Original air date: October 27, 1967
SYNOPSIS
Very alien visitors to our galaxy attempt to connect with human consciousness but miss, winding up tapping into the regions of human nightmares instead.
CANON CONTEXT
This episode was the first filmed to include series regular Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), although it was broadcast after several other episodes with the character had already been aired; the airing was delayed to coincide with Halloween.
RECAP
The Enterprise circled Pyris VII, an apparently lifeless planet, waiting to hear back from the landing party; Scotty, Sulu and crewman Jackson. When Jackson finally communicates to beam him and only him up, it gets Kirk all riled up. Too bad he can’t do anything about is as they beam back a dead man. Now Kirk, Spock, and Bones beam down to uncover what happened to kill their crewman and find Sulu and Scotty.
Upon beaming down they encounter three witches. Under normal circumstances or a different time and place they might have been scarier. In this instance I was more grossed out by the over the top work the make-up crew must’ve done on these three.
They warn everyone to leave the planet immediately or suffer the consequences. Not one to leave his crewmen behind, they press on. Only to now be faced with a large castle next.
I see why they wanted to wait to air this around Halloween. I definitely got haunted house vibes if that is what they were going for. They are taken prisoner, I forget how. What’s important is who frees them, the men they were looking for. Except, they appear to be in some sort of trance.
They are taken to a chamber where a man claiming to be responsible for what’s happening to them and their crew is sitting upon a throne. Except, he appears to be taking orders from…a black cat?
By now, I feel the whole creepy halloween theme is going a bit too far and over the top for me. The writers must’ve known viewers would be feeling this way and so, as if out of nowhere enters the classic (and much needed in this episode) femme fatale. Something tells me I should do a post dedicated to the many femme’s of this series.
She holds nothing back in revealing to the captain that he must tell her everything she wishes to know or suffer consequences similar to Jackson or Sulu and Scotty. Turns out her and her companion are some sort of alien super race that were sent to this planet for some exploratory reason but she’s gotten ahead of herself and forgotten about their mission. Instead, she much rather live there and be as human as she wants to be.
To make Kirk bend to her will she shows him a miniature version of the Enterprise (where can I buy this!?) and holds it over a flame. This makes the real ship burn up with everyone on board get the sweats. Is it just me or does TOS love to put glistening sweat on their foreheads whenever possible?
Gotta give some props to Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle who was left in charge of the Enterprise while the team went down to the planet. He made sure to keep Uhura and Chekhov on their toes, working on getting the transporter and communicators working.
Back on the planet, Kirk discovers all this woman wants it to feel love from another man and so he gives in (to a point) the only way he knows how. It doesn’t work and she’s about ready to do away with him and his crew by first turning into a really large black cat. The use of shadows to try and make it seem large was unimpressive.
In the end, Kirk prevails and breaks some magic wand thing that turns them back to their original alien form, making everything around them disappear.
Ugly and strange looking things, I must say.
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Dr. McCoy: Three witches... what appears to be a castle, and a black cat.
Captain James T. Kirk: If we weren't missing two officers and a third one dead, I'd say someone was playing an elaborate trick-or-treat on us.
Mr. Spock: 'Trick-or-treat', Captain?
Captain James T. Kirk: Yes, Mr. Spock... You'd be a natural. I'll explain it to you one day.
Dr. McCoy: You kept Scott and Sulu as catspaws to lure us down here. How'd you know we'd come?
Korob: Oh, we didn't have to know. They knew.