CAPTAIN KIRK MEETS HIS OWN “CAPTAIN KIRK” AND IS VERY DISAPPOINTED

 

Episode Title:  Whom Gods Destroy

Air Date: 1/3/1969

Written by Lee Erwin and Jerry Sohl

Directed by Herb Wallerstein

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     Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman         Steve Ihnat as Fleet Captain Garth          Yvonne Craig as Marta        Keye Luke as Governor Cory        Dick Geary as unnamed Andorian        Gary Downey as unnamed Tellarite

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Elba II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise sets into orbit around Elba II, a rather inhospitable planet whose atmosphere could kill a humanoid in a short time, but one with an elaborate facility dedicated to treating the mentally insane.  The good news is Federation scientists have pulled together a new medicine that we are told will cure mental illness for all time.  You think this would be one of Dr. McCoy’s away missions but he is left on the ship as Kirk and Spock go at it alone.  

Hoping to aid these suffering people!

As the Captain and the First Officer beam down, they are greeted by Governor Cory who administers the planet.  That isn’t as impressive as it might sound because as already stated the medical facility is only thing on the planet.  While dropping off the medicine, the Governor tells them that they have a new patient, Fleet Captain Garth of Izar.  To Captain Kirk this as exciting as a Star Trek fan finding out that William Shatner has entered the building.  This man is Kirk’s personal hero and despite his condition the Captain would apricated the opportunity to stare at him even if it is awkward.  Cory allows this and they leave to see the once great Fleet Captain.

This is not the way Kirk imagined this meeting going!

Before they see Garth, they come across Batgirl, who is now green.   I have to pause for a moment just to appreciate the third Batman cross over in a row.  First Catwoman, then the Riddler, and now Batgirl.  Where is Adam West and Burt Ward?  Will they be here next week?  Batgirl, who is named Marta, claims Cory isn’t who he says he is.  However, they ignore her because she is crazy.  That turns out to be a mistake because when they reach Garth’s cell, they find another Cory in there.  Turns out Garth now has shape shifting powers and with pull of a switch, Kirk and Spock see that the lunatics are in charge of the asylum and they are now prisoners with the Governor.

Kirk learns from the Governor that Garth was injured on a mission to Antos IV.  The Antonians helped Garth heal himself by teaching him how to take control of his own atomic structure.  He used the ability to rebuild himself and gained the power to assume other people’s form temporally.  Unfortunately for everyone concerned it also made him insane.  His crew prevented him from destroying Antos IV by reliving him of command and imprisoning him.  Now in this asylum he managed to use his powers to take control.  In addition, Cory says that Garth has invented an explosive that can wreck the atmosphere of a planet.  

Garth takes the form of Captain Kirk with intent of taking over the Enterprise. Garth runs into a problem when trying to beam aboard.  Scotty says a chess move to him “Queen to Queen’s Level 3.” He repeats it when Kirk/Garth gets annoyed.  You see Garth is unlucky because Captain Kirk had been to a Federation Mental Institution before and was taken hostage.  On top of that he also has had copies of himself try to take command of his ship before.  So going to one these places Kirk gave Scotty a pass word for them to use in order to prevent something like what happened before.  (The hilarious part here is although this plan did successfully prevent Garth from boarding the Enterprise, it wouldn’t have stopped either of the pervious encounters.)

Kirk and Spock as Garth's "guests"

Garth has Kirk and Spock dine with him.  At their dinner they are all entertained by the beautiful Marta in all green Batgirl glory with both with dance and poetry.  There is an entertaining scene where Marta plagiarizes Shakespeare and gets called out by Garth.  The two of them have a serious Joker/Harley Quinn thing going on.  The entire time Garth is trying to get Kirk to give him the password while Kirk tries to appeal to the man Garth use to be by reminding him of the brotherhood of Starfleet officers using himself and Spock as an example.  Garth is amused but unmoved.

Back on the ship Scotty is still trying to figure out with Dr. McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura exactly what is going on.  They think the Captain maybe in trouble but they wonder why he just didn’t come out and say he was in trouble. They want to help but the facility is protected by a shield and they are afraid that if the use the Enterprise’s power against it they will destroy the outpost and everyone inside of it. Which doesn’t make any sense!  I mean if you can shift the ship’s phasers to stun to stop some gangsters then you certainly can adjust them to not kill everyone on the planet.

The Passion of Dr. Cory

Since entertainment did not win Kirk over, Garth tries a new method.  He has Governor Cory brought out and begins to misuse a treatment chair as a torture device.  This makes Kirk sad but doesn’t break him.  After all, if Spock and McCoy being threatened by duplicate Earth Romans doesn’t sway Kirk, he clearly won’t be swayed by torturing a stranger.  Garth then tries to torture Kirk directly, however this is not even the worst torture Kirk has ever had so it fails. 

Kirk's thinks "I have been in a chair like this before."

After Kirk’s torture session he awakens in a room with Marta the green Batgirl taking care of him.  She confesses her love for him and how she couldn’t allow him to suffer.  Then she tries to murder him.  She needs to kill him because she loves or so she tells Spock who comes to the rescue.  Spock and Kirk sneak into the station control room.  When they contact Scotty he asks “Queen to Queen’s level three,” Kirk orders Spock to give the pass code.  He can’t because he is not Spock.  Reverting to his Garth form he lets Kirk know that the phaser “Spock” gave him will not fire.  Now that Kirk is again his prisoner, Garth thinks a coronation will allow Kirk to recognize his legitimacy.

The Dancing Green Batgirl

Garth decides to create his own coronation ceremony.  Garth’s fellow patients, who are now his minions, take a chair and put higher level in the room so it becomes a throne.  Garth has a silly crown made up to wear on his head.  He crowns himself “Lord Garth, Master of the Universe.” He takes Marta as his consort and offers Kirk the role of his heir apparent.  Kirk still isn’t moved by this silly show.

The "coronation" of Lord Garth

To up the ante Garth decides to sacrifice Marta his consort.  He has his men through her out into the environment which alone is fatal.  However, Garth won’t allow his “consort” to suffer so he kills using his explosive material.  As soon as the explosion happens the Enterprise picks it up with their sensors.  At this moment Scotty realizes that he can fire the ship’s phasers at the station in a way that won’t hurt anyone.

You know Garth is crazy because he thinks this looks cool!

Realizing that he needs Kirk to break and the only way he can do that would be to threaten Spock. (Again, Garth wasn’t on the Roman planet so he doesn’t realize that plan won’t work.) Spock feigns unconsciousness and when he is being carried, he pulls a double nerve pinch on his attackers. Garth notices Spock has gotten the upper hand so he takes the form of Kirk.  Ironically this isn’t the first time that Spock has seen two Kirks in the same room before. This time he is sure one of them is fake, but after some false starts Spock just decides to wait for Garth to be forced to change back.  With that he tries to take a seat but one of the Kirks attacks him.  The two Kirks fight until one of them yells at Spock to stun them both.  Spock knows he is the true Kirk and stuns the other.  The real Kirk then calls the Enterprise for reinforcements and more of the medicine they were supposed to deliver from the start. When Scotty says “Queen to Queen’s Level Three” Kirk responds with “Queen to King’s Level One.” 

Later we see a recovered Dr. Cory treating Fleet Captain Garth, and as Kirk speaks with him it becomes clear that both Garth and the others are on their road to recovery. 

Additional thoughts: I don’t believe in the phrase “never meet your heroes” but if you do, please remember that they are human.  Kirk gets to meet his hero and finds himself playing the Batman role to his Joker.  I need to knock off the Batman references and I will when I stop seeing so many Batman actors.

The death of a Batgirl

The only thing I don’t like about this episode was the explosive that Garth had apparently invented.  I think it would have been better to leave that story element out.  It ended up being a Chekov’s Gun that never quite fired. I mean it did but it was quite underwhelming, it only killed one person who was already going to die.  It didn’t seem that impressive of an explosion without the Enterprise bridge crew saying it was.  

This is like the third time Kirk has had to fight himself. 

If anything, I think this is episode is a great example about how low-level threats can make episodes just as exciting as galaxy-ending threats.  Garth is hopelessly insane and very fun to watch.  You are never quite sure what he is going to do.  He can’t seem to keep a thought straight for more than a few minutes and becomes beyond enraged at stupid things. You feel that Kirk and Spock are endanger because he could randomly go off and kill either one of them.   Yet he can’t go beyond the asylum, even if boarded the Enterprise is Kirk’s form it would only be a short while before he discovered and overthrown.  That was exactly what happened on his own ship.  As soon as his insanity was made apparent his own crew got rid of him.

So, when was Garth’s time with Starfleet exactly?   Kirk said that Garth’s strategies were required reading at the Academy.  This would mean that Garth had been a famous starship captain for at least fifteen years.  However, it appears he remained a captain rather than moving on to command a Starbase as a commodore or admiral.  Although he has reached the rank of fleet captain.  (They should really get around to explaining what it is a fleet captain does.) The way his fall is discussed makes one conclude that this happened recently.  So, Captain Garth has been a starship captain for decades at this point, achieved fame, and Kirk who idolizes Garth while being a starship captain himself has never been able to meet him. 

Why is it so often that when Kirk meets a captain or former captain, they are messed up in the head?  Now to be fair I do want to give some praise here; Garth is the first former captain not to fall into the whole “my crew has died I can’t deal with it” trap.  His insanity is instead caused by an accident to him personally and nothing to do with his crew.  He may have lost his mind but his reputation as a commanding officer is still clearly intact.

Getting Better

One of my favorite moments of the episode had almost nothing to do with the plot.  When faced with the two Kirks Spock asks them what maneuver they used to trick the Romulan vessel near Tau Ceti.  One of the Kirks answers correctly “the Cochrane Deceleration Maneuver!” The other points out that maneuver is standard and any starship captain would know it.  What is so great about this scene is how it expands the Star Trek universe.  What they are referring to took place in neither "The Balance of Terror," "The Deadly Years," nor "The Enterprise Incident."  So, Spock is talking about an untold tale of a battle between the Enterprise and a Romulan vessel.  This means the five-year mission that the crew goes on is far richer than we are seeing.  These gaps of time are where many great Star Trek novels are featured.   

The only other complaint I had about this episode was the B-plot of Scotty and McCoy on the Enterprise added nothing to the overall story, except to remind us that they do have a ship. Other than that, this was a great episode.

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5

THE RACISM EPISODE

 

Episode Title:  Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Air Date: 1/10/1969

Written by Oliver Crawford and Gene L. Coon

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     Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov             Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman         Frank Gorshin as Commissioner Bele          Lou Antonio as Lokai      

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, da Vinci SB4-0314/2, invisible Cheronian ship

Planets:  Cheron, Ariannus

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is heading the planet Ariannus that has had a horrible accident and needs the resources of a Starfleet starship to decontaminate their planet.  However, while they are on their way the sensors pick up a Starfleet shuttlecraft.  Its markings show it to be the stolen shuttlecraft from Starbase 4.  They also show the occupant to be injured and almost dying.  The crew performs a recapture/rescue operation and brings the shuttlecraft aboard.

In sickbay Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are all taken a bit aback by the stranger’s complexion.  He is half-white and half-black down the middle.  They did not think such a look was possible and concluded it was a genetic mutation and he must be one of kind.  Why they think is beyond me.  I mean they run into duplicate Earths all the time.  Strangely colored people are somehow outside the realm of possibly.

"Have you ever seen something so strange?"  "Yes, this doesn't make the top ten!"

When the man wakes up, he identifies himself as Lokai.  He claims he didn’t steal the shuttlecraft but instead he just borrowed it.  He has the right, according to him, because he needed it.  Kirk is not impressed with that logic.  We later learn that he is a member of an oppressed people, he probably should have started with that as Starfleet would be more understanding.  Since he had hung around long enough to steal a shuttlecraft, he should have figured that out.  Kirk lets him know they will be returning him to Starbase 4 where he stole the shuttlecraft from.

Lokai

 Kirk is called to the bridge and according to Chekov there is a ship that is pursing the Enterprise.  The ship that is trailing them is on a collision course.  It is also apparently invisible.  Kirk wonders if it could be a Romulan ship as the audience wonders if the season 3 budget means they will never see an alien ship again.  The invisible ship seems determined to catch the Enterprise, but then it suddenly disintegrates.

It seems the threat is over but then they see a man has appeared on the bridge.  It is the Riddler, just last week the crew had to deal with Catwoman, now the Riddler has shown up to menace them. It appears Lokai is not so unique because the Riddler is also half white/half black.  The Riddler identifies himself as Bele.  He is a commissioner of Cheron charged with seeking out traitors.  He blames his tactics on the necessity of capturing such a dangerous criminal.  

The Rid--I mean Bele!

Bele is permitted to see the prisoner and soon as he does, he and Lokai start yelling accusations of each other.  Lokai accuses Bele’s people of enslaving his, that even when the slavery ended Lokai’s people were given “rights” but made into second-class citizens.  Bele doesn’t really deny this but tries to put a different spin on it.  He also counter accuses Bele of terrorism and says he kills people.  He demands he be turned over.  Kirk reminds them that Lokai is his prisoner for stealing a shuttlecraft, and Federation has no extradition treaties with Cheron.  So, they are to resume the ship’s original mission to help the colony of Ariannus.  After that they are going back to Starbase 4 where Lokai will be arrested and will be allowed to plead his case, and Bele can try to negotiate with the Federation in his attempts to have Lokai returned to Cheron. 

Clearly not friends!

Using his natural inborn abilities Bele manages to take control of the Enterprise’s navigation system and helm control.  He sends the ship on a straight course to Cheron.  It turns out Cheronians are immune to phaser fire with self-generating shields.  Kirk demands he restore control to him.  When Bele predictably refuses, Kirk says that he will destroy the ship before he lets Bele have it.  With that Kirk with Spock and Scotty set up the self-destruct system on the Enterprise.  As the self-destruct device counts down Bele surrenders and control returns to Captain Kirk.  Kirk ends the self-destruct program.  Bele tries to get Kirk to at least consider going to Cheron but Kirk refuses saying he will have to take it up with those on Starbase 4. 

While the Enterprise preforms disaster relief on the colony of Ariannus, both Cheronians begin a propaganda campaign aboard the ship.  Lokai goes around speaking with the crew telling the about the discrimination his people suffer on Cheron for simply having a different appearance.  To the crew this reminds them of Earth history.  As his opponent converses with the crew Bele tries to convince Kirk and Spock of his case.  Kirk promises Bele he can take his case to the Federation but no promises after that.  It is during their conversation that Bele revels something about himself that he probably should have keep secret.  That his hatred of Lokai is fueled by racism.  He mentions that his people are superior and when Kirk and Spock state they can see no difference Bele becomes enraged. He points out that their colors appear on the opposite sides. 

Lokai talking to the crew!

With the situation on Ariannus taken care of Kirk prepares his ship to head to Starbase 4. However, Bele has once again uses his powers to take control of the ship and he has also deactivated the self-destruct device.  The Enterprise is then forced to go on this journey.  When they get to Cheron both Bele and Lokai are horrified to discover that racial hatred had engulfed their civilization to such a degree that their people had successfully wiped out all intelligent life on their planet.  Their civilization is gone and all their people are dead.  Bele blames Lokai and attacks him.  Bele chases him all around the ship, and Kirk orders his men not to interfere for they have nowhere to go.  The two mortal enemies beam down to their planet to continue their final battle.  The Enterprise files away.

All that is left of Cheron!

Additional thoughts: January 10, 1969 the Civil Rights Act has not even had its fifth birthday.  There were also a lot of people openly hostile to it and wished they hadn’t lost this culture war.  Still their rage powered politicians such as Jesse Helms and J. Strom Thurmond for decades and still powers right-wing politicians today.  From the point of view of the late 1960s these individuals were still going to be a political force for years to come. 

Then Star Trek aired this episode.  In the episode a scene contained this bit of dialogue:

Bele: "It is obvious to the most simple-minded that Lokai is of an inferior breed."

Spock: "The obvious visual evidence, Commissioner, is that he is of the same breed as yourself."

Bele: "Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well, look at me! Look at me!"

Kirk: "You're black on one side and white on the other."

Bele: "I am black on the right side."

Kirk: "I fail to see the significant difference."

Bele: "Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side."

              The message is striking and bold.  It is telling every single George Wallace-loving segregationist, every single white supremacist whether they wear white hoods or not that their views are not only morally wrong they are in fact intellectually stupid.  You’re a stoned moron if you have these beliefs. An utter fool whose opinions on this subject, and frankly any subject, is not worthy of consideration.  There may have been a time where intelligent people had your views but there was once a time where intelligent people thought the world was flat.  Every time you utter your stupid racist opinions you look just like this guy.  And he is a guy that you don’t want to be.

Not the smartest person in the universe!

With that said there are some definite holes in the plot that kind of undermine the message.  When we first meet Lokai he has stolen a shuttlecraft, when we meet Bele he accuses Lokai of murdering thousands.  However, it becomes very apparent that Lokai is a part of an oppressed people and it is Bele’s group that are the oppressors.  The flaw is the timeline or timelines we are given.

In one version Lokai’s people were enslaved thousands of years ago.  One thousand years ago exactly they were granted or won their freedom, but have been forced to live as second-class citizens in their society.  Lokai’s position is sympathetic except he is an alleged terrorist who has been accused of killing thousands of people.  We can sympathize with someone from an oppressed group living under systematic racism.  However, we would not condone said individual murdering people. (In reality, Americans tend to freak out even if the only thing they see Black person doing is taking a knee at a football game.) 

However, they also say that Bele has been chasing Lokai for over 50,000 years.  If these men are so long lived and they only abolished slavery 1,000 years ago, then Lokai is not a person whose ancestors had horrific crimes committed against them and is now living in a world of systematic oppression.  He is the direct victim to forced kidnapping, slavery, and forced cultural assimilation.  In which he would have every right to use any means necessary to resist Bele and his people.  So, what was supposed to be introduced as a type of dilemma is not much of a dilemma at all.  

Where your hatred got you!

Kirk has seemed to have grown as a character.  If this had been an earlier episode Kirk might have wanted to fly to straight Cheron so he could ignore the Prime Directive and try to single-handedly, with help from Spock and McCoy, fix their society in sixty minutes with commercials.  Yet this Kirk seems to have his priority’s straight he needs to help the colony on Ariannus, Bele and Lokai can wait.  If he had been like this all along Mr. Spock might have avoided at lot of trouble in "The Gallio Seven."

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5

WHICH OR WITCH?

 

Episode Title:  That Which Survives

Air Date: 1/24/1969

Written by John Meredyth Lucas and Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by Herb Wallerstein

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          Booker Bradshaw as Dr. Joseph M'Benga         Arthur Batanides as Lieutenant  D'Amato            Naomi Newman as Lieutenant Rahda              Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent        Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Brad Forrest as unnamed Ensign                  Kenneth Washington as Crewman Watkins              Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Lee Meriwether as Losira         

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Kalandans’ artificial planet

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise comes across a planet that doesn’t make a lick of sense. It is rather small but its gravity is like Earth and it even has an Earth-like atmosphere. Given the apparent age of the planet that shouldn’t even be possible.  Kirk forms a landing party of himself, Dr. McCoy, Lt Sulu, and a science officer D’Amato. 

When you suddenly regret transporting but you are mid-beam!

As the party begins to transport down a woman, who may just be a catwoman, suddenly appears before them and asks them not to go.  However, she is too late because the transporting process has already begun.  In response she grabs the transporter operator and he collapses.  As the landing party materializes on the surface the planet a massive earthquake begins knocking all four men over.  The quake is so intense it even rocks the Enterprise in orbit.  Soon the ship is hurled a thousand light-years in space.

The landing party immediately tries to make sense out of their chaotic situation.  Sulu checks his tricorder and comes to conclusion that the Enterprise may have been destroyed.  This conclusion draws a very negative reaction from Kirk towards Sulu.  Kirk insists that Sulu can’t possibly be right and insists that it is almost unprofessional of him to make such a conclusion.   Even through Kirk turns out to be right I think he should still give Sulu and apology.  After all it is Sulu’s job to help come up with possible explanations even ones you might not want to hear. However, it is still a great character moment for Kirk showing how much he loves his ship.  Kirk correctly surmises that the ship is still together but out of range.  So, their immediate response is to go into survival mode. Unfortunately for them there doesn’t appear to be anything on this planet that they can eat or drink.

survival maybe a bit of a problem

When the Enterprise is finally stabilized it takes a while for the crew, except Spock, to accept the reality of what has just happened to them.  The find the transporter operator dead, according to Dr. M'Benga, Dr. Sanchez’s performed an autopsy and discovered that every cell in his body had been disrupted.  Spock keeping his cool leads the Enterprise back in the direction of the strange planet that just threw them so far away.  Scotty promises to try to give the ship a little extra juice.

Trying to figure out where they are!

 The bad news continues for the landing party.  Every attempt to find any food or water is coming up short.  They do notice some strange magnetism and a life form that appears and disappears on the tricorder. D’Amato is looking for anything that could help them when he is confronted by the woman who had appeared to them earlier.  She says she needs to touch him.  She kills him and when his body is discovered, McCoy finds the same thing his staff found with the dead Ensign: that every cell has been disrupted. Kirk tries to bury the dead Lieutenant but his phaser won’t cut through the planet’s surface.  It is at this point that Kirk begins to speculate that the planet might be artificial in nature.

Not the away mission he expected.

Scotty contacts Spock to share with him a concern.  He tells the First Officer that the ship “feels wrong.” Now to one such as Mr. Spock this is the stupidest thing you could say to him. When Scotty can’t explain what he means by it, Spock serves him a tongue-lashing to which he makes clear to the Chief Engineer that he should not wasting the ship’s time with such ridiculous notions. 

What to do?

Back on the planet the woman returns this time targeting Mr. Sulu.  Sulu tires to fight her off using his phaser but that doesn’t do any good.  Eventually he retreats and she follows.  She manages to graze Sulu on the shoulder causing immense pain.  Kirk and McCoy arrive and put themselves in between her and Sulu.  She touches Captain Kirk and discovers that she cannot harm him.  She claims to be for Sulu but with the two other men blocking access she teleports away.  McCoy tends to Sulu’s shoulder and claims that if she had him for any longer, he would be dead. 

Despite Spock’s annoyance, Scotty decides to have his feelings checked out and sends one of his engineers on an errand.  His man is tasked with checking some of the systems in person instead of relying on the computer to tell them something is wrong.  However, the mysterious woman appears and touches the poor engineer.  One redshirt down and he never left the ship.

Despite appearances this is not a good day at work!

Kirk concludes that woman can only harm the one she is designed for, and since she can’t keep that a secret, they can use that to their advantage.  When she reappears, she calls for Kirk so the other two men protect him.  She seems frustrated but also something else is the matter. Kirk concludes that it might be guilt and calls her out on it.  She retreats by teleporting away.

Sulu trying to defend himself

Scotty discovers his dead man and calls up to the bridge with even worse news.  They have been sabotaged.  The emergency overload bypass of the matter-antimatter integrator has been fused although that shouldn’t be physically possible.  Scotty will try to repair it manually but they only have fifteen minutes to the ship is destroyed. 

While the Chief Engineer is only inches away from death Spock, remembering Scotty saying the ship “felt wrong,” runs an analyst through the computer comparing the Enterprise to her ideal condition. He finds that the ship had been sent a thousand light-years away via a giant transporter device.  This isn’t something the ship is used to doing and was materialized out of sync.  With this information it is discovered that Scotty just needs to reverse the polarity in order to save them.  He does and the Enterprise is safe. 

On the planet the three Starfleet officers find what appears to be the control center of the artificial planet.  However, the lady re-appears, they are primed however to act as soon as they find out who she is after.  To their surprise two more duplicate ladies show up, each looking for a different man.  It looks like they’re in trouble but the artificial women are still hesitating.  Kirk realizes he is getting through to them and it is only a matter of time before he talks them all into suicide.  It turns out he doesn’t have to because Spock and a security team beam down, and Kirk just has Spock destroy the operating computers with phasers.

Now you're in trouble!

With the treat neutralized they get a visual on the view screen.  It turns out the machine created its defender in the image of a woman Losira.  It turns out a species named the Kalandans created the planet.  However, while they were building it, they also accidentally created a disease that the population of the colony. Oops!  Losira had created the defense mechanism so none but their kind would grace this planet that killed all of its makers.  Losira is the last survivor and she died before any help got there.  The weird part is the computer revealed that eventually her people did come, got infected by the same illness, and went home to spread it to everyone there.  Kalandans are now all extinct.   Losira and her fellow scientists were the worst thing that ever happened to their people.  Nevertheless, Kirk finds her to have been a remarkable woman.  I think Kirk needs to raise his standards somewhat.

Additional thoughts: When I was a kid watching this episode, I use to get the title confused. I use to think it was called “That Witch Survives.”  This sounded the same but of course has a different meaning.  You had a woman who appeared and disappeared seemingly at will, who had the touch of death, and could make the Enterprise disappear from one place in the galaxy and appear in another.

This was also a great episode for the crew.  I generally love episodes that focus on the CREW of the Enterprise acting together as a team to save the day.  Don’t get me wrong I love Captain Kirk, he is one of my most important heroes but he doesn’t need to be shown doing everything he just needs to be the leader.  In this episode has Spock, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, and Uhura all doing their part. 

Even better while Star Trek shows can often turn into the “senior officers show” it is always nice to see those who work for their departments to have a chance to shine.  We have Lt. Rahda filling in for Sulu as he leaves with the landing party.  She has some great dialogue with Spock.  We see engineers other than Mr. Scott assigned to tasks to help the ship.  We here from doctors from sickbay who are not named McCoy.   The number two medical officer, Dr. M'Benga gives Spock and update on Dr. Sanchez’s work on the autopsy.

It is good to see the crew even the non-stars play an active role.

Is it just me or does Mr. Spock seem extra “Spockish” in this episode?  It is like he decided to turn up his normal Vulcan stoicism to the nth degree today.  It was kind of like how we saw him much earlier in his career such as “The Corbomite Maneuver.”  The super logical Vulcan who often finds himself super annoyed with these irrational Earth-lings and all their illogic.  The way he snaps at Scotty is a good example.  He did seem really fond of the back-up helmsman, Lt. Rahda, as she gave him some cold logic back.

Putting on the full Spock treatment!

I like when Sulu was speculating about what type of lifeforms, they may be facing he brings up the Horta from “The Devil in the Dark.”  I love it when they dive into their own history at times when it makes the most sense.  I realize that the series is mostly episodic but I see no reason why they shouldn’t often reference their past adventures when it makes sense to do so.

Scotty once again shows of his fine engineering skills and saves the ship at the extreme risk of his own life.  Spock may have come up with the plan but it was Scotty who carried it through.  They saved the day by choosing to “reverse the polarity”!  What a great move!  I wonder if that will come up again.

Reverse the polarity! I wonder if this will be a thing?

Once this lady was revealed to be an artificial intelligence it was over for her.  Kirk was already thinking for how to convince her to destroy herself.  However, we didn’t have to sit through it because Spock showed up in time it to use a phaser on it quick.  Thank you, Mr. Spock.  

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

AS FAST AS THE FLASH!

Episode Title:  Wink of an Eye

Air Date: 11/29/1968

Written by Arthur Heinemann and Gene L. Coon

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     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   David L. Ross as Lieutenant Johnson         Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Geoffrey Binney as     Crewman Compton              Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Dick Geary as unnamed Security Guard         Eddie Hice as unnamed Security Guard        Dick Geary as unnamed Security Guard/ Scalosian          Jay D. Jones as unnamed Engineer            Kathie Browne as Deela      Jason Evers as Rael          Erik Holland as Ekor          

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Scalos

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with Scotty, not Kirk, making the opening entry into the ship’s log.  We are told that the Enterprise received a distress call from the planet Scalos.  The ship has arrived and a landing party is sent down but there doesn’t seem to be anybody on the entire planet.  In fact, the tricorders and ship’s sensors seem to indicate that there are no life signs on the planet at all.  However, Kirk notices annoying buzzing noise that insects typically make.  Some of the structures seem recently occupied while others haven’t been in centuries.  As they are getting ready to go Crewman Compton disappears in front of McCoy’s eyes.

Well that is the fastest red-shirt to get lost on a landing party!

The remaining landing party returns to the Enterprise and that is when a number of malfunctions on the ship seem to crop up all at once.  The ship’s medical supplies have been tampered with, and a strange device was found connected to the Enterprise’s environmental controls.  The device is protected by a force field that selectively allowed Kirk and Spock to view the device but no one else.  Kirk keeps hearing that strange insect sound.

Only Kirk and Spock are allowed to pass!

Spock feeds the information to the ship’s computer and it comes the conclusion that the ship has been invaded, there is nothing they can to stop this adversary, and they need to negotiate a surrender. Kirk isn’t willing to do that instead he just thinks they should wait for their opponents to make the next move and hope they make a mistake that the crew can take advantage of.

Their next move comes sooner than expected.  At that moment a yeoman was handing out coffee to the bridge crew something happens to Kirk’s cup.  As he drinks, he begins to notice that everyone is slowing down around him to the point everyone seems frozen.  Kirk then comes face to face with Deela, the Queen of the Scalosians.  She informs him that he has been pulled into flash time (Okay, she doesn’t use that word.  She uses the word “accelerated.” However, we all know what is going on and Kirk is clearly in Flash time.)  Kirk tries to stun her with a phaser to which she just steps out of the way. 

Like the very first Star Trek adventure Deela explains that her motive is reproductive.  Scalosians are dying out due to industrial damage to their planet.  The men all became sterile so now they have to reproduce with any passing aliens.  So how aliens match with Scalosian women better than their own men is never really explained but okay.  Deela wants Kirk to be her baby daddy.  They have been doing this for generations to the point they can even predict what will happen to the men who they turn.  First, they resist, then they accept, then they mate, and then they die because someone scratches them. 

Kirk not happy to have been changed.

Kirk learns about this die-by-scratching when he runs into Crewman Compton whose earlier disappearance was also caused by acceleration to flash time.  Compton is now all about helping the Scalosians.  However, when Kirk is confronted by the one who is a total jerk, a man named Rael, and is attacked, Compton comes to his defense.  Compton is scratched in the fight.  He quickly ages and dies. Kirk is then warned that unless he wants to be prematurely age again and be killed, he better toe the line as they ask him to.

Scalosians happy to be invincible 

Kirk however continues to try to contact his crew.  The Scalosians don’t even try to stop him.  Deela finds his attempts amusing particularly when he tries to record himself for his crew.  It appears as if Kirk has lost and he gives in to Deela, to the continued annoyance of Rael.  However, Deela underestimates our Mr. Spock.  In trying to determine the origin of the buzzing insect like sound, he discovers that it is sound sped up.  Then when McCoy finds a tape in the computer that wasn’t supposed to be there full of buzzing, he sends to Spock.  Spock is able to come up with a way to slow it down so they get Kirk’s entire message. 

Now that they know what they are looking for McCoy can isolate the compound in Kirk’s left-over cold coffee and both duplicate and come up with an antidote.  Spock takes the compound in order to join Kirk in flash time. 

He places a lot of trust in Dr. McCoy

Except for a moment when Rael nearly destroys Kirk, Kirk seems to be doing good with the Scalosians.  He even goes to bed with Deela.  Unfortunately for Deela, Kirk who was only sleeping with her to get her weapon finds Spock and together they destroy the machine. 

Deela is disappointed but understands.  Kirk explains that the Federation is willing to help if they would let them.  Despite the fact that Dr. McCoy was able to come up with a human antidote in the span of minutes, still doesn’t seem to fill her with any hope.  The Scalosians accept their fate and head back to their planet.  Kirk takes McCoy’s cure but Spock holds off so he can fix the starship in record time.  When complete he returns to his normal speed  They leave as Kirk looks at the image of Deela and her people one last time.

Additional thoughts: Okay I think anyone who watches the Flash can really enjoy this episode, as Kirk spends most of it in flash time.  I wish they had only used the speed to more practical affects, such as vibrating or creating a speed vortex.  The one thing I wondered through the episode is how they move from deck to deck.  Whenever we see them, the doors are always open.  However, since this is not always the case are they just plot lucky?  If the transporter was a slow process imagine a turbolift ride.  Speaking of the transporters, how did they work on them anyway, shouldn’t they have detected extra patterns in the buffer?

                How come no one noticed a phaser blast randomly going off on the bridge right after Kirk disappeared.  Wouldn’t even the stun setting have damaged the wall?  That seems to be a pretty big plot hole.  Maybe the Scalosians cleaned up the damage before anyone noticed anything.

So here the door is open for Scotty!

Of course, the real interesting revel in this episode is they allow drinks on the bridge.  Not just the Captain, but anyone.  Coffees for everyone.  You would think considering how often the ship shakes the seems to be a heck of a risk.  What if it spills on something? Since the ship has never heard of surge protectors having coffee flying around really can’t be that good.  So why does Captain Kirk allow it?

Not the case here!

I would have hated to be in Kirk’s position.  To have to go all that time and make sure you are never even scratched.  I would find that impossible as I am too much of a klutz.  Deela did say they don’t live very long.  Although I am still at loss to explain why alien would somehow be able to reproduce with the Scalosians better with their own.  Over time would they even be the Scalosians anymore?  Also, could it be possible that Deela may have been pregnant and not have told Kirk? Kirk may have a speedster son or daughter.

Oh and happy Star Trek Day! 55 years!

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5