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| Teenage Miri (Kim Darby) has a crush on Kirk. |
Original Airdate: Oct. 27, 1966. Written by: Adrian Spies. Directed by: Vincent McEveety.
A sweet little domestic episode. Janice gets Kirk to look at her legs. Later, she experiments with bondage, but Kirk turns out to be more interested in practicing a speech for school. Meanwhile, Spock and McCoy play with a new chemistry set.
THE PLOT
The Enterprise discovers a planet that is eerily like Earth. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Janice beam down to the surface, only to find that all the adults on the planet have died of a horrible degenerative disease. They are befriended by a teen girl, Miri (Kim Darby), who fills in some background: the adults ("grups") become ill, then they became violent. After they died, the children ("Onlies") were left to take care of themselves.
It isn't long before the members of the landing party discover that they have become infected. McCoy discovers that the disease was an unexpected side effect of a grab at immortality, and he uses the original research to try to find a cure. But when the other "Onlies" decide to play a "foolie" on them by stealing their communicators, cutting off contact with the Enterprise, they are left with only the resources they have on-hand to try to save themselves.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Ham: "NO! NO... BLAH-BLAH-BLAH!!!" In absolute fairness to William Shatner, lines such as this and his impassioned speech to the "Onlies" pretty much demand a hammy delivery, and he still brings conviction to it. But this is the first significant time in the series (not counting doppelgangers) in which he really starts to let go of his inner bacon. "LOOK AT MY ARMS! That's... what's going to happen to YOU!"
Dr. McCoy: Well, I suppose if one needs an explanation for how McCoy lived long enough to be in Encounter at Farpoint, then it rests with this episode: He and the entire landing party were exposed to the disease, one of whose aspects is a significantly prolonged lifespan. Since there's no dialogue indicating that this goes away when the disease is cured, one could reasonably wonder if this means that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Janice, and the two more-or-less anonymous redshirts will live a long time, barring scaffolding accidents. McCoy finds the cure with remarkable speed and efficiency, which strains credibility but does allow some welcome focus on him as a character. We also see his courage, as he determines to test the cure - which will either save or kill - on himself.
Janice: More of her attraction to Kirk, as she confesses that she has always tried to get him to "look at (her) legs." Until they became all splotchy with the disease, that is. When Miri becomes jealous of her, she uses her compassion for the children to lure her into a trap. Kirk finds her tied up in what used to be a classroom before indulging in his interest in amateur oratory.
Alien Space Crush of the Week: The far-from-teenage Kim Darby does a reasonably effective job as Miri. It's obvious that she's older than the age she's playing, but wardrobe, hair, and the actress pitching her vocal pitch upward all combine to at least suggest the character's young age. Her attraction to Kirk reads convincingly as a teen crush, with hero worship and a desperation to please replaced by fierce, dangerous jealousy when she determines that Janice is a (more realistic) rival for Kirk's affections.
Villain of the Week: Poor Miri - No wonder she has such a strong crush on Kirk, given that her only realistic choice of a mate is the hobgoblin-like Jahn, who's more interested in playing soldier and bonk-bonking people on the head. Michael J. Pollard brings a creepy presence to the leader of the "Onlies," and there is a vague sinister cast when he and the other children start chanting things such as, "Lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey!" at a tied-up and terrified Janice. That said, it's downright painfully obvious that Michael J. Pollard is too old for his role.
THOUGHTS
Erm... What can one really say about an episode that has its hero declare, "No blah-blah-blah!" with no trace of irony? Miri isn't actually bad, but it's one of the weaker episodes the series has offered thus far.
The scenario feels poorly thought-through. Dr. McCoy's miraculous speed-discovery of a cure can be accepted as a plot necessity. But his ingested cure doesn't banish the life-prolonging disease, it simply makes it work the way it apparently was intended to. Given that the disease is obviously airborne, this could be taken as making our three leads effectively immortal, which I am certain was not the intent. I guess one can argue that they only received limited exposure.
Also, once Kirk's logs are read back at Starfleet, won't someone note that the Enterprise has effectively discovered the fountain of youth? Armed with McCoy's cure, I would think tons of ships would be descending on that planet to breathe in its chemical-tainted atmosphere and the centuries-long lifespans that will go with it. But apparently, we're to believe that Starfleet and the Federation are above such things.
Finally, at the resolution, Kirk leaves a bunch of children to continue fending for themselves, aging at such a slow rate that it will be centuries before even the oldest - Miri and Jann - are mentally adults. Yes, to address comments made for an earlier version of this review, we are told that teachers and advisors will be coming. But Kirk doesn't wait for them to arrive, warping out while leaving only a small medical team behind. I suppose after enduring "blah-blah-blah," "lovey-dovey," and "bonk-bonk on the head," he just couldn't wait to get out of there. In fairness, I can't entirely blame him for that.
There are good things in the episode, and it's quite watchable. Some of the desperation as Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hunt for a cure is well-played, and the actors do a good job of becoming increasingly irritable and irrational as the disease takes hold. DeForest Kelly is particularly good here. Credit also to the makeup department: the "disease" makeup does a good job of suggesting a horrible, degenerative illness without blotching the actors to such an extent that their physical performances are impeded.
But then the episode shifts focus to the "Onlies," ending in a schoolhouse, where Kirk and Janice are menaced by children who want to "bonk-bonk on the head - Bonk, bonk, bonk!" At this point, anything that had been gripping drops away, replaced by MST3K fodder.
Rating: 5/10.
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