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- The Enterprise approaches the planet Omicron Ceti III, where a group of colonists from Earth<\/strong> settled several years before, prior to the discovery of deadly \u201cBerthold rays\u201d there that by now should have killed them all. But when Kirk and company beam down, they\u2019re greeted by the happy, healthy head of the colony, Elias Sandoval.<\/li>\n
- It\u2019s curious to see on the bridge yet another navigator, this time named Painter. Chekov became the regular navigator in the 2nd<\/sup> season, but the first season, perhaps it was cheaper to pay bit players to say a line or two each than to pay a regular cast member; and of course the expansion of regular cast members only came as the show succeeded to get to a 2nd<\/sup> season.<\/li>\n
- Naming the planet here Omicron Ceti III<\/strong> is curious, because Omicron Ceti is a real star, more commonly referred to by the name Mira, and perhaps the most famous variable star in the sky. (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mira<\/a>) It\u2019s fairly unlikely a habitable planet would be in orbit there. It\u2019s also odd that the settlers on the planet, or any planet with a Bayer designation (e.g. Alpha Centauri, Gamma Orionis, etc.), wouldn\u2019t have invented a single commonplace place for their new home (like \u201cEarth\u201d instead of \u201cSol III\u201d).<\/li>\n
- The episode is shot on location, partly at Golden Oak Ranch<\/strong> (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Golden_Oak_Ranch<\/a>), a large facility owned by Disney specifically for film and TV production, and located just off Highway 14 in Newhall (on the way to Vasquez Rocks, from LA). The script has the colony devoted to a \u2018simple way of life\u2019 to justify the appearance of wooden farm buildings, and lack of 23rd<\/sup> century technology.<\/li>\n
- Coincidence!<\/strong> One of the colonists is a young woman named Leila Kalomi, who met Spock on Earth 6 years ago \u2013 and fell in love with him, despite his inability to reciprocate. Spock recognizes her but remains impassive.<\/li>\n
- The landing party notices the lack of animals. McCoy gives the settlers physicals and is amazed by their excellent health. Kirk gets orders from Starbase to evacuate the colonists \u2013 but Sandoval, unconcerned, refuses.<\/li>\n
- And then Leila takes Spock to \u2018explain\u2019, and takes him into a field where the large flowers explode their pods<\/strong> into Spock\u2019s face. Spock collapses in pain \u2013 \u201cI am not like you!\u201d \u2013 but the effect takes hold, and Spock realizes to his amazement<\/strong> he can respond to Leila\u2019s feeling for him. \u201cI love you\u2026 I can love you!\u201d<\/strong> And they kiss.<\/li>\n
- This episode has a nice balance of threat, emotion, and humor,<\/strong> as in the next scene when Kirk comes looking for Spock, finding him hanging from a tree branch, and can barely believe his eyes. \u201cI gave you an order to report!\u201d he barks. Spock replies casually, \u201cI didn\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/li>\n
- McCoy and Uhura both get turns expressing the effects of the spores; McCoy turns into a southern gentleman, drinking mint juleps; Uhura into a spacey saboteur, as she wrecks the communications panel (so Kirk can\u2019t call for help).<\/li>\n
- Kirk, the last one left uninfected, tries debating. Sandoval talks about their \u201ccomplete health and peace of mind.\u201d And that\u2019s paradise, Kirk asks?<\/strong> They have no wants or needs. \u201cWe weren\u2019t meant for that,\u201d Kirk says, \u201cMan stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.<\/strong>\u201d This is an interesting philosophical premise<\/strong> \u2013 though not an inarguable one. So what if \u201cman stagnates\u201d? Most of human history has been only about getting enough to eat, surviving diseases, and ensuring the next generation. It\u2019s only the adventurers like Kirk who think that\u2019s stagnation.<\/li>\n
- At the same time, the issue reflects the difficulty of telling stories without conflict<\/strong>. Trek had by this time already established the idea of \u201cprime directive<\/strong>\u201d, the idea that the Federation should not interfere with other societies \u2013 but individual episodes keep finding reasons to ignore it, as in \u201cThe Return of the Archons\u201d, and in 2nd<\/sup> season\u2019s \u201cThe Apple\u201d.<\/li>\n
- Kirk has a great scene on the bridge<\/strong>, as he realizes he\u2019s the only one left on board. He can\u2019t pilot the ship by himself; he\u2019s marooned. \u201cI’m beginning to realize just how big this ship really is, how quiet.\u201d<\/li>\n
- But then he\u2019s blasted by the spores and converted, just like all the others. \u201cI\u2019ve joined you\u201d he tells Spock. There\u2019s a strong undercurrent in the theme here of the effects of drug culture \u2013 remember this is the 1960s.<\/li>\n
- But then there\u2019s a scene I\u2019ve never entirely understood \u2013 despite summaries of it. Kirk is ready to activate the transporter, to beam himself down. He flicks some switches; something seems to be wrong. Some kind of fury wells up within him, and he cries out in frustration, \u201cI\u2026 can\u2019t\u2026 LEAVE!\u201d<\/li>\n
- Wait, why?<\/strong> I\u2019ve understood this before as Kirk reacting to some problem with the transporter. (But why?) Or is it instead that Kirk\u2019s inner devotion to his ship wells up against the idea that he is about to leave the ship forever? If the latter, I don\u2019t think it was well enough played.<\/li>\n
- In any case, something gives<\/strong> \u2013 you see Kirk realize it — and he realizes he\u2019s free of the spores\u2019 effects. And quickly realizes how to make this happen for the others.<\/li>\n
- And then the famous scene in which Kirk instigates a fight with Spock<\/strong>, via crude insults, to instill powerful emotions that will overcome the spores. And then the plan to beam subsonic transmissions to make everyone on the planet irritable and fight-prone.<\/li>\n
- Meanwhile there\u2019s the very sad scene in which Leila is beamed aboard the ship and realizes that Spock is free of the spores. Spock seems genuinely sorrowful, and tries to explain.<\/strong> \u201cI am what I am, Leila. And if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else’s.\u201d<\/li>\n
- And Leila\u2019s anguish and sorrow causes her to be freed from the spores as well.<\/li>\n
- She asks Mr. Spock if he has another [first] name. Spock ruefully replies, \u201cYou couldn\u2019t pronounce it.\u201d<\/li>\n
- The concluding scenes confirm Kirk\u2019s opinion of this supposed paradise. After a scene in which Sandoval tells McCoy his services as a doctor will no longer be needed, and McCoy replies, with one of his best lines in the entire series, \u201cWould you like to see how fast I can put you in a hospital?\u201d, they fight, and Sandoval comes to. And immediately realizes, about their original plans for the colony, \u201cWe\u2019ve done nothing here.\u201d<\/li>\n
- And Kirk underscores it as the Enterprise departs. \u201cMaybe we weren’t meant for paradise.<\/strong> \u2026\u201d<\/li>\n
- But Spock gets the last line, asked about his experience on the planet, he says, almost wistfully, \u201cI have little to say about it, captain. Except that for the first time in my life, I was happy.<\/strong>“<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Music notes:<\/p>\n
- \n
- We hear the \u201cCharlie X\u201d wonder theme as the landing party initially is led through the settlement.<\/li>\n
- Most of the scenes with Leila Kalomi are scored with the one prominent love theme Trek had by that point, the one written by Gerald Fried for \u201cShore Leave\u201d.<\/li>\n
- Sights of the pod flowers are accompanied by the twangy Talosian theme from \u201cThe Menagerie\u201d.<\/li>\n
- Two or three times with hear the \u201cMiri theme\u201d, the library track by Joseph Mullendore first heard, IIRC, when Kirk discovers the girl Miri hiding in a closet.<\/li>\n
- Spock\u2019s infection by the spores, and his pain, is scored to \u201cVina\u2019s theme\u201d with a throbbing pulse underneath.<\/li>\n
- As fights break out on the planet, we hear the \u201cCorbomite\u201d cube theme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blish adaptation, in ST5:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The landing party has a couple different characters: Lt. Timothy Fletcher, a biologist, and a crewman named Dimont. (in the show it was De Salle and Kelowitz.)<\/li>\n
- Blish has Spock, when meeting Leila, say \u201cThe years have seemed twice as long.\u201d<\/li>\n
- (note Spock\u2019s line about the beauty of rainbows)<\/li>\n
- Blish passes over Spock\u2019s scene hanging from a treelimb, and only summarizes how the other crewmembers are also hit by the spores, before Kirk returns to the ship. Blish actually claims Kirk was hit by the spores too, but implies his anger at the situation kept the effect away. (In the filmed show the spores did *not* seem to hit him on the planet.)<\/li>\n
- Blish completely rewrites the scenes in which Kirk is first hit by the spores, is overcome, and then is frustrated in the transporter room and thereby recovers. Instead, Kirk takes a sample of the spores to McCoy\u2019s lab and discovers that the spores are soluble in adrenaline. He gets a plan\u2014and then he calls Spock (claiming) to have joined them, and asking for Spock\u2019s help aboard the ship.<\/li>\n
- But then Blish plays out the confrontation with Spock as filmed.<\/li>\n
- Blish passes over the scenes on the planet where the subsonics cause people to start fights; in fact he mentions the \u201cmodified Feinbergers\u201d used to generate signal, using Trek production slang for the props designed by Irving A. Feinberg.<\/li>\n
- And then Blish totally omits Spock and Leila\u2019s farewell scene. Jumping straight to the bridge with McCoys comments about being thrown out of paradise. Blish does at least include Spock\u2019s final line, about being happy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Enterprise visits an Earth colony whose inhabitants, infected by alien spores, live in idle contentment, one of whom met Spock and fell in love with him years before. The Enterprise approaches the planet Omicron Ceti III, where a group … Continue reading
- It\u2019s curious to see on the bridge yet another navigator, this time named Painter. Chekov became the regular navigator in the 2nd<\/sup> season, but the first season, perhaps it was cheaper to pay bit players to say a line or two each than to pay a regular cast member; and of course the expansion of regular cast members only came as the show succeeded to get to a 2nd<\/sup> season.<\/li>\n