Though the story is ultimately a good one, there are an awful lot of elements over the course of the episode that don't make sense to me. For starters, there's Kirk's decision to bring an unprotected landing party of six to the surface of Omicron Ceti III, even while knowing that Berthold rays disintegrate living animal tissue. That detail is glossed over by Spock's mention that it would take seven days for Berthold rays to begin to affect humans, but still, why not take the precaution? I thought that was weak.
Later an observation is made by the Enterprise crew that the agricultural colony was not producing more food than was needed by the colonists themselves, as if that was a negative. My response to that is, what would be the point? What would they have done with the over-production? It's not like they could have traded their food with another settlement doing the exact same thing. That just didn't make sense.
Then there's the scene between Spock and Leila (Jill Ireland) right after Spock gets hit with the spores. In the subsequent scene, Spock is wearing the brown coverall uniform of the Omicrons. Where did he get it from? It's not likely that they would have stopped a moment to marvel at Spock's transformation long enough to go back to the settlement for a change of wardrobe.
But the best, and seriously, I had to laugh - Why would Captain Kirk have a suitcase in his quarters on the Enterprise? A suitcase??? The whole idea of that cracked me up so much that I'm laughing again even as I write this.
Well I guess I've panned this episode enough, There's some good stuff here, just as there was in the very prior episode - 'A Taste of Armageddon'. Both tell essentially the same story from diametrically opposite angles. In 'Armageddon', the leaders of Eminiar VII have surrendered their authority to a mathematically constructed computer game in order to minimize destructive conflicts. Citizens live in peace but willingly surrender their lives when a computer tells them it's time to do so. On Omicron Ceti III, the settlers live in complete peace and comfort, but with no ambition to create progress and further the advance of their community or civilization. With no wants or needs, the community stagnates, causing it's leader Sandoval (Frank Overton) to question their very purpose once the effects of the spores is counteracted.
Like other reviewers on this board, I also question what made Kirk so immune from the effects of the spores. You might add that puzzler to my earlier list of quirks for this episode. I can go along with the idea that strong emotions countered the effects of the spores, but the Captain was no more suited to be unaffected by them than was Spock, given the way their characters had been developed by the series up till now. Also convenient as well, that Spock was affected by something the same way as humans here, while in other situations he wasn't. Not finding fault mind you, just making another observation.
Later an observation is made by the Enterprise crew that the agricultural colony was not producing more food than was needed by the colonists themselves, as if that was a negative. My response to that is, what would be the point? What would they have done with the over-production? It's not like they could have traded their food with another settlement doing the exact same thing. That just didn't make sense.
Then there's the scene between Spock and Leila (Jill Ireland) right after Spock gets hit with the spores. In the subsequent scene, Spock is wearing the brown coverall uniform of the Omicrons. Where did he get it from? It's not likely that they would have stopped a moment to marvel at Spock's transformation long enough to go back to the settlement for a change of wardrobe.
But the best, and seriously, I had to laugh - Why would Captain Kirk have a suitcase in his quarters on the Enterprise? A suitcase??? The whole idea of that cracked me up so much that I'm laughing again even as I write this.
Well I guess I've panned this episode enough, There's some good stuff here, just as there was in the very prior episode - 'A Taste of Armageddon'. Both tell essentially the same story from diametrically opposite angles. In 'Armageddon', the leaders of Eminiar VII have surrendered their authority to a mathematically constructed computer game in order to minimize destructive conflicts. Citizens live in peace but willingly surrender their lives when a computer tells them it's time to do so. On Omicron Ceti III, the settlers live in complete peace and comfort, but with no ambition to create progress and further the advance of their community or civilization. With no wants or needs, the community stagnates, causing it's leader Sandoval (Frank Overton) to question their very purpose once the effects of the spores is counteracted.
Like other reviewers on this board, I also question what made Kirk so immune from the effects of the spores. You might add that puzzler to my earlier list of quirks for this episode. I can go along with the idea that strong emotions countered the effects of the spores, but the Captain was no more suited to be unaffected by them than was Spock, given the way their characters had been developed by the series up till now. Also convenient as well, that Spock was affected by something the same way as humans here, while in other situations he wasn't. Not finding fault mind you, just making another observation.