Original Airdate: 12/29/1966
Synopsis (from the official website):

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.

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 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.

I am not entirely sure where to start. Shore Leave is on a very short list of my least favorite The Original Series episodes. It's hard to compete with Spock's Brain, but I think I might dislike Shore Leave even more. The concept of the episode is perfectly reasonable, and in 1966 might have been the first of its kind in science fiction. The "thoughts come to life" concept has been used and reused in science fiction over the years, and the concept itself almost salvages the episode. Unfortunately, the painful dialog, embarrassing effects, terrible costumes, and the shameful acting by some of the guest stars just makes the episode too hard to watch.

Take the character of Finnegan, for instance. It makes sense to bring an old nemesis of Kirk from his largely unknown academy days to provide the "villain" for the episode. But did they have to make the character so comically annoying that the impact of his being a bully to the great James T. Kirk was lost? Perhaps the actor simply was miscast or tragically overacted. Perhaps the direction was poor, or the script didn't offer much. Regardless, the character wasn't simply a buffoon, he was a caricature that had me seriously considering pressing fast forward every time he was on screen.

Another issue I had with the episode was the ham-handed, poorly concieved, entirely inappropriate "relationship" between the McCoy, the ships chief medical officer, and an enlisted crew member-something that probably would have been against regulations even in the non-militaristic Starfleet. The way the the romance was portrayed also strayed (as was typical in the first two seasons of TOS) far too close to the worst of the stereotypical way that women and relationships were portrayed on television in the 1960's.

While the end of the episode manages to make sense of the confusing and poorly conceived story, the resolution is so brief that it does nothing to explain what could have been fascinating-what is the story behind the Caretaker? Who built these planets? What powers them? An episode that was 10 minutes of the "if wishes were horses" theme and 33 minutes minutes pursuing these questions would have been far more meaningful and interesting than the bargain store costume bunny rabbits, enraged samurai, and yet another "death scare" for one of the series regulars.

Why the long time no see?

The short answer is life got in the way. Lots and lots and lots of life-much of it bad, beginning to get good again. I still am dedicated to this project, I still love Star Trek, and I still want to make this something special. I also got severely burned out in the middle of TOS Season 2, which to me, is the weakest season and the weakest group of episodes of the entire series. When I finally got the urge to push through and go through the series things started to pick up and I was sad to see The Original Series end. I am officially done with the watching of TOS, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. However, while I have notes and ideas, I have not written any of the posts, so I still have a lot TOS to write before I move on to The Next Generation.

Bear with me, the site is going to get active again soon.

Star Trek: Conscience of the King

Original Airdate: 12/8/1966
Synopsis (from the official website):

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. 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.

Conscience of the King is a superb Star Trek episode, and I want to get that out of the way first. I am trying to remain impartial during The Star Trek Project, and it has been far more difficult than I thought it would be. When you have seen so much of a show and know so much about the series and the background you tend to have very set opinions about each episode and it can be hard to break free of that bias. Luckily with The Original Series it has been long enough since I have seen each episode that I can approach them with a mostly fresh perspective. With that being said, Conscience of the King is still one of the absolute best episodes of Season One, marred only by the unnecessary and poorly concieved "love story" sub-plot.

This episode helped to provide some of the backstory for Kirk's character. At this point we knew little about the young captain, and this was our first glimpse into some of the formative events of his youth. It also allows him a chance to show a greater depth of emotion as a character-first his desire for revenge, and eventually his need for justice as a starship captain. It gives us a clue as to what might have helped created the indominable will of the adult Captain Kirk, and it provides a story that has been elaborated on in several expanded universe books.

Conscience of the King is more of a mystery or thriller than most Star Trek episodes, and it is entirely predictable-but it is supposed to be, and it succeeds marvelously in what it sets out to do. I am not entirely sure if the writers of the episode ever intended the outcome to be in question, but they wanted to plant just a glimmer of doubt in the viewer's mind, just enough to offer some moral ambiguity about the actions of Kirk and Riley in trying to expose Karidian.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Conscience of the King is the skill with which the writers created a sympathetic character in Karidian/Kodos. He was now a broken, tired old man. He had completely immersed himself in his life as an actor, trying only to forget the memories of what had happened 22 years ago on Tarsus IV. He did not necessarily renounced his actions however; to the day he died he believed he had done the only thing he could have at the time. The saddest thing of all was that Anton Karidian was Kodos the Executioner, but was no longer the same man.

The only notable failing in this episode was the sub-plot with Karidian's daughter and Kirk. While the twist at the end involving Karidian's daughter was both unexpected and clever (as was her shockingly slavish devotion to her father's past life). The issue was with her totally unnecessary romance with Kirk. While television of the 1960's seemed to push hokey romances for the leading characters whenever possible, I have never liked the abundance of it in Star Trek.

I have no issues with Kirk being a ladies man-in fact it helps define his character for decades to come. The problem is that the writers and producers chose to force it on us constantly, in badly concieved circumstances, with poor actresses playing his love interests, and in unbelievable settings. There is no reason Kirk would begin a relationship of any type with a woman he thought might be the daughter of a mass murderer. There is little reason Kirk would fraternize with a girl who was likely in her late teens, either. While he was a ladies man, he obviously had some sense of propriety. This and the fact that the end of the episode features McCoy and a throwaway line about Kirk "really caring about this one" add to the absurdity of this sub-plot. It truly is the only thing that mars an excellent episode.

Continuity:
- This episodes helps establish Kirk's age as in his early thirties.
- This character of Kodos would be revisited in later series and expanded universe literature.

Fun Facts:
- This episode was the last appearance of Kevin Riley.
- This episode is the first that provides back

Star Trek: The Menagerie (Parts 1 and 2)

Original Airdates: 11/17/1966, 11/24/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

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."

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.

While I rarely post the entirety of the episode synopsis, the Menagerie is a complicated episode and one that is more effectively (and easily) explained in the synopsis form than as a part of my discussion of the episode. In order to understand the Menagerie, it is useful to know the history behind the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage.

The Cage was the original pilot for Star Trek, filmed in November and December 1964 and never seen in its entirety on national television until 1988. While The Cage had most of the elements and ideas of what would become Star Trek, it was substantially different. The U.S.S Enterprise was captained by Christopher Pike, Spock was the science officer, and the ship's first officer was the rather mysterious Number One (played by Majel Barrett Rodenberry), and an entirely different principle cast. The pilot was rejected by NBC, but the studio took the almost unprecendented step of commissioning a second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. The Cage might have drifted into obscurity had Gene Roddenberry not devised a clever way to help budgetary constraints with a two part episode that would be called The Menagerie.

Roddenberry crafted the story of the now crippled Christopher Pike and Spock's efforts to get him back to Talos IV and interspersed the episode with footage from The Cage to create the background story of Pike and Spock and to use as "evidence" in the trial. The idea was well received by the studio (and far ahead of its time) and The Menagerie was rushed into production.

Though episode takes place roughly 12 years before the events in Season One of Star Trek, and there are many inconsistencies between The Cage and later Star Trek that are difficult to reconcile cannonically. Spock displays far more emotion, the technology seems far more primitive, and the uniforms are substantially different from the final versions, and much more. The inconsistencies with Spock are difficult to explain, but can best be attested to the fact that Spock was very young for a Vulcan when he joined Starfleet and as a result of his half-human heritage he was still struggling with his Vulcan need to supress his emotions. The difference in uniform can be explained easily by the 12 year time difference, but it it harder to reconcile the much more primitive technology. Perhaps the Federation made an enormous leap forward in science and engineering in the 12 years leading up to The Original Series, much like the United States did in the 1960's.

The other issue that bears discussion is Spock's behavior. His actions in The Menagerie are irrational, at times illogical, and are atypical for his character. He essentially hijacks the Enterprise, lies to his captain and friend, violates standing Starfleet orders that are punishable by death, aids aliens in creating a mock trial to distract Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, and generally acts emotionally rather than logically. While I have never liked this aspect of the episode over the years, I believe that with some suspension of disbelief you can reconcile Spock's actions in this episode with his behavior through the years. One of the things the trinity of characters in The Original Series have in common is their unwavering loyalty to each other. They are loyal to each other no matter the consequences throughout the series and 6 films. Kirk loses a son and a starship to save Spock. Spock stands with Kirk at trial when he bears no obligation to do so and saves Kirk and the Enterprise at the cost of his own life. McCoy is the emotional support for Kirk and even Spock to some extent, offering advice, support, friendship, and eventually serves as the living host for Spock's Katra. The three men are inextricably linked, and if we can understand and believe this, we can understand Spock's somewhat irrational loyalty to his first captain, a man who helped start his career in Starfleet, who stood by Spock and nurtured him, that helped him understand and deal with his humanity. While it is an imperfect explanation, it is also an entirely plausible one that Spock felt at least some of the same loyalty to Christopher Pike as he later would for James T. Kirk.

Regardless of the continuity issues and the concern with Spock's behavior, The Menagerie remains one of my favorite episodes and has been a fan favorite for the last 40 years. It was a clever, innovative way of giving viewers a look at what Star Trek might have been and reconciling that with what it became.

Continuity:
- The technology in The Cage is far behind that of The Original Series, so much so that it takes some suspension of disbelief to accept that the Federation made such technological advances in only 12 years.
- The uniforms are very different in the Cage, although this can be attributed to the 12 year time difference.
- Spock displays much more emotion than in later episodes and it is clear that his Vulcan character is not fully fleshed out.
- One character briefly mentions something about "recently breaking the time warp barrier." While his sentence was incomplete, we must take this to be in reference to achieving a higher warp factor than previously possible or discovering improved warp technology rather than indicating that the Federation just discovered warp speed. This would present huge continuity issues with other established Star Trek issues and make the entire premise of the episode difficult to believe.

Fun Facts:
- Number One, the first officer of the Enterprise, is played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who would later marry Gene Roddenberry.
- Spock's eyebrows are substantially different in The Cage.
- This episode was the first appearance of Orion's and Orion slave girls in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver

Original Airdate: 11/10/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

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.

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.

I think it is necessary to admit that I think this is one of the best episodes of Season One. I remember it fondly, and my opinion of it was only confirmed when I watched it again recently. One of the best aspects of The Corbomite Maneuver is that its a rare glimpse into the tactical mind of James T. Kirk, starship captain. Star Trek in its original incarnation rarely featured complicated ship to ship combat (due to the cost of special effects), and as a result we rarely got a glimpse into the tactical and strategic minds of famous combat officers such as Kirk and much later on Sulu as well. I have always regretted that more of this background was never established, because Kirk is clearly meant to be a tactical genius. He defeats the First Federation in The Corbomite Maneuver, outwits the Tholian Web, destroys a far more powerful Romulan warship, outsmarts the Klingons on more than one occasion, and battles his way to victory in the Star Trek movies. The man clearly was intended to be the premier combat captain of his time, and possibly in the history of the Federation. Unfortunately due to the technical limitations of the time we rarely saw that, and The Corbomite Maneuver was the first episode to truly display this aspect of Kirk's personality.

This is also the first of many episodes in Star Trek where the crew uses the concept of "bluffing" from the "ancient Earth game of poker" to help bring about victory. While I love the many forms of poker and truly appreciate that Star Trek was one of earliest television shows to mention it with frequency (and this continued with The Next Generation before fading out in the later series), I have always found it somewhat silly that nearly each and every time poker comes up, its to explain the concept of bluffing. Bluffing is not complicated. It's part lying, part deception, part playing chicken with your opponent. Unfortunately, the writers tend to act like its a concept unique to poker or unique to humans and that aliens would be baffled by the concept. Logically, this makes little sense and makes it a little hard to find the situation plausible.

With that being said, The Corbomite Maneuver delivers despite the weak premise of Kirk's primary tactic. The Enterprise is clearly not as powerful as the Fesarius, as the small initial probe they encountered almost destroyed the ship. The only advantage Kirk and the Enterprise had was the element of surprise. The enemy knew nothing about them beyond what they learned from their initial scans. While the technology was sufficient to reveal the ship's configuration, it would be limited to what the technology of the sensor knew to look for. When Kirk realized the Fesarius was unwilling to destroy the Enterprise immediately, he sensed an opportunity to give himself enough time to find a way to escape-and the bluff was born. Knowing that the alien had no way of detecting the fictitious material corbomite in the Enterprise's hull, Kirk played his cards and gave the Fesarius the chance to call his bluff. It couldn't, and when it starts to tow the Enterprise out of First Federation space, Kirk executes an emergency all stop and tears away from the Fesarius, in the process damaging the ship and freeing the Enterprise.

While I appreciate the subterfuge that the ending uncovers and the fact that Balok and the First Federation's intentions were not malicious, I would have greatly preferred it without the odd appearance of the infant Clint Howard as the mysterious alien. While this is partially because Clint Howard even as a baby had a distinctive look, it is also because once again the alien in Star Trek looks just like a human (and I do understand the budgetary constraints they faced each episode).

While the simplicity of Kirk playing chicken with Balok takes away somewhat from the tactical depth I referred to at the beginning of this post, it is a look into the mind of the way Kirk approaches command and starship combat. It shows that above all else, he is not afraid of taking risks when he thinks the situation warrants it. Above all, it shows his willingness to think far outside the norm in a time when it is established in the Star Trek universe that the rules are strict, that training and discipline make good captains and good crews, and that caution is the best way to ensure the safety of ship and crew. While we will see even deeper insight into Kirk as a tactician in Balance of Terror and other episodes, The Corbomite Maneuver laid the groundwork for Kirk's career as a maverick.

My only real problem with the episode was the character of Lieutenant Bailey. It was an issue for me for two reasons. The first is that the character was clearly unstable, probably would never have made it through Starfleet's rigorous psychological testing, and he was insubordinate. This is a common theme in Season One, and an issue I have addressed previously. It is one of my absolute biggest peeves with The Original Series. While Kirk was a friendly, affable commanding officer who would likely let his men get away with more than most, I find it absolutely difficult to believe he would accept the level of insubordination that junior officers frequently demonstrated in Season One-and this episode is one particularly glaring example.

The second problem is directly related to the first. When Kirk wanted to first decided to keep Bailey at the helm despite his obvious stress and anxiety, Dr. McCoy, one of Kirk's absolute most loyal and fervent supporters, disagrees vehemently about it (and somewhat irrationally). When Kirk is then forced to remove Bailey from his post, McCoy goes absolutely ballistic, challenging Kirk in front of the crew, threatening to put his protests in his official log, and acting completely insubordinate. While McCoy never hesitated to tell Kirk how he felt and certainly had no compunction about telling Kirk he was wrong, he almost never did it in front of the crew, and never with this much anger and vehemence. McCoy was, above all else, one of Kirk's best friends and closest confidantes, and I find it very hard to believe he would rationally act in the manner he did in this episode-in fact its probably the single biggest issue I have with the portrayal of McCoy's character throughout The Original Series.

Continuity:
- McCoy's behavior towards Kirk.
- Bailey's insubordination.
- Inconsistent color in uniforms and the roles and appearance (or lack thereof) of principle castmembers.

Star Trek: Dagger of the Mind

Original Airdate: 11/03/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

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.

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.

I had only a vague recollection of this episode when I first sat down to watch it. As with many of the first season episodes it has been several years since I have seen Dagger of the Mind and I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was an entertaining if unremarkable episode of Star Trek, which probably explains why I didn't remember it.

I liked the basic premise of the story quite a bit, and it successfully adhered to the Star Trek ideal of telling a story that was relevant to issues in the real world while staying faithful to creating a believable science fiction future. Even 40 years later, we are still debating the appropriate methods of punishment for criminals. Many believe in rehabilitation, others in punishment, some in retribution. We can only hope that 300 years in the future mankind will have found a better way to deal with crime-and in Dagger of the Mind it appears they have.

It seems that Dr. Tristan Adams of the Tantalus Penal Colony has come up with innovative techniques to condition the minds of criminals, helping them to see the error of their ways while shedding their past-essentially being reborn as new, healthy members of society. Dr. McCoy suspects that something might be out of the ordinary and Kirk soon discovers that it is a devious brainwashing device that "cures" the criminals and makes them slaves to any suggestion or commands Adams chooses to give.

While the brainwashing and mind control angle was nothing new at the time for science fiction (and would become another overused them through the years on Star Trek), having it used as a means of forced rehabilitation on criminals was arguably ahead of its time. Unfortunately, even with good ideas and a story still relevant today, the episode ended up far more formulaic and unexciting than it needed to.

Before I arrive at my issues with episode, I must point out that it was very successful in one regard: the establishment of Kirk's legendary strength of will. One of overriding themes through The Original Series and the early movies is that Kirk is a man of both deep passions and deep convictions. When lesser men might fail, Kirk would always succeed, often through force of will alone. He had a singular purpose, a drive that would make him a legend. Dagger of the Mind is one of the first episodes where we really see a glimpse into that strength of will.

Now for the bad. To start, Dr. Helen Noel, ship's psychologist. What an awful idea-introduce yet another semi-love interest from Kirk's past, yet this time make her an insufferably annoying, rude, insubordinate psychiatrist who idolizes the man they are investigating. Her presence was entirely a plot contrivance that only serves to reinforce the Kirk as Lothario stereotype and provide him an unnecessary "object" to fight for while he is being brainwashed. The character might not have been so bad had the writers not allowed her to get away with being so insubordinate (a theme that recurs more and more towards the middle and end of Season 1 that I will discuss frequently and so completely blind to her idol's criminal behavior.

It really isn't entirely fair to pick on the special effects and props of a show that was ahead of its time and is now 40 years old. At the same time, the "neural neutralizer" looked like an oversized cardboard box with a two dollar oven dial attached to it. It just did not look good.

My final issue is with the entire concept of crime and punishment in Star Trek. I know Roddenberry's initial vision was for a future Earth and human race that was free of poverty, of war, and of crime. Yet starting in this episode and continuing through the later series, we frequently hear references to criminals, penal colonies, rehabilitation, etc. It is of course grossly simplistic to presume that without genetic manipulation any genetic factors that might influence the likelihood to commit crime would simply disappear in the next 300 years, or that laws would be so liberal as to make hard to find people guilty of crimes. We know from Star Trek history that neither of these possibilities is a factor, and thus the conclusion I must draw that while Roddenberry envisioned a future free of crime, he also realized that this ideal might not be achievable in the structured and moral Federation.

Continuity:
- While not strictly continuity, the blatant insubordination in this episode becomes a somewhat annoying recurring theme in Season 1.
- I need to do more research to understand why all the principle cast members are not in every episode.
- The uniform colors still vary, often by shades of blue or gold.

Star Trek: Miri

Original Airdate: 10/27/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

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.

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.

Miri is an interesting episode, if only because it tries so very hard to be a science fiction homage to Lord of the Flies. Although the episode features strong performances from the lead and takes its subject matter seriously, as a whole the episode feels shallow, as if it lacks its own creative spark to keep it going, and it fails to live up to the quality of its inspiration. While there is a moral to the story, it is nowhere near as poignant or as urgent as it was in Lord of the Flies.

The episode also has some massive plot holes that are never filled. The planet where Miri is discovered is an Earth-type planet. I don't just mean a "M-class" planet, but a planet that has cities and vehicles and roads that all resemble the Earth of the mid 20th century. It is also populated by human children. While we know that Earth has likely hundreds if not thousands of colonies at this time in Star Trek, there is no reason for an Earth colony to look like it was the 20th century unless the people lived in some sort of purposely restricted and controlled fashion. Considering that all the children are human, the only other explanation would be some sort of convoluted theory of mass human abduction and relocation to a planet meant to replicate Earth. Neither explanation seems plausible, and the issue is not only not addressed specifically in the episode, it is barely even noticed but for a few throw away lines of dialog and scenes when they first arrive on the planet.

Another issue that irked me was Miri's infatuation with Kirk. It's not the actual plot device that bothers me so much as how it is portrayed. While it is absolutely reasonable to expect a young girl entering puberty to develop a crush on an older boy, I find the "young girl falling in love with 34 year old man" explanation that the official website provides as a little disturbing and slightly inappropriate. Again, this is likely more a result of the rather drastic change in socio-cultural norms in the 40 years since the episode aired then any impropriety in the subject matter, but it didn't stop me from thinking it wasn't the best angle to take given Kirk's reputation as a Lothario.

Nevertheless, Miri is a competent episode that features a compelling climax as Kirk finally is able to reach the "children", all hundreds of years old, and convince them that only trust in others will save them from their greatest fear. While Miri will never be one of my favorite episodes, it is far from the worst of The Original Series.

Continuity:
- Medical equipment is inconsistent with previous episodes and later episodes, although this is a common theme in Star Trek.

- Once again, several main cast members fail to make more than a token appearance or simply do not appear in the episode.