Recent changes Random page
GAMING
Entertainment
 
Star Wars
Star Trek
Transformers
 Muppet Wiki
Digimon Wiki
Marvel Database
See more...

Amok Time (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

(Redirected from Amok Time)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
"Amok Time"
TOS, Episode 2x05
Production number: 60334
First aired: 15 September 1967
Remastered version aired: 17 February 2007
← 35th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 30th of 80 released in TOS →
← 21st of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 30th of 726 released in all →
Written By
Theodore Sturgeon

Directed By
Joseph Pevney
3372.7 (2267)
  Arc: {{{wsArc0Desc}}} ({{{nArc0PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc0PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc1Desc}}} ({{{nArc1PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc1PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc2Desc}}} ({{{nArc2PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc2PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc3Desc}}} ({{{nArc3PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc3PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc4Desc}}} ({{{nArc4PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc4PartCount}}})  

Suffering through his first infliction of pon farr, the Vulcan biological mating urge, Spock must return to Vulcan to marry his betrothed or he will die. However, when the Enterprise arrives at Vulcan, complications at the ceremony may endanger Captain Kirk as well.

Contents

[edit] Summary

"Captain’s log, stardate 3372.7. On course, on schedule, bound for Altair VI via Vulcan. First Officer Spock seems to be under stress. He has requested and been granted shore leave. Ship surgeon McCoy has him under medical surveillance."

Dr. McCoy notices that Spock is growing restless and has stopped eating. He also is becoming extremely irritable, throwing Nurse Christine Chapel out of his quarters and physically flinging the Vulcan plomeek soup she has specially prepared for him. After this outburst, he demands a leave of absence on his home planet Vulcan. Captain Kirk is baffled by Spock's behavior, but orders the Enterprise to Vulcan. However, a priority message forces him to change course back to Altair VI in order to be on time for the new President's coronation. As soon as he leaves the bridge, Spock orders the course changed back to Vulcan.

Kirk orders Spock to sickbay, where McCoy examines him and finds that if he is not brought to Vulcan within eight days, Spock will die due to extreme stress produced by chemicals being pumped through his body. When Kirk confronts him, Spock says he cannot tell the cause of his problem because it is a deeply personal affair. Kirk eventually cajoles Spock into revealing that his problem is "Vulcan biology," which Kirk correctly concludes means Vulcan reproduction.

Spock explains to them that Vulcans are married as children with the understanding that they will fulfill this commitment when they become adults. Spock has reached this time, the pon farr, and if he doesn't get to Vulcan immediately to mate with his bride, T'Pring, he will die. Kirk jeopardizes his career by disobeying a direct order to the contrary from Starfleet, and proceeds with all possible speed to Vulcan. As Spock's friends, Kirk and McCoy are invited to witness the marriage ritual – the koon-ut-kal-if-fee. The master of ceremonies is T'Pau, the only person ever to turn down a seat in the Federation Council.

Trouble starts when T'Pring announces she would rather not marry Spock. T'Pring invokes her right to have Spock fight for her. However, she chooses Kirk as her champion, over the strenuous objections of Stonn, another member of the wedding party, who won't shut up about his traditional rights until T'Pau commands "Kroykah!" Both Kirk and McCoy (correctly) speculate that Stonn is T'Pring's actual choice and would be picked next should Kirk decline. Fearing Spock is too weak to fight Stonn, Kirk agrees. It is only then he is informed that it is to be a fight to the death.

The fight ensues and Spock quickly demonstrates physical superiority. McCoy objects to T'Pau that Kirk isn't used to the Vulcan atmosphere and climate. He asks permission to inject the captain with a tri-ox compound to compensate. T'Pau agrees and Kirk is given the injection.

During the fight, Spock apparently strangles Kirk to death, and McCoy accompanies the captain's body back to the Enterprise. Spock, his mating urges curbed by the knowledge that Kirk, his friend and captain, is dead by his own hand, demands to find out why T'Pring took Kirk as her champion. T'Pring revealed that she did not want to be the "consort of a legend", and instead wanted Stonn, whom she implied would have her anyway if she and Spock did marry as she anticipated Spock would most often be away for extended periods following his career. Seeing the flawless logic behind the reasoning, Spock relinquishes T'Pring to Stonn, then returns to the starship, expecting to face court-martial for murder.

In sickbay, however, he finds Kirk alive and well, having been injected not with tri-ox, but with a neuroparalyzer which simulates death. Here, he is overjoyed to find Kirk alive, betraying his emotion with a big smile. Kirk is let off the hook for disobeying orders when Starfleet retroactively grants permission to divert to Vulcan at T'Pau's request.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"What is this!?" (throws bowl of plomeek soup into the corridor) "Poking, prying – if I want anything from you, I'll ask for it!"

- Spock


"I owe him my life a dozen times over – isn't that worth a career? He's my friend!"

- Kirk


"He described it to me as meaning marriage or challenge. In the distant past, Vulcans killed to win their mates." "And they still go mad at this time... perhaps the price they pay for having no emotion the rest of the time."

- Kirk, explaining the Koon-ut/Kal-i-fee to McCoy


"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

- Spock


"Live long and prosper, Spock."
"I shall do neither for I have killed my captain and my friend."

- T'Pau and Spock


"Doctor, I shall be resigning my commission immedeately, of course..."
"Now, Spock..."
"...so I would appreciate your making the final arrangements."
"...Spock, I..."
"Doctor, please, let me finish. There can be no excuse for the crime of which I'm guilty - I intend to offer no defense. Furthermore, I shall order Mr. Scott to take immediate command of this vessel."
"Don't you think you better check with me first?"
"CAPTAIN?!?!?! JIM!!!"

- Spock, McCoy and, much to Spock's surprise, Kirk

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story and Script

  • This episode marked the first use of the Vulcan salute (by T'Pau) and of the words "Live long and prosper" (by Spock). The salute, incidentally, is actually a handsign done with both hands by the Priests of the Hebrew Tribes when the congregation of a Jewish synagogue is being blessed with the "May the Lord bless you and keep you" prayer. Nimoy remembered it from his childhood and suggested it to the show's director.
  • Kirk at one point says to Spock, "You have been called the best first officer in the fleet." It was McCoy who said this, in "Operation -- Annihilate!"
  • In the original script, there were a few more Vulcan words. Spock described Kirk and McCoy as his lak noy, the equivalent of best man. When T'Pring makes her challenge, the wedding party begins to discuss what's going on, all in Vulcan, until T'Pau shuts them up.

[edit] Cast and Characters

  • James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode, though he's mentioned by Spock.
  • According to Nimoy in numerous interviews as well as a 1984 television special, Star Trek Memories, Celia Lovsky couldn't actually do the Vulcan salute naturally, so she had to use her other hand to put her fingers in the right pattern below camera, then hold it up at the right moment.
  • Mary Rice was photographed as a young T'Pring on 16 June 1967 during the filming of the episode. She only wore one pointed ear since only one side of her face would be visible in the photo. Also, the ear was clearly made for an adult, as it does not fit the young girl.
  • Although this episode was originally aired as the second season premiere, this was the last episode filmed in which Walter Koenig wore a wig. He had worn a wig in three previously shot episodes while his hair grew out.
  • Spock has definitely been promoted from lieutenant commander as of this episode. The nameplate outside his quarters reads "Commander Spock", and Vulcan Space Central later asks for him as "Commander Spock."

[edit] Sets

  • When McCoy emerges from the doorway in the first scene, there is no elevator set inside. The elevator is accessed from a side doorway for this episode. This was probably done in advance of the next episode filmed, "The Doomsday Machine", to show the wrecked condition of Matt Decker's starship. When the landing party beams onto the Constellation, the door is open at the end of this same corridor and no turbolift is inside. In "The Ultimate Computer", a turbolift is located right outside sickbay and the one at the corridor terminus is not utilized. Set drawings indicate the doorway at the end of that corridor did not regularly contain an elevator, however.
  • A change in this season is thick painted stripes across the corridor floors. On the sister ship USS Defiant, as seen in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", it was revealed that these stripes delineated various features like the edges of grav plates. Originally, they may also have been meant to mark areas on the stage where walls were to intersect, or maybe as decorations.
  • This is the first episode of the second season to offer a look at the further-expanded sickbay that now includes McCoy's new office. In "The Deadly Years" more beds in the infirmary section of the sickbay are added.
  • This is the first time Spock's quarters are seen fully. A very brief shot of his quarters is seen in "The Menagerie, Part I", with a tricorder and red glass statue seen behind him to make the room look different from the Kirk's quarters set. Here, a large statue with blinking lights, red curtains and objects resembling molecular models are seen, among other "Spockian" decor.

[edit] Production

[edit] Other Information

  • This episode is referenced in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Babylon". In that episode, Colonel Mitchell is given an herb to make him appear dead by a Sodan named Jolan. Upon waking up and finding out that it worked, Mitchell says "Well done Bones."
  • In the German version of this episode, the TV station ZDF changed the dialog and cut several scenes to avoid talking about sexual issues. In the German dubbing, pon farr is a disease Spock is suffering from (called "Weltraumfieber", meaning "space fever") and parts of the episode (such as Spock killing Kirk) are explained away as being simply a nightmare that Spock experiences as a result of being ill. The nightmare is caused by an experimental medication Spock is given by McCoy. Therefore, the Enterprise did not even visit Vulcan in the German version of the episode, since Spock is just hallucinating about it.
  • This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1968 as "Best Dramatic Presentation".
  • Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The twelfth and final installment was an adaptation of this episode.

[edit] Production timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Remastered information

The original shot on Vulcan

...and its CGI replacement

  • The remastered version of "Amok Time" first aired during the weekend of 17 February 2007. In addition to new space sequences showing the Enterprise arriving at the planet Vulcan, a sequence was inserted showing digital representations of Kirk, Spock and McCoy walking over a large natural outcropping to Spock's family ceremony site. This is the first instance in the remastered edition episodes in which original sequences have been replaced with all-new computer-generated shots. Shots of the Vulcan landscape also featured a glimpse of the city of ShiKahr from Star Trek: The Animated Series. The background in the image of a young T'Pring was updated to resemble the entrance set seen in T'Pol's mother's house in "Home".

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also Starring

And

[edit] Guest Star

[edit] Also Starring

And

[edit] Featuring

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] Stunts

[edit] References

Ahn-woon; Aldebaran shellmouth; Altair VI; eel-birds; Finagle's law; hypospray; Kah-if-farr; Kal-if-fee; Klee-fah; Koon-ut-kal-if-fee; Kroykah; Lirpa; plak tow; plomeek soup; pon farr; quarterly physical; Regulus V; solar day; space sick; tri-ox compound; Vulcan; Vulcans; Vulcan lute

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 2 		Next episode produced:
"The Doomsday Machine"
Previous episode aired:
"Operation -- Annihilate!" 		Next episode aired:
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Doomsday Machine" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Paradise Syndrome"
Retrieved from "http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Amok_Time_%28episode%29"
Rate this article:
Share this article:
.