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| A shapeshifting alien is on the Enterprise! |
THE PLOT
Carter Winston (Ted Knight), the Federation's most noted trader and philanthropist, disappeared five years ago. He was presumed lost forever. So it's quite a shock when the Enterprise encounters a badly damaged one-man ship near the Romulan Neutral Zone and finds the missing Winston inside.
But not all is as it appears. Carter's former fiancee (voiced by Nichelle Nichols) is serving aboard Enterprise, but Carter tells her that he can never marry her and refuses to provide any explanation. Then, when Kirk is discussing details of Carter's damaged ship, the man disappears - replaced by an octupus-like alien, which reduces Kirk to unconsciousness. When the alien vanishes, a duplicate Kirk stands in its place.
Now in command of Enterprise, this false Kirk orders a new course set... Straight into the Romulan Neutral Zone!
CHARACTERS
Of the live action series' character relationships, the worst-served so far by the animated show has been the McCoy/Spock relationship. Their interplay, so often a highlight of the live action episodes, has been all but completely absent in the animated ones.
This episode was written by James Schmerer, making it the first one not written by a veteran of the live action series. Making it all the more surprising that this episode would be the one to finally restore that interplay. Spock observes that McCoy is a man of "peculiar habits," and he and McCoy exchange barbs in the tag, with McCoy starting it and Spock ending up with the upper hand.
THOUGHTS
The Survivor is a good episode, with a strong storyline that is well-structured. It gets the characters right, and you can hear extra energy from the voice actors as a result. Guest characters are above-average, with the Carter/Anne material working surprisingly well. Carter himself emerges as the animated series' first fairly memorable guest character.
This episode has one big thing in common with the best episode, Yesteryear: It tells a fundamentally very
simple story, one that fits well with the animated
series' time restrictions. It's an extremely linear plot,
one which sees the characters responding sensibly to every complication they
encounter. The resolution does rely on the old "Reforming Villain" cliche, but
the groundwork for that is laid in quite well. No action by any of the characters is enough of a stretch to snap the viewer out of the episode.
Most of all, this one really feels like Star Trek. All the parts manage to come together just right. Crude animation or no, the results are a joy to watch.
Rating: 8/10.
Most of all, this one really feels like Star Trek. All the parts manage to come together just right. Crude animation or no, the results are a joy to watch.
Rating: 8/10.
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