"Star Trek" Obsession (1967)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Ralph Senensky

Writers:

Art Wallace (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

15 December 1967 (Season 2, Episode 13)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Capt. Kirk obsessively hunts for a mysterious cloud creature he encountered in his youth.

Plot Keywords:

Succubus | Federation | Space | Starship | Computer

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Stephen Brooks	...	Ensign Garrovick
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Jerry Ayres	...	Rizzo
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Chapel
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Captain Kirk and Ensign Garrovick are fighting on the planet. When they are up against the rock wall, the entire rockface moves.

Quotes:

Capt. Kirk: [surprised to see Spock alive after an attack by a non-corporeal entity] Don't misunderstand my next question - Mr Spock, why aren't you dead?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bring Back... Star Trek (2009) (TV)

"Obssessed!?"

Sayeth Captain James T. Kirk to his good friend a chief medical officer Doctor Leonard McCoy.

Or, Trek does Herman Melville. I remember seeing "Moby Dick" on TV quite a few times, and even the mid late 1970s iteration with Richard Harris and Bo Derek with Shamu in the antagonistic role of "Orca". So it is that I never really fully absorbed this episode until a few years back when I bought the first DVD publication of the classic Star Trek series.

It's a story about pining for a second chance, and, as the title states, obsessing about that second chance when it's presented. But the story also makes clear that the decisions we make, we make out of the best judgment we have at the time. As my former coworker told me one time "Could've, would've, should've, who knows?", and that's what the author of this screenplay is telling the audience. The author even goes a step further and seals the deal with a definite answer for both characters and audience by stating what would have happened.

This story hit home for me when I first popped it in my DVD player. I grew up with Trek as a kid, and reflecting on my own past experiences, I can truly appreciate this story and its parable for what it is, and embrace the full value of the message. Sometimes we go through life with an astonishing amount of regrets, berating our past performances for not achieving the goals we strove for. But, as long as we gave our full best effort at the time, it is reasonable to expect any better result? In the US we call it Monday-Morning quarterbacking; i.e. looking at a game of American "Football", and critiquing the mistakes of who made what decisions, and the impacts thereof. We learn from our mistakes, but how much dissection is healthy? Or, to put it in simpler language, do we really need to beat ourselves up for something over which we had no control?

Production Values; the monster is what it is--a cloud. Animated at some times, dry ice sunk in a pale of water at other times. It's not the most abhorrent or scary of creatures to look at, but it does give one pause when we consider its capabilities, and its true nature. In other words, again another fantastic sci-fi story carries forward some slight of hand special effects. We know what we're looking at, but the attributes of the monster as explained in the dialog and scene action and description, are what carry the story forward.

Again, this is the genius of shows like Star Trek. The material future may be the polar opposite of dystopic, but it's the forces inside us meeting the challenges without that create our own spiritual and psychological desolation. This episode, like all good TV, lets us vicariously travel that path as Kirk and crew address a menace to 23rd Century space lanes; a sociopathic (or perhaps just callous and uncaring) sentient that has its own priorities: Survival.

And here again we're given a pretty harsh story on top of that. In a galaxy and universe like Star Trek, where the usual baddies come in the form of Klingons or misunderstood (sometimes super powerful) alien races, will there always be room for a heart to heart negotiated settlement? And what will the ramifications of that be like? This too is worth pondering.

Gripping, mysterious, somewhat belabored in the subplot department, but a good watch all the same.

Enjoy.