[Writer’s Note: I apologize for the many days off I took before resuming these reviews. Needed the time. Should be back to the daily grind tomorrow.]
Original air date: December 22, 1967
Captain’s Log, Stardate 3614.9
SYNOPSIS
Kirk and the Enterprise computer become detectives after Scotty is accused of murdering women on a pleasure planet.
CANON CONTEXT
Nothing of note to mention about this episode.
RECAP
This episode is all about Scotty and I love that. Apparently he suffered some sort of mental breakdown that has left him hating women. Solution? Take him to a planet where everyone is fun loving, especially the scantily clad, belly gyrating women.
Something tells me this trip is more for Kirk and Bones than it is for Scotty, brought them to lift his spirits and give him a better feeling about women in general.
And he surely has it when he has his eyes set on this belly dancer. Kirk, being the kind gentleman that he is, thinking only of his men. Invites this particular woman to their table where she proceeds to only show interest in Scotty. I mean, have you heard his Irish accent?
There is some strange gentleman at the next table who seems less than pleased with the way the three men are ogling her and storms off. Shortly after, Scotty and the belly dancer leave as well. Take a stroll in the “London-like” fog.
Nothing left for Bones and Kirk to do but head on over to another spot where the women are…well…I’ll leave that to your imagination. Off they go, but not before they hear a bloodcurdling scream and find themselves in the middle of a gruesome murder. Victim? The woman who left with Scotty, who happens to be standing nearby, bloody dagger in hand, in shock.
Is Scotty guilty of murdering this woman? He does hate women after all. And Kirk can’t ruffle any feathers as they are guests on this non-violent planet. In comes their lawyer and it took me less than a second to realize where I recognized him.
If you watch Golden Girls as often as I do, you’ll know who this is, but he’s from one of my favorite episodes, Love Me Tender (S4E14): Dorothy dates a short, bald man with whom she has nothing in common – except for great lovemaking.
Eddie: [Dorothy’s blind date finally arrives] Hi, I’m Eddie.
Dorothy: [to the girls] It took a computer to come up with this?
Eddie: [Eddie explains that he’s been in a long depression, and is still not completely recovered] After twenty-five years of marriage, my wife, Roberta sent me a Dear John letter.
Rose: That’s terrible. Married twenty-five years and she doeesn’t know your name is Eddie?
Anyway, moving on. You have to watch it to get all the jokes.
So this lawyer, a guy the planet uses from now and then, I guess, to help with these kind of disputes. He’ll be helping prove Scotty’s innocence. First step, get some other suspects.
Like these two guys. Except the guy on the far left is in love with her and was hoping to marry her. And the older gentleman is her father. I guess they won’t be able to help. Perhaps if the Enterprise can beam down someone on their ship who can put Scotty through a series of tests that will reveal what really happened to him when he blacked out, conveniently forgetting if he killed the girl or not.
But how can Kirk help Scotty if he keeps on being caught over dead bodies. Yep, you guessed it, another Star Trek NPC bites the proverbial dust.
What makes this scene so strange is they talk about this dead girl but never look at her. It was as if they were given direction to look at the camera instead of down at her body. You have to see the episode to understand what I mean.
Dead bodies keep piling up and no one but Scotty is in the area of the dead body. Plus, his lawyer doesn’t seem all too happy with how the Enterprise is handling the proceedings. However, the prefect of the planet agrees to let them conduct their investigation as they see fit if they allow his wife to do her own investigating. She is some sort of empath or something that can sense the truth by holding on to an object. In this case, the murder weapon used in both murders.
Don’t get too attached to her, though. Shortly after they all sit in a circle to prepare her seance or whatever, she apparently feels a dark and evil presence by the name of Redjac? This evil spirit seems like a really bad entity. The lights go out! I give you one guess what they find when the lights come back on…
So, with three dead bodies, one of them being the wife of the prefect, Kirk has only one ace left to play. Lucky for him the people on this planet really are pretty passive. I was surprised at how willing the prefect was willing to go, even so far as to move the entire court proceeding onto the Enterprise.
Once there, the time has come to prove Scotty isn’t responsible but instead…Jack, the ripper?!
I kid you not! That Redjac person the woman was talking about earlier, turns out is the “name change” of Red Jack which can also be known as Jack the Ripper. It’s really quite wild even to hear them talk about it and try to follow. I’d have to rewatch it to try and really understand how they added 2 + 2 to get 5, but let’s suppose their right. Who among them is this Redjac?
He’s not actually the lawyer. He’s just in the lawyer’s body. When they subdue him, Redjac manages to enter the computer system where it’s now taken over the ship and is trying to terrify everyone. Turns out, Redjac feeds off of fears. Who better to scare than an entire planet of non-violent people?
The only solution, which I still can’t believe, is to give everyone on the ship a dose of “happy drugs” so that no matter what Redjac does or says, no one will be scared. Everyone just thinks what’s happening is hilarious and groovy. Eventually, they are able to transport Redjac off the ship and save the day.
Wild episode. But nothing compared to the one I’ve been waiting a long time to see next!
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Voice of Redjac: I am without ending. I have existed from the dawn of time, and I shall I live beyond its end! In the meantime, I shall feed, and this time I do not need a knife. You will all die horribly in searing pain!
Mr. Spock: It is attempting to generate terror, Captain.
Voice of Redjac: I can cut off your oxygen and suffocate you!
Sulu: Captain.
[McCoy injects Sulu with a hydrospray, Sulu immediately becomes euphoric]
Sulu: Whoever he is, he sure talks gloomy.
[starts to rise from chair]
Captain James T. Kirk: [pushing Sulu back into his chair] Man your post, Sulu.
Mr. Spock: An entity which feeds on fear and terror would find a perfect hunting ground on Argelius, a planet without violence, where the inhabitants are as peaceful as sheep. The entity would be as a hungry wolf in that fold.
