Pretty safe to say, as this was only the fourth episode of the series, and not a whole lot had been dealt with unless you consider the epic struggle against a near god-like crew member in the prior episode (Where No Man Has Gone Before). What's fun for me is picking out all the 'firsts' in the series while watching them in order of release. This story offers Spock's first use of the unnamed Vulcan nerve grip, and the first reference to Dr. McCoy's nickname Bones. There's also the heartbeat pulse during a particularly harrowing sequence.
And ah yes, there's the 'space madness', a cunning device used to allow the crew members to drop their guard and give form to their usual inhibitions. It turns out Spock has yet another admirer amid the crew, Nurse Chapel; in the prior stories Uhura carried on an infatuation with the Vulcan science officer. The way it affects Spock himself is also intriguing, he has all he can do to exert control over his emotions. Yet Kirk draws him out with the slapping contest; did you notice that Kirk was bleeding on the wrong side of his mouth after Spock decked him with the backhand to the left side of his face? Blood was trickling from the right corner of his lips.
No touchy feely stuff was going to save the Enterprise from THIS space madness. Scotty can't change the laws of physics and the ship spirals out of control into the orbit of Psi-2000. Captain Kirk has to make that one in ten thousand choice to save the crew, just as he would so many times throughout the series run. I guess that's why I enjoy the show so much, that determined willingness to make a decision and stick with it in the face of danger and chaos. That, and the way the writers made stuff up along the way, like Alert Condition Baker Two, and raising the antimatter temperature eight hundred forty degrees. All the while trying to answer the question posed by crewman Tormolen - "What are we doing out here in space"?
And ah yes, there's the 'space madness', a cunning device used to allow the crew members to drop their guard and give form to their usual inhibitions. It turns out Spock has yet another admirer amid the crew, Nurse Chapel; in the prior stories Uhura carried on an infatuation with the Vulcan science officer. The way it affects Spock himself is also intriguing, he has all he can do to exert control over his emotions. Yet Kirk draws him out with the slapping contest; did you notice that Kirk was bleeding on the wrong side of his mouth after Spock decked him with the backhand to the left side of his face? Blood was trickling from the right corner of his lips.
No touchy feely stuff was going to save the Enterprise from THIS space madness. Scotty can't change the laws of physics and the ship spirals out of control into the orbit of Psi-2000. Captain Kirk has to make that one in ten thousand choice to save the crew, just as he would so many times throughout the series run. I guess that's why I enjoy the show so much, that determined willingness to make a decision and stick with it in the face of danger and chaos. That, and the way the writers made stuff up along the way, like Alert Condition Baker Two, and raising the antimatter temperature eight hundred forty degrees. All the while trying to answer the question posed by crewman Tormolen - "What are we doing out here in space"?