I've gotten to appreciate this episode more as I became older, since it touches on the many aspects of older age: being alone, of becoming out of touch, archaic, and on the different perspectives, not all favorable, of immortality. The episode may have a slower pace than we're used to from this era of exciting original Trek shows, but it may also linger in the mind a bit longer due to the concepts presented, inviting introspection, of all things. Most of the episode concentrates on the main trio of regulars and the two guest stars (well, three, if you count the gaseous Companion); we don't even see a glimpse of the Enterprise or the rest of the crew until the 2nd half of the episode. We meet the creator of warp drive (very significant historically) and again see the Galileo shuttlecraft from "The Galileo Seven" episode. It begins as a seemingly simplistic tale of captivity on an unknown planet, but evolves gradually, due to some revelations, into an examination of love relationships between two species completely alien to each other.
This examination is probably the most blatant attempt to visualize the IDIC principle, from the standpoint of relations between living beings. This is the Vulcan philosophy of 'Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations' - a concept probably treasured by Roddenberry and a cornerstone of his entire conception of future life. However, the marooned human man here, Cochrane, though about 100 years more evolved than the current humanity of the 21st century, is far behind 23rd century thinking as to what is socially acceptable in polite society. He shows himself to be very outdated and has to make an effort to adjust to new ways of thinking, of seeing things, in regard to human/extraterrestrial interaction. It's a leap that perhaps many in the audience need to make with him, as well. On the other hand, this high-minded IDIC philosophy, if not carefully written, may open the door to problematic areas during the course of the story.
As in several episodes, non-corporeal aliens always tend to crave physical bodies such as we humans possess, as if our form is the ultimate conduit for finding true love. This seems a conceit due to writing from the human perspective and, though simple physical sensation may be a subject of curiosity (see "Catspaw" and "By Any Other Name"), the deeper sensation of love should be attainable in a variety of ways. Why, for example, didn't the Companion transform Cochrane into a version of herself? In this case, the episode does provide a good answer: the concept of sacrifice, a strong indicator of actual love being expressed. I found the unpleasant character of the human female (very annoying, like all Federation diplomats) to be a bit overdone, showing the contrast between her and herself in the post-joining with the Companion. The fact that her essence disappears into the Companion is glossed over (it still seems to me only her body lives on, her mind is dead). And this war she was supposed to avert suddenly becomes a trivial matter at the conclusion. But, other than that, this is a thought-provoking story, like the best Trek. The character of Cochrane was reinterpreted in the movie "Star Trek First Contact"(96) and, following along the cliché lines of present-day script-writing, was turned into a greedy drunkard, in contrast to the elegant performance by actor Corbett here.
This examination is probably the most blatant attempt to visualize the IDIC principle, from the standpoint of relations between living beings. This is the Vulcan philosophy of 'Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations' - a concept probably treasured by Roddenberry and a cornerstone of his entire conception of future life. However, the marooned human man here, Cochrane, though about 100 years more evolved than the current humanity of the 21st century, is far behind 23rd century thinking as to what is socially acceptable in polite society. He shows himself to be very outdated and has to make an effort to adjust to new ways of thinking, of seeing things, in regard to human/extraterrestrial interaction. It's a leap that perhaps many in the audience need to make with him, as well. On the other hand, this high-minded IDIC philosophy, if not carefully written, may open the door to problematic areas during the course of the story.
As in several episodes, non-corporeal aliens always tend to crave physical bodies such as we humans possess, as if our form is the ultimate conduit for finding true love. This seems a conceit due to writing from the human perspective and, though simple physical sensation may be a subject of curiosity (see "Catspaw" and "By Any Other Name"), the deeper sensation of love should be attainable in a variety of ways. Why, for example, didn't the Companion transform Cochrane into a version of herself? In this case, the episode does provide a good answer: the concept of sacrifice, a strong indicator of actual love being expressed. I found the unpleasant character of the human female (very annoying, like all Federation diplomats) to be a bit overdone, showing the contrast between her and herself in the post-joining with the Companion. The fact that her essence disappears into the Companion is glossed over (it still seems to me only her body lives on, her mind is dead). And this war she was supposed to avert suddenly becomes a trivial matter at the conclusion. But, other than that, this is a thought-provoking story, like the best Trek. The character of Cochrane was reinterpreted in the movie "Star Trek First Contact"(96) and, following along the cliché lines of present-day script-writing, was turned into a greedy drunkard, in contrast to the elegant performance by actor Corbett here.