1.7 — “The Infinite Vulcan”
Plot: Kirk and crew find a planet inhabited by intelligent, mobile plants, thriving under the tutelage of Keniclius, a gigantic human refugee from the Eugenics Wars on Earth. This is all very interesting, but Kirk is forced to take exception when these new acquaintances kidnap and imprison his first officer, Mr. Spock, for the purpose of cloning him and turning him into a universal savior.
I like Wikipedia’s plot summary: “In this episode, Captain Kirk must save his First Officer and stop a plan to enforce peace upon the galaxy.” SNORT.
Thoughts: This episode is written by Walter Koenig, in his sole contribution to TAS, since his character, Mr. Chekov, was dropped from the series for budgetary reasons (last in first out?). Memory Alpha quotes Dorothy Fontana as being proud of giving Koenig one of his first sales as a writer, although Koenig himself professes ambivalence about how it turned out (but is that just false modesty?). I rather liked this one.
Partway through the episode, I paused the playback to write a note: “I don’t know about Spock being a ‘perfect specimen,’ but Walter Koenig here has succeeding in telling a new Star Trek story, which is not just a rehash of concepts from previous episodes.” Later, when they discover Spock strapped to a gurney and Dr. McCoy delivers the line, “Something’s happened to his brain!” I realized that this is not true! ”The Infinite Vulcan” actually reprises, of all stories, TOS 3.1 — “Spock’s Brain.” (The presence of giants also recalls TOS 2.2 — “Who Mourns for Adonais?”). There is more than enough new stuff here, however, to make it more than a retread.
“Great grandaddy’s weed spray still works!” That’s a little more than I can say for this line from McCoy. Coming from a supporting player on Star Trek, however, I appreciate Koenig’s effort to push colorful dialogue out to the supporting cast. Thus we have one of the most extensive roles for Sulu in an episode since “MIrror, Mirror” or “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” and a relatively lengthy dialogue exchange between Uhura and Scott about focusing a transmission beam which sounds like it could be the birth of technobabble into the franchise.
The episode contains only the second reference to the Eugenics Wars in the history of Star Trek, after TOS 1.22 — “Space Seed.” This shows that at this point the writers were conscious of there being a Star Trek canon, or alternate future history, which the writers could reference slyly as a way to reward the hard core fans who would understand it. The value of having insider knowledge was thus rewarded and reinforced. A sign of the invention of the cult of Star Trek fandom?
But, really, how does having a giant Mr. Spock advance the cause of peace in the galaxy? More, I mean, than having a small one? It can’t just be about having the capacity to clone him, because, if I understand the terms of the episode’s internal logic correctly, Keniclius cannot make the consciousness of Spock appear in two places at once. Spock himself accomplishes this by using the mind meld, raising the question if he can just upload copies of his intelligence and personality into humanoid brain blanks at will. Or maybe other creatures, even computers, since we have previously seen him mind meld with Nomad and the Horta? Perhaps it’s best not to think too deeply about this.
I enjoyed seeing the crew make first contact with an alien race at the beginning on (temporarily) peaceful terms. That’s a simple little scene that hasn’t appeared very often in the franchise so far. I also like the turn the plot takes after Spock is kidnapped. It is a reminder that, for all the high falutin’ ideals of Star Trek, mission number one for the crew is always to look out for each other. We will see the crew go after Spock again in Star Trek III. He’s certainly pulled their bacon out of the fire often enough.
The exchange in the coda about whether Sulu is scrutable or inscrutable doesn’t quite work, but it smacked of being an in joke between Koenig and George Takei. And George gets the last word! Another Star Trek first.
3.5 out of 5 people who find it challenging to count to two (“What’s the next number after one? Er, infinity!”).
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