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Entertainment Earth



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Entertainment Earth

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"We're cancelled Jim!"

- W.J. Flywheel, Webporium Curator

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STAR TREK - THE ORIGINAL SERIES
SEASON THREE EPISODE GUIDE

1.  Spock's Brain

September 20, 1968

"He was worse than dead."

- Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

The Enterprise is intercepted by a starship of unknown design and a woman from the ship beams directly into the bridge and uses a device to render the Enterprise's crew unconscious. She then walks over to Spock... When the crew awakens, McCoy summons Kirk to sick bay and informs him that the alien visitor apparently removed Spock's entire brain without even performing surgery. After Spock's body is fitted with a device that allows McCoy to control the Vulcan's motor functions with a remote control, Kirk starts a search for Spock's brain, hoping it can be recovered and somehow returned to Spock before his body decays.

Director: Marc Daniels
Writer: Lee Cronin

Guest starring: Marj Dusay, James Daris, Sheila Leighton

In his book, William Shatner referred to this episode as "one of the worst." Leonard Nimoy has stated that he was embarrassed during the entire shooting of this episode. In informal surveys taken at science fiction conventions, this episode is promptly and almost universally named as the worst of the original series.

Written by Lee Cronin, the pseudonym of Gene L. Coon. Some have assumed that it was used because he was unhappy with the results. Actually, it was because he had left Paramount and was under contract with Universal, so he was not supposed to be working for Paramount as well.

It may be pointless mitpicking about such a silly plot but, granting that with the right technology it would be possible for Spock's disembodied brain to be able to speak, there is no way for it to do so with Spock's voice. The brain being disconnected from its body would have no access to his vocal chords. Any voice would have to be synthetic in nature.

Once it was established that human's are not damaged by putting on the "Teacher" and that no special training in brain surgery is necessary to put Spock's brain back into his head (evidenced by simple-minded Luma's ability to perform the operation to remove it in the first place after donning the Teacher) anyone in the Landing Party could have put on the Teacher and completed the operation after McCoy began to forget how to finish the job. He didn't need to muddle through relying on his comparative lack of surgical knowledge.

2.  The Enterprise Incident

September 27, 1968

"Enterprise Medical Log, stardate 5027.3, Dr. Leonard McCoy recording.
I'm concerned about Captain Kirk.
He shows indications of increasing tension and emotional stress."

- Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

An unusually tense and irritable Kirk orders his ship into the Romulan Neutral Zone, where it is promptly surrounded. Beamed to a Romulan ship, Kirk lies about the intrusion, then attacks Spock, who responds with a Vulcan death grip. While the female Romulan commander courts Spock, a secret mission unfolds.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: D.C. Fontana

Guest starring: Joanne Linville, Jack Donner, Richard Compton, Robert Gentile, Mike Howden, Gordon Coffey

In the opening segment, in regard to the enemy vessels, Spock declares "Romulans now using Klingon design!" The actual reason for this was that in unpacking the models to shoot this sequence, a production assistant stepped on and broke the Romulan Warbird model that was going to be used, so they pulled out their Klingon Battlecruiser model and wrote the line to cover it up.

First broadcast episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to feature the D7 Klingon battle cruisers. Although the episode Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (1968) was produced 3 months before this episode, and technically the first to feature the D7s, this episode was aired on TV first, since NBC changed the airing order for all the episodes. For the Remastered series in 2006, digital shots of the D7s were inserted into scenes in the episode Star Trek: Errand of Mercy (1967), which now officially makes that episode to be the first to have the D7s.

Transporter beams cannot penetrate shields, yet Kirk is able to beam to the Romulan flagship and back. This means that the Enterprise and the Romulan warships have their shields down, an unlikely scenario with hostile warships facing one another.

3.  The Paradise Syndrome

October 4, 1968

"It's like discovering Atlantis. Or Shangri-La."

- Captain James T. Kirk

Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a planet to inform any inhabitants that they must evacuate the planet due to an approaching asteroid's imminent collision. A society similar to Native American Indians has arisen on the planet, but near their villages, the landing party finds a strange obelisk whose design and construction is far beyond the capabilities of the planet's natives. Kirk finds that the monolith can be opened by the combination of sounds found in the order "Kirk to Enterprise," but when he enters the obelisk, he is attacked by waves of energy that erase his mind. With no time to spare, Spock and McCoy have to return to the Enterprise without Kirk, and begin trying to use the ship's tractor beam to divert the asteroid. Meanwhile, Kirk becomes the tribal chief, takes a wife and even expects to become a father, but the Enterprise may not be able to save her former captain's future.

Director: Jud Taylor
Writer: Margaret Armen

Guest starring: Richard Geary, Sabrina Scharf, Rudy Solari, Richard Hale, Naomi Pollack, John Lindesmith, Peter Virgo Jr., Lamont Laird

The "obelisk" in this episode, constructed at Franklin Lake in the Franklin Canyon Reservoir above Beverly Hills, was erected in the same spot where Opie Taylor throws a rock into the lake during the opening credits of "The Andy Griffith Show".

The first Star Trek production to feature Native American Indian culture as a key plot element. Other examples are Star Trek: The Animated Series: How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (1974), Star Trek: The Next Generation: Journey's End (1994), and several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager (1995). Yet, the Native Americans depicted display none of the cultural elements of the tribes mentioned (Navajo, Delaware, Mohican). The houses are tipis, used by plains peoples. The clothing bears no resemblance to actual Native American clothes, and the names of the characters match no Native naming styles. Also, the Navajo were not peaceful, but were very fierce warriors. The Mohican are a fictitious tribe created for the stories of James Fenimore Cooper who combined the names Mohawk and Mohegan, also warrior tribes. The Delaware were not called "Delaware," but rather, were the Lenne Lenape, as a scholar should refer to them in formal references.

Episode: The Paradise Syndrome

On a planet with a society similar the Native American Indians, "Kirok" loses his Starfleet uniform in favor of native attire. He eventually loses that shirt as well.

Spock orders the Enterprise to rush towards the asteroid at Warp Nine. This seems to imply the asteroid would be far outside the planetary system, possibly light years away. This would mean the asteroid would require thousands of years to reach the planet and an imminent collision was not about to happen.

When debating on whether to return to the ship or search for Kirk, McCoy exclaims that the asteroid won't reach the planet for two months; however, later in the same conversation, Spock uses two rocks to show the position of the planet and the changing position of the asteroid. If the speed of Spock's "example" is correct, the asteroid will hit the planet in mere minutes, not months.

4.  And the Children Shall Lead

October 11, 1968

"Captain's log, supplementary. We have buried the members of the Starnes exploration party. Everyone has been deeply affected by what has happened here - with some important exceptions."

- Captain James T. Kirk

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from the scientific colony on Triacus and arrives to find that all of the adults are dead. Oddly, the children seem unaffected by the deaths and continue to play as if nothing had happened. Logs reveal that the expedition had discovered an ancient civilization and warn about an "enemy from within".

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky
Writer: Edward J. Lakso

Guest starring: Dick Dial, Jay D. Jones, Craig Hundley, James Wellman, Melvin Belli, Pamelyn Ferdin, Caesar Belli, Mark Robert Brown, Brian Tochi, Lou Elias

Casting notes: Craig Huxley (Tommy Starnes) previously appeared in Star Trek: Operation - Annihilate! (1967) as Kirk's nephew Peter. This was lawyer Melvin Belli's first time playing a fictional character. His son Melvin Caesar Belli plays one of the children. Producer Fred Freiberger hoped that the presence of Melvin Belli would boost ratings. This plan failed and Freiberger realized it would have been more appropriate to cast an actor in the role.

This is the only episode of the original series in which we see the fully fledged United Federation of Planets flag. Previous appearances, such as Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966), simply used the pre-existing United Nations flag.

This episode is the first appearance of the set piece depicting the entrance to the Gorgan's cave. It would be seen again in many third season episodes, including Star Trek: Spock's Brain (1968), Star Trek: The Cloud Minders (1969), Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays (1969), and Star Trek: That Which Survives (1969).

This episode borrows elements and concepts from several sources, including Greek mythology (Gorgon), the old testament (the Book of Isaiah), and puritanical/colonial witchery (the incantations). It also has a similar plot to the first-season episode Star Trek: Charlie X (1966).

All eight major regular performers of the second and third seasons - Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chapel, and Chekov - appear in this episode.

Originally, the children were supposed to enchant the ENTERPRISE crew by chanting, "See, see, what shall (s)he see..." and then completing the chant by describing the effect of the chant on the crew member. However, these chants were dropped, and in the final episode, the children use their powers by moving their fists up and down in the air. The only chant that is heard in the episode is the one that summons the Angel, Gorgan. In James Blish's novelization of this episode, the children sing spells to cause havoc among the crew rather than making the fist-pumping gesture which has earned a lot of ridicule among fans.

The stardates the Enterprise and Professor Starn's scientific team used apparently do not match up. The opening stardate of 5049.5 would have made more sense than the 5029.5 quoted on the captain's log.

Episode: "And The Children Shall Lead"
Crewman, 2 Security Officers
- Beamed into open space under the induced illusion that the ship was still in orbit.

5.  Is There in Truth No Beauty?

October 18, 1968

"Captain's log, stardate 5630.7. We have been assigned to convey the Medusans' ambassador to the Federation back to their home planet. While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite. They have evolved into a race of beings who are formless, so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan brings total madness to any human who sees one."

- Captain James T. Kirk

Miranda Jones, a telepath who studied mental disciplines on Vulcan, arrives with Ambassador Kolos, a Medusan - an alien life form whose physical form is so hideous, humanoid life forms are driven insane if they look upon him. Also beaming aboard is Larry Marvick, one of the original designers of the Enterprise - and hopelessly in love with Miranda, although she has chosen to spend her life serving as a liason between the Medusans and other humanoids. Miranda senses that someone is actively contemplating murder, and suspects Spock is envious of her once-in-a-lifetime mission - but even Miranda is unaware of the real would-be killer and their target.

Director: Ralph Senensky
Writer: Jean Lisette Aroeste

Guest starring: Diana Muldaur, David Frankham, Richard Geary, Robert Balver, Vince Deadrick, William Blackburn, Ralph Garrett, Alan Gibbs

The dinner scene marks the first presentation of the Vulcan IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) symbol. Although often cited by some fans as evidence of a "larger message" in Star Trek, the "IDIC" ("Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations") medallion that Spock wears during the dinner scene had much baser origins. Leonard Nimoy was originally supposed to give a lengthy speech about the medallion and what it represented. Nimoy found the speech completely out of context in the scene and the episode and refused to say the lines until he got an explanation from producer Gene Roddenberry, who had had the lines and the use of the medallion inserted into the episode. Roddenberry came to the set and admitted to Nimoy that he was selling the "IDIC" medallions through his personal marketing company, Lincoln Enterprises, and inserted the scene about the "IDIC" purely as product placement to generate sales. Nimoy ultimately refused to say the lines, and instead the scene was re-written with Capt. Kirk and other characters commenting on Spock's wearing of the medallion instead.

In Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) it is explained that Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) designed the Constitution-class Enterprise warp engines that Doctor Larry Marvick (David Frankham) commandeers from Scott.

It is commented by McCoy that a blind person couldn't pilot a space craft. However, on Star Trek The Next Generation, the blind Geordi LaForge piloted the Enterprise-D as the ship's helmsman during the show's first season. Dr Jones Neural Net can almost be seen as a precursor to LaForge's VISOR.

Diana Muldaur was given a dark wig to wear for the role of Miranda. This was largely to help distinguish the character from her previous guest role as Dr Ann Mulhall in Return To Tomorrow.

When Miranda shouts "That's a lie!", Kirk responds, "Oh, yes it is!", revealing that Diana Muldaur should have said "That's not true!".

Towards the end of the scene where Kirk and McCoy discuss Miranda, Kirk finishes his drink swallowing the very last drop. The next cut then shows the cup is still quarter full without sufficient time for a re-fill.

Shortly after the merged Spock/Kollos entity engages Warp 1 to get the enterprise out of the void beyond the universe, Spock is seen in the helmsman's chair in his blue shirt. The next shot shows Chekov sitting next to another man in a yellow shirt. The very next scene again shows Spock in his blue shirt still in the helmsman's chair, with Sulu still standing back with the others.

6Spectre of the Gun

October 25, 1968

"Aliens. You have encroached on the space of the Melkot. You will turn back immediately. This is the only warning you will receive."

- voice of Melkotian Buoy

When coming to an exaphobic isolationist planet, Captain Kirk and his landing party are punished for trepassing. They are sentenced to death in a surreal recreation of the Gunfight at the OK Corral with the Enterprise crew members on the losing side.

Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Lee Cronin

Guest starring: Richard Anthony, Paul Baxley, Ron Soble, Bonnie Beecher, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman, Sam Gilman, Charles Seel, Bill Zuckert, Ed McCready, Abraham Sofaer, Gregg Palmer, Bob Orrison, Gregory Reece

DeForest Kelley appeared in other dramatizations of the same historical events, playing Ike Clanton in You Are There: The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (October 26th, 1881) (1955) and Morgan Earp in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). He was also offered a role in Hour of the Gun (1967) (the movie this episode is named after) but had to decline due to his Star Trek commitment.

Though originally intended to be filmed on a back lot set of an Old West town, when the series budget was heavily cut, it was decided to film it in a surrealistic style (half-completed buildings, shadows on the "sky" backdrop, etc.) on an interior set.

Written by Lee Cronin, the pseudonym of Gene L. Coon. Some have assumed that it was used because he was unhappy with the results. Actually, it was because he had left Paramount and was under contract with Universal, so he was not supposed to be working for Paramount as well.

This was the first episode produced for the third season but it aired as the sixth episode of the season. The writing of this episode was influenced by NBC executives who wanted Chekov to be featured more in the third season than he had been in the second season. According to James Doohan, NBC executives told him to comb his hair back for the third season. Doohan hated wearing his hair this way and stopped doing so during Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968). Doohan also provided the voice of the Melkotian buoy. The episode was first broadcast on October 25th, 1968, only one day before the 87th anniversary of the actual Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Although Sam Gilman (Doc Holliday) was 53 years old when this episode was made, Holliday was only 30 at the time of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26th, 1881 and 36 at the time of his death on November 8th, 1887.

For the incomplete mock-up of the Sheriff's office, the sign with the word "Sheriff" on it is written in the exact same font as the opening credits to the series (the F's have the same slant in the center).

Bit-player Rex Holman got his first break when the actor who was originally cast as Morgan Earp proved difficult to work with and was fired. Director Vincent McEveety elevated Holman from being an extra to a supporting part. Two decades later he returned to the Trek universe playing a supporting part in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

There is a slight variation on Dr. McCoy's catchphrase: "He's dead, Jim." When Chekov "dies", McCoy says: "There's nothing I can do, Jim."

The gunfight at the O K Corral has many inaccuracies, but that's because the Melkotian created the town based on Captain Kirk's imperfect subconscious knowledge of history. The gunfight actually ensued at 3:00 p.m., not 5:00 p.m. Virgil Earp was the town marshal of Tombstone at the time of the Gunfight at the O K Corral, not Wyatt Earp. Morgan Earp was Virgil's deputy, and Wyatt and Doc Holliday were deputized the day of the gunfight. Their original intent was to disarm the Clantons and McLaureys. Doc Holliday did not practice dentistry in Tombstone. Perhaps most importantly, Ike Clanton (Captain Kirk) was not killed in the gunfight, but lived for six years afterwards and, in fact, killed Morgan Earp and arranged to have Virgil Earp ambushed and crippled.

After Kirk, Spock and Co figure out they are in Tombstone, they repeat the date October 26, 1881 several times. However when McCoy repeats it he says 1981.

7.  Day of the Dove

November 1, 1968

"Captain's Log, stardate... Armageddon. We must find a way to defeat the alien force of hate that has taken over the Enterprise, stop the war now - or spend eternity in futile, bloody violence."

- Captain James T. Kirk

Both humans and Klingons have been lured to a planet by a formless entity that feeds on hatred and has set about to fashion them into a permanent food supply for itself.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky
Writer: Jerome Bixby

Guest starring: Michael Ansara, Susan Howard, David L. Ross, Mark Tobin

At one point, Scotty warns Spock; "Keep your fulkin' hands off me!" In the script, the line read as "Vulcan" hands, however just before filming the scene, writer Jerome Bixby convinced actor James Doohan to replace Vulcan with fulkin', hoping the Scottish accent would hide the obscenity. No one noticed, and Bixby managed to sneak America's favorite curse word onto Network Television, November 1st, 1968.

Mara is the only female Klingon with a speaking role on Star Trek (1966): The Original Series. Another female is beamed on board the Enterprise at the same time, but only seen briefly.

This episode was originally written with John Colicos' Kor (from Star Trek: Errand of Mercy (1967) as Kirk's Klingon adversary. Although Colicos really wanted to reprise that role, he was in Europe making Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and was unavailable. The part was recast with Michael Ansara as "Kang". Ansara is one of nine actors to play the same character (in his case the Klingon commander Kang) on three Star Trek television series – the original series ("Day of the Dove"), Deep Space Nine ("Blood Oath") and Voyager ("Flashback"). Ansara was married to I Dream of Jeannie star Barbara Eden (1958 to 1974). Ansara and Eden both co-starred in Irwin Allen's movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Kang gives his name to one of the two cyclopic alien squids who repeatedly plague The Simpsons (1989) in their Halloween fantasies. The other is Kodos who takes his name from Star Trek: The Conscience of the King (1966).

In the first confrontation with the Klingons, Kirk tells Kang to "Go to the devil" to which Kang responds "We have no devil". Later it was decided that the Klingons do indeed have a "devil": Fek'lhr, the guardian of the Klingon underworld, first mentioned in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Devil's Due (1991).

As in the Imperial Starfleet of the Mirror Universe (first seen in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967)), the regular universe's Klingon Empire uses agonizers on Ensign Chekov. These were developed further as the "painsticks" often seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).

Mark Tobin, who plays a Klingon in this episode, would return more than 30 years later to play a Klingon in Star Trek: Voyager: Barge of the Dead (1999). He previously played Khan's right-hand man, Joaquin, in Star Trek: Space Seed (1967).

8.  For the World is Hollow
and I Have Touched the Sky

November 8, 1968

"Captain, informing these people they're on a ship may be in violation of the Prime Directive of Starfleet Command."

- Mr. Spock

The Enterprise must deflect an asteroid on a collision course with an inhabited planet... but discover the asteroid is a spaceship with a population unaware of the outside world.

Director: Tony Leader
Writer: Hendrik Vollaerts

Guest starring: Katherine Woodville, Byron Morrow, Jon Lormer

The voice of the Oracle was played by James Doohan.

Byron Morrow, who portrayed Admiral Westervliet, also portrayed Admiral Komack in Star Trek: Amok Time (1967). Admiral Komack would show up again played by Ben Binswagner in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.

When Spock is thumbing through the Book of the Fabrini, although Kirk asks whether it is indexed, and Spock says yes, in fact all pages can clearly be seen to be blank until he reaches the pages he wants. This happens a lot in movies and TV shows when a character is reading or looking at a book and is kind of a pet peeve of ours. How hard is it for the prop department to get a real book with printed pages in it?

9.  The Tholian Web

November 15, 1968

"I understand, Doctor. I'm sure the Captain would simply have said:
Forget it, Bones."

- Mr. Spock

The Enterprise arrives at the last known position of the U.S.S. Defiant (NCC-1764), an area of uncharted space, to search for the missing starship. When the Defiant appears on the viewing screen enshrouded in a strange green glow, Spock is unable to scan the vessel on his sensors. Kirk beams over to the Defiant with a boarding party to investigate and finds the entire crew dead. What's more, the Defiant seems to be trapped in an interphase between two different universes. A power loss partially disables the Enterprise transporter, but the landing party manages to beam back to the Enterprise except Kirk who suddenly disappears along with the Defiant. Spock calculates that the next time to interphase will be approximately two hours, and that the captain can be rescued at that time. As the Enterprise begins to experience the same problems that doomed the Defiant: power loss, weakness and insanity among the crew, an alien vessel appears and demands that they leave Tholian

Director: Ralph Senensky / Herb Wallerstein
Writer: Judy Burns / Chet Richards

Guest starring: Barbara Babcock, Sean Morgan, Lou Elias, Jay D. Jones

According to a TV Guide interview from 1970, The Tholian Web was the first script that episode writer Judy Burns (left) ever wrote. She would go on to write episodes of Mission: Impossible (2 episodes, 1969, 1971), Search (2 episodes, 1972, 1973), The F.B.I. (1974), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1974), Ironside (2 episodes, 1974, 1974), Bionic Woman (1976), The Six Million Dollar Man (4 episodes, 1975, 1976, 1977), Wonder Woman (1977), Vega$ (4 episodes, 1980, 1981), Fantasy Island (2 episodes, 1980, 1981), Knight Rider (1982), Magnum, P.I. (1984), T.J. Hooker (5 episodes, 1985) and MacGyver (1985) amoung others.

When Chekov asks if there's ever before been a mutiny aboard a starship, Spock responds by saying that there are absolutely no records of any such occurrence. This cleverly avoids answering the question directly. While there may be no mutiny "on record," Spock well knows that there's been at least one, which he himself took part in, during "The Menagerie" two-parter from the first season.

Herb Wallerstein is the credited director of this episode. Ralph Senensky was the original director, but was fired midway through filming, and replaced by Wallerstein. Senensky refused any screen credit for this episode.

First Star Trek episode to show the environmental suit. Something that was avoided before not only because of the cost but of the problems of the suit having to have a helmet with a clear window. Such a window would always pick up unwanted reflections and make recording the actor's lines difficult. Since these outfits were only meant to be seen only in NTSC resolution, someone came up with the ingenious solution of making the "window" out of mesh. Mesh would provide the diffusion to make it seem there was something clear and solid in front of the actor's face and reflections and recording dialog would be no problem. The way the shows were broadcast back then it would provide successful illusion of a solid face plate for the most part. It was not until DVD, which achieved the highest quality of NTSC resolution that the use of mesh became much more noticeable. And now, with high definition resolution, you can see the texture and wrinkling of the mesh quite easily.

After the episode is finished the story of the USS Defiant continues in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001). Mirror universe Captain Archer finds the Defiant being held by the Tholians in the prime universe to which he commandeers it and takes it into his native universe in In a Mirror, Darkly: Part 1 and 2 (2005). An effort was made by the production crew to keep continuity with the bodies in the same spaces and positions.

Scotty has his hair cut short and combed down in this episode. But, in one scene, where Spock calls him right before inter-phase, the scene shows his hair combed back, in the style he wore in the first few episodes of the third season. That shot was re-used from Star Trek: The Paradise Syndrome.

While transporting Kirk back onto the Enterprise there is a close-up of the transporter operator's hands. His gold bar rank stripe has changed from one to two and he is missing a finger on the right hand - clearly those are Scotty's hands and rank.

When the landing party first beams aboard the Defiant, the shot is flopped to maintain continuity of Kirk's line of sight. Kirk's hair is parted on the right side of his head.

The first shot of Chekov in the Defiant's engineering room shows him bobbing back and forth unnaturally, because the film was rolled backward and forward a few times as filler.

10.  Plato's Stepchildren

November 22, 1968

"Fascinating. I believe we're experiencing the psychokinetic manifestations of Parmen's delirium."

- Mr. Spock

Kirk and his crew find themselves at the mercy of powerful individuals who possess mind-over-matter powers... and plan to use the Enterprise crew for their twisted entertainment.

Director: David Alexander
Writer: Meyer Dolinsky

Guest starring: Michael Dunn, Liam Sullivan, Barbara Babcock, Ted Scott, Derek Partridge, Armando Gonzales, Jay D. Jones

The first scripted interracial kiss (between an African-American and a Caucasian) on American network television was in this episode when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) kissed Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) when they were forced to do it by the aliens controlling their bodies. The studio expressed some concern, and it was suggested instead that Spock should kiss Uhura 'to make it less of a problem for the southern [US] audience'.

Some stations in the South originally refused to air the episode. Network executives also ordered the director to shoot a take where he and Uhura did not kiss, just so it would be available. However William Shatner crossed his eyes at the camera making the take useless. While this was the first scripted interracial kiss on American network television (between an African-American and a Caucasian) it was not the first.

On December 11th, 1967, several months before this Star Trek episode aired Nancy Sinatra starred in a TV special called "Movin' with Nancy." The special was directed by Jack Haley, Jr. and showcased Nancy traveling around singing different songs. Both her dad, Frank Sinatra and god-uncle Dean Martin make a guest appearances but it is in the second half of "Movin' with Nancy" where television history was made when Sammy Davis, Jr. joins Nancy, playing a photographer who snaps various photos of her as she sings (above). Sammy dances around, mugs for the camera, and clicks away. Then, at the end of the bit, Sammy gives Nancy a quick little kiss on the cheek. There is nothing sexual about the kiss; it is obviously a kiss of great affection, the affection of two close friends (which they were). According to Nancy, the apparently spontaneous kiss was actually carefully planned. She had Sammy shoot the scene late in the day, knowing he had to leave to get to another job, thus making it impossible for the brass to ask for a re-take sans the kiss. Sammy Davis Jr. would make TV history again later when he kissed Archie Bunker (below left). Predating the Nancy Sinatra special, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra would give Diahann Carroll a peck on each cheek after performing a song on The Dean Martin Show in 1965 (below right).

And, just a few months before "Plato’s Stepchildren", the Smothers Brothers performed a skit that parodied both Bonanza, the show they were up against in their timeslot, as well as their own well-documented struggles with CBS censors. The skit features guest stars Rosie Grier, "Mama" Cass Elliot, and Harry Belafonte as the “Cartwrong” clan, and towards the end, Grier plants a kiss right on Elliot’s forehead (above). Just to confuse things, Grier was playing the "mother" while Cass is playing her "son". No consideration as an interracial kiss has ever been given to Captain Kirk kissing Marlena Moreau in "Mirror, Mirror", a Star Trek episode that aired the year before "Plato’s Stepchildren". Moreau was played by mixed-race actress Barbara Luna (below left), who is Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino.

While Star Trek can claim the first scripted interracial kiss between an African-American and a Caucasian, both The Wild Wild West and I Spy had broadcast interracial kisses between Caucasian and Asian actors prior to the Star Trek episode. In the I Spy episode "The Tiger", Robert Culp travels to Vietnam and meets up with a former flame played by France Nuyen (above right). The two actors soon became a couple in real life, with Culp leaving his wife to marry Nuyen.

There’s a lengthy tradition of white men romancing Asian women in TV and movies, and it’s rarely been seen as taboo or offensive. Other white man/Asian woman interracial kisses include: Darren McGavin and Sondi Sodsai, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, 1959, Nobu McCarthy and Lloyd Bridges, Sea Hunt, 1959 (above top left), Robert Fuller and Nobu McCarthy, Laramie, 1961 (above top right), Pilar Seurat and Robert Conrad, The Wild Wild West, 1966 (above botton left), David McCallum and Victoria Young, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 1966 (above bottom right) and France Nuyen and William Shatner, Star Trek, 1968 (below left), an interracial kiss made just a few episodes after "Plato's Stepchildren". Nuyen has about forty guest-starring roles on her resume in the 1960s, and it’s probably safe to assume at least half of them feature her kissing each show’s respective white lead. In addtion, Shatner kissed an Asian actress six years prior on the ABC series Naked City (below right). Would this qualify as an interracial kiss since Shatner was playing a Burmese sailor named Maung Tun? I don't know (wait-what? Shathner was Burmese?). The actress Pilar Seurat, would later guest star on the Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold".

The "actual" first interracial kiss on television was understood to have occurred during an episode of the British soap opera Emergency – Ward 10 in 1964 (above center). However, in November 2015, a Granada Play of the Week, You in Your Small Corner, was uncovered which was broadcast live in June 1962 (above left). The central theme of the play is a relationship between a young black intellectual and a white working class girl. During the play, a kiss takes place between actors Lloyd Reckord and Elizabeth MacLennan, and what has been described as an "explicit post-coital scene". So we have a winner? Wait a minute. Broadcast in the Netherlands in April of 1959, Pension Hommeles was a television series about the adventures of the residents of a boarding house. Harlem born American actor Donald Jones had moved to the Netherlands and became a popular Dutch star, and shared a kiss with his white co-star on the show (actually more of an affectionate peck than a full-on kiss, above right).

All this fuss over an interracial kiss may seem odd today but it was a big deal back then. To make things even odder some have suggested that Lucy and Ricky Ricardo qualify as an "interracial couple" and since real-life husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball kissed many times on I Love Lucy in the 1950s they should be called the first interracial kiss on TV. Though Arnaz was hispanic there can be both white hispanics and black hispanics and Arnaz was usually considered to be a white male of Cuban ancestry.

In the UK, where interracial romance had already been depicted on television, the BBC dropped this episode and subsequent repeats purely on the violence factor: on the grounds that the sadistic treatment of the Enterprise Crew was not suitable for its early evening time slot. It was first shown in the UK on satellite television some 25 years later and on the BBC in December 1993.

This episode also features the first and only time both Uhura and Chapel being beamed down to a planet and are a central part of the storyline, thereafter.

Episode: Plato's Stepchildren

The inhabitants of Platonius force Kirk and Spock to wear clothing inspired by ancient Greece. Kirk's chest is half exposed, while Spock's is covered.

During the performance by Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Kirk and Spock one of the platonians refers to "Cupid" a roman deity, that is incorrect because in Greek mythology the name of the deity is "Eros".

In his Captain's Log, Kirk states that the Platonians' "planet went nova," planets don't go nova, only stars.

The platonians mention repeatedly Utopia, it is impossible for them to know the term coined by Thomas More in 1518 as they left Greece centuries before he was born.

11.  Wink of an Eye

November 29, 1968

"Ship's Log, Stardate 5710.5, Lieutenant Commander Scott reporting. While exploring an outer quadrant of the galaxy, the Enterprise received distress calls from an apparently uninhabited, incredibly beautiful city on the planet of Scalos. Captain Kirk and a landing party have beamed down to investigate."

- Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

When a landing party investigating Scalos begins to vanish one by one, Kirk, Spock and McCoy try to find out what is happening before more of the crew disappears, until Kirk himself is abducted. Kirk finds the cause to be a group of endangered Scalosians who move faster than human sight or hearing can detect. Kirk must find a way to get a message to Spock and McCoy, who are working on a cure for the mystery "ailment".

Director: Jud Taylor / Gene L. Coon
Writer: Arthur Heinemann, Lee Cronin

Guest starring: Kathie Browne, Jason Evers, Erik Holland, Geoffrey Binney, Richard Geary, Ed Hice

The plot for this episode (hyper-accelerated movement) was also used in The Wild Wild West: The Night of the Burning Diamond (1966). That episode was produced by Gene L. Coon, who wrote this episode under the screen name Lee Cronin.

Concidering Captain Kirk reputation, this episode contains the only time in The Original Series where Kirk is seen in what can be presumed to be a post-coital situation. He is seen zipping up his boots while sitting on the edge of his bed, with Deela standing nearby arranging her hair.

If it takes the lift doors 1 second to open and close in real time, accelerated, that would take about 16 minutes. A 30-second ride in the turbo-lift would take 8.3 hours.

Because archive footage (including footage from Star Trek: The Empath, which was filmed before this episode) is used for most of the first minute of the episode, several continuity errors are caused. Scotty, when making the opening log entry, has the brushed-back hairstyle James Doohan was forced to use for the first few episodes of the third season; in the rest of the episode, he has his normal hairstyle. A woman other than Uhura is at the communications station in the opening scene, but Uhura is there when Kirk returns to the bridge. Also Mr. Hadley seems to be playing musical chairs. Hadley is at the navigation station when Scotty makes the opening log entry (below left), but when the shot changes to archive footage of the viewscreen, he is at the helm (below right) and Chekov is at the navigation station.

Episode: "Wink of an Eye"
Crewman Compton, rank unknown
- Died of rapid cellular decay after a small injury he suffered in hyperaccelerated state.

12.  The Empath

December 6, 1968

"Why, she seems harmless enough."

- Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

On a planet doomed to destruction, Kirk, Spock & McCoy become involved with two aliens who use them as laboratory animals in a bizarre series of tests on an alien empath who may be the savior of her planet.

Director: John Erman
Writer: Joyce Muskat

Guest starring: Kathryn Hays, Alan Bergmann, Davis Roberts, Jason Wingreen, Willard Sage, Roger Holloway, Jay D. Jones, Paul Baxley

This was DeForest Kelley's favourite episode and contains another one of McCoy's famous, "I'm a doctor, not a..." quotes. In this episode it is "coal miner".

Episode: The Empath

In one scene we can see a shirtless Shatner dangling from the ceiling as he is being tortured in what could be the most graphic and violent episode of the original series.

13.  Elaan of Troyius

December 20, 1968

"Captain, that ancient Earth custom called spanking. What is it?"

- Elaan

"It's, er. It's, er. We'll talk about it later."

- Captain James T. Kirk

While transporting an arrogant, demanding princess (Elaan) for a political marriage, Captain Kirk must cope both with her biochemical ability to force him to love her and sabotage on his ship.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas

Guest starring: France Nuyen, Jay Robinson, Tony Young, Lee Duncan, Dick Durock, Charles Beck, K.L. Smith, Victor Brandt

France Nuyen, who plays Elaan, starred opposite William Shatner on Broadway in "The World of Suzie Wong" in 1958 (above right). Nuyen is believed to be the first person of Vietnamese descent to appear on American television.

This plot was revamped more than 20 years later in the "Captain Picard" adventure Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Perfect Mate (1992 below).

The story includes elements of both Homer's "Iliad" (Helen of Troy, represented as Elaan of Troyius) and William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew".

When Mr. Spock scans the Dohlman's necklace, the sound the necklace makes is the same as the sound made by the Martian tripods in The War of the Worlds (1953).

This episode features the first appearance of the classic D7 Class Klingon battle cruiser, designed and built by Star Trek art director Walter M. Jefferies (prior to this episode, Klingon ships had been represented by blobs of light or blips on a computer screen). Star Trek: Day of the Dove (1968), which was filmed later, but aired earlier reused shots of the Klingon battle cruiser from this episode. Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies was born in 1921, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. From an early age, he became obsessed with flight. During World War II, he was a B-17 co-pilot in Europe and Africa; for his service, he received the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. After World War II, he became an illustrator at the Library of Congress. After some freelance illustration work in the 1950s, he was hired as a set designer at Warner Bros. But the 1960s is when he made his mark. In 1964, Gene Roddenberry approached Matt to design the ship for a new TV series: Star Trek (1966). The final design of the original Starship Enterprise became the template for nearly all of the Federation ships featured in Star Trek ever since. In his honor, the crawl spaces on Star Trek are called "Jefferies Tubes." He passed away on July 21st, 2003, of congestive heart failure, after a fight with cancer.

When the camera slowly pans up Elaan's skimpily clad body (bikini bottom and top) in the transporter, her belly button is covered due to the 1951 Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters, which prohibited female navel exposure. However, a year earlier (Season 2, "Mirror, Mirror"), Lieutenant Uhura's navel slipped by censors.

Elaan locks herself away from Kirk and says: "If I have to stay here for ten light-years I will not be soiled by any contact with you." The term "light-year" is a measure of "distance" (the distance traveled by light in one year), and not of time.

Episode: "Elaan of Troyius"
Crewman Watson Engineer
- Killed by Kryton after discovering sabotage of the warp core

Untitled

14.  Whom Gods Destroy

January 3, 1969

"She seems to have worked out an infallible method for assuring permanent male fidelity. Interesting."

- Mr. Spock: [about Marta]

Kirk and Spock investigate an insane asylum where a former Starfleet captain is being held, only to discover that he has freed the inmates and is running the place.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / Lee Erwin
Writer: Lee Erwin

Guest starring: Steve Ihnat, Yvonne Craig, Richard Geary, Gary Downey, Keye Luke, Frank da Vinci, Roger Holloway

Although Garth is a former Starfleet captain whose exploits were studied by Kirk at Starfleet Acadamy (and thus is at least a decade older than Kirk), the actor who played Garth - Steve Ihnat - is 3 years younger than William Shatner (Kirk).

This episode and the movie "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" both have characters by the name of Marta and a shape shifter who becomes Captain Kirk.

When Marta is attempting to stab Kirk, the camera shows a close-up of Captain Kirk holding back Marta's arm. If you look closely, you can see the green body make-up on Yvonne Craig starting to rub off on William Shatner's hands and left sleeve of his tunic. In some scenes, you can also see that the make-up wasn't applied to the bottom of her feet.

15.  Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

January 10, 1969

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

- Bele

The Enterprise finds itself host to two alien beings from the same planet, who share an intense and self-destructive hatred of each other.

Director: Jud Taylor / Gene L. Coon
Writer: Oliver Crawford

Guest starring: Frank Gorshin, Lou Antonio, Dick Ziker

The episode's plot was a clear and not too subtle indictment of the discrimination and prejudice which was still rampant in the late 1960s by showcasing its complete absurdity, especially in light of the assassination of Martin Luther King less than a year prior, and just a few years after the Watts Riots and the events later depicted in the films Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Malcolm X (1992) and Mississippi Burning (1988). The white/black and black/white makeup was also a rather obvious allegory to the tension that existed between many whites and blacks, especially in the Southern United States. At the beginning of the episode Captain Kirk refers to the planet Charon "in the southern-most part of the galaxy."

Every time there is a "red alert", the camera quickly and repeatedly zooms in and out of a shot of the one of the many flashing, red warning lights which indicate the red alert. This camera effect was only used in this episode and is thought to be as a homage to Frank Gorshin's Riddler character of the Batman TV series.

The characters of Bele (Frank Gorshin) and Lokai (Lou Antonio) both wear shirts which are not pullovers but instead zip up the back. This was because makeup application with the shirts on would have soiled the shirts, and pulling shirts over their heads after the makeup was applied would have disturbed the makeup. The characters are also depicted as wearing gloves all the time. This was not because it was a requirement of the script or character descriptions, but because the black and white makeup would have smudged and rubbed off every time their hands touched anything or any other character.

Archive stock footage of World War II-era London, England burning was shown, superimposed on the fleeing scenes of Lokai and Bele. In the digitally enhanced version, the archive stock footage has been cut out.

Chekov reports that Bele's ship is "out there" while at his station at the helm. When the camera shot from behind the helm shows Kirk and crew looking at the display screen appears, Chekov is not at the helm, but rather Hadley. When they cut back to a shot from the front angle as before to show the crew's faces, Chekov is back in his seat.

Although the shuttle-craft is stolen from Starbase 4, it's side clearly reads: "U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701/7" (archive footage from Star Trek: The Galileo Seven). In the digitally enhanced version, the number has been changed to SB4-0314/2.

16.  The Mark of Gideon

January 17, 1969

"Captain's Log, stardate 5423.4: We are orbiting the planet Gideon, which is still not a member of the United Federation of Planets. The treaty negotiations have been difficult because Gideon has consistently refused the presence of a delegation from the Federation on its soil or any surveillance by the ship's sensors. They have finally agreed to a delegation of one. They insisted it be the captain of the Enterprise. I am, therefore, beaming down at once."

- Captain James T. Kirk

Kirk beams down on a diplomatic mission... and finds himself in an Enterprise where all the crew have vanished and only a mysterious woman resides.

Director: Jud Taylor
Writer: Stanley Adams / George F. Slavin

Guest starring: Richard Derr, Gene Dynarski, David Hurst, Sharon Acker

The voice of the captain of the Astral Queen is that of Gene Roddenberry.

The episode was written by Stanley Adams, who had earlier guest starred as Cyrano Jones in The Trouble With Tribbles. Adams has become concerned over the issue of overpopulation, and during production of The Trouble With Tribbles, mentioned to Gene Roddenberry that he thought it would be an interesting social topic for the series to address. Adams however said he was disappointed by the episode's final results.

The coordinates given for Kirk to transport down to the council chamber are 875 020 079. The coordinates the council member give Scotty to have him be him up from our 875 020 709.

McCoy makes a sarcastic remark regarding Spock having a career as a Diplomat. Spock would go on to have a career in diplomacy, working as an ambassador during the time of Star Trek The Next Generation.

Gideon is an overcrowded planet where every surface is covered by people rubbing up against one another, which raises some, dare I say it, fasinating questions. With literally no moving space, how do they keep their infrastructure, basic utilities and government functioning? How does their society derive sustenance, and contend with body wastes? The Gidion's want to introduce disease to help thin the population but people forced to live on top of each other like that should be a breeding ground for any number of fatal ailments. Gideon supposedly has "no room," yet their government council chamber has plenty of empty space and is downright spacious? Where did they find the space to build a life-sized replica of the Enterprise let alone get the information necessary to make a foolproof mock up of the Enterprise interior? You figure if they had technology to build a "fake Enterprise" they could figure out their over population problem?

17.  That Which Survives

January 24, 1969

"What happened?"

- Uhura

"The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the arm of the chair."

- Mr. Spock

"No, Mr. Spock. I meant what happened to us?"

- Uhura

Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu are stranded on a barren planet where a mysterious woman attempts to kill them one at a time, while the Enterprise must travel halfway across the galaxy to rescue them.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / D.C. Fontana
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas

Guest starring: Kenneth Washington, Brad Forrest, Booker Bradshaw, Naomi Pollack, Arthur Batanides, Lee Meriwether

Lt. Radha (played by Naomi Pollack, left) is both the first explicitly Hindu character (shown by the bright red dot on her forehead, known as a Bindi), and the first Enterprise helmswoman, to appear in Star Trek.

James Doohan lost a finger while fighting in WWII, and consistently hid his right hand during the series. While changing polarity on the magnetic probe, the missing finger can be seen.

After D'Amato dies, Kirk uses his phaser to dig a grave for him. This is only the second time on Star Trek where a crewman is buried by the landing party on a planet, the first occurring in Star Trek: The Galileo Seven (1967). Usually, dead crewmen are returned to the ship.

Second and final appearance of Dr. M'Benga (played by Booker Bradshaw, 1940–2003) M'Benga was a doctor who served aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 for two years. His background included an internship in a Vulcan ward and he helped save Spock's life in 2267.

The Enterprise was thrown 990.7 light-years from the planet they were investigating, then return in about 1 day. However 7 whole seasons of Star Trek: Voyager were based on the idea that it will take 70 years to travel 70,000 light-years. With the rate stated in this episode, Voyager should've passed that distance in little over a month.

Episode: "That Which Survives"
Ensign Wyatt, Transporter Chief
Crewman John B. Watkins, Engineer Grade 4
- Killed by Losira's touch.

18.  The Lights of Zetar

January 31, 1969

"When a man of Scotty's years falls in love, the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed to him. His whole heart once throbbed only to the ship's engines."

- Captain James T. Kirk

The Enterprise is on course to install new equipment on Memory Alpha, the central library storage facility for the Federation. Chief Engineer Scott has been working closely on the project with Lieutenant Mira Romaine with whom he has been forming a romantic attachment. When the Enterprise arrives they must deal with discorporeal cloud-like corporeal aliens who have already destroyed the inhabitants of a library planet and plan to eliminate the Enterprise crew if they cannot acquire a human host.

Director: Herb Kenwith
Writer: Shari Lewis / Jeremy Tarcher

Guest starring: Barbara Babcock, Bud da Vinci, Libby Erwin, Jan Shutan

This episode was co-written by Shari Lewis (of Lamb Chop fame) and her husband Jeremy Tarcher. Lewis also lobbied to be cast in the guest role of Lt Romaine, but didn't get the part.

Star Trek: The Original Series is known as a great science fiction series but some of its stories contain archetypes of horror. This is the seventh of eight stories that contain a "ghost" (whether supernatural or metaphorical). Other (space) ghosts episodes include: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966), Star Trek: Space Seed (1967), Star Trek: Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967), Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967), Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968), Star Trek: And the Children Shall Lead (1968), and Star Trek: The Savage Curtain (1969).

At 48:00 (for 10 seconds) Kirk, McCoy and Spock are speaking - through the doorway behind McCoy, you can see a discarded newspaper lying on the floor that one of the (TV) crew members apparently left on the set. It is still there at 48:58 for another 25 seconds or so.

After the first lights attack, a close up shot of Sulu is reversed: notice his hair is parted the wrong way. On Memory Alpha, the positions of the dead Andorian and alien in the purple jumpsuit change between angles and a dead technician dies is still visibly breathing. Lt. Romaine has a cold sore on her lower lip that comes and goes between scenes.

19.  Requiem for Methuselah

February 14, 1969

"Captain's log, stardate 5843.7. The Enterprise is in the grip of a raging epidemic. Three crewmen have died and twenty-three others have been struck down by Rigelian fever. In order to combat the illness, Dr. McCoy needs large quantities of ryetalyn, which is the only known antidote for the fever. Our sensors have picked up sufficient quantities of pure ryetalyn on a small planet in the Omega system. We are beaming down to secure this urgently needed material."

- Captain James T. Kirk

While seeking a cure for a fever ravaging the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock encounter Flint, a hermit-like Earthman, and his beautiful young ward.

Director: Murray Golden
Writer: Jerome Bixby

Guest starring: John Buonomo, James Daly, Louise Sorel, Phil Adams

One of many Star Trek productions resembling William Shakespeare's The Tempest and/or Irving Block's Forbidden Planet (1956). This tragic love story was first aired on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 1969.

The last name of Rayna Kapec is an anagram of the last name of Karel Capek, the Czech author who popularized the term "robot".

Mr. Flint invites Kirk, Spock and Bones to his palace, which is the same as seen from afar in Star Trek: The Cage (1986): an Eastern palace with blue details, golden rooftops, a giant moon or other planet in the background left and a smaller, Saturn-like planet left of that. In The Cage this is the stage for the fight between Captain Pike and the monster. In the remastered Star Trek, this image was replaced with a new background.

The sheet music for Flint's Johannes Brahms waltz, which we see in a close-up, does not correspond to the waltz Spock has played.

20.  The Way to Eden

February 21, 1969

"I used to get into a little trouble when I was that age, Scotty, didn't you?"

- Captain James T. Kirk

The Enterprise picks up a group of space "hippies" looking for Eden.

Director: David Alexander / D.C. Fontana
Writer: Arthur Heinemann

Guest starring: Phyllis Douglas, Deborah Downey, Victor Brandt, Mary Linda Rapelye, Elizabeth Rogers, Charles Napier, Skip Homeier

In this episode, for the first time, Chekov's first and middle names are spoken/revealed, Pavel Andreivich.

The space hippie protest "Herbert, Herbert, Herbert!" is a gag, referring to both Star Trek four time director Herb Wallerstein, and long time Executive in Charge of Production Herbert F. Solow. Spock tells Kirk that the reference to Herbert is "somewhat uncomplimentary" and that "Herbert was a minor official, notorious for his rigid and limited patterns of thought."

Dr. Sevrin is based on Timothy Leary, a controversial psychiatrist who advocated LSD as a therapeutic drug.

This episode was originally entitled "Joanna." The character of Irina was originally to be Joanna McCoy, daughter of Dr. McCoy, and love interest for Captain Kirk, but that original script was rejected. The character of Joanna was planned to later appear in the fourth season, but Star Trek (1966) was canceled at the end of the third season.

MoJo connection: Star Trek guest stars, Charles Napier (The Way to Eden) and Clint Howard (Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966)) played a scene together in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).

Two times, a shot of Kirk is reversed (presumably to make him face the right side of the screen) The first time he is facing Sulu in a corridor of the Enterprise, the second he is looking where Dr. Sevrin had just run on the planet Eden. Note the appearance of the Star Fleet emblem on the right side of his shirt, rather than the usual left side.

21.  The Cloud Minders

February 28, 1969

"This troubled planet is a place of the most violent contrasts.
Those who receive the rewards are totally separated from those who shoulder the burdens. It is not a wise leadership."

- Mr. Spock

Kirk and Spock are caught up in a revolution on a planet where intellectuals and artists live on a utopian city in the sky while the rest of the population toils in mines on the barren surface below.

Director: Jud Taylor / David Gerrold
Writer: Margaret Armen

Guest starring: Ed Long, Garth Pillsbury, Fred Williamson, Kirk Raymone, Charlene Polite, Diana Ewing, Jeff Corey, Harv Selsby, Jimmy Fields, Jay D. Jones, Richard Geary, Marvin Walters, Lou Elias, Walter Scott, Bob Myles

Fred Williamson (left) played Vanna's ally Anka. This was one of the first TV roles for Williamson, the former Oakland Raiders/Kansas City Chiefs football star who rose to prominence as one of the first African-American male action stars of the "blaxploitation" genre of the early 1970s. Williamson had a long and illustrious career as an actor, director, writer, and producer.

David Gerrold conceived the original story on which this episode was based, an outline called "Castle in the Sky". He was deeply disappointed with the final script. His original concept dealt with a three-way conflict between the elite of the planet's sky city and two groups of the cave-dwelling miners - one adhering to the tenets of a pacifist, Martin Luther King-like leader, the other followers of a more militant Malcolm X-like figure. Gerrold's story ended on a deliberately ambiguous note, with the only "triumph" being that Kirk finally managed to establish a dialogue between the groups. Gerrold later characterized the final script - in which the miners' violent actions are blamed entirely on a toxic "zenite" gas in the mines - with the scathing line, "And if we can just get them troglytes to wear gas masks, then they'll be happy little darkies and they'll pick all the cotton we need."

22.  The Savage Curtain

March 7, 1969

"Scotty, beam us up fast!"

- Captain James T. Kirk

Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, "good vs. evil".

Director: Herschel Daugherty / Gene Roddenberry
Writer: Gene Roddenberry / Arthur Heinemann

Guest starring: Nathan Jung, Carol Daniels Dement, Arell Blanton, Phillip Pine, Barry Atwater, Robert Herron, Lee Bergere, Bart La Rue, Janos Prohaska, Phil Adams, Gary Epper, Bill Catching, Jerry Summers, Bob Orrison, Troy Melton

Colonel Green's uniform was recycled into the spacesuit worn by Mork (right) in his appearances on Happy Days (1974) and Mork & Mindy (1978).

Scotty wears a kilt as part of his full dress uniform.

"The Savage Curtain" introduces Klingon founding father Kahless and Vulcan founding father Surak to the Star Trek universe. Kahless' history played an important role in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) (where he is regarded as a force for good, contrary to the sentiments expressed here), and Surak's history was crucial to the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) which also gave a little bit of backstory to Colonel Phillip F. Green. Zora of Tiburon is the only "historic" figure introduced here who was not further developed in a later Star Trek series. A Star Trek trading card set gave Colonel Green's full name as Edward Featherstone Green, but this was superseded by the last few episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) where he was spoken of as Phillip Green.

The war that included Colonel Phillip Green's atrocities was later decided to be World War III in the middle 21st century, which served as an important macguffin in later Trek productions such as Star Trek: The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint (1987), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and a number of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) episodes.

Tiburon, homeland of the cruel scientist Zora, is named after the Spanish word for shark, and was also the homeland of Doctor Sevrin, in Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969). The characters of Zora and Genghis Khan have no lines. This is probably due to budget constraints, as actors with speaking parts were paid significantly more than background actors.

This is one of four productions in which Genghis Khan and Abraham Lincoln appear together as characters, in spite of the fact that Lincoln was born 582 years after the Khan's death. The others are Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Clone High (2002) and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

Abraham Lincoln (Lee Bergere) asks Captain Kirk (William Shatner), "do you still measure time in minutes?", to which Kirk replies, "we can convert to it". The measurement of hours and minutes have been used in numerous occasions before and after this episode.

23.  All Our Yesterdays

March 14, 1969

"Yes, it happened. But that was five thousand years ago.
And she is dead now. Dead and buried. Long ago."

- Mr. Spock

When Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate the disappearance of a doomed planet's population, they find themselves trapped in different periods of that world's past.

Director: Marvin Chomsky
Writer: Jean Lisette Aroeste

Guest starring: Johnny Haymer, Stan Barrett, Al Cavens, Anna Karen, Ed Bakey, Ian Wolfe, Mariette Hartley, Kermit Murdock

The only episode of the original Star Trek (1966) series with no scenes set aboard the Enterprise.

The Atavachron computer used by Mr. Atoz is the same one as used by Gary Seven in Star Trek: Assignment: Earth (1968).

BELLY BUTTON ALERT! Because of censors, Mariette Hartley was not allowed to show her belly button in this episode. However, Gene Roddenberry got even: he had Mariette show two belly buttons in Genesis II (1973 below right).

When Spock tries to use his phaser to warm a boulder at the base of the ice cliff, it doesn't work - presumably because phasers didn't exist in that time period. But when he lays McCoy out in Zarabeth's cave and examines him, the doctor's medical tricorder seems to work just fine.

When in the Ice Age period...
Spock starts regressing at the level of his ancestors five thousand years ago, but not McCoy. As McCoy regains consciousness in Zarabeth's cave, his hair changes from frosted to normal in one cut. When McCoy and Spock return through the portal, they leave the past wearing fur coats - they arrive in The Library without the coats. Zarabeth's Ice Age cave has a smooth, perfectly flat reinforced concrete floor like those found in a TV studio.

24.  Turnabout Intruder

June 3, 1969

"Keptin Kirk wouldn't order an execution even if he were going mad.
That cannot be the keptin."

- Chekov

In answering a medical emergency at an archaeological expedition, Kirk confronts bitter ex-girlfriend, Janice Lester, who supposedly lies severely ill from celebium radiation. In payment for jilting her back at Starfleet Academy, Dr. Lester arranges for an alien machine to swap her consciousness with that of the captain and takes command of the Enterprise. Once aboard, Kirk (in Lester's body) tries to convince Spock that he is trapped in her body. As a result, Janice (in Kirk's body) conducts a court-marshal with the intent of executing Spock.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / Gene Roddenberry
Writer: Arthur H. Singer

Guest starring: John Boyer, Harry Landers, Barbara Baldavin, Sandra Smith, Roger Holloway

This was the last show of the original Star Trek series and the production crew nicknamed this episode "Captain Kirk: Space Queen". Lieutenant Uhura does not appear in this episode and Nurse Chapel's (Majel Barrett) hair color is brown for this episode, not its usual blonde color. The transposition sequence was the last footage shot for The Original Series.

"Turnabout Intruder" takes place in 2269, 4 years before Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) which took place in 2273, even though they were released 10 years apart.

Gene Roddenberry regretted the line about The Federation supposedly not allowing female captains, as he felt it was sexist.

Though her voice is muffled, Dr. Lester protests to Dr. Coleman, "Go to Hell!" a rare case of a "swear" (yes Hell was swearing on TV in 1969) sneaking past the network censors.

This episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on March 28th, 1969. Special network coverage of the death of Dwight D. Eisenhower pre-empted it, and it didn't air until June 3rd.

William Shatner had a severe case of flu during filming of this episode. At one point he had to lift Sandra Smith in his arms, carry her to a couch and put her on it: during the first take he got as far as the couch and dropped her. Fortunately it was well padded, and Smith bounced several times; according to Joanie Winston, who was visiting the set, Shatner looked down at Smith and said, "You know I love you, baby, but you've got to lose about six inches off that ass."

Episode: Turnabout Intruder

Janice Lester is in Kirk's body when McCoy orders him (actually her) to report for a medical exam. One could nitpick that this shirtless Shatner is first "topless woman" ever seen on a network TV show.

When Spock and McCoy are conversing in sickbay, McCoy is wearing his medical garb. However, in the first couple of close-ups, his shirt changes to his regular uniform.

After Dr. Lester, in Kirk's body, first arrives on the bridge and starts issuing orders, a wide shot of the bridge and viewing screen clearly shows a blond crewman (stock footage featuring Bill Blackburn) other than Chekov at the navigator station. At the tail end of this shot, Lester/Kirk specifically addresses his order to Chekov. In the very next shot Chekov is suddenly at the navigator station to hear the rest of Lester/Kirk's order.

Lt. Galloway (David L. Ross) appears in this episode, despite being killed a year earlier in Star Trek: The Omega Glory.

What type of pet does Captain Archer have on Enterprise?

Cat
Fish
Tribble
Dog

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