StarTrek.txt

On a mission to evacuate the population of the lone planet Sarpedon
before its sun Beta Niobe novas, Spock, Kirk and McCoy beam down to
investigate why sensors indicate no humanoid life remaining on the planet.
They discover a "library" staffed by Mr. Atoz ("A to Z") and his clones
which contains history tapes.  Kirk offers to evacuate Mr. Atoz, but he
tells <i>them</i> to hurry up and pick a destination, and that he himself
plans to join his wife and family when the nova comes. It appears that
by inserting the record tapes into a machine called the Atavachron,
people can be sent back in time.  Mr. Atoz confirms Kirk's suspicions
that this is indeed what has happened to the inhabitants of the planet.


While viewing a tape, Kirk hears screams and accidentally sends himself
to a time period of witch hunts.  McCoy and Spock rush after him, but
end up transporting themselves to 5000 years in the past when the planet
was still in an ice age. Meanwhile, Kirk has "rescued" a woman from
being poked with a sword by challenging her attacker to a swordfight.
Only after chasing the man away does Kirk discover that the woman was a
thief attempting to rob the gentleman and that furthermore, there is no
entrance back to the library.  Kirk goes to the wall from which he had
emerged and is able to talk to McCoy and Spock, but cannot get to them.
When Kirk is arrested by the authorities for aiding a thief, McCoy and
Spock ask him what is going on, and the authorities also hear the voices.
The woman then betrays Kirk and denounces him as a witch, claiming that
he and the "spirits" made her steal against her will.


Spock and Bones, on the verge of freezing, are discovered an sheltered
by a woman known as Zarabeth. She has been exiled because her kinsman
tried to assassinate Zorkon the Tyrant.


Meanwhile, in prison, Kirk is questioned by the Prosecutor. When Kirk
mentions the library, the Prosecutor becomes extremely uncomfortable.
At first, he tries to maintain that Kirk might indeed be innocent.
But when the guard insists that he heard voices talking to Kirk, he is
forced to back off. When Kirk then starts repeating the word "library"
to the Prosecutor, he gets flustered and rushes out saying he wants
nothing to do with Kirk. Back in the ice age, Zarabeth tells Spock that
the Atavachron alters cell structure and that he therefore cannot return
to the future. Meanwhile, Kirk escapes from his cell when he grabs the
guard who is trying to pour soup into his bowl and knocks the guard
out. When the Prosecutor comes to take Kirk to the inquisition, Kirk
realized that he is also sent from the future, and threatens to denounce
him as a witch if he does not help Kirk. The Prosecutor then informs Kirk
that the Atavachron alters cell structure and brain patterns to prepare
people for the past.  The Prosecutor has been prepared and cannot return,
but Kirk can only survive a few hours and must return.  Kirk then finds
his way back to the brick wall from which he emerged, and steps back
into the library.  Mr. Atoz insists that Kirk be prepared, and Kirk
is forced to lock one copy of him in a closet and knock out another.
The real Mr. Atoz then arrives and zaps Kirk.


Back in the ice age, Spock's personality is slipping to that of
the barbaric Vulcans of 5000 years in the past.  He falls in love
with Zarabeth and believes her when she tells him he cannot go back.
McCoy notices the changes in Spock (especially when Spock responds to an
insult by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and announcing "I don't
like that") and guesses that Zarabeth is not being completely truthful
in order to keep Spock with her.  Spock also begins to notice that he
is not himself when he eats animal flesh and enjoys it.  However, this
knowledge does not stop him from telling Zarabeth that she is beautiful
and then making love to her. While kissing her, he also cracks one of
his rare smiles.


Meanwhile, Kirk has managed to recover enough to avoid having Mr. Atoz
wheel him into the Atavachron.  He overpowers Atoz and forces him to help
him locate Spock and McCoy by trying various disks. McCoy has somehow
figured out that it is only Zarabeth who cannot return, and confronts
Spock with this fact as well as with the fact that he has reverted to the
mental state of his barbarian ancestors.  Spock manages to drag himself
away from Zarabeth and returns with McCoy to the library by following
Kirk's voice. With everyone back, Mr. Atoz puts in a disk and rushes to
join his family before it is too late.  Kirk, Spock, and McCoy return
to the <i>Enterprise,</i> which warps out of orbit just as the star novas.















Apparently suffering from the stress of command, Kirk begins becoming
irritable and irrational.  He even orders the <i>Enterprise</i> across
the Neutral Zone into Romulan space. Despite sensor scans which show
nothing within a parsec, the <i>Enterprise</i> is immediately surrounded
by three Romulan ships. Kirk promptly sends a coded sub-space message to
Starfleet Command apprising them of the situation. Sub-commander Tal of
the Romulan fleet demands immediate surrender of the <i>Enterprise,</i>
then allows it an hour of time to decide.


Meanwhile, the Romulans allow Kirk and Spock to beam aboard for an
interrogation by the Romulan commander.  Two Romulans are simultaneously
beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> as hostages. Kirk claims that
navigational errors led the <i>Enterprise</i> to stray into Romulan space,
but Spock refuses to corroborate his story.  Spock then says that the
strain of command has led Kirk to act irrationally, and reports that
Kirk ordered the <i>Enterprise</i> across the Neutral Zone on his own
initiative and is not sane.


Spock continues to act a traitor in testifying against Kirk, and the
Romulan commander convicts Kirk of espionage and courts Spock to join
the Romulans as a commander of the <i>Enterprise</i> under Romulan
command. The Romulan commander takes a special interest in Spock, and
Spock uses the opportunity to seduce her.  Kirk is injured while trying
to escape detention, and McCoy is allowed to beam aboard to treat him.
McCoy corroborates Spock's testimony that Kirk is not fit for command,
and also that he has been under extreme stress. Spock then agrees to
take command of the <i>Enterprise</i> and lead it to a Romulan base.
Upon saying this, he is immediately attacked by Kirk and defends himself
using the "Vulcan Death Grip." The dead Kirk is then returned to the


Amazingly, it turns out that Kirk and Spock have been operating under
Federation orders to steal the newly developed Romulan cloaking device,
and that Spock has only given Kirk a nerve pinch in order to simulate
death. Back aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> Kirk is disguised as a Romulan
Centurion with the aid of plastic surgery to his ears and beamed back to
the Romulan ship. He reports to Spock by communicator that the cloaking
device is located near the commander's quarters.  The communication is
detected, but Spock is able to distract the Romulan commander (who has
changed into an evening gown at Spock's request) long enough to enable
Kirk to steal the cloaking device (which looks like a white sphere with
a protuberance at the top).


The Romulan commander is outraged by Spock's treachery, and further
nonplussed when he asks her straightforwardly what the present Romulan
method of execution is.  Spock gains another delay by demanding the
Romulan right of statement. Before Spock can finish, Scott locates
him and beams him back on board the <i>Enterprise.</i>  However,
the Romulan commander is able to grab hold of him and be transported
together. Kirk attempts to use the Romulan commander as a hostage, but
this scheme backfires when she orders Tal to destroy the <i>Enterprise</i>
immediately. Luckily, Scott is able to connect the cloaking device to the
shields as the <i>Enterprise</i> speeds away at Warp 9.  Thus cloaked,
the <i>Enterprise</i> disappears from the Romulan sensors and escapes
back to Federation territory.  While accompanying the Romulan commander
to the brig, Spock reveals to her in confidence that he was not entirely
unaffected by her charms.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> diverts to answer a medical
emergency on an unknown planet, its crew discovers a group of
natives of the star Sandara who claim to have traveled to Earth
during the time of <a href="/bios/Plato.html">Plato</a> and <a
href="/bios/Socrates.html">Socrates</a> after their star supernovaed.
When Greek civilization died, they left and settled on their current
planet, which they call Platonius. The Platonians have very long life
spans but are easily injured.  They are also sadistic psychokinetics
who amuse themselves by manipulating Alexander the Dwarf.


McCoy attempts to treat a minor cut their Philosopher-King Parman has sustained and which has become
massively infected.  However, Parman has a high fever and begins to become delirious.  Unfortunately, his delirium
translates into moving, shaking, and breaking of objects, including the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Fortunately, when McCoy hypos
Parman, the psychokinetic fits end. When Parman comes to, Parman, Queen Shirana (who is 2300 years old), Dianide,
Eristethis, and the other Platonians begin to make life miserable for Kirk, McCoy, and Spock in order to convince McCoy
to stay behind and act as their personal physician.

Parman first makes Kirk slap himself in the face repeatedly, then makes Kirk and Spock sing and perform silly songs for
them.  He also makes Spock laugh.  When McCoy begs Parman not to continue forcing Spock to laugh, Parman makes him cry
hysterically.  In a final insult, Kirk acts as a whinnying horse while Alexander rides on his back. 

Spock and Kirk
question Alexander and find that the Platonians' powers developed 6 months 14 days after their arrival.  Spock surmises
that a substance found in the planet's food, is responsible for their mental powers, since the Platonians began consuming
native foods after consuming their 2-3 months of supply. The chemical kironide is found to work in conjunction with
pituitary growth hormone, explaining why the dwarf Alexander is unaffected.

The Platonians force Uhura and Nurse Chapel to beam down for their further amusement.  They force Spock to serenade
Chapel, and Kirk to kiss Uhura.  Kirk and Spock also are forced to take a hot poker and a whip and pretend to use them on the
women.  Alexander tries to stab Parman, but is discovered and forced to turn the knife on himself. However, Kirk gives
the Platonians a taste of their own medicine when he stops Alexander using the psychokinetic power he has acquired using
a kironide injection given him by McCoy.  Mind games between Parman and Kirk reveal Kirk to have the stronger power, and
Parman backs down and promises to behave in the future.  Kirk takes Alexander with him, leaving the Platonians to their
own devices and warning that he can recreate the psychokinetic power if it should be needed.
















As the <i>Enterprise</i> maps a planet with iron-silicon surface and
oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere and begins heading towards Starbase 200,
the ship is twice subjected to massive disturbances.  Spock reports that
the magnetic field of the surrounding space "blinked" and the gravity
of the planet momentarily reached zero.  Spock then finds a human life
form on the planet's surface and Spock, Kirk, and a security detail of
3 beam down to investigate.


They find a spaceship and a bearded man who yells something
about having time to still stop "him," then jumps or falls off
a cliff.  Kirk discovers that the blinking phenomenon drained the
orbit decays. Starfleet command reports that every quadrant of the galaxy
has been subjected to magnetic, gravimetric, and electric disruption,
and Kirk and Starfleet fear it may be a prelude to an invasion.


Kirk interviews the fallen man, who claims he is chasing a murderer who
destroyed his entire civilization. He himself was saved because he was
inspecting magnetic communication satellites.  He attempts to enlist
Kirk in his fanatic pursuit.  It turns out that the strange phenomena
are caused as the man, whose name is Lazarus, battles his anti-self in
a corridor between parallel universes and that the ship on the planet
surface is a time-travel machine. The universe is returned to normal when
Kirk destroys Lazarus's ship, sealing the corridor off at both ends,
and trapping Lazarus and his anti-self inside to fight each other for
all eternity.

















After negotiations with the Klingons break down, the <i>Enterprise</i>
is sent to block Klingon expansionism on the Class M planet Organia,
described by Spock as class D- on the "Richter scale of culture."  After
being attacked, the <i>Enterprise</i> destroys a Klingon vessel. Shortly
thereafter, Uhura reports that a state of war has been declared between
the Federation and the Klingons. The <i>Enterprise</i> then enters orbit
around Organia, despite the warning from Unit XY75847 that a fleet of
Klingon ships is in their sector.


Spock and Kirk beam down to the planet Organia to warn the populace of an
impending Klingon invasion. Strangely, the Organians do not appear the
least concerned about strangers beaming down in their midst, and do not
appear the least worried by the prospect of Klingon occupation. Ayelborne,
Chairman of the Council of Elders, greets them and invites Kirk to
speak to the council.  Kirk offer protection from the Klingons, but
Ayelborne says his people have no need of defenses and are in no danger.
This laissez-faire attitude seems consistent with a report from Spock
that the society of Organia has been completely stagnant for tens of
thousands of years.


In the meantime, the Klingon fleet arrives and Sulu is forced to warp
the <i>Enterprise</i> out of the vicinity, stranding Kirk and Spock.
A party of heavily armed Klingons then beams down, according to one
of the elders, despite the fact that Spock's tricorder has no way of
ascertaining this. The Organians disguise Kirk and Spock as natives in
an attempt to protect them from harm at the Klingons' hands.


Ayelborne bids welcome to the Klingon Kor, who declares himself military governor of Organia, and claims that Kirk is
Barona, one of Organia's leading citizens.  Spock is harder to explain, but claims he is a dealer in kevis and trillium.
Kor finds Kirk's lack of complacency and obvious hatred of the Klingons refreshing on a planet otherwise filled with
passive Organians, and declares him liaison between the Klingons and the people of Organia. Despite force 4 scanning of
Kirk's mind by a Klingon mind-probe device, Spock is able to maintain his merchant pretext and is allowed to go free.


Kirk and Spock attempt to interfere with the Klingon occupation and incite
the natives to defend themselves by blowing up a Klingon munitions dump.
When Kirk admits what he has done to Ayelborne, he is admonished.
Unfortunately, Kor has bugged the Council chambers and prepares to
mind-probe Kirk and then execute him.  However, Ayelborne declares that
this is unnecessary, since Barona's true identity is actually James
T. Kirk of the Starship <i>Enterprise</i>.


Kor then threatens to fry Kirk's mind and dissect Spock to find how
he is capable of foiling the mind scanner unless Kirk tells him all he
wants to know.  He is given 12 hours, and thrown into a cell with Spock
in the meantime.  However, Ayelborne lets them out, despite the fact
that the Klingons are vigorously guarding the cell and observe nothing.
As revenge, the Klingons initiate mass executions of 200 Organians, and
threaten to kill 200 more every 2 hours unless the escaped prisoners are
returned.  However, the Organians continue to insist on non-violence.
Kirk then threatens physical injury to Ayelborne unless he returns
their phasers, which he wants to use in a two-man suicide attack against
the Klingons.  Ayelborne is shocked by Kirk's behavior, but agrees to
let him have the phasers.


Spock reports that the odds of them returning alive from their mission
are 7824.7:1.  They begin by killing two Klingon guards, then waylay and
pump another Klingon for information.  Spock reports that their odds of
surviving have now improved to 7000:1.  Kirk and Spock manage to take
Kor prisoner just as the Federation and Klingon fleets are massing for
attack in the Organian system.


At this point, the Organian council brings all weapons and instruments
of violence to a temperature of 350 degrees, including those on the
both sides, producing an immediate cessation of hostilities which the
Federation and Klingons subsequently maintain.  Ayelborne also reports
that in the future, Klingons and Earthlings will be allies, a prediction
that is not bourn out until the <I>Star Trek IV</i> movie and <i>Star
Trek, The Next Generation</i> television series. It turns out that the
Organians are actually advanced beings capable of creating illusions,
and so were never actually inconvenienced by the Klingons to start with.
Spock notes that the Organians are as far above humans on the evolutionary
scale as humans are above the amoeba.
















Spock, Bones, and Kirk beam down to a planet to obtain biological specimens. 
McCoy reports that the planet is a medical treasure trove.  Kirk is familiar
with the planet since it was the first planet he surveyed (13 years ago). Kirk
also reports to Spock that the planet's inhabitants are peaceful and are only
just beginning to learn how to forge iron.  He is therefore extremely surprised
to see villagers with rifles lying in ambush for a party of hill people which
includes Kirk's former friend Tyree.  To distract the ambushers, Kirk throws a
rock, which causes the rifle to go off.  However, it also brings on a chase, and
Spock is shot with a flintlock while trying to escape.


The landing party beams up to the <i>Enterprise,</i> where they find a Klingon
ship heading towards them.  However, Kirk manages to keep the ship remain
concealed by hiding the <i>Enterprise</i> on the opposite side of the planet. 
Kirk speculates that the Klingons have violated the treaty governing the
"neutral planet" which restricts both parties to scientific research, and
provided them with rifles. Kirk and McCoy beam down to investigate the Klingon's
activities, leaving Dr. M'Benga in charge of Spock.


After beaming down, Kirk is attacked by the poisonous mugato, a large white
beast resembling a gorilla with a horn on its head and fins on its back.  There
is no antidote to the poison, but the hill people find McCoy and Kirk and take
them to Tyree, who is now their leader. The Kanutu woman Nona is a medicine
woman, as well as being the power-hungry manipulative wife of Tyree. She cures
Kirk using a mako root (a plant which moves) and by having Tyree make a cut
across her hand.  After Kirk is healed, the wound on Nona's hand also vanishes.


Tyree reports that the firesticks are made by the village people, and that they
first appeared about a year ago. Nona wants Kirk to use his weapons to vanquish
the village people and make her husband a powerful man.  She is greatly
disappointed when Tyree pledges not to kill and Kirk is reluctant to share his
knowledge of weaponry.


Kirk and McCoy enter a village and discover the Klingon Krell advising the
village leader Apella, as well as carbon-free steel and other technological
innovations too advanced for a primitive society. Unfortunately, they are
discovered when McCoy accidentally triggers his tricorder.  Luckily, they are
able to escape.


Meanwhile, Spock recovers aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> but tells Nurse Chapel
"hit me" when he comes out of his self-induced healing trance.  Nurse Chapel
is hesitant at first, but then complies, only to be restrained by a shocked
Scott.  Dr. M'Benga then continues striking SPock, and with the aid of the pain
thus induced, Spock is able to come out of his trance.


On the planet, Kirk furnishes the hill people with rifles, noting the analogy of
the present situation with the brush conflicts on the Asian continent.  In this
conflict, Kirk says, two great powers fought through surrogates by supplying the
opposing sides with roughly equal weaponry (but nothing capable of mass
destruction), an obvious reference to the Viet Nam War.


Nona uses an herb to seduce Kirk.  Although Tyree witnesses the seduction, he
cannot bring himself to fire the gun he is holding and runs off.  Meanwhile,
Nona is attacked by a mugato and Kirk uses a phaser to kill it.  Nona repays the
favor by hitting Kirk on the head with a rock and stealing his phaser. However,
when she attempts to turn it over to the village people, they are only
interested in molesting her. When the hill people arrive, the village people
kill Nona, believing that she has set them up. The village people are killed by
the hill people, but Tyree is mad with anger and asks Kirk for many weapons with
which to kill the village people.  Kirk complies by asking Scotty to manufacture
flintlock rifles for the hill people which he refers to as "serpents for the
Garden of Eden."  As they beam back to the <i>Enterprise,</i> Kirk s upset at
the loss of innocence he has contributed to, but knows of no other action he
could have taken.

















McCoy noticed that Spock is growing restless and also that he has stopped
eating.  He also is becoming extremely irritable, throwing Nurse Chapel
out of his quarters and physically flinging the Vulcan Plomeek soup she
has specially prepared for him. After this outburst, he demands a leave
of absence on his home planet Vulcan from Kirk.  Kirk is baffled by
Spock's behavior, but has no choice but to divert to Vulcan.  However,
a priority message forces him to change course back to Altair 6 in order
to be on time for the new president's coronation.  As soon as he leaves
the bridge, Spock orders the course changed back to Vulcan.


Kirk orders Spock to sickbay, where Bones examines him and finds that
if he is not brought to Vulcan within eight days, Spock will die due
to extreme stress produced by chemicals being pumped through his body.
When Kirk confronts Spock, Spock says he cannot tell the cause of his
problem because it is a deeply personal affair.  Kirk eventually cajoles
Spock into revealing that his problem is "Vulcan biology," which Kirk
correctly concludes means Vulcan reproduction.


The Vulcan time of mating is known as Pon Farr, and is a very painful and
personal experience.  It strips logic away from Vulcans, and forces them
to return to Vulcan to take a mate.  Spock compares the need to return
to Vulcan to the Eel Birds of Regulus 5, who return every 11 years to
the caverns where they hatched, and to salmon on Earth who must return
to the stream where they were born in order to spawn.  Kirk contacts
Admiral Komack at Starfleet Command sector 9 to request permission to
divert to Vulcan.  The Admiral denies permission, but Kirk ignores the
order (since he would be one of three Starships there in any case),
and re-directs to Vulcan.


In the meantime, Spock is flipping out.  In one extremely emotional
outburst, he mashes his viewing screen to pulp when Uhura tries to contact
him.  However, he recovers when he learns that the <i>Enterprise</i> is
headed for Vulcan.  He invites Kirk and McCoy, as his two best friends,
to join him on the surface for a ceremony. On Vulcan, Spock prepares
for his Koon-ut-kal-if-fee, or "marriage or challenge" ceremony with
T'Pring, to whom he had been betrothed by their parents when they were
7 years old. Kirk and Spock comment how hot Vulcan is, and Kirk (who
evidently is no physicist) says this is because Vulcan's atmosphere is


The master of ceremonies is T'Pau, the only person ever to turn down
a seat in the Federation council. As the ceremony begins, T'Pring
rejects Spock and challenges (Kalifee) him to battle with her champion,
who she names as Kirk.  This upsets her lover Stonn, and pains Spock.
After learning that another champion will be chosen if Kirk declines the
challenge, Kirk accepts battle with Spock, not realizing that the fight
is to the death.  Before Spock can kill Kirk with a lirpa (a rod with
blade on one side and mallet on the other), Bones steps in and gives
Kirk a shot supposed to be a triox compound which will accommodate him
to the Vulcan climate and temperature. Instead, Bones actually injects
him with a neuroparalyzer which simulates death.  When Kirk konks out,
McCoy pronounces him dead and contacts the <i>Enterprise</i> to beam
the two of them up.


Spock confronts T'Pring and she explains that she is in love with the
Vulcan Stonn.  By choosing Kirk as her champion, she was guaranteed a
desirable outcome.  If Kirk won, he would not want her, and she would have
Stonn, together with Spock's name and property.  If Spock won, he would
not take her for daring to challenge, and furthermore would be tried by
Starfleet and incarcerate. Believing that he has killed Kirk, Spock loses
all interest in his treacherous mate and returns to the <i>Enterprise.</i>
Here, he is overjoyed to find Kirk alive, betraying his emotion with a big
smile (another smile occurs in <i><a href="TheCage.html">The Cage</a></i>
and is repeated in <i><a href="TheMenagerie1.html">The Menagerie, Part
I</a></i>).  Kirk is let off the hook for disobeying orders when Starfleet
retroactively grants permission to divert to Vulcan at T'Pau's request.

















McCoy calls Kirk to sickbay and informs him that the ship's Chief
Medical Officer (himself) has contracted an incurable fatal disease
called xenopolycythemia and has only one year to live. However, McCoy
assures Kirk that he will still be able to do his job until the end.


Suddenly, the <i>Enterprise</i> is attacked by chemically fused missiles
and forced to destroy them. The <i>Enterprise</i> then diverts and
determines their point of origin to be an asteroid 200 km in diameter. The
asteroid is actually a nuclear-powered spaceship on a collision course
with planet Daran V (population 3 billion 724 million, 396 days until
impact).  Spock detects no life forms, so a landing party consisting
of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock beams down.  While exploring a set of pink
cylinders, the landing party is attacked by plaid-clad soldiers. McCoy
is knocked out, but proves to be none the worse for wear.


After informing the "Oracle" which advises the priestess-leader Natira
that they come in peace, the Oracle treats them to an electrical shock
to show them what it is like to be enemies.  The inhabitants of the
world called Yonada do not know that they are on a spaceship, except
for one old man who had climbed a mountain when he was young.  He gives
herbs to the threesome after their electrical experience, but confides
to them that things are not as they seem, "For the world is hollow and
I have touched the sky."  After uttering this, the oracle punishes the
old man with death by means of a subcutaneous "instrument of obedience."


Spock recognizes Fabrini writing on wall of the oracle chamber and
a symbol showing 8 planets, as in the Fabrini system.  (The Fabrini
appear for the first time in the <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i>
series.) The sun of this system supernovaed 10,000 years ago, so the
inhabitants of Yonada appear to be their descendants. The oracle tells
Natira that the people will reach a world of plenty "soon" (which turns
out to be 390 days after the appropriate course correction).  This is
foretold in the book containing the knowledge of their creators.  Kirk and
company must convince the inhabitants to alter the ship's course before
it eliminates the 3+ billion inhabitants of Daran V.  In the meantime,
the priestess Natira governing the asteroid/spaceship, has asked McCoy
to become her mate, despite the fact that McCoy has only one year to
live. McCoy agrees and permits insertion of an instrument of obedience.
However, Spock and Kirk commit sacrilege by breaking into the Oracle
chamber. Luckily, Natira allows them to return at McCoy's request.


Bones finds out about the book and tries to tell Kirk (who has returned to
the <I>Enterprise</i>) about it by communicator, but is incapacitated by
his instrument of obedience.  Kirk and Spock beam down, and Spock removes
the gizmo.  They tell Natira that her planet is actually a spaceship,
and she goes to ask the Oracle for the truth.  She is punished and nearly
killed, at which point McCoy removes her instrument of obedience.  When
Kirk and Spock try to access the book by pressing the three lower planets
on the left side, the Oracle heats the chamber to incandescence. However,
Kirk is able to reach the book.  He finds instructions on how to access
the controls by applying pressure to the center of the Oracle until it
slides aside. They disable the Oracle and put Yonada back on course.
They also discover databanks of the Fabrini containing a great deal of
medical knowledge, including the cure for McCoy's xenopolycythemia.
McCoy decides to return to the Enterprise, but hopes to meet Natira
again when the ship reaches the new planet.

















When Kirk, Spock, and Bones beam down to a small planet in the Omega
system to obtain ryetalyn to counter the epidemic of Rigellian fever
sweeping the <i>Enterprise</i>, they detect a life form (despite the
fact that ship's sensors had indicated it to be uninhabited). They are
then attacked by a droid called M4, which is subsequently called off by
its owner, Mr. Flint. Mr. Flint demands that the landing party leave
the planet immediately, and threatens to kill them if they do not. Kirk
then calls his bluff by ordering Scotty to lock phasers on their
position so that an attack on the landing party will result in the
death of all of them.  When McCoy tells Flint that the crew of the
to bubonic plague, Flint recalls the progress of that disease in
Constantinople in the summer of 1334. He then permits the crew two
hours on his planet, and offers M4's services to collect the ryetalyn.
He then invites them to his home.


In Flint's home, McCoy is impressed to find a Shakespeare first
edition, Gutenberg Bible, and creation lithographs by Terra Nullus of
Centaurus 7. Spock then examines the extensive collection of unknown Da
Vinci paintings, but his tricorder reveals the materials used to be of
contemporary origin.


Meanwhile, Flint has consulted with his protege Rayna Kontec, who begs
him him to allow the landing party to stay a bit longer. Flint then
promises to have M4 process the ryetalyn, and introduces Rayna to the
landing party, who are smitten with her.  She, however, seems most
interested in discussing field density and its relationship to gravity
phenomena with Spock.  Flint claims Rayna's parents were killed in an
accident while in his employ and that he has raised her.  He also says
that Rayna possesses the equivalent of 17 university degrees in the
arts and sciences.


While Kirk plays billiards with Rayna, Spock discovers a waltz on the
piano and plays it while Kirk and Rayna dance.  Spock is greatly
surprised (for a Vulcan, at least), when he recognizes the waltz as an
unknown work of Johannes Brahms written in his own hand.


In Flint's lab, McCoy discovers that the ryetalyn is contaminated with
iridium at nearly 1 part per thousand, rendering it inert and useless.
While Flint goes to collect uncontaminated ryetalyn, Kirk takes the
opportunity to romance Rayna, with whom he has fallen in love.  While
Kirk is thus engaged, M4 returns and prepares to attack Kirk, who is
saved when Spock destroys M4 with a phaser.  Flint explains that M4
misunderstood Kirk's actions as an attack and was attempting to defend
Rayna.  Just as Kirk is beginning to feel comfortable after M4's
demise, a replacement M4 created by Flint makes its appearance.


Kirk contacts the <i>Enterprise</i> to try to find information on Flint
and Rayna.  However, the only information Uhura can provide is that the
planet was purchased 30 years ago by a wealthy financier and recluse
named Mr. Brack.  Spock finds another piece of the puzzle when he
surreptitiously performs a tricorder scan and discovers that Flint is
6000 years old.


When Rayna goes to say goodbye to Kirk, Kirk urges her to come away
with him.  Meanwhile, the ryetalyn has also disappeared.  When Kirk
follows tricorder readings past a sliding panel, they find a chamber
containing a series of android Raynas created by Flint to act as
companions.  Flint then admits to having been born in Mesopotamia as
the soldier Acarin in the year 3834 BC.  After falling in battle, he
learned that he was immortal.  In his lifetime, he was also Abramson,
Alexander, Brahms, Da Vinci, Lazarus, Merlin, Methuselah, Reginald
Pollock (from the 20th century), Shakespeare, Solomon, the painter Sten
(from Marcus II), and many more people.  Because of his immortality, he
created a mate who would not age and die.  Having learned Flint's
secret, Flint refuses to let the landing party go.  When Kirk tries to
warn the <i>Enterprise</i> to leave the area, Flint suspends the


Flint is happy that Kirk has stirred emotions in Rayna and wishes to
turn them towards himself.  When Kirk refuses to back down, he and
Flint fight one another. As a result of the conflict of Kirk wanting
her to come away and Flint wanting her to stay, Rayna is caught in a
logic loop because she is unable to hurt Kirk or Flint. This causes her
to die.  Kirk is devastated, but obtains uncontaminated ryetalyn from
Flint and returns the the <i>Enterprise.</i>


On the <i>Enterprise,</i> Bones discovers that Flint is dying, having
been removed from the Earth whose complex "fields" were the source of
his immortality.  Kirk's emotional trauma at the loss of Rayna is
healed only when Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld and makes him
"forget."

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> responds to a distress call on the scientific
colony on Triacus, Bones, Kirk, and Spock discover that all of the
adults to have committed suicide using the drug cylotin.  Kirk spots
a single survivor, Prof.  Starnes, but he does not seem to recognize
Kirk and subsequently dies in Kirk's arms. A recording reveals that the
colonists felt compelled to destroy themselves to escape what they call
"the enemy within."


However, the children of the colonists (Tommy Starnes, Don Tsing Tau,
Mary, Steve, and Ray; last names Janowski, O'Connel, and Wilkins,
not necessarily in that order), appear to be in fine health and pay no
attention to the absence of their parents.  They are beamed up to the
Kirk tries to question the children and finds that they hated the planet
and felt resentful that their parents liked it.  Before Kirk can find
out anything else, the children begin repeating "busy, busy, busy,"
and refuse to say anything more.  Kirk tries talking to Tommy alone,
but he only repeats the behavior of his friends.


When they are left alone, the children perform a summoning ritual for the
"friendly angel."  The angel gives them instructions for their next
"task," which consists of bringing the <i>Enterprise</i> to Marcus 12
instead of Kirk's intended Starbase 4.  On Marcus 12, the angel promises
that they will find many friends to make them strong, and that this will
allow him to take over the universe and allow the children unlimited
freedom and play.  The children prepare to use strange powers (invoked
by up and down motions of a clenched fist) to influence the minds of the
crew and take the <i>Enterprise</i> out of orbit and towards Marcus 12.


Clues to events which took place on Triacus are given by a series of
recorded messages by Prof. Starnes.  These document the onset of paranoia
and loss of control over actions immediately following the excavation of
a cave by Wilkins. At this juncture, Tommy enters the bridge and uses the
opportunity to cause the tape to malfunction before his father's message
can be completed.  Tommy remains on the bridge after Kirk and Spock leave
to consult in private.  Tommy influences Sulu to leave orbit, giving
him the illusion that the viewing screen shows the <i>Enterprise</i>
to still be in orbit.  When Uhura notices that the <i>Enterprise</i>
is no longer in orbit, she confronts Sulu, but the children soon give
her the same illusion as Sulu.


In the engine room, another child causes two engineers to guard the
controls and to knock out Scotty when he tries to get them back and put
the <i>Enterprise</i> back on course. Spock and Kirk listen to the rest
of Dr. Starnes' tape in private, and find that he was being influenced
to do things against his will, including requesting a spaceship from
Starfleet despite the fact that he had no need for it. Consulting the
computer's memory banks, Spock discovers a legend that Triacus was
previously inhabited by a band of marauders who terrorized the Epsilon
Indi system.  The legend also maintains that the marauders, who were
eventually wiped out, are waiting to return and maraud again.


Kirk beams down a pair of guards to take over from the security detachment
on Triacus, assuming that the <i>Enterprise</i> is still in orbit since
he has given no orders for it to do otherwise.  When he then attempts to
beam up the security detachment, Spock is unable to lock on, and Kirk is
forced to face the fact that he has just beamed two men into a vacuum.
When Kirk and Spock rush to the bridge, they get a look at the alien
influencing the children (who have assembled on the bridge and performed
another summoning ritual).  Kirk gives commands to Sulu and Uhura to
change course and send a message to Starfleet, but the children make Sulu
see a passage of knives and Uhura a picture of herself as old and sick,
and neither carries out the order.  Kirk then orders Spock to send the
message to Starfleet, but he is also unable to obey.  When Kirk tries
to order the security officer to confine Sulu to quarters, the children
cause his speech to sound garbled.  Kirk then becomes paranoid about
losing the <i>Enterprise,</i> but Spock grabs him and the two of them
escape from the bridge on the elevator.


They go to auxiliary control and try to enlist Scotty's help in overriding
the ship's controls, but Scott and his engineers are firmly under the
children's control. Chekov and two security guards attempt to arrest Kirk
and Spock at phaser-point, but Kirk and Spock are able to fight their
way out of it. Kirk finally manages to free the children of the Gorgon's
evil influence and regain control of the <i>Enterprise</i> by replaying
the taped ritual and summoning the Gorgon. With the help of tapes of
the children playing with their parents, Kirk shows the children the
Gorgon's wickedness in killing their parents. When the children cry and
desert him, the Gorgon becomes disfigured, then disintegrates, chanting
"death to you all."

















Kirk attempts to secure a mining agreement for topeline on Capella 4.
Coincidentally, McCoy had been stationed on the planet for two months, and
warns Kirk that although the Capellans are scrupulously honest, they are
a war-like people, 7 feet tall and extremely strong.  Their conventional
weapon is a throwing-star type weapon called a kleeat.  Before beaming
down with McCoy, Spock, and a red-shirted security officer, Kirk warns
Scott that the Klingons are thought to be active in the Capella 4 sector.


Upon beaming down, this prediction is born out.  As McCoy greets the
Capellans, the landing party learns that the Klingons have arrived first
and are presumably already engaged in negotiations.  Before he can be
restrained, Brad the security guard pulls out a phaser to shoot the
Klingon emissary and is instantly killed by a kleeat-wielding Capellan.
After the landing party agrees to hand over its weapons and devices
as the Klingon have already done, they are treated as honored guests.
A Capellan woman offers Kirk some food, but Kirk is luckily restrained by
McCoy before touching her, since it turns out that touching a Capellan
woman mandates hand-to-hand combat with her closest male relative.
In fact, Kirk's refusal to initiate combat greatly disappoints the
woman's closest male relative.


Kirk and the Klingon negotiate with Tierr Akaar, leader of the ten tribes
of Capella.  While the Tierr seems to favor the Federation, Maab and the
Tierr's consort favor the Klingons. The Tierr is then challenged to a
duel by Maab. Before this can take place, a factional fight for power
take place.  In the fighting, Akaar is killed and Maab becomes Tierr.
Upon becoming Tierr, however, Maab's perspective changes, especially after
seeing fear in the Klingon's eyes when Kirk challenges him to a fight.


Meanwhile, a Klingon vessel diverts the Enterprise with a phony distress
call from the freighter <i>S.S. Diadra</i> (maximum speed: Warp 2).
To Scott's surprise, upon arriving at the scene, he can find no trace of
the distressed <i>Diadra.</i>  However, he notes that the distress call
asked for the <i>Enterprise</i> by name, despite the fact a freighter
would not have knowledge of its whereabouts. As the <i>Enterprise</i>
speeds back to Capella, the Klingons try another diversion with a distress
call from the <i>U.S.S. Carolina.</i>  Scott ignores it, citing the saying
"fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" (which Chekov
reports is an old Russian saying).  However, before the <i>Enterprise</i>
can return to Capella, it is confronted by a Klingon warship.


On Capella, Akaar's pregnant wife Eleen is sentenced to death because she
carries a royal child.  Kirk intervenes, in the process antagonizing the
Capellans and Eleen herself, who demands his death for laying hands upon
her.  The <i>Enterprise</i> landing party is put under guard with Eleen,
and McCoy prepares to treat her wounded arm.  The landing party takes
the opportunity to overpower their guards and run away to save Eleen.
They hide out in the hills, where McCoy treats Eleen's arm, and also
discovers that she may give birth at any time.  Eleen begins to become
interested in McCoy.


Using their communicators, Kirk and Spock set up an avalanche which
blocks and kills some of the Capellans tracking them.  The Klingon uses
the opportunity to steal  one of the confiscated phasers from a wounded
Capellan, and then stabs him to death.  Kirk then finds a cave in which
to shelter Eleen, but the climb there is difficult.  Eleen will only let
McCoy help her make the climb until McCoy remarks "I'm a doctor, not an
escalator." In the cave, they make a fire using a magnesite nitron tablet.
While McCoy delivers the baby, Kirk and Spock construct bows and arrows.


After giving birth, Eleen hits McCoy on the head with a rock and runs
to give herself up to the Capellans.  She claims to have killed the
child and the Earth men as they slept.  The Klingon does not believe
her, and demands of the Capellans under threat of phaser fire that they
verify Eleen's story. Suddenly, Kirk shoots the Klingon with an arrow,
and an exchange between the Capellans and Kirk and Spock follows. The
Klingon threatens to shoot anyone who raises a weapon against him.
This does him no good, however, since Maab exchanges his life for that
of Eleen by confronting the Klingon, and Kieel uses the opportunity to
kill the Klingon with a kleeat.


After this fracas has taken place, Scott and a landing party arrive. When
McCoy re-unites Eleen with her child, he confounds Spock with his use of
"obscure earth dialect" oochie-woochie-coochie-coo. Kirk gains mining
rights when the Eleen acts as regent for the child Tierr-to-be, named
Leonard James Akaar.
















 <P>


While searching for survivors of the Starship <i>Archon</i>
which disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the crew of the
computer Landru.  Landru regulates the life of all planet members,
purging their systems of violence and anger at specified times known as
"festivals" and leaving them blankly contented for the rest of the time.
Landru succeeds in absorbing Sulu, and attempts to do the same with the
rest of the crew. When Kirk points out to Landru that he has violated
his program by allowing human culture to stagnate, Landru disintegrates
in a shower of sparks and frees the planet from his control.

















When Kirk beams down with a large landing party to investigate planet
Gamma Trianguli 6, a flower turns toward security guard Hendroff and
sprays him with deadly spores.  Scott reports that the matter-antimatter
pods are inexplicably losing potency. He believes it to have something
to do with the planet's unusual magnetic field. Kirk sends Valery and
Marple to scout out the way to the nearest village. Spock then detects
the presence of a humanoid watching them, and also detects planet-wide
vibrations.  Spock also finds a curious low density rock which explodes
unexpectedly when he tosses it away.  Spock runs in the way of another
flower which is about to spray Kirk, and catches the darts in his own
chest.  McCoy injects Spock with masaform-D, but he does not respond,
and Kirk asks Scotty to beam them all up.  The <i>Enterprise</i>'s
matter-antimatter pods have already been drained by what Scott now
identifies as some sort of beam from the planet, and Scotty's attempt
to beam them up now fails, leaving the landing party stranded.


Spock recovers, but the landing party is then surprised by a rapidly
moving electrical storm despite the absence of nearby clouds.  The ground
also begins to smoke. Valery attempts to report in by communicator, but
his communication is jammed.  The landing party goes to investigate, but
Valery is tragically killed when he runs over one of the exploding rocks.
The humanoid returns, and Kirk has Chekov and Spock create a diversion
while he sneaks up on the watcher.  Kirk attacks him, evoking tears.
Kirk promises not to hurt him again, and the humanoid tells Kirk that
his name is Akuta, chief of the primitive people he calls the feeders
of Vaal.  He appears to be in some kind of communication, since Spock
notices antennae emerging from either side of his head. Kirk asks to be
taken to Vaal, just as Scott reports that the <i>Enterprise</i> is being
dragged into the planet by a tractor beam from the planet.


Akuta takes Kirk to Vaal, who appears to be a door into a hill in the
shape of a dragon's head.  Spock's tricorder shows that the entrance
leads into the planet's interior, and is surrounded by a force field.
When Akuta takes the landing party to meet with the rest of the people
of Vaal, Kirk notices a strange lack of children, and finds that Vaal
has forbidden love, providing "replacements" as they are needed. Seana
introduces herself to Spock, and is greatly amused when he tells her
his name.  McCoy finds that the people are in perfect health without
any disease or aging.  Kirk and Spock then witness a ceremony in which
the people of Vaal provide it with fuel. Chekov seduces Martha, and
this is observed by two of the people of Vaal (Makora and his newfound
girlfriend), who proceed to imitate it.  This angers Vaal, who gives
Akuta instructions.


As Kirk and party are resting, Akuta explains to his people that they
must kill the strangers, and gives them instructions on how to bash
their heads in using a heavy stick.  They then disappear, and the Kirk
and Spock go to confront Vaal.  Vaal responds by calling a thunderstorm
and striking Spock with a lightning bolt. The people of Vaal then attack,
killing a security guard.  As usual, the rest of the landing party fends
off the attack and get off unscathed.  Vaal weakens as the feeders are
prevented from feeding him, and Kirk has Scott attack Vaal with the
ship's phasers to weaken it further.  This drains Vaal's power reserves,
and frees the people from his grip.  Spock accuses Kirk of giving the
people the equivalent of the apple of knowledge and driving them from
their Eden, but Kirk maintains that Spock's resemblance to the Devil is
much more apparent than his own.

















As the <i>Enterprise</i> is on its way New Paris on Marcus III, it
encounters a strange natural phenomenon. Commissioner Ferris wants Kirk
to hurry on to New Paris, but Kirk is under orders to study all quasars
and quasar-like phenomena and so stops the <i>Enterprise</i> in order to
do so.  Kirk launches the shuttlecraft <i>Galileo</i> (NCC 1701/7) with
Spock, Scotty, McCoy, Boma, Latimer, Gaetano, and yeoman Mears aboard.


The 24-foot-long shuttlecraft is pulled off course into the Murasaki 312
electromagnetic storm ("Murasaki effect") and crash lands on Taurus II. It
and its crew are in one piece, but the shuttlecraft is greatly damaged. As
Spock puts it, "Picturesque descriptions will not mend broken circuits,
Mr. Scott. I believe you have your work cut out for you."  Taurus II
seems safe at first (atmosphere 70 mmHg of oxygen, 140 mmHg nitrogen,
and acceptable quantities of Ar, Ne, and Kr), so Spock sends Latimer
and Gaetano outside to scout the area.


Meanwhile, Commissioner Ferris continues pressuring Kirk to leave the
shuttle behind in order to get needed medicine to the plague victims in
New Paris, but Kirk continues the search until the last possible moment.
In an act of desperation, Kirk sends out shuttlecraft <i>Columbus</i>
to search Taurus II (the only planet which is habitable in the area,
and the one which is closest to the center of the Murasaki effect).


On Taurus II, Spock gets his first taste of command, much to the
resentment of his crew.  Spock sums up his views on command by stating,
"I neither enjoy the idea of command, nor am I frightened by it.
It simply exists."   Scott determines that much fuel has been lost and
that the shuttlecraft's weight must be reduced by 500 lbs. if it is to
achieve escape velocity.  While scouting the area, Latimer and Gaetano
enter a thick mist.  They then hear a croaking noise and are shortly
thereafter attacked by the planet's 10-12 foot high ape-like inhabitants.
Latimer is killed by a spear whose tip resembles a Folsom point, but
Spock's archeological knowledge just makes his crew more resentful.


Boma insists on a funeral for Latimer, but Spock remains inside the craft
with Scott trying to fix it.  Unfortunately, they lose the remaining fuel
when a line breaks. The crew wants to attack the apes, but Spock does
not which to unnecessarily take life, so he instructs them to fire to
frighten, but not kill.  Spock orders Boma back to help with repairs,
while Gaetano is left behind.  Alone and terrified, Gaetano has his
phaser knocked away and is then mauled to death.


Scotty proposes powering the shuttlecraft by draining energy from phasers,
which is all well and good, except that it is the crew's only remaining
defense against the creatures. Spock goes to investigate what has become
of Gaetano, and carries his body back despite a rain of spears from the
ape-creatures.  Arriving back safely, Spock is surprised that his logical
decisions have resulted in two deaths and the antagonism of his crew.
The crew retreats to the craft, which is then set upon by one of the apes
with a large rock.  Spock comes up with the idea of draining the batteries
to electrify the exterior of the ship, which grants them a temporary
respite. Unbeknownst to the crew of the <i>Galileo,</i> Kirk beams down
landing parties, but they are unable to discover anything. Lt. Kelowitz
from landing party 2 reports one dead, two injured by the anthropoid
creatures, who databases classify as order 4AG and resembling creatures
from Hanson's Planet.  Ferris forces Kirk to abandon the search when
his time runs out, under Title 15 of the Galactic Emergency Procedures.


Scotty manages to get the shuttlecraft off the ground after tarrying
shortly to give Spock time to get on board after he is slightly
injured. The <i>Galileo</i>'s crew is saved when Spock jettisons
and ignites the fuel to serve as a flare.  This gives them only a
few minutes before re-entering, but allows them to be seen by the
his act of desperation, but Spock defends his actions logical considering
that all other alternatives had been exhausted.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> receives a distress call from a planet hundreds
of light years too distant to have been visited by any Earth ship. Spock
determines that the planet is similar to Earth, but older, and also that
its atmosphere was ripped away a half million years ago.  Spock also
detects no sign of life. As the <i>Enterprise</i> nears the planet,
a voice identifying itself as Sargon asks Kirk to assume a standard
orbit about the planet.   The voice also addresses the crew of the
originating 100 miles below the planet's surface, and Kirk and McCoy
prepare to beam down.  Kirk wants Spock to stay on board, but the
his mind and proposes to bring Spock along, all power comes back on.
Astrobiologist Dr. Anne Mullhall also tags along, claiming she has
received an order to accompany them despite the fact that Kirk has given
no such order.  Strangely, the security guards get left behind when the
transporter is activated.  Furthermore, after arriving, the communicators
function through 100 miles of rock despite the fact that they should not.


The landing party discovers evidence of an ancient culture on a planet
whose habitable surface was destroyed long ago by a self-inflicted
cataclysm.  Sargon is revealed as a spherical receptacle containing
pure energy which is the "essence" of Sargon.  Sargon reports that his
people colonized the galaxies 6000 centuries ago, and that humans and
Vulcans may be their descendants.  When Kirk asks Sargon how he can help,
Sargon occupies Kirk's body. This transference produces great stress on
Kirk's body, causing McCoy to become alarmed.  Sargon then asks to borrow
the bodies of Spock and Anne Mullhall for the surviving minds of Filisa
(his wife) and Hanoc (a member of the opposing side in the great war),
the only other two survivors, so that they may construct androids.
Kirk, Spock, and Mullhall voluntarily agree, and the receptacles are
beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> for transference.


As before, the stress is too great on the human bodies, although
Spock's body proves to be rugged enough to sustain Hanoc temporarily.
Sargon leaves Hanoc in charge of formulating a metabolism depressant,
but Hanoc takes the opportunity to doctor the formula to kill Sargon
(and Kirk) so that he can stay in Spock's body.  Nurse Chapel notices
that the formula is incorrect, but Hanoc erases her memory and she
forgets noticing this.  While he is possessed by Hanoc, Spock flashes
uncharacteristic smiles on several occasions.


Hanoc finds that Felissa is also desirous of keeping her body and does not
wish to return to her receptacle. Meanwhile, Sargon is feeling the effects
of the incorrect serum, and even Dr. McCoy cannot save him from dying in
Kirk's body.  Felissa attempts to engage McCoy in her scheme to remain
in Mullhall's body while pretending to have left it, but then relents.


Sargon, who reveals himself to still be alive, expresses his approval.
He and Felissa now scheme to force Hanoc to leave Spock's body.  They
restore Kirk to perfect health, but destroy the receptacle containing
Spock's consciousness in order (to prevent Hanoc from returning to it)
and attempt to administer a deadly poison.  Hanoc has taken control of the
ship, but Nurse Chapel manages to inject him.  It turns out that Sargon
has been sharing consciousness with Nurse Chapel, and that the hypo had
actually only contained a tranquillizer.  Spock is therefore returned
to perfect health, but Hanoc, who had fled Spock's body believing it to
have been poisoned, is now destroyed. Sargon realizes that the temptation
for he and Filissa to abuse their god-like powers is too great, and he
and Filissa desert their bodies and fade into oblivion.

















A landing party from the <i>Enterprise</i> beams down to Cestus 3 for a
dinner engagement with Commodore Traverse. Upon arrival, they discover
that the Earth observation outpost has been obliterated.  Furthermore,
the outpost had been destroyed several days ago, so the messages received
from the base must have been faked.  The landing party (Kirk, Spock, Lang,
Kelowitz, O'Herlihy, and Harold) discovers a survivor, but then comes
under attack by the aliens responsible for the massacre.  O'Herlihy is
vaporized.  The <i>Enterprise</i> simultaneously comes under attack by an
alien vessel and is forced to raise its shields, preventing the landing
party from beaming back up.  Kirk is able to locate the arsenal of the
outpost and locate a mortar.  The aliens overload Spock's tricorder,
causing it to explode, but Kirk is able to use the mortar to fire a blue
sphere which destroys the alien attackers.


After returning to the ship and giving chase to the alien vessel, the
survivor reports that they were attacked by a ship which approached
at space normal speed, then proceeded to bombard the outpost.
The <i>Enterprise</i> increases its speed to warp 8 in order to catch
the alien.  Before they can do so, both the <i>Enterprise</i> and the
alien ship are scanned and incapacitated.  The responsible party is
an advanced civilization calling itself the Metrons and inhabiting
an uncharted solar system.  The Metrons force Kirk and the reptilian
captain of the alien Gorn ship to duel to the death to determine which
ship will survive.  Both combatants are provided with auto-translation
walkie-talkies, but Kirk thinks the device is only a recorder and so
gives away his location and intentions to the Gorn. However, although
the Gorn is physically stronger than Kirk, it is slower. Kirk rolls a
(obviously styrofoam) boulder down a cliff and flattens the Gorn, only
to see it push the rock aside and get up unscathed. Kirk then becomes
ensnared in a set of ropes laid by the Gorn, but is able to escape,
albeit with an injured leg.


After Spock's entreaties to the Metrons, the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i>
is permitted to watch the spectacle on their video monitor. Kirk is
eventually able to outwit the Gorn by finding the minerals for making
gunpowder (sulfur, carbon, and potassium nitrate [saltpeter]) and using
it to propel native diamonds (also found on this geologically unlikely
planet) at the Gorn using a hollowed-out bamboo reed as the gun barrel.
After winning a victory, Kirk convinces the Metrons not the destroy
the Gorn ship, since it is possible that they viewed the Federation
base as an encroachment on their territory.  Kirk is returned to the
original position on the way to Cestus 3.

















Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov prepare to beam down to Gamma 2, an uninhabited
planetoid with automated communication and astrogation station.
Before Scotty can beam them down, however, they are whisked away from
the transporter platform.



The landing party reappears on a different planet entirely, and find
themselves standing on a pad bearing a curious three-pronged triad logo.
They are then accosted by four armed assailants from planets spread
throughout the galaxy. Phasers and communicators no longer work, and for
once they are defeated when they resort to hand-to-hand combat. They are
then fitted with "collars of obedience" by Galt, master Thrall of the
planet Triskelion, and taken to their cells. When they try to escape,
the collars are activated, subjecting them to great pain and rendering
them helpless.


Meanwhile, Spock scans the entire solar system, but is unable to find
any trace of the lost landing party. Ensign Haines notices an ionization
trail from a hydrogen cloud, and Spock follows it across the galaxy to
N24 Alpha, 11.630 light years away.


Back on Triskelion, Uhura's is introduced to her drill Thrall Lars.
Kirk's drill Thrall is the  blue-haired Shahna, and Chekov's is Tamu.
When Uhura refuses to fight, Kirk is forced to fight the whip-equipped
Kloog as punishment.  Upon witnessing Kirk's successful battle, the
"Providers" controlling the Thralls bid for ownership of the newcomers
(in a currency unit known as the quatloo).


While on a training run, Kirk tries to distract Shahna by telling her
about love.  When Kirk asks her about the Providers and she begins to
answer, her collar is activated.  When she recovers, Kirk seduces her.
The Providers find this amusing and do not punish Kirk, but make him stop.
Back in his cell, Kirk knocks Shahna out and uses her key to free Uhura
and Chekov.


Spock and McCoy attempt to beam down Triskelion, but are prevented by
the Providers.  They are then put in audio communication with Kirk, who
is still on the planet's surface. The Providers then reveal themselves to
Kirk as three glowing brains (yellow, green, and orange). They threaten
to destroy Kirk and the <i>Enterprise,</i> but Kirk makes a bet with
the gamesters about his ability to survive in combat.  If he wins,
the Providers must free Kirk and the Thralls.  If he loses, he offers
the entire crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> up as Thralls.  However, the
gamesters insist that Kirk fight three opponents simultaneously: Kloog,
Lars, and an Andorian.  They also grant the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i>
the opportunity to observe the conflict.


Amazingly enough, Kirk wins, even after one of the opponents is replaced
by Shahna.  Kirk, Chekov, and Uhura are returned to the <i>Enterprise,</i>
leaving behind a saddened Shahna.

















While scanning planet Excalbia, Spock detects strange readings
which seem to indicate the presence of carbon cycle life forms.
Because of the planet's molten surface, the reading are discarded as
impossible until the <i>Enterprise</i> is scanned from the planet.
The subsequent appearance of Abraham Lincoln on the viewing screen and
his transportation to the <i>Enterprise</i> demonstrate that whatever
intelligence resides on the planet has the ability to read minds and
manipulate matter.  Kirk orders full honors and courtesy be extended
to their guest (including Lt. Dickerson and his security detachment).
Shortly before beaming Lincoln aboard, Spock reports that sensors showing
an object resembling living rock with claws at the same position.


On board, Lincoln appears to be human with knowledge of technology from
the mid 1800's, but is strangely also aware of the Vulcan philosophy of
Nom (meaning all). When Kirk accepts Lincoln's invitation for Spock and
him to beam down to the newly-created patch of Earth-type environment on
the planet (over McCoy and Scotty's strong objections), they encounter
Surak, the father of Vulcan civilization.  A piece of rock suddenly
becomes animated and informs them that the inhabitants of the planet
are conducting an experiment to discover which of the opposing human
philosophies is stronger: good or evil.  The inhabitants of Excalbia
will witness the "drama," as will the crew of the <i>Enterprise.</i>
In this first experiment, the goal will be a simple one: survival.


To carry out their experiment, the rock creatures pit Lincoln, Surak,
Kirk, and Spock (whose phasers and tricorders failed to beam down with
them) against Genghis Khan, Colonel Green (who led a genocidal war in
the early 21st Century), Zora (who experimented with the body chemistry
of subject tribes on Tiburon), and Kahless the Klingon (who set the
pattern for the Klingon Empire's tyrannies) in a battle to the death.
Col. Green (who was notorious for attacking his enemies while in the
midst of negotiations) begins the conflict by pretending to call a truce
with Kirk while his associates prepare to attack.  However, after fending
off the attack, Kirk does not wish to begin hostilities. As incentive to
fight, the <i>Enterprise</i> is rigged to blow up if Kirk cannot succeed
within four hours.  Kirk begins making tactics (and Lincoln compares his
leadership qualities to those of Ulysses S. Grant), but Spock and Surak
refuse to cooperate and Surak seeks out the other group to negotiate.


Green appears to parlay with Surak, but sends his associates to sneak up
on him.  They then attempt to trick Kirk's party into rescuing him when he
(apparently) screams out in pain.  Lincoln attempts to sneak into Green's
camp, but this action had been expected.  As he discovers that Surak
is already dead, Lincoln is speared from behind.  Col.  Green's party
then attacks Spock and Kirk.  Spock kills Col. Green and the others are
forced to flee. The rock creatures discover that evil is defeated when
directly confronted by good, and Spock, Kirk, and the <i>Enterprise</i>
are released.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> has used the light speed breakaway factor to
propel itself backward in time. It monitors Earth communications while
on a historical fact-finding mission to study how Earth survived the
turbulent year 1968.


While in orbit, the <i>Enterprise</i> accidentally intercepts a
transporter beam originating more that 1000 light years away, beaming
aboard interplanetary agent Gary Seven and his partner Isis, disguised
as a black cat.  Seven discovers that the <i>Enterprise</i> is from the
future, and demands to be beamed down to continue with his mission.
Seven claims he is a human from the twentieth century who has been
living on a different planet, which wishes to remain hidden (even is
Kirk's time).  When Kirk decides to confine Seven to a detention cell
until he can learn more, Seven overpowers the guards and even brushes
off Spock's nerve pinch, but Kirk temporarily stuns him with a phaser.
Ho does not long remain in his cell, however, using a "servo" device
disguised as a pen to deactivate the force field and put his guard
to sleep.  He is rejoined by Isis on his way to the transporter room,
and beams down before Kirk can stop him, materializing inside a safe
concealed behind a sliding rack of glasses in what appears to be an
otherwise normal office.


However, the office turns out to be anything but normal, and a Beta
5 computer (capable of analytical decision) is also hidden behind a
bookcase.  Gary Seven asks the Beta 5 computer the status of agents 201
and 347, and discovers that their location has not been reported for 3
days. In order to access the computer, Gary Seven (who is known as agent
194 and turns out to be a "Class 1 Supervisor"), is forced to summarize
the nature of his mission.  The agents turn out to be descendants of
human ancestors taken from the Earth 6000 year ago and specially trained
for the mission of preventing Earth from destroying itself before it can
become a peaceful society.  According to the computer, this is necessary
since science and technology have progressed faster than political and
social knowledge on Earth.  Seven learns that the agents' mission was to
disable a rocket to launch an American orbiting nuclear platform which
will take off in an hour to counter a similar platform launched by an
"opposing power."  Seven compares this situation to the one which
almost resulted in the destruction of planet Omicron 4.


Meanwhile, Roberta Lincoln, a secretary hired by Seven's fellow agent
shows up (late) for work, and Seven mistakes her for one of the agents.
As a result, he shares some of his secret gadgetry with her, including
a voice-activated typewriter.  However, Seven convinces her that he is
a CIA agent, and that she should remain silent about what she has seen
in the interests of national security.


Just after Seven learns from the Beta 5 that agents 201 and 347 were
killed in an automobile accident on Highway 949, 10 miles north of
McKinley Rocket Base, Kirk and Spock (who have beamed down in an attempt
to locate Seven) barge into the office.  However, Lincoln stalls them
long enough to allow Seven to escape into the safe/transporter, and also
manages to call the police to the office (which is located at 811 East
68th Street, number 12B).  When they arrive, Kirk beams them up to the
the policemen to the apartment.


Seven rematerializes inside the rocket base and stuns a guard with
his pen gizmo before he can complete a call to security.  Seven then
makes his way to the gantry elevator and begins to sabotage the wiring
when he reaches the top.  Just as the guard stunned by Seven awakes,
Kirk and Spock materialize in front of him and are escorted by him to
an interrogation in the launch complex.


Meanwhile, Lincoln accidentally discovers the sliding glass rack, opening
it by depressing a pen on the desk.  She then picks the lock to the
safe. At the sane time, Scott locates Seven manipulating wires on the
rocket using the ships sensors, and attempts to beam him up.  Lincoln,
however, accidentally pulls him back to the office while fiddling with the
safe controls.  Seven then using the Beta 5 exceiver circuits to cause the
third stage of the American rocket to malfunction and veer off course.
He also arms the warhead, and is shortly thereafter konked on the head
by Roberta.


The arming of the warhead is noted by Chekov aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i>
who attempts to contact Kirk for instructions.  When the communicator
beeps and the rocket base guard picks it up, Spock nerve pinches the
guard, and tells Scott to beam Kirk and himself to Seven's apartment.
Here, they watch while Seven explodes the warhead 104 miles above
ground. Records from the <i>Enterprise</i> show that exactly such an
event occurred, and that it furthermore caused the nuclear powers to
re-assess the risks of placing hydrogen bombs in orbit.

















On its way to a much-needed rest stop at Starbase 6 (with Lt. Kowal in
place of Sulu), the <i>Enterprise</i> is diverted to investigate the
mysterious cessation of communication with the Gamma 7A star system.
While on its way, Spock telepathically senses the destruction of
the <i>Intrepid,</i> a starship manned by Vulcans, and claims that
all 400 Vulcans aboard have been killed.  Starbase 6 then orders the
with the <i>Intrepid.</i>


The <i>Enterprise</i> encounters a strange field which drains all energy,
whether mechanical or biologically generated.  Spock reports that he has
never encountered a phenomenon like this before, and it shows up on the
viewing screen as a dark hole in space.  The <i>Enterprise</i> launches
a probe into it, but it returns only a high-pitched whine which causes
half the <i>Enterprise</i>'s crew to faint.  When the <i>Enterprise</i>
prepares to fire again, the whine returns, and the <i>Enterprise</i>
experiences a 5% power drain.  The stars vanish from the viewing
screen, and Spock reports that they have entered a "zone of darkness."
This boundary layer proceeds to drain the ship and its crew of energy.


Spock finds that the zone of darkness is a negative energy field.
Scott prepares to use full power to yank the <i>Enterprise</i> out of
the zone, but the best he can do is is slow the pull towards the center
of the zone.  As they approach, they see a giant one-celled organism
which is 11,000 miles long and 2,000-3,000 miles wide.  They send a
probe which penetrates the organism and discovers it to be living and
to be filled with protoplasm.


Kirk decides to send a shuttlecraft, and must decide between sending
Spock or McCoy.  Spock sets out in the shuttlecraft <i>Galileo II</i> (NCC
1701/7), and heads for the nucleus.  He also reduces life support systems
to the bare minimum, causing Chekov and Kirk to become concerned. Spock
establishes that the organism has stored enough energy to reproduce
and that the 40 chromosomes in the nucleus are ready to come together.
Kirk shuts off the <i>Enterprise</i>'s engines and switches all power to
the shields, causing the <i>Enterprise</i> to be sucked into the organism.


Kirk then fills a probe full of antimatter, and prepares to plant it
in the nucleus.  Chekov reports that the probe is "ready for lunch,"
and successfully lodges it in the nucleus.


Meanwhile, aboard the shuttlecraft, Spock makes a log tape in preparation
for his own death.  As the <i>Enterprise</i> backs out of the organism
before it blows up, it detects Spock's shuttlecraft and locks on a
tractor beam.  The <i>Enterprise</i> run out of energy near the edge of
the organism, and the crew waits for the detonation and their own deaths.


The explosion rocks the ship, but it survives, and the stars appear in
the viewing screen again. Somehow, the shuttlecraft survives as well,
and Spock reports he has some fascinating data on the organism.  However,
McCoy is furious that he has botched the acetylcholine test.

















An Earth-like uninhabited planet in the Omicron Delta region seems
the ideal location for rest and relaxation for the tired crew of the
landing party.  McCoy sees Alice and a white rabbit, Sulu finds an
antique Police Special gun, Yeoman Barrels is accosted by Don Juan,
and Esteban Rodriguez and Angela see birds.  No one believes McCoy's
Alice sighting until Kirk beams down and spots a giant rabbit track. Kirk
cancels shore leave for the rest of the crew, but is then confronted with
practical joker Finigan from Starfleet Academy on the one hand and his
former girlfriend Ruth on the other. Meanwhile, Sulu has been attacked
by a Samurai, Rodriguez and Angela have been confronted by a tiger,
and Bones is making moves on Barrels, who has found princess's clothes.


Spock meanwhile reports from the <i>Enterprise</i> that he has detected
a sophisticated power field on the planet which is draining the
as communications with the ship are becoming impossible. Pleasure over
seeing Barrels dressed as a princess soon turns to terror when Bones is
lanced by a knight. After bones is skewered, Kirk shoots the knight with
the gun he has confiscated from Sulu.  Investigation of the knight shows
him to have the same cellular structure as the plants on the planet,
and Spock surmises that it has been "manufactured."  A Japanese Zero
airplane then strafes Angela, fortunately missing.  During the commotion,
the bodies of the dead knight and McCoy myseriously disappear.


After asking Kirk what he was thinking about prior to encountering
Finigan, Spock realizes that the apparitions are being created out of the
minds of the landing party.  Upon thinking about the Academy again, Kirk
conjures up Finigan and heads off on a wild chase after him.  After Kirk
catches up, Finigan lays him out flat.  After more fighting, Kirk finally
succeeds in doing something he had never done before, defeating Finney.


Suddenly, the planet's "caretaker" appears with a "repaired" McCoy (on
the arms of two cabaret girls from Rigel 2).  The caretaker apologizes
for the misunderstandings and offers the services of the "amusement
park" planet to the <i>Enterprise</i>'s weary crew.  Kirk accepts and
authorizes the crew to beam down, but Spock has had his fill of shore
leave and requests to be returned to the <i>Enterprise</i>.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> investigates the lack of response from Earth
outposts 2 and 3 (and subsequently 8) monitoring the Neutral Zone between
planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy.  Using his authority
as a ship's captain, Kirk is preparing to solemnize the marriage of crew
members Angela Martine and Robert Tomlinson.  However, the ceremony
is interrupted when Earth outpost 4 reports itself under attack by
an unknown space vessel.  The Earth outposts have been constructed on
asteroids, and were authorized by treaty following the atomic war with
the Romulans more than a century earlier.  No human or Romulan, however,
has ever seen the another.  Navigator Stiles is especially bitter because
his ancestors were killed in the Earth-Romulan war


As the <i>Enterprise</i> communicates with outpost 4, Commander Hansen
reports an attack underway by an unknown weapon from a spaceship which
subsequently vanished.  Immediately thereafter, the attacking starship
becomes visible briefly, destroys the outpost, then vanishes again.
However, Kirk is able to track it despite its cloaking device, and flies
on a parallel course.  Spock is able to lock in to Romulan transmissions,
and the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> gets a glimpse of the Romulans
(who have pointy ears!).  The anatomical resemblance of Romulans and
Vulcans leads Stiles to question Spock's allegiances.


Meanwhile, the Romulan commander questions his mission of starting a
war, and discusses it with his Centurion. Aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i>
scanners show debris from outpost 4 contains disintegrated cast roginium,
the hardest substance known to science, and Spock surmises that a plasma
weapon must have been used.  The <i>Enterprise</i> takes advantage of
the passage of the Romulan vessel through a magnitude 7 comet tail to
attempt an attack.  However, the Romulans are planning to turn and attack
the <i>Enterprise</i> once the comet rendered its sensors ineffective.
Kirk fires phasers at random in hopes of hitting the Romulan and scores
a minor hit. Unfortunately, this overloads the phasers and renders
them temporarily unusable.  The Romulans fire a plasma-ball and the
dissipates partially before impacting. The <i>Enterprise</i> fires again
and again does only minor damage.  However, the Romulan ship ejects
debris including the body of the Centurion who was killed in the second


The <i>Enterprise</i> then sits motionless for 9 hours, 47 minutes hoping
the Romulan ship will make a move and reveal itself.  Spock accidentally
sets off an alarm while fixing the phasers, and the <i>Enterprise</i>
begin maneuvering and fires off another salvo.  The Romulan vessel
then ejects debris, inside of which it has placed a nuclear weapon.
Spock detects a metal object, and the <i>Enterprise</i> destroys it
before running into it, but 22 casualties, mostly radiation burns, still
result. Stiles and Tomlinson are overcome by pink gas in the phaser room,
but Spock is able to get there and fire the phasers manually. This is
enough to render the Romulan inoperative, and its captain self-destructs.
Tomlinson dies, but Spock is able to save Stiles.  Kirk must then comfort
Martine over the death of her fiance.









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A man named Mr. Norman, who has been aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> for 72
hours, and strikes Dr. McCoy as odd. McCoy's suspicions are confirmed when
Mr. Norman overpowers Ensign Jordan, the auxiliary control operator, and
re-directs the ship.  Security guard Rowe reports that the directional
controls are unworkable.  Mr. Norman then barges into Engineering,
increases speed to Warp 7, and sets up a booby trap to prevent
tampering. He hijacks the <i>Enterprise</i> and takes it on a four-day
trip to an uncharted planet of robots who exist solely to serve humans.


Harcourt Fenton Mudd, previously encountered in the <i><a
href="MuddsWomen.html">Mudd's Women</a></i> episode, is the "ruler"
of the robots. He has escaped from prison (where he was condemned to
death for fraud), and  has created an army of 500 robot women   He has
also created an android version of his nagging wife Stella.  Unlike the
real Stella, the android follows instructions and is forced to shut up
when Mudd tells her to.


Mudd is being studied by the robots, who are accommodating, but refuse
to let him go.  The androids tell Kirk that they were built by people
from the Andromeda galaxy.  However, the civilization which constructed
them was destroyed by a supernova, and so the androids were left without
supervision.  Now they have found new purpose in Mudd.  Spock makes
inquiries, discovers that there are 207,809 androids, and most importantly
that they seem to be controlled by some central coordinating power.


Mudd beams androids aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> and has them send down
the entire crew. Chekov is fascinated when he finds that the female robots
have been programmed to carry out all activities of which human females
are capable.  Uhura also doesn't find captivity so unpleasant when she
is promised immortality. Mudd attempts to take over the <i>Enterprise</i>
and strand Kirk and the crew on the planet in place of himself.  However,
the robots do not permit Harry to carry out his plan.  They find people
too destructive, and plan to take over and "serve" all humans (according
to their programming) in the galaxy in order to control them.


Spock learns that there are many robots of each Alice, Oscar, etc.,
series, but only a single Norman.  He speculates that Norman is the
central coordinator, and suggests that they coordinate their efforts on
him. They tranquillize Mudd and then claim they need to beam aboard the
request until Uhura pretends to reveal that this is merely a ploy to
get aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>  She claims her motivation is that
she wants to be made immortal. The landing party (including Spock),
then engage in a series of illogical (and moronic) actions in order to
confuse and overload the androids.  This culminates in the immobilization
of Norman himself when Harry tells him "everything I say is a lie."


Kirk leaves Harry on the planet with his attendant robots to serve as
an example of human failure to them. The robots are also reprogrammed to
carry out their original task of rendering the planet fit for human life.
As a final blow to Mr.  Mudd, Kirk also leaves behind several android
copies of his shrewish wife Stella.

















The derelict DY100 class spaceship <i>S.S. Botany Bay</i> built in the
1990s is discovered by the <i>Enterprise.</i> Biological scanners detect
life aboard, but only 4 heartbeats a minute, so Bones does not believe
them to be produced by humans.  The <i>Enterprise</i> has no record of
the ship, but this is not surprising as many records were lost in the
great World War of Eugenics fought during that period.


Bones, Scotty, Kirk and historian Marla McGivers beam aboard and
discover it is indeed an old Earth ship powered by primitive nuclear
power. The crew is in suspended animation, but the leader is accidentally
awakened when the lights are turned on.  Kirk is forced to break the
glass and remove him from his chamber when the revival procedure fails
and he is almost killed. McCoy and the man are then beamed aboard the


As the <i>Enterprise</i> proceeds to Starbase 12 in the Gamma 400
star system, historian McGivers falls in love with the leader (who is
discovered to be Khan Noonien Singh).  Khan makes a miraculous recovery,
and holds Bones at scalpel-point to find out where he is.  Khan and
his crew are products of the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s.   In 1993, a
group of supermen simultaneously seized power in more than 40 nations.
Spock reveals to Kirk that his research has determined that that
there were 80-90 supermen unaccounted for at the end of the war.  This,
together with Khan's extreme strength and physical prowess lead Kirk and
Spock to wonder if there passenger might be one of the missing supermen.
Through subtle questioning, Kirk gets Khan to inadvertently admit that he
is one of the supermen when he blurts out "We offered the world order."
Kirk and company look up Khan in the database and find him to have been
the most dangerous of the supermen, and at one time to have ruled a
quarter of the Earth.


Khan uses his great strength to break out of his cabin, and McGivers
helps him to transport to the <i>Botany Bay.</i> Khan awakens the 72
out of 84 superhumans (30 of them women) whose life support systems are
still functioning and takes over the <i>Enterprise</i> with their help.
Khan cuts off life support to the bridge, knocking out Kirk, Spock,
McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Technicians First Class Tooly and Harrison, and
Lt. Spinelli.


When Khan puts Kirk in a decompression chamber to force the other command
crew members to join him, McGivers relents and helps Kirk regain control
of the ship by cutting off the monitor camera on the chamber, injecting
the guard, and releasing Kirk.  Kirk then helps Spock escape when he is
brought to the chamber for his turn.  They gas the entire ship, but Khan
escapes to engineering and attempts to cause the ship to self-destruct.
Kirk takes on Khan in hand-to-hand combat, and is able to overcome him
using a rod which he pulls from the control panel.


Kirk maroons the superhumans on Ceti Alpha 5, leaving them sufficient
supplies to enable them to colonize the uninhabited planet.  On hearing
this, Khan asks Kirk if he has ever read Milton, and Kirk says yes, he
understands. The reference is the statement Lucifer made when he fell
into the pit, "It is better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven." Kirk
gives McGivers a choice between court martial and being left behind with
Khan, and she elects to stay with Khan.


This episode was the basis for the movie <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.</i>

















On routine patrol, the <i>Enterprise</i> happens upon space debris from
the <i>S.S. Beagle,</i> a survey ship which disappeared 6 years ago.
The <i>Beagle</i> had been a Class 4 star drive vessel with a crew of
47, and had been commanded by Captain R.M. Merrik, an academy associate
of Kirk.  When Spock projects the path of the wreckage back in time,
he discovers a civilization of modern-day Romans on Planet 4 of the 892
System.  The <i>Enterprise</i> then intercepts a television transmission
showing a gladiator killing the "last of the Barbarians," who turns
out to be <i>Beagle</i> flight officer William B. Harrison.


After beaming down, Spock, Bones, and Kirk are confronted by a cadre of
rifle-toting escaped slaves.  The landing party is captured and taken
to the slaves' leader Septimus, a former Senator who now worships the
"sun."  Although the slave Flavius wants to kill the <i>Enterprise</i>'s
landing party, Septimus accepts them as friends and offers them
hospitality.  The extreme similarity of the 892 System's civilization
to the Romans Earth is apparently a coincidence, demonstrating according
to Kirk the validity of Hodgekin's Law of Parallel Planet Development.


When Kirk questions the slaves about a man named Merrik, he finds that the
leader and First Citizen of the Roman-like empire is called Merricus. When
Kirk and his comrades then express an interest in capturing Merricus,
Flavius Maximus (a former gladiator) offers to accompany them. However,
they are captured by Roman forces and put in prison.  Kirk questions
Flavius to find out about the institution of slavery on this planet,
and finds that slave uprisings virtually ceased after they were slowly
given rights such as medical care and a pension.  Kirk, McCoy, and Spock
attempt to escape when their guards escort them to talk to Merrik, but
Merrik has anticipated this, disarms them, and then brings them to his
quarters for a conversation.


Merricus is indeed Merrick, and he tells Kirk that he beamed down to
the planet to obtain iridium ore for repairs after he <i>Beagle</i>
sustained meteor damage.  Here, he met First Consul Claudius Marcus. He
also decided that he could not bring word of the planet's culture to
the Federation without hopelessly contaminating it.  Merrik therefore
agreed to stay, but killed those of his crew members who could not
adapt by sending them into the Arena be killed in a fight.  The Consul
orders Kirk to transport his crew down a few at a time. Instead, Kirk
gives the code word "condition green" alerting Scott that he is in
trouble, but that Scott should not interfere.  For refusing to comply,
Merrik sends McCoy and Spock to fight in the Arena against gladiators
Achilles and the recaptured Flavius. Spock is very unsporting, however,
since he stuns his opponent and then nerve pinches Flavius when McCoy
gets into trouble.  McCoy and Spock are returned to prison, but Kirk is
entertained by the Proconsul's slave Drusilla prior to execution.


Scott prepares to disrupt power to the entire planet from the
Before the execution can take place, Flavius intervenes.  Unfortunately,
he is killed by machine gun fire before Scott cuts power.  Kirk then
frees McCoy and Spock, only to be surrounded by Roman guards.  However,
Merrik has stolen a communicator and signals the <i>Enterprise</i>
to beam them up.  Unfortunately, in the middle of his transmission,
he is slain by the Proconsul. Merrik throws the communicator to Kirk,
who has Scotty beam them up just before their cell is criss-crossed with
machine gun fire.  Back aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> Uhura discovers
that the escaped slaves were not sun worshippers, but worshippers of a
different "son": the Son of God.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> is given the mission of transporting the Medusan
ambassador Kollos, a member of a species so ugly that the mere sight of
it causes humans to go insane, back to his home planet. Spock is able
to wear a visor which will protect him, but all humans are forced to
leave the bridge before the ambassador arrives.  The ambassador arrives
enclosed in a specially designed box, but is also accompanied by the
telepath Dr. Miranda Jones, who is looking after his needs.  Like
Spock, Jones is able to look at a Medusan through a visor, supposedly
because she has studied on Vulcan.


Larry Marvick, one of the designers of the <i>Enterprise,</i> also has
beamed aboard.  He is in love with Jones.   At a welcoming dinner,
the senior crew all drool over Miranda, but the mood is spoiled when
she reports that someone nearby is contemplating murder. When Marvick's
advances are snubbed by Miranda, she discovers that he is the one
considering murder, although she does not know whom against.  Marvick
seeks revenge against Kollos for taking Miranda away from him, but is
driven insane when he inadvertently looks at Kollos while attempting to
shoot him with a phaser.  The insane Marvick commandeers the
galaxy, raves about being suffocated in his sleep, and then dies for no
apparent reason.


In order to return the <i>Enterprise</i> to the galaxy, either Spock or
Miranda must mind meld with the ambassador who, as all Medusans, is a
master navigator.  Spock is given the task, but fears interference from
Miranda, who is fiercely jealous of Spock's ability to mind meld. Kirk
discovers that Miranda is afraid of human emotion, and wishes to go
with Kollos partly to avoid having to deal with it.  However, she
learns of Spock's plans telepathicaly, and demands that she be taught
to pilot the <i>Enterprise</i> so that she can mind meld with Kollos.
Bones uses the opportunity to reveal that Miranda is blind (her dress
is a highly complicated sensor web which allows her to see, as well as
to measure Kirk's distance from the door as 1 m 4 cm), which is why she
is able to "look" at Kollos.


Kirk suggests that Miranda take up the issue with Kollos, who agrees to
her horror that Spock should be the one to make contact.  Using the
visor to protect his human half from the sight of the Medusan, Spock
melds minds. A now smiling and cheerful Spock greets the other senior
crew members, then pilots the ship successfully back to the Milky Way.
However, when Spock reverses the mind meld, he forgets the visor, sees
Kollos, and goes crazy.


Kirk asks Miranda to help Spock, and when she claims to be able to
do nothing, Kirk accuses her of having used her mental powers to make
Spock forget to put on the visor. Luckily, Miranda has a change of
heart and uses telepathy to bring Spock back to health.


Miranda and Kollos are then delivered to their destination.  Upon
parting, Kirk presents Miranda with a rose.  Miranda queries "I
suppose it has thorns," and Kirk responds, "I never met a rose that
didn't."

















On a mission to establish contact with the reclusive Melcotians,
Kirk ignores the message of a space probe which uses telepathy
(each crew member hears the message in his own language) to warn the
contact the Melcotians, but there is no response to his message.


When Spock, Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and Chekov beam down to Melcot, they
materialize in a fog bank not recorded by ship's sensors.  In addition,
tricorders and communicators cease functioning. The landing party
encounters a Melcotian who informs them that they are outside disease
which must be destroyed.  Their trespassing is to be punished by
death, and that the pattern of their death will be taken from Kirk's
memories, since it was he who ordered that the Melcotians' warning
to be disregarded.  Because Kirk's ancestors pioneered the West, the
landing party finds itself teleported to Tombstone, Arizona on October
26, 1881.  The townsfolk  refer to Kirk as Ike Clanton, Chekov as Billy
Clayborn, Scotty as Billy Clanton, Bones as Tom McCloury, and Spock as
Frank McClary.  Spock recalls that at 5:00, on this date in history,
the Clanton Gang shot it out with Doc Holiday and Morgan, Virgil, and
Wyatt Earp at the OK Corral--and were defeated.


On their way to the local saloon, the landing party witnesses the shooting
of a bar patron by Morgan Earp.  Inside the bar, Chekov is accosted
by a woman name Sylvia who claims to know him.  Both Kirk and Chekov
narrowly avoid a gunfight with Morgan Earp over the incident. Kirk tries
unsuccessfully to make peace with the Earps. When this fails, he and
the landing party attempt to leave town so as not to be around at 5:00,
but they are stopped by a force field.


Desperately, Bones and Spock cooperate
to build a tranquillizer bomb which will incapacitate the Earps.  McCoy tries to borrow chemicals for his
bomb from the local dentist, only to find that the dentist is Doc Holliday. Nevertheless, Holliday lets him take the
chemicals, telling him that he better be finished using them before his 5:00 date with destiny.


Meanwhile, Chekov has fallen in love with Sylvia, with whom Morgan
Earp is unfortunately also in love.  When Morgan picks a fight over
the girl, Chekov is shot and killed.  Spock is puzzled by this, since
William Clayborn survived the battle at the OK Corral. Kirk takes it to
mean that the outcome of the conflict does not necessarily correspond
with the historical outcome.  Kirk tries to get the Sheriff to call the
shootout off, but finds that he is more interested in having the Clanton
gang kill the Earps.


With time running out, Scotty volunteers to test the potion Bones
has cooked up.  Despite Bones' careful preparation, it does not work.
Spock is the only one who understands the significance of this fact,
saying, "You do not seem to understand.  It did not function.  But it
must function."  Spock realizes that nothing around them is real; the
whole scenario is taking place in their minds.


Kirk vows not to leave the bar until after 5:00, but finds himself and
the others transported to the OK Corral at a few minutes before 5:00.
Attempts to leave the Corral reveal that it is encircled by a force field
so that escape is impossible. Using a mind meld, Spock convinces everyone
else of his certainty that nothing around them, including bullets, is
real.  So convinced, the Earps shoot their imaginary bullets right through
the landing party.  When the Earps have stopped firing and after Kirk
has spared their lives, the landing party finds itself whisked on board
the <i>Enterprise</i> on the way to Melcot with a healthy Mr. Chekov (who
is alive because the only thing that was real to him was the girl). The
Melcotian probe, once again directly in front of them, emits M waves and
then disintegrates.  The Melcotians, impressed that Kirk did not kill,
then extend an invitation to establish relations with the Federation.

















After a landing party beams down to investigate a distress call,
they initially find no life form readings.  Shortly thereafter,
two "perfect" human life forms register and put in an appearance.
They thank Kirk for responding so quickly to the distress call, and
demands that Kirk surrender the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Before Kirk can
take any action, they press buttons on their belt which paralyze the
landing party's muscles. It turns out that the commander Rojan and
his companions (Tomar, Hanar, Drea, and Kelinda), are members of the
Kelvin Empire from the Andromeda Galaxy. They are members of a scouting
party sent to search for a new planet (since their old one will become
unlivable within 10 millenia due to high radiation levels).  However,
the Kelvin's ship was destroyed by an energy field at the edge of the
Milky Way Galaxy.  The Kelvins were able to use a shuttle craft to reach
their current planet, but need a new ship to return.  They also plan to
modify the ship's engines to allow the intergalactic trip to be made in
300 years. While Rojan explains this to Kirk on the planet's surface,
other Kelvins take over the <I>Enterprise.</i>


When imprisoned behind bars similar to diburnium (but more
dense), Lt. Shae advocates a forcible breakout. However, in an
out-of-character move, Kirk suggests that Spock using a Vulcan
mind probe on Kelinda (as he had done to the guard on Eminiar VII).
Spock is violently thrown back by Kelinda's reaction, but when she
enters the cell to investigate, Kirk knocks her out and attempts
to escape.  Unfortunately, Kirk and the escapees don't get very far,
and the Kelvins reduce Shae and Yeoman Thompson to two small gray <a
href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Polyhedron.html">polyhedra</a> (which
are purported to contain their essences).  Rojan crushes Thompson's
as a warning to Kirk, but restores Shae to human form.


From his mind probe, Spock reports that the Kelvins are actually immense
beings with 100 limbs which resemble tentacles. Spock pretends to be
ill by going into a self-induced Vulcan coma, and is permitted to be
beamed up with McCoy. On board, McCoy tells Nurse Chapel to prepare 2
cc's of stochaline ("don't argue Nurse, just get it"). McCoy pretends
that Spock will be fine in several hours and is only suffering from a
flare-up of Rigelian Casaba fever.


Kelinda admires the plants on the planet surface and compares them to
Kelvin sashir ("a rose by any other name," according to Kirk).  Spock and
Kirk are beamed up to the ship, and discover the Kelvin power source.
Spock and Scott prepare to blow up the <i>Enterprise</i> when it passes
through the negative energy barrier at the edge of the Galaxy.  However,
Kirk hopes to avoid destruction, and so refuses to give the order.
(Actually, the Kelvins had discovered the plan and rendered it ineffective
in any case.)


As soon as the <i>Enterprise</i> is past the energy barrier,
the Kelvins begin reducing the entire crew (with the
exception of Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and Spock) to more gray <a
href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Polyhedron.html">polyhedra</a>.
After Tomar expresses a desire to sample the ship's food, Spock notes
that since the Kelvins have taken human form, they seem to be indulging
in sensory experiences which were hitherto unknown to them.


Kirk suggests that this unfamiliarity with senses can be used to confuse
the Kelvins.  Bones uses the stimulant formazine on Hanar to irritate him
(telling him it is a vitamin shot), Kirk attempts to seduce Kelinda by
kissing her, Spock plays on Rojan's jealousy over the kissing incident,
and Scotty loads Tomar up on Sorian Brandy (and when he runs out, resorts
to his secret stash of Scotch Whisky), but Drea is unaccountably left
unaffected.  When Rojan tells Kelinda to stay away from Kirk and she
refuses, Rojan loses his temper and threatens to neutralize the rest of
the humans.  As Scott is about to celebrate drinking Tomar under the
table, he too keels over in a dead faint.  Rojan becomes increasingly
jealous, and engages in a fist fight with Kirk over Kelinda. The Kelvins
are dismayed by their very human responses and fearful that by taking
human form, they have betrayed their own form and culture.  They are
therefore convinced by Kirk and Spock to work with the Federation to
find a habitable planet in the Milky Way for their people, and Rojan
returns control of the <i>Enterprise</i> to Kirk.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> transports ambassadors to a conference to discuss
the admission of Corridon, a star system composed of many mutually
combative races, to the Federation.  Corridon contains a nearly unlimited
supply of dilithium crystals, but its small population and lack of strong
government has allowed illegal mining operations by outsiders seeking to
exploit its natural resources.  Sarek is the 102.437-year-old ambassador
from Vulcan, and is accompanied by his wife Amanda (who is a human).
To Kirk's surprise, they turn out to be Spock's parents.  Also to Kirk's
surprise, Sarek is cool towards Spock, apparently because Spock has
chosen to devote his life to Starfleet instead of Vulcan science.


The conference is to take place on neutral planet code-named Babel. McCoy
questions Amanda about Spock and finds that, as a youth, he had a pet
sela, a sort of fat Vulcan Teddy bear with 6-inch fangs.  Meanwhile, Uhura
has detected an unidentified transmission from the <i>Enterprise,</i>
and Chekov subsequently detects a small ship of unknown origin paralleling
the <i>Enterprise</i> just out of phaser range at Warp 10.


From Section A3 on Deck 11, Lt. Joseph reports that Tellerite ambassador
Gav has been murdered.  McCoy ascertains that death was instantaneous
following an expert breaking of his neck (known to Vulcans of Tel-Shaha).
This brings Sarek under suspicion, since he had been involved in an
altercation with the Tellerite after accusing his people of smuggling
from Corridon.  However, when Kirk begins asking Sarek questions,
Sarek suffers from a malfunction in one of his heart valves, the Vulcan
equivalent of a heart attack.


Meanwhile, Spock detects tritanium emissions from the alien ship's hull
after it transmits a message.  Uhura determines that the message was
received somewhere aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>  However, Spock is
unable to decode the fragment of the message which Uhura has intercepted.


Sarek reveals that he has had three previous Vulcan heart attacks, and
has been taking Bengacydrine to combat it.  He requires an open heart
operation, but the ship's stores do not have a sufficient supply of blood,
especially of Sarek's rare Vulcan T negative blood.  Despite the fact
that Spock's blood is a mixture of human and Vulcan factors, he provides
a blood transfusion to Sarek after McCoy uses an experimental stimulant
to increase the rate of blood production.


The Andorian Thelev, a minor member of the ambassador's staff, attacks
Kirk near Deck 5 and stabs him. Kirk requires medical attention, so
Spock assumes command.  Under these circumstances, he says he cannot
take time off to give the transfusion to Sarek, and cannot pass command
on to anyone else because he is the best qualified person to command
the <i>Enterprise.</i> His mother pleads with him, but he refuses.


Finally, Kirk pretends to be healed (with McCoy's reluctant approval)
and takes command from Spock, ordering him to sickbay.  Uhura detects
another transmission originating from the <i>Enterprise,</i>, and this
time it is pinpointed to the Andorian in the brig.  A search by security
reveals a transceiver hidden in one of his fake antennae.


The <i>Enterprise</i> is then attacked by alien ship while Sarek
and Spock are on the operating table, endangering both their lives.
It is moving too quickly to be hit by the <i>Enterprise</i> and is able
to damage the <i>Enterprise</i> sufficiently that it loses one of its
shields. Kirk fools the alien ship by turning off shields and internal
power, luring the enemy ship in for the kill. When it begins moving in,
Kirk hits it with phasers and disables it.   However, before he can ask
them to surrender, they blow themselves up.


The Andorian prisoner appears to have been attempting to sow discord and
distrust among the Federation members, but he dies of self-administered
slow poison shortly after his comrades' ship is destroyed by the
surmises that the perpetrators were from Orion, since Orioners are
known to have been smuggling dilithium from Corridon and are anxious
to prevent interference.  McCoy confines both the injured Kirk and the
recovering Spock to sickbay, shushing all protests. "Well, what do you
know," he says with a grin, "I finally got the last word."

















The <i>Enterprise</i> encounters an ion-propelled ship of unusual
configuration, which then activates a transferral beam.  The beam
transports a mysterious woman onto the bridge of the <i>Enterprise.</i>
Upon arrival, she stuns everyone with a gizmo on her bracelet.
She examines the stunned crew on the bridge, and appears to take a
special interest in Spock.  So much so, in fact, that she surgically
removes Spock's brain, as McCoy and Kirk discover when they come to a
short time later. Luckily, due to Vulcan physiology, Spock's body can be
maintained alive mechanically while Kirk goes in search of Spock's brain.


When the <i>Enterprise</i> follows the ion trail of the woman's ship,
they are led to the Sigma Draconis system.  Out of three habitable
planets (3, 4, and 6), scanners detect none which is capable of having
constructed an advanced ion-powered craft.  Planet 3 rates letter B on
the industrial scale (Earth equivalent 1485), planet 4 letter G (year
2030), and planet 6 shows no sign of industrial development and is in a
glacial age.  Uhura detects regular emission of high energy from planet
6, in contradiction to its supposed primitive status. Playing a hunch,
Kirk beams down with a landing party to planet 6.


Sigma Draconis 6 is indeed in the middle of an ice age, but Kirk has no
trouble locating inhabitants (who attack them, believing them to be "the
others."). When Kirk captures one of the attackers (who calls himself a
Morg) and questions him, the Morg warns Kirk about the "givers of pain
and delight."  Kirk asks Morg about females of his kind, but is only met
with befuddlement.  When Kirk asks Morg to help him find the "others,"
Morg runs away in terror.


The landing party soon locates a "dead and buried city," and also
discovers a trap elevator. Kirk has Bones beam down together with Spock's
mechanically controlled body, then intentionally triggers the elevator
which takes them deep below ground.  At the end of their downward
journey, Kirk encounters the female (Imorg) Luma and stuns her with a
phaser before she can activate her bracelet.  Questioning leads nowhere,
since Luma has the mind of a child.


Spock makes contact with the landing party through a communicator,
but before anything can be done, Kirk and his party are apprehended
by Kara, the Imorg leader.  The landing party is then equipped with
irremovable belts capable of producing intense pain. In response to
Kirk's questions about the whereabouts of Spock's noggin, Kara responds
with the deep philosophical statement "Brain and brain: what is Brain!?"
Following this outburst, Bones assures Kirk that all the Imorg have low
intelligence and could not possibly be capable of removing a brain.


The answer to this riddle is discovered when Kirk and crew overpower their
guard and follow Spock's instruction to the central "controller," which
is actually Spock's brain.  Here, they also find Kara, who immediately
immobilizes them using their pain belts. Kirk uses the remote control
to command Spock to grab Kara's wrist and press the red release button
on her bracelet.


Spock's brain informs Kirk via communicator that the Imorg are
able to gain temporary understanding of the ancient knowledge from a
machine called the "teacher."  Kirk forces Kara to put on the teacher,
but she uses her new-found sophistication to level a phaser at them.
Scott pretends to faint, and Kirk grabs the phaser away from her. McCoy
then uses the teacher and discovers how to perform a brain transplant
("Of course, a child could do it").  He surgically restores Spock's
brain to his mechanically sustained body using a trilaser connector
and a sonic separator, just before the knowledge's three-hour period is
exhausted.  Luckily, Spock himself is able to provide some assistance
in the procedure after McCoy manages to re-connect his vocal chords.
Kirk then informs Kara that the Imorg will have to move to the surface
and live as the Morg do.  She is not too thrilled by the prospect, but
Kirk does at least offer some Federation assistance.


This episode contains (at least) two inconsistencies.  First, after
identifying the planet as number 6, Kirk refers to it as number 7.
The second error occurs when Kirk mistakenly states the stardate as
4351.5 instead of 5431.5.
















This pilot episode was later incorporated into the two-part <i>Star
Trek</i> episode <a href="TheMenageriePartOne.html"><i>The Menagerie</i>,
Parts One</a> and <a href="TheMenageriePartTwo.html">Two</a>.  The only
characters who were retained in the <i>Star Trek</i> series were
Leonard Nimoy (as Spock) and Majel Barrett (who took a large demotion
from "Number 1" in the pilot to Nurse Chapel).















 <P>


On its way to decontaminate the planet Arianis, the <i>Enterprise</i>
intercepts a shuttlecraft stolen from Starbase 4 together with its pilot.
The pilot is an alien who is solid white on his right side and solid black
on his left. His name is Lokai, and he claims to be a political refugee
from Cheron. Shortly thereafter, another alien is deposited on the bridge
of the <i>Enterprise</i> by a spaceship just before it disintegrates.
The new alien identifies himself as Bele, a police officer from Cheron
who has been tracking Lokai for over 50,000 years.  Bele is black on
right and white on left, and is outraged when Kirk sees no difference
in them. Bele considers his coloration superior to Lokai and others of
"his kind."  Both Lokai and Bele claim to be in the right, but Kirk
stays above the argument, offering to drop them off at a Starbase.


Bele attempts to force the <i>Enterprise</i> to Cheron, but returns
control to Kirk when he threatens to self destruct the <i>Enterprise</i>
(Kirk: sequence 1, code 11A; Spock: sequence 2, code 11A2B; Scott:
sequence 3, code 1B2B3; final code: 000 DESTRUCT 0; abort code: 123
CONTINUITY ABORT DESTRUCT ORDER). After the <i>Enterprise</i> has
decontaminated Arianis, Bele deactivates the destruct mode and forces
the <i>Enterprise</i> to Cheron.  Here, Bele and Lokai discover that all
life there has been destroyed by years of racially-motivated fighting.
Driven mad by the sight, Lokai and Bele both beam down to the surface,
where they will continue to fight each other until one or both is dead.

















Eight days away from colony Beta 6 on a supply delivering mission,
the <i>Enterprise</i> encounters an unknown planet in quadrant 904.
Sulu and Kirk then vanish from the bridge, and are presumed to have been
transported to the planet.  However, geophysicist Karl Jaeger reports
the planet has no soil or vegetation, but does possess an extremely hot
and toxic atmosphere.


The <i>Enterprise</i> then receives a message "Greetings and
Felicitations," followed by "Hip hip hoorah.  Tallyho."  McCoy,
navigator DeSalle, and Jaeger beam down to find Sulu and Kirk, only to
find that the planet's surface is lush and the atmosphere breathable.
However, their communicators are inoperable. They discover a castle,
and are introduced to its occupant, the playful harpsichord-playing
alien calling himself General Trelane.


Trelane, who amuses himself using machines with the ability to transform
energy and matter, has been making a study of Earth and believes it to be
as it was 900 years previously (the light travel time from his planet).
Trelane insists that they all stay, but Kirk and DeSalle try to stun
him with a phaser.  Trelane confiscates the phaser, and amuses himself
by vaporizing his statuary.  Bones' tricorder fails to register Trelane
at all, and Jaeger notices that the fire is giving off no heat. Spock is
able to beam them aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> by beaming up every life
form in the area.  Trelane is upset by this, puts in an appearance on the
bridge, then quickly brings the landing party back to his planet Gothos,
this time including Spock, Uhura, and Yeoman Teresa Ross.  Spock tells
Trelane "I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline.
I object to power without constructive purpose."


Kirk notices that Trelane never strays far from a mirror, and guesses
that the mirror hides the source of Trelane's power.  Kirk therefore
challenges Trelane to a duel, giving the impression that he is offended
by Trelane's attentions to Ross.  He instead uses the opportunity to
destroy the mirror.  Kirk's supposition is proved correct, and the
landing party once again escapes to the <i>Enterprise.</i>


However, as the <i>Enterprise</i> attempts to warp away, Gothos keeps
appearing directly in its path.  Kirk is forced to re-enter orbit and
beams down to have it out with the Squire. Trelane becomes upset and
condemns Kirk to death by hanging in a "trial" for the crimes of treason
against a superior authority, conspiracy, and the attempt to foment
insurrection.  Kirk convinces Trelane that there is no sport in a simple
slaying, and manages to escape death in a deadly hide-and-seek game.
In return, Trelane agrees to let the <i>Enterprise</i> go.  Unfortunately,
Trelane welshes on his promise when Kirk wins the game and refuses to
release the <i>Enterprise.</i> However, the wayward Trelane is finally
taken away by his green energy-form "parents"  to be disciplined and
Kirk and the <i>Enterprise</i> are released.

















Strange things happen to a landing party consisting of Jackson, Sulu, and
Scotty when they beam down to planet Pyrus 7.  Sulu and Scott disappear,
then Jackson returns to the <i>Enterprise</i> and promptly dies without
a readily apparent cause.  A strange voice coming from Jackson's mouth
then tells Kirk that there is a curse on the <I>Enterprise,</i> which
must leave or the crew will all die.


When Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to investigate, leaving
DeSalle in command and Chekov as his sidekick, they are enveloped in
fog. They also detect multiple life readings, despite the fact that the
party subsequently encounters three witches and a medieval castle.
Upon entering the castle, they are confronted by a black cat. While
exploring the cobweb-draped interior, they fall through a hole in the
floor which opens up beneath them and then suddenly find themselves held
in irons in the castle's dungeon.  Sulu and Scott, now both Zombies,
release the prisoners and begin leading them away.  When Kirk attempts to
overpower them, they all materialize in front of the robed Korob and his
"precious" black cat whom he appears to consult for advice.


Spock questions Korob as to why previous surveys have not detected life
on the planet, and Korob admits that he is not native to the planet.
Korob makes a meal magically appear, but Kirk, Spock, and McCoy profess
not to be hungry.  He then makes plates full of gemstones appear and
offers them as an incentive for leaving without further inquiry, but
Kirk claims that the <i>Enterprise</i> can manufacture them in bulk
and is not impressed.  The cat leaves, and shortly thereafter Korob's
colleague Sylvia appears.  However, around her neck is the same diamond
pendant that had been worn by the cat. Kirk overpowers the Zombie Scott,
takes his phaser, and demands that Sulu and Scott be released and that
their weapons and communicators be returned.  Sylvia responds by waving a
model of the <i>Enterprise</i> over a candle.  The real <i>Enterprise</i>
experiences extreme heat, and narrowly avoids burning up when Kirk
removes the model and offers to cooperate.  To prevent interference
from the <i>Enterprise,</i> the model is encased a glass, surrounding
the actual <i>Enterprise</i> with a force field it cannot break free from.


Kirk and Spock are chained again in the dungeon, and McCoy is added to
the collection of Zombies. Sylvia is meanwhile enjoying the sensual
pleasures of her new existence, and mocks Korob for being afraid to
use his power when he complains that she is abusing the specimens. Kirk
pretends to fall in love with Sylvia in order to pump her for information.
She responds by changing into a number of different attractive forms. Kirk
learns that Korob and Sylvia have been sent to study the galaxy, using
a device called the transmuter. However, Sylvia discovers by probing
his mind that Kirk is manipulating her, and becomes angry.


Meanwhile, the <i>Enterprise</i> is breaking free through the efforts
of DeSalle.  Korob releases the <i>Enterprise</i> from its encasement,
then sets Kirk and Spock free and tells them to leave immediately because
be can no longer control Sylvia. Sylvia changes to a giant black cat,
attacks Korob, and attempts to kill Kirk and Spock.  Kirk grabs Korob's
scepter, which he suspects to be the mysterious transmuter. After fending
off attacks from McCoy, Scott, and Sulu, Kirk tells Sylvia that he has
the scepter.  Sylvia tries to finagle it away from him, but he breaks
the scepter in front of Sylvia.  The castle vanishes, and Sylvia and
Korob appear as the bizarre blue and yellow puppet-like alien beings
they are. Unable to survive in this galaxy without the transmuter,
they shrivel up and melt away and Sulu and Scott are returned to normal.

















On its way to the Memory Alpha planetoid, storehouse of all cultural
history and scientific knowledge of the Federation, sensors detect a
strange storm.  The storm is traveling at a speed of Warp 2.6, indicating
that it cannot be a natural phenomenon.  The storm heads right for the
of the brain in different crew members (Uhura could not move her hands,
Chekov could not turn his eyes, and Sulu could not speak).  Lt. Mira
Romaine, aboard to oversee transmission of data newly gathered by the
concern of Scotty, who is head over heels in love with her, Mira faints.
When McCoy revives her, she makes strange growling noises and then seems
to be normal again.  However, she then refuses to cooperate with McCoy
when he attempts to examine her.


The storm then heads for shieldless Memory Alpha, killing all those aboard
and burning out the central memory core. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott
beam down to see what damage has been done, and see a scene of which Mira
has had a premonition (a dead technician).  The landing party finds one
technician alive, but she begins making strange growling noises, turns a
series of colors, and then dies of brain hemorrhage.  Mira is then beamed
down, and she warns everyone to return to the <i>Enterprise</i> because
the storm is returning. Scans from the <i>Enterprise</i> confirm this,
and the landing party returns to the ship.  Mira is suspended in transit,
but is subsequently beamed aboard. Further scans of the "storm" indicate
that it is composed of 10 life units.  Kirk tries to communicate with it
using the universal translator, but receives no response.  As the storm
draws closer, Mira has another vision.  Kirk fires phasers across the
storm's path, but again elicits no response.  He then fires at the storm,
but this action causes Mira to crumple, causing Scott to become alarmed
and forcing Kirk to desist from further firing.


A thorough analysis of Mira's record shows that she has extremely flexible
responses to new learning situations.  A Steinman analysis shows nothing
unusual, but a hyperencephalogram shows Mira's brain circuitry pattern to
have been altered to match those from the last tracking of the aliens.
This seems also to explain her visions, and Mira reveals that she had
one additional vision: that of Scotty dying.


In an attempt to rid Mira of the alien influence before the aliens attack
again, Kirk rushes her to a gravity/pressure chamber. The aliens attack
too soon, however, and Mira becomes completely possessed. Speaking
through Mira, the aliens identify themselves as the last survivors of
the planet Zetar. They have had to discard their bodies and have been
searching for a millennium for one such as Mira's in which they can
live out their lives. Before Mira's consciousness can be completely
subjugated, Scotty puts her in the pressure chamber. Here, the aliens
are killed and Mira is freed.















The <i>Enterprise</i> is en route to star cluster NGC321 to open
diplomatic relations with the civilizations there, including the Eminiar
VII, principal planet of the star cluster.  However, Eminiar VII sends
a Code 710 signal telling the <i>Enterprise</i> not to approach under
any circumstances.  The Federation knows very little about Eminiar VII,
except that it has had space travel for several centuries but has never
ventured beyond its own solar system.  The Federation also knows that
when Eminiar VII was first contacted, it was at war with Vendikar, its
closest neighbor. However, the Federation ship making the report never
returned and was listed as lost in space.


Kirk, Spock, and three crew members (including Galloway and Tamura) beam
down and are met by Mea 3 and a security detachment of two who take them
to Anan 7 and members of the High Counsel. Anan 7 claims that Eminiar
VII has been at war with Vendikar, the third planet in the system, for
500 years. However, no evidence of warfare is evident to the landing
party who witness a fusion bomb "attack."  In fact, Yeoman Tamura's
tricorder shows no radiation disturbances, despite Anan 7's claim that
half a million people have just been killed.  A counterattack is ordered
by Anan 7 and carried out by Sar 6's activation of the "attack unit."
Spock realizes that the war is being fought by computers which calculate
casualties and that the citizens who are declared "dead" are then required
to report to disintegration chambers.


Unfortunately, the <i>Enterprise</i> is declared destroyed by a
tri-cobalt satellite explosion from Vendikar, and all persons aboard
the <i>Enterprise</i> are ordered to report for disintegration within
24 hours.  Kirk and the landing party are held hostage until the crew
reports. Mea 3 is also declared a casualty, and so must report for
disintegration. Anan 7 attempts to trick the crew down by imitating Kirk's
voice and declaring that full diplomatic relations have been established.
However, Scott smells a rat, and analyzes the transmission on the computer
which determines with 98% certainty that a voice duplicator has been used.


Spock uses a Vulcan mind trick to get the guard to open the confinement
cell, at which point he is knocked out and has his weapon stolen by Kirk.
The escapees happen across disintegration chamber 12, and Spock takes
its operator out of commission by distracting him with the line "Sir,
there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder," then nerve
pinching him.  Kirk then blasts the chamber.


Anan 7 gives orders to open fire on the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Fortunately,
Scott has raised the shields and the disrupter fire of magnitude 18<font
size=-1><sup>12</sup></font> decibels causes no damage, as reported by
navigator DeSalle. Stuffed-shirt Ambassador Robert Fox attributes the
attack to a "misunderstanding" and communicates with Anan 7, who claims
that an error in their sensors indicated that the <i>Enterprise</i>
was about to attack them.


Fox beams down, and is almost disintegrated after he beams down to make
diplomatic advances.  Meanwhile Kirk is subdued and recaptured while
trying to recover the phasers.  Spock and the escaped landing party
(dressed as Eminiarian) rescue Fox and disintegrate another disintegration
chamber.  When Anan 7 contacts the <i>Enterprise</i> to demand that the
crew beam down, Kirk manages to tell Scotty to issue General Order 24
(destruction of the planet) in two hours. Kirk then overpowers his guards
and is joined by Spock. They enter the computer center and destroy the
central computer, which causes all the computers to be destroyed in a
chain reaction.  This nullifies the treaty with Vendikar, and initiates
a real war unless Anan 7 agrees to make peace with its ancient enemy.
Now faced with the grisly consequences of a real war, Anan agrees,
and Fox offers to mediate the negotiations.  As the <i>Enterprise</i>
heads on its way towards Organna 2, Fox reports from Eminiar VII that
the outlook is hopeful.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> investigates a distress call from the planet
Mulour (population 4 billion), Spock reports that sensors detect no life
forms. There is no word even from Dr. Manway, head of a Federation science
team on the planet, who has his own transmitter. The <i>Enterprise</i>'s
shields then come up automatically when it encounters a 1 meter long,
500 kg, cylinder which attacks the <i>Enterprise</i> with energy bolts
having the strength of 90 photon torpedoes.  Kirk torpedoes the object,
but the energy is simply absorbed by the target. Kirk then transmits
a message to the object, and it stops firing, requests communication,
and allows itself to be beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>


The probe identifies itself as <i>Nomad,</i> and refers to Kirk
as the creator. Checking records, Spock finds that a <i>Nomad</i>
probe was indeed launched to explore the far reaches of the galaxy
and seek out new life (and presumably to go where no probe has gone
before). Apparently, <i>Nomad</i> believes that Kirk is Jackson Roy Kirk,
the original creator of <i>Nomad.</i> <i>Nomad</i> insists, however,
that his mission is to destroy that which is not perfect (including all
biological "infestations.")


Kirk leaves Lt. Singh in charge of <i>Nomad.</i> When it hears Uhura
singing over the intercom, however, it slips away to seek her out. Upon
finding her, still singing, <i>Nomad</i> questions her as to what form of
communication she was practicing.  When she replies music, it erases her
mind, calling her a mass of conflicting impulses. When Scotty tries to
intervene, <i>Nomad</i> kills him. When Kirk is displeased, <i>Nomad</i>
offers to "repair" the unit Scott, claiming that it was only acting in
self defense.  Kirk then asks <i>Nomad</i> to repair Uhura, which it
claims it cannot since it has erased her memory banks.  Nurse Chapel
therefore begins re-educating her on how to read, and reports that she
can be back on the job in a week, which doesn't speak too favorably for
the training required for a Federation communications officer.


Kirk then tells <i>Nomad</i> to accompany two security guards to a waiting
area (actually a top security cell). Spock attempts to study <i>Nomad,</i>
but it only lowers its shields when Kirk explicitly tells it to. However,
Spock is not able to learn full details from his scan, and therefore
resorts to a Vulcan mind meld.  How the analog-to-digital conversion is
performed is not explained.  Spock discovers that <i>Nomad</i> collided
with an alien probe called <i>Tan-Ru,</i> designed to obtain and sterilize
soil samples from other planets, and was severely damaged. Some of its
memory was lost, and it subsumed Tan-Ru's directive, interpreting it to
mean sterilize imperfections.  Spock is shaken by the experience, and Kirk
is forced to pull him away and tell <i>Nomad</i> to stop communicating.
Kirk again confines <i>Nomad</i> to the cell, but it waltzes right
through the security field and kills the two security guards when they
attempt to stop it with phaser fire.


"efficiency" of the engines 57% by increasing the matter-antimatter
reaction rate.  Kirk orders <i>Nomad</i> to reverse changes to the
matter-antimatter reactor, as the <i>Enterprise</i> cannot stand the
stress. Kirk confronts <i>Nomad,</i> telling him that his contempt of
biological units is illogical, since its creator is a biological unit.
Kirk tries to get the probe to return to the holding cell, but it kills
the two security guards sent to accompany it and heads to sickbay.
Here it examines Kirk's medical history, attacking Nurse Chapel when she
tries to stop him.  It then shuts down life support systems throughout
the ship in order to destroy the imperfect units aboard it without
destroying the <i>Enterprise.</i>


Kirk then gets <i>Nomad</i> to admit that it must sterilize everything
which is in error. Kirk defeats <i>Nomad</i> by showing it its own
imperfections: it thought he was Jackson Roy Kirk, it did not discover its
mistake, and it did not exercise its prime function by eliminating itself
because it was imperfect.  While attempting analyzing the situation, Nomad
is beamed into space.  It is caught in a logic loop while attempting to
analyze its errors, and finally self-destructs in order to "sterilize"
its own imperfections.

















The <i>Man Trap</i> was the first-aired regular season episode of <i>Star Trek</i>.


In this episode, a landing party from the <i>Enterprise</i> beams down
to perform an annual checkup of scientist Bob Crater and his wife Nancy,
who have been living on the planet M113 for 5 years.  Without realizing
it, each crew member sees a different Nancy Crater.  In fact, Nancy's
appearance corresponds to each man's fantasy of an extremely attractive
woman.  Crewman Darnell, for instance, sees a voluptuous blonde he
met on Ripley's pleasure planet, Bones sees an attractive woman of 25,
and Kirk sees an older woman with more mature charms.


Dr. Crater and Nancy both appear to be in good health, but Dr. Crater
goes out of his way to request an additional supply of salt from the
landing party as quickly as possible.  Shortly thereafter, crewman Darnell
wanders off after Nancy Crater, but dies under mysterious circumstances.
His corpse, when discovered, is found to be covered with a curious red
mottling.  A borja plant, belonging to the same family as the deadly
nightshade and containing an alkaloid poison, is found in his mouth.
Nancy claims to have seen him eating it and says she tried to stop him.
However, Bones knows alkaloid poison when he sees it, and is immediately
convinced that something is amiss.  Further test show that Darnell's
body is completely devoid of salt.


When an additional landing party beams down, crewmen Sturgeon and Green
are killed and the salt is removed from their bodies. However, Green's
body is not discovered, and Nancy Crater uses her shape-shifting trick to
assume his form.  As Green, she transports aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>
with Kirk and Bones, who are the only remaining survivors of the landing
party. "Green" makes his way into Sulu's quarters after observing a lunch
tray with a salt shaker being brought in, but high-tails it out again
when Sulu's pet plant begins shrieking at him.  Green then transforms
into a handsome Swahili man and attempts to seduce Uhura.  Fortunately for
Uhura, the man's advances are interrupted by passing crew members.


Meanwhile, a scan of the planet's surface reveals only a single life
form, so Spock and Kirk realize that Nancy must have beamed aboard the
are thus engaged, the creature kills another crew member, and then pays
a visit to McCoy in the form of Nancy Crater.  She puts McCoy to sleep
with his own sleeping pills while pretending to help him rest, and then
assumes his form.  In the meantime, Spock and Kirk have beamed down to
the planet to question Dr. Crater.  Here, they discover Green's body.
By questioning Dr. Crater, they also learn that Nancy is dead and that
her form has been taken over by the last remaining indigenous creature
of the planet.  As the audience has known for some time, this creature
is capable of assuming any form and requires salt to live.


Kirk and Spock then beam Dr. Crater aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>, where
he immediately recognizes McCoy as one of Nancy's impersonations, but does
not reveal him.  The creature returns Dr. Crater's loyalty by killing him,
and then attacks Spock. Fortunately, because of Spock's non-human blood,
he survives the attack without major injury.  Bones then prevents Kirk
from killing the creature (which he still sees as Nancy Crater), and
then stands idly by as she begins to drain the salt from Kirk's body. At
this juncture, Spock rushes in and demonstrates to McCoy that the woman
attacking Kirk could not possibly be Nancy by striking her repeatedly
and forcefully. Nancy does not even flinch, and then sends Spock flying
across the room with a single counterblow.  When the creature attacks
Kirk again, its true alien form is revealed, and Bones kills it with a
phaser, even after it reverts to Nancy's form.

















McCoy, Sulu, Kirk, and senior geologist D'Amato beam down to investigate a
strange planet the size of the Moon but with the mass of the Earth.  The
planet has no magnetic field, but does have a well-developed atmosphere
and plant life---despite the fact that the planet appears to be only 1000
years old. As the landing party is beaming down, a strange woman appears,
says "wait, you must not go," and kills the transporter operator.


The landing party discovers that more is afoot than reaches the eye
when both they and the <i>Enterprise</i> are tossed wildly.  Much to
the surprise of the landing party, Helmsman Rahda, Spock, and Scott, the
autopsy performed on the transporter operator by Dr. Sanchez reveals that
death resulted from disruption of every cell in his body.  Spock does
not know what to make of this, but returns to the planet at Warp 8.


The landing party splits up, and Sulu reports a magnetic spike, which
then vanishes. D'Amato is sent in search of underground water by Kirk,
but is killed by the woman who zapped the transporter operator when
she says "I am for you" and then touches him.  When Kirk tries to dig
a grave using his phaser, he makes no progress, and discovers that the
rocks of the planet are composed of diburnium osmium alloy.  The burial
is then accomplished by covering D'Amato with rocks.


Meanwhile, aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> Engineer grade 4 John B. Watkins
is killed by the woman when he checks the bypass circuit, but not before
he warns Scott that a strange woman is aboard.  The cause of his death
is found to be cellular disruption of every cell in his body.


Back on the planet, the woman appears in front of Sulu and tries to
touch him.  Sulu tries to shoot her, but the phaser is ineffective.
She manages to touch Sulu when he trips over a rock, but is only able
to damage his shoulder before Kirk interposes himself and finds that
she cannot harm him.


On the <i>Enterprise,</i> the woman rigs the engines to explode by fusing
the emergency bypass circuit on the matter/antimatter integrator. The
that the <i>Enterprise</i> will explode in 14.87 minutes, with no way
to stop it.


Back on the planet, Kirk's phaser overloads itself and Kirk is forced to
fling it away.   The woman appears again and tries to touch Kirk, but is
prevented by McCoy and Sulu. She identifies herself as Losira, commander
of the station, but she does not register on McCoy's tricorder. Kirk
follows the off-scale reading to an entrance, which then opens.


Scotty saves the <i>Enterprise</i> from exploding by reversing polarity
on the magnetic probe and returning the magnetic flow to normal.
The <i>Enterprise</i> then begins decelerating from its peak speed of
warp 15.2+ (although Rahda counts down warp 14.1, 14, 15.9, ...).


When the landing party enters the chamber, they find a glowing cube and
a copy of Losira who is "for" James T. Kirk.  At first he is protected
by Sulu and McCoy, but two more Losiras then appear, one for McCoy and
one for Sulu. Spock rescues the landing party at this juncture when he
beams down and destroys the computer which was projecting the image of
the woman Losira.


When a record tape is automatically played, they find out that the
planet they are on is actually a space outpost built by the Calandans,
who were all killed by a disease they created while building the planet.
The outpost was left on automatic, with the computer attempting to fend
off all explorers but the expected Calandan ship.  As Kirk prepares to
return to the <i>Enterprise,</i> he comments in response to a statement by
Spock that beauty such as Losira's is transitory, that "beauty survives."

















The <i>Enterprise</i> (crew of 420) takes charge of Charlie Evans
from the science probe vessel <i>Antares</i> (crew of 20) in order to
transport him to his nearest living relatives on Earth colony Alpha
5. Captain Remart and navigator Nellis sing the praises of Charlie,
the sole survivor of a transport crash on the planet Thesus 14 years
previously. Charlie appears to be quite bright, and has learned to talk
from the crashed ship's data tapes.  After dropping Charlie off, Remart
and his crew bid the <i>Enterprise</i> what appears to be an unusually
hastened adieu and return to their ship.


On the <i>Enterprise</i>, Charlie tells McCoy that the crew of the
science ship didn't like him, and that he wants people to like him.
Charlie then proceeds to fall in love with Yeoman Janice Rand.  He pats
her rump (which she objects to) and gives her a bottle of perfume, her
favorite kind.   Charlie meets Rand later in the Recreation Room, where
Spock is playing a Vulcan musical instrument and Uhura is (attempting)
to sing.  Charlie shows good taste by not enjoying the singing, and
causes Uhura to run out of breath. When the <i>Antares</i> is almost
out of communications range, it starts to warn the <i>Enterprise</i>
about something, then disintegrates.  After the spontaneous destruction
of the <i>Antares</i>, Charlie makes the curious and sinister-sounding
comment that "it wasn't very well constructed."  Shortly thereafter,
another strange event takes place when the cook reports that the synthetic
meatloaf has been transformed into real turkeys!  Back in the Rec Room,
Kirk manages to beat Spock at 3-D chess, implausibly beating Spock's
logic with his own quirky strategy.  Charlie is intrigued by the game
and tries to duplicate the feat.  After losing, he causes the white chess
pieces to melt, revealing that he has both a bad temper and rather scary
telekinetic powers.


Rand introduces Charlie to Yeoman third class Tina Lawton, but Charlie is only interested in Rand and brushes Tina off.
Kirk, doing his best to instill Charlie with manly qualities, attempts to teach him how to fight using some curious mallet
objects.  When Kirk's training partner Sam laughs at one of Charlie's falls, Charlie makes him "go away."  This
demonstrates to Kirk and Spock that Charlie has the power to manipulate matter. Kirk calls security guards to escort
Charlie to his quarters, but Charlie objects and causes all phasers on the ship to vanish.


Kirk suspects that Charlie has been given certain powers which legend
ascribes to an ancient race of Thesians and confronts Charlie. Charlie
admits he destroyed the <i>Antares</i> by making the warped baffle plate
on the shield of the energy piling go away, but claims it would have blown
up anyway. When Charlie discovers that Kirk plans to divert from Alpha 5,
he takes control of the <i>Enterprise</i> and its crew. He forces Spock
("Mr. Ears") to recite poetry ("Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright" and "Once
Upon a Midnight Dreary").  He then turns Tina into a lizard and bursts
in on Rand.  When she spurns his advances, he makes her disappear.
Kirk and Spock attempt to lock Charlie in a detention chamber, but
to no avail. Charlie goes on a rampage, turning a young crew member
into an old woman and removing the faces from some crew members who are
laughing. Kirk, Bones, and Spock try to distract Charlie by overloading
him with activity, but do not meet with success until a Thesians vessel
approaches the <i>Enterprise</i>.  The Thesians return Yeoman Rand,
apologize to Kirk, and take Charlie away to live alone with them.

















In an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with planet Gideon, Kirk
beams down to the sensor-shielded planet using coordinates supplied by
Gideon ambassador Hodin (875-020-079).  Gideon has refused to let any
ambassadors beam down or to permit any sensor scans, but has indicated
to the Federation that their planet is virtually a paradise.  However,
they agree to let Kirk beam beam alone.


When Kirk materializes, he finds himself still on the transporter pad
aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>  To his great surprise, he appears to be
completely alone and there is no sign of the crew.  After noticing a
bruise on his arm, Kirk encounters a girl named Odona. Odona denies any
knowledge of how she got there or what is going on.  She tells Kirk her
last memory is of being in an overcrowded auditorium struggling for air,
and how wonderful it is to have such freedom of movement.


Back aboard the real <i>Enterprise,</i> Spock is attempting to determine
why ambassador Hodin denies the fact that Kirk has ever been beamed down.
His attempts to obtain authorization to search for Kirk are foiled when
Starfleet bureaucrats insist that he contact the Federation diplomats in
the Department of Planetary Treaties, and vice versa. After beaming up
and down Hodin's assistant Krodak from the council chamber (coordinates
875-020-709) to test the transporter, Hodin refuses to allow Spock to
beam down, despite the fact that he had previously agreed to do so.


Meanwhile, on the deserted <i>Enterprise,</i> Odona tells Kirk that
there is no place on her planet which is not filled with people, and
that the inhabitants would kill or die for the privilege of being alone.
While Kirk is busy kissing Odona, he does not notice that the ship's
viewing screen has become filled with the faces of people.  After leaving
the bridge, Kirk hears a strange sound outside the ship and opens the
viewing port. To his surprise, he briefly sees the faces of a crowd,
which quickly fade into stars.


Kirk begin to suspect that something is very wrong, but when he confronts
Odona, she complains that she feels very strange, then collapses. Kirk
carries her towards sickbay, but is met by Hodin and taken into custody.
Hodin tells Kirk that Odona is his daughter, and that she has been
infected with Vegan coreomenengitis from Kirk's blood.  Hodin explains
that the germ-free atmosphere and an increasingly long life span on
Gideon have created a vast overpopulation problem, and that he hopes to
bring it under control by introducing disease.


When Kirk asks why the population was not sterilized, Hodin says the the
organs of the people of Hodin regenerate themselves.  When Kirk then
asks Hodin why the people of Gideon have not practiced birth control,
Hodin replies that the people of Gideon believe life is sacred and that
the love of life is the greatest gift, and that they therefore cannot
interfere with the creation of life.  Hodin tells Kirk that he must
stay to provide the virus to infect the people of Gideon and bring the
population under control.  Kirk points out that Odona need not die,
and that there is furthermore no need for him to stay since if Odona
survives, her blood can provide the virus.  However, Hodin tells Kirk
that Odona's voluntary death at such a young age will bring forward
dedicated young volunteers to also be infected.


By this time, Spock has discovered that the two sets of coordinates
with which he has been provided do not match. After Admiral Fitzgerald
continues to refuse to let Spock beam down, Spock disobeys orders and
beams down to the first set of coordinates.  He discovers the exact
replica of the <i>Enterprise</i> to which Kirk was beamed and locates
Kirk.  Spock overpowers the guards, and he and Kirk beam up with Odona
to the real <i>Enterprise.</i>  As he is leaving, Spock quips to the
ambassador, "Your excellency, please do not interfere; I already have
one serious problem to resolve with upper echelons." McCoy heals Odona
and she is beamed back to Gideon where her blood can now serve as the
source of Vegan coreomenengitis for her people.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> speeds to the agricultural colony Omicron Ceti
3, they expect to find none of the 150 men, women, and children colonists
alive, as the planet is being bombarded with deadly and newly discovered
Berthold rays.  Kirk, Spock, McCoy, DeSalle, and another crewman are
surprised indeed to find the colonists and their leader Elias Sandoval
alive and in perfect health.  Too perfect health, Bones discovers,
when he finds that Sandoval now has a healthy appendix despite the fact
that records show it to have previously been removed in an appendectomy.
Sulu and the landing party are also struck by the absence of non-human
animal life.  Kirk orders Sandoval to prepare his group to be evacuated
to Starbase 27, but Sandoval refuses.


Meanwhile, the colonist Leila Kalomi, shows Spock (in whom she takes a
romantic interest) the colonist's secret: plants which spray spores that
take up residence in the brain and, in return, provide perfect health and
complete well-being. In addition, the plants thrive on Berthold rays.
Sulu is soon given a similar treatment, and remarks to Kirk "Of course
we can't remove the colony. It'd be wrong." Alarmed by what he sees,
Kirk tries to get in touch with Spock.  However, it is too late as Spock
is currently frolicking with Leila and pointing out cloud formations
shaped like dragons from Bering Deria 7.


In the meantime, McCoy is also infected.  Not only does he make
himself a mint julep, but he also sends up hundreds of plants to the
("Well sure.  If you want,") who is systematically beaming down the crew
of the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Uhura has short-circuited all communications
except ship to surface.  Kirk is soon the only one left aboard, and he too
is infected by a stray plant left on the bridge. After opening his safe
(combination 5231) and looking through its contents, Kirk becomes upset
as one side of him wants to beam down and the other side is devoted to the
ship.  These violent emotions, Kirk soon discovers, drive the spores out.


He subsequently has Spock beam up and proceeds to get him angry by calling
him a "mutinous, disloyal, computerized, half-breed."  Spock beams up
Leila to explain to her what has happened, but the pain of finding out
she has lost Spock causes the spores to be driven out from her as well.
Leila asks Spock if he has another name, but he only replies "You couldn't
pronounce it."


Spock prepares a subsonic transmitter which will broadcast over the
communicators and provoke those on the planet to irritability and anger.
Fights begin to break out between Sulu and DeSalle, then McCoy and
Sandoval, and soon the spores are driven out of everyone on the planet.
The crew beams back up and the <i>Enterprise</i> is free to continue
on its way.  Spock is back to his old self, but we find out that on the
planet, he was happy for the first time in his life.

















As the <i>Enterprise</i> investigates ripples in time which are resulting
in spatial disturbances, Sulu has a heart flutter after his control
panel short circuits.  Bones gives Sulu cordrazine, a mind-blowing
drug at high dosages but a valuable cardiac medicine in small dosages.
Sulu immediately recovers, but McCoy accidentally injects himself with
the remainder of cordrazine in the hypo when the <i>Enterprise</i>
passes through a particularly strong space disturbance.  McCoy freaks
out and becomes extremely paranoid, knocking out the transporter chief
and beaming down to the planet to escape the ship of "murderers."


The transporter had been locked in on the center of the time ripples,
and when Kirk, Spock, and a landing party follow McCoy down, they discover
10,000 century-old ruins surrounding the annulus-shaped structure from which
the time distortions are emanating.  The structure talks with the landing
party, identifying itself as the Guardian of Forever, and is apparently
a time portal.  Spock finds the crazed McCoy and nerve pinches him, but
McCoy recovers and rushes through the portal before anyone can stop him.


Communication with the <i>Enterprise</i> immediately ceases, and the
landing party concludes that McCoy's actions changed the past, affecting
the present.  To return the present to what it was, Spock and Kirk enter
the time portal at a time shortly before McCoy did so that they may find
McCoy and prevent him from changing history.


They materialize in America during the 1930s Depression, and are forced to
steal clothes so as not to draw attention to themselves.  When questioned
by a policeman, Kirk explains Spock's ears by claiming that Spock was
caught in a mechanical rice picker as a child.  After escaping and hiding
in what they think to be a deserted building, they meet Edith Keeler
(played by Joan Collins), guiding light of the 21st Street Mission.
They agree to do odd jobs for her to obtain the funds necessary for Spock
to construct a mnemonic memory circuit to read the information in the
tricorder and discover what historical events McCoy has changed. They
discover that Keeler is the link, either dying in a traffic accident or
meeting with the U.S. President.


Unbeknownst to Kirk and Spock, Bones appears and is given shelter at
Edith's mission.  After his arrival, he accosts a man on the street and
then falls down unconscious.  The man then accidentally vaporizes himself
using McCoy's phaser.  McCoy recovers from his cordazine trip, and tells
Edith he is chief medical officer on the <i>U.S.S. Enterprise</i>. At
first he does not believe he is in 1930 America, but soon realizes that
indeed he is.


After hours of careful work using primitive vacuum tube circuits,
Spock discovers that McCoy, if not stopped, will prevent Keeler's death.
Keeler will then found a peace movement which will delay U.S. entry into
World War II and allow Germany time to develop the atom bomb and conquer
the world.


On his way to see a Clark Gable movie with Edith, Kirk learns from
Edith that Dr. McCoy is in town and then immediately sees Bones across
the street.  Despite his love for Edith Keeler, Kirk holds Bones back
to prevent him from saving Keeler as she crosses the street in front of
a truck.


The past is returned to what it had been before, and Kirk, Spock, and
McCoy return to the planet of the Guardian where their landing party has
been waiting, but for only a few seconds of real time. Communications
with the <i>Enterprise</i> are restored, and when the Guardian asks if
anyone else desires to make a journey in time, Kirk responds "Let's get
the hell out of here."

















This episode and the sequel are derived from the original pilot for the
sub-space message from former Captain of the <i>Enterprise</i> Christopher
Pike.  However, the Commodore on the Starbase tells them that Pike has
been injured from exposure to delta rays (resulting from a ruptured
baffle plate while inspecting an old Class J starship) and could not
have sent the message.  This is confirmed when Pike wheels confined to
a wheelchair which is operated by brain waves.  The only communication
of which Pike is still capable is signaling yes (one flash of a light)
or no (two flashes).  Pike refuses to speak to Bones or Kirk, but agrees
to speak to Spock in private.


Spock, who had served under Pike for 11 years, 4 months, and 5 days,
prepares to mutiny in order to take Pike to Talos 4 (the fourth planet
out of 11 in the Talos system), despite Pike's protests.  Meanwhile, an
investigation of the tapes reveals that Spock received no transmission,
but Kirk refuses to believe it possible that Spock could have been
responsible for a deception. Spock nerve pinches Chief Humboldt at the
computer center and sends the <i>Enterprise</i> bogus instructions using
tapes he has made of Kirk's voice.  Another technician discovers Spock
cross-circuiting the communications panel and attempts to stop him, but
is nerve pinched for his efforts.  Spock informs Mr. Hansen that the
coded transmissions he has sent will navigate the ship automatically.
McCoy is tricked into returning to the <i>Enterprise</i> by a request
for medical assistance.  Spock then transports himself and Pike aboard.


Right After Miss Piper (who knows about Kirk from mutual fried Helen
Johansen) glances at her closed-circuit monitor and notices that Pike
is gone, the <i>Enterprise</i> warps out of orbit towards Talos 4.
Kirk and Commodore Jos&#233; Mendez pursue Spock and the <i>Enterprise</i>
in a Class F shuttlecraft.  Aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>, Hanson is
superfluous as navigator while the instructions Spock fed into the
computer are carried out automatically.  When Spock notices that the
shuttlecraft has nearly exhausted its fuel, he activates tape Abel 7
Baker, which stops the <i>Enterprise</i> and beams aboard Kirk and Mendez.
Spock then informs them that has set up the ship's computer so that it
cannot be disengaged without terminating life support systems until the


Spock is then put on trial.  Not only is mutiny a court martial offense,
but visiting Talos 4 is an offense punishable by death.  The hearing
proceeds because Pike is still listed as on active duty, so three command
officers are present as required by regulations. During the hearing,
Spock introduces a recording of the experiences of the original crew of
the <i>Enterprise</i> on Talos 4 as evidence.


In the tape we see footage from the original <i>Star Trek</i> pilot
episode, <i><a href="TheCage.html">The Cage</a>.</i> The tape recounts
how 13 years previously the <i>Enterprise,</i> commanded by Pike and
with Dr. Boyce as chief medical officer, received a distress signal
from the survey vessel <i>S.S. Columbia,</i> lost 18 years earlier. The
18 years ago.  Mr. Spock (the only character from the original pilot
retained in the original series except for Nurse Christine Chapel, who
took a huge demotion from "Number One") reports that Talos contains
11 planets, number 4 of which is Class M (oxygen atmosphere). Captain
Christopher Pike orders to continue on to the Vega colony in the absence
of evidence that there are survivors.


Pike then retires to his cabin, where he is met by Dr. Phil Boyce.
Pike recounts his traumatic experience on Rigel 7 in which his yeoman
and two others were killed and 7 injured.  Pike faults himself for
allowing himself to be trapped in a deserted fortress and attacked by
one of the Rigel warriors.  He also complains that he is tired of being
responsible of 203 lives and has been thinking of resigning.  However,
he is quickly distracted from such thoughts when follow-up message from
the <i>Columbia</i> indicates that 11 crew members survived the crash.
Pike commands the <i>Enterprise</i> to divert and investigate.


Talos 4 is found to have an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and gravity equal
to 0.9 that of Earth.  On Talos 4, Spock and Pike find a blue-leaved
plant, and we are treated to one of the few Spock smiles of the series
(and the only one when he is not under some alien or hallucinagenic
influence).  The landing party of 6 finds survivors of the <i>Columbia</i>
who are now old male scientists (including Dr. Theodore Haskins of the
American Continent Institute), but also a young woman named Vena who
was born shortly after the <i>Columbia</i> crashed and whose parents
are now dead.


Unbeknownst to the landing party, their actions are being monitored
by native Talosians.  The doctor notices that the condition of the
survivors is better than could be reasonably expected, and becomes
suspicious.  Before he can find out what is going on, Vena leads Pike
into a Talosian trap.  As soon as Pike is drugged and captured by the
Talosians, the survivors, who were illusionary, vanish.  In a desperate
attempt to rescue Pike, the landing party tries to blast through the
rock into which Pike was spirited away, but their phasers have no effect.


At this juncture, Uhura reports that the <i>Enterprise</i> has been
receiving transmissions from Talos 4 and Kirk is relieved from duty by
order of the Starfleet Command Consul.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> attempts to ascertain the fate of the
to lose power, and Spock reports strange sensor readings.  They visually
detect the <i>Defiant</i>, but sensors indicate it is not there.  Kirk,
Spock, Chekov, and McCoy beam aboard wearing life support suits and find
the entire crew dead.  The captain's neck is broken, and the landing party
initially suspects mutiny.  An inspection of the ship, however, reveals
that all crew members are dead, and McCoy concludes that they killed
each other.  When McCoy tries to touch one of the dead crew members,
his hand passes right through him, revealing that the <i>Defiant</i> is
starting to disintegrate.  The transporter aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>
is meanwhile behaving erratically, and only Spock, McCoy, and Chekov are
successfully beamed back aboard, leaving Kirk alone on the <i>Defiant.</i>


Kirk and the ship are trapped in a parallel universe by the weakening of
the surrounding fabric of space, and the computer calculates that the
next time of spatial interphase will occur in two hours.  Meanwhile,
the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> begins suffering from a state of
insanity caused by a weakening of the fabric of space, and Chekov must
be put under restraint.


The appearance of two hostile Tholian ships disrupts the spatial
interphase which would have allowed Kirk to reenter his own universe.
Spock is able to convince the Tholians to wait until the interphase
occurs, but when it does, the <i>Enterprise</i> is unable to beam Kirk
aboard.  After this time has expired, the Tholian fires and damages the
commander Loskene's ship, and the Tholians respond by surrounding the


McCoy and Spock, believing Kirk to be dead, review a recording left behind
in his cabin.  Kirk has predicted that Spock will be making difficult
decisions and that McCoy will be critical of them, and instructs the
two of them to work together, Spock tempering his decisions with human
insight, and McCoy restricting his criticisms to take into account
human fallibility.


In her cabin, Uhura sees a vision of Captain Kirk and reports to McCoy
that he is alive. McCoy believes Uhura is going mad, and confines her
to sickbay.  Scott then sees the same vision, and rushes to the bridge,
where everyone, including Spock, sees it as well. A therigram derivative
(therigram, in its pure form, is a deadly nerve gas used by the Klingons)
is found to act as a cure.  Scott is hesitant until McCoy informs him
that he has prepared it using alcohol as a solvent and that, after
drinking it, a man could be hit with phaser stun without feeling it.


The <i>Enterprise</i> is able to hold Kirk in the transporter beam at the
next interphase and then escape from the completed Tholian web by using
ship's power to disrupt space-time and throw the <i>Enterprise</i> 2.72
parsecs distant.  Kirk's oxygen is just about to run out, but McCoy is
ready with a hypo of triox just as Kirk beams aboard and faints.  Back on
the bridge, Kirk reminisces about having a universe all to himself, but
admits he likes a quiet one better.  He then asks Bones and Spock if they
reviewed his last orders, but Spock avoids the question and McCoy lies
(transparently) about it.

















When a botanical plague threatens to destroy all vegetation on the
planet Merak II, the <i>Enterprise</i> makes a visit to Ardana, the
only known source of the xenite mineral needed to halt the plague.
Despite High Advisor Plasus's request that they beam to the cloud city
Stratos, Kirk and Spock beam directly down to the xenite mine entrance,
where they are lassooed by the xenite miners.  Kirk and Spock fend the
miners off, and those who are not quick enough at running away are killed
by security guards who beam down with high advisor Plasus from Stratos.


Kirk and Spock are entertained as guests on Stratos until the xenite can
be found.  During their stay, they discover that Ardana is a divided
planet, with the Trogglytes toiling in the cold and dirt of the mines
and the city-dwellers enjoying the benefits.  Although Kirk and Spock
do not witness the event, a Trogglyte who is captured after defacing
artwork in Stratos refuses to reveal the names of the rebel disrupters,
preferring instead to fall to his death by jumping out of a window.


Plasus' daughter Droxine is fascinated with Spock (she likes his
"exquisitely shaped ears"), but the city servant and secret Trogglyte
leader Vanna has an interest of a different kind for Kirk: she attempts to
take him hostage at mining-implement-point.  Kirk recognizes her from the
planet's surface and tries to question her.  She does not fully cooperate,
but does tell Kirk that the Trogglytes believe the <i>Enterprise</i> has
been sent to intimidate them.  He calls Spock and Droxine, who in turn
summons a sentinel to escort Vanna away.  Vanna's screams as she is being
tortured with rays in an attempt to learn the names of other disrupters
draw Kirk and Spock.  Kirk is outraged by the torture, and his forceful
protests prompt Plasus to order their immediate departure from the city.


Back aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> Kirk learns from McCoy that unprocessed
xenite emits an odorless, invisible gas which temporarily diminishes
mental ability and heightens emotions.  Spock then realizes that the
leaders of the disrupters have all been isolated from xenite emissions
by their service aboard Stratos.  Kirk proposes that the Trogglytes be
supplied with xenite masks, but Plasus is not interested.  Kirk then
violates Plasus's ban from Stratos by secretly beaming down to Vanna's
cell on Stratos, armed with a mask, and offering his assistance in
achieving equality for her people if she will produce the xenite. Vanna
seems to agree, but takes Kirk hostage (despite Midro and Anka's desire
to kill him) after she and Kirk overpower the guard and escape to the
mines on the planet's surface.  Vanna then forces Kirk to experience
life as a Trogglyte and dig with his hands.


Kirk regains his phaser from Vanna after she has sent Midro and Anka on
errands.  He uses it to seal the cavern and orders the <i>Enterprise</i>
to beam Plasus down as well for a small demonstration on the effects of
an invisible gas.  The demonstration proves quite effective when Kirk
becomes enraged and commands Plasus and Vanna to dig xenite.  When Vanna
and Plasus grow faint due to the diminishing oxygen in the sealed chamber,
Kirk strikes him and the two begin hand-to-hand combat with morte mining
implements. The three are saved from suffocation only when Vanna gets
Kirk's communicator during the combat and tells the <i>Enterprise</i>
to beam them up.


Once the effect of the gas has worn off, Kirk agrees to provide Vanna
with masks and help the Trogglytes obtain equality in exchange for the
xenite, despite the protests of Plasus.  Kirk and Plasus drop charges
against each other, and Kirk and Spock return to the <i>Enterprise</i>
with xenite in hand.

















In Part 2, the recording continues, despite instructions from Starfleet
command that no further transmissions from Talos are permitted.
The recording shows Pike confined in a cell.  Here, he discovers that
the Talosians are illusionists, capable of making a man see anything they
wish exist.  They are also telepaths who can communicate without speaking.
The Talosians wish Pike to remain on the planet as Vena's mate. Meanwhile,
the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> beams the ship's power down to the
surface in a fruitless attempt to blast through the mountain where the
Talosians were seen to disappear.  However, this has no effect, and the
Talosians continue their mind games with Pike.


The Talosians re-enact Pike's encounter on Rigel 7 in his mind, but with
the addition of Vena.  In this re-enactment, Pike kills the beast who is
attacking them, then is returned to his cell with Vena.  Vena tells him
that the Talosians retreated underground after a war two thousand years
ago, and have been developing mental powers.  She also reveals that she
is a real human and not an illusion. Pike discovers that the Talosians
cannot penetrate primitive, strong emotions with their telepathy.


The next virtual reality trip for Pike and Vena is at Pike's farm on
Earth, complete with his horse Tango.  As Pike uses the opportunity to
scheme, Vena has the Talosians shift venues to a Roman court with a Vena
playing the part of a green Orion dancing slave girl.  Again, Pike does
not cooperate.  Meanwhile, a landing party from the <i>Enterprise</i>
beams down in attempt to find Pike, but only Number One and the yeoman
(out of a landing party of six) actually arrive. The Talosians now give
Pike a "selection" of specimens for starting a human community of slaves.


Instead, Pike uses the phasers brought down by the landing party as
bait, and captures one of the Talosians as he tries to recover them
from a sliding panel in the side of the cell.  Pike fires one of the
phasers through the wall, sees no effect, but then forces the Talosian
to show him the hole which was produced or else have the "nonfunctional"
phaser tested on his head.  Pike and the women escape to the surface,
but it turns out that this was actually the first part of the Talosians'
plan to re-populate surface. However, the Talosian learn of Pike and
humankind's unshakable hatred of captivity, and this forces them to let
the <i>Enterprise</i>'s crew go, as humans appear to be too violent a
species for their needs.  All but Vena and Pike return to the ship. Before
Pike leaves, he discovers that Vena's beauty is illusional, and that
she was actually severely deformed in the <i>Columbia's</i> crash and
"put back together" by the Talosians.


All this is viewed by the court martial committee on the
disappears and turns out to have been an illusion used to distract
Kirk from regaining control of the <i>Enterprise</i>.  Kirk, with the
authorization of Starfleet (who have also been viewing the images from
Talos 4), permits the now-disfigured Pike to transport to Talos 4. All
charges against Spock are dropped, and the <i>Enterprise</i> continues
on its way.  Kirk speaks to Spock about a tendency towards flagrant
emotionalism, but Spock quips, "I see no reason to insult me, Sir.
I believe I've been completely logical about the whole affair."



















When the <i>Enterprise</i> is accidentally warped back in time to the late
1960s by a black star, Kirk is forced to beam the jet-interceptor pilot
John Christopher (serial number 4857932) aboard.  On the <i>Enterprise</i>
(one of only 12 ships in the fleet), Christopher learns much he should
not know about (like the computer which addresses Kirk as "dear"
after having been overhauled on the woman-dominated planet Cygnet 14).
Because Christopher knows the future, Kirk cannot return him to Earth.
A computer analysis by Spock, however, shows that Christopher and his wife
will have a son, Sean Jeffrey Christopher who will head the Earth-Saturn
probe mission.


After recovering all tracking records of the <i>Enterprise</i> from
the military (and accidentally beaming up an MP, who samples chicken
soup from the food dispenser), the <i>Enterprise</i> warps forward
in time by accelerating towards and then breaking away from the sun.
As the <i>Enterprise</i> travels back in time, Christopher is beamed
back into his jet at the exact moment in time he saw the ship and the
MP is returned to the base just as he heard a noise.

















A friend of Captain Kirk, Thomas Layton diverts the <i>Enterprise</i>
to the Signia Minor Earth Colony, 300 light-years off its course, with
a phony message.  Layton tells Kirk his suspicions that the actor Anton
Karidian is actually Kodos the Executioner, but doesn't live to expand
on this allegation since he is murdered shortly thereafter.


Kirk consults the computer banks and discovers that Karidian's history
begins exactly where Kodos's ends.  Of the nine witnesses of Kodos'
murder of 4000 colonists on Tarsus IV 20 years previously, Kirk finds
that Layton, Kevin Riley, and himself were the only survivors (E. Molsen,
D. Eems, and the other four are all dead).  Kirk finds further that
the deaths of all these witnesses occurred when the Karidian players
were nearby.


Hoping to conclusively establish the identity of Karidian, Kirk requests
his friend Captain Daily not to pick up the acting company.  At the
request of Karidian's 19-year-old daughter Lenore, Kirk then uses the
of the way).  While the players are aboard, Riley's milk is poisoned and
a phaser on overload is hidden in Kirk's room.  Kirk confronts Karidian,
but is not conclusively convinced of his guilt.


After Riley escapes from sickbay and tries to kill Karidian, Kirk
overhears the psychopathic Lenore telling her father that it was she who
has been killing the eyewitnesses to his deeds of the past.  Kirk tries to
take Lenore into custody, but she grabs a phaser from a security guard.
She tries to shoot Kirk, but her father takes the fatal phaser blast
intended for Kirk, and Lenore goes insane.

















Kirk, Spock, and McCoy ferry Commissioner Nancy Hedford from Epsilon
Caneris 3 to the <i>Enterprise</i> in the shuttlecraft <i>Galileo.</i>
The Commissioner, who had been on a diplomatic mission to stop a war,
is ill with Sicuro's disease and needs treatment aboard the
by a sparkling cloud of ionized hydrogen.  The planet has an
oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with traces of krypton, argon, and neon, and
a surface temperature of 75 degrees.


Kirk is unable to contact the <i>Enterprise</i>, despite the fact that
the communications equipment appears to be functioning perfectly. On
the planet, they find a man named Cochrane, who claims he has been
marooned.  Cochrane tells them that there is some sort of damping field
on the planet which will prevent them from being able to get their
shuttlecraft to work.


Hedford begins developing a temperature, the first manifestation of her
disease. Cochrane turns out to be space pioneer Zefram Cochrane of
Alpha Centauri, the discoverer of the Space Warp. Thought to have been
dead for 150 years, Cochrane has been kept alive and young for
centuries by a doting gaseous alien he calls the "Companion."  The
companion intercepted his disabled ship, brought him to the planet, and
rejuvenated him.  Cochrane had set out in a ship at the age of 87 to
die in space.  Cochrane also tells Kirk that the shuttlecraft has been
diverted by the Companion to provide him with company.


As Spock attempts to fix the <i>Galileo,</i> the Companion drops by to
investigate.  Spock attempts to touch it, but is given an electric
shock.  The Companion also takes the opportunity to fry the
Companion is at least partly an electrical phenomenon, Spock builds a
device to short-circuit it.  Cochrane is not at all happy about this
endeavor, but agrees to summon the Companion.  When the Companion
arrives to commune with Cochrane and Spock activates his short-circuit
box, Cochrane is electrically shocked, and the Companion destroys the
device and attacks Kirk and Spock.  Fortunately, Cochrane regains his
composure and summons the Companion away before it can harm them.


Kirk then comes up with the idea of using the shuttlecraft's universal
translation device, which converts brain-wave frequencies, to attempt
to communicate with the companion. This proves successful, and the
Companion turns out to be a female entity who is "in love" with
Cochrane. Kirk attempts to convince the Companion that humans pine away
in captivity (or "cease to exist," as he puts it), but the Companion
does not believe him.


Cochrane is greatly disturbed by the knowledge that the Companion is in
love with him, and storms out saying that he doesn't want to be
"fodder for any inhuman monster."  At the same time, Hedford, in a
feverish daze, remarks that it is strange that Cochrane runs from love
while she herself has never had the opportunity to be loved.


Kirk then tries to convince the Companion that she is not capable of
giving Cochrane true human love, and that if she really loves Cochrane,
she will let him go.  Instead, she occupies and cures the body of
Commissioner Hedford, who had been on the verge of death.  She also
restores the shuttlecraft and communication devices to working order.
However, the Companion is unable to leave the planet without dying, and
Cochrane decides to remain with her.


Meanwhile, the <i>Enterprise</i> had discovered the asteroid field
(containing some 7000 bodies) and had begun searching the asteroids
one at a time for the lost shuttlecraft.  Fortunately, this search is
greatly simplified by the resumption of communications.  As they prepare
to depart, Kirk agrees not to mention his adventure with Cochrane.


Cochrane reappears in <i>Star Trek VIII: First Contact,</i> although
his personality and appearance are completely different than they were
in the original episode.  Furthermore, in the film, Cochrane is from
Earth instead of Alpha Centauri.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> is called to Deep Space Station K7 by a priority 1
distress call.  The space station and planet are in a quadrant disputed
between the Federation and Klingon Empire.  The quadrant was the site
of the battle of Donatu 5, which occurred 23 years ago. The terms of
the Organian peace treaty were that the Sherman's planet would revert
to whichever side could manage it most efficiently.


Kirk is furious after the distress call issued by Nilz Baris,
Undersecretary in Charge of Agriculture in this quadrant and person in
charge of the development of the planet's development, turns out to
have been without justification.  In fact, Baris just wants someone
to guard the quadrotriticale grain (a four-lobed high yield variety)
bound for Sherman's Planet.  Baris's assistant is Arne Darvin, and
Mr. Lurry is the manager of the space station.


A Klingon ship arrives at the space station and requests that its crew
be granted shore leave. Kirk tells the Klingon leader Koloth that he can
bring members of his crew down 12 at a time, but that he will provide
one security guard for each Klingon which beams down.


Meanwhile, the intergalactic trader Cyrano Jones gives Uhura a trilling
creature called a tribble.  She brings it to the <i>Enterprise,</i>
where it promptly begins reproducing.  Jones also tries to sell
tribbles to Klingons on the Station, but the tribbles respond by emitting
high-pitched yelps. Trouble breaks out between Klingons and members of the
compares Earthers to Regulan blood worms.  This infuriates Chekov, who then
becomes more upset when the Klingon goes on to call Kirk a swaggering,
overbearing, tin-plated, dictator with delusions of godhood.  However,
Scott holds Chekov back, even after the Klingon calls Kirk a Denebian
slime devil.  However, when the Klingon calls the <i>Enterprise</i> a
sagging old rust-bucket which is designed like a garbage scow, Scott
punches him, precipitating a bar room brawl.  When Kirk questions his
crew, no one admits to starting the fight. However, when Kirk questions
Scott alone, he admits that he started the fight, and also reveals that
he refrained from fighting while Kirk was being insulted, but was forced
to take action when the Klingons insulted the <i>Enterprise.</i>


The tribbles begin proliferating throughout the <i>Enterprise,</i>
and Kirk even accidentally sits on one while taking a seat in his
command chair.  Kirk orders Uhura to clean the tribbles off the ship,
and beams down to the space station to confront Cyrano Jones.  However,
since the only animals it is illegal to transport are dangerous ones
(and tribbles are not dangerous), Kirk can do nothing.


After Kirk finds that tribbles have spread aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>
through air vents, he becomes concerned that they may have infested the
grain storage lockers on the space station as well.  His hunch proves
correct, and opening the overhead storage bin produces a rain of tribbles
on Kirk's head.  Spock calculates that 1,771,561 tribbles are likely to
exist on the station, assuming each tribble has a litter of 10 every 12
hours over a period of 3 days. However, Spock notes that, inexplicably,
many of the tribbles are dead.


When the station transporter room is being cleared of tribbles, one of
them yelps at Baris's assistant Darvin. Kirk verifies that tribbles coo
for humans (and even Vulcans; "obviously the tribbles are very perceptive
creatures," according to Spock), but yelp for Klingons. He then asks McCoy
to perform a tricorder scan of Darvin.  McCoy verifies that Darvin
is a Klingon, and also reveals that the grain was poisoned. Darvin admits
to being a Klingon agent and to be responsible for poisoning the grain.
Darvin is arrested, Kirk tells the Klingons to leave Federation territory,
and Jones is ordered to pick up every tribble on the space station,
a task which Spock estimates will take 17.9 years.


Luckily, another freighter can be diverted to provide replacement grain
for Sherman's planet.  However, this does not solve the problem of
de-tribbling the <i>Enterprise.</i>  The tribbles are finally removed
from the <i>Enterprise</i> when Scotty transports them aboard the
Klingon ship.  While the tribbles may not enjoy their new home, the
Klingons will definitely not enjoy their new passengers.



















On the third day of star-mapping (with Lt. Bailey as navigator in
place of Ensign Chekov), the <i>Enterprise</i> discovers a giant
multi-colored spinning cube.  McCoy, who is giving Kirk his quarterly
medical examination, fails to inform Kirk about the crisis, quipping
(to himself)  "If I jumped every time a light went off around here,
I'd end up talking to myself."  As a result of the exam, Kirk's diet
is restricted to salad, much to his chagrin.  The cube, which holds a
distance of 1593 m, is 107 m on an edge, and &gt; 11,000 metric tons in
weight, has an unknown propulsion system which prompts Scotty to admit
that it "beats me what makes it go." As the <i>Enterprise</i> tries to
maneuver away from the cube, the cube begins emitting deadly radiation
and Kirk is forced to destroy it.


Responding to the destruction of what turns out to have been a warning
buoy, a mile-diameter spherical flagship known as the <i>Fesarius</i>
rushes to the scene.  It is piloted by Balok and belongs to the
First Federation.  Balok threatens to destroy the <i>Enterprise</i>
for violating First Federation space and destroying the warning buoy.
Balok gives the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> 10 minutes to consult with
their deity before they are destroyed.  Prompted by uncharacteristic
curiosity, Spock is able to obtain a visual image of the imposing Balok
using the ship's monitor during this waiting period.


Kirk saves the day by pretending that the <i>Enterprise</i> is equipped
with a secret "corbomite device" capable of destroying any vessel which
attacks it.  Balok then offers to spare the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i>
by towing it to a First Federation planet, interning the crew there,
and only then destroying the <i>Enterprise</i>.  However, Kirk waits for
the tow ship to expend its power, then pulls away, crippling the power
systems of the tow ship.


Kirk, McCoy, and Dave Bailey transport to the main ship <i>Fesarius</i>
to render assistance.  Here, they meet Balok, the pilot of the ship, who
greets them and offers them "tranya" to drink.  Kirk and company find that
the image of Balok they had glimpsed was a phony puppet and that Balok
is actually an unintimidating midget.  It turns out that Balok did not
trust the information he gleaned from his scan of the <i>Enterprise</i>'s
data banks and was simply testing the Earth men to see what their true
intentions were.  Bailey, who had panicked during the crisis on the bridge
of the <i>Enterprise,</i> remains on the <i>Fesarius</i> to exchange
cultures with Balok.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> responds to a distress signal
from a planet (which just happens to look exactly like
SIZE=-1><sup>21</sup></font> tons, density 5.517, circumference 24,874
miles, oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere), Kirk, Spock, Yeoman Janice Rand,
McCoy, and two security guards beam down and find a copy of Earth in
the mid-1960s. On the planet's surface, while inoffensively examining a
tricycle, they are attacked by a creature clad in rags.  The creature
appears to be a disfigured human, but with an extremely accelerated
metabolism.  He dies shortly after the encounter, but a security guard
spots another inhabitant.  Following it into a building, the landing party
finds a 300-year old piano.  They also discover their quarry to be a young
girl named Miri.  Miri is afraid of the landing party because they are
"grups," and the grups killed and hurt children before themselves dying.


The members of the landing party soon learns that they are all infected by a strange disease which causes death to anyone
who has reached puberty.  At a deserted hospital, they discover that the disease with which they are afflicted (which
causing blue rashes) was accidentally created by a project to prolong life. They also discover that the "lonelies"
(children) on the planet are actually over 300 years old, having aged only one month for every hundred years of real time.

Kirk is attacked by Louise, a girl who has just gone through puberty, and stuns her with a phaser.  Like the first
creature, she dies.  The landing party find old records and discovers that they have only 7 days to live. Meanwhile, the
children, led by Jahn, steal the landing party's communicators, rendering their search for a cure almost impossible. When
Janice becomes upset and Kirk hugs her to comfort her, Miri becomes jealous and runs away to scheme with the rest of the
children.  Together, the children devise a "foolie" which consists of kidnapping Janice.

Kirk tries to convince Miri that all children eventually contract the disease, despite her protestations that it only
happens "sometimes."  Miri takes Kirk to the children who proceed to attack him.  After Kirk has shown them that it is
they who are doing the hurting, and convinced them that they will die without his help, the children finally listen to
the "grups."  Kirk returns to the hospital, only to find that Bones has injected himself with a possible vaccine.
Fortunately for Bones, the vaccine is found to be safe and effective, and all are inoculated.  They leave the children
behind and contact Starfleet to send advisors and teachers.
















After receiving a distress call from a science party on Camus II
exploring the ruins of a dead civilization, the <i>Enterprise</i> rushes
to assistance.  All members of the party appear to be dead except the
leader Dr. Janice Lester and the medical officer Dr. Arthur Coleman.
Kirk and Lester had been in love in Starfleet Academy, but Lester's
inability to rise to command status because of her gender led them to
drift apart.


According to Dr. Coleman, Lester is suffering from some unknown sort of
radiation poisoning.  However, when the rest of the <i>Enterprise</i>
landing party goes to aid a dying science party member and leaving Kirk
and Lester alone, she activates an alien device she has discovered and
exchanges bodies with Kirk. Lester is driven by jealousy and a persecution
complex and complains to Kirk of the agony of being a woman.  Now in the
body of Kirk, she then tries to strangle Lester and kill the real Kirk.
Kirk, McCoy, and Coleman return before she can finish, having been too
late to save the scientist from selebium poisoning.  Lester-as-Kirk orders
everyone to be beamed about, and takes over the role of Kirk.


Aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> in secret consultation with Lester-as-Kirk,
Dr. Coleman reveals that Dr. Lester deliberately sent the science team
where she knew the selebium shielding was weak, and that she was supposed
to kill Kirk during the interval provided by Coleman on the planet.


Lester-as-Kirk removes Bones as chief medical officer and installs
Dr. Coleman, a former starship doctor who has been found incompetent
by the Starfleet Surgeon General, in his place.  Dr. Coleman attempts
to prevent Kirk (in Dr. Lester's body) from interacting with the
crew by sedating her, but she escapes to sickbay to talk to Bones and
Spock. However, Lester-as-Kirk is there as well waiting for a physical
examination ordered by McCoy.  He proceeds to knock Kirk-as-Lester out
and orders her be put in isolation and incommunicado.


Meanwhile, Lester-as-Kirk delays a rendezvous with the <i>Potemkin</i>
to conduct gravitational studies of the Beta Aurigae binary system and
insists that course be set for the Benicia colony, despite the fact
that Starbase 2 is on the way and that Benecia possesses only primitive
medical facilities.


Spock suspects something amiss, and goes to speak to (the real) Kirk
in solitary confinement.  At Kirk's request, Spock does a Vulcan mind
probe and discovers the truth. Meanwhile, McCoy tests Lester-as-Kirk's
dermaloptic reaction to color wavelengths using a Rubiana dermaloptic
test to compare his basic emotional structure to previous results. Spock
tries to escape with the real Kirk, but is stopped by Lester-as-Kirk
and security guards.


This leads to a court martial trial for Spock. Spock puts Kirk (in
Lester's body) on the stand and testifies that Kirk's mind is in actually
in her body. Scotty talks to Bones in the hallway about the vote, and the
conversation is recorded by Lester-as-Kirk.  Lester-as-Kirk then orders
the death penalty for Scotty, Bones, Lester (who is actually Kirk),
and Spock, despite the fact that general order 4 is the only crime for
which the death penalty is still in effect.


In the meantime, Sulu and Chekov refuse to obey Lester-as-Kirk's orders,
and Kirk and Lester experience a temporary reversion of minds.  In fact,
to prevent reversion, Coleman informs Lester-as-Kirk that Lester must
be killed.  However, Coleman is too late carrying out the task, and
Kirk's and Lester's minds revert to their appropriate bodies.

















After sustaining severe damage in an ion storm, the <i>Enterprise</i> is
forced to seek repairs at Starbase 11. Here, Commodore Stone investigates
the loss of records officer Ben Finney, who was killed when the ion
pod in which he was taking readings had to be jettisoned in order to
save the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Stone finds that despite Kirk's insistence
to the contrary, the computer record shows that Kirk ejected the pod
during yellow alert, before red alert had been signaled.  Kirk is
further incriminated when it is learned that although they were once
close friends, Finney had deeply hated Kirk and held him responsible
for Finney's lack of promotion.  This stemmed from an incident aboard
the <i>Republic</i> (NCC 1371), when Kirk had replaced Finney on watch
and discovered a circuit open to the atomic matter piles that should
have been closed.  Finney was sent to the bottom of the promotion list,
and began to blame Kirk for "keeping him down."  Kirk stands by his
testimony, and draws a court martial for perjury and culpable negligence.
His former flame Ariel Shaw is the prosecuting attorney, and Kirk seeks
the services of attorney Samuel T. Cogley.


Testimony from McCoy, Spock (S 179-276 SP), and himself (SC 937-0176
CEC) proves unenlightening, and Spock is forced to admit that there
is nothing mechanically wrong with the computer (confirmed by a later
megalite survey).  Just as sentence is about to be pronounced by Stone,
Space Command Representative Linstrom, and starship captains Chandra
and Crisnowski, Spock discovers something amiss in the program bank of
the <i>Enterprise</i> after he is able to beat the computer 5 times,
despite the fact that its program should not be capable of losing.
Spock rushes down to the Starbase, and the entire court reconvenes aboard
the <i>Enterprise</i> to determine what is going on.  Using a auditory
sensor (intensified by a factor of "1 to the fourth power," that's a
whopping total of 1 to the uninitiated), the computer detects one more
heartbeat aboard than can be accounted for.  Kirk soon locates the hiding
Finney who has managed to tap out the primary energy circuits. Finney
tells Kirk how to return power and prevent the <i>Enterprise</i> from
burning up in the planet's atmosphere only when Kirk tells him that his
daughter Jamie is aboard.  Kirk's record is cleared, and Samuel Cogley
takes on a new case: defending Finney.

















After Kirk fails to convince the Halkan Council to allow the Federation to
mine dilithium crystals on their planet, the landing party (Kirk, McCoy,
Scotty, and Uhura) returns to the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Interference from
an ion storm, however, causes them to be transported into a parallel
universe and a mirror image <i>Enterprise.</i>


Now aboard the <i>I.S.S. Enterprise</i> (Imperial Starship Enterprise),
the landing party discovers crew members who are mirror images of
themselves and belong to an evil Federation known as the Empire.
Their first experience is the torture of transporter operator Mr. Kyle
with an agonizer for his alleged failure to beam the landing party up
quickly enough.  Immediately, Kirk realizes that a mirror image landing
party (including an anti-Kirk) must have been beamed aboard the real


Kirk, Uhura, McCoy, and Scotty impersonate their mirror image counterparts
while finding a way to return to their universe.  Kirk learns that he has
been ordered to annihilate the the Halkans, but piques Spock's curiosity
by ordering the <i>Enterprise</i> to hold its fire for 12 hours. Kirk then
survives an assassination attempt by Chekov when one of his party defects,
and then subjects Chekov to the agony booth. Kirk also uses the computer
to determine that he succeeded to command by assassinating Christopher
Pike and was responsible for the death of 5000 colonists on Vega 9.


While Scotty is adjusting the transporter to return them back to the
correct universe, Kirk meets Marlena, the "Captain's Woman."  Meanwhile,
anti-Spock has received a directive to kill Kirk if he does not carry
out his orders by destroying the Halkans on the <i>Enterprise</i>'s next
orbit. Marlena shows Kirk the Tantalus Field, which he recovered from
a lost civilization and has been using to eliminate his enemies.


Another assassination attempt, this time by Sulu, is crushed when Marlena
uses the Tantalus Field on Sulu's co-conspirators. Kirk stalls Spock
by knocking him unconscious, and Uhura, Kirk, and Scott head for the
transporter room while McCoy stays behind to make sure that anti-Spock is
all right. Anti-Spock the comes out of his self-induced trance and mind
melds with McCoy. Discovering that a switch has occurred, anti-Spock
then assists Kirk in returning his landing party to their own universe
so that the Empire landing party may return to its.


When Kirk and the party return, they find that their Empire counterparts
were immediately recognized and put in detention.  The <i>Enterprise</i>'s
crew attributes this to the fact that it is easier for logical men to
appear barbarous than for barbarous men to appear civilized.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> is summoned to a space station without
explanation and told that the crew will be removed to the space
station.  Upon arriving, Kirk is contacted by Commodore Enright and
told that Commodore Bob Wesley will be beaming aboard.  Kirk finds out
from Wesley that has been given the "honor" of testing of Dr.
Daystrum's M5 Multitronic System, a computer designed to replace the
crew of a starship.  McCoy has misgivings about the test, but Kirk has
no choice but to go along with it.  <P>

Spock is impressed with the device and believes it to be potentially
even more important than Daystrom's advances in duotronics.  However,
Kirk learns that the device is called M5 because the first four
generations were not entirely successful, leading him to have
misgivings.  Kirk does not believe that his misgivings are entirely due
to his own jealousy that his job could be partially or completely
replaced by a machine.


The M5 appears to function normally at first.  When it is engaged to
enter orbit around Alpha Carinae 2 and make recommendations for a
landing party, Kirk is chagrined to find out that the M5's
recommendations are the same as his own, with the exception that he and
McCoy are not included since they are "nonessential personnel."
Meanwhile, M5 begins turning off power to unoccupied parts of the ship,
at the same time drawing an increased amount of power.


In an unscheduled drill at Alpha Carinae 2, M5 defends the
and <i>Lexington,</i> the latter which is commanded by Wesley.  The M5
is declared the victor of the simulated contest, prompting Commodore
Bob Wesley to call Kirk "Captain Dunsel."  Spock explains the meaning
of "dunsel" to McCoy as a term used by midshipmen at the Federation
Academy for a part which serves no useful purpose.


In a short time, however, M5 takes control of the <i>Enterprise</i>
despite Kirk, Sulu, and Scott's attempts to regain control.  It then
locks phasers at full power and destroys the automated ore freighter
M5, he discovers that M5 has generated a protective force field which
prevents any one from getting near it.  Scott assigns a technician to
unplug the connection, but he is immolated when he tries to disconnect
it.  M5 has conveniently picked the instant of the technician's action
with the establishment of a direct link between itself and the
connector so that it may draw power directly from the warp engines.
Spock and Scott desperately attempt to manually override before a
scheduled rendezvous with the exercise force.  Daystrom is surprised by
the M5's actions, but views its behavior as mistakes made by a
"child" who is still learning.


Unfortunately, implementing manual override fails when M5 reroutes helm
and navigation control using the H279 elements and rendering the G95
systems dead. When Daystrom is questioned about M5's irrational
behavior, he reveals that he has impressed human engrams in the
circuitry, providing a system nearly as complicated as human synapses.
At the scheduled rendezvous point, the M5 attacks the <i>Excalibur,</i>
members (53 on the<i>Lexington</i> and initially 12 on the


Daystrom now reveals that the engrams were his own, and Kirk and
company surmise that M5 therefore suffers from the mental instability
which Daystrom now reveals (as he rails on his colleagues for laughing
behind his back and becoming successful by stealing and building on his
work).  Kirk finally shuts off M5 by pointing out that by killing
humans it has violated its programming of saving men from dangerous
activities such as space exploration.  Since the penalty for murder is
death, the M5 concludes that it must die, and shuts itself down.  While
preventing Kirk from regaining control, it also drops shields, leaving
the <i>Enterprise</i> open to retaliatory attacks from the task force.
However, when Wesley sees that the <i>Enterprise</i> has dropped its
shields, he calls off the attack.


Dr. Daystrom is committed to a program of rehabilitation, but Spock
still refuses to respond to McCoy's prodding that that human compassion
outweighs any advantages computer may have in computational ability.
McCoy further annoys Spock by suggesting that computers are more pleasant
to be around than people.


















As the <i>Enterprise</i> makes a routine visit to the Tantalus penal
colony, transporter technician Mr. Berkeley tries to beam supplies down,
only to discover that he is prevented from doing some by a security
force shield. After the colony drops the shield, it beams a box of
research material aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>  However, the box
actually contains Simon van Gelder, former assistant to penal colony
director Doctor Tristan Adams.  van Gelder karate chops the transporter
technician, then makes his way to the bridge of the <i>Enterprise</i>
with a phaser has has taken from a security guard.  He demands asylum,
but Kirk and Spock overpower him. Bones suspects something amiss, and
wishes to keep van Gelder on board for examination.  Kirk and Dr. Helen
Noel, an acquaintance from a Christmas party of years past, beam down
to investigate.


After Kirk and Helen beam down, van Gelder tells Spock about Adams'
use of a neuroneutralizer to empty the minds of his inmates.  He warns
that Kirk is in danger, and consents to have Spock mind meld with him to
discover the truth.  Kirk and Helen observe the neutralizer being applied
to a patient by Adams' assistant Eli, and becomes suspicious. When Kirk
and Helen secretly examine the neuroneutralizer by having Helen use it on
Kirk at minimum intensity, Helen suggests that they renew their Christmas
party encounter.  Adams wrenches controls from her, turns the neutralizer
to high intensity, and forces Kirk to drop his phaser and communicator.
The two are then taken prisoner.


Helen escapes through a ventilation duct (her escape is reported by
Lethay, a "cured patient"), and Kirk is saved from having his mind
seriously harmed during a second neuroneutralizer session when Helen
turns off all power to the colony, including the energy shield. Helen
is waylaid in the shield room, but pushes her attacker int a high
voltage transformer.  Kirk then knocks out Adams and his assistant,
and goes in search of Helen.  Spock, noticing that the shield is off,
beams down and restores power to the colony.  Adams, still unconscious in
the treatment room, is subjected to the neuroneutralizer and is killed
of loneliness when the machine empties his mind, despite having only
been left at low intensity.  Van Gelder is left behind to destroy the
treatment room and reconstitute the colony.

















Harcourt ("Harvey") Fenton Mudd, attempts to evade the <i>Enterprise</i>
with his small class J cargo ship, and leads it into an asteroid field.
The <i>Enterprise</i> extends its shields over Harvey's ship, in the
process burning out three of its four lithium crystals.  Just before
Mudd's cargo ship is destroyed by an asteroid, Harvey and his human
"cargo" are beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>


On the <i>Enterprise,</i> Mudd pretends his name is Leo Francis Walsh,
but is eventually forced to admit his true identity.  The crew of the
fascinated with the three beautiful women Mudd has been transporting:
Ruthie (from a planet of sea ranchers), Magda (from Halium Experimental
Station), and Evie McCurin (from a farm planet).  The women are destined
to be wives for settlers on Ophiuchus 3.  McCoy notices a strange effect
on his medical panel when one of the women walks near it and is about
to investigate when he is distracted by another matter.


As a result of the destruction of three of its lithium crystals, the
Before it can arrive, Mudd obtains a communicator and make his own bargain
with the lithium miners (Chief Ben Childress, Benton, and Herm Gosset)
on the planet.  At Mudd's prompting, the miners offer to provide Kirk
with lithium only in exchange for Mudd's freedom and the three women.
Mudd and the women beams down to Rigel 12, where Evie becomes fed up with
her plight and runs away, but Kirk finds her without difficulty using
ship sensors. In the meantime, he learns the secret to the women's beauty:
Mudd has been providing them with the Venus drug.  Childress rescues Evie,
but wants nothing to do with her when her beauty wears off.  Kirk beams
down to collect the lithium from Childress, at the same time providing
Evie with red gelatin she believes to be the Venus drug. Evie believes
herself once again to be beautiful, and unintentionally reveals her
natural inner beauty. In the end, Kirk gets his lithium, Evie remains
with Childress, and Mudd is taken into custody to be turned over to
the authorities, only to make a second appearance in the episode <i><a
href="IMudd.html">I, Mudd</a>.</i>

















The <i>Enterprise</i> destroys the stolen space cruiser <i>Aurora</i>
when it uses tractor beams to prevent it from entering Romulan space
and the <i>Aurora</i> continues to use full power in an attempt to flee.
The six passengers are beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> before their
ship's destruction, and prove to be Tongo Rad, the son of the Katulan
ambassador (and must be handled with extreme delicacy because of ongoing
Federation negotiations with Katula), Irini Galliulan (Chekov's former
girlfriend and a Starfleet Academy dropout), Dr. Sevrin (a well-known
research engineer in the fields of acoustics, communications, and
electronics on from Tiburon), the musician Adam, and two unidentified
girls.  The group is dressed in far-out clothing, is disrespectful of
authority, and calls Kirk "Herbert" (who was a minor official notorious
for his rigid and limited patterns of thought---i.e., Herbert Hoover).
The hippies demand to be taken to a planet called Eden and refuse to
cooperate with Kirk.  However, Spock seems to partially understand them
when he makes a symbol and speaks of the "One."  As a result the hippies
allow Spock to lead them to sickbay.


Medical examination of Sevrin reveals him to be a carrier of the
synthecoccus novae virus and to be on the verge of insanity.  Kirk orders
Sevrin into isolation before he can endanger any crew members who may not
have received complete vaccinations.  The hippies object by calling Kirk
"Herbert" again, and make up a protest song. Spock attempts to reason with
Sevrin and offers to assist him in finding Eden and colonizing it, if he
agrees to cooperate.  However, Sevrin is so resentful of the impositions
placed on him as a carrier of his disease (which has been created as
a by-product of technological advancement) that he is oblivious to the
damage he can impose on others and wants only to be free of the illness.


Led by Sevrin, the hippies take control of the <i>Enterprise</i> by
distracting crew members. Adam distracts Spock with music and arranges to
hold a concert which is broadcast ship-wide (in which Spock joins in),
and Irini distracts Chekov with love and finds out out to access the
computer banks and navigate the ship.  Finally, Tongo distracts Sulu
with his hobby of botany.  Tongo then knocks out Sevrin's guard and
frees Sevrin, and the two up them knock out Chekov and take over the
ship from auxiliary control and direct it toward Romulan space.


The hippies then complete Spock's search and find the planet they
call "Eden," which indeed lies in the Romulan sector.  The hippies use
hypersonics to incapacitate the <i>Enterprise</i> crew members and then
proceed to land on the planet using the <i>Galileo 2</i> shuttlecraft
(NCC 1707/7).


Kirk manages to reach the auxiliary control panel and stop the sound.
Kirk, Spock, Chekov, and McCoy then follows the hippies down using
the transporter and find a beautiful planet.  They quickly learn
otherwise when Chekov's hands are burned when he touches a flower, and
McCoy determines that all the plant life on the planet contains acid.
The landing party discovers that Adam has been killed after eating
appetizing-looking but deadly indigenous fruit.  Sevrin refuses to leave
and then deliberately eats a fruit which kills him. The landing party
takes the remainder of the hippies (whose bare feet have been burnt)
back to the <i>Enterprise</i> for medical attention.

















Called to Earth colony Beta 12A by a distress signal which claims that
the colony is under attack by a ship, Kirk and his landing party (Bones,
Chekov, and security guard Johnson) find no traces of the 100 men,
women, and children who inhabited the colony.  Kirk's suspicions of
Klingon involvement seem confirmed when the <i>Enterprise</i> detects
the approach of a Klingon battlecruiser.  Strangely, however, the cruiser
is disabled and heavily damaged.


Klingon Commander Kang and his landing party then beam down and subdue
the <i>Enterprise</i>'s landing party, accusing the <i>Enterprise</i>
of attacking and killing 400 Klingons aboard his ship.  He demands
that Kirk beam the Klingon landing party up to the <i>Enterprise.</i>
Meanwhile, Kirk accuses Kang of destroying the colonists of 12A.
Chekov attempts to attack the Klingons, accusing them of attacking and
killing the members of a Federation outpost on which his brother Pyoter
was stationed--despite the fact that he has no brother.


Kirk pretends to comply with Kang's order after Chekov is tortured, but
actually warns Spock by pressing a special button on his communicator.
Scott then holds the Klingons in transit until security guards can cover
the transporter room. Kang and his landing party are then beamed aboard
and taken prisoner along with the rest of the Klingon crew (including
Kang's wife Mara) who have been beamed to the <i>Enterprise</i> from
their stricken ship. Soon thereafter, the <i>Enterprise</i> spontaneously
accelerates to Warp 9 and traps all but 38 crew members below deck.


When Kirk confronts Kang and accuses him of being responsible for the
trapping of the <i>Enterprise</i>'s crew, phasers and room ornaments
turn into swords.  Thus armed, the Klingons escape and take control
of engineering. Their attempt to cut off life support to the bridge is
foiled, however, when normal functioning returns for no apparent reason.


Meanwhile, Spock has ascertained that there is an unfamiliar alien life
force aboard.  After watching the crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> and the
Klingons turn at each other throats, seeing Chekov seeking revenge for
the death of his non-existent brother Pyoter at the hands of the Klingons
(as well as attempting to rape Kang's wife), and observing that fatal
wounds (Johnson's heart wound, for instance) are mysterious healing,
Kirk realizes that the alien (a rotating, multicolored energy field)
is influencing matter and human and Klingon behavior, somehow deriving
sustenance from violent emotions they experience.


Kirk and Mara use intra-ship beaming to pass through the Klingon
defenses. With the help of Mara, and after fighting Kang in a sword
battle which ultimately involves all Klingons and <i>Enterprise</i>
crew members, Kirk eventually convinces Kang to cease hostilities and
participate in temporary gestures of goodwill.  These drive the creature
away, returning control to Kirk.

















A landing party from the <i>Enterprise</i> beams aboard Psi 2000, an
ancient planet about to break up.  They find all six of the crew
manning the station dead.  The circumstances are bizarre, however,
since the life support systems have been switched off and everything in
the station is frozen solid.  Crewman Joey unwisely removes his gloves
is contaminated by a red liquid.  When Joey and Spock return to the
this is a pulse of 242 and a practically nonexistent blood pressure).
However, Joey notices a strange itch and begins to act irritably and
irrationally.  He threatens Sulu with a knife, then attempts to turn it
on himself.  To McCoy's surprise, Joey soon dies from the
inconsequential wounds which result.  The infection afflicting Joey
begin spreading like wildfire, infecting almost all crew members of the


As Psi 2000 shows a shift in magnetic field (and <i>mass!</i>), the
Meanwhile, Sulu abandons his post for a jaunt at the gym, believing
himself to be a rapier-brandishing French cavalier.   Riley takes
over the engine room and declares himself Captain.  He demands ice
cream for the entire crew, and begins a ship-wide broadcast of his
personal rendition of classic Irish ballads (his favorite being
"Kathleen").


As the <i>Enterprise</i> begins spiraling downward, Scotty attempts to
cut through the bulkhead to regain control from Riley.  Scotty displays
a stroke of genius, when he is able to change the laws of physics in
under an hour saying, "Ya can't change the laws of physics!  I've got
to have thirty minutes!"


While all this is going on, Nurse Chapel infects Spock and professes to
love him.  This is extremely difficult for Spock, especially since the
infection is causing him to become excessively emotional.  Spock then
passes the infection on to Kirk, who begins exhibiting paranoia and
loss of ability to command.  Kirk is reduced to an ineffectual
hand-wringer who can do nothing except agonize over the fear that he is
losing command of the <i>Enterprise.</i>  Luckily, Bones finds the
antidote just in time and Riley is dislodged before the audience's ears
are permanently damaged by his wrenching ballads.


After mixing matter and antimatter at a colder than recommended
temperature according to an untested intermix formula, the
chronometer to run backwards.  This allows the <i>Enterprise</i> to
escape the breakup of the planet, returning it 71 hours into the past
and therefore before any of the episode's events took place.

















After the <i>Enterprise</i> travels to the planet Exo III in order to
investigate the fate of Roger Corby (Nurse Chapel's former fiancee),
security guards Matthews and Rayburn are both killed after beaming
down with Kirk and Nurse Chapel.  In turns out that Corby, known as
the Pasteur of archeological medicine, has discovered the remains of
an ancient culture.  Using machinery he has found, he creates androids
Braun and Andrea with the help of Rok, a still-functioning android from
the ancient days of Exo III.


Corby begins implementing a dastardly plan by creating an android
of Kirk to be taken to Minas 5 where he will start spreading androids
throughout the galaxy.  The real Kirk and Corby's android are completely
indistinguishable. The android even knows that Kirk has a brother named
George Samuel Kirk (called "Sam" by Kirk only) who saw Kirk off with
his wife and three sons.


Fortunately, Kirk had shown great presence of mind while his mental
patterns were being duplicated. By concentrating on the words "Mind
your own business, Mr. Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference!
Do you hear!?," he engrained this phrase into the circuitry of the
android, who dutifully repeated them when aboard the <i>Enterprise.</i>
Hearing these words from Kirk, Spock suspects something is amiss and
follows the android down to investigate.


In the meantime, Corby has been forced to destroy Rok, who has remembered
the equation "existence, survival must cancel out programming." This
equation led Rok to realize that the same kind of clash between humans and
androids which led to his civilization's demise centuries ago is becoming
inevitable again, and caused him to attempt to kill Corby. However,
Corby catches his hand in a door, revealing the fact that he himself
is an android.  Andrea then destroys the Kirk android when he refuses
to kiss her.  When she tries to kiss Corby, Corby destroys them both,
ridding the universe of Exo III androids for all times.

















When Chekov, Spock, Lt. Gallway, McCoy, Kirk, Scotty beam down to resupply
the experimental colony on Gamma Hydra 4, they initially find no one home.
Kirk is puzzled since he had just talked to the leader of the expedition
an hour earlier.  Stranger still, Chekov finds a dead man (Alvin)
in one of the colony's buildings who appears to have died of old age.
However, Spock maintains that this cannot be true because the expedition
was composed of only young people.  The leader, Robert Johnson (age 29)
then appears, along with his wife Elaine (age 27).  Both appear to be
extremely old.


Kirk beams the landing party up together with those of the colonists
who are still alive.  Aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> the colonists die
of old age.  Kirk puts Spock, Commodore Stocker (who is on his way to
Starbase 10), and his former flame (of 6 years, 4 months, and some odd
days) Dr. Janet Wallace on the investigation team.  The only unusual
event which Spock can determine is that an unusual comet passed by the
planet shortly before.


Kirk then begins to lose his memory and displays advanced
arthritis. Scott, McCoy, Lt. Gallway, and Spock also show signs of
aging (at a rate of 30 years per day), but Chekov curiously does not.
Spock then finds the source of the affliction.  Apparently, the comet
whose tail Gamma Hydra 4 passed through (and is now in quadrant 448) is
emitting low energy radiation.  Commodore Stocker becomes increasingly
concerned about Kirk's condition, and forces Spock to hold a competency
hearing. Meanwhile, Lt. Gallway dies of old age and Chekov continues to
remain unaffected.


Kirk is found incompetent, and Commodore Stocker takes over.  He orders
the <i>Enterprise</i> to head directly for Starbase 10, through the
neutral zone. Meanwhile, McCoy and Kirk realize that the one difference
between their experience on the planet and Chekov's was that Chekov
was scared to death upon encountering the dead body.  McCoy recalls
that early investigations showed adrenaline to be a potentially useful
drug from combating radiation, although it was subsequently abandoned
when hyronaline was discovered. Spock develops an injection containing
adrenaline, which he first tries on Kirk.  Fortunately, the shot is
effective, and Kirk is able to assume control of the <i>Enterprise,</i>
which is now under attack by the Romulans thanks to Stocker's incompetence
in violating the Neutral Zone.


In a clever subterfuge, Kirk transmits a message using Code 2, which
has been broken by the Romulans.  He claims that the <i>Enterprise</i>
has inadvertently strayed into the Neutral Zone. Kirk also claims he
will destruct the <i>Enterprise</i> using a corbomite device which will
destroy everything within a 200,000 km diameter, and that the explosion
area will have to avoided for 4 years. The Romulans give a little ground
lest they be destroyed in the upcoming explosion, and Kirk immediately
races out of the Neutral Zone and into Federation space at Warp 8.

















After beaming down to a planet to examine tritantium deposits (21.4
times as hard as diamond), Kirk notices a sweet, honey-like odor.  He
recognizes it as something he encountered 11 years ago, and orders the
security guards to scan for choronium and fire at any gaseous cloud
they encounter.  Two security guards are killed by the gaseous creature
after it removes the red corpuscles and feeds on their hemoglobin.
Kirk, Spock, and Ensign Rizzo survive, but Rizzo has much of his
hemoglobin removed and must be beamed back to the <i>Enterprise</i> for
treatment.


Kirk becomes obsessed with the destruction of the creature, which
killed half the crew of the <i>U.S.S.  Farragut</i> (including its
commander Captain Garrovick), Kirk's first deep-space assignment.  Kirk
appears to willing to miss his rendezvous with the <i>U.S.S.
Yorktown,</i> the ship he is supposed to rendezvous with in order to
deliver perishable vaccines for the planet Theta 7.


After Rizzo dies, Kirk beams back down with a landing party which
includes Ensign Garrovick (Captain Garrovick's son).  Garrovick fires
phaser 2 when he spots the gas cloud, but not before two other officers
have been attacked.  Kirk grills Garrovick, accuses him of "freezing
up" and being responsible for the death of one officer and severe
injury of the other, then relives him of duty.


Reading the log file of the <i>Farragut</i> incident, Spock learns that
Kirk's obsession is fueled by the fact that <i>he</i> was the one who
"froze" 11 years previously, and has been blaming himself for the
deaths of half the ship's crew members even since.  When Chekov detects
the creature leaving the planet's surface and heading into space, Kirk
pursues it.


Scanners report that the creature is in a border state between matter
and energy.  The creature slows and then heads for the
it enters the ship through the number 2 impulse vent which had
inadvertently been left open by Scott after performing maintenance.
Spock realizes that the reason for the creature's immunity to weapons
fire is because it is able to move itself in time to avoid phaser
fire.


On board the <i>Enterprise,</i> the creature attacks two crew men, and
entered the ventilation system.  Spock goes to explain the creature's
ability to avoid being hit by phasers to Garrovick, but is then
attacked by it when he tries to prevent it from entering Garrovick's
room though the ventilation shaft. Spock is saved only become his
hemoglobin is based on copper.  (McCoy: "That green blood of his...
left a bad taste in the creature's mouth."  Spock: "Colloquially
expressed, but essentially correct.")


The creature then leaves the ship and heads away at warp speed, but
Kirk has a hunch of where the creature is headed. In some mystical way,
Kirk has sensed that the "home" of the creature is planet 4
 of the Tycho system, the location where the <i>Farragut</i> was
attacked. Spock is in favor of the chase since his sensor readings
indicate that the creature is about to fission into multiple copies.


Kirk and Garrovick beam down to the planet and set some hemoplasm as
bait, but the creature takes the bait before the explosive charge of
antimatter is ready. Kirk proposes to use himself as bait and orders
Garrovick back to the ship.  Garrovick attempts to knock him out and
act as bait himself, but Kirk overpowers
 him.  The two are then beamed up in the knick of time and the charge
of antimatter is set off.  After some difficulties with the
transporter, Garrovick and Kirk arrive back on board the
















 <P>


The very first <i>Star Trek</i> episode made (not counting the pilot
episode, <i>The Cage</i>), although not the first aired.  It differs
from subsequent episodes in that there is no "Space, the final
frontier" voice-over during the theme song at the beginning.


Near the edge of the galaxy, the <i>Enterprise</i> discovers a
200-year-old ship recorder from the <i>SS Valiant.</i> Shortly
thereafter, the <i>Enterprise</i> passes through an unknown phenomenon
which causes major damage and knocks out navigator Gary Mitchell and
Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (both of whom have high ESP ratings).  When Gary
recovers, he begins to acquire telepathic and telekinetic powers.
Kirk, alarmed at the prospect of having his ship taken over by an
increasingly powerful and tyranical Mitchell, is convinced by Spock to
maroon Mitchell at the lithium cracking plant of Delta Vega. Dr.  Piper
has no explanation for what is happening.  Gary kills Lee Kelso, and
escapes from his imprisonment.  Kirk follows him and is able to destroy
him with the help of Dr. Dehner, who is also beginning to acquire the
power, but in the process, kills herself.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> is sent to investigate a string of sabotages
and murders on pergeum mining planet Janus 6 (which also possesses
an abundance of uranium, cerium, and platinum).  Starting 30 monthly
previously when the new level 23 was opened, 50 people have been killed
in the mines, including the guard Schmitter. All of the murdered mine
workers were burned to a crisp.  The only solid lead as to the culprit is
a large fuzzy object seen briefly by Chief Processing Engineer Ed Appel.
Although Appel shot the object with a phaser it had no effect.


Spock, McCoy, and Kirk beam down to confer with Chief Engineer Vanderberg.
Spock notices a spherical silicon nodule, which he describes as a
geological odditity, on display in the Engineer's office.  Spock also
notes that the creature must have been moving at great speed in order
to be capable of causing some of the deaths due to their large spatial
separation but close temporal coincidence.


The next move of the create is to kill the guard of the PXK pergeum
reactor room and remove the main circulating pump of the reactor,
placing it in danger of going supercritical.  Scotty is able to rig
up a replacement, but only expects it to last 48 hours. Spock and Kirk
speculate that the creature may be based on silicon instead of carbon,
and suggest that if that were the case, then phaser 2 would be much more
effective than the phaser 1 used by the miners.  They equip a landing
party with phaser 2 and go in search of the creature.  The creature
finds one of the search party, and promptly fries him. Spock examines
a nearby tunnel and discovers it to have been newly cut.  The creature
then shows itself and is fired upon.  It escapes, but the blast chips
off a chunk of fibrous silicon material which is apparently its skin.


The rock-like creature is then located by Spock's tricorder tunnelling
through solid rock.  Spock finds that there is only one creature, and has
second thoughts about killing it, but Kirk is firm in his determination to
destroy the creature. Kirk wants Spock to remain behind rather than join
in the search lest they both be killed, but when Spock points out that
the odds of both of them dying are 2228.7:1, Kirk is forced to relent.


Kirk is trapped in the creature's lair, containing many nodules, after the
roof collapses.  Kirk tells Spock that the creature is 10 feet way from
him, and Spock rushes to the scene.  Spock mind melds with the creature,
but does not physically touch it because of the corrosive acid it emits.
Spock discovers that the creature is in pain, and the creature uses the
the knowledge it has gained from the melding experience to tell Kirk and
Spock that it is peaceful by corroding the words "No kill I" in stone.
Spock then actually touches the creature, which he has learned calls
itself a Horta.  Spock discovers that the mining activity has accidentally
killed off many of the Horta eggs (the silicon nodules).  McCoy treats
the Horta's phaser injury using cement, but complains "I'm a doctor,
not a bricklayer."  Spock finds where the stolen pump is, and Kirk goes
to retrieve it.


Meanwhile, the miners overpower the security detail from the
when Spock informs them that all the Hortas but this one have died off as
a normal part of a 30,000 year reproductive cycle.  Spock further explains
that the Horta must now protect the eggs which are being accidentally
destroyed by the miner, so that its kind can flourish again.  In fact,
the miners become big Horta fans when Kirk suggests that they can take
advantage of the Horta's tunnelling abilities to get to profitable
deposits.


As the <i>Enterprise</i> prepares to leave, Vanderberg informs Kirk than
he and his men are getting along well with the hatching Hortas, although
adjusting to their appearance is a little difficult.  Spock mentions to
Kirk that the Horta found human appearance repulsive. However, Spock
reports that the Horta apparently liked his pointed ears, and so he
did not have the heart to tell it that the ears were not a universal
human characteristic.

















As the <i>Enterprise</i> approaches planet Omega 4, they discover the
Spock, and Galloway beam aboard the ship, and find the hip left on
automatic pilot. Empty uniforms are strewn everywhere, and seem to be
filled with some sort of white crystal. McCoy analyzes the crystals and
finds them to contain 35% potasium, 18% carbon, 1.5% calcium, and 1.0%
potassium, exactly the contents of the human body when the body's 96%
of water is taken away. The boarding party then plays the medical log
and are warned that they are dead men.  They are warned that they must
not return to their ship and told that their only chance for survival
is to beam down to the planet surface and find Captain Ron Tracy.


On the Omega 4, they find Tracy who, together with Lee-Yang and Wu (two
"Coms"), is in the process of torturing a pair of savage "Yangs." Kirk,
Spock, Galloway, and Bones discover that they have been contaminated
with a substance which removes all the water from the bodies of humans,
but that the surface of planet Omega 4 provides a natural immunization
against the contaminant.


Captain Tracy has apparently become mentally unstable, and Kirk finds he
has been interfering with the planet's development.  Spock and Galloway
are attacked by Yangs while on a fact-finding mission, but Spock has
already discovered the discarded power packs which Tracy has used to
slaughter hundreds of Yangs.  However, when Kirk attempts to communicate
this fact to the <i>Enterprise,</i> he is confronted by a phaser-bearing
Tracy.  To show he means business, Tracy vaporizes the injured Galloway
with his hand phaser.  Tracy contacts the <i>Enterprise</i> and claims
that the landing party has been found unconscious.  Kirk blurts out a
warning to Sulu, but is instantly knocked out by Coms.


Tracy is convinced that the substance in the atmosphere which protects
them from death also prolongs human life, and cites the fact that
Wu has lived to 462 years old and his father is more than 1000 years
old as evidence.  He is obsessed by finding the cause, and proposes
that McCoy isolate it.  He wants to sell it to the highest bidder, and
believes that the significance of the discovery outweighs the force of
the noninterference directive.  Kirk attempts to overpower him, but is
himself overpowered and then thrown into a cell with the captured Yangs.


The male Yang attacks Kirk, but retreats after Spock nerve pinches
the female from a neighboring cell. When Kirk and Spock mention the
word "freedom" while plotting a jailbreak, the Yang perks up and tells
Kirk that he has spoken a worship word.  The Yang then assists Kirk in
prying a bar loose from the window, but then proceeds to wield it on
Kirk's head and make his escape with his female friend.  7 hours and 8
minutes later, Kirk regains consciousness.  He then helps Spock escape,
and they find McCoy.


Bones has discovered that the virus resulted form a biological war in
the distant past.  Nature has apparently developed a way of conferring
immunity to people who stay on the planet long enough.  It therefore
appears that the landing party is free to return at any time.  Moreover,
the crew of the <i>Exeter</i> would have survived if only they had stayed
on the planet a bit longer.  Bones also determines that the inhabitants
live to such old ages simply because their ancestors were unusually fit,
not because of any age-prolonging serum.


In frustration, Tracy attacks Kirk (who has threatened to turn in
Tracy for court martial), but Kirk, Tracy, McCoy, and Spock are all
taken prisoner by the victorious Yangs.  Kirk realizes that "Yangs"
and "Coms" are actually distorted forms of "Yanks" and "Communists,"
and this somewhat implausible observation is confirmed when the Yangs
display a tattered old U.S. flag.


A trial headed by the Yang leader Cloud William (the escaped prisoner)
follows.  Kirk recognizes the invocation as a distorted form of the Pledge
of Allegiance, and surprises the Yangs by completing it unassisted. Tracy
tries to convince the Yangs to kill Kirk by claiming he is servant of
evil, as evidenced by his association with Spock (whose pointy ears
match those in a picture in his ancient book, and who apparently has no
heart---at least not in the correct anatomical location).


Kirk attempts to prove his innocence by completing the "holy words,"
since the Yangs believe that the a liar who speaks them will have his
tongue burned by fire.  When Kirk cannot, Kirk and Tracy are pitted
against one another in a fight to the death. Kirk is in trouble until
Spock uses a mysterious mental power to influence Cloud William's woman
to activate a captured communicator.


A landing party beams down, although Kirk has already turned the situation
around and has Tracy at knife-point by this time.  Kirk now realizes
that the holy words are actually the preamble to the U.S. Constitution,
and reveals the true meaning of the words to Chief William. Kirk and
his landing crew then return to the <i>Enterprise,</i> bringing Tracy
along as a prisoner.

















Kirk and Spock beam down to Elba II to deliver a revolutionary medicine
to the insane asylum located there which houses the 15 incorrigible
insane criminals of the Federation.  Elba II is surrounded by a
poisonous atmosphere.  Inmate Marta warns Kirk and Spock that their
host is not really governor Donald Cory, but they do not believe her.
Upon viewing Cory's cell, however, Kirk and Spock discover that the inmate
and former starship fleet captain Garth of Isar has imprisoned Cory in
his cell and is running the facility with the aid of the other inmates.
Garth imprisons Kirk with Cory, and destroys the medicines Kirk and
Spock have brought.


Garth is able to change form at will using the technique of cellular
metamorphosis (learned on Antos) and attempts to gain control of the
Enterprise to escape and punish his former mutinous crew by impersonating
Kirk. Garth is thwarted by the password Kirk has arranged with Scotty
when Scotty queries "queen to queen's level 3" and Garth does not know the
proper response to this problem in 3-D chess: "queen to king's level 1."


Garth then invites Kirk to dinner with the inmates and Mr. Spock.  At the
banquet, the green poet inmate Marta recites Shakespeare (which she
claims to have written herself) and performs an exotic dance (which Spock
find similar to a dance performed by Vulcan school children).  We find
out that Garth has charted more new worlds than any man in history, but
then tried to destroy Antos 4.  When Kirk refuses to reveal the counter
password, Garth tortures Cory in a specially modified therapeutic chair.
When Kirk still refuses, he is strapped in and tortured.


However, Marta convinces Garth to let her try more persuasive techniques.
She begins making love to Kirk, then attacks him with a knife.  She has
arranged for Spock to be freed, and he luckily steps in and nerve pinches
her before she can stab Kirk. Kirk and Spock make it to the control room
where they contact the <i>Enterprise.</i>  However, Kirk smells a rat,
and demands that Spock give the countersign instead of himself.  Spock,
who is actually Garth in disguise, then puts the force field back on
and assumes his true form before a security team can be beamed down.
Kirk attempts to turn the force field back off, but is stunned by Garth
before he can do so.


Garth then holds a ceremony in which he declares himself ruler of
the universe, Marta his consort, and Kirk his heir apparent.  He then
threatens to use a powerful new explosive he has invented on Marta,
who is dragged out into the poisonous atmosphere.  Garth then carries
out his threat, and commands that Spock be brought in.  Spock pretends
to be knocked out in his cell, then nerve pinches the two guards who
have come to fetch him.  He makes his way to the control room, where
he is confronted by what appear to be two identical Captain Kirks.
Spock tries to distinguish the real from the impostor by asking what
maneuver was used to defeat the Romulan ship near Tau Ceti.  One Kirk
correctly gives the maneuver as the Cochrane deceleration, but the other
Kirk points out that this is a classic battle maneuver.  The two Kirks
then have it out, and Spock is able to identify Garth when the real
Kirk tells Spock to stun them both in order to assure the safety of the
Garth and his colleagues are cured using the new drugs.
















The <i>Enterprise</i> responds to a distress call and finds that all seven
planets in system L370 have been destroyed.  They then enter L374 and
discover all but the two inner planets have also been destroyed.  They
detect a distress beacon from the Starship <i>U.S.S. Constellation,</i>
then find the battered remains of the ship itself. Scans show the bridge
to be uninhabitable, but the rest of the ship to have reserve power and
to be inhabitable. Subspace interference prevents good communication,
and Kirk is unable to contact Commodore Matt Decker, Captain of the
and Scotty determines the warp drive to be inoperable and the phasers to
be exhausted.  Kirk then locates Decker in the auxiliary control room,
but Decker is in a state of shock and not very coherent.  Even after an
injection by McCoy, Decker is able to say that his ship was attacked by
"that thing."


Kirk and Scott play back the <i>Constellation</i>'s record tape in which
Decker reports discovering destroyed solar systems, and entering L374 to
investigate the breakup of the fourth planet by Science Officer Masada.
Decker reports that his ship was attacked and damaged, so he beamed
his crew down to the third planet.  The attacker then returned, further
damaged the <i>Constellation</i> (including the transporter), and then
proceeded to destroy the third planet while Decker remained helpless on
the <i>Constellation.</i> Washburn reports that the antimatter in the
warp drive has been deactivated, and Kirk surmises that this is connected
with subspace interference.  Decker informs them that the attacker was
a miles-long robot which uses a pure anti-proton beam to destroy objects
in its path, then digests them as fuel.  Sulu computes that the path of
the robot has brought it from outside the Galaxy.


Kirk beams Decker and McCoy back to the <i>Enterprise.</i>  They arrive
just as the conical "doomsday machine/planet killer" (with a sparking
interior) makes a reappearance and pursues the <i>Enterprise.</i>
It attacks them and damages the <i>Enterprise</i>'s transporter, then
heads for the densely inhabited Rigel 7 system.  Commodore Decker pulls
his rank and assumes command of the <i>Enterprise</i> (using Order 104,
Section B, Paragraph 1a) over Spock's objections.  Decker orders an attack
on the doomsday machine despite Spock's protest that its shell is made
of neutronium and is therefore impermeable to attack from a single ship.
The <i>Enterprise</i> is attacked by the doomsday machine, but manages to
survive, and Decker then attacks the doomsday machine with phasers, which
have no effect.  The doomsday machine then attacks again, destroying the
with a tractor beam. From the <i>Constellation,</i> Kirk sees what is
going on, and begins heading towards the doomsday machine using impulse
power.  He distracts it by firing phasers, freeing the <i>Enterprise,</i>
and is then in turn saved when the <i>Enterprise</i> fires again.


After the <i>Enterprise</i> restores ship-to-ship communications, Kirk
angrily orders Spock to re-assume command on his personal authority,
which he does. After Spock assumes command, Mr. Montgomery accompanies
Decker for an examination in sickbay.  On the way, Decker overpowers
Montgomery, then steals a shuttlecraft.  Decker pilots the shuttle into
the planet killer's maw, killing himself, but producing a small power
drop in the doomsday machine.  Kirk reasons that the explosion of a
starship might be capable of destroying the alien vessel.  Scott rigs the
leaving Kirk behind.  The transporter then malfunctions, and Scott
is able to fix it only just in time to beam Kirk aboard before the
aboard the <i>Enterprise</i>. The <i>Constellation</i> then explodes,
producing an explosion of 97.835 megatons, which turns the planet killer
into a harmless pile of space junk.

















After losing contact with the planet Deneva (population 1 million) for
more than a year, the <i>Enterprise</i> goes to investigate. Uhura's
attempts to make contact at all frequencies, including private GSK783
subspace frequency 3, but without success.  Spock consults the computer
and discovers that waves of mass insanity have swept along a straight path
through planetary systems Beta Portalin, Lavinius 5 (200 years ago), Theta
Cygni 12, and Ingrahem B (2 years ago).  Deneva (colonized a century ago
and one of the most beautiful planets in the area) is the next planet on
this path, and Kirk expects the worst for his brother Sam and his family.


While approaching the planet, the <i>Enterprise</i> encounters a Denevan
ship heading straight for the sun.  Attempts to convince the pilot to
change course fail, and the pilot flies into the sun.  Just before being
vaporized, the pilot makes the cryptic statement "I did it.  It's finally
gone," and claims that he is finally "free."  Uhura finally gets through
to the private transmitter, and hears the message "Please hurry, help
us, I don't have much time.  They'll know," being transmitted by Sam's
wife Aurelan.


When Kirk beams down with a landing party, a group of armed men attempts
to attack them with clubs, while at the same time shouting that they
don't want to hurt them.  Responding to a scream, the landing party
finds Sam (who was a research biologist) dead and his wife Aurelan and
son Peter in great pain.  Aurelan refers to invaders, but the tricorder
shows nothing unusual.  After Aurelan and Peter have been beamed to the
that the invaders came from planet Ingraham B eight months ago after
forcing the crew to take them there.  She reports that the invaders use
pain to control people and are forcing the residents of Deneva to build
ships for them.


Kirk, Spock, and a landing party enter a building in which they
find hundreds of small creatures which look like plastic pancakes.
The creatures do not register on the tricorder and are highly resistant
to phaser fire.  When leaving, one of the creature whirls towards them
and attaches itself to Spock's back.  Back on the <i>Enterprise,</i>
McCoy finds that Spock's nerves are being surrounded with strange tissue.
Despite his incredible pain (as shown by the K3 indicator), Spock escapes
from the sickbay and attempts to take over the bridge before being subdued
and tranquillized. However, he is subsequently able to bring himself
under control.  He escapes again, and overpowers a transporter technician
before Scotty covers him with a phaser.  When he points out to Kirk
that he is the reasonable choice to beam down to the planet to collect
an alien for study since his nervous system is already compromised,
Kirk allows him to go.  On the planet surface, he is attacked by a man
wielding a pipe, but is able to overpower him. He then phasers one of
the alien pancakes and places it in a little red specimen box using a
pair of plastic tweezers.


An analysis of the alien by McCoy shows it to be a one-cell creature
resembling a brain cell.  It seems also to be part of a larger organism
which is composed of physically separate parts. McCoy tries to find
the agent responsible for killing the creature when the Denevan ship
flew into the sun. However, the alien seems unaffected by all radiation
and heat, but McCoy initially neglects to try visible light. He finds
that intense light kills the study specimen, and Spock volunteers to
see if light also kills the alien material wrapped around his nerves.
The experiment is a success, but Spock is blinded by the intense light.
Seconds later, McCoy receives test results which demonstrate that the
ultraviolet portion of the spectrum was all that would have been needed.
The <i>Enterprise</i> consequently rings the planet with 210 ultraviolet
trimagnesite intridium satellites (at 72 miles altitude), which bathe
Deneva in ultraviolet radiation and kill the aliens.  Meanwhile, Spock's
eyes recover and his sight is restored because of a (hitherto unknown
to us) Vulcan inner eyelid.

















Scotty falls in love with Lt. Carolyn Palamas, a specialist in
archaeology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations.  Carolyn has
stayed up all night preparing a report on Pollux 5, in preparation for
the <i>Enterprise</i> entering orbit around Pollux 4 (class M planet,
oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, age approximately 4 billion years).  While
approaching Pollux 4 in the Beta Geminorum system, an energy field in the
shape of a giant green hand stops the <i>Enterprise</i> dead in space.
Kirk tries to wiggle free and to apply forward tractor beams, but is
unable to break the grip of the force field.  An apparition wearing
a laurel wreath then appears, addresses the crew as his "children,"
and congratulates them for venturing forth from the hills and valleys
of Earth. When Kirk demands to be set free, the apparition causes the
hull pressure to rise (100 gsc and climbing), and Kirk is forced to
back down.  The apparition invites Kirk and a landing party down to
visit, but specifically excludes Spock, who he says reminds him of Pan
(who is boring).


The landing party (Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Carolyn, and Chekov) discovers a
humanoid who identifies himself as the god Apollo.  He tells Kirk that he
will not allow the landing party to leave, renders their communicators
ineffective, and demands worship.  When Kirk refuses, Apollo causes
himself to grow 20 feet tall.  Apollo makes advances towards Carolyn
which Scotty finds offensive.  However, when Scotty tries to take a
poke at Apollo, his phaser is instantly mangled.  Apollo clothes Carolyn
in a toga, again angering Scott.  When Scott tries to intervene, he is
electrically shocked by Apollo and thrown back.


Carolyn falls in love with Apollo and questions him about history.
Carolyn finds out that Apollo was indeed one of the ancient Roman gods.
(According to McCoy, he has an extra organ whose function is a complete
mystery to him.) Apollo tells Carolyn that he and the other gods left
after the ancient people of Earth stopped worshiping them.  Without
worshippers, even the immortal gods weaken, and all but Apollo have
"spread themselves to the wind" and faded away.


After Kirk and company again defy him, Apollo zaps them all in rage,
and then fades away.  Kirk suspects that use of his godly powers tires
him, and theorizes that he requires time to recuperate.  He decides to
deliberately anger Apollo. Unfortunately, this scheme comes to naught when
Carolyn intervenes and convinces Apollo to be lenient. Apollo instructs
Kirk to make arrangements to bring the <I>Enterprise</i>'s crew down,
after which he will destroy the ship.


Although Carolyn is in love with Apollo, she puts duty ahead of self
when, acting on Kirk's instruction, she rejects Apollo (telling him she
was only interested in studying him) in order to weaken him.  Meanwhile,
Uhura has been able to reestablish contact with the landing party, and
Kirk and Spock formulate a plan.  Apollo's power is destroyed when his
energy source in the temple is located and blasted out of existence by
the <i>Enterprise</i>'s phasers, despite Apollo's attempts to destroy the
to the other gods to take him away now that he has realized that there
is no room left for gods anymore.  Kirk, too, is saddened, wondering if
it would have hurt them to have gathered just a few laurel leaves.

















The <i>Enterprise</i> is on a top secret mission to the Tellun star
system.  It takes aboard Petri, ambassador from Troyius (the outer
planet), then continues on the the inner planet Elaas.  Here it beams
aboard three Elaasian guards who check that all is secure, then the
haughty Dohlman of Elaas.  Kirk is surprised by her bearing (she demands
that Kirk and everyone else, whom she calls inferior, ask her permission
to enter and leave her presence).  Petri explains that Elaan is to be
taken to Troyius for a marriage with the ruler of Troyius in order to
stop a bloody war.  The Elaasian Council of Nobles and Troyius Tribunal
have agreed that Petri shall teach Elaan the customs of Troyius (i.e.,
the rudiments of civilized behavior), but Elaan has other ideas.  She also
complains and hurls things about the room when she is unsatisfied with
her quarters (which are Uhura's personal quarters which she has vacated
for Elaan).


At Petri's request, Kirk proceeds on to the return trip on impulse
engines only so as to allow plenty of time for Elaan's "education."
Not surprisingly, the lessons do not go well, and Elaan stabs Petri in
the back with a knife (fortunately not fatally).  To make matters worse,
the Federation commissioner sends a coded signal to the <i>Enterprise</i>
that he plans to attend the wedding personally.


Meanwhile, Spock detects a "ghost" paralleling the <i>Enterprise</i>'s
course.  After fading in and out of sensor range, it finally ventures
closer and reveals itself to be a Klingon warship. The reason for the
presence of the Klingon warship turns out to be that the Elaasian guard
Kriton, is in love with Elaan and has thrown in with the Klingons in
a fierce jealousy over having to give up Elaan to the Troyian leader.
Kriton booby-traps the warp engines, killing an engineer who discovers
and tries to question him.


Kirk tries to take over the tutoring, but doesn't get much further
than Petri and has a knife thrown at him.  Despite Elaan's orders to
the contrary, Kirk enters her chamber (after Spock stuns the two guards)
and attempts to administer another lesson.  At first, Elaan tries again to
kill him.  She then locks herself in a closet and tells Kirk that she will
wait there 10 "light-years" if she has to, but then has a change of heart.
She cries and tells Kirk she wants to make people like her. Kirk unwisely
touches her tears (which contain a biochemical substance which causes
men to fall in love with their shedder), and is snared.


Kriton transmits a signal to the Klingon ship using a Klingon
communicator, but is then caught. Before Spock can use the Vulcan
mind meld on him, he uses a concealed phaser to commit suicide.
The Klingon ship then heads for the <i>Enterprise</i> at warp speed.
Luckily, just before Kirk gives orders to maneuver, Scott discovers
that the matter-antimatter pods are rigged to explode as soon as the
light speed and blow itself up.  Unfortunately, Scott finds that the
dilithium crystals have been completely fused, and that power for
the warp drive and phasers is therefor not available.  The Klingons
demand that the <i>Enterprise</i> prepare to be boarded or destroyed.
When Kirk does not comply, the Klingon attacks.


Spock has been wondering why the Klingons are interested in Elaan in the
first place, but discovers the reason when Elaan comes to the bridge and
bridge sensors show that the "common stones" in the Dohlman's necklace
are made of dilithium crystals.  Scotty is able to effect repairs to the
engines using the crystals, and Kirk blows up the Klingon using photon
torpedoes on its next pass. Kirk is able to resist the effects of the
tears (to McCoy's's annoyance, since he has actually managed to find an
antidote), and the Dohlman is transported safely to Troyius.

















Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet about to be destroyed by
an asteroid as big as the Earth's Moon which on a collision course.
They have 30 minutes to investigate before they must return to the


They beam down in the middle of a pine forest next to a lake, and
rightfully wonder at the astronomical chances that another planet should
have developed so similarly to Earth.  They soon discover an obelisk
made of an alien metal which resists sensors and which is inscribed with
inscrutable alien writing.  And, in yet another amazing coincidence,
they also find that the planet is inhabited by a group of American Indians
consisting of Navaho, Mohican, and Delaware tribes.  When Kirk returns to
investigate the alien structure, he accidentally falls inside it while in
the process of initiating communicator contact with Scotty. Search parties
and sensor scans fail to locate him, and Spock and Scott are forced to
leave in order to divert the asteroid and must return for Kirk later.


Inside the alien structure, Kirk's memory is erased and he can no
longer remember who he is or what his instruments do.  After he finds
his way out of the structure, he is discovered by Indians leaving an
offering at their "temple" and is taken for a god.  The Indian elders
are somewhat doubtful of the authenticity of Kirk's godhood and ask
him to prove it.  When a drowned boy is brought before the elders,
Kirk practices mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and brings him back to life.
Since the boy had been pronounced dead by the medicine man Salish, this
is considered sufficient proof, and Salish is force to jealously gives
up his medicine badge.


Meanwhile, the <i>Enterprise</i> makes it ways to the deflection point
and attempts to push the asteroid off course.  However, it suffers from
mechanical problems and loses power before it can sufficiently deflect
the asteroid.


Salish's jealousy is increased when his betrothed Meramanee (the chief's
daughter) tells him she cannot marry him, because she is betrothed
to the new medicine man "Kirok."  She asks Kirk to set the "joining
day," and he, oblivious of the oncoming asteroid, settles on tomorrow.
In short order, he gets Mirimani pregnant. He is attacked by Salish, who
discovers that he bleeds and therefore cannot be a god.  Kirk has also
discovers that the secret of the temple has been lost because Salish's
father died before passing it along to his son.


Meanwhile, Spock attempts to fragment the asteroid with phasers, but
blows out most of Scott's circuits in the process. He then retreats
in front of the asteroid, despite Scott's pronouncement that he can do
nothing to fix the damage without the help of a Starbase.  Spock blames
himself for Kirk's marooning and for the failure to destroy the asteroid,
and refuses to eat or sleep until he solved the mystery of the obelisk.


On the planet, the winds begin blowing fiercely and the sky to darken.
The Indians tell him that he must go to the temple and stop the
natural phenomena before the earth begins to tremble.  Kirk finally
agrees, but can do nothing since he does not remember how to get
inside. In contrast to Kirk's befuddlement, Spock discovers that the
symbols on the obelisk are musical notes left behind by a super race
known as the Preservers.  The preservers passed the the galaxy rescuing
primitive cultures in danger of extinction, and the obelisk is a giant
asteroid deflector.


Meanwhile, Kirk and Meramanee are stoned by the Indians at the temple when
Kirk is unable to get inside.  McCoy and Spock beam down and frighten the
Indians off, but not before Meramanee has been mortally wounded. Spock
uses a Vulcan mind fusion on Kirk and manages to restore his memory.
When he activates his communicator and says "Kirk to <i>Enterprise,</i>"
a sliding panel opens up and grants them entry to the obelisk. Inside
the "temple," Spock is able to read the symbols and activate the asteroid
repulsion beam.

















While exploring an outer quadrant of the Galaxy, the <i>Enterprise</i>
receives a distress call from the planet Scalos.  A group of five
Scalosians claims to be the last survivors of a civilization of
900,000. However, a landing party consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and
Compton is unable to locate the source of the transmission. Kirk thinks
he detects the buzzing of insects, but the tricorder does not register
them. Queer goings-on follow when Compton mysteriously disappears right
in front of McCoy.


When Kirk and the landing party return to the <i>Enterprise,</i> a
number of malfunctions occur aboard the ship which cannot be explained.
As Kirk is being examined for ill effects, he again notices the buzzing
sound he had heard on the surface, and correctly concludes that aliens
have been beamed aboard.


Spock detects an alien machine being installed into the environmental
control, but two security guards are not permitted to enter the chamber.
Kirk and Spock are allowed to proceed, but when Spock attempts to
disconnect the machine, he is prevented by a force field.  When Kirk
and Spock attempt to phaser the device, their phasers instantaneously
disappear.


Back on the bridge, Kirk's coffee is drugged, and his metabolism is
accelerated as a result. In accelerated phase, Kirk meets the Scalosians
who have been beamed aboard, including the Scalosian queen Deela, who
greets Kirk by embracing and kissing him.  Kirk tries to stun Deela,
but she steps aside before the normal-speed phaser beam can get close.
Kirk rushes to the life support room, but is blocked from entering by
Compton.  Kirk forces his way past, but is then stunned by the Scalosians.
However, Compton is injured by the Scalosian head scientist, suffers cell
damage, and Kirk witnesses the rapid aging which results in Compton's
immediate death.


Because the Scalosian men are sterile, the crew members of the
system and used as mating stock for generations to come.  The Scalosians
have been forced to use this technique of propagation ever since their
water was polluted by radiation released by volcanic eruptions, resulting
in sterility of the males. Kirk himself is to be the husband of Deela,
much to the chagrin of her chief scientist Real.


Kirk makes a tape for Spock in which he explains all this and places it
in a tape slot for McCoy to find.  He then sabotages the transporter
so that he cannot be beamed down in order to gain more time, and also
pretends to be smitten with Deela in order to steal her weapon.


McCoy discovers the tape, and Spock is able to read it by greatly
slowing it down.  Meanwhile, Real is jealous of Kirk's romancing of
Deela and attacks him before Deela makes him stop at phaser-point.
Bones discovers a way to decelerate Kirk, and Spock accelerates himself
to the Scalosian level by drinking Scalosian water (before McCoy can stop
him) in order to deliver the remedy.  Real activates the device in life
support, but Kirk then steals Deela's weapon.  He meets up with Spock,
and the two of them stun Real.  They also destroy the Scalosian machine.


The Scalosians are returned to their planet to live out the rest of
their lives, recognizing that the Federation will not permit any more
Starships to enter the area.  Kirk successfully tries McCoy's concoction
and returns to normal speed in front of a surprised Scotty.  Meanwhile,
Spock repairs damage to the <i>Enterprise</i> in record speed while
still hyperaccelerated.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> stops by to pick up scientific staff Linke
and Ozaba from the planet Menarian 2 (which is in orbit around a star
which is about to supernova), Kirk, Bones, and Spock discover the
station has been abandoned for three months. Meanwhile, Scott reports a
massive solar flare measuring 3.51 on the "Ritter" scale.  Kirk
informs Scott to move the <i>Enterprise</i> to a safe distance until
the flare passes, putting it out of communication range for 74.1 solar
hours.


The landing party reviews the record tapes to see what has become of
the scientific staff. It the tape, a high pitched whine begins, and
Linke and Ozaba are whisked away one at a time while attempting to
cover their ears.  After reviewing the tape, Kirk and company are
subjected to the same high-pitched whine, and are transported
underground to the chambers of the Vions, 121.32 m below the surface.


Here, they discover a timid, mute, woman.  McCoy starts to approach,
but Kirk holds him back.  When McCoy protests that she seems harmless
enough, Spock reminds him that "The sand bats of Maynard 4 appear to
be inanimate rock crystals, doctor, before they attack."  Kirk wonders
how he will communicate with the woman unless she is a telepath.
However, Spock notes that this is unlikely, since 98% of known
telepathic species send as well as receive thoughts.  McCoy dubs the
woman Gem.


While Kirk is trying to question Gem, two Vions appear.  When Kirk
tries to secure freedom for the landing party, the Vions trap McCoy,
Spock, and Kirk in a force field which draws energy from their bodies.
The Vions then vanish, releasing the landing party.  Gem then touches
Kirk's forehead, transfers the wound there to her own head, and heals
it, revealing herself to be an empath.


Spock reports that his tricorder now reveals a collection of machinery
which did not appear to be there before.  When they go to investigate,
they discover Linke and Ozaba encased in plastic cylinders.  In
addition, there are three empty cylinders, labelled "Subject McCoy,"
"Subject Kirk," and "Subject Spock."  One of the Vions then
reappears, but Kirk distracts him while Spock nerve pinches him.
However, the Vion is only pretending to have fainted, and the landing
party does exactly what the Vions intended when they head up to the
planet surface.


On the surface, the Vions create an illusion that Scotty is on the
surface with a search party.  This distracts McCoy and Spock while the
Vions study Kirk and offer to let the others go if Kirk offers himself
as a "specimen." The Vions torture Kirk without apparent reason.
They then let him go, but Kirk finds that McCoy and Spock are still
subterranean prisoners.  Gem cures Kirk's injuries (including a case of
the bends), but then faints from the strain.


Although Kirk does not yet realize it, it turns out that the Vions are
testing the empath Gem to see if she will sacrifice herself by saving
members of the <i>Enterprise</i>'s crew.  The Vions have the ability to
save the inhabitants of only one out of several planets doomed to
destruction, and wish to see if Gem's planet is worth saving.  The
Vions require another test, and give Kirk the choice of selecting McCoy
(who will likely be killed) or Spock (who will likely suffer permanent
brain damage).  While Bones is bemoaning being trapped underground, he
reports "I'm a doctor, not a coal miner."  Bones tranquilizes Kirk to
give him rest (and to prevent him from picking Spock), but Spock points
out that he is now in command and will select himself.  McCoy then
sneaks up on Spock and tranquilizes  him as well, leaving only himself
when the Vions come for a volunteer.


When Spock awakens, he adjusts a control device he has obtained from
one of the Vions to operate using his own brainwaves, and transports
Kirk, himself, and Gem to the torture chamber.  They find McCoy is tied
up and nearly dead, with almost no pulse, internal injuries, bleeding
in the chest and abdomen, hemorrhage in the spleen and liver, and 70%
kidney failure. Gem attempts to save McCoy, but stops before she kills
herself in the process.  She tries again, but McCoy pushes her away.


The Vions appear and watch the spectacle, locking Spock and Kirk inside
force fields.  Spock meanwhile manages to release himself from the
force field by suppressing all emotion.  He takes one of the control
devices away from the Vions, but is unable to use it to cure McCoy. Kirk
secures freedom and a promise to save Gem's planet when he convinces
the Vions that Gem has already earned her planet's survival. He also
accuses the Vions of being hypocritical by causing pain by lacking the
very emotions they are trying to evince from Gem.   They agree, heal
McCoy, and depart with Gem.

















When the <i>Enterprise</i> approaches the inner planet Ekos to investigate
the cessation of communication with researcher John Gill, it is attacked
with a rocket carrying a nuclear weapon.  This is puzzling as well as
dangerous, since neither the outer planet Zeon nor the inner planet Ekos
is technologically advanced enough to possess rockets or nuclear warheads.
The <i>Enterprise</i> retreats to maximum orbital distance and Kirk
and Spock beam down (after having position-broadcasting transponders
surgically implanted in case of mishaps).


Kirk and Spock discover that a Nazi movement has swept the planet,
complete with genocide of the "Zeon pigs" residing on Ekos.  They view
a public newscast in which the Iron Cross second class is presented to
Daras, hero of the Fatherland.  Kirk and Spock are also shocked to learn
that Gill appears to be the leader of the planet's Nazi movement.


When they are approached and questioned by a Nazi Lieutenant, they
overpower him and Spock steals his uniform.  Spock then pretends that
Kirk is a Zeon he has captured and nerve pinches a Gestapo commander
who wishes to take charge of Kirk.  This provides Kirk's uniform,
and Spock compliments Kirk by telling him "You should make a very
convincing Nazi."


As Kirk and Spock make their way to see the F&#252;hrer, they are
confronted by a Nazi S.S. Major after Spock neglects to salute him.
The Major becomes suspicious, and Spock is exposed when he is forced to
remove his helmet. Spock and Kirk are then whipped in the process of being
interrogated. Nazi Party Chairman Eneg interrupts the "questioning" and
tells the Nazis to lock up Kirk and Spock for an hour (in contradiction
to standing orders to execute prisoners after interrogation).


In prison, Kirk and Spock speak to an imprisoned Zeon (whom they had
previously encountered being beaten on the street by the Nazis) and find
that the Nazi movement began several years ago (corresponding with the
arrival of Gill).  They escape from prison by making a primitive laser
from the rubindium crystals in their transponders using their cell's
incandescent bulb as the excitation source (not quite a flash arc and
ruby crystal, but close enough in a pinch).  Spock hides outside the
cell and then nerve pinches the guard when Kirk summons him under the
pretext of wanting to talk.  Kirk and Spock also allow the Zeon prisoner
to tag along.


Kirk and Spock penetrate Nazi headquarters with the help of Secretary
Daras and Chairman Eneg.  They discover that Gill is only the drugged
puppet of deputy F&#252;hrer Melakon after he gives a stilted speech
unleashing the final assault on Zeon. McCoy is beamed down and manages
to barely overcome the drug. Gill tells them that he started the Nazi
movement to unify the planet (because it was the "most efficient system
Earth ever knew"). With an extra hypo from Kirk, Gill manages to call
back the invasion fleet and denounce Melakon as a traitor. Melakon grabs
a machine-gun and kills Gill, only to be shot himself. Chairman Eneg
takes over and stops the killing, declaring that "it is time to live
the way our F&#252;rher intended. Kirk and company then return to the

















Scotty, Kirk, and McCoy beam down to Orgellius II for therapeutic
shore leave. There, they enjoy Orgellian hospitality and belly-dancing.
Scotty becomes enthralled with the belly-dancer Kara and invites her
for a romantic walk in the fog.  Shortly thereafter, Kara is found
stabbed to death, with Scott in shock nearby holding the murder weapon.
His fingerprints are the only ones on the murder weapon, and he has both
a concussion and amnesia.


The chief administrator of Argellius II, the strategically important
and only spaceport in the quadrant, Mr.Hengist (from Rigel 4) is put in
charge of the investigation. Prefect Jaris suggests that his wife Sybo use
Orgellian empathic contact to learn the truth, but Kirk suggests that they
beam down psychotricorder to probe Scott's mind while Sybo meditates.  Lt.
Karen Tracy beams down to administer the test to Scott, but is then
stabbed to death.  Again, Scott is the only one present and, again,
he does not remember a thing.  The only other entrance is a door which
has been locked for years.  Kirk questions two men who were present at
the c&#233;fe, her father and former fiance Morla (from Contaba Street).


Sybo then holds a s&#233;ance in which she senses a monstrous evil
ancient terror, devouring all light and life, bearing hatred towards
women and all living things.  She gives the evil the names Boradis,
Keslack, Rejick, but the lights suddenly dim.  When they come back on,
Scott is standing behind her and she has been stabbed.  This time,
however, Scott does not black out.


Hengist, Jaris, Morla, Kara's father, and the landing party then beam
aboard the <i>Enterprise</i> to have Scott analyzed by the computers.
The computer verifies that Scott is telling the truth when he claims
that he felt the presence of a foul, cold, evil creature.  Morla then
takes the stand, and the computer verifies that he is not responsible for
the murders.  Kirk then decides to run the names spoken by Sybo through
the computer.  It identifies "Red Jack" (Rejick) as a name for the mass
murderer of 1920's Earth, known more commonly as Jack the Ripper. Spock
then speculates that a creature who derives nourishment from the emotion
of fear is responsible for the murders.  The computer verifies that such
a creature could exist, and if so would likely be formless and could
exist as electromagnetic impulses.  It cites creatures of Alpha Carina
5 who subsist on the emotion of love.  The computer also suggests that
the creature could take solid form at will, as the Miletus cloud creature
of Alpha Madoris can change from gaseous to solid.


A search of crime records shows the following pattern of unsolved
mass murders: 1932 Shanghai (7 killed), 1974 Kiev (5 killed), 2105
Martian colony (8 killed), and 2156 Heliopolis on Alpha Eridani 2 (10
killed). Spock notes that all these lie sequentially between Argellius
and Earth. The computer then identified Kesla as the name given to an
unknown mass murderer of women on Deneb 2, and Boradis as the name given
to a mass murderer of Rigel 4 (1 solar year ago).


This immediately implicates Hengist, who recently arrived from Rigel 4.
Computer analysis of the knife shows the blade to be made out of boridium,
the handle of irinite, and identifies the inlay as originating from the
hill people of the Argus river region of Rigel 4. Mr. Hengist makes a dash
to get away, but is knocked out by Kirk.  McCoy pronounces Hengist dead,
but it turns out that has abandoned his body and taken up residence in
the <i>Enterprise's</i> computer.


In order to avoid making the creature stronger by allowing him to feed
of the fear of the crew, McCoy injects everyone with a tranquillizer.
Sulu's reaction is typical, and he remarks that with a armful of McCoy's
"stuff," he wouldn't even be afraid of a supernova. The creature is purged
from the computer and flees to a new body when Spock commands the computer
to calculate <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html">pi</a>
to the last digit (an impossible task since <a
href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html">pi</a> is a <a
href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TranscendentalNumber.html">transcendental
number</a>).


Only McCoy, Jaris, Spock, and Kirk remain to be tranquillized, so
Kirk surmises that the creature has taken up residence in one of them.
McCoy agrees to inject himself, but when Kirk attempts to inject Jaris,
he is met with the outburst "no, no, kill you all, die, make you suffer."
Thus revealed, the creature returns to Hengist's body.  However, Hengist
is quickly subdued and tranquillized, and Spock transports him into empty
space with widest possible separation.  Kirk and Spock must then wait
6 hours for the tranquillizer to wear off their extremely "happy" crew.

















While gathering specimens on planet Alpha 177 (whose night temperature
reaches -120 degrees), geological technician Fisher falls off a cliff
and injures his hand.  He also becomes covered in a magnetic yellow
ore. He is beamed aboard the <i>Enterprise,</i> where the transporter
behaves strangely.  However, it appears to work correctly when Kirk beams
aboard shortly thereafter.  Unfortunately, the ore has actually caused
the transporter to malfunction, and Kirk is split into two alter-egos,
the evil one (hostility, lust, violence) of which arrives unnoticed a
few minutes after the good Kirk (compassion, love, tenderness) after
the crew has left the transporter room.


The evil Kirk makes his way to sickbay, where he demands brandy from
McCoy.  Meanwhile, the transporter mishap results in the production
on an "evil" horned poodle out of a shy, quiet animal specimen beamed
up from the planet surface.  Scotty realizes the consequences, and is
forced to strand the remaining 4-man landing party (including Sulu) on
the planet. In the meantime, the evil Kirk enters Yeoman Janice Rand's
quarters and lies in wait for her. She scratches him when he attacks her,
and manages to warn Fisher to call Spock.  Unfortunately, the evil Kirk
incapacitates Fisher before he can get the word out.  Simultaneously,
the good Kirk shows starts showing signs of losing both his decisiveness
and his ability to command.


Showing great ingenuity, the evil Kirk applies powder to his face to
hide Rand's scratch, tricks transporter technician Wilson into giving
him his phaser, then knocks Wilson out.  The evil Kirk then hides in the
lower decks, but Kirk and Spock anticipate this move and hunt him down.
Spock identifies the evil Kirk and gives him a nerve pinch, but it is
not at all obvious what to do with him when he comes to.  The eminent
Scotty finds that the transporter ionizer is destroyed and will take a
week to repair.  However, this seems too long to wait, as the evil Kirk
is exhibiting decreased constitution and appears to be in danger of dying.


Spock and Scotty rig the transporter to run off the impulse engines, and
successfully recombine the dog-creature.  Unfortunately, the strain of
recombination proves fatal to the pooch.  When the good Kirk tries bring
the evil Kirk to the transporter, he is overpowered. The evil Kirk goes
to the bridge and orders the <I>Enterprise</i> to leave orbit, but the
good Kirk follows him there. Kirk is eventually returned to normal when
the transporter is modified and used to fuse the two parts of himself
back together.  The landing party is also beamed back up suffering from
frostbite, but nothing worse.
















The crew of the <i>Enterprise</i> attempts to make contact with the
inhabitants of planet Sigma Iotia II, and Uhura puts Kirk in communication
with Boss Oxmyx.  The intelligent and imitative inhabitants of Sigma
Iotia II have built a culture around the book <i>Chicago Mobs of the
Twenties</i> (published in 1992) which was accidentally left behind a
hundred years ago by the <i>S.S. Horizon.</i>  The <i>Horizon</i> was
subsequently lost in space, and its report only reached the Federation
one month previously because it was sent by conventional radio instead
of sub-space communication.  At the time of the <i>Horizon</i>'s visit,
the noninterference directive was not in effect, so Kirk, McCoy, and
Spock wonder what sort of "contamination" they will encounter when
they beam down to the agreed upon rendezvous point: a street intersection
next to a yellow fire hydrant.  Upon arriving, they are held at gunpoint
("heater"-point) by Oxmyx's men (including Kalo), but are taken safely
to the "Boss" after a machine gun attack by rival boss Krako.


Oxmyx reports that there are a dozen or so Bosses across the planet,
each controlling his own "territory" (plus assorted small fry).
He asks Kirk to supply him with weapons so that he can take over the
planet, and becomes upset when Kirk tells him that this is impossible.
Oxmyx has his men escort Kirk and his party to a warehouse and hold them
prisoner, then uses Kirk's communicator to demand that Scott beam down a
supply of phasers within 8 hours or he will "burn" the landing party.
Kirk wrangles his way out of imprisonment by pretending to teach the
Ioshans the card game "Fizzbin."  Fizzbin is purported to originate on
the planet Beta Antares 4, and is played by dealing each player six cards
(except the player on the dealer's right, who gets 7).  A second card
is turned up, except on Tuesdays.  Two Jacks are a half-Fizzbin, but any
player with three Jacks is said to have a "shralk," and is disqualified.
There are a number of additional rules, and when Kirk asks Spock the odds
of getting a Royal Fizzbin, Spock replies, "I have never computed
them." Having thus distracted the guards, Kirk and Spock overpower them.
Kirk instructs Spock and McCoy to use the radio station to contact Scotty
and beam back to the <i>Enterprise.</i> Unfortunately, as soon as Kirk
leaves the warehouse, he is kidnapped by some of Krako's men.


Jojo Krako, who is Boss of the southside territory, also wants heaters
and instruction on how to use them, and offers Kirk one third of the
proceeds of their use.  He is not amused when Kirk suggests a sit-down
conference to discuss planet-wide unification, and has his men notify
Serl the Knife that he may have a job.  Oxmyx learns about Kirk's
capture, and contacts the <i>Enterprise.</i> By promising a truce,
he gets McCoy and Spock to agree to beam down to discuss how Kirk can
be freed.  Before beaming down, however, Spock instructs Scotty to set
the ship's phasers on wide dispersion stun for the region surrounding
their beam-down point.  As Spock suspected, he and McCoy are immediately
taken prisoner.  However, Kirk has been able to escape from his prison
cell by pretending to be hurt, then subduing his guards.  He makes his way
back to Oxmyx's office and frees Spock and McCoy.  He also forces two of
Oxmyx's men to exchange clothes with himself and Spock, and the two make
their jerky way to Krako by stealing a manual-transmission "flivver"
(Kirk is obviously a better Starship Captain than automobile driver).


While staking out Krako's place, Spock and Kirk are accosted by a young
hoodlum who offers to help them with the "hit" in exchange for a piece
of the action.  He distracts the men guarding the door by pretending to
be hurt.  Kirk and Spock pretend to be his family, and then overpower
the unsuspecting guards.  Once inside, however, they find that they have
been expected and are being covered by machine-gun wielding gangsters.


Kirk convinces Krako that the Federation is moving in, and tells Krako
that he will be cut in for a piece of the action if he cooperates.
He then has Scotty beam Krako up to the <i>Enterprise,</i> although
Scott is initially perplexed  by Kirk's gangster lingo.  Kirk then
gives the same story to Oxmyx, and has him call the other Bosses
(including Tepo).  Scott locates the the people on the other end of
the phone line, and transports them all to Oxmyx's chamber.  They seem
to agree to unification under the Federation (which gets a 40% cut),
but then demand to see proof that Kirk and Company actually have some
muscle backing them up.


At this point, a "hit" begins on Oxmyx's men, and Krako used the
opportunity to again take Kirk, McCoy, and Spock hostage.  He does grant
Kirk a last transmission to the <i>Enterprise,</i>  which Kirk uses to
tell Scott to stun the battling gang members using the ship's phasers.
The Bosses are impressed by this display, and agree to Kirk's original
proposal, with Oxmyx as head Boss and Krako as his Lieutenant.  Spock has
reservations about the idea of leaving a criminal organization in charge,
and also wonders how Kirk plans to collect a 40% cut every year, but
Kirk pooh-poohs his objections.


As the <i>Enterprise</i> is leaving, however, McCoy realizes that he
has left his communicator behind in Bella's office.  The communicator
contains a transtator, the integral part found in all machinery found
of the <i>Enterprise,</i> so it is very likely that the imitative Iotians
will have made impressive technological progress the next time they are
visited by the Federation.