While the aborted series, which was to feature Robert Lansing and Teri Garr as a team devoted to undermining aliens trying to fracture Earth in the past, never made it to fruition, this standalone episode did show signs of what could have been a spirited and clever sci-fi series. As is, this episode remains a curio of what might have been. Lansing is Gary Seven, a human from the 20th century who comes from a hidden planet containing a race that cares also about Earth's survival. The Enterprise time travels back to 1968 to research Earth's history, considering all that was happening at the period. They intersect a transporter beam that shakes the ship, introducing them to Seven. Garr is a secretary who has no idea Lansing is this interstellar agent working to maintain Earth's stability amidst such a hotbed of developing global turmoil. A rocket launch containing a warhead must be diffused and Kirk is unsure Seven is looking to prevent potential WWIII or encourage it...Spock admits to Kirk that his decision on trusting / distrusting Seven has no facts to depend on, just his human intuition. I enjoy these time travel episodes a lot, and although this focuses on a rocket blasting from Cape Canaveral as the big event needing assistance from Seven, instead of preventing an assassination or government initiative, seeing Kirk and Spock in 1968 New York and held by security while NASA conducts their launch is neat. Lansing, all business, and Garr her bubbly, flighty secretary astonished by all his gadgets and alien technology, make for a fun team, while the cat, Isis, always by her man's side, becomes herself an amusing supporting character. Spock, holding and petting Isis, finds himself "strangely drawn" to her! With Scotty standing by the transporter so he can get Kirk and Spock where they are needed, and humans from 1968 finding themselves inadvertently involved (two police are accidentally beamed aboard the Enterprise while a security guard at the Cape gets the "funnies" from Lansing's servo and the Vulcan neck punch from Spock!). Isis briefly seen as a sexpot by Garr while no one else notices, adds new dimension to her close contact while in feline form with those petting her! Lansing not succumbing to the Vulcan neck pinch, easily escaping the brig, and wrestling multiple officers in the transporter room before Kirk got him with a phaser stun sure establishes him as a formidable opponent. The Beta computer and Lansing's frustrating dealings with it provides a highlight.
Review of Assignment: Earth
