Star Trek Episode List - Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 |
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Thirteen years before James T. Kirk takes command of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain Christopher Pike and his starship crew receive a distress signal from the planet Talos IV and beam down to investigate. Tracking the beacon, the landing party discovers crash survivors from a missing scientific expedition; among the survivors is a beautiful human female, Vina. Pike is concerned for the woman's safety, yet allows himself to become distracted by her beauty and is subsequently captured by the Talosians who live beneath the planet's surface. The distress signal and expedition survivors, except for Vina, are revealed to be but illusions created by the Talosians to lure the Enterprise and Pike to the planet.Review
The Talosians are a strong race, yet after decades of illusory indulgence, they have physically atrophied and need sturdy beings to rebuild and repopulate their barren planet. In Pike, with Vina, the Talosians hope they have finally found the one being who can serve as their breeding stock for a healthier and even more powerful race.
The Talosians use their power of illusion to interest Pike in Vina, presenting her in various disguises: a Rigellian princess in distress, a green Orion animal woman, and a loving, compassionate companion. When Pike resists, the Talosians lure Pike's female first officer and yeoman from the Enterprise to offer further temptation. By then, however, Pike has discovered that primitive human emotions neutralize the Talosians' ability to read minds, and he eventually escapes to the surface of the planet along with his fellow prisoners.
The Talosians confront Pike and the three prisoners before they can beam up, but the captain refuses to negotiate, threatening to kill himself and the others rather than submit to the Talosians' demands. Frightened at losing their only source of repopulation, the Talosians inspect the U.S.S. Enterprise's records and discover that the human race is far too independent to be of adequate service to them.
Faced with no other choice, the Talosians release the humans. After the first officer and yeoman beam up, Pike remains behind with Vina, urging her to leave with him. Despite her growing attraction to the captain, Vina is unable to leave the planet. It is revealed that an expedition had indeed crash landed on Talos IV. Vina, the only survivor, was greatly injured and disfigured. With the aid of the Talosians' illusions, however, she is able to appear beautiful and feel healthy.
The Talosians pledge to continue to provide Vina with the appearance of health and beauty while allowing her to roam the planet free of intervention. Realizing that she will be in good hands after all, Pike returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise. The Talosians, in an act of good will, send the captain an image of Vina on the starship's viewscreen. Not only is she beautiful again, aided by the Talosians' illusory powers, but by her side is another illusion — that of the handsome Christopher Pike.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at planet M-113 to deliver supplies to Dr. Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy, whom Doctor Leonard McCoy was once romantically involved with. The Craters have been on M-113 for five years conducting an archeological survey of the planet's ruins. They are the only known inhabitants of the planet.Review
Crater tells Kirk that the only thing they need are salt tablets. Otherwise, they want to be left alone. Kirk debates this, insisting they must need other supplies and must at least allow McCoy to give them physicals. While this is happening, Darnell, one of Kirk's landing party, meets a beautiful young woman and wanders off with her.
When Kirk goes looking for the young man, he finds him dead, his body scarred with suction cup-shaped marks. The Captain orders the Craters to beam aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. On ship, Dr. McCoy is amazed at how little Nancy has changed since he last saw her, several years earlier. Her close proximity on board the starship begins to reawaken old feelings for the doctor that somewhat shadow any suspicions of her that he might normally have had.
However, the woman McCoy sees as Nancy Crater is a shape-shifting creature, the last survivor of M-113, and can literally appear as a different being to each person 'she' meets. By reaching into their minds and drawing on their memories, the creature can lull her potential victims into a false sense of security before she kills them.
The problem facing the M-113 creature is the need for sodium chloride ... salt. Without it, the being will die and its home planet is running out. The rest of its race died due to this shortage, and this final survivor formed a symbiotic relationship with Professor Crater. Crater provided the M-113 creature with the needed salt and the creature in turn gave the professor companionship ... something he had craved since the salt creature murdered his wife, the real Nancy Crater, for her body's salt.
Let loose on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, the M-113 creature begins killing members of the crew, first luring them by posing as someone they know and trust, then draining their bodies of their precious salt. Finally, the creature kills Crater and changes into Nancy Crater, nearly killing McCoy. Kirk and Spock, who have figured out the creature's secret, rush to the doctor's quarters and convince him that this is not the real Nancy. In an emotionally painful move, McCoy kills the creature, saving himself and the U.S.S. Enterprise crew.
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As Charles Evans, the lone survivor of a crashed colonizing expedition to the planet Thasus, comes aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise from the S.S. Antares, but when Captain Ramart of the Antares contacts Kirk about Charlie, the S. S. Antares is suddenly destroyed.Review
Charlie shows not only a lack of grief for the people who had become his benefactors, but almost an indifference to their deaths. He seems only concerned that his new "family" like and accept him. Unfortunately, teenage hormones and an isolated upbringing make that difficult.
Strange events occur whenever Charlie is angered — he makes Yeoman Rand disappear when she rebuffs his advances, he breaks Spock's legs when the Vulcan tries to discipline him, and he causes injury and discomfort to anyone who he thinks is laughing at him.
Charlie demands that the U.S.S. Enterprise take him to the nearest inhabited planet, but Kirk fears that his uncontrolled temper and dangerous powers will create havoc for any civilization. Charlie gains control of the ship, but Kirk shortly overcomes him. Suddenly, an alien face appears on the bridge. It is that of a Thasian, the race who raised Charlie and gave him his extremely powerful psionic powers.
The Thasians had realized that Charlie has left their planet and thus sent their own starship to intercept the Enterprise. Despite Charlie's tearful pleas to remain, the Thasians take the lonely child back to Thasus. Before they depart, the beings restore the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew to normal.
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Some years before this second pilot, the S.S. Valiant had encountered a unknown energy barrier at the rim of the galaxy. Something had then made its captain destroy his ship.Review
The U.S.S. Enterprise finds the Valiant's disaster record-marker, which reveals that just prior to its destruction the crew had been searching library tapes for any information on psionics.
The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at the edge of the galaxy and the same force affects the ship's drives that must have affected those of the Valiant. Kirk notices a strong personality change in his good friend, Lieutenant Gary Mitchell, whose latent psionic abilities are heightened by the force field. Soon Mitchell has gained enormous extrasensory powers, displaying many talents which include moving objects with his mind and controlling his own heart rate. To a smaller degree, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner is also affected by the force field's power and the two are drawn together by their common powers.
As Mitchell's powers grow, he becomes more dangerous. Spock believes that when the Valiant experienced the same phenomena, it destroyed itself to prevent the power from taking over the galaxy. Gary Mitchell confirms his fears when he informs them that he is becoming a god who will rule the humans. Spock feels that Mitchell's death is the only solution, but Kirk is unable to kill his old friend. Instead, he exiles him to an uninhabited planet. However, once on the planet's surface, Mitchell kills his guard and escapes, taking Dr. Dehner with him. Kirk follows with a phaser rifle and Mitchell attempts to kill Kirk with his psionic powers.
Witnessing this display, Dr. Dehner realizes how inhuman and dangerous Mitchell has become and tries to help Kirk defeat him. Without remorse, Mitchell kills Elizabeth Dehner. Before he can refocus his psi powers, Kirk creates a rockslide that entombs Mitchell, killing him.
Afterwards, Spock admits to Kirk that for the first time in his life, he felt something akin to human emotion.
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Spock and Joe Tormolen beam down to planet Psi 2000 to pick up a research party before the planet disintegrates. They find everyone has died, frozen when life support was turned off. Even stranger, the positions of the researcher's bodies show they were out of their minds when they perished and some died by suicide.Review
Unknowingly, Tormolen carried what is later termed the "Psi 2000" virus, back to the U.S.S. Enterprise and it spreads among the crew at an alarming rate, reaching into their souls and pulling out their deepest desires for public display. The virus is water borne and spread by perspiration in a touch. While trying to stop Tormolen from killing himself, Sulu and Kevin Riley are infected with the virus.
The crew begin displaying actions that are humorous exaggerations of their desires, like Sulu threatening the bridge with a fencing foil and Kirk becoming overly romantic toward the crew. Others are more heart-wrenching, like Christine Chapel admitting her love for Spock and the Vulcan weeping uncontrollably. The deadliest result, however, is when Riley declares himself captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise and locks himself in Engineering. Unfortunately, he also locks everyone else out. Once in command of the ship's engines, Riley shuts them down and the U.S.S. Enterprise is pulled toward Psi 2000 by its erratic gravity.
McCoy manages to avoid contracting the virus and finds an antidote which cures the crew.
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While orbiting the planet Alfa 177, the U.S.S. Enterprise experiences a transporter malfunction when Technician Fisher is beamed up from the planet with some magnetic ore on his clothing. Scotty checks the transporter and finds nothing wrong, so Captain Kirk beams aboard. Kirk leaves with his officers and when the transporter room is deserted, a second Kirk materializes on the pad.Review
When a space animal is beamed aboard the starship and splits into two entities; one tame and one vicious, it is discovered that the same thing has happened to Kirk. While one Kirk is good and honorable, the other is evil and runs amok on his ship, committing violent acts, including the attempted assault of Yeoman Janice Rand.
Meanwhile, the transporter continued to split objects into two entities, thus forcing the remainder of the ship's landing party to remain on the planet's surface. Alfa 177's approaching night promises certain death from exposure and freezing temperatures to the unprotected landing party.
As time passes, the "good" Kirk is weakening, losing his ability to make decisions, while his "evil" half is dying. Neither Kirk can survive without his other half. Time is running out, not only for Captain Kirk, but for the landing party on the planet's surface.
Scotty effects repairs on the transporter, but there's no time to test it. McCoy is fearful because the "space dog" which had been split earlier, had gone through the repaired transporter and, while joined into one animal, was dead. Kirk takes the chance and beams down with his counterpart and returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise whole and alive. Quickly the landing party is beamed aboard, worse for the cold, but alive.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise pursues an unknown ship into an asteroid belt to save its crew before it's destroyed. The four people aboard are beamed on to the U.S.S. Enterprise; former nemesis Harry Mudd and three beautiful, sultry women: Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron and Magda Kovacs. Mudd was transporting the three women to Ophiuchus VI to marry settlers there.Review
The Enterprise computers reveal that Mudd has been charged with a number of infractions of the law. In pursuit of Mudd's ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise has burned out its lithium crystals, which power the starship's engines, and Kirk orders them to proceed as quickly as possible to the nearest lithium mining planet. That planet is Rigel XII, which is inhabited by only three lithium miners.
Mudd manages to contact Ben Childress, the head miner, and make a deal with him. Mudd promises to deliver the three beautiful women to the lonely miners in exchange for lithium crystals and their help in escaping Kirk.
Upon reaching the planet, Eve tries to escape, having fallen for Kirk and not wanting to marry one of the miners, but Ben Childress brings her back. They discover that the women are using an extremely illegal Venus drug to make them beautiful and without which they become quite plain. By the time the fraud is discovered, Magda and Ruth are already married to the miners, to the satisfaction of all parties involved. Eve, who realizes that Kirk is married to his career and to his starship, settles for marrying Ben. Kirk gets the lithium crystals he needs for the U.S.S. Enterprise and Harry Mudd, on whom he has filed criminal charges.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives in orbit around Exo III, to search for exobiologist Dr. Roger Korby. When Kirk asks Spock if Korby could possibly still be alive, Spock glances at Christine, then quietly shuts off his monitor. Christine Chapel, McCoy's chief nurse, is Korby's fiancée. Chapel had signed on with the U.S.S. Enterprise in the hope of finding him. Korby is known as the "Pasteur of archeological medicine."Review
At Dr. Korby's request, only Kirk and a very excited Christine Chapel beam down to the planet. They find the doctor living in an underground cavern built by what is known as "The Old Ones," the extinct natives of Exo III. He tells them that he discovered the caverns while suffering from severe frostbite, five years before.
Using equipment left behind by these now-dead beings, Korby has learned how to construct androids who look and act like humans. His android companions, Ruk and Andrea, amaze Kirk and Chapel with their realness. Although, Korby explains, Ruk existed long before he arrived — a product of "The Old Ones."
Christine recognizes Dr. Brown, Korby's aide, but is mystified by his failure to recognize her. The reason for his behavior becomes clear when they discover that he, too, is a sophisticated android. Korby's plan is to slowly replace key people in the Federation with androids, integrating the machines into other worlds.
Taking Kirk prisoner, Korby creates a perfect duplicate of the Captain, which fools even Nurse Chapel. During the duplication process, however, Kirk plants false memories and ideas in his double's brain which makes Spock realize that something is very wrong. Korby, convinced that his android will fool the U.S.S. Enterprise crew and allow him to take over the starship, has the double beamed aboard. The false Kirk is to look over their proposed route and pick a likely planet on which to begin colonization.
Spock immediately becomes suspicious of his captain until finally, after spewing an ethnic slur at the first officer, Spock is certain that this is not Captain Kirk. He orders a landing party to meet him in the transporter room after the Captain has beamed down to the planet. Meanwhile, on Exo III, Christine Chapel realizes that somehow Roger Korby has changed; he's no longer the wonderful man she'd fallen in love with. He's become somehow distant and unfeeling ... though he obviously still has a great fondness for his fiancee.
Separated from Christine, Kirk is being guarded by Ruk. The Captain convinces the hulking android that Korby is a threat to his continued existence and must be destroyed. Ruk attacks Korby and is eliminated. It is discovered, to Christine's horror, that Korby has housed his essence inside an android body. Kirk convinces the doctor that he's become more machine than human. In front of his horrified fiancée, Korby grabs Andrea and fires a phaser blast that kills them both. Spock arrives with a landing party to find only Kirk and Christine remaining. Chapel announces that she would like to stay with the U.S.S. Enterprise to complete her tour.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise answers an old distress signal to find an unnamed planet that is almost an exact duplicate of Earth in the 1960s. A landing party beams down and discovers that 300 years before, the natives of the planet conducted experiments to prolong life, but had instead created a deadly virus. The virus killed all adults by rapid aging and madness. In children, the virus slowed the natural aging process greatly, leaving them in a state of prepubescence for centuries.Review
There are no adults on the planet, only children, and they survive the best they can without adults to aid them. The landing party contracts the virus, except for Spock, who becomes a carrier of the disease. Until a cure for the disease can be found and created, the landing party is confined to the planet. To return to the U.S.S. Enterprise would mean a rapid spread of the disease.
The landing party attempts to make friends with the children, but they vividly remember the horrible deaths of their parents and refuse to have anything to do with them. One of the older children, Miri, falls in love with Kirk and tries to help him with the other children until she begins to see Yeoman Rand as a rival for the captain's affections. Stung, Miri helps Jahn, one of the boys, to lead the children in a campaign to harass the U.S.S. Enterprise crew members. When Kirk tries to reason with the children, he is badly beaten.
One of the older children begins to exhibit symptoms of the disease and Kirk convinces them that they all will get the virus and die horribly, when they finally reach puberty. Using himself as a guinea pig, McCoy creates an antidote from old research notes found in the planet's lab, and finds the cure. The doctor says that the Federation will probably send supervisory personnel to colonize the planet and take care of the children.
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When Dr. Simon van Gelder of the psychiatric staff at the Tantalus Penal Colony escapes to the U.S.S. Enterprise exhibiting signs of manic insanity, an enraged McCoy insists that Kirk investigate the colony. The Captain reminds McCoy of Tantalus' excellent reputation, but McCoy is unconvinced.Review
Kirk and Dr. Helen Noel, the U.S.S. Enterprise's psychiatrist, tour the facility. They discover that the Colony director, Dr. Tristan Adams, has been using a brainwashing device, the neural neutralizer, to control not only the colony's inmates, but his staff as well. When the doctor realizes that Kirk has discovered his secret, he convinces the captain to try the machine for himself, to prove that it is perfectly safe. The result is that Kirk falls madly in love with Helen Noel and the two remain on the Colony as Adams' prisoners.
Meanwhile, on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, van Gelder is in such a distraught state from the neural conditioning that he is unable to explain to Spock what is going on at the penal colony. The Vulcan attempts a mind-meld with van Gelder and discovers what has been happening on the planet below. On Tantalus, Dr. Noel escapes through an air-conditioning duct to the power room, where she lowers the planet's defense shields, enabling Spock to beam down a security team.
Kirk recovers enough to fight Adams, who falls into his torturous machine. Weakened by the conditioning and his fight with the doctor, Kirk stumbles away, not knowing that Adams is still in the neutralizer. Adams is later found dead. Dr. van Gelder is made sane again and returns to direct the Tantalus Colony.
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While exploring an uncharted region of space, the U.S.S. Enterprise comes upon an alien space buoy which is cube-shaped and spins, warning ships away and blocking the starship's path. Kirk's orders the phasers to destroy the buoy but immediately an alien's ship, the I.S.S. Fesarius, shaped like a large, glowing crystal traps the starship.Review
A ghostly, almost skeletal face appears on the viewscreen, identifying itself as Balok. He tells Kirk that the U.S.S. Enterprise has trespassed and committed hostile actions, and therefore, must be destroyed. Employing a trick from the Earth game of poker, Kirk tries a desperate bluff by convincing Balok that if the Enterprise is fired upon, the corbomite in the starship's hull will self-destruct and destroy both ships.
Believing Kirk, the Fesarius instead takes the starship in tow, but Kirk wrenches his ship away so suddenly and with such force that Balok's ship is apparently disabled. When the Fesarius transmits a distress call, Kirk, McCoy and Lieutenant David Bailey, still nervous about the bluff played against the powerful alien, beam aboard the Fesarius.
They find that the Fesarius is manned by only one entity, a friendly, child-like being who projects the 'Balok' image to potential enemies, knowing his own stature would be far less daunting. They also find that Balok's ship has not been damaged, but that the alien was merely testing the U.S.S. Enterprise crew to see if they were as peaceful as they claimed to be. A kind of diplomatic relationship is formed over drinks of tranya, and Lt. Bailey offers to remain with Balok as a sort of exchange student to learn the alien's ways and teach him about the Federation.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are diverted by a signal from the former captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Starbase 11, and proceed to the call. When they arrive they find Captain Christopher Pike, who is severely crippled by radiation burns, confined to a moving chair and his ability to communicate limited to the answers "yes" and "no."Review
Unbeknownst to Captain Kirk, Spock abducts Pike on board the ship. Captain Kirk returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise with Commodore Mendez, and soon discovers that Spock has locked the ship's controls on a course set for the planet Talos IV — a planet to which a visit carries the death penalty. Forced by the extreme actions of the Vulcan first officer, the two convene a court-martial against Spock.
During the proceedings, from an unknown source, they watch the events that transpired when Captain Pike was in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They are shown Pike's initial contact with the Talosians, a race of beings eager to study human beings in their natural state, and who can provide illusions to make things appear exactly as they would like. The transmission relays Captain Pike's entire mission surrounding the Talosians and their bizarre experiments while holding him in a powerful cage. The Talosians are telepathic beings, able to dig deep into the memories to find whatever illusion will be most effective. They attempt to hold Pike captive until his passion and fury force them to release him.
As the proceedings end, the entire court-martial is found to be meaningless, a result of Commodore Mendez being an illusion created by the Talosians for Kirk's benefit. The events, as well, which depicted Pike on Talos IV were also found to originate from the Talosians.
Because of Pike's condition, Spock has risked his career and freedom to bring his former captain to a place where he will be able to live an illusion of a pleasant life, rather than the tragically limited one he lives now. Kirk allows Pike to beam down to Talos IV and all charges against Spock are dropped.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are diverted by a signal from the former captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Starbase 11, and proceed to the call. When they arrive they find Captain Christopher Pike, who is severely crippled by radiation burns, confined to a moving chair and his ability to communicate limited to the answers "yes" and "no."Review
Unbeknownst to Captain Kirk, Spock abducts Pike on board the ship. Captain Kirk returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise with Commodore Mendez, and soon discovers that Spock has locked the ship's controls on a course set for the planet Talos IV — a planet to which a visit carries the death penalty. Forced by the extreme actions of the Vulcan first officer, the two convene a court-martial against Spock.
During the proceedings, from an unknown source, they watch the events that transpired when Captain Pike was in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They are shown Pike's initial contact with the Talosians, a race of beings eager to study human beings in their natural state, and who can provide illusions to make things appear exactly as they would like. The transmission relays Captain Pike's entire mission surrounding the Talosians and their bizarre experiments while holding him in a powerful cage. The Talosians are telepathic beings, able to dig deep into the memories to find whatever illusion will be most effective. They attempt to hold Pike captive until his passion and fury force them to release him.
As the proceedings end, the entire court-martial is found to be meaningless, a result of Commodore Mendez being an illusion created by the Talosians for Kirk's benefit. The events, as well, which depicted Pike on Talos IV were also found to originate from the Talosians.
Because of Pike's condition, Spock has risked his career and freedom to bring his former captain to a place where he will be able to live an illusion of a pleasant life, rather than the tragically limited one he lives now. Kirk allows Pike to beam down to Talos IV and all charges against Spock are dropped.
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Twenty-two years before stardate 2817.6, the governor of Tarsus IV, Kodos, evoked emergency martial law and ordered half of the planet's population executed. His intent was to address a severe food shortage on Tarsus IV, and it earned him the name "Kodos the Executioner." It was believed that Kodos died on the planet, but there is some belief that he may have escaped and assumed another identity.Review
James Kirk, Lt. Kevin Riley, and Dr. Thomas Leighton are the only surviving witnesses to Kodos' previous evil deeds; others who might have known Kodos have been mysteriously killed in various accidents.
A traveling theatrical troupe arrives at Planet Q, and a Dr. Leighton contacts the U.S.S. Enterprise regarding a new synthetic food concentrate. When he is beamed aboard, he tells Kirk that his real reason for contacting him was to tell the captain that he suspects Anton Karidian, the head actor in the theater troupe, is really Kodos.
When Dr. Leighton is murdered, Kirk agrees to transport the Karidian Players to the Benecia Colony on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. His real motive is to study Karidian and his daughter in an attempt to learn if he is, indeed, Kodos and responsible for Leighton's death.
When Riley is poisoned, the young man learns of Kirk's suspicions and goes to the theater on board the U.S.S. Enterprise to kill Kodos. Kirk stops him and takes the actor as his prisoner. Then he learns that Karidian's daughter, Lenore, has been killing anyone who might know of her father's past life. Karidian, who has been trying to forget his past, is horrified to find what his daughter has been doing. Lenore aims a phaser at Kirk, but her father steps into the line of fire and is killed. Lenore goes completely insane at having killed her father.
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The marriage of Angela Martine and Robert Tomlinson is interrupted when a Romulan warbird attacks and destroys Outpost 4, which guards the Neutral Zone between Federation and Romulan space. Kirk learns that the Romulan ship has also destroyed three other outposts and is now running at full speed towards home.Review
The U.S.S. Enterprise pursues the warbird, hampered by the fact that the Romulans have constructed an invisibility screen which shields them from view. While the screen protects the Romulans from detection visually, it also prevents them from using their weapons or visual aids. The Romulan Commander, therefore, isn't sure whether his radar is detecting a Federation ship in pursuit or a harmless space echo.
The U.S.S. Enterprise is able to pick up a visual from the Romulan bridge, which shows the previously unseen Romulans to look very much like Vulcans. This sparks an old prejudice in Lieutenant Andrew Stiles, whose family fought in the Romulan wars. He is instantly suspicious of Spock, whose physical characteristics are remarkably similar to the Romulans they are chasing.
After every attempt to lose the U.S.S. Enterprise fails, the Romulan Commander is forced to turn and fight. Both ships are damaged; when the U.S.S. Enterprise's phaser banks are damaged, they emit a poisonous gas which disables Stiles and Tomlinson, who are manning the weapons. In a tense race against time, Spock manages to fire the only remaining phaser manually, disabling the Romulan ship. The Vulcan manages to save Stiles, but Tomlinson is killed. Stiles, realizing by Spock's actions that his bigotry was misplaced, admits that he was wrong.
The Romulan Commander contacts the U.S.S. Enterprise and, in a stirring moment, tells Kirk that under other circumstances, he suspects they might be friends. Rather than let himself and his ship be taken prisoner, the Romulan self-destructs the warbird.
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A U.S.S. Enterprise landing party beams down to an uncharted planet. The planet seems like a perfect candidate for shore leave with its "Earth-type" characteristics. Kirk sends McCoy down with the party to check it out.Review
McCoy's first encounter on the new world is with a life-sized white rabbit in a waistcoat, being chased by a little girl in a pinafore. Kirk answers McCoy's somewhat odd call for help and beams down himself to find his old rival from his academy days, Finnegan. While trying to catch his old enemy, Kirk meets Ruth, an old girlfriend. He notices that neither Finnegan nor Ruth have changed in appearance since he's last seen them. Elsewhere, Sulu is attacked by a Samurai Warrior while others are chased by tigers and aircraft.
McCoy, who has paired off with Yeoman Tonia Barrows, is killed by a black knight on horseback. As the perils become more and more deadly, Kirk and Spock realize that their thoughts are somehow coming to life around them.
An old man appears, explaining that this planet is designed as an "amusement park," and he is the Caretaker for the world. The planet is not meant to be hostile, and the results of one's fantasies are not lasting. McCoy appears, healed, with a Rigel Cabaret girl on each arm. Tonia disengages the good doctor and they go off to spend what promises to be an enjoyable vacation together. The Caretaker invites Kirk and his crew to spend their leave on his planet. Kirk agrees, realizing that once warned, it would provide a most diverting vacation spot. As he makes his decision, Ruth appears.
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On its way to deliver medical supplies to plague-ridden Makus III, the U.S.S. Enterprise passes Murasaki 312. Since they are under Starfleet orders to inspect galactic phenomena such as this quasarlike star group, McCoy, Spock, Scott and four crewmen take a shuttlecraft, the Galileo, for a closer look.Review
Without warning, the shuttlecraft is pulled off course and out of sensor range of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Spock manages to crash land the shuttle on a foggy, rocky area of Taurus II which is inhabited by giant, hostile humanoids. Between attacks by the war-like residents and quarrels among themselves, the crew attempts to repair the shuttle and get off the planet.
Because of an ionization of its instruments, the U.S.S. Enterprise is unable to find the craft. On board, Commissioner Ferris demands that Kirk abandon the search and proceed to Makus III. Two of the crewmen from the Galileo are killed by the giant humanoids and Lt. Boma demands, irrationally, that Spock stop his repairs in order to bury the dead men. Spock's logic will not permit him to comply with the lieutenant's wishes in the face of their present situation.
As the U.S.S. Enterprise prepares to leave the area without finding the missing shuttle, the Galileo manages an unsteady orbit around the planet, but is unable to pull away from its gravitational pull. Knowing it will send them crashing to the planet's surface if his plan fails, Spock ignites the remaining fuel. The U.S.S. Enterprise sees the meteor-like flare of the burning fuel and beams the crew aboard as the Galileo disintegrates in the planet's atmosphere. Later, Spock stubbornly insists that his desperate act was not a human instinct to gamble, but a logical Vulcan approach to their problem.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise must cross an empty sector of space on their way to deliver supplies to colony Beta VI. In this space, they find an uncharted planet whose presence can't be explained. After Kirk and Sulu disappear without apparent reason, Spock orders McCoy and geophysicist Lt. Karl Jaeger to the planet's surface to begin a search.Review
They find Trelane, a humanoid with tremendous psionic powers and a passion for Earth's 18th-century military history. It is he, they discover, who impulsively kidnapped Kirk and Sulu, wanting to add them to his arena of the Napoleonic era that he has created on this planet, Gothos.
While Trelane has great powers, he has little self-control and is spoiled, willful and impetuous. When McCoy and Jaeger appear, Trelane invites them all to join him at his party.
Spock manages to beam them aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, but Trelane, determined to have his way in all matters, transports the entire bridge crew to Gothos for a banquet. Kirk challenges Trelane to a duel and in the process, destroys the device the alien uses to create his illusions. However, Trelane repairs it and prevents the U.S.S. Enterprise from leaving orbit until he can punish Kirk for his rash actions.
In exchange for freedom for the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew, Kirk offers himself as the prey in a "fox hunt." Suddenly, as Trelane is about to kill the Captain, two noncorporeal beings appear. They explain to Kirk that they are Trelane's parents, and apologize for letting their child play such dangerous games. They then scold the errant child for his selfish behavior and temper tantrums. They inform Trelane that he will not be allowed to have another planet to play with until he learns how to treat other beings with respect.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise is in pursuit of an unknown alien ship which has destroyed a Starfleet base on Cestus III. In an uncharted area of space, both the alien ship and the Enterprise are caught by an advanced race called Metrons. The Metrons are angry at the two ships for trespassing into their space and believe that physical combat is the answer to finding justice.Review
They transport Kirk and the alien captain, a lizard-like creature called a Gorn, to an uninhabited asteroid to fight to the death. The Metrons promise that the victor and his ship will be set free, while the loser will be destroyed, along with his ship and crew.
The Gorn informs Kirk that the base on Cestus III was destroyed because it was believed to be a hostile intrusion on Gorn space. The Gorn is seven feet tall and much stronger than a human, with an extremely aggressive nature, but Kirk has the advantage of speed and agility that his opponent lacks. Kirk manages to keep out of the Gorn's way long enough to mix local minerals into gunpowder, which he uses in a primitive cannon to wound the Gorn captain.
When Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn, the Metrons decide that there may be some hope for the human species after all. Both captains and their ships are set free.
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When the U.S.S. Enterprise is thrown into a time warp by a black star, it ends up orbiting Earth in the 20th century. Omaha Air Base detects a peculiar UFO and sends a fighter plane, manned by Captain John Christopher, to investigate.Review
The starship accidentally destroys the plane, caught in their tractor beam, so the pilot is beamed aboard. The problem now, of course, is to prevent Captain Christopher from returning to tell others on Earth. In order not to change history, in which Christopher's son will prove important, Kirk must return the captain to Earth without knowledge of the ship.
In an attempt to remove all records of the U.S.S. Enterprise sighting, Kirk and Sulu beam down to the air base. Kirk is almost immediately captured by the Air Police, though Sulu manages to escape and gets the stolen records to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Spock and Captain Christopher beam down to help get Kirk away from the Air Police. At the same time, an Air Police sergeant has been accidentally caught in the U.S.S. Enterprise's transporter beam and is reeling as he finds himself on a 23rd-century starship.
Spock and Scotty manage to recreate the conditions of the time warp that brought them to this time, with a slingshot effect around the Sun. The confused Air Police sergeant is returned to Earth a second before he was transported to the Enterprise, so he will remember nothing of his astounding experience, and the starship returns to the 23rd century.
This time, the pilot sees nothing and the Air Force concludes that the sighting was a mistake ... a UFO. In effect, everything that had happened, never happened.
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When the U.S.S. Enterprise puts in at Starbase 11 for repairs caused in an ion storm, Kirk gives his report of the circumstances of Lieutenant Commander Ben Finney's death to Commodore Stone. All goes well until Spock arrives with the computer visual tape of the bridge during the crisis. Spock tries to warn Kirk about what is on the tape, but the Commodore takes it and plays it. Kirk's statement claims that Finney went into the U.S.S. Enterprise's ion pod to take vital readings. When the storm made it necessary to jettison the pod, Kirk warned Finney during a yellow alert; he eventually switched to red alert before jettisoning the ion pod. This event occurred with Finney, apparently, inside.Review
What the computer tapes show is Kirk pressing the pod-release switch while still in a yellow alert status. As a result of this, the Commodore informs Kirk that he will have to stand trial for possible court-martial for the death of Finney. Things are complicated even more when Finney's daughter, Jamie, blames Kirk for her father's death.
When Kirk meets an old girlfriend, Lt. Areel Shaw, that evening she tells him that she's arranged for a lawyer to come and see him. Unfortunately, she's been assigned to prosecute his case and will try her best to bring him down. Dejected, Kirk goes to his room to find that Samuel T. Cogley has moved in, books and baggage. Kirk decides that he likes the quirky lawyer and they begin to plan the captain's defense.
On the U.S.S. Enterprise, McCoy reprimands Spock for playing chess with the computer while Kirk is on trial for murder. Spock explains that he has won several games straight ... a feat he should not have been able to accomplish unless the computer is malfunctioning. McCoy's interest is piqued and the two men discuss what this development could mean to the captain's defense.
At the trial, just as the defense has rested, Spock appears with the information about the faulty computer. Cogley gives a stirring speech about the rights of men versus machines and the Commodore finally allows the jury to reconvene on board the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Spock explains that having programmed the computer for chess himself just months before, the best he should have been able to do is stalemate. Therefore, the officer explains, someone tampered with the computer, adjusting its memory. When asked who had the knowledge for such an action, the Vulcan admits that it could only have been himself, Kirk or Records Officer Ben Finney. Cogley then suggests that Finney is still alive and hiding somewhere on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
On the Bridge, the ship's sensors have been boosted to pick up any sound on the ship. Everyone but the bridge personnel and transporter attendant are beamed to the surface and the demonstration begins. Switching on the sensors, everyone's heartbeat on the ship is audible. One by one McCoy, using a white-light masking device, eliminates the sound of everyone's heartbeat ... except one ... Finney's.
Kirk goes after Finney and finds him hiding on the ship. Finney has harbored a grudge against Kirk since they were both ensigns, when Kirk had logged a careless and potentially dangerous mistake of Finney's, which the man claims has kept him from promotion over the years.
The two men fight, with Kirk finally winning. Finney had, however, damaged the ship's engines and the U.S.S. Enterprise is losing its orbit. Racing against time, Kirk manages to repair the damage and the U.S.S. Enterprise regains her previous position. Kirk is cleared of all charges and Samuel T. Cogley takes on a new client ... Ben Finney.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise is investigating Beta III, where the U.S.S. Archon disappeared over 100 years before.Review
When the landing party exhibits strange behavior, Kirk sends another party down to investigate. They find the culture on Beta III is quiescent, with no creative tendencies. The entire culture is controlled by a group of 'lawgivers' known as "The Body" which is, in turn, controlled by the omniscient Landru. The inhabitants change from normal, peaceful people to a violent mob at the coming of the Red Hour. This 'Festival' is the society's only outlet for the tyrannical hold that Landru has over them at all other times.
Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Enterprise is being pulled from its orbit, its crew to be absorbed into the Body. This, they discover, is what happened to the U.S.S. Archon, so many years before.
Archon survivors have formed an underground of sorts to fight the Body, and they help Kirk and Spock reach Landru. Landru turns out to be an incredibly complex computer built by Landru, a scientist who lived 6,000 years before, who wanted to guide his people into a peaceful, civilized progress.
Landru had affected the computer with his scientific thoughts and memories, but not his wisdom. For centuries the computer, 'Landru,' has been interpreting his suggestions to the point that no one is allowed independent thought. Kirk tells the computer that instead of helping to nurture the culture of Beta III, it has harmed it. Landru destroys itself, leaving the Betans to work toward the sort of culture Landru had wanted so many centuries before. With the promise of Federation help on the way, Kirk and his crew beam back to the U.S.S. Enterprise.
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A piece of one of history's great puzzles falls into place when Kirk's crew comes across the S.S. Botany Bay, an old-style, pre-warp sleeper ship from Earth that contains several bodies in stasis. Amongst these bodies is Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered strongman and one of the great leaders of Earth's Eugenics War of the 1990s. Although he disappeared without a trace then, once Khan is aroused from his long sleep he soon reveals the ambition, strength and intelligence that helped him conquer a quarter of the Earth.Review
Once aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, Khan quickly befriends the beautiful Lieutenant Marla McGivers, the ship's historian who has a passion for strong-willed leaders. Together with his Botany Bay crew and new companion, they seize control of the Enterprise by capturing the engine room. Before it's too late, Marla has great misgivings about her newfound loyalties. With her help, Kirk and Spock regain control of the ship by flooding it with gas. Khan's men are soon overtaken and a due punishment is meted out. Khan and his crew, including Marla McGivers, are exiled to a planet where they must start life anew.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise is ordered to pick up Ambassador Robert Fox, who is headed to planet Eminiar VII on a diplomatic mission. Upon arriving at the planet, the ship is warned away.Review
Beaming to the surface with a landing party, Kirk and Spock are met by a young woman, Mea 3, who tells them that Eminiar VII has been at war with its neighboring planet, Vendikar, for over 500 years. Mea 3 takes them to the council chambers where they find banks of computers. Eminiar's head council Anan 7 informs them that the two planets have learned to avoid the complete devastation of war because computers are used. When a "hit" is scored by one of the planets, the people declared "dead" willingly walk into antimatter chambers and are vaporized. Anan 7 further tells Kirk that his ship and all the crew aboard her have been declared casualties and will be executed. When Kirk flatly refuses, the landing party members are taken prisoner.
The council members are unable to convince Scotty, in charge of the U.S.S. Enterprise, to lower shields without a direct order from Captain Kirk. Meanwhile, Ambassador Fox has beamed to Eminiar and is also taken prisoner, marked for death. Kirk and Spock escape and gain the council chambers where they destroy the computers. Kirk tells the council members that they have made this war too easy for themselves and that they will truly experience the horrors of war if they do not learn to make peace first. Ambassador Fox volunteers to stay behind and negotiate a peace between the neighboring planets.
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Expecting the colonists of Omicron Ceti III to be dead after three years of exposure to deadly Berthold rays, Kirk and Spock are surprised to find the colony alive and flourishing.Review
Spock beams to the surface and meets a young botanist, Leila Kalomi, that he'd worked with previously, and they renew the old friendship. When she worked with Spock six years before on Earth, Leila had tried to interest Spock romantically, and failed. Now she leads the Vulcan to a secluded section of the planet where a native plant sprays him with their spores. Leila tells Spock that the plant induces feelings of harmony and peace and love, along with a desire to remain on Omicron Ceti III and their paradise.
The spores serve to break down Spock's inhibitions and soon he has declared his love for Leila and his desire to remain on the planet. Some of the plants are beamed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and more of the crew are affected.
Captain Kirk, the last holdout, finally is affected by the power of the spores and discovers, through his own violent, adverse effect at leaving his beloved U.S.S. Enterprise, that strong, violent emotions are what reverse the effect of the spores.
Kirk manages to lure Spock back to the U.S.S. Enterprise where he goads Spock into a fight. The extra adrenaline in the Vulcan's system pushes the effect of the spores from Spock and he reverts to normal ... just short of killing Captain Kirk.
Using subsonic sound waves, the two officers manage to bring around the rest of the crew and colonists. Now that the colonists realize that the spores have prevented them from making any real progress and accomplishments, they plan to relocate where the plants do not grow.
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The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives to investigate reports of an unknown monster deep in the mining tunnels of Janus VI. The being is apparently destroying machinery and killing the miners, and has the ability to burrow through solid rock. Janus VI is a source for the rare mineral, pergium.Review
Soon after the landing party arrives on the planet's surface, a reactor pump is stolen and the colony is in jeopardy from fluctuating life support functions. However, this convinces Spock that they are dealing, not with a mindless monster, but with an intelligent lifeform.
Kirk and Spock, along with members of the ship's security team, enter the mines to find the creature. They discover a large, rock-like creature that burrows easily through the stone walls, as a mole might burrow through dirt. Wounded in a phaser blast, the bulky creature manages to escape through the stone wall.
They continue pursuit and eventually Kirk is trapped by the creature. When it doesn't attack, Spock attempts a Vulcan mind meld with the entity and discovers that it is, in fact, an intelligent being. A native of the planet, the creature is normally peaceful, and called a Horta. It doesn't mind sharing the planet with the miners, but when the men broke into the Horta's hatchery and unknowingly destroyed many of her eggs, it attacked to protect its remaining unborn children.
With Spock acting as interpreter, the miners explain that they thought the eggs were some king of silicon nodules and that no hostility had been meant.
McCoy treats the silicon-based creature with a trowel and patch material, and heals it. An alliance is formed between the Horta and the miners; the young, newly-hatched Hortas will mine the pergium at a far faster rate than the humans could and the miners will be extremely rich. Kirk retrieves the missing reactor and the landing party leaves the inhabitants of Janus VI living in peaceful co-existence.
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Kirk and Spock beam down to the surface of planet Organia to negotiate for the erection of a Federation base on that planet. Hostilities between the nearby Klingon Empire and Federation have reached alarming heights and it is feared that the medieval culture of the Organians will not be able to withstand a Klingon attack. However, the Organian Council, comprised of five seemingly pleasant, benign elderly men, insist that they prefer to stay with their more primitive culture.Review
When Kor and his Klingon force attack the planet, Kirk and Spock go undercover as Organian and Vulcan traders. They are captured by the Klingons, and to their surprise, the Organians free them with ease. In turn, the Klingon ship and the U.S.S. Enterprise square off to battle in orbit of the planet.
Displeased by the outbreak of violence, the Organians reveal themselves to be powerful creatures of pure energy who easily neutralize the weapons on both ships, thus ending the threat for the moment.
Back on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Kirk feels certain that the Organians will not only take care of themselves in the future, but monitor their surroundings for any hint of hostilities.
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While orbiting what should be a dead planet, the U.S.S. Enterprise experiences a moment of "nonexistence." Starfleet Command fears an enemy invasion and orders Kirk to find out what caused the stellar system disturbance.Review
On the planet below, Kirk finds a man called Lazarus, who tells Kirk that the effect was caused by his enemy. Lazarus has been chasing him with the aid of a time/space craft and wants the Enterprise's dilithium crystals to continue his search. The captain refuses.
When Kirk takes Lazarus aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, it becomes apparent that there is something strange about their visitor. He has incredible mood swings, one minute sane and rational, the next exhibiting violent rage. He also has a bloody head wound that disappears, then reappears moments later.
Lazarus manages to steal the ship's dilithium and return to the planet. Kirk follows and discovers that Lazarus is two people — one sane and one a madman, with one from an anti-matter universe. The sane Lazarus informs Kirk that the beings can only appear in either universe one at a time. Should both men be in the same place at the same time, both universes would be destroyed. Kirk helps the sane Lazarus trap his counterpart in an intermediate time corridor where they can hurt neither the matter nor anti-matter universe, but where the two will be trapped in fight until the end of time.
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McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of cordrazine, a drug which makes him exhibit signs of paranoia and madness, while treating an ailing Sulu on the Bridge. Delirious, he beams down to a nearby planet's surface, with Kirk and a landing party on his heels.Review
They are too late to stop the doctor from leaping through a living time machine called "The Guardian of Forever." At that moment, the U.S.S. Enterprise ceases to exist and the landing party is stranded. The Guardian explains that McCoy went back into Earth's history and changed it, thereby altering the future. Kirk and Spock go through the Guardian, to Depression-era America, a few days before McCoy is to arrive and change history.
They encounter a social worker, Edith Keeler, who helps them find work to pay for the equipment Spock requires to build a tricorder. Unknown to Kirk and Spock, Edith has taken in the recently-arrived and ill McCoy. Kirk promptly falls in love with Edith and is devastated when Spock completes his tricorder and discovers that in order to repair history, they must let Edith Keeler be killed in an auto accident. If they allow McCoy to save her — as he did before — she will start an effective pacifist movement that will delay the United States' entrance into World War II, thus allowing Hitler's Germany to develop the atomic bomb first and conquer the planet.
When the moment comes, a heartbroken Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith, and the three officers journey back through the Guardian, where they find things as they should be again.
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