Operation -- Annihilate! (episode)
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
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| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
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| "Operation -- Annihilate!" | ||
|---|---|---|
| TOS, Episode 1x29 Production number: 6149-29 First aired: 13 April 1967 Remastered version aired: 23 February 2008 | ||
| ← | 30th of 80 produced in TOS | → |
| ← | 29th of 80 released in TOS | → |
| ← | 58th of 80 released in TOS Remastered | → |
| ← | 29th of 726 released in all | → |
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| Written By Steven W. Carabatsos Directed By Herschel Daugherty | ||
| 3287.2 (2267) | ||
The Deneva colony is attacked by neural parasites that cause mass insanity while the crew of Enterprise search for a way to stop them.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
The USS Enterprise approaches Deneva. Captain Kirk is concerned; Uhura has been unable to contact any transmitter on the planet. Spock's research has revealed that a pattern of mass insanity has been spreading in a straight line through this part of the galaxy, and Deneva is next.
Sulu picks up a ship on sensors. The small craft is on course directly for the Denevan star, and does not appear to be out of control. Kirk orders a warp 8 interception course. The ship is out of range of the tractor beam; the Enterprise pursues. Finally, they make contact: seconds before the ship burns up, the pilot cries out "I did it! It's finally gone! I'm free!!".
Kirk forms a landing party consisting of him, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Yeoman Zahra and Bobby. Once on the planet, they are struck by the curious lack of people; in a city of 100,000 people, no one is visible – until, a few minutes later, they are attacked by four men who, even as they charge, scream "Go away! We don't want to hurt you!" But, with their crude clubs, they try anyway, forcing the landing party to stun them, an attitude inconsistent with their actions. Then McCoy discovers that the unconscious men's' nervous systems are violently active – as if they are somehow still being stimulated.
A scream draws them next to Kirk's brother's lab. Captain Kirk's brother, Sam, lies dead on the floor. Aurelan, Sam's wife, is hysterical, and their child Peter is unconscious nearby. Evidence suggests something has been trying to force its way in, despite the fact that the sensors showed nothing on Deneva that didn't belong there.
Aurelan, in terrible pain, tells Kirk that "things" came, eight months ago, on a ship from Ingraham B. As she tries to answer Kirk's questions, she experiences more and more pain, until McCoy is forced to sedate her. The creatures use the Denevans as their arms and legs, and are forcing them to build ships. They control their hosts with pain. Aurelan's last act is to implore Kirk not to let the things go any further; this effort costs her everything she has left, and she dies.
Kirk rejoins the landing party; he knows there is some sort of creature present, but the landing party has not yet discovered anything beyond a curious buzzing. Entering a building where they heard this sound, the landing party discovers strange creatures. Looking like little more than loathsome blobs of jelly, they emit an unwholesome buzzing, and employ a crude, wingless flight. A phaser at force 3 – sufficient to destroy most organisms – barely affects these creatures, even after several seconds of exposure. And the creatures do not register on Spock's tricorder.
Kirk orders the landing party out of the infested area; as they leave, a creature strikes Spock, leaving a strange puncture wound. McCoy removes a small strand of tissue, and then, over Nurse Chapel's objections, he closes the wound. The creatures attack by stinging; they leave behind a piece of this tissue that rapidly infiltrates the victim's entire nervous system, far too completely for conventional surgery to remove it.
Spock recovers consciousness, rages out of sickbay and storms the bridge. His goal: to take the ship out of orbit. Spock is ultimately overcome and returned to sickbay, where McCoy makes another grim discovery. The K3 indicator, a measure of pain, is very, very high. The reason for the madness is confirmed: victims are in such agony that their minds eventually break under the stress. Spock, recovering consciousness, now claims the ability to control the pain. But after his visit to the bridge, Kirk isn't sure.
Spock, conquering the pain, breaks out of sickbay and plans to visit the planet's surface. Scotty, acting on Kirk's orders, refuses to transport him. A scuffle breaks out, and when Kirk appears, Spock explains that his plan is to retrieve a creature for study. He believes that since his nervous system is already infiltrated, there is little more the creatures can do to him. Kirk is convinced, and over McCoy's objections, Spock beams down to collect a creature for study.
Spock returns with a creature and begins to study it. Immediately, he realizes that the creature resembles, more than anything, an enormous brain cell. Kirk catches on immediately: these creatures are not separate animals, they are all parts of a single entity, connected in some mysterious fashion. This is how it resists phaser fire: each part draws strength from the whole.
McCoy's efforts to find some method to kill the creatures fail. Not heat, not radiation – nothing kills it. Kirk knows that if they cannot find a way to kill these creatures, he will be forced to destroy Deneva to prevent their spread. A million people will die if nothing can be done. Kirk cannot let the creatures spread, and has no wish to kill the Denevans, including his nephew. He demands a third alternative.
The key lies in exploring the properties of the sun. The Denevan was free of the creature moments before he died; something in the sun killed it. It is not radiation, it is not heat – could it be light? Kirk thinks it is. McCoy rigs a test cubicle, puts the sample creature inside, and confirms the theory: high intensity light is fatal to these creatures. Spock enters next; it is necessary to see what will happen to tissue that has infiltrated a victim. Spock volunteers to enter the cubicle. This test, too, succeeds: the blinding light frees Spock of the creature and the pain – at the cost of his eyesight. Spock, exiting the cubicle, remarks that it is an equitable trade – the closest he comes to revealing how much pain he has been experiencing. And then the true tragedy is revealed: lab tests indicate that the creatures are vulnerable only to a specific subset of the light spectrum: ultraviolet light is its Achilles' heel. McCoy is chagrined to realize that Spock need not have been blinded at all.
Despite this, the answer is at hand. Kirk orders satellite control to deploy a formation of 210 ultraviolet satellites at 72 miles altitude, in a permanent orbit. The satellites are turned on; the creatures begin to fail, to fall, to smoke and to die. Ground stations on Deneva quickly make contact; the creatures are dying everywhere.
Spock returns to the bridge – he can once again see! It seems that an inner eyelid, an hereditary trait of Vulcans, protected his eyes automatically.
[edit] Log Entries
- Captain’s log, stardate 3287.2. The mass insanity we have tracked across this section of the galaxy seems to have already touched Deneva. That planet, colonized over a century ago, is one of the most beautiful in the galaxy.
- Captain’s log, supplemental. Whatever the creatures are, they have apparently taken over all the inhabitants of Deneva. Meanwhile, ship's surgeon Dr McCoy is examining a strange puncture wound left by one of the creatures on Mr. Spock's back.
- Captain’s log, stardate 3289.8. I am faced with one of the most difficult decision of my life, unless we find a way to destroy the creatures without killing their human hosts, my command responsibilities will force me to kill over a million people.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"And don't give me any damnable logic about him being the only man for the job!"
"I don't have to, Bones. We both know he is."
- - McCoy and Kirk
"Mr. Spock, Regaining eye sight would be an emotional experience for most. You, I presume, felt nothing?."
"Quite the contrary, Captain. I had a very strong reaction. My first sight was the face of Dr. McCoy bending over me."
"Hmm... it is a pity brief blindness did not increase your appreciation for beauty, Mr. Spock."
- - Kirk, Spock, and McCoy
"I said, please don't tell Spock I said he was the best first officer in the fleet."
"Why, thank you, doctor."
"You were so worried about his Vulcan eyes you forgot about his Vulcan ears."
- - McCoy, Spock, and Kirk
[edit] Background Information
[edit] Story and Script
- A filmed scene cut from this episode featured dialog between Kirk and his nephew Peter. The dialog concerned Peter's returning to Deneva to live with Sam Kirk's partner. [1] The scene was edited from the episode.
[edit] Effects
- Deneva, as seen from space, is one of the more unique planets Westheimer Effects Company created for the original series, only appearing in this color scheme in this episode. This planet is reused countless times in the second and third seasons, usually for Earth-like planets (like Capella IV, Ekos or 892-IV). Also, two color-enhanced versions of this planet appear in TOS: a reddish one (also in the second/third season opening credits and as planet Vulcan) and a purple one (Halkan planet, Omega IV, etc.).
- Stock footage of Mr. Leslie's hands from "The Alternative Factor" is used to represent the personnel in the satellite control room.
- The fly-by of the Enterprise that opens this episode will only be seen one other time. It is re-used in "The Tholian Web" as the ship is thrown clear of the Tholian force field.
[edit] Sets and Props
- The Deneva outdoor scenes were shot at the headquarters of TRW in Redondo Beach, California (currently the Northrop Grumman Space Technology headquarters). See [2] for the location in Google Earth.
- This is the first time McCoy's lab is seen. Different components of sickbay were added over the first season, such as the decompression chamber seen in "Space Seed". McCoy's lab contains one of the life-support canisters used on the Botany Bay.
- The starmap showing the progression of the space madness also shows up on station viewscreens in future episodes.
- Wah Chang designed and constructed the parasite creatures. In the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual, it was called a "blastoneuron."
[edit] Other Information
- McCoy speaks about "getting the plates back" on Kirk's nephew to help with his medical treatment. This line references X-ray plates which were common in the 1960s but, in the 2260s, would have been extremely archaic and impractical compared to other medical advances of the time (such as DNA examination). The phrase may instead refer to a 23rd century procedure. Alternatively, McCoy may have been using the statement as an expression.
- William Blackburn, an extra on the show from "The Corbomite Maneuver" through the end of season three, can be seen in the background in at least three different uniforms in this episode.
- There is a blooper from this episode in the first season blooper reel. The parasite creature that was supposed to hit Leonard Nimoy's back is seen hitting his backside instead, making Mr. Nimoy break up with laughter. Also appearing is a sequence showing the landing party with their phasers being used in tandem as shavers.
- The Vulcan inner eyelid is mentioned again in ENT: "The Forge". In the Star Trek novel Spock's World, the inner eyelid was developed in one tribe of Vulcans who eventually took control over most of the planet.
[edit] Production Timeline
- Story outline by Steven W. Carabatsos, 15 December 1966
- First draft script, "Operation: Destroy!", 19 January 1967
- Final draft script, 24 January 1967
- Revised final draft, 3 February 1967
- Second revised final draft, 13 February 1967
- This episode was filmed in mid-February at TRW's futuristic headquarters in California.
[edit] Video and DVD releases
- Original US Betamax release: 1985.
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 16, catalogue number VHR 2328, release date unknown.
- US VHS release: 15 April 1994.
- UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.10, 13 January 1997.
- Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 15, 19 September 2000.
- As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection.
- As part of the TOS Season 1 HD-DVD collection.
[edit] Links and References
[edit] Starring
- William Shatner as
- James T. Kirk
- George Samuel Kirk (uncredited)
- Leonard Nimoy as Spock
[edit] Co-Star
[edit] Featuring
And
[edit] With
- George Takei as Sulu
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
- Craig Hundley as Peter
- Fred Carson as a First Denevan
- Jerry Catron as a Second Denevan
[edit] Uncredited Cast
[edit] Stunts
- Gary Coombs as James Kirk (stunt double, uncredited)
- Bill Catching as Spock (stunt double, uncredited)
[edit] References
Archaeologist; Beta Portolan; Beta Portolan system; Deneva; Deneva colony; Deneva system; gravimetric pull; Ingraham B; inner eyelid; K3 indicator; Levinius V; Neural parasite (23rd century); Starbase 10; subspace transmitter; Theta Cygni XII; trimagnesite; tritium; ultraviolet satellite; Vulcans
[edit] External link
- Operation -- Annihilate! at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
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