Stardate: 1513.1
Quick Summary: The Enterprise arrives at Planet M-113 for a routine checkup of Professor Crater and his wife, Nancy, who McCoy had known intimately several years prior. But as different crewmembers start dying off, first on the planet and then on the Enterprise itself, what becomes apparent is that Nancy is actually a changeling alien who sucks the salt out of people's bodies in order to survive. She can project herself to appear in any form, thus the Enterprise crew has a hard time identifying her, until finally it's up to McCoy to overcome his emotions and do what must be done.
Review: Oh baby, here we go! Since the pilot never aired, this is the first "real" Star Trek episode, complete with Captain Kirk, tan and taking charge; Spock and McCoy engaged in their trademark banter; even Uhura flirting with Spock and later speaking Swahili. You've got to love it. Even some of the early campiness is there, like when crewmember Janice brushes off a flirtation with the line, "Why don't you go chase an asteroid!". This is why we live :-)
Putting aside the giddy smiles for a second, as for the episode itself, "The Man Trap" is a classic What-If. What if women really could project any image of themselves custom-tailored to each guy? What if men could? What would you project yourself as? What if animals could do it? How about inanimate objects? DOHMYGODIMBUGGINGOUT!!!
Seriously though, "The Man Trap" could just as easily be titled "The Hickie Monster". When Nancy kills people by sucking the salt out of their bodies, she leaves these circular clear-as-day hickie marks all over their faces. If that's not a subtext for woman-bashing to adolescent boys, then I don't know what solar nebula you're passing through. The ridiculous orange-smoothie colored backgrounds and awful ghetto TV studio sets are a little distracting, but it is 1966 and at least the show's in color. Gotta give them a pass on that.
But what makes this episode a truly representative sample of the series as a whole is that, once Nancy is discovered to be a life-sucking alien who's killing the crew one member at a time, rather than following the stereotypical serial action model where the good guys need to simply kill the bad guys, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy share a very revealing conversation. They openly question whether, despite killing the crew, this Nancy creature should even be considered dangerous; if it's the last of its kind and simply using its natural abilities to stay alive, then, in that sense, wouldn't it actually be wrong to kill the killer? This moral ambiguity and make-you-think social commentary is the hallmark of the series; it's what gives the show its decades-long staying power. Yummmmm...
One last inspired suggestion for all you brave ladies out there... when Nancy's visual projection is finally shed at the end of the episode and this supercool hairy octopus alien thing is ultimately revealed, I think it would make for a great Halloween costume. Be "The Man Trap"!
Review: 2 stars
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