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| The Enterprise, in a fantastic voyage! |
THE PLOT
A vast cloud engulfs an uninhabited planet at the outermost edge of the Federation. When it passes, the planet has been broken up, as if the cloud ate it. Now the cloud is on course for an inhabited world - a planet only four hours away.
The Enterprise rushes to intercept, attempting to fire its phasers into the entity. The only effect is that the ship is engulfed within the cloud. With shields at full to avoid being broken up, the crew now has a little more than twenty minutes before the power drain leaves them helpless - and only a little longer than that before the populated world the cloud is approaching is destroyed!
CHARACTERS
Though not as strong on the characters as Yesteryear was, this episode still does a good job of capturing the leads. As soon as they determine the creature has a brain, Kirk declares his willingness to destroy it. He makes it clear that if he has to act as a judge with regard to the life of the creature vs. the lives on the planet, his choice is to protect the planet. He prepares to activate the ship's self-destruct in order to achieve that, if necessary. Spock uses his Vulcan Voodoo to communicate with the creature telepathically. Finally, Scotty gets a very good scene around the episode's midpoint, using his engineering prowess to buy the Enterprise enough time to reach the creature's brain.
THOUGHTS
Another script by a TOS veteran, in this case Marc Daniels, who directed many of the best episodes of the live action series. Daniels' script mixes the planet-destroying dilemma of The Doomsday Machine with the basic set-up of Fantastic Voyage, as the ship essentially travels through a living body.
There is a sense that Daniels was aware that he was writing for a child audience, with the journey through the creature's body used as an excuse for Dr. McCoy to provide some basic anatomy lessons about the digestive system and the brain. Still, that material is worked in painlessly, with the ticking clock of the creature's approach to the populated world never forgotten.
Having the resolution depend on communication is something that ties in very well with the more humanitarian ethos of Trek in general. But this is done without compromising Kirk's priorities as a Federation officer. It's made clear that he is prepared to use lethal force against the creature, and even sacrifice his own crew if that's what's necessary to save the planet. As such, tension is maintained throughout the show.
It is odd that such a serious script has such a comedic title. Still, One of Our Planets Is Missing is a strong 25 minutes' entertainment, a very good episode that not only lives up to the standards of the live action series, but exceeds large tracts of it. Coming right on the heels of the excellent Yesteryear, this gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the series.
Rating: 8/10.
Review Index
I'm surprised you didn't mention either "The Immunity Syndrome" or "The Devil in the Dark," as this episode reminded me of both of those.
ReplyDeleteSince it is so very similar to three TOS episodes, this one did feel like classic Trek, but it also felt like a retread.