Anyone who has seen Matt Damon's fine film Elysium will immediately recognize the parallels with his Star Trek episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the creators of Elysium were influenced by this story.
The mission of the Enterprise is to get to this planet for a shipment of an ore called Zenite which will help with a biological plague on a nearby federation world. This planet has a social structure similar to the one on Earth that has developed in Elysium. The vast majority live on the surface and work in the mines taking out the Zenite. They also for the most part are not much above the evolutionary scale than Cro-Magnon Man.
In the meantime an elite has built a city in the clouds called Stratos where they live at their leisure. Looks very much like Elysium and they rule and live off the other's toil.
So the mission of William Shatner and others is to get that Zenite and sad to say they have to violate the Prime Directive and institute the beginnings of social change to do it. Some medical research into Zenite and its effects by DeForest Kelley certainly helps.
Jeff Corey plays the first adviser of Stratos and an implacable defender of the established order. He and Shatner really can't stand each other.
Think Elysium and you'll realize how far ahead of its times this particular Star Trek episode was.
The mission of the Enterprise is to get to this planet for a shipment of an ore called Zenite which will help with a biological plague on a nearby federation world. This planet has a social structure similar to the one on Earth that has developed in Elysium. The vast majority live on the surface and work in the mines taking out the Zenite. They also for the most part are not much above the evolutionary scale than Cro-Magnon Man.
In the meantime an elite has built a city in the clouds called Stratos where they live at their leisure. Looks very much like Elysium and they rule and live off the other's toil.
So the mission of William Shatner and others is to get that Zenite and sad to say they have to violate the Prime Directive and institute the beginnings of social change to do it. Some medical research into Zenite and its effects by DeForest Kelley certainly helps.
Jeff Corey plays the first adviser of Stratos and an implacable defender of the established order. He and Shatner really can't stand each other.
Think Elysium and you'll realize how far ahead of its times this particular Star Trek episode was.