Star Trek (TV Series) The Naked Time (1966) User Reviews

No Beach to Walk on... as The Ship Spirals Down

[Bogmeister · 9/10 · 17 June 2006]

Here, we learn that Kirk yearns to walk on a beach somewhere, perhaps with Yeoman Rand. This episode is probably best known as the one with Sulu, stripped to the waist, running around the ship's corridors with a sword. But, it's this episode where we learn a lot of interesting things about the main characters, so all the actors get a chance to shine a bit, including Hyde as young crewman Riley in the first of his two appearances on the show. Hyde provides most of the amusing scenes in this episode, but it's not really a comedy, such as "I,Mudd" or a "A Piece of the Action." It's a grimly amusing tone as Hyde manages to take over the engine room and the ship then starts to spiral downward towards the planet the Enterprise is orbiting, it seems to certain doom. What Kirk really needed to refine after this episode is ship's security; not only do they ignore Spock's request to escort Riley to sickbay, they then let him take over the ship - all by his lonesome!

Besides Riley, a nutty Irishman at heart, Sulu reveals his secret taste for swashbuckling, nurse Chapel turns out to be secretly in love with Spock, who shows a tendency to weep uncontrollably over his lot in life (half-Vulcan, half human) and, finally, Kirk seems caught between his love of the Enterprise and more normal desires. I was puzzled as to why Uhura wasn't affected by this strange space disease (altered water, it turned out), since she had prolonged contact with the sweaty Sulu (that's how the disease spreads). The disease forces all the hidden desires and emotions of the affected crew to the surface. It's a far better depiction of released inhibitions than the later retread on TNG - "The Naked Now," where everything was very one-note by comparison.

The episode is brilliantly paced and directed. It begins rather slowly and uneventfully, not quite routine since they find a scientific party which is dead by mysterious circumstances. There's an ominous tone to this first act, but it gives no hint of the wild madness to come. Things escalate rapidly to a delirious pitch, with Kirk near panic as he loses all control of the ship and then himself. There are some great stylistic flourishes during the final act, such as a fevered Kirk's entry into one of the lifts, where he sees the words written in red paint - it's almost surreal. And, of course, his confrontation with Spock and their mutual slapping scene is one of the all time classics. You never look at any of these characters in quite the same way after this episode.

"Take D'Artagnan here to sickbay!"

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 28 February 2021]

'The Naked Time' is a truly rollicking early 'Star Trek' episode that successfully combines hearty laughs with genuine tension. Spock and a crewman named Tormolen (Stewart Moss, "The Bat People") check out a lonely scientific outpost on a frozen planet that is rapidly deteriorating. Due to a little carelessness on Tormolens' part, some sort of infection is brought back to the Enterprise. It affects peoples' inhibitions, amplifying their emotions to the nth degree. This leads to utter chaos from which not even Kirk and Spock are immune.

In fact, it's very intriguing to see Spock visibly shaken and actually struggling to hold back tears! Sulu, believing at heart that he's a Musketeer, runs amok in corridors, topless and brandishing a sword. And a crewman named Riley (Bruce Hyde, 'Dr. Kildare') seizes control, not actually intending any malice but simply giving in to all of his base impulses. He also regales us numerous times with renditions of "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen".

Some effective early moments (including an image that reminds this viewer of his all-time favorite film, John Carpenters' "The Thing") provide a starting point for a story (written by John D. F. Black ("Trouble Man")) that does take a number of steps into outright humor. But this is tempered by a genuinely harrowing scenario in which the Enterprise itself starts to lose control and hurtles back towards the unstable planet. Since the story hinges on people showing too much emotion and behaving irrationally, this results in a lot of shouting, Kirk included. He and Spock even get into a brief slapping match.

Never once losing its grip, 'The Naked Time" keeps ratcheting up the tension until a resolution that is not necessarily a "happy" one, but is definitely unusual and interesting and provocative. It's certainly true, however, that security on the starship obviously needed a serious overhaul after this episode.

Eight out of 10.

Id Impulses

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 24 April 2014]

A nicely done episode that is based on a virus that is brought on board the ship by an away team. They have been on a planet where several people have died due to mysterious circumstances. It is transferred through simple touch. This virus has as its symptoms, the display of irrational behavior, founded in the inner mind of the crew members. Each crew member begins to show emotions held deep inside them. This is a theme that will be used many times. We also are exposed to the foundational makeup of each of the major crew members. Spock, for one, shows emotion (remember that the Vulcans were once an emotional people who repressed it to become more efficient and calculating). This is the first episode where the crew members begin to actually interact. Relationships are forged. It is the first episode where a crew member must fly in the face of an epidemic, a threat from within. Many are to follow. The acting is better and the story is creative and challenging. Fear is the issue here.

Naked...and Essential

[lds3359 · 10/10 · 24 September 2007]

The Enterprise is assigned to pick a scientific team of a planet which is soon going to die - only to find the team dead - in very mysterious and bizarre circumstances. Thus begins one of THE most essential Trek episodes of all.

When the team of Spock and young Joe Tromolen returns to the ship, Tromolen begins acting in a remorseful and then suicidally way - stabbing himself out of regret for 'polluting space' - infecting Sulu and navigator Kevin Riley in the process - beginning the fast spread of madness throughout the ship.

Very cleverly, Roddenberry and company use the disease to display the inner thoughts and desires of some of the characters, even as the ship spins closer to death.

This is beautifully acted, and expertly directed by veteran TV director Marc Daniels. Some of the highlights:

The scene in the briefing room with Spock slowly losing his emotional control is perhaps one of the best Trek scenes ever. It is done in one take, with a slow dolly shot that subtly closes in on Spock's breakdown. THIS is the scene which made Spock as a character -with a few slips, Nimoy never looked back as far as overplaying Spock.

The incredulous look Scott gives Kirk when he finds out that the engines have been totally shut down -"It'll take thirty minutes just to regenerate them!" basically sets the Scotty character mold also - right through the "I canna change the laws of physics!" line.

From the point where Kirk finds Spock in the briefing room ("My mother..I never told her I love her!") through Kirk's infection, and HIS lamentations about a captain's relationship with 'his' ship, all the way through the risky engine implosion and subsequent time warp, are as dramatic and exciting science fiction ever done. The key line here is Kirk, gathering his strength to return to the bridge, wistfully looking up at his love (The Enterprise), and whispering to himself, "Never lose you...never" I have literally seen this more times than I count, but it STILL gets to me, as THIS is Kirk laid bare - and it stays part of his character for the rest of the shows AND movies.

And of all the goofs - anyone notice Spock NEVER gets 'the cure'?

Fears, desires and swords

[MaxBorg89 · 8/10 · 29 March 2009]

The Naked Time is one of the more entertaining Star Trek episodes, even though there is the usual percentage of danger involved. It's also one of those stories that uses its central plot device (in this case a virus) as a means to explore the essence of the show's characters, which is always welcome, given the series' general lack of long-term psychological development.

The aforementioned virus is brought on board after the exploration of a planet where everyone was killed without a logical explanation. Soon enough, though, it becomes apparent that the cause of death has reached the Enterprise: the disease removes the infected person's inhibitions, unveiling his or her most hidden desires. Because of this, Sulu starts running around shirtless with a sword in his hand, Spock discovers a female crew member is in love with him (it also turns out he isn't as cold and rational as he likes to make us believe, thanks to his human half) and Kirk is torn between his duties as captain and wishes of a more personal nature. Someone must come up with a solution fast, or this kind of behavior could mean the end of the Enterprise.

The Naked Time is essentially a 45-minute extravaganza where we get to see how Kirk and the others would behave if they lost their common sense and reverted to the animal side of their nature. The story is rather thin (it's basically a succession of entertaining skits), but the performances make it worth watching, especially Nimoy's work, which apparently was so well received by fans that the writers decided to play on Spock's dual nature as often as they could. A very wise decision indeed.

She's neither fair nor a maiden

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 7 October 2020]

The Enterprise crew become infected with a virus that suppresses inhibitions.

The Naked Time is an entertaining if somewhat mistimed episode of the original series. Some interesting concepts are explored and it has a good mix of comedy and drama.

It's both plot and character driven, with the focus mainly on characters behaving without inhibitions. There is a large chunk of it dedicated to some more humorous moments involving Sulu and O'Reilly (particularly O'Reilly) which dominate things a little too much. When the focus is on Kirk and Spock, things get very interesting and it provides some excellent insight into their characters.

That being said my two favourite moments belong to Lt. Uhura. Firstly when she almost loses it with Kirk during a stressful situation and then her response to a virus-ridden, swashbuckling Mr Sulu as he attempts to show her a bit of chivalry.

The suspense involved with Mr Scott's scenes and the ship's restart of the warp engines is really good. In fact, the implications of what happens at the end is a pretty significant part of the show and franchise. Some reviewers have mentioned the episode should really have been a later entry to be a Part One for 'Tomorrow Is Yesterday' (as was the original intention according to wikipedia). It's hard to disagree with that as it would also have made more sense to establish the characters a bit more before showing us them behaving this way.

PSI 2000 Goes Out with a Bang

[Samuel-Shovel · 8/10 · 11 May 2017]

This is a great example of how to tie character development into the plot of your episode. The use of a bug to unearth the crew's inhibitions and self-doubt makes for a great episode and good way for the audience to find out more about these characters. Spock's struggle with emotion, Kirk's conflict between finding romantic love and maintaining Captain-like control, Sulu's... fencing hobby?

All of this further's the development of these characters and makes the audience identify with their plights. Mix this with a little bit of peril and you have yourself a solid episode.

Subdued personalities

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 August 2019]

The Enterprise is on a mission to observe the end of a planet and Leonard Nimoy and Stewart Moss go down to the planet's surface to pick up a science team of six. But they're all dead and in bizarre circumstances.

Soon enough however a lot of the Enterprise crew starts behaving bizarrely and if they don't snap out of it the Enterprise will be destroyed along with the planet it is observing.

Unforgettable in his role is Bruce Hyde as crewman O'Riley who acts like he's on a bender and keeps rendering I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen ad nauseum. He really makes a mess of things in his faux drunken delirium. Hyde did two appearances as O'Riley this is the first.

The site of George Takei as a swordsman from Alexandre Dumas. is something to see. Might have made more sense to make him a Samurai though.

Sulu nearly doesn't make Captain.

Space Madness!

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 21 April 2016]

It's chaos onboard the ship as a hallucinatory disease claims the crew one by one; shirtless Sulu attacking everyone with an epee, Nurse Chapel putting the moves on Spock, it's a regular nut house. Speaking of Spock, he even gets to lose his unflappable composure as emotion smothers self control. Also, check out the wicked pimp hand on our favorite Vulcan; shortest slap fight in history.

Overall, this is a great one. Starts out lighthearted, but as Enterprise's orbit continues to decay, there's action, suspense and a real sense of danger. Lots of shouting, too. The ending is a bit out of left field, but it still kinda works.

8/10

"It's like nothing we've dealt with before".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 26 September 2010]

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"?

Maybe not the most intellectual episode ever, but it sure was fun

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 5 December 2006]

Okay, the basic plot of the show was awfully simple and the episode lacked depth, but on the other hand, it was a lot of fun to watch and this make it among the better episodes. The enterprise encounter a strange space plague that is brought on board by a really stupid crew member. The crewman's decision to take off his protective gear when they encountered the virus was, in hindsight, not a brilliant move to say the least!! He thereby became the vector that brought this virus aboard and it soon spread like wild fire. The disease acted a lot like LSD and made people do dangerous and psychotic things--and this was pretty entertaining!! Seeing Sulu thinking he was one of the Musketeers was hilarious, but I particularly liked when Lt. Rilley took over the control room and tried to smash the ship into the planet--all the while singing the same annoying Irish tune again and again and again!!! This tongue-in-cheek style is the reason I really loved the episode as well as the way that it allowed so many of the crew to express and explore themselves. Not the very best episode, but definitely among the better ones of the series.

Heavy Water...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 15 February 2022]

The contamination comes from below, not long after you'll start to bellow, flying high soaring low, take your pick where you'll go, anywhere you like but mellow.

The pyjama PPE fails to protect against a water based contagion that soon infects the crew of the Enterprise leaving it in an awkward spiral towards an imploding planet. You get the feeling the crew have serious pent up relationship anxiety.

It's Star Trek TOS so we all cut it slack but this one is a real stretch...

[Sean_Biggins · 4/10 · 3 December 2022]

As everyone here has mentioned, the guy reaches into his suit because he's itchy... on a contaminated planet? And then if that's not enough, one of the infected, overemotional crew members locks himself in engineering and turns off the engines? You would think on a star ship that there'd be some kind of lock-out code or whatever to stop an infected nut from being able to just stumble into a room in a seemingly drunken stupor and flick off the engines. Like I said, I'm willing to cut Star Trek TOS some slack but this is just going too far. I have a hard time watching anything that is completely impossible.

A loss of inhibitions

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 1 September 2015]

The Enterprise is on a mission to observe a planet as it disintegrates but first they must evacuate the people working in a research station there. The away team finds the base staff dead; all in bizarre situations; one man was found frozen to death while showering fully dressed and others were just seated at their posts. One of the away team comes into contact with a red liquid and soon starts acting strangely, questioning why men are in space. Back on board the Enterprise his condition worsens and he threatens Sulu and another crewman with a knife. They disarm him but are soon acting strangely themselves; Sulu is running around with a sword and the other man starts singing Irish ballads and more dangerously locks himself in engineering and takes control of the ship. This would be bad at the best of times but the Enterprise is in a decaying orbit and more and more crew members are becoming affected. It is a race against time as Scotty tries to force his way back into Engineering and McCoy works to find a cure for the strange condition.

This is an entertaining episode which grabs the viewer's attention quickly; the opening scenes where the frozen base is explored and crewman Tormolen is contaminated make clear that something strange has happened and will inevitably start happening again on the Enterprise without making it too obvious what might happen. As more and more people become infected it becomes apparent that the condition affects people emotionally in a way similar to alcohol without the accompanying drunkenness… it removes people's inhibitions so some, like Tormolen, will become maudlin, others will become flirtatious and others will act out fantasies. This is done in an interesting way and even though we know it will work out in the end it is quite tense as they race against time regain the ship and struggle to deal with the condition. The effects of the condition give us a chance to see the main cast acting in a way we don't usually; it was particularly fun seeing Sulu running around the ship with a sword, William Shatner hamming it up as Kirk gets overly emotional and Spock actually showing some emotion.

I wasn't surprised to learn that this was intended to be a two part episode as the solution to one problem leaves the Enterprise travelling back in time only for this problem to be solved almost immediately… so quickly that there was little point having it happen at all! Overall a pretty good episode that I really enjoyed.

Very good episode

[SusanJL · 10/10 · 11 November 2019]

Drama and humor, entertaining! Loved watching the crew act up.

The Perfect Star Trek Episode

[movies-109 · 10/10 · 24 December 2019]

After just watching it a few minutes ago, probably for the 40th time, I have even more appreciation for this episode. Is the the absolute best? Probably not, but in terms of being exemplary Star Trek and everything that made the show great, it's perfect. It begins on a strange new world, has more character development outside of the "big seven" than you normally see, and we see that even drunk out of his mind, Kirk's innermost passion is for his ship. And once again... Uhura's best line ever. I now return you to my original review!

Naked Time is a rip roaring good time. It also established many important personality traits of the crew. Only the Doctor, Uhura, and Scotty are unaffected by the PSI 2000 madness. Kirk and Spock have to be, to reveal their innermost selves. Scotty would just be a drunken version of himself, McCoy would still be himself but sloppy. Even Kirk and Spock overcome the madness, proving their duty bound personalities - something that was very important to the series over time.

It is unfortunate that The Next Generation remade this episode too soon, before the ensemble had a chance to really gel. That's for it's own review - but if TNG's Naked Now had been episode 10, or 15 rather than episode 2, it might have played a lot better. The trouble was the characters were not well established at all, and it was kind of forced. In the original, the story became canon to the personalities of everyone who was affected.

It's a pity we didn't see much more of Kevin Riley. He is poisoned in "The Conscience of the King" but it is not revealed if he survived or not. And he's never seen again. Star Trek had a real shipboard, military feel in this episode and it's something that slipped away fairly quickly. Gene intended the stories to be more important than the characters but that fell by the wayside within the first 10 episodes. I actually posed this question to Majel at a convention, i.e. Was Gene surprised that the characters became the focus of the fans almost immediately, when it wasn't what he originally intended. The question when whooshh right over her head based on her answer.

Anyway, there is a feel, a magnetism to the first 10-12 episodes of season one and Naked Time, Corbomite Maneuver, What Are Little Girls Made Of? - they are essential to understand before indulging in the formula of season two, or the camp of season three. I think the people who adore Star Wars but not Star Trek are giving George Lucas way too much credit. By the time he got around to doing the prequels he was jaded and thought he could do no wrong, and he sure did. Gene Roddenberry had TNG headed into a series of reruns of stuff he'd been talking about for two decades, until handing the reins over. TOS died in its third season, TNG hit the ground running in its third season and didn't let up until the seventh when things were winding down.

But back to the subject at hand. I love the pacing of this episode. This is a combination of directing and editing, both very well done. There are no wasted moments. The mayhem builds throughout. Sadly the stupid "remastered" version kills one of the best scenes as it fades to the last commecial break, with Riley's distorted voice over the intercom and the planet's surface rolling by wildly on the viewscreen. "Cleaning up" this shot didn't do it any favors. I despise retconning (speaking of Star Wars... Han shot first!) or upgrading special effects. Star Trek was a very modest budget show of the 1960s that used film layering and simple split screens and plywood sets and "automatic doors" hooked to curtain rods that were yanked open and shut manually. Changing it to some hybrid of 1960s and 1990s tech is really nothing more than a lie... a transparent one, and an offensive one.

Uhura has her best line ever, and according to the trivia entry it was improvised. I never knew that and I thought I'd heard every piece of Trek trivial ever leaked out of the great seive of the universe. Fantastic, wonderful line. Uhura's two best moments in the series come opposite Sulu - in both cases he's not exactly himself. In this one he's on the equivalent of a 12 pack of ale and a handful of quaaludes; in "Mirror Mirror" he's his own evil twin.

Stuart Moss, who plays Tormolen, appears in "By Any Other Name" as one of the Kelvans - unfortunately his character is the only casualty aboard the Enterprise. His personality is a bit morose at least when exposed to the disease, but he could have been an interesting semi-regular.

Naked Time is one of the small number of "stupid grin" episodes of Star Trek. One where the moment it starts, I just sit back with a stupid grin and say "Ohh, this is gonna be gooood". Others are... Mirror Mirror, and the fabulous "Yesterday's Enterprise".

One of the trivia bits was this was supposed to be a 2-part episode, although it was really just two stories linked by the ending event. When the Enterprised goes into the time warp at the end - IMO a brilliant twist - it would have segued into the beginning of "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" when the Enterprise ends up over earth in 1967 and gets spotted as a UFO by a fighter pilot. As it was the two were separated and a new beginning was written. I think Naked Time stands on its own and probably would have been weakened by a "to be continued". It was exciting and fun enough. It's a great episode and one of the true TENS in TOS.

Improper containment techniques nearly lead to disaster.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 13 February 2022]

One of the 'fun' episodes when we get to see characters going all in on giving a 'big' performance as a result of mind altering virus circulating around the enterprise.

Shatner delivers a few great scenes in this one ----- His conflict of being a ship captain while harboring feelings for the crew members and his heavy handed attempt to snap Spock out of his emotional downward spiral.

Seemed like the writers had a plan to bring back the 'time traveling' formula they used to save themselves from colliding with the planet ---- Time travel plots are pretty messy so probably for the best that they did not play around too much with that.

Spock is clearly the Alpha on Enterprise ---- Uhura and Chapel are interested in him. And why not right? There is also something alluring about someone (or something) you cannot have.

Fun, universe building, a lot of laughs.

Good, but also cheesy

[ectreece · 7/10 · 9 November 2019]

It gets better at the end, but the beginning is kind of dumb. This is my first time watching, and I've been watching it on-and-off, so I don't know all the names, but when they're on the new planet at the beginning, some complete idiot take off the glove of his decontamination suit, and then we he becomes infected by the mysterious substance... he puts his hand up to his face??? Immediately after, when Kirk asks what killed the people on the planet, Spock looks straight at the camera as it zooms in and says "unknown captain. It's like nothing we've dealt with before," as the music rises in the background, making for a pretty cliche/cheesy dramatic scene.

As I said, it gets better, but the completely illogical character choices and plot lines, like Kirk succumbing to the effects of the disease IMMEDIATELY after getting infected, while it takes others about half an hour or more, kind of ruined the episode for me and made it feel kind of dumb. So far, there's been some stuff like this in the few episodes I've seen, and is why I will ALWAYS put Star Wars miles ahead of Star Trek. It's really not even a competition.

One of the MOST IMPORTANT EPS FOR THE CANON

[mylkione · 9/10 · 21 November 2022]

This episode introduces several narrative devices, recurring throughout the canon. Most importantly involves the brilliance behind one of the most novel exploitations of E=MC2 in early sci-fi. Unknown at the time, but the timewarp ending not only utilizes the best portrayal of spacetime in tv to that moment, but sets up scores of similar plots in a multitude of series. It's also a stunningly modern plot turn for a show that underwhelmed with critics. It signals Star Trek's linkage with hard sci fi, reaching its ostensible apotheosis with the Asimov scripted The Motion Picture. Still stands the test of time as one of the coolest endings to any episode.

Equal parts great and cringey

[TARDIS_Tech_Support · 6/10 · 7 September 2022]

Get some men drunk, and suddenly the casual sexual harassment turns into blatant sexual harassment. Man, doesn't Starfleet have a Human Resources department?

The updated effects are pretty great, the overall progression of the "antagonist" is suspenseful, but there's too much dead time, too many filler scenes where practically nothing happens, for 3-5 minutes, on several occasions. With better writing, this could have been an utter classic. Now, it's mainly known as the one where Sulu fences in the hallway, shirtless.

It was great to see the Jeffrey's Tube for the first time, along with some series semi-regulars for one of their few appearances, but for the most part this episode could be skipped altogether.

Madness Aboard The Enterprise

[Rainey-Dawn · 9/10 · 20 December 2016]

Season 1, episode 4. Mr. Spock and Lieutenant Junior Grade Tormolen the Psi 2000 to find out what has happened to the people. Everyone there was dead but it doesn't add up... one even died taking a shower with his clothes on. Spock and Tormolen re-board the Enterprise but little do they know Tormolen has caught a mysterious disease while on Psi 2000. Tormolen ends up infecting Mr. Sulu and others. Strange behavior takes place among the crew of the USS Enterprise. Tormolen overrides the bridge, it's controls and intercom -- the ship is speeding towards the planet with Kirk, Spock and Scotty racing to get back control of the ship while Dr. McCoy quickly trying to find a cure. Can a cure be found before it's too late?

A really fun episode watching everyone on board the ship acting out of character - in particular watching Sulu's swashbuckling scene!!

9/10

Pretty good episode

[intp · 7/10 · 10 March 2014]

I thought this was the first fairly good episode of the first season (not including "The Cage", which I did like; I'm going by the Blu Ray set, which had episodes 1-3 as "Man Trap", "Charlie X", and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", and this one as the 4th episode). Sure, there was some hammy acting (by Shatner and Nimoy in particular), but the premise was interesting (crew becoming disinhibited, revealing their hidden secrets) and the techno-crisis was also interesting. The silly acting actually kind of added to the fun of it. I've seen this episode many times before, and it holds up quite well on re-watch.

The crew did almost everything right here-- decontaminated everyone and medically checked them; Spock ordered security to make sure Riley made it to sickbay-- and they didn't do it! I know it was a necessary part of the plot for Riley to seal off engineering, but confining Riley would have eliminated the crisis! I thought that the only really implausible part was that Riley could disable the entire ship so easily; surely they would have command codes and security access features to prevent a relatively low ranking officer from doing something like that. But that's a minor quibble that easily could have been taken care of with minor script changes, so I don't mind too much.

Great character moments here- Kirk as obsessed with the ship; Spock forced to suppress his emotions all his life; Chapel's love of Spock (was Majel Barrett with Roddenberry already by this point?). Sulu's swashbuckling was dorky, but at least Takei actually got to do something in that episode rather than just sit around-- Shatner really did hog most of the screen time! I actually thought this episode was significantly better than the analogous TNG episode, "The Naked Now"-- there, Picard makes numerous dumb decisions that greatly facilitate the spread of the contagion. Here, Kirk and Spock made only small, fairly excusable errors. Though on the whole, I find the writing much superior on TNG. But TOS had pretty good writing for a 1960's show.

The time travel shtick was goofy, but it did open up many possibilities.

Probably one of the worst Season 1 episodes

[pfr1685 · 3/10 · 22 November 2021]

The whole premise is awful. First, nobody in their right mind on a decontamination team would remove their glove and reach inside their "helmet" to scratch their nose (especially since the flexible helmets would allow this to be done from the "outside"; we won't comment on the complete non-air-tightness of the helmets). Second, the planet's mass would not change. Third, the orbit wouldn't decay, unless they were actually in the atmosphere and experiencing friction. Fourth, even if we allow the "going backward in time" concept (as was done in other episodes), Kirk still has failed in his obligation to Starfleet to observe the breakup of the planet. The first time through time (if you'll pardon the expression), they were too busy trying to fix the problem of the crew to make the observations they were required to make. Kirk should have used this opportunity of getting a second "pass" through time to go back and make the observations he missed the first time. He's going to have a bit of a problem explaining to Starfleet why he went on to his next destination without fulfilling his mission, even if he does have partial records from the observations on the first "pass" through time.

Let's do the time warp...again!

[DAshton1918 · 9/10 · 30 August 2020]

Can't believe I missed this one in all of these years...it's certainly one of the best eps of the original series.

Spock and a crewman bring back a mysterious disease from a planet that's rapidly deteriorating and they have NO CLUE how the people died...or that they've brought it back to the Enterprise. Not only that...it brings out the latent emotions in people...and the crew goes a little "batty". You've never seen Spock like this...trust me!

A must-see episode for fans with a few "firsts" and a plot that could be ripped from today's headlines...what more could you ask for?

About as funny as "Friends", and about as intelligent.

[fedor8 · 20 May 2022]

Usually the bad episodes at least have a decent intro, but this stinker gets stupid right from the get-go. A crewman takes his glove off, like a total buffoon, and predictably infects the entire crew. It's one of those episodes where we have to wonder from which Discount Bin For Useless Astronauts the Federation picks its personnel. I wouldn't hire this clown to water plants, much less visit dodgy planets. The nitwit doesn't even bother reporting the strange sensation in his hand. Bad plot-devices abound. Pulp sci-fi of the dumbest kind.

The infection causes some silly "madness disease" that's just a cheesy excuse to have the crew break out of character and do stupid things. Which is pretty dumb timing, since this was aired as the 4th episode i.e. The audiences still hadn't been acquainted enough with the crew by that point. Nevertheless, this generic premise could have worked, yet it didn't because it was handled so badly by a run-of-the-mill writer who did mostly crime and action scripts for daft TV shows.

Kirk actually asks: "Can what caused the madness on the planet occur here too?" What a dumb question. Then again, it's not Kirk's fault the writer is no good.

So it's little wonder that Kirk takes no preventive measures to quarantine any of the crew that were in close contact with the foolish crewmember, once he goes nuts. The 23rd century has no quarantines? So we regress? Instead, Sulu and the irritating "Irish" character who'd been involved in the scuffle with patient zero go back to the bridge, as if nothing happened. A ship run worse than a hillbilly kindergarten.

But Spock's dumb too. Incredibly dumb. When the "Irish" crewman goes nuts, Spock orders him to report himself to sickbay! That's kinda like asking a shark to place itself in a cage so it may stop being a threat. Utter idiocy. This is just one of numerous examples in the series (not just the 3rd season) of Spock being completely illogical. In his defense though, he does at least inform the red shirts (security) to pick him up from the elevator and escort him to sickbay, yet they never show up, for some reason. As a result, he infects Nurse Chapel, who also fails to report the weird sensation in her hands - despite being aware of the contagion. Or at least I assume she'd been informed... because the Enterprise has competent leadership, right? Wrong. The way McSpoKirk handle the contagion is laughable. Along with the utterly unfunny situations, this is the main reason the episode completely fails.

And then Spock starts crying, and everything goes to hell. From that point, the fast-forward button is a friend. Which is ironic, because somehow the Enterprise ends up going back in time, not forward.

Most of the episode is very annoying, like bad comedians improvising in some cheesy low-tier theater. A garbage script, garbage over-acting, and utterly unfunny. Naturally, a popular episode.