Captain Kirk versus the Space Hippies!
THE PLOT
The Enterprise encounters the Aurora, a stolen Federation ship. They pursue the smaller ship and quickly catch it in their tractor beam. But when the thieves refuse to cut power to their engines, the ship is destroyed, with Scotty just barely able to beam them aboard before the explosion.
The Enterprise's new visitors are no ordinary thieves, but rather a collection of dropouts from several planets. All of them have advanced scientific and technical knowledge, but have turned their backs on technology in pursuit of the mythical world of Eden, where they believe they will be able to live in harmony with nature. One member of the group is the son of an ambassador, which prevents Kirk from simply throwing the lot of them in the brig. But when Dr. McCoy discovers that their leader, Dr. Sevrin (Skip Homeier), is a carrier for a rare and virulent disease, Kirk orders him into isolation... leading the rest of the group to attempt to seize control of Enterprise!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Though he has little patience for the space hippies, he does listen to Spock when he expresses sympathy for them. In probably the only good exchange of the episode, Scotty rails against the youths, wondering why a young mind has to be an undisciplined one. Kirk replies reflectively, musing that he "got into some trouble when (he) was their age - didn't you?"
Spock: Has some sympathy with the space hippies, and a surprising familiarity with their internal culture - enough to be able to gain a modicum of cooperation from Dr. Sevrin. He observes to Kirk that the members of this group feel "like aliens on their own worlds," and that this is a feeling with which he is all too familiar. He forms a genuine bond with Adam (a very young Charles Napier), the hippie musician, which allows Nimoy to give a pleasantly relaxed performance.
Chekov: Though the episode takes care to give him a direct link with the main plot, thus giving him more screen time than most recent episodes, he still doesn't get much to do. It is refreshing to see his scientific skills being called upon by Spock again. That recalls early Season Two, before Chekov's scientific skills were forgotten in favor of endless Russian jokes. It seems odd, though, that hot-headed Mr. Chekov is presented as the face of conservative conformity.
Hot Space Babes of the Week: Mary-Linda Rapelye is Irina, Chekov's old flame from Starfleet Academy, who dropped out and joined the space hippies. There's not much to her character beyond that. She's there in order to give Chekov a bit more to do, rather than being a character in her own right. Still, she does manage to be appealing despite the horrible flowered belly-dancer dress she's decked out in.
Villain of the Week: Skip Homeier is Dr. Sevrin, leader of the Eden movement. As Spock is the first to observe, he is insane. Not only is he a carrier for a deadly disease that would wipe out whomever he finds on Eden - he doesn't care. All he cares about is finding this planet and becoming "one" with its people. Overall, Sevrin is one of the series' weaker villains, and it seems ridiculous that he would have gotten anywhere near taking over the ship. The fake ears were a mistake, as he comes across looking like the result of cross-breeding experiments involving Yul Brynner and Dumbo.
THOUGHTS
The Way to Eden is an easy episode to mock. Offstage, the changes made to her original proposal led Trek veteran D. C. Fontana to leave the series. Onstage, we are provided with bizarrely costumed and made-up space hippies; endless chants of "Herbert! Herbert! Herbert!" every time they are on-screen with Kirk; Adam's unconvincing lip synching to seemingly endless bland would-be "hippie songs"; and the exaggerated slang ("That is now! That is so now, man!").
I think this last is the most annoying. The writers' need to have virtually every one of Adam's lines involve some exaggerated slang ranges from irritating to comical. My personal favorite is when his way of calling Kirk scared is to say the captain has "jelly in the belly." That sounds less like an accusation of fear than like a commentary on Shatner's third season weight gain.
I don't actually hate The Way to Eden. It's poor, but it's also essentially Cheese Fest '69, so downright stupid that bits of it become entertaining in their own right. On the other hand, the third season already has Spock's Brain. And Spock's Brain at least was well-paced and, within the confines of an idiotic concept, was nevertheless well-structured. The Way to Eden shares neither of these virtues.
The takeover of the ship - the main external conflict - doesn't occur until past the halfway mark. It's also only possible because Chekov happily identifies auxiliary control for Irina, throwing in (unsolicited) the information of how to use the controls in the room to navigate even if you don't know anything about navigation. "Let me tell you how to take over the ship, I'm sure you won't use this information later." There are apparently no safeguards in place to prevent anyone from wandering in there and doing what Sevrin does, nor does even a single redshirt bother to guard such a sensitive area.
If you're looking for quality Star Trek, you won't find it here. If you're looking to just float along with some cheese and dairy products, then this has its enjoyable moments... but really, if you want a "fun bad" Star Trek episode, Spock's Brain is much more enjoyable than this one.
Rating: 3/10.
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