them harm.  Spock stated that he could not explain it however while the connection was enforced.  The book ends with Mr. Spock answering McCoy’s original question about transporter death and soul transfer as irrelevant sense there is no way to test it.

Additional thoughts: This book was published one year after the series came to an end.  In his introduction Blish is clearly outraged at Star Trek’s cancelation and infuriated with studio executives who caused it.  He makes a prediction that this would not be the end and Star Trek would return.  Unfortunately, save for the cartoon, Blish would not live to see Star Trek begin its golden age staring with the first film in 1979.  Blish got the idea for this novel in the middle of his write ups for the original series episodes that were released in a series of books.   

I am quite certain that this is the first written account of Star Trek’s great transporter debate.  Does the transporter kill us and then just create a copy of us? What would be the religious implications if this were true?  The book gives a conclusive if unsatisfactory answer, that “a difference with no distinction is no difference.”  The strangest part of this episode, and one I didn’t care for, is they were actually trying to make a sort of transporter duplicate to begin with, just one made of energy tachyons and not regular flesh—if I am understanding it correctly, this made me feel really weird.  After all, why were they surprised when they ended up with an actual duplicate in the flesh?  The ethics of making a copy of one of your crew to perform a function temporarily then die when it is over is at least as worthy for some debate as the general transporter discussion. 

I think the book was very misnamed.  “Spock Must Die” is a very misleading title considering that Spock doesn’t need to die.  I suppose Blish could have called it “A Spock Must Die.” I am told the reason for the title was to drive up readers.  Still, I think my title for the review is better. 

Some ladies like the pointed ears!

There was one really weird part in this book and it had to do with an internal thought Kirk had.  Now I one of the things I like about the books is you can really get into the heads of the characters more so than the log entries that the define the series and franchise.  Granted you are often limited to the POV characters which in this book is primarily Captain Kirk with the occasional switch to Mr. Sulu when he is left in charge of the ship, and some surprise appearances by Kor and Koloth give them some short POV time.  However, this thought was so bizarre it made me stop reading for a minute.  While bringing Rand and Chapel into the know about the two Spocks, Kirk starts wondering what makes Spock so attractive to so many women.  It is not that Kirk lacks attention from the female sex it is just Spock doesn’t seem to have to work at it.  He then concludes in his brain that Rand and Chapel think Spock is hot because of unconscious racism that makes it a social faux pas to express natural sexual attraction for an “other” can be excused because he is white.  This sounds more like Blish’s own thoughts about why Spock was popular with female fans and ridiculous thought for Kirk to possess.  To his credit Blish has McCoy call out this view as stupid when Kirk shared it with him.  However, it is still a pointless to have Kirk have this thought at all.

I really enjoyed Uhura being such a queen nerd that she was able use such geekdom to full the Klingons with her knowledge of Eurish.  In addition to her engineering and music skills our favorite communication officer has no seemingly end to her talent. 

Lt. Uhura getting things done!

One of the things I enjoyed about the book is the reference to their pervious on the original series and some other off-air adventures as well.  A good example is when Koloth is shown to want revenge not just for “The Trouble with Tribbles” but also from a previous unaired conflict between them.  

“He had encountered—and been defeated by—James Kirk and his command on two previous occasions: the affair of the Xixobrax Jewelworm, and the dispute over the colonization of Sherman’s Planet.” (pg. 106)

 What strikes me as strange is during the entire book at no point is there a mention of the episode “The Enemy Within.”  Shouldn’t that have been the first past adventure mentioned after seeing two Spocks?  

“It looks like Spock has been made into two!  Remember when that happened to me?  Can you tell me which one of you is the evil one?”

  

Now it turns out there was an evil one but not for the same reason.  In fact, one would assume if Spock were split via a transporter he would turn into a full human and a full Vulcan instead of just good/evil.  Still, the previous “character turn in two” story should have been referenced.

It was good to see some of the classic Klingons such as Kor and Koloth get some time in the book even if it was just to see their reactions to getting their butts kicked by the Organians.  I have to wonder where was Kang?  I think Blish was writing this during the time of the third season and perhaps Kang didn’t exist as a character yet.   

Should it be canon: Okay so here is the big question since the books’ canon status has always been strange.  Should this book be canon?  As much as like the story there is a major problem with it fitting.  That of course in the end of the book where the Organians shut the Klingon Empire seemingly for good.  Now I am going to break one of my rules here and discuss the Star Trek franchise beyond when this work came out.  Obviously in order for this book to fit with the rest of the franchise this problem would have be addressed, for the Klingons will play a large role in all of the Star Trek incarnations going forward.  You would have to have a follow up story to explain how the Klingons got out from underneath the Organians thumb.  Maybe the Organians realized that restraining the Klingons so harshly would mean bad things for the galaxy long-term so they let them out within a year?  Or the Klingons could do something heroic and worthy to earn their way out.  Either way it would need to be addressed so right now my answer is no. Also remove the part about Kirk speculating about why women find Spock attractive.

Cover Art: There have been multiple covers in each printing but I am only commenting on my copy which is the original.  The cover is simple and shows Spock with a mirror image of himself.  The heads of the two are touching.  Their hands seem to pass through one another as if the other isn’t real.  Also, the rank insignia on the Spocks is wrong.  The uniform looks like a mix of his classic and the one from “The Cage.”  The later editions’ covers are nicer.   

Final Grade: 3 of 5