Episode Title: Shore Leave
Air Date: 12/29/1966
Written by Theodore
Sturgeon
Directed by Gerald
Fried
Cast: William
Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H.
McCoy AKA “Bones” George
Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Perry Lopez as Lieutenant Rodriguez Stephen Mines as Lieutenant
Robert Tomlinson Eddie Paskey as
Lieutenant Leslie Bill Blackburn as White Rabbit Barbara Baldavin as Ensign Angela
Martine Emily Banks as Yeoman First Class Tonia Barrows Frank da Vinci as Lt.
Brent John Carr as unnamed guard Jeannie Malone as Yeoman Anthony Larry Paul as Crewman Ron Veto as Crewman Bruce Mars as Cadet Finnegan Marcia
Brown as Alice
Sebastian Tom as Warrior Shirley Bonne as
Ruth Paul Baxley as Black Knight Jim Gruzal as Don Juan Oliver McGowan as Caretaker
Ships: USS
Enterprise NCC-1701
Planets: Unnamed Planet in Omicron Delta
My Spoiler filled
summary and review: A tried weary Enterprise
crew is in need for some serious shore leave as the ship orbits an unexplored
planet. Even Captain Kirk is feeling the
strain and there is a funny scene when he complains about a pain in his back. When he feels a hand against his back he thinks Mr. Spock is providing him relief. Then Spock steps forward Kirk realizes to his shock that the person massaging his lower back is actually his Yeoman. On
the planet, which apparently has neither intelligent life nor animal life and is a planet only of plants, is being explored by Dr. McCoy and Lt. Sulu. As a botanist Lt. Sulu must be really excited
to study plants that don’t operate with insects. All of a sudden Dr. McCoy literally sees scene right out of the classic literary story Alice
in Wonderland, when a giant
rabbit wearing a waistcoat pulls out a pocket watch and exclaims he’s late. Moments later a little blonde girl in the
blue dress shows up and asked the doctor if he had seen the rabbit to which
McCoy points in the general direction of the girl takes off.
 |
| Make McCoy think he is insane. |
McCoy checks with Sulu and when he can’t confirm same thing McCoy calls up the ship to report that
something is really strange or he’s losing his mind. Kirk at first things
McCoy’s joking. When Kirk sees that McCoy isn't joking he decides an investigation is in order. He wants to get it wrapped up quick so he can authorize the shore leave parties for his weary crew. At this point Mr. Spock points out that there
is one member the crew who desperately needs shore leave because his
performance is way down he’s resisting, Kirk says no crew member has no right to
the endanger the ship so if they need to go on a rest leave they should
go. Spock then reports that the Captain is the
crew member that is in need of the leave, a clever trick for Mr. Spock.
 |
| Mr. Spock isn't helping its that Yeoman with a crush |
Kirk beams down to the planet with his Yeoman and runs in to Lt. Rodriguez
and Ensign Martine. We last saw Martine
when she lost her intended on the day of their wedding in “The Balance of Terror.” I guess she must be beginning to get over the loss as she seems quite
flirtatious with the lieutenant. Kirk
asks them how they find the planet, they give a positive report and give the
Captain directions to wear he can find Dr. McCoy. McCoy shows Kirk the giant rabbit tracks and Kirk orders an
investigation cancels the shore leave parties until this is resolved.
 |
| Trigger Happy Sulu |
A number of strange things start to
occur. Yeoman Barrows is attacked by a
fictional character that she was thinking about moments ago. Kirk and McCoy hear gun fire and run to see
Lt. Sulu firing a gun that he just found on the ground. Kirk ends up taking the gun away from Sulu for he is a little too trigger happy. As they continue investigating Kirk while
carrying on a conversation with McCoy confides to him that he been bullied at
the Academy by a senior cadet named Finnegan.
Sure enough Cadet Finnegan appears to torment Kirk. Finnegan attacks and runs off with Kirk
following him. Finnegan disappears and
Kirk runs into Ruth, a long lost love.
Throughout the incidents the camera often shows a strange metal object
in front of the characters: a hint at what might be responsible.
 |
| Kirk's bully |
While Kirk is with Ruth he receives
communication from the ship but notices that the voices are breaking up on his
communicator. With great reluctance he
leaves Ruth to continue his investigation.
Mr. Spock, with some difficulty, is able to beam down but giving his rough trip they don’t dare try it again with anyone else.
He informs the Captain that the ship's systems are starting to fail and they
need to get a resolution to this crisis quickly.
 |
| Yeoman Barrows has strange fantasies |
While this is going on Rodriguez
and Martine are chased by a tiger and Lt. Sulu is chased by samurai. I have to wonder when the two who encountered
by the tiger, didn’t bother to fire their phaser however we later learn the
phasers are inoperable anyway. McCoy
seems to be having a good time with Yeoman Barrows, who found some medieval
clothing it is now dressed up like a lady out of a fairy-tale. She and McCoy seem to be having a bit of a
romance when out of nowhere a knight for the same period that Barrows is dressed
up as shows up to attack them. This
happened after Barrows announced she was now lady to be fought for. McCoy stands in to defend Barrows and is
killed by the knight! Lt. Rodriguez and Ensign
Martine see a World War II aircraft in the sky. These were the type that Rodriguez had a hobby
for and he explained to Martine what it would look like if the plane were to
attack them. Then the plane proceeds to
do that and kills the Ensign!
 |
| Here's another one! |
Kirk and Spock respond to Barrows’s screaming
and Kirk kills the knight that slayed McCoy with the gun that was found by
Sulu. Upon discovering that McCoy was
killed, Kirk grows angry for this is no longer fun and games. They also discover that the knight isn't real it's body looks like a mannequin. As he continues to his investigation Kirk is confronted
by Finnegan one last time. This time
they fight and Kirk on leashes on him a fierce attack using his famed fighting
skills that are unparalleled throughout the galaxy. This allows Captain Kirk to
lay the beating on Cadet Finnegan that he always wanted to. Spock sees Kirk right after he’s defeated
Finnegan and asked him how he feels. Kirk thinks about Spock’s question and
reports he feels great as beating Finnegan was something he always wanted to do. With that in mind Kirk realizes the secret to
this planet: whatever they want comes to
life.
 |
| Kirk's lost love, one of them |
Armed with this new knowledge Kirk
assembles his remaining away team. He commands everyone to clear their mind to think of nothing so the planet can’t
bring anything to life on them. It’s
moments like these that makes me think, as much as I may wish to be, it is
good thing I’m not part of Captain Kirk’s crew. For this moment if I was part of the away team we would be attacked by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. For when anyone tells
me to clear my head that’s the first thing that pops in there. I would hate to have to tell Captain Kirk
what Ray had to tell his fellow Ghostbusters, “I couldn’t help it.”
 |
| Charging a McCoy |
However the away team from the Enterprise was made of better
people than me and they clear their heads just fine.
At this point they meet the Caretaker.
He explains that this planet was made for the amusement of his kind who were now long gone. However, the Caretaker
offers that if they would like the planet can now be used as their own personal
amusement park. It is what the planet
was originally for. The drain on the Enterprise’s
power was an unfortunate side effect and has now been corrected. When Kirk
asks about his dead crew members, McCoy and Ensign Martine show up alive and
well. McCoy even has couple of lovely
ladies about his side to the annoyance of Yeoman Barrows. They never really
died it was all part of the fantasy planet.
 |
| I'm dead, Jim! |
Now they know the truth Captain
Kirk tells the Caretaker that the power of illusion that this planet has is so
great that they will have the quarantine it and anyone who goes there will have to
face the death penalty, unless they go there for a really good reason. Oh wait!
That is not what happens. What actually happens is Kirk authorizes the remaining shore
leave parties to come down and lets the Caretaker know that with the right precautions
this would become a great planet for people to come for vacation. Kirk then runs off with his fantasy
girlfriend Ruth.
Additional thoughts:
This was a really fun episode; it was full of surprises and was driven by
characters. It can be quite a problem when whatever you think about comes to life particularly when you’re Yeoman
Barrows and you have these really strange sexual fetishes that involves a Don
John appearing out of nowhere to rip your dress off.
 |
| Caretaker, after minds are clear |
How come someone with intelligence of Sulu not question a random firearm he found on unexplored planet? I guess is a strong love of antique weapons
overrode his common sense. No wonder
Kirk had to confiscate the weapon from him the man was a little too trigger
happy, although the gun did coming use when fighting the knight.
I didn’t really think anything
about Ruth, Kirk has so many women his past that whenever we meet them they
rarely interest me. I don’t view Ruth as this great love just because she
was the one he imagined on the fantasy planet.
I just think he was she was on his mind. Probably before the mission he
encountered something that reminded him of her so she entered his
thoughts, or maybe she protected him
from Finnegan when he was a cadet.
Speaking of Cadet Finnegan, what
happened to the real one? We know Kirk
never got any real resolution with him.
Is he still Starfleet? Given
Kirk’s fast rise up the ranks he may outrank Finnegan now. If so the Captain should avoid temptation to
transfer them to the Enterprise just
for the purpose of bossing him around. If
they encounter an ion storm and it’s Finnegan’s turn to play Russian roulette
with a pod, everyone will blame Kirk if he dies.
 |
| McCoy is a man with right ideas! |
Watching this episode one has to
wonder what they would doing the fantasy planet. It is better than a holodeck seeing as you
don’t have to program it. (“No bloody A, B,C, or D.”) Anything your mind could
dream could become a reality. I would
take a page of Dr. McCoy’s book, and re-create the strip club Platinum Plus in
Portland Maine as it existed from 2003 to 2009.
Where all my favorite dancers would still be there especially the
Russians and the dancers I went to high school with; who are now all retired,
married, and with children. Of course I
would have infinite amounts of money.
FINAL GRADE: 4 of 5
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