"Star Trek" The Man Trap (1966)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

George Clayton Johnson (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

8 September 1966 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Dr. McCoy discovers his old flame is not what she seems after crew members begin dying from a sudden lack of salt in their bodies.

Plot Keywords:

Extinction | Federation | Space | Starship | Computer

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Jeanne Bal	...	Nancy Crater
Alfred Ryder	...	Professor Robert Crater
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Yeoman Rand
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Bruce Watson	...	Green
Michael Zaslow	...	Darnell
Vince Howard	...	Crewman
Francine Pyne	...	Nancy III

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 phaser sound effect of the beam stunning Prof. Crater was a sped up recording of a bullet ricochet.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Kirk walks into the turbolift, returning from his mission to the surface of M113, the cameraman's shadow can be seen following him in. And, this shot is used in many additional episodes of the show.

Quotes:

Yeoman Janice Rand: [to one of Sulu's plants] Hello, Beauregard. How are you today, darling?
Lt. Hikaru Sulu: Her name's Gertrude.
Yeoman Janice Rand: No, it's a he plant. A girl can tell.
Lt. Hikaru Sulu: Why do people have to call inanimate objects "she"? Like "she's a fast ship."
Yeoman Janice Rand: He is not an inanimate object. He's so animate he makes me nervous. In fact, I keep expecting one of these plants of yours to grab me.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Red Dwarf: Psirens (#6.1)" (1993)

Starring Alfred Ryder And Alexander Courage After Voyage/Sea

This episode begins with a great teaser (note the wonderful Alexander Courage score when the crewman walks away with the girl) and act one has some well acted/scripted lines for Shatner and guest star Alfred Ryder. Act one concludes with a bitchy Captain Kirk having a go at McCoy for not paying attention to his work.

All is good so far, but act two and act three have too much walking around the Enterprise and too much of nothing much happening. Thankfully, act four does pick up a bit.

Shortly before this episode, Alfred Ryder had just finished his two famous episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea playing the Phantom.

Shortly before this episode, composer Courage had just scored two episodes of Voyage called Leviathan and The Cyborg. The man was now known as a talented composer.

Courage is also responsible for the alien planet "singing" sound effect heard in this episode and first heard in The Cage (Star Trek).

The Man Trap is a good hour but it is too bad Trek did not air the better Where No Man Has Gone Before (pilot) first.