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Spock's Brain

Episode:

56

Director:

Marc Daniels

Written by:

Lee Cronin

Story by:

Stardate:

5431.4

Synopsis:

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. 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.

Rating:

B

Notes:

The Enterprise Incident

Episode:

57

Director:

John Meredyth LUcas

Written by:

D.C. Fontana

Story by:

Stardate:

5031.3

Synopsis:

Captain Kirk, acting tense and irrational, orders the Enterprise straight into the Neutral Zone for no reason. Romulan warships (identical to Klingon ships due to sharing of technology) capture the Enterprise, and Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Romulan flagship. When Spock admits that Kirk may be unfit to command, the Captain lunges at Spock - and receives a "Vulcan death grip." Kirk, actually alive, is beamed back to the Enterprise and reveals to McCoy and Scott that their actual mission is to steal one of the Romulans' cloaking devices and escape intact.

Rating:

A-

Notes:

The Paradise Syndrome

Episode:

58

Director:

Jud Taylor

Written by:

Margaret Armen

Story by:

Stardate:

4842.6

Synopsis:

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.

Rating:

B

Notes:

And the Children shall Lead

Episode:

59

Director:

Edward J. Lasko

Written by:

Marvin Chomsky

Story by:

Stardate:

5027.3

Synopsis:

Kirk and the crew, visiting a scientific colony manned by several human families, are shocked to find that all but the children have died violently - and the children do not seem to care about anything but playing. Aboard the Enterprise, the children gradually begin to influence and take over the minds of the crew as part of a plan by their "friendly angel", a seemingly benevolent alien called Gorgon who uses children as a means of spreading his influence, and unless he can find some way to expose Gorgon's true intentions, Kirk will become a prisoner on his own ship.

Rating:

C-

Notes:

Is there in Truth no Beauty?

Episode:

60

Director:

Ralph Senensky

Written by:

Jean Lisette Aroeste

Story by:

Stardate:

5630.7

Synopsis:

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 liaison 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.

Rating:

B

Notes:

Spectre of the Gun

Episode:

61

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Written by:

Lee Cronin

Story by:

Stardate:

4385.3

Synopsis:

A Melkotian warning buoy is unwittingly destroyed by Kirk and the Enterprise. When Kirk beams down with a landing party, the owners of the buoy, fearing that a pointlessly violent race has entered their space, trap the Enterprise officers in a replica of Tombstone, Arizona (drawn from Kirk's mind) and force Kirk and company to play out the roles of the Clanton Gang - doomed to lose the gunfight at the OK Corral at sundown.

Rating:

A-

Notes:

Day of the Dove

Episode:

62

Director:

Marvin Chomsky

Written by:

Jerome Bixby

Story by:

Stardate:

Not Given

Synopsis:

Having both received distress calls from a besieged planet, the Enterprise and a Klingon ship arrive simultaneously, and Kang, the Klingon captain, forces Kirk to beam a party of Klingons aboard the Enterprise. The ship then runs into an area of turbulence, and automatic emergency systems close bulkheads on most of the ship. The Klingons escape into the Enterprise to battle an equal number of the ship's crew. Both Klingons and Federation officers blame the ship's problems on each other, and some individuals even see the opportunity to settle scores with their archenemies, but nobody realises the real catalyst behind the violence.

Rating:

A

Notes:

The first and only episode of the original series to feature a Klingon woman: Mara, played by Susan Howard.

For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky

Episode:

63

Director:

Tony Leader

Written by:

Rik Vollaerts

Story by:

Stardate:

5476.3

Synopsis:

McCoy tells Kirk that the most recent routine medical exams of the entire crew have revealed a case of a terminal but non-contagious disease. The victim is McCoy himself. Kirk recommends that the doctor resign immediately, but before the discussion gets any further, Kirk leads Spock and McCoy on a landing party mission to the asteroid-like vessel called Yonada, carefully disguised inside to make it appear to the humanoid inhabitants that they are on the surface of a planet. Kirk finds that the "world" is controlled by a computer known by the residents of Yonada as the Oracle, and the Oracle's instructions are being taken as a religious order. The high priestess catches McCoy's eye and asks him to remain with her - an offer which, considering the doctor's current state, McCoy finds tempting.

Rating:

B

Notes:

The Tholian Web

Episode:

64

Director:

Herb Wallerstein

Written by:

Judy Burns & Chet Richards

Story by:

Stardate:

5693.4

Synopsis:

Searching for the missing starship Defiant, the Enterprise eventually finds the lost ship enshrouded in a strange glow. A landing party beams aboard, finding that the entire crew of the Defiant went mad and murdered one another. While Kirk and the landing party inspect the Defiant, they notice the ship's solid surface are becoming ghostlike, while the crew of the Enterprise see the Defiant fading away. With the Enterprise's transporters confused by the fading, Kirk waits while the others beam back, but he cannot be retrieved as the Defiant disappears. Waiting for the next "interphase" during which the Defiant might return to the Enterprise's dimension, members of the crew begin to go insane, like the Defiant's crew. To make matters worse, a Tholian vessel arrives, and its commander refuses to believe that the Enterprise is assisting a damaged ship since the ship in question has disappeared. Tholians begin to weave a web of energy around the Enterprise, holding the ship in place as more of the crew lose their minds, and Spock and McCoy debate Spock's ability to command in Kirk's absence.

Rating:

A-

Notes:

Plato's Stepchildren

Episode:

65

Director:

David Alexander

Written by:

Meyer Dolinsky

Story by:

Stardate:

5784.2

Synopsis:

The Enterprise is summoned urgently to assist the seriously ill Parmen, head of the planet Platonius. After McCoy manages to give Parmen the necessary elixirs, Parmen and his fellow Platonians use immense telekinetic powers to force Kirk, McCoy and Spock to stay on the planet and behave as puppets to Parmen's whim for their amusement. The only Platonian showing disgust at the others' abuse of their power is Alexander, but he is also apparently the only Platonian incapable of telekinesis, and he cannot assist the landing party as they try to escape Parmen's control.

Rating:

A-

Notes:

Wink of an Eye

Episode:

66

Director:

Jud Taylor

Written by:

Arthur Heinemann

Story by:

Lee Cronin

Stardate:

5710.5

Synopsis:

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. They need to repopulate their species, and find that speeding human males up to Scalosian speed will meet their needs. Kirk must find a way to get a message to Spock and McCoy, who are working on a cure for the mystery "ailment," as well as stirring up fighting among the Scalosians, before they have control of the Enterprise.

Rating:

B

Notes:

The Empath

Episode:

67

Director:

John Erman

Written by:

Joyce Muskat

Story by:

Stardate:

5121.0

Synopsis:

Kirk, Spock and McCoy search for two missing scientists on a planet whose sun is about to explode, but they only find visual logs that show the scientists disappearing. Then the landing party disappears as well, finding themselves trapped by two aliens who snatched the scientists away and experimented on them until they died. The aliens now have Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a mute empath nicknamed "Gem" by the landing party in their custody, and the captors seem to be intent on repeating the same deadly experiments on their new specimens.

Rating:

B-

Notes:

Elaan of Troyius

Episode:

68

Director:

John Meredyth Lucas

Written by:

John Meredyth Lucas

Story by:

Stardate:

4372.5

Synopsis:

The Enterprise is ordered to ferry Ambassador Petri of Troyius to up the dohlman of Troyius's sworn enemy, the world of Elas. The dohlman turns out to be Elaan, one of the most striking examples of the women of Elas, whose tears, according to legend, leave any man susceptible to her charms. Petri's duty on the slow voyage back to Troyius is to train the savage Elaan in the more civilised ways of the Troyians, a lesson she does not willingly take on. After stabbing Petri, throwing numerous tantrums, and ordering her guards to refuse Kirk permission to resolve any disputes, Elaan sheds a tear, which infects Kirk, clouding his judgement at precisely the wrong time when a Klingon warship enters the sector.

Rating:

B

Notes:

Whom Gods Destroy

Episode:

69

Director:

Herb Wallerstein

Written by:

Lee Erwin

Story by:

Lee Erwin & Jerry Sohl

Stardate:

5718.3

Synopsis:

The Enterprise is carrying a new drug to the mental hospital on Elba II, where it is hoped that the last dangerously insane patients in the Federation can finally be treated. But when Kirk and Spock beam down, they do not realise that the facilities have been taken over by the inmates, led by Garth, a former Starfleet captain who has also become a shapeshifter. Before anyone on the Enterprise realises what is transpiring on Elba II, Garth has activated a shield to prevent the landing party from escaping.

Rating:

B+

Notes:

Let that be your last Battlefield

Episode:

70

Director:

Jud Taylor

Written by:

Oliver Crawford

Story by:

Lee Cronin

Stardate:

5730.2

Synopsis:

Two natives of the planet Cheron are brought aboard after one of them helps the Enterprise chase the other down after he had stolen a shuttlecraft from a Federation starbase. Bele and Lokai, however, have a dispute that goes far beyond a simple pursuit of a criminal. Their hatred - and, indeed, the entire shuttlecraft incident - is rooted in a deep racial prejudice which threatens to engulf not only them, but the Enterprise and Kirk's crew.

Rating:

Notes:

The Mark of Gideon

Episode:

71

Director:

Jud Traylor

Written by:

George F. Slavin & Stanley Adams

Story by:

Stardate:

5423.4

Synopsis:

Kirk is planning to beam down to the overpopulated planet Gideon to meet with the leaders, but apparently arrives at the wrong place in a transporter malfunction (or so it seems to the Enterprise crew.) Kirk finds himself aboard the Enterprise, but cannot locate anyone else aboard except for Odona, who offers no answers to his bafflement at why no one is aboard the ship but him (or so he thinks). It turns out that the leaders of Gideon plan on using Odona - and now Kirk - as pawns in a horrific scheme to reduce the planet's population.

Rating:

C-

Notes:

That Which Survives

Episode:

72

Director:

HErb Wallerstein

Written by:

John Meredyth Lucas

Story by:

Michael Richards

Stardate:

Synopsis:

Kirk leads a landing party to do a geological survey of an unexplored planet, but before they beam down, they see a woman appear out of nowhere in the transporter room and kill a crewman simply by touch, and then she disappears. Her appearance also affects the Enterprise, sending it well out of communications range, trapping Kirk and his team on the planet's surface. The woman continues to appear, naming her victim on arrival and killing them by touch. Sulu is nearly killed by her, and the woman appears on the Enterprise as well, sabotaging the engines so the ship will never retrieve Kirk's survey team, stranding them - as well as the crew of the Enterprise - with an unpredictable murderer.

Rating:

B-

Notes:

The Lights of Zetar

Episode:

73

Director:

Herb Kenwith

Written by:

Jeremy Tarcher & Shari Lewis

Story by:

Stardate:

5725.3

Synopsis:

En route to Memory Alpha, the home of the Starfleet's largest library/computer banks, the Enterprise is transferring Lt. Romaine to her next assignment, overseeing refits and new installations on Memory Alpha. A cloud of energy intercepts the ship and wreaks havoc with the Enterprise's instruments and crew, affecting various crew members' brains in different ways and causing Lt. Romaine to pass out. The cloud strikes Memory Alpha next, wiping out every living thing on the planetoid along with most of the library banks. Mira, who has been experiencing strange thoughts and visions since the cloud's first sweep of the Enterprise, is suddenly able to predict the cloud is returning to the vicinity before the Enterprise's sensors can. Kirk orders phasers fired to defend the ship, but every time the cloud is hit, it injures Lt. Romaine. McCoy determines that the energy beings in the cloud are now telepathically linked to her mind.

Rating:

B

Notes:

Requiem for Methuselah

Episode:

74

Director:

Murray Golden

Written by:

Jerome Bixby

Story by:

Stardate:

5843.7

Synopsis:

On an urgent mission to procure the antidote to a serious plague which threatens the entire crew of the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to Holberg 917-G to contact Flint in hopes of finding either the remedy or the raw material from which to extract it. Flint's lovely female android, Rayna, begins to create a rivalry between Kirk, for whom she begins to feel true love, and Flint, who created Rayna to provide him with companionship. Spock discovers that Flint may be an immortal being who has influenced Earth's history in the past, and McCoy finds that Flint is slowly dying. But Kirk may not resolve his argument with Flint in time to help Spock and McCoy save the crew of the Enterprise.

Rating:

B+

Notes:

The Way to Eden

Episode:

75

Director:

David Alexander

Written by:

Arthur Heinemann

Story by:

Michael Richards & Arthur Heinemann

Stardate:

5832.3

Synopsis:

Pursuing the U.S.S. Aurora, which has been stolen, Kirk beams the Aurora's crew aboard the Enterprise when the sustained high-speed pursuit overloads the stolen vessel's engines, destroying the ship. The thieves turn out to be a motley assortment of "hippies," including noted scientist Dr. Sevrin. Another of the throwbacks is the son of a Federation ambassador, leading Starfleet Command to order Kirk to allow his new passengers to roam the Enterprise freely. Sevrin and his friends take advantage of their new-found freedom and decide to hijack the Enterprise so they may resume the interrupted mission for which they stole the Aurora - to find the mythical planet Eden, a garden like world on which they hope to find health, purity and happiness.

Rating:

C+

Notes:

The Cloud Minders

Episode:

76

Director:

Jud Taylor

Written by:

Margaret Armen

Story by:

David Gerrold & Oliver Crawford

Stardate:

5818.4

Synopsis:

Beaming down to pick up a consignment of zenite from the planet Ardana, the home of Stratos, a city that floats above the surface of the planet, Kirk and Spock, who are there to pick up a consignment of zenite, are ambushed by mineworkers known as Troglytes. The attack is cut short by the arrival of Plasus, a high advisor from Stratos, who says that a disruptive group of protesting Troglytes probably stole the zenite shipment, which was missing. On Stratos, which Plasus says is safe, there is also evidence of Troglyte terrorism. Kirk and Spock discover that the Stratos dwellers live an easy life thanks to their planet's unique mineral resources at the expense of the Troglytes, who get no reward for extracting those resources. When McCoy finds that the raw zenite being mined by the Troglytes is having an adverse affect on their health, Kirk takes it upon himself to upset the balance in favour of equality.

Rating:

B

Notes:

The Savage Curtain

Episode:

77

Director:

Herschel Daugherty

Written by:

Arthur Heinemann & Gene Roddenberry

Story by:

Gene Roddenberry

Stardate:

5906.4

Synopsis:

Over the planet Excalbia, the Enterprise is intercepted by who appears to be Abraham Lincoln, floating through space. Beaming aboard, Lincoln is welcomed by Kirk, who is somewhat awed by the presence of one of his most revered figures of history. "Lincoln" extends an invitation to Kirk and Spock to visit the planet, whose normally lava-covered surface sprouts a zone of Earth like safety just for the landing party. Kirk, Spock and Lincoln are joined on the surface by an image of Surak, who initiated the doctrine of emotional restraint on Vulcan. A rock-creature appears and introduces Kirk and Spock to four more illusionary figures from history, this time the fiercest conquerors, tyrants and villains of the past, from Earth's Genghis Khan to Kahless the Unforgettable, who, as Surak did for Vulcan, set the standard of behaviour for the Klingons. The creature pits the best and most noble - Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Surak - against the most vile historical figures. The rewards for Kirk and Spock, should they survive, are their lives, and the lives of everyone aboard the Enterprise.

Rating:

A-

Notes:

All our Yesterdays

Episode:

78

Director:

Marvin Chomsky

Written by:

Jean Lisette Aroeste

Story by:

Stardate:

5943.7

Synopsis:

Arriving at the moon Sarpiedon, whose mother planet is due to explode in three hours, Kirk, Spock and McCoy find just what the ship's sensors indicated on the surface - no life forms, though an advanced civilisation obviously once existed. But they then find several copies of Sarpiedon's librarian, Mr. Atoz. Some of the clones are helpful, others belligerent, but they all tell the landing party that all the people of Sarpiedon have already escaped to safety, and Atoz, thinking that Kirk and the others are natives who arrived late, advises them to do the same. The library turns out to be a file of "time periods" into which a device Atoz calls the atavachron can propel them, as it has already provided an escape for the rest of the moon's inhabitants. Hearing a woman screaming, but not realising that she is one the other side of the atavachron's time portal, Kirk leaps into a time period similar to the 1800s, and Spock and McCoy stumble into an ice age trying to retrieve him. All three must try to survive long enough in their respective environments for the time portal back to Sarpiedon to return - if that moon still exists in the 23rd century for them to return to.

Rating:

A

Notes:

Turnabout Intruder

Episode:

79

Director:

Herb Wallerstein

Written by:

Arthur Singer

Story by:

Gene Roddenberry

Stardate:

5928.5

Synopsis:

Visiting Dr. Coleman and the ailing Dr. Lester, a colleague of Kirk's from Starfleet Academy who has always envied him due to her inability to achieve a captaincy in a male-captains-only Starfleet, Kirk is rendered unconscious by Lester. It turns out to have been a trap, and Lester puts herself and Kirk into an unknown device that transfers their minds into one another's bodies. Lester, in the form of Kirk, doesn't have time to kill Kirk (now in the female body). Lester and Coleman make every attempt to leave Kirk on the planet, but must bring "her" aboard to save face. Kirk, still suffering a severe shock from the mind transfer, is unable to warn McCoy about Lester's plan to command the Enterprise (especially when Lester keeps ordering Kirk sedated). Lester, however, is unable to conceal her lack of knowledge of command procedures and, more specifically, Kirk's character, and when Spock learns the truth and attempts to help Kirk, Lester has him placed under arrest and tries to speed Spock's court-martial toward a conclusion which would have Kirk and Spock executed.

Rating:

B+

Notes:

After 79 episodes, NBC decides to axe Star Trek due to its low Nielsen Ratings. Paramount, who later bought the company, are persuaded in 1979 to relaunch Star Trek , in the form of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".

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