Original air date: January 5, 1967
Captain’s Log, Stardate 2821.5 en route to Makus III
SYNOPSIS
The Galileo, under Spock's command, crash-lands on a hostile planet. As the Enterprise races against time to find the shuttlecraft, Spock's strictly logical leadership clashes with the fear and resentment of his crew.
CANON CONTEXT
Inspired by the film Five Came Back, it features the debut of the shuttlecraft.
RECAP
First officer Spock is left in command of a crew of six on an expedition to investigate a planet that happens to be inhabited by large cavemen looking giants. The costumes for these beasts are really not that great which is probably why we never get a really good look at them except from behind and a distance and their spears thrown from an indeterminate distance away. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with the fact that the Enterprise is tasked with delivering a commander and a life saving plague killer thing to some planet far away. However, en route they encounter something called Murasaki 312 and Kirk must investigate so he sends a crew of seven officers on a shuttlecraft called the Galileo.
While on this planet, two of the seven don’t make it. What makes this mission rather interesting is that the shuttle is stranded with no communication or ability to reenter space and these giants who have no sense of logic or reason like Spock. Their only goal is to kill. This puzzles Spock who can’t understand why all of his logical maneuvers to dissuade these giants from attacking them hasn’t been working, and his fellow crew mates appear rather agitated with him as well. To his Vulcan sense of being it is all too illogical for him to wrap his head around.
For instance, why have these giants come back to attack their vessel? They should be terrified of the phasers that were used to warn them off earlier. He has no explanation but he is in charge and must make snap decisions. This is something he is not willing to do, for the immediate survival of the remaining crew members.
Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Captain Kirk has to deal with Commissioner Ferris constantly reminding him that he has precious little time to search for his missing crew members because he must deliver medical supplies destined for the New Paris Colony in Markus III. The two men are constantly clashing, throwing around their starfleet code for who is in charge and what must be done. All the while Kirk is working tirelessly for days to find him crew and bring them back alive.
In the end, Galileo is able to reach orbit and with its last remaining fuel, Spock decides to send out a last desperate attempt for rescue in the form of a flare. It pays off and the crew is transported back onto the Enterprise before their shuttlecraft explodes as it reentered the atmosphere of the planet.
The very last scene is a light-hearted one with the captain trying to get Spock to admit that his use of the fuel as flare was an emotional act of desperation and not one of a logical Vulcan. Perhaps his human half is beginning to show? Alas, Spock will only admit to being stubborn, and nothing more.
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Scott: Mr. Spock, you said a while ago that there were always alternatives.
Spock: Did I? I may have been mistaken.
Dr. McCoy: Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that.