#64 (3-9): The Tholian Web

THE PLOT

The Enterprise locates the Defiant, a missing starship, in a sector of space which is essentially folding in on itself. Kirk beams over with Spock, McCoy, and Chekhov to investigate. They discover a ship whose entire crew is dead, apparently having killed each other. They go about systematically gathering data, until the Defiant begins to dissolve around them.

The sector of space is affecting Enterprise as well. Warp power has begun to drain, with no discernible cause, and the transporter is malfunctioning (*drink*). Scotty is able to beam back Spock, McCoy, and Chekhov. But he isn't able to get a fix on Kirk. When the Defiant blinks out of existence, Kirk blinks out right along with it.

For Spock, the problem's actually a rather simple one. He calculates the next period at which the Defiant's universe will align, and prepares to beam Kirk back onto the Enterprise when that happens. This is complicated by the arrival of the Tholians, however, an aggressive race that has claimed this area of space as their own. When Spock fails to retrieve Kirk on the first attempt, the Tholians decide Enterprise is an invader. Spock fights off an attack, but the effort leaves the Enterprise drifting in space. As the madness which destroyed the Defiant begins to spread across the Enterprise crew, Spock finds himself having to deal with threats from both within and without - with no guarantee that he will be able to retrieve Kirk or save the Enterprise from destruction!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: This is a rare episode for TOS, in that it is very Kirk-lite. After the first act, Kirk goes almost entirely unseen until the very end. Given that, Shatner might have been forgiven if he had phoned his performance in. Thankfully, he doesn't.  Shatner shows us Kirk at the height of his command powers, effortlessly in charge during the first act in such a way that we feel his absence later. If one had never seen an episode of Star Trek prior to this one, Kirk's presence in the first twelve minutes would still be sufficient for a new viewer to share the feeling of loss afterwards.

Spock: With Kirk sidelined for the bulk of the episode, this becomes Spock's show. Leonard Nimoy is, as ever, well up to the task. He puts us firmly on Spock's side, empathizing with him, without ever compromising Spock's repression of his emotions. Because we know Spock so well by this point, we know that Spock feels the captain's loss.  We also know that McCoy's words at various points in the episode genuinely sting him, even if he doesn't show it. Spock clearly thinks of Kirk as the captain, even when he believes Kirk is dead. When Scott calls from engineering: "Captain!" late in the episode, Spock is slow to reply. When he does respond, he says, "Spock here," refusing to describe himself as "Captain." A nice touch, I thought.

McCoy: This episode sees McCoy increasingly exhausted. From almost the moment he and Spock return to the Enterprise, McCoy is working flat-out to find an antidote to the effects of "InterSpace." He becomes more and more easily frustrated and becomes increasingly hostile toward Spock. What makes their conflict work better here than in The Galileo Seven is that McCoy realizes at multiple points that he's gone too far and apologizes. That said, McCoy's confrontational streak is seriously overwritten in the bit just before he and Spock play Kirk's final message. But that scene is really the only major offender, with most of the rest of McCoy's irascibility clearly the result of extreme stress.

Chekov: When he is picked by Kirk to accompany the leads to the Defiant, his scientific background (built up in his early episodes, then largely forgotten) is actually uses for a change, as he is dispatched to investigate life support and engineering on the ship. Walter Koenig gets to do some rather good nonverbal acting, when he looks upon the bodies of the Defiant crew with evident horror. Unfortunately, Koenig's performance is much worse when Chekov goes mad. His growling and shrieking when he attacks Spock is horribly unconvincing, even unintentionally comical. In contrast, the silent attack on McCoy by his orderly is much more effective and dramatic.


THOUGHTS

The third season sees another shipbound episode, in which the standing sets get to double for two ships. With the bulk of it set on the bridge, in sickbay, or in engineering, it's pretty much a classic "bottle show." But within those constraints, writers Judy Burns and Chet Richards manage to deliver a very fine hour of television.

The Tholian Web is an episode with no real dead space. The teaser sets up two dilemmas: the power drain caused by this section of space, and the appearance of the Defiant. The first act holds viewer attention, as Kirk and his team investigate the Defiant. As Chekhov begins to be affected, there is already enough meat for an above-average episode. Then, at the first commercial fade-out, the writers do something that for most Treks would be unthinkable: they take away the captain!

This leaves Spock with multiple problems. The effects of this area of space on the crew are beginning to mirror what happened on the Defiant. The only sure way to prevent the spread of the madness is to leave, and Spock can't leave without condemning Kirk. Then the Tholians take away that choice, damaging the ship so that Spock can't leave. Bit by bit, the stakes are raised, the mark of a well-crafted teleplay.

The Remastered edition enhances the episode with far better effects for the Defiant's shimmering in and out of existence, and with more views of the web ensnaring the Enterprise. I appreciate that the remastered team stayed fairly true to the original effects, and it's effective to see the web truly encircling the Enterprise in this version. But the change in color, from a red tint to a gold one, makes the web seem less threatening somehow. It's a minor matter, and it's not the first time that I've felt replacement effects were not necessarily stronger than the originals. But I did feel it worth a note.

The episode is the best of the season thus far, just edging out The Enterprise Incident through the strength of the pace and the way in which multiple threats and complications are layered one on top of another. It's not quite up there with the likes of The Doomsday Machine, Balance of Terror, or The City on the Edge of Forever. But if it's not a "Top 5" episode of the entire series, it's at the least a contender for a spot in the Top 10.

In fact, I'm now a fair bit into Season Three, and I'm still not seeing this as "the turd season." There have been at least three very strong episodes and only two genuinely bad ones, which hardly seems like a disastrous average. Unless the overall quality truly plummets in the season's latter half, I'm finding the series' final year to be quite far from the disaster it's so often made out to be.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: The Empath
Next Episode: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

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#46 (2-16): The Gamesters of Triskelion

THE PLOT

Kirk, Chekov, and Uhura prepare to beam down to an automated communications station to do a routine check of the station's systems. Just before beam-out, they suddenly vanish. Not transporter vanished, but sudden and obvious jump-cut to them no longer being there vanished! As Spock attempts to find some trace of the three missing officers, Kirk and his companions find themselves on a planet known as Triskelion. The three have been taken to this planet to be trained as gladiators, to fight for the entertainment of the mysterious "Providers" for the rest of their lives!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Beefcake: Kirk's exhibitionist streak has been kept under tight control for much of the second season - likely a response to Shatner visibly packing on a few pounds over the course of the season. Per Memory Alpha, the production team stepped in by midseason and got Shatner to put himself on a diet. The diet took, and a slimmed-down Kirk gets to spend a fair amount of the episode running around with his shirt off again, all while tricked out in what looks suspiciously like bondage gear, complete with a "Collar of Obedience."

Kirk encourages rebellion against the Providers by his usual method: Identify the most attractive available female, and then teach her "What... is... kiss." We get treated to a lot of Kirk's hilariously gymnastic fighting style. Apparently, the somersault has a major place in mixed martial arts of the future. Kidding aside, both Kirk and Shatner get a genuinely pretty good scene near the end, in which he wheels and deals with The Providers in order to gamble for his crew's freedom.

Mr. Spock: Methodically searches for the only possible course to follow in attempting to get Kirk and the others back. He selects a course of action with a slim chance of success, on the grounds that it is the only one available... which does not stop him from having to endure endless scenes of Scott and McCoy questioning his decision and insisting that they should go back and search through the space dust around their initial position.

Uhura: If there's any doubt as to how much television has changed over the past 40-odd years, take a look at the scene in which Uhura is subjected to a rape attempt. She has been "selected" for breeding, which a "drill thrall" attempts to force upon her. The scene is genuinely disturbing, as Kirk stands by helplessly while Uhura struggles with her attacker. Even more disturbing is the way it's treated afterward. It isn't. This scene exists for a fade to commercial, with no consequences (emotional or otherwise) after. At the very least, Nichelle Nichols gets to display her considerable acting abilities in this scene, but having an attempted rape thrown in simply as a "dramatic sting" does leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Chekov: Gets to comedically deal with the advances of his large female drill thrall, whom he fears might be "selected" for him. Other than some strained comedy opposite her, he really doesn't get much to do, as per usual.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Angelique Pettyjohn is Shahna, Kirk's drill thrall. Being Kirk's, she is of course a statuesque model. She gets to deliver lines such as, "What... is... kiss," show herself to be a fast learner by kissing Kirk, writhe around in her bondage gear when her Collar of Obedience gets activated, and fight unconvincingly a few times. She requests to go with Kirk at the end, but Kirk dodges that bullet... er, thinks of her emotional development and insists she stay to learn about life. Then he gets out of that region of space at roughly Warp Factor 12, and tells Scotty he doesn't give a damn if the engines sprout wings and dance a jig, as long as he gets as far away as possible.

Villains of the Week: The writers. Oh, all right. Joseph Ruskin is moderately effective as Galt, the master thrall. His physical presence alone is effective, and his voice (presumably electronically treated) helps to make him a more unsettling figure than an episode this ridiculous deserves. The Providers themselves are less impressive, though I suppose there is something to be said for an episode whose resolution involves William Shatner emoting to a few lumps of Play-doh.


THOUGHTS

Likely the most outright stupid episode of the entire series. If The Gamesters of Triskelion has any value at all, it is comedic. It's impossible not to giggle while watching, with the low-rent bondage gear outfits, the bizarrely-choreographed fight scenes, and the rampant overacting by Shatner (and DeForest Kelly and James Doohan in the Enterprise scenes). Everything about this episode screams "crap," and the actors seem to be aware of this - which at least means that they're in on the joke.

This kind of episode can have good "cheese" value. Unfortunately, The Gamesters of Triskelion squanders this chance by being... well, boring. Once the episode's premise is set up, there is virtually nothing for the script to do except kill time until Kirk defies, then faces, the Providers. This makes the middle 25 minutes almost interminable.  Kirk and his comrades repeat their situation back to themselves multiple times, while Kirk tries to encourage Shahna's independence by repeating variations of the same scene with her multiple times. If you're going to make a simple-minded action episode, at least embrace that and put lots of simple-minded action in it!

The Enterprise scenes are even worse. Much worse, in fact. Every time we cut back to the Enterprise bridge, we are treated to Spock, McCoy, and Scotty having the same argument, sometimes with pretty much the same dialogue. Leonard Nimoy at least attempts to bring his game to bear, but DeForest Kelly and James Doohan seem clearly bored by the script and have no compunction about overacting heavily, probably to keep themselves amused.

I'm struggling to find much good to say about this episode. Other than inspiring some amusing send-ups in animated media, this is a poor episode that isn't even pacey enough to be "so bad it's good." I can think of a couple of Next Generation episodes that are worse than this, and there may be an Enterprise episode or two that give it a run for its money. But this is pretty bad stuff.


Rating: 1/10.

Previous Episode: A Private Little War
Next Episode: Obsession

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#41 (2-8): I, Mudd

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is hijacked by Crewman Norman (Richard Tatro), a new member of the crew who turns out to be an android! Norman takes the ship to a planet ruled over by none other than Kirk's old enemy, Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel). The world is filled with androids, all but Norman modeled into beautiful young women. A paradise for Mudd... except he's gotten bored with it. The androids will only let him leave if he provides them with a replacement. With a score to settle with Kirk, the choice was obvious. So Mudd will leave in command of Kirk's ship, its crew replaced by androids, while Kirk and his crew will get to stay on the Android Paradise (I can think of several future redshirts, at the very least, who would find this to be a pretty good deal).

But Mudd hasn't counted on the androids having plans of their own. Soon, Kirk and Mudd will find themselves reluctant allies, working together to stop the androids from taking over the galaxy and smothering all life with happiness!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: On a planet of beautiful, subservient women who want only to please him in any way that does not involve actually leaving the planet, you would think Kirk would be happy to enjoy himself for a while. Perhaps he doesn't enjoy it as much when he doesn't actually have to do any seducing? In any case, Kirk's absolute devotion to his ship shows itself again. All of the other crew members are at least tempted by the pleasures of the planet. Kirk simply wants his ship back, and snaps the others out of their enchantment with the available diversions to focus on an escape.

Spock: Opens the episode suffering from a bout of idiot plotting. Spock enjoys sparring with McCoy as much as McCoy does with him. But when McCoy mentions that Crewman Norman has failed to show up for required medical exams, that should absolutely not be something that Spock dismisses. There's a time to bait McCoy.  That time is not when McCoy is raising legitimate issues, and if Spock were being written as he is in almost any other episode, he would know that.

Chekov: He seems to rather enjoy himself on Android World. Surrounded by beautiful android models, who are entirely eager to please, he has a rather entertaining interrogation scene with them. Walter Koenig throws himself into the entire episode with enthusiasm, particularly at the episode's climax, and makes Chekov feel more central to this episode than he truly is through one funny scene and sheer acting enthusiasm.

Uhura: Gets a very good scene, in which she appears to betray Kirk's escape attempt in return for the promise of an android body that would allow her to remain young and beautiful forever. Nichelle Nichols sets up the scene well, in showing Uhura's interest in such an idea, and she sells the "betrayal" well enough that a viewer who had rarely seen the series before might actually be fooled for a second into thinking that the betrayal was genuine. As it stands, there is no chance of a regular viewer being fooled (for this one scene, perhaps an "anonymous yeoman" would have been better?), but it does give Nichols one of her stronger moments in the series.

Hot Android Space Babe(s) of the Week: Twins Alyce and Rhae Andrece portray the Alice series of robots, gorgeous androids who have been happily providing Mudd with "anything" he wants (shudders at the visual) - an offer that intrigues Chekov, at the very least. The Andrece twins are convincingly flat and unemotional for the robotic scenes, and are definitely beautiful enough to convince in their "robotic sex kitten" roles. There are a couple of other fetching android "series," though they don't get nearly as much to do as the Alices.

Villain of the Week: Roger C. Carmel returns as Harcourt Fenton Mudd, intergalactic space rogue and all-around bad guy. In his first appearance, he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work - abusive to the women he had duped into being his accomplices, and entirely willing to kill (or at least have deaths be a side effect of his profiteering) in the pursuit of his goals. Here, he's reinvented as a lovable rogue. The characterization works within the confines of this episode, and Carmel is obviously having a grand time with the vain, extravagant, and lascivious Mudd. It's an altogether more entertaining version of Mudd... though probably best watched as it was aired, quite some distance away from a viewing of Mudd's first, altogether nastier persona. Carmel and Shatner retain excellent screen rapport, and their scenes together are among the highlights of a highly entertaining fifty minutes.


THOUGHTS

Glorious nonsense, of a kind that probably could only have come from the 1960's. Season Two has been mostly lighter in tone than Season One.  Neither season has exactly shied away from humor.  The Naked Time and Shore Leave were both Season One episodes with substantial amounts of comedy.  But I, Mudd is the first Star Trek episode that is intended almost entirely as comedy. Since it hasn't happened before at this point, and since most of the humor works, it's a refreshing change of pace.

Critically, the humor is sustained by a story that works. Later Trek series would often forget that it's at least as important for the plot of a comedy episode to hold together as it is for a serious episode. Mudd's plan makes sense to us. It's over-the-top, but it has internal logic.  We know what he hopes to accomplish, and how. He even appears to have won, with Kirk only granted a reprieve thanks to the androids' double-cross - which also makes sense, both in motivation and in their plan.

Even Kirk's final plan, to defeat the androids through sheer absurdity, makes sense within the confines of the story.  We understand why the Enterprise crew behave as they do, and we understand why it works. Other than Spock's brief bout with Idiot Plotting in the teaser, this is a well-plotted episode, and writer Stephen Kandel deserves credit.


Rating: 8/10.  Not exactly deep stuff, but a lot of fun to watch.

Previous Episode: The Deadly Years
Next Episode: The Trouble with Tribbles

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#39 (2-4): Mirror, Mirror

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is orbitting the Halkan homeworld, where Kirk has been negotiating for rights to mine the planet's dilithium to fuel starships. The negotiations have failed. The Halkans respect the Federation's desire to protect peace, but fear that any advanced civilization might use their dilithium for warlike purposes. Kirk ends the meeting respectfully and he, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty beam up to the ship...

Cue a transporter malfunction (*drink*). The four find themselves on the Enterprise - but it's a very different ship. Their uniforms resemble those of pirates, Spock has a beard, and the ship's crew are warlike and aggressive. They are still orbitting the Halkan planet, and the negotiations have still failed. But in this alternate reality, Kirk's response is required to be very different. He is under orders to wipe out the Halkan homeworld. When Kirk balks, stalling for time while trying to figure out a way back to his Enterprise, he becomes a target for some of his murderously ambitious underlings.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: His response to this brutal alternate reality is... in large part, to enjoy it. Kirk seems quite at home punching out subordinate officers to keep them in their places, nor does he in any way mind the idea of having a "Captain's Woman." It's clear that many of the aspects of this universe are ones Kirk would have little trouble adapting to. However, he has no stomach for the brutality of the Empire, as shown by his reaction to the Agony Booth, or his cutting off of the computer's recitation of his counterpart's "career." Ultimately, while he may enjoy being able to put on a little extra swagger (and a little extra weight... Shatner's appreciation of a steady paycheck's ability to buy fine food is starting to show by this episode), Kirk is more at home in "our" universe than in the mirror one.

That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Mirror-Spock does a forced mind meld on McCoy, thus learning why Kirk and the others have been behaving so differently. Mirror-Spock really isn't that different from Normal-Spock. Spock has been a pragmatist as far back as Where No Man Has Gone Before ("Kill him. While you still can."), this alternative Spock is simply moreso. He has no desire for command, preferring to be Kirk's second. In a more brutal universe, Spock is more open to violence and does not appear at all bothered by the prospect of wiping out the Halkans. But he acknowledges that the Empire cannot last using its current policies, and Kirk's final words to him seem to give him much to think about.

McCoy: Is forced by necessity to assist Scotty in Engineering.  This gives Scotty the series' best reply to McCoy's stock line. When McCoy says that he's "a Doctor, not an engineer," Scotty simply replies, "Now, you're an engineer." His medical ethics will not allow him to leave Mirror-Spock to die, even when doing so would help to make good their escape.

Uhura: After an early moment of doubt and fear, she does quite well in adapting to the mirror universe. She observes Sulu's attraction for her, and uses it to distract him at a critical moment. Then, without breaking character, she slaps him away. Nichelle Nichols clearly enjoys getting some material to play, and it's good to see the series actually acknowledging that Uhura is a sexually desirable woman.  It's particularly refreshing that her sexuality is used to make her powerful, as she consistently has the upper hand in her interactions with Mirror-Sulu.

Villain of the Week: Mr. Sulu! George Takei, too often relegated to saying "Aye, sir. Warp Factor Two," gets to cut loose and revel in sheer, sneering villainy. He is wonderful, obviously having a great time with a meaty role. Whether leering at Uhura, or plotting to remove both Spock and Kirk to advance to the captain's chair, Takei shows real flair and screen presence. The scar on his face even makes him visually memorable, allowing him to dominate almost every scene he's in.

Hot Space Babe of the Week: Barbara Luna is Marlena, the "Captain's Woman." As with everyone in the mirror universe, she is ruthless and conniving. She enjoys her status as the Captain's Woman, and is willing to kill to protect it. It appears that her relationship with Mirror-Kirk was waning. She mentions that Kirk had been more distant, losing interest in her. That may make her more willing to help "our" Kirk, and certainly plays into her willingness to assist Mirror-Spock in deposing the captain. Meanwhile, when Kirk is introduced to the "real" Marlena at the end, he seems more than a little interested in being hands-on with a subordinate.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

Redshirt count: Five. But they're all Evil Redshirts.  When Chekov attempts to assassinate Kirk, the captain's rescuer phasers two of Chekov's men, while Marlena vaporizes Sulu's three henchmen. It's good to know that even in the Mirror Universe, it still sucks to be an anonymous security guard/henchman.


THOUGHTS

After a slight blip, the series returns to form with this hugely entertaining adventure. Jerome Bixby turns in a teleplay that utilizes the regular characters very strongly, and that zips along at a fast pace. I have trouble imagining anyone being bored while watching Mirror, Mirror, as the episode leaps right into the high concept (parallel dimension) in the precredit sequence, then tightens the dilemma in which Kirk and his friends find themselves from one scene to the next.

I've already noted the welcome spotlight given to some typically underused characters (Sulu and Uhura). The nature of the script also allows Bixby a clever conceit. The villains are also regulars! Chekov gets to be a would-be villain who, much like "our" Chekhov, finds he's out of his depth. Sulu gets to be a genuine, sneering, conniving baddie. Even Spock, generally Kirk's lifeline in seemingly unwinnable situations, is an adversary, who announces that he will kill Kirk if necessary. By giving us characters we know and, presumably, like and presenting them as villains, the scheming within this Mirror-Enterprise is given an added dimension. This also allows the actors to do something a little different from the norm, and to a one they seem to enjoy the opportunity.

I don't have much else to say on this one. It's a fast-paced, fun-to-watch delight, one that makes the sour taste of The Apple very easy to forget.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: The Apple
Next Episode: The Deadly Years

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#37 (2-3): The Changeling

THE PLOT

The Enterprise responds to a distress call in a heavily-populated star system. No sooner has the ship arrived than it comes under fire - and it's quickly apparent that the ship has no chance of surviving this attack. Kirk hails the attacker, identifying himself... and the shooting stops, just as abruptly as it started.

The source of the assault is NOMAD, a probe whose mission is to destroy all life that it finds to be imperfect. It has confused Kirk with its creator (whose name was also Kirk), and wishes to study its creator's new vessel. Kirk beams it aboard, and does his best to contain the damage it can cause. But all he can do is stall for time while investigating NOMAD's origins and searching for a weakness. If NOMAD should discover that he is not its creator - or worse, that he is himself imperfect - then there will be nothing to do to save the Enterprise!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Ham: In his final confrontation with NOMAD, Shatner gets to display some of his patented. Line reading. Style. I'm not sure whether the machine self-destructs due to Kirk's computer-defying logic, or whether it self-destructs while attempting to rearrange sentence fragments into sentences. Either way, this episode sees Kirk again talking a deranged computer into destroying itself.

For the most part, Shatner has an excellent episode. Kirk attempts to deal with NOMAD through a variety of methods, placating it while also trying to minimize any damage it might do. Mostly, he is stalling for time, counting on the machine's error in believing him to be its "father" to gloss over his own imperfections.

That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: To get information about how NOMAD evolved from a harmless probe into its current state, Spock mind-melds with it. He does get the information, but has difficulty extricating himself afterwards. Nimoy seems to enjoy indulging his inner ham while reciting, "I am NOMAD!" over and over again at the end of the mind-meld scene. Spock doubtless also feels ever so slightly smug that NOMAD finds him to be "well-ordered," quite a compliment given the machine's very exacting standards!

Uhura: In a rather insulting subplot, Uhura is mind-wiped by NOMAD. We are specifically told that her mind has been irretrievably emptied of all memories. But no worries! Her brain is intact, so she can be re-taught all the basic skills. Rather than having to be taken back to Earth to be cared for in a home as she runs through childhood all over again, she can apparently re-learn everything needed for her job in just a few weeks!  I suppose "Hailing frequencies open" isn't particularly taxing. More than that, the annihilation of everything Uhura was, every memory she ever had, is treated as the subject of comedy relief. "Blue-ee?" In an episode I otherwise really enjoyed, this subplot struck an extremely sour chord.

Villain of the Week: The wonderful thing about NOMAD is that it isn't designed to look like a doomsday anything. It's just a basic probe, small and physically unthreatening. Completely featureless, its voice is equally expressionless. It isn't good, it isn't evil. It's just a machine that has gotten its wires crossed thanks to a space accident, and is fulfilling the wrong function, with no real thought or care about it. The episode's progression is a little like Charlie X, in that the machine is initially reluctant to go against Kirk, its surrogate father. But this is the opposite extreme, with absolute emotionlessness replacing the irrational emotions of Charlie.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

Redshirt count: Four. NOMAD zaps two security guards in a corridor. More cannon fodder is supplied so that later in the episode, NOMAD can zap two more.


THOUGHTS

Only a couple episodes after The Doomsday Machine (a couple episodes earlier, in broadcast order), we get another in which the Enterprise must deal with a planet-destroying machine. Fortunately, while the story backgrounds are similar, the plot mechanics are completely different. The opening makes it clear that Enterprise is completely outclassed by NOMAD in terms of space battles, leaving Kirk to probe for weaknesses of a different kind, while having to pretend to be the enemy's "father."

This set-up allows for a reasonably high amount of tension. There is never any question but that the machine can destroy the Enterprise at any time. Any point at which we forget the threat it poses, we get a sharp reminder of its awesome power. It kills Scotty, then revives him at Kirk's request. It wipes Uhura's mind, not in response to any threat but simply because it hears her singing and does not understand the logic. It also vaporizes security guards for target practice. I can only imagine that Kirk's security assignments are based on which redshirt cut in front of him at the mess hall. "Ensign Sanders took the last brownie when I went back for seconds - Assign him to guard NOMAD, Spock."

Aside from the thoughtless handling of the Uhura subplot, this is an extremely well-crafted episode. Kirk's stalling for time is well-portrayed.  I enjoyed his attempts to deal with NOMAD on the ship - tentative enough to show awareness of the machine's power, but without once compromising his own authority. Kirk's probing of NOMAD's mission and its background sees Kirk taking reasonable steps and reasonable risks at every stage. And even though I made fun of Kirk's final facedown with the machine, it is actually quite a good scene. Shatner may let his inner ham show through, but it's still a good ham - enjoyable ham, rather than groanworthy ham.

The only things keeping this from a "9" are the Uhura subplot (which truly grates), and the stupid comedy tag scene in which Kirk muses about "my son, the doctor." OK, I get that you're relieved at having disposed of NOMAD. But more than 4 billion living beings are still dead. I'm not sure levity is the correct response.

Irritating comedy relief aside, this is another very good episode. By this point, Season Two is easily threatening to overtake Season One in terms of quality. I do question why the remastering team couldn't have made the security guards' attempts to phaser Nomad a little bit more convincing. Phaser effects in other episodes were fixed; why not in this one? Ah, well.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Wolf in the Fold
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