The Enterprise finds another starship, the Exeter, in orbit around the planet Omega Four. Kirk & others beam aboard the starship to find your standard-issue "ghost ship": all the crew is dead of a disease that drained all the water from their bodies and left only crystals. The landing party then beam down to the planet to find a Federation captain (Morgan Woodward, "Battle Beyond the Stars") who has gone rogue. He's interfering in the war between two of the peoples, in order to find the secret of their incredibly long lives.
Roddenberry himself scripted another in the line of stories involving the violation of the "Prime Directive". As such, it tells a pretty familiar tale, but there are still good ideas present, especially at the end when Kirk is able to make some of the characters see reason, in his inimitable way. We also get to see Kirk in full "action hero" mode, as he repeatedly tussles with Captain Tracey as well as a character named "Cloud William" (Roy Jenson, "Chinatown"). The real joy for me in this episode was the presentation of the initial mystery, and in watching Shatner as Kirk again attempts to be the problem solver. Guest star Woodward is just as effective here playing the madman as he was in the first season episode 'Dagger of the Mind'.
Most interesting here is the fact that Scotty does not appear in this episode (nor does Chekov). In his place, Sulu assumes command while Kirk & Spock are off the ship. Also, during the original airing of this episode back in 1968, NBC announced that the series *would* be renewed for a third season, and told viewers that sending any more letters would NOT be necessary!
Seven out of 10.
Roddenberry himself scripted another in the line of stories involving the violation of the "Prime Directive". As such, it tells a pretty familiar tale, but there are still good ideas present, especially at the end when Kirk is able to make some of the characters see reason, in his inimitable way. We also get to see Kirk in full "action hero" mode, as he repeatedly tussles with Captain Tracey as well as a character named "Cloud William" (Roy Jenson, "Chinatown"). The real joy for me in this episode was the presentation of the initial mystery, and in watching Shatner as Kirk again attempts to be the problem solver. Guest star Woodward is just as effective here playing the madman as he was in the first season episode 'Dagger of the Mind'.
Most interesting here is the fact that Scotty does not appear in this episode (nor does Chekov). In his place, Sulu assumes command while Kirk & Spock are off the ship. Also, during the original airing of this episode back in 1968, NBC announced that the series *would* be renewed for a third season, and told viewers that sending any more letters would NOT be necessary!
Seven out of 10.