"Star Trek" Operation - Annihilate! (1967)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Herschel Daugherty

Writers:

Steven W. Carabatsos (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

13 April 1967 (Season 1, Episode 29)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Enterprise crew attempt to stop a plague of amoeba-like creatures from possessing human hosts and spreading throughout the galaxy.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
James Doohan	...	Scott
Joan Swift	...	Aurelan
Maurishka	...	Yeoman Zahra
Majel Barrett	...	Christine Chapel
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Craig Hundley	...	Peter
Fred Carson	...	First Denevan
Jerry Catron	...	Second Denevan

Runtime:

50 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The shooting location for the Denoba Colony was: One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA 90278. It was the former home of the aerospace division of the now-defunct TRW. This is where the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system was developed by Gerald J. Bransford Sr. and his team.

Goofs:

Plot holes: After the crew's nearly disastrous experience on "Miri", their lack of concern about first beaming down without protective clothing and then beaming back up with Kirk's Nephew and Sister-in-Law (both obviously sick) seems odd.

Quotes:

Yeoman Zahra: Captain, It doesn't even look real.
Spock: It is not life as we know or understand it, yet it is obviously alive. It exists.
Capt. Kirk: And it can bear up under full phaser power.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Free Enterprise (1998)

Cold War era commentary

Like a few other episodes, the story for this particular episode draws it inspiration from the two competing philosophies during the cold war. The audience is posed with Kirk and Spock trying to unravel the mystery of an alien collective intelligence that enslaves infected hosts to do their bidding.

The theme here is designed to illustrate the slavery that the collective mentality imposes on the human condition. One might find themselves tempted to look up ancient Greek philosophy to explore some of the deeper allegories that are cleverly coded and illustrated in this episode. Note the beginning and the ultimate solution near the end.

Production value wise the creative forces knew they had a turkey when it came to their alien of the week, and so addressed that aspect in some of the dialog from one of the landing party crew members. Otherwise it superbly acted (as are the super-majority of this 1960's gem TV show), and the story, if one is sharp and well educated enough, should strike a chord for anyone who's felt the heel of of an oligarchical power.