This Side of Paradise

It's a must visit to Omicron Ceti III, where you will never have felt you're so free, organically fed, you'll lose any dread, a final frontier spaced out hippy.

Overcome by the flora and fauna the crew of the Enterprise, including Mr. Spock find peace and harmony in paradise but the captain finds it hard to let go and relax.

Kirk and Spock find themselves on a planet where no living thing should exist. In contrast, there seems to be vegetation and a thriving population. There is another surprise. A beautiful young woman played by Jill Ireland, who once had a thing for Spock, is on the planet. Also, on the planet is a sort of flower that when approached, fires spores, causing a sense of utter euphoria in the recipient. Most of the crew are infected with these spores which causes them to loll around, forgetting their duties. Spock, though initially traumatized, falls in with the rest. He picks up his romance with the young woman and announces that he has never been happy before. His deep human side is being exposed. Soon Kirk, who has somehow avoided the spores, is the only one left on the Enterprise. He can't possibly manage the ship by itself and the crew is unwilling to have anything to do with assisting him. He is bewildered but doesn't know what to do. Fortunately, as luck would have it, McCoy has brought some of the flowers on board and Kirk is dispatched by one of them. This leads to the solution to the problem.

In some ways this is quite sad because of Spock's experience with love and the loss of it. The positive is that we get to see Leonard Nimoy stretch himself a bit, not playing the stolid Vulcan all the time.

This episode validated Spock's "half-human" emotional nature. As a teen, my nickname was "Spock". As a fan, I organized a write-in campaign to prevent the original cancellation of Star Trek (unsuccesful). So, when I tell you that Spock kissing the delicately beautiful Jill Irelend caused me no small discomfort in high school, believe it! The effect of the spores could only be overcome by adrenaline (epinephrine). My favorite lines from the show? When questioned as to whether he really is a doctor, McCoy replies: " Do you want to see how fast I can put you in the hospital?" My current occupation is- yes- physician!

This one really is one of the all-time Trek greats - one of the best episodes of the first season and, for that matter, of the whole three years of the series. It begins as a mystery on a very peaceful planet, where settlers were meant to begin an agricultural colony several years ago. Kirk tries to unravel this odd jigsaw puzzle presented before him in the first act - the colonists should all be dead by this point due to what are known as Berthold Rays and all animals have indeed died off. The answers lie in some funky-looking plants which shoot spores into human beings, thereby indoctrinating them into a space-age version of a 'happiness pill' society. All worries melt away and humans can, for the first time since Adam & Eve (one might say), relax in paradise. In a sense, this is "The Naked Time" episode taken to the next level - rather than fighting a form of disease, mankind here seems cured of all ills - there appears to be no reason to escape something so benevolent.

There is a beguiling quality to most of this episode and moments of incredible poignancy. Most of these moments are in Spock's scenes, usually with his newfound lady love (the luminous Ireland). Here we see Spock as perhaps he really is without that wall of anti-emotion he projects - this story hints that it really is an artificial wall, even unnecessary. This is not Spock afflicted by sickness or possessed by an alien force - it's the real Spock, smiles and all, all his usual defense mechanisms swept away, as human as, well, Dr. McCoy. Swept Away - that's probably as good a description as any for what happens to him and then the rest of the crew. And ironically, it's most tragic for Spock, among all the crew, when this happiness is taken away - we realize he loses the most here - everyone else just realizes they've been kind of wasting their time. Interestingly, Kirk proves to be the only one resistant to these spores, to a degree. I guess that's why he's captain - it takes a lot more to dissuade him from his mission than it does the average crew member.

Overall, this episode presents a superlative progression of surprise, suspense and some jarring thrills following on the heels of the early mystery. After Spock gets through that brief, though alarming, painful transition to his new self, we see Kirk's astonishment as he first observes his transformed first officer (more irony here: Kirk could have really enjoyed a relaxed friendship with Spock if things continued as they were here, a typical 'best friends' relationship, though McCoy might've gotten jealous and then burned off the effect of the spores). Then the ship empties; this was the first time something like this happened - now things look really grim - and once Kirk exits, that's it; the ship will burn up in a decaying orbit. I believe this episode has the shot of the empty bridge which was later used in the TNG episode "Relics." Those hints we've seen of Spock's Vulcan strength prove to be quite valid - don't ever anger a Vulcan, especially if you're a frail human. I don't pretend to understand all of Kirk's insults but I think his reference to freakism did the trick. Finally, McCoy gets in the best line towards the end when he tells the colony's leader to make him a mechanic - "Then I can treat little tin gods like you!" Priceless.

This fan favorite is most well known for its scenes of Spock falling in love, imitating a chimp and telling Kirk to get with the program or leave him alone. McCoy also has a few goofy scenes like this, and his southern drawl becomes more intense with the number of mint juleps he imbibes.

The Enterprise has been diverted to a planet which is being bombarded by lethal Berthold rays, to look for survivors in a luddite-utopian commune founded there several years ago. Remarkably, despite the killer radiation, the population is mostly intact and in great health. Just as it is becoming clear how the colony has survived, Kirk is ordered to evacuate all of them. They don't want to leave.

Ralph Senensky does a great job of directing this thoughtful D. C. Fontana episode, and the acting supersedes the standard franchise fair. Great for fans, very good for others.