Stardate: 1312.4
Quick Summary: As the Enterprise leaves the galaxy, a weird forcefield/lighting storm ravages the ship, killing a few crewmembers, and really zinging anyone on board with high levels of ESP. One of them is Kirk's longtime friend, Gary Mitchell, who soon develops god-like powers. As he becomes a threat to the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock hatch a scheme to maroon Gary on the planet Delta vega, where they can also repair the warp drive with the planet's Lithium reserves. Gary becomes aware of their plan, gets loose, and even dreams of destroying the rest of the human race back on Earth... until, that is, Captain Kirk defeats Gary in a good old-fashioned shirt-tearing fistfight and saves humanity! Yeah!
Review: First of all, who is this "Gary Mitchell" character? He's way too buddy-buddy with Kirk for someone who's never been mentioned before or since. This wouldn't bother me so much if they didn't seem like they were so madly in love with each other. And Spock is totally jealous. You can see it in his eyes.
Speaking of Spock, I'm still thrown off by his demeanor in these early episodes. He might not be emotional, but he's definitely more opinionated than his later character; more of a wild card. He actually recommends to Kirk that Gary should be killed. Yes, killed! In this episode, he also sports a strange wild-west-style gun belt around his waist and then busts out a huge phaser rifle (!) which reverberates with psychedelic rainbow effects when shot. Actually, writing this paragraph, I take back my earlier comment. This early Spock kicks ass.
A few other quick notes... When ship psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dana becomes one with Gary and develops white beadie little eyes of her own, it proves the old addage - zombie chicks are hot. Some statements need no further explanation... When Gary telepathically strangles crewman Kelso in a visually hilarious way with a black cable, allow me to speak on behalf of all the minions out there in communicating to the writers a sincere "Thank you". Crewman Kelso was pompous and lame... Did I mention how the central plot of the episode centered around ESP??? Yes, that ESP. I was actually kind of amused by the idea of a super-pimped-out form of ESP, and all Starfleet officers having ESP scores, but really, where is this nonsense coming from? But when Kirk gets angry and sternly asks, "Are we sure there isn't such a thing [as super-pimped-out ESP]?", I forget that it's nonsense and believe the seriousness of the possibility. After all, this is Captain Kirk... On a related note, the "Mutated, Superior Man" description is an overly obvious reference to Nietze's philosophical ideal of the Übermensch. Give us a little credit...
Finally, this being one of those rare occassions when my wife actually agreed to sit down and watch the episode with me, her initial reaction was one of confusion. About three minutes in she asked, "Where's that Dr. McCoy? Where's Uhura? Where is everybody?". Despite her falling asleep about thirty seconds after that, I have to concur. These early episodes are historical curiosities for the knowing fan, but to everyone else they're not very representative of the Star Trek TOS franchise, and, as a result, the quality isn't yet up to par either. And even to those of us with Ferengi blood running through their veins who have a connoisseur's interest in the early developmental process of the show, I still find myself just WAITING FOR EVERYBODY and to finally get into that groove we all know and love. Reminder to myself - it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Review: 1 star
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