1.29 — “Operation: Annihiliate!”
Plot: The Enterprise approaches Deneva colony with a concern: epidemics of civilization-destroying mass insanity have been charted approaching this colony of one million inhabitants, including Kirk’s brother, Sam, and his family. The ship arrives to find the planet overrun by indestructible pod creatures which are like individual cells of a giant brain. The pods control the populace by inflicting pain. Soon Spock is infected. If the crew cannot find a way to rescue those afflicted, Kirk must consider mass extermination to stop the scourge from spreading across the galaxy.
Thoughts: Body-snatching pods? They can’t all be “The City on the Edge of Forever.” As a pot-boiler, I like this episode pretty well, dark as it is (the original outline ended with Kirk ordering the extermination of Deneva’s whole population, while later drafts ended with the Enterprise destroying the aliens’ home planet and “central brain”–blinding Spock is a comparatively mild plot development). Nimoy did a good job of portraying a man at war with himself in denial of both his pain and the gravity of his predicament. The more Spock is at war with himself, the more we like him. Shatner delivers the tension as usual. I like him pushing Spock and McCoy to come up with alternatives besides destroying one million colonists, and also Scotty’s big moment, the standoff against Spock in the transporter room.
One could poke fun, but I’m inclined to give the show credit for the grotesque appearance of the pod creatures, and the practical effects as they fly around in the stairwell area. When Kirk kills them, is it genocide? Or should we think of the pods as more as parasites, or germs? They are, after all, world-destroyers themselves, so I guess it’s self-defense either way.
For the last episode of first season, I would have liked a different teaser. The expository scene on the bridge felt like been there, done that. I had trouble following Spock’s explanation about why everyone should be alarmed, and didn’t have any idea where the episode was going until the pod creatures turned up. Featuring Kirk’s brother makes the episode memorable, but it seems like a waste to kill him off before the ship arrives on the planet. The corpse was played by Shatner, in a fake mustache and age makeup.
It would have been fun if Spock ended the episode wearing a visor like Geordi. Did you buy the explanation about Vulcans having inner eyelids?
This is the first sighting of Nurse Chapel since episode 1.7, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and only the character’s third appearance on the show. She looks good as a redhead. According to IMDB, Chapel turns up more often in seasons 2 & 3.
3 out of 5 single-celled organisms larger than your fist.
End of season one!
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