PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Star Trek Season 2

I just wrapped up the 2nd season of the original Star Trek today. I got the Blu-ray's when they got cheap and have been watching a disc or so a week. I'm watching the show with the original effects option. I had watched the whole series a while back and the DVDs I watched had new effects inserted. It was fun to see the old effects and I enjoyed the shows all over again. I'll have to switch to the new effects the next time I see them.

I wrote long posts about the season back in 2012. You can read those by clicking the Star Trek Season 2 link in the CATEGORIES column.

Star trek S2D8

   

The 8th and last disc of season 2 has only three episodes on the disc. The first of them is The Ultimate Computer and it was first broadcast on March 8 1968. The 53rd episode was written by D C Fontana and it was based on a story by Laurence N Wolf. The Enterprise is ordered to a space station under command of Commodore Wesley. It looks like a big mushroom, huh. The Enterprise is to participate in some simulated war games with four other Federation star ships. The Enterprise will leave most of it's crew on the space station and have a new computer system installed to run the ship's functions. Doctor Daystrom is the designer of the computer systems found in Federation Starfleet ships like the Enterprise. His new computer, the M-5, is the bomb. It can control of many functions on the ship; eliminating crew positions and thus the danger to human life. Spock is impressed but Kirk and McCoy are doubtful. William Marshall plays Daystrom, some of you might remember him as Blacula or the King Of Cartoons.

   

Of course we know that new computer programs and war games are a bad mix and things go horribly wrong. Many people die when a ship is blasted by the M-5. The Enterprise nearly gets blasted to oblivion by the remaining star ships. Poor Daystrom, he's gone nuts and he nearly kills everyone trying to defend his computer. Luckily Kirk talks the M-5 into shutting down because it's killing people when it was supposed to be saving them. If only that had worked on Skynet.

    

March 15 saw Bread and Circuses air. The Enterprise discovers the wreckage of the SS Beagle, a Federation survey vessel, missing for 6 years. They follow the debris to an unexplored planet and discover a Roman society living there. They intercept a tv broadcast of Roman style gladitorial games. One of the fighters in this "to the death" match is identified as a crew member of the Beagle. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down and are quickly captured by some slaves that have escaped the Romans. They live in caves and that older guy is their leader Septimus. Ian Wolfe played Septimus and he would return in a different role in the third season. He started working in movies in 1934, did stage work before that, later he did a lot of tv. He worked until 1990 dying a couple of years later at age 96.

    

Kirk talks the ex-slaves into taking him into the city so he can find the Roman leader. They get captured by the Romans soon as they get to town and tossed into a cell. They have to fight on tv with the Enterprise watching. The Roman leader is the captain of the Beagle. Upon arriving planetside he killed his way to the top. There's a bunch of fighting and eventually they get out of that predicament. The episode was written by the two Gene's, Roddenberry and Coon.

   

Episode 55 was Assignment: Earth and it was first aired on March 29 1968. After travelling back in time to 1968 the Enterprise intercepts a tranporter beam from a planet a 1000 light years away. It's Gary Seven and Isis the cat. Robert Lansing plays Gary and an uncredited cat plays Isis. Gary tells Kirk that he must get to earth and complete his mission. Gary needs to do something to a missile that is going to launch soon. Kirk doesn't quite believe him and when Gary escapes he follows taking Spock along.

    

Gary has a nice office with a computer that uses the same flashing light panel that they used for the M-5. They reuse a lot of props and this is one that I read will show up in other episodes next season. I'll be keeping an eye out for that. Teri Garr plays Gary's secretary. That's quite the dress, huh. She doesn't know that Gary is an advanced human come from outer space to help the earth people. Kirk and Spock dress casual but they get caught anyway. Kirk eventually trusts Gary and lets him scare the humans into being more careful with their nukes. This episode was a pilot for a spin off series that never got made.

Mostly an entertaining bunch of shows, though the Roman thing is kind of a repeat plot. There are only three episodes on this disc and the extra space is filled with three short interview featurettes. Life Beyond Trek: Leonard McCoy; Kirk, Spock and Bones: Star Trek's Great Trio and Star Trek's Divine Dive: Nichelle Nichols. All are entertaining and worth a look. For some reason I enjoy people talking about the stuff they made. We all know that there was a letter writing campaign after this season, the ratings were falling, there was talk of cancellation. It got picked up for a third season and I'll be getting that started soon enough.

Star Trek S2D7

   

Return To Tomorrow was first broadcast February 9 1968 and it was the 49th episode broadcast. The Enterprise gets a call from someone on an uninhabitied planet. Kirk and Spock beam down with McCoy and spacebiologist Diana Muldaur. They meet Sargon who is one of the three surviving members of his race. They have been disembodied energy beings for 500,000 years. Their planet had a great war that destroyed their civilization. The best minds were collected, put into balls, and stored. Sargon wants to borrow bodies to build himself a cyborg so he can go visit the galaxy. Soon as he gets control of the Kirk unit he's not so ready to give it back. The other two surviving entities get put into Spock and Muldaur. Kirk gets some kissing, but sadly, he's not there to enjoy it. Sargon is defeated and everyone gets back into their own bodies by the end of the show. It's the first mention of the concept that some alien race had been through the Star Trek Galaxy and seeded people which evolved into the races we know today. It explains why so many of them are humanoid and why Spock can have a human mom.

   

Patterns Of Force has the Enterprise head for planet Ekos. They are looking for a Federation researcher, John Gill, who has gone missing. When they get there the ship is attacked by a missile with a nuke on the end of it. That shouldn't be. The natives of the planet were much more primitive. Turns out that Gill had given them some advanced technology and introduced them to Hitler's National Socialism. Even Spock agrees that it was a well run country but he wouldn't want people to live like that. Now the Ekosians are space traveling Nazi's who are bent on destroying their neighboring planet Zeon. The Ekosians Final Solution is to send a war fleet to destroy Zeon. Kirk and Spock try to put a stop to that but they get captured and loose their shirts. They escape and meet a woman Nazi who is part of the resistance. They sneak in to the Nazi HQ and free Gill. He renounces the Nazi leader and recalls the fleet. Gill is shot and dies after saying how sorry he is. Too late now. Hopefully the Federation and the two planets will be able to repair the damage. It's a tough old place in space, no one needs Nazis on top of that. This episode was never shown on German TV when the series was first aired there.

   

In the February 23rd episode, By Any Other Name, the Enterprise responds to a call from an uncharted planet. There they meet Rojan and Kelinda of the Kelvan Empire. They come from the Andromedia Galaxy and their ship got damaged when they went through the Galaxtic Barrier at the edge of the our Galaxy. They have special belts that give them great powers and cover up their real appearance. They capture the landing party and take over the ship. Rojan plans to use the Enterprise to return home. A trip that will take 300 years in the Enterprise. The crew is turned into while multi-sided shapes so they won't bother anyone.

   

In order to save the crew Spock and Kirk fight back. They use the newly forming human emotions that come with the Kelvan's new bodies to their advantage. Scotty gets one of them so drunk he passes out. Kirk smooches up the woman Kelvan and creates some jealousy in Rojan. Eventually Kirk and Rojan fight. Kirk explains that they Kelvan's are growing more human and that in the 300 years it would take to get to their home planet they wouldn't be able to live there as they would be too alien. Rojan agrees and they head back to the nice planet they were stranded on before. Kirks sends a robot ship with a message to Kelvan. Another episode where they meet some powerful aliens and teach them a thing or two. They use that plot a lot. Jerome Bixby wrote the original story and he co-wrote the script with D C Fontana. Marc Daniels directed. I didn't remember much about this episode but I did remember the multi-sided shapes that the crew get turned into. I wonder if the Federation pays out hazard pay.

   

March 1 1968 saw the broadcast of The Omega Glory. The Enterprise finds the Federation ship Exeter orbiting Omega IV. The Exeter is empty and the logs say they got a virus on the ship that killed everyone but those that made it down to the planet. On the planet Captain Tracey has sided with the Kolms against the Yangs and broken the Prime Directive by giving them phasers. Seems like that rule get bust a lot.

   

They figure out that the planet had a very similar development to the Earth and the Yangs are Yanks and the Kolms are the Chinese Communists. Kirks stops the fighting and gets the two groups thinking about peace. This was written by Gene Roddenberry and it's pretty heavy handed but memorable. I remember the plot points, but not the details, from seeing it when it was new.

It was a fairly fun disc to watch. Good batch of stories though a bit repetitive on some plot points. It must have been hard to come up with a completely new idea each week and people can only handle so much newness.  

Star Trek S2D6

   

The Gamesters of Triskelion was broadcast January 5 1968 and it was the 45th episode. In orbit around Gamma II to check out an unmanned research station Kirk, Chekov and Uhuru beam down to the planet but instead wind up on Triskelion. They are forced to fight for their lives against some other prisoners. Once again the crew has become the plaything of some superior being. Aren't there any nice aliens in that universe? Man, space is a harsh. I like the fighting area set. Nice floor.

   

That guy in black is the main slave Galt. Nice collar, huh. Galt is played by Joseph Ruskin who had parts on 4 ST series. Original, Extra Crispy Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. I actually haven't seen many of the last three series and I haven't got any plans to check them out. At least not yet, perhaps when I run out of new Sf programs to check out. Galt runs the fight club that's really just a pastime for the three colorful brain blobs, called Providers, in a glass dome 1000 meters below the surface of the planet. That's Kirk talking to them. They need something to do, since they can't go anywhere, and they like betting on the fights. Spock finds an ion trail that leads him to the planet but soon as they get there the Providers lock their asses in place. Kirk bets the Providers he can beat their best. If he wins the fighters go free; the Providers stop their game and help the slaves get a society going. If Kirk looses he'll provide them their entertainment and not make a fuss anymore. Not sure why the Providers would even go for that but they do. Gamblers are stupid I guess. Kirks wins and the Enterprise takes off. This is one episode that I do remember watching. It was fun to watch again.

   

January 12 1968 saw A Piece Of The Action debut. I remembered this one too. I mean gangsters in space, come on! One hundred years before the Enterprise stops in at Sigma Iotia II another ship, the Horizon, had stopped there. The Enterprise finds the Horizon still orbiting the planet but it's beem empty a long time. The Enterprise is contacted by someone on the planet and Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to find a world that looks like Earth in the 1920's. The Horizon had left a book about 1920's American gangster mobs and the people on the planet had turned that book into their way of life. The Wikipedia entry about the episodes likens it to a Cargo Cult. It's pretty silly no matter what you call it. There's a lot of running round and some laughs before Kirk eventually grabs the two main bosses and takes over their operations. He makes a deal that gets the Federation a cut of the action. Back on the Enterprise Kirk tells Spock that the Federation's cut will go to programs to help the Iotians get civilized. I thought this episode was more played for laughs than anything. It's a pretty goofy story that was written by Gene L Coon and David P Harmon. The director was James Komack. He would go on to create The Courtship of Eddie's Father and Chico And The Man.

   

A week laterThe Immunity Syndrome was on tv. I really don't remember it. I probably watched it. Uhuru recieves a distress call from the Intepid, a Star Fleet ship filled with Vulcans, then Spock gets a shock. He says the ship and the crew are dead. Star Fleet calls and says they've lost contact with the people on the planets of Sector 39J. That was where the Intrepid was. Now we know something is up. The Enterprise gets there and finds all billion people are dead. Then they encounter an 11,000 mile wide Space Amobea. It's killin' everyone it comes near.  Of course they go right inside, plant an anti-matter bomb, then run away. Boom! Problem solved. Mostly a pretty good episode.

   

A Private Little War was broadcast February 2 1968 and it was written by Gene Roddenberry. On Neural Kirk observes that the formerly bow and arrow armed villagers now sport musket rifles. The hill people still carry bows. Turns out the dirty Klingon's are pokin' their dirty fingers in the pie. Poor Mr Spock gets shot with one of those muskets and there's green blood on him. They get him back to the ship and it's touch and go there but I know not to worry. He won't die until the second Star Trek movie. Knowing the future is cool. Kirk's arms up the hill people to restore the balance of power. There's a lot of talk about the Federation's Prime Directive. No interference with the internal developement of an alien civilization. Circumstances don't always lend themselves to sticking with the PD. What are you going to do, huh. Arm some locals to keep the peace. Kirk isn't too happy with the arms race he's worked out. Sometimes the episodes don't always have a happy ending. Mabye that's a good lesson to be learned. Another one that I liked.

Star Trek S2D5

   

The Troubles With Tribbles is the only episode of the original series on the disc. It's one of the more iconic episodes in the series. It was written by David Gerrold and it was broadcast December 29 1967. The officials at the K7 Space Station call the Enterprise in to guard a shipment of Quadrotriticale. It's a hybrid wheat that is headed for Sherman's Planet. Kirk isn't too happy to be guarding some wheat but the top brass want to make sure it gets there and that the Klingon's don't interfere. Sherman's Planet is up for grabs according to the Organian Peace Treaty. The wheat might swing the balance into the Federations favor. The Klingons show up and Scotty gets into a bar fight when they insult the Enterprise. That Scotty, huh, the captain gives him some grief for that.

   

Uhuru buys a tribble from Cyrano Jones, an intergalactic trader, and brings it on the ship. Everyone likes petting them and soon there are too many to count. They are born pregnant which seems to save a lot of hassle with growing up and dating and all. The critters get into the wheat and thanks to them we find it was poisoned. Scotty redeems himself with the Captain by transporting the tribbles into the departing Klingon ship. Klingons don't like tribbles and the feeling is mutual.

The rest of the disc is packed with extras. The first item is the Star Trek animated episode More Tribbles, More Troubles. It was written by David Gerrold and it picks up the story a bit after the original series episode ended. The Enterprise encounters some Klingon's chasing Cyrano Jones in a little ship. They rescue him and find the Klingons are mad at Cyrano because of the tribbles. They also want back the Glommer, a tribble predator, that Cyrano stole. Kirk won't give him up and he tries to settle things down so he can get that wheat to Sherman's Planet. Pretty silly. I hope to see the rest of the series in the future when I get past some of the stuff that's piled up a bit. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen too many of them before. There's a commentary by David Gerrold on the animated episode.

The Deep Space Nine episode Trials + Tribble-ations is the next item on the disc. Folks on the space station go back in time and visit the Enterprise. They use CGi to put the DS9 crew into the old Enterprise. I never saw this episode of DS9. I never followed it after the 1st season. I just wasn't that fond of the storyline. There are two featurettes to fill up the rest of the disc: Writing Two Legends and An Historic Endeavor. Both were pretty entertaining.

Star Trek S2D4

   

Friday's Child is the 40th episode and it was broadcast on December 1 1967. It was written by D C Fontana and directed by Joseph Pevney. She wrote 6 episodes and he directed 6 episodes. The Enterprise is stopped at Capella IV where Kirk is trying to get the natives to sign a mining contract. That's them in their native garb up there. The like fighting for fun and have some dangerous traditions. The Klingons are lurking in the woodwork trying to sway the tribe to sell them the mining rights. There's a fight and the leader, Akaar, is killed and replaced. The new headman Maab likes Kirk because he was more fearless than the weak Klingon. Things turn dicey for the landing party when they stop Maab from killing Julie Newmar. She's playing Akaar's wife and she's pregnant with his child. Maab wants to bump them off since the kid would be the real heir to the throne. About this time Scotty gets called away by a distress signal. Turns out it was the Klingons. He returns to the planet only to get into a fight with a Klingon warship. They are right bastards those Klingons. McCoy delivers the baby and keep Julie from killing it. Maab is killed by the Klingon who's speared to death. Julie takes over the tribe until Akaar's son grows up. She signs the mining contract and names the baby after Kirk and the Doctor. Later on the ship they tell it to Spock. - "The child was named Leonard James Akaar?" "Has a kind of a ring to it, don't you think, James?" "Yes. I think it's a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock?" "I think you're both going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month... Sir" Pretty silly, huh. Much of the episode was shot at Vasques Rocks. They shot a lot of Star Trek there.

   

The Deadly Years has the Enterprise visiting Gamma Hydra IV to resupply the research station there. When they beam down they find everyone gone but a real old couple. They claim to be in their 20's. On board the ship they die in sickbay. Soon Scotty turns up there much older than he was. The landing party starts aging rapidly. It's a bitch getting older. They soon figure out what is the cause and how to cure it. Glad I'm not going to any of those alien planets. Who knows what you might catch there. It's another episode directed by Joseph Pevney. He does a good job.

   

Obsession was #42 aired, the 47th produced, and broadcast December 15 1967. I would have been 14 then. The Enterprise is scouting planets for minerals when Kirk smells something. The landing party is attacked by a cloud. It was a creature that Kirk had run into 11 years earlier. He was on a ship that was attacked and most everyone died. He feels he didn't fire fast enough to kill it. Turns out phasers don't do much to the critter. It's a cloud. It sucks the hemoglobin out of people and they die. That's some cloud!

   

That Mr Checkov looks pretty determined, huh. Just aping the Captain I guess. Kirk becomes obsessed with hunting the thing. Doctor McCoy thinks he might be going over the edge. There's a crewman on board the Enterprise who is the son of the Commander of the ship that was attacked by the creature 11 years ago. The commander died  and Kirk thinks the son might want some payback. Kirk brings him along to hunt the critter but the son doesn't fire fast enough and a man dies. The creature attacks the ship and is scared away by Spock's green Vulcan blood. They follow the creature to the planet where Kirk had originally encountered it. They blast it with an anti-matter bomb. Kirk and the son had argued over who is going to be the bait to lure the creature to the bomb. Both manage to beam out in time. Sure are a lot of powerful creatures in that galaxy.

   

Wolf In The Fold was the 43 episode broadcast and it aired on December 22 1967. Robert Bloch wrote the script and Joseph Pevney directed. The Enterprise is at Argelius II when Scotty become the suspect in a murder. He was drinking and while walking the beautiful dancer home she is stabbed and he doesn't know what happened. We didn't see either. Did he do it? Of course he didn't. There's a pretty good bit of court room drama and more murders before the powerful energy being is revealed. It had assumed human form so it could kill women. Didn't like them. It might have been Jack The Ripper on Earth. They kill it with the transporter. Scotty is freed and the ship goes off on it's next assignment.

Another good batch of episodes. I'm not finding any of them to be too annoying or anything like that. I'm liking the characters for the most part and the scripts usually are intelligent and well written. No extras with 4 episodes on the disc.

Star Trek S2D3

   

Here's another goofy one. Catspaw, the 36th episode, was first broadcast on Oct 27 1967. It was written by Psycho writer Robert Bloch. The Enterprise is parked around Pirus VII and Scotty, Sulu and a third crew man have been sent down to the planet surface. Only the third man returns, dropping dead in the transporter room, and eirie voice comes out of his dead mouth warning Kirk to leave this place. He joins Spock and McCoy down on the planet where they encounter some creepy looking gals who warn them off. Not listening the guys continue on only to find a giant gothic castle covered in smoke or fog.

   

They enter the castle and soon enough the guys are chained to a wall by a bald alien. Korob, the bald guy, and Sylvia seem to have some magical powers as they make food and gems appear. They have the Enterprise trapped in a force field and they toy with the crew. Kirk figures how to defeat the two annoying aliens by smashing the electronic device they use to create the illustion around them and the aliens die without it. Kind of sad for them but, hey, they were assholes for the most part. So many aliens often are, ever notice?

   

A new crew member takes over Engineering and hijacks the ship in I, Mudd. The episode was originally aired on November 3 1967.  There's some fighting as the new crew member beats up all the guys in Engineering. Turns out he's an android and his job is to take the ship to an unknown planet. They beam down to find Harcourt Fenton Mudd holding court over a planet full of androids. Roger C Carmel returns as Harry Mudd.

   

The androids are there to terriform the planet and they are happy to help Harry but they don't want him to leave. He wants to steal the Enterprise and escape but that doesn't go well. The androids have decided to take over the galaxy to better serve the humans. Spock figures out how to combat that take over and they reprogram the androids to go back to fixing up the planet. Kirk won't take Harry with them. He's left on the planet with the android replica of his annoying shrill nagging wife. 500 of them and they can't be shut off. Poor Harry. He deserved it anyway.

   

Metamorphosis aired on November 10 1967 and it was the 38th episode broadcast and the 31st produced. It's got Glenn Corbett and Elinor Donahue as guest stars. Corbett is Zefram Cochrane who created warp drive in 2063. This is about 200 years before the time the Enterprise is cruising around the galaxy and about 150 years since Cochrane disappeared. Elinor Donahue plays an ambassador that is being transported in the shuttle to the Enterprise. She was on Fathers Knows Best (1954-1960) when she was a kid. She was still working in 2010. The shuttle is pulled down to a planet where they meet Zefram Cochrane. They figure out who he was and wonder at his apparent age, he tells them he was made younger by the energy being that lived on the planet. He calls it The Companion.

   

The energy being has fallen for Cochrane and won't let them leave the planet. Elinor has Sakuro disease and could die if they don't get to the Enterprise soon. Spock figures out a way to disable the energy being and that almost works. Kirk tries communicating with it and that gets them further ahead. Then the energy being merges with Elinor, cures her disease, and she stays with Cochrane on the planet. Weird, huh.

   

Elinor's Father Knows Best mom, Jane Wyatt, plays Spock's mom on the next episode of the second season. Journey To Babel aired on November 17 1967 and it was the 39th episode broadcast. The Enterprise is transporting various Ambassador's to a meeting. They stop at Vulcan to pick up the Ambassador and his human wife. Mark Lenard plays Sarek and he appears colder toward Spock than you'd expect a Vulcan to be. Kirk asks Spock if he wants to visit his parents while they are there. Spock tells him that the Ambassador and his wife are his parents. Kirk learns that Sarek didn't approve of Spock's joining the Stafleet. Nearly 20 years later he's still being a dick about it.

   

Sarek gets sick and needs some of Spock's green blood. Before the procedure starts Kirk is attacked and laid up in sick bay. Spock can't take the chance of going into surgery when he's in charge. Kirk pretends to be better and orders Spock to sickbay. A plot is uncovered and the Enterprise is attacked and disabled. They play dead and blast the alien when he gets close. Things get back on track and Sarek and Spock now have grown closer. I vividly remember the scenes with all the alien ambassador's from when this was new. I didn't remember the details but all those costumes and makeups are pretty memorable. DC Fontana wrote the episode and it was a pretty good one.

All in all a pretty good bunch of episodes with a nice variety of stories.

Star Trek S2D2

   

The Changling is the story that was the basis for the first Star Trek film. It's the 32nd episode broadcast and it first aired on September 29 1967. The Enterprise is heading for a planet which sent a distress call. They arrive to find the planet gone. A small metal probe attacks them with a powerful energy blast. They contact it and it stops attacking. They beam it on board the ship.

   

It's an old Earth probe called Nomad that was created by someone called Roykirk. It thinks Captain Kirk is it's Creator. That's why it quit attacking. It looks around the ship and wonders why all the humans are infesting the ship. Spock merges with Nomad and finds out it had merged with another probe from some other race. Nomad now thinks it's job is to search for imperfection and destroy it. People are imperfect so they have to go. Kirk talks the probe into blowing itself up because it is imperfect. The whole episode takes place was on the Enterprise. Not many shows don't have a planet visit.

   

Mirror, Mirror was first shown October 6 1967 and it was written by Jerome Bixby. Kirk, Bones, Uhuru and Scotty are visiting on the planet Halkan. It's a place rich with Dlithium Crystals. Kirk is there to negotiate a treaty for mining rights. Beaming back to the Enterprise the landing party winds up in a parallel universe where the Enterprise is part of an evil Terran Empire. You can tell it's evil because of the clothes and facial hair.

   

The Captain and the landing party get by as best as they can. The alternate Enterprise is a dangerous place. The crew advances through treatchery and murder in that universe. Kirk tries to get out of having to blow up the Halkan's and Evil Spock figures what has happened. He aids them into getting back to their own universe. Mostly he wants his Captain back. Another pretty good episode.

   

A week later The Apple appeared. The Enterprise landing party beams down to Gamma Trianguli VI. It's a nice looking planet but deep down there are some problems. Several crew members are killed and Mr Scott tells the landing party they are stuck. The tranporters aren't working and he can't beam them back on the ship. Something on the planet is draining the ships power.

   

They encounter some natives who live a simple live under the control of the big snake head. That's where the force draining the ship is coming from. The Enterprise blasts it and frees the natives. Now they get to live on their own. They learn kissing from the crew so they should be ok.

   

The Doomsday Machine was written by Norman Spinrad. I had read some of his earlier books but not anything much after the mid 1980's. It was the 35th episode in production, and broadcast, and it debuted on October 20 1967. William Windom starred as the Captain of the Constellation. He'd come up against the planet eater and lost. He tried to save his crew but the giant thing ate them.

   

Kirk and Spock speculate it might be some sort of Doomsday machine that's gotten out of control. They aren't having much success destroying it. William Windom takes his failing starship and plunges into the maw of the beast to put a stop to it's rampage across the galaxy. When the Constellation explodes it leaves a huge dead shell floating in space. William Windom revises his character in the Star Trek Phase Two series. I haven't seen those yet so I don't know how that works. I'll get to them once I'm done with the third season. All in all not a bad group of episodes with a nice variety of stories. There aren't any extras on the disc what with 4 episodes.

Star Trek S2D1

   

Amok Time is the first show of the second season and it's the first one with Ensign Chekov. It was written by Theodore Sturgeon and it aired on September 15 1967. Dr McCoy and Captain Kirk encounter as obviously disturbed Mr Spock who confides in Kirk that he's suffering from Pon farr and must go home to mate or he will die. Damn, fatal Vulcan blue balls. He's got a prearranged marriage from when he was 7. The Enterprise starts for Spock's home world but Star Fleet orders the ship to Altair VI. Kirk takes Spock to Vulcan anyway and gets caught up in Spock's marriage ceremony. It involves fighting with sharp weapons. To the death! And those Vulcans claim to be so civilized.

   

The shots of Vulcan are pretty cool, all red and dim, they are new for this edition of the show. Kirk and Spock fight until Kirk is killed. Spock's betrothed turns out to be a cold fish and Spock dumps her. He returns to the ship to face the music for killing the Captain. He's really happy to see Jim alive. A good episode to start the season and I bet a fan favorite.

   

The second show on the disc is Who Mourns For Adonais? which was broadcast September 23 1967. The Enterprize is surveying Pollux IV when a giant green hand comes out of nowhere and stops the ship. Greek God Apollo welcomes the humans to his planet. He's missed them these last 5000 years and is glad they have come to worship him.

   

Michael Forest plays Apollo and Leslie Parrish plays the ship specialist in archaeology and anthropology. She falls for Apollo and he for her. He won't let the crew leave and that gets Kirk all riled up. He and Spock speculate that the ancient Greek Gods might have been these space aliens with great powers. The power happens to be in the temple and destroyable. Gone it leaves Apollo helpless and he fades away to join his people. He tells everyone he'll miss them and that he would have been a good god to them. Everyone feels bad for destroying him but that's the way things go in outer space some days. Kind of goofy but they manage to pull it off fairly well.

There are only those two episodes on the disc. There are 5 featurettes in the Additional Data section. Bill Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 2 continues on from the season one segment. There are 19 minutes of on set home movies and clips of Bill playing various characters in the series. "To Boldly Go..." Season 2 has a lot of interviews with the cast and crew. It runs 19 minutes. Designing The Final Frontier is a 22 minute visit with the people who created the sets and props on the show. I really enjoyed their stories about having to create big sets with lots of props for little money. The Jefferies tubes were made from giant cardboard tubes. D C Fontana talks about her days working on the show in the 7 minute interview Writer's Notebook: D C Fontana. Various members of the other Star Trek series talk about their favorite moments on the Original Series in the 17 minute long Star Trek's Favorite Moments. That's 77 minutes of material. Not too shabby.