Stardate: 2712.4
Quick Summary: Seeking out the famous scientist Dr. Roger Corby on Planet Exo-III, Kirk and Nurse Christine beam down to the planet's underground caverns only to find themselves held captive by the doctor who insists that his research cannot be reported back to the ship because it's too important. Turns out that he has invented a way to produce androids that are perfect replicas to humans, and even produces an android version of our beloved Captain Kirk. He is determined to have the Enterprise relocate him to a colony where he can make lots of "the right kind" of androids, but Kirk manages to free himself by persuading two other androids on Exo-III the illogic of their programming. In the end, the androids actually kill themselves off, and that's after a surprise ending is revealed - that Dr. Corby himself is an android!
Review: Fun epsiode. We're still in the early phase of Kirk-centric fare, with the rest of the crew hardly present at all, and for now that's still ok. From the indigenous android, "Roc", who's a clear knockoff of Lurch from the Addams Family, to hot-babe-android Andrea, we're roped in from the mysterious beginning to the meaty guts of the show in the end. Corby clearly takes an elitist stance in not wanting Kirk to report back to the ship because the crew would see them only as objects of curiosity where foolish theories would result. Plus, his desire to be relocated is an obvious reference to fascist ideas of The Master Race.
We learn a lot about androids that I'll bet you didn't know - they can forget memories that happened a long time ago, and they can be created basically by spinning a disc with a human on one side and a paper mache mummy on the other, and that's pretty much all that's required. Hmmmmm... There's one subtlety that's also interesting - how Corby isn't just trying to produce androids but is actually converting humans into androids, transferring their soul for "immortality" and "heaven".
This is obviously serious stuff, so forgive me if your simple view of "robots" gets a dismissive eyeroll.
The climax is clearly when Roc looks off into the distance (a.k.a. - the other side of the room) and proclaims, "THAT WAS THE EQUATION! EXISTENCE/SURVIVAL MUST CANCEL OUT PROGRAMMING!!!", and then all the androids kill each other off within three minutes. As a computer scientist, I must take issue with the writers' understanding of programming logic; someone take an undergraduate object-oriented design class, please. Lastly, the final line of the episode leaves a great aftertaste: "Dr. Corby was never even here". BA-BOP! Stew on the multiple meanings of that for a while.
Review: 4 stars
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