star trek the empath controversy

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Star Trek: Looking Back at the BBC’s Ban and Censorship

With a new Star Trek TV series incoming, we revisit the show's long history of censorship at the BBC...

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This article comes from Den of Geek UK .

Star Trek  is not a franchise you’d normally associate with controversy. Nevertheless, between 1969 and 1994, four episodes of the original series – Empath , Whom Gods Destroy , Plato’s Stepchildren and Miri – were not aired on the BBC, and other episodes were heavily redacted.

It’s difficult nowadays to appreciate just how sacrosanct terrestrial television was until the 1990s. Even though   Star Trek  was first broadcast in the UK on BBC One on July 12 1969, with the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before , repeats were rare and VHS tapes were expensive, and difficult to get hold of after the show was cancelled.

The BBC, which controlled the distribution rights to air the series in the UK, was the most accessible means by which most fans could enjoy the show until Sky One began broadcasting the complete series in 1990. Even so, for many years afterwards cable TV was a costly luxury and the banned episodes remained unseen for a majority of fans.

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Some episodes were shown at early conventions in Britain, but only after copies had been brought over from the U.S. Due to word of mouth and comments from the producers and the stars themselves, knowledge of the omissions was widely shared amongst the fan community. In June 1976,  Star Trek  fans launched a letter campaign petitioning the BBC to show the banned episodes. The Star Trek Action Group , a fan newsletter, reprinted the BBC’s response in which they explained that:

“After very careful consideration a top level decision was made not to screen the episodes entitled Empath , Whom Gods Destroy , Plato’s Stepchildren and Miri , because they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease.”

Not to give up the ghost there, the fan petitioning continued and in August 1979, the BBC again expounded its position:

“We have no plans to show the banned episodes as we have stated several times before. I am afraid every big organisation comes in for a little ridicule from time to time, but we are a public service broadcasting organisation with great responsibilities, and if after very careful consideration we decide not to show a particular programme, you may rest assured that it is in the best interest of viewers in this country.”

Credit to both fans’ and the BBC’s patience, the latter again issued a statement in 1984 saying that:

“You will appreciate that account must be taken that out of   Star Trek ’s large and enthusiastic following, many are juveniles, no matter what time of day the series is put into the programme schedules. A further look has been taken following the recent correspondence, but I am afraid it has been impossible to revise the opinion not to show these episodes.”

The BBC has something of a reputation for coming down hard on science-fiction, particularly with  Doctor Who , throughout the 1980s. Yet, rewatching the banned   Star Trek episodes there is a niggling feeling that the broadcaster might have had a point with some of its red-taping.

In the first instance, the BBC had actually originally aired Miri in 1970 as part of its original run. However, it was not broadcast again until the 1990s after several viewers wrote to complain about its content. Heeding caution, the channel determined that the other three episodes were also unsuitable.

With some irony, Miri (episode 1.8) is the least deserving of its notoriety and is actually quite tame. Captain Kirk comes across a  Lord Of The Flies -type society of children where all the adults have died from an unknown disease. While the episode teeters on the edge of being a full-blown   Battle Royale  with some segments of violence, it’s more unpleasant because of its emotional punch of lonely orphaned children facing disease and starvation. That said, Kirk and co. save the day and why the BBC thought the ending didn’t mitigate its unpleasant aspects is curious.

By comparison, Plato’s Stepchildren (3.10) sits more curiously on the list. The episode is synonymous with the iconoclasm of the 1960s because it featured television’s first inter-racial snog between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. NBC, the U.S broadcaster, was worried that the scene might provoke a backlash from the more conservative elements of the country, but the scandal was not forthcoming. Instead, and with almost satirical deliberation, the episode was banned in the U.K because of its ‘violent’ elements.

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While the episode does indeed have plenty of action, there’s little in it to set it apart from most others in   Star Trek . While there’s no evidence to suggest that the BBC surreptitiously blocked it for its seminal scene, it’s not a far cry to imagine that in an office on a floor in Britain’s national broadcaster sat an official keen to avoid the ire of the Great British public.

Whom Gods Destroy (3.14), on the other hand, ups the ante and there is a legitimate claim that the episode contained elements not suitable for a family show. Not only does it feature Kirk, Spock and several supporting characters being tortured in a mental asylum, it also contains one of the most famous and sexualised moments of television history with Marta’s exotic dance (the green-skinned Orion slave girl).

Empath (3.12), by contrast, still has the power to disturb and is the episode which unequivocally proves the BBC had a point. In an underground laboratory, Captain Kirk, Spock and McCoy are brutally tortured by aliens in a bid to find out if a mute woman is compassionate and worthy of the aliens’ technological bequeathment. From start to finish the episode is a cerebral exploration of the themes of sacrifice and loyalty. Standard enough, save for the horrific methodology it uses as a crucible.

As any horror aficionado will tell you, what is implied is more brutal to the imagination than looking at fake blood. Off-screen shots are limited to seeing characters dangling from chains, torso stripped (Shatner’s scene, naturally) and writhing in agony. There is no gore, few screams and no focus shots on wounds. While there are no guns or knives, and the aliens have plastic pain devices, it’s the enclosed black set and the clinical script that leave a lasting impression.

Spock’s cold, logical descriptions of McCoy’s horrendous injuries are so matter of fact that audiences can all but hear him scream in the torture chamber. The constricted budget, so often mocked, is the key here to creating a rustic realism and it’s staggering how unnerving it is to see these indestructible characters reduced to their component parts; something of a rarity in the history of the franchise as a whole.

The episode is deeply unpleasant, not least because of the willingness by which each character subjects themselves to myriad agonies. That, of course, is the point of the episode but it also happens to create one of the most unpleasant depictions of pain ever put to screen.

At a news conference in 1984,   Star Trek   creator Gene Roddenberry was asked what he thought of the continuing ban on the four episodes:

“… I disagree [with the ban] very much. Empath to me was a beautiful story… If someone is to say to me, ‘You can’t have hurt and pain’, I say, ‘Nonsense!’ Suffering and pain are a part of life. They should be handled and handled well. I feel the same way about violence and sex.“My objection to violence and sex is on the shows where it goes on for a while and someone says, ‘Well, it’s going slow now, why don’t you have a fist-fight or a shooting?’ Then they put it in to raise the ratings.“What I hate about violence are… shows where grown men strike out and hit each other in the face with their fists… and after hitting themselves for thirty minutes with all their strength in the face, they grin and say, ‘Wow, wasn’t that fun!’ That’s not how life is!”

While there’s a logic to what Roddenberry has to say, the BBC were not wrong about Empath even if they were overzealous with Whom Gods Destroy , off-the-mark with Miri and cowardly with Plato’s Stepchildren . It remains difficult to stomach and Empath is up there with Theon Greyjoy’s tête-à-têtes with Ramsay Bolton in  Game Of Thrones .

While an outright ban was employed only four times of the original series’ 79 episodes, it danced with the BBC censors many more times throughout the show’s run in the U.K. The Man Trap (1.1), Patterns Of Force (2.21) and Bread And Circuses (2.25) were all redacted because of violent scenes, including the shocking attempted rape of Janice Rand by Kirk’s doppelganger in Enemy Within (1.5).

Many other episodes, including  Court Martial (1.20), Return Of The Archons (1.21), The Alternative Factor (1.27), A Private Little War (2.19),  And The Children Shall Lead (3.04),  Lights Of Zetar (3.18) and The Cloud Minders (3.21) were mostly edited for time, with little attention given to the subtleties of detail, introductions or the sense of scenes. There was a split at the BBC between the convenience of time-saving and logical duty, such as with Arena (1.18) which, as the BBC explained to the Star Trek Action Group newsletter, was edited because “it is not BBC practice to show the exact process by which gunpowder is made… to prevent the children emulating their heroes”.

Eventually, the BBC showed the banned and edited episodes and showed the episodes in 1994, over twenty years after their original broadcast in the U.S.

However, Star Trek ’s courting of controversy, like the franchise itself, was not to end with the original series.   Star Trek: The Next Generation  likewise suffered from curious bouts of gruesome violence which were removed from the episode Conspiracy (1.25), showing the aftermath of a character being shot with phasers, and The Icarus Factor (2.14) in which ritualistic ‘pain sticks’ are repeatedly used.

Most infamously, the BBC refused to screen season 3’s The High Ground (3.12). When discussing the empirical evidence of the merits of terrorism to achieve political ends, Data lists “the Irish unification of 2024” as a definitive example. Given the Anglo-Irish issues of the day, the episode was only broadcast unedited on Sky One in 2006 and finally shown in full on the BBC Two in September 2007 (nine years after the Good Friday Agreement).

Certainly, by the 1990s, there was a change in the compulsive editing of   Star Trek at the BBC, highly likely due to a wider evolution in the public about the expectation and tolerance of more explicit content on television. The psychological elements were given more of a free pass, largely explaining why some moments of  The Next Generation  escaped the editing floor. The Best Of Both Worlds , for example, seemed to represent a greater acceptance from the BBC about the surrealness of science-fiction, probably why any analogy between Picard’s assimilation and rape was overlooked (the solitary tear running down his face still remains harrowing).

After 1992, the first-run rights of TNG , followed by  Deep Space Nine  and  Voyager , went to Sky One, with the BBC showing the episodes several months later. While TNG was never challengingly violent, the two-parter Chain Of Command (6.10 & 6.11) was a brutal psychological take on Alan Rickman’s Closet Land and pitted Picard against his less than savoury Cardassian interrogators.

The Next Generation  lead to DS9 which was undoubtedly more mature as it encompassed genocide, rape, terrorism, torture, and a religious and political subtext. Numerous episodes, particularly Duet (1.19) and Tribunal (2.25) deal with these themes rather graphically. Season 4’s To The Death (4.23), which featured an en masse battle between Starfleet and the Jem’Hadar, was cut by a staggering 45 seconds by The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the U.K because the scenes of hand-to-hand combat were too violent.

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Voyager , often derided as the weakest incarnation, likewise contained genuinely disturbing elements. Season 2’s Deadlock (2.21) saw the deformed organ harvesting Vidians board and murder the crew. In the same episode, and eerily reminiscent of Empath , Tuvok, a Vulcan, stoically states that “he regrets to report’ the death of an infant after an attack. Likewise in Resistance (2.12) he’s heard screaming as he’s tortured by Nazi knock-offs, has his face melted in Cold Fire (2.10) and is driven insane by a psychotic in Meld (2.16).

The BBC lost out in the bidding to broadcast   Star Trek: Enterprise  on terrestrial TV to Channel 4 in 2001 and did not renew its repeat rights for the other series until 2006. While it has not been seen on terrestrial television in the UK since then, BBC America did run a marathon of uncut, digitally remastered HD episodes of  Star Trek in 2016.

In any event, the legacy of   Star Trek  at the BBC is to serve as a marker for how attitudes to violence, sex and television, in general, have evolved. More importantly, looking back at this is a reminder of what   Trek can do to explore topical issues while flag-bearing as a family show.

Alastair Stewart

The Empath (episode)

• View history

On a doomed planet Kirk, Spock, and McCoy become the subjects of an alien experiment whose mysterious intention involves a beautiful, empathic woman.

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production timeline
• 4.2 Story and script
• 4.3 Production
• 4.4 Effects
• 4.5 Sets and props
• 4.7 Continuity
• 4.8 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest star
• 5.4 Co-starring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7 References
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise is ordered to evacuate a research station on the planet Minara II whose sun, Minara , is about to go nova . Captain Kirk , Commander Spock , and Doctor McCoy beam down to the planet. They find the six-month old research station abandoned, with dust covering the floor and desks, indicating that the station has been uninhabited for some time. Informed by Scott of an imminent solar flare with high levels of cosmic rays , Kirk immediately orders Scott to take the Enterprise out of orbit, reasoning that the landing party will be protected by the planet's atmosphere during the 74.1 solar hours it will take for the flare to subside. Upon consulting a visual tape recording , the landing party discovers that the two researchers, Drs. Ozaba and Linke , had mysteriously disappeared three months earlier amid a flurry of seismic activity and deafening noise. Soon after this discovery the landing party similarly vanishes, while hearing the same noise.

Act One [ ]

Lal and Thann with control devices

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy appear 121.32 meters (around 400 feet deep) below the planet's surface. They were transported by a matter-energy scrambler similar to their transporter technology. After wandering through a cavern, they encounter a beautiful humanoid woman with short brown hair, who is wearing a long purple dress, reclining on a dimly lit, cross-shaped couch. McCoy wants to go forward because she looks harmless, but Spock reminds him that the sand-bats of Manark IV look like inanimate rock crystals until they attack.

The woman awakens, but does not respond to any of Kirk's questions. McCoy determines that she does not have any vocal cords , not even vestigial, indicating that she comes from a species of mutes . Kirk observes that she is very much like the naturally mute people of the civilization on Gamma Vertis IV . McCoy names her Gem , saying this will be better than calling her "You".

Two different-looking humanoid aliens suddenly appear to the landing party. Identifying themselves as Vians , Thann and Lal , they make it clear that they know the identities of the landing party. They demand that Kirk not interfere, and when he approaches they stun him with a hand-held control device with a red button on the face. Kirk points out that if the Vians know who they are, they also must know that they come in peace and that their Prime Directive prohibits interference.

The Vians momentarily trap the landing party in a force field while they tend to Gem. McCoy tells Kirk not to fight the force field since it interferes with the body's metabolism. The Vians correct McCoy's hypothesis, saying that the field draws its strength from their bodies' energy and the more they resist the stronger the field becomes. They depart and the field vanishes.

Kirk has suffered a cut on his forehead and when he touches Gem to see if she is all right, she recoils in pain. Gem composes herself and then touches Kirk's wound. With a flash, the wound is transferred to Gem's forehead. A doubting Kirk touches her wound and notes the blood on his finger. Suddenly, the wound on Gem's forehead quickly heals as well. McCoy, observing, is clearly impressed by her ability to heal and surmises that Gem is an empath . Her emotional system is so sensitive that it feels the pain of another and that pain becomes part of her, before she dissipates it.

Spock finds that his tricorder now gives readings of electronically sophisticated devices elsewhere. Heading to the source of the readings, they find a laboratory where the now deceased Drs. Linke and Ozaba are trapped in transparent tubes marked SUBJECT LINKE and SUBJECT OZABA respectively, with their bodies are twisted in agony.

Act Two [ ]

There are also 'subject' tubes designated for McCoy, Kirk, and Spock. One of the Vians appears and says there is need for more testing. He blames Ozaba's and Linke's "imperfections" for their deaths. While Kirk talks, Spock sneaks up behind and gives the Vian a Vulcan nerve pinch . As the landing party walks off toward a passage to the surface Spock has located, the Vian arises. Apparently the nerve pinch was less effective than normal. He joins his companion, and they share a look that indicates they are impressed with the crew.

At the surface, Kirk tries to contact the Enterprise with his communicator , but the ship is out of range. He leads the landing party through a storm back to the abandoned research station, where it appears to them that Scotty, Lemli , and a security officer are waiting for them. Spock and McCoy go ahead with Gem, but Kirk spots the Vians watching them and stops. He moves toward them, but one uses his control unit to make Kirk move in slow motion. He remarks, " Their will to survive is great. They love life greatly to struggle so. The prime ingredient. "

When Spock, McCoy, and Gem reach the research station, the images of Scotty and the security officers suddenly vanish. Gem brings Spock and McCoy back to where Kirk is confronting the Vians. They announce that they only need one specimen, so Kirk sends the others back to the ship. The Vians transport them away, and then recapture Kirk.

The Vians bring Kirk back to the laboratory. Here, where the bodies of Ozaba and Linke are displayed like specimens, the Vians chain a shirtless Kirk by his arms to the ceiling. They tell him they want to witness his courage and will to survive. Kirk asks, " Why? What is it you hope to prove? If my death is to have any meaning, at least tell me what I'm dying for! " Thann says that if Kirk lives, he will have his answer. Using their control units, they torture Kirk, as Gem watches helplessly.

Spock and McCoy have been transported to the chamber where they originally met Gem. When Kirk and Gem are also transported there, Spock and McCoy are trapped in a force field. With McCoy's encouragement, Gem heals Kirk's wrist wounds. When she finishes, she collapses. The process is physically draining and, apparently, has its limits.

The Vians return and indicate that, for their next experimental subject, Kirk must choose either Spock or McCoy. To make the decision all the more difficult, the Vians indicate that there is a 93% chance that Spock will suffer brain damage and permanent insanity, and an 87% chance that McCoy will die.

Act Three [ ]

Spock analyzes the confiscated Vian hand device. McCoy, uncomfortable with the wait, comments that it's not natural for a Human to live underground. Spock points out that some Humans spend the majority of their lives "beneath the surface." McCoy responds, " I'm a doctor, not a coal miner. " Spock tells McCoy that he is recording his notes of the hand device in the tricorder in the event that he is taken by the Vians so that McCoy and Kirk can continue his work and escape. McCoy further protests, adding that he's not a mechanic and doubts he would be able to make it functional; Spock assures him that the two of them together will be able to figure it out.

Plagued with symptoms resembling the bends , Kirk is caught off-guard by McCoy, who renders Kirk unconscious from behind with a hypospray . Now finding himself in command, Spock declares that he will go with the Vians at the appointed time, but McCoy sneaks behind Spock, who has been momentarily distracted by Gem, and renders him unconscious as well, intending to sacrifice himself for his two friends. All of these noble efforts at self-sacrifice are observed by Gem.

Taken to the Vians' laboratory, McCoy undergoes extensive torture. Meanwhile, now awake, Spock has come to understand the Vian hand-held devices. They are control units, not control mechanisms – they are not a mechanical device at all. They are tuned to the pattern of electrical energy of the person who uses it and are activated simply by mental commands. Being most familiar with his own brain pattern , Spock re-tunes the device to his own pattern. Kirk points out that it is strange that the Vians let them keep the device if they would be able to understand it. They must want Spock and Kirk to escape and to leave McCoy behind.

Spock completes the modifications and says he may only be able to effect one transport. He suggests there is enough energy to go back to the Enterprise , but Kirk would prefer to go to McCoy, stating " the best defense is a strong offense – and I intend to start offending right now. " Spock transports Kirk, Gem and himself to the laboratory, where they find McCoy severely injured and on the verge of death. The Vians are nowhere to be found.

Act Four [ ]

" How long? " " It could happen anytime. " " The correct medical phrase, eh, Spock? "

Spock and Kirk release McCoy from his chains. He is in bad shape; with barely a pulse. Spock scans McCoy and finds that he has severe heart damage, congestion in both lungs , and his circulatory system is in danger of collapse. He is bleeding into the chest, his spleen and liver are hemorrhaging and his kidneys have 70% failure. Spock informs Jim that McCoy is dying and the best he can do is make him comfortable. McCoy compliments Spock on his bedside manner.

The empath, "Gem"

Kirk suggests that Gem could heal McCoy, but he is not sure if the attempt will kill her. At least, he hopes, she can improve his condition so that McCoy can be healed on the Enterprise . Suddenly the Vians appear and trap Spock and Kirk in a force field; they demand that the Human and Vulcan not interfere and allow Gem to make her own choice without urging or forcing. It is their wish to see if Gem will attempt to help McCoy on her own at the cost of her own life – the completion of their test.

At this time they explain to Kirk, Spock, and the dying McCoy that they have been part of an experiment. They have the power to save only one species from the impending nova, and so they wished to test whether Gem's species is worthy of being saved. Apparently the Vians want to be certain that she has learned the principles of: the will to survive, the passion to know and the love of life, and self-sacrifice from her contact with the landing party. These qualities, they say, make a civilization worthy to survive.

As they speak, Gem has approached McCoy. The Vians are pleased that compassion has entered her "life-system." She moves her hands on McCoy's face, transferring his injuries to her. McCoy awakes, but Gem collapses, sobbing. She tries to help him more, but moves away in fear.

Inside the force field, Spock points out that Gem is not the only one who can save McCoy: of course, the Vians must have the power to help. The Vians respond that McCoy's life is not important, but what is important is their experiment.

McCoy starts coughing and Gem returns to his side. McCoy asks that Gem not touch him. If she touches him, she will die, and he cannot take life – even to save his own.

Spock realizes that if he and Kirk were to suppress their emotion, they would be able to escape from the force field. Spock escapes first and takes the other control device from the Vians. Kirk demands that the Vians save McCoy but they refuse, demanding that the experiment continue. Offering to give her life, they say, is not sufficient. She must sacrifice her life.

Kirk gives the Vians their control devices and reprimands them. They have forgotten what it means to feel the emotions they want Gem to experience. He scorns their lack of love and compassion, saying that they are nothing but intellect. The Vians heal McCoy and, taking Gem with them, teleport from the laboratory, presumably to save Gem's species. The landing party returns safely to the Enterprise , which has returned to orbit after the solar flare has subsided.

Back on board, Kirk says he is awed by the element of chance that brought them into contact with Gem. Scotty observes that she must have been like the 'pearl of great price' (Matthew 13:45-46 of the Humans' Christian Bible). McCoy is pleased that, in the end, it was the strength of Human emotion that overcame their captivity by the dispassionate, intellectual Vians. Scotty suggests that the Vulcans be made aware of this and Kirk asks Spock to deliver the message. Spock sarcastically promises to give the thought all the due consideration it deserves. Kirk then orders Sulu to take the Enterprise to warp factor two.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to call her Gem. " " Gem, Doctor? " " Well, that's better than 'Hey, you'. "

" Their own imperfections killed them. "

" If my death is to have any meaning, at least tell me what I'm dying for. " " If you live, you will have your answer. "

" Some men spend the majority of their lives in mines beneath the surface. " " I'm a doctor, not a coal miner. "

" Why did you let him do it? " " I was convinced in the same way you were, Captain. By the good doctor's hypo. "

" The best defense is a strong offense, and I intend to start offending right now."

" He's dying, Jim. "

" You've got a good bedside manner, Spock. "

" This Arena of Death that you've devised for your pleasure… will it prevent this catastrophe? "

" What could she learn from us? " " Your will to survive. Your love of life. Your passion to know. They are recorded in her being. "

" Jim, I can't destroy life, even if it's to save my own. I can't. "

" Love and compassion are dead in you! You're nothing but intellect! "

" But from little what you've told me, I would say she was a pearl of great price. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ].

• Unsolicited script by Joyce Muskat , titled "The Answerer", early- April 1968
• Story outline by Muskat, 26 April 1968
• Revised story outline by Arthur Singer , titled "The Empath", 7 May 1968
• First draft teleplay by Muskat, late- May 1968
• Second draft teleplay, 21 June 1968
• Final draft teleplay by Singer, 22 July 1968
• Revised final draft teleplay by Fred Freiberger , 23 July 1968 , 24 July 1968 , 25 July 1968
• Additional page revisions by Freiberger, 29 July 1968 , 1 August 1968
• Day 1 – 25 July 1968 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 10 : Ext. Planet surface Int. Science outpost
• Day 2 – 26 July 1968 , Friday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Gem's area , Operation platform
• Day 3 – 29 July 1968 , Monday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Gem's area , Underground corridors
• Day 4 – 30 July 1968 , Tuesday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Gem's area
• Day 5 – 31 July 1968 , Wednesday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Vians' lab
• Day 6 – 1 August 1968 , Thursday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Vians' lab
• Day 7 – 2 August 1968 , Friday – Paramount Stage 1 : Int. Vians' lab ; Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Science outpost , Bridge
• Score recording: 6 September 1968
• Original airdate: 6 December 1968
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 10 June 1984
• First UK airdate (on BBC2 ): 5 January 1994
• Remastered episode airdate: 26 July 2008

Story and script [ ]

• This episode was written by Joyce Muskat , one of only four fans who were able to sell scripts to the original series, the others being David Gerrold , Judy Burns , and Jean Lisette Aroeste . Co-producer Robert H. Justman read her unsolicited script and recommended it be bought. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 404) It was Muskat's only script sale. [1]
• This was one of the few episodes to quote the Bible , specifically Psalm 95, verse 4: " In His hands are the deep places of the Earth. The heights of the mountains are His also. " At the end of the episode, Scotty also references the Gospel of Matthew 13:45-46: " Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. "
• "The Empath" has similarities to a 1963 Outer Limits segment called "Nightmare". In that episode, Humans are brutally interrogated by aliens in a minimalistic set. John Erman also directed "Nightmare" ( The Star Trek Compendium 2nd ed., p. 115). Willard Sage ( Thann ) was one of those behind the interrogations and Robert H. Justman was, at that time, an assistant director on the series. [2]
• In the United Kingdom, the BBC skipped this episode in all runs of the series through to the early 1990s. An official BBC statement by Sheila Cundy of the Programme Correspondence Section reads: " After very careful consideration a top level decision was made not to screen the episodes entitled "Empath" [sic] , " Whom The Gods Destroy " [sic] , "" Plato's Stepchildren "" and "" Miri "" [actually transmitted in 1970, but not re-aired until the '90s] , because they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease " (BBC form letter, undated, Reference 28/SPC). "The Empath" was finally shown for the first time on 5 January 1994 . It had previously been shown on Sky One , a subscription satellite TV channel. ( citation needed • edit )

Production [ ]

• This is the only episode whose first-act credits open on a completely black background.
• The preview of the episode shows Gem's healing of wounds done by jump-cuts, rather than as fades.
• Regarding the sequence of Gem absorbing the boils, Kathryn Hays had to be strapped to a board in order to be kept absolutely still while make-up was applied and stop-motion photography filmed the progression. The few moments that appeared in the scene took eight hours to film. ( Starlog issue #3, p. 28)
• John Meredyth Lucas was originally hired to direct this episode (and " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "), but Paramount executive in charge of production Douglas S. Cramer vetoed his involvement, as he went over schedule and budget with " Elaan of Troyius " earlier in the season. Then, Robert Justman came up with the idea of hiring John Erman , because of his involvement with the aforementioned "Nightmare". Erman wasn't entirely satisfied with the working conditions on the show (especially [as he called it] William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy 's ill-behavior towards the guest director), and decided not to return to direct further episodes. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three , pp. 240-241; 252)
• This was the final episode shot by director of photography Jerry Finnerman , who had shot every episode since " The Corbomite Maneuver " (except " By Any Other Name " and parts of " Who Mourns for Adonais? "). Camera Operator Al Francis took over primary camera duty on the next episode filmed, " The Tholian Web ".
• After Dr. McCoy is tortured by the Vians, the distressed tunic that DeForest Kelley is wearing is the velour tunic used in the first two seasons, not the new double-knit version created for the third. The difference in hue between Spock's tunic and McCoy's can be noticed in certain shots.
• During the syndication run of Star Trek , no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Effects [ ]

• Sound effects of the Vians' laboratory were previously used in the android Norman's lab in " I, Mudd ".
• The footage of the sun Minara is re-used from " Operation -- Annihilate! ".
• The planet Minara II appears red in some orbital shots, but gold in others.

Sets and props [ ]

• The helical staircase in the station was later reused in " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ".
• The couch itself is a gigantic version of the agonizers seen in " Mirror, Mirror " and " Day of the Dove ". It was first seen as the Eymorg's table in " Spock's Brain ".
• The tripodal device in the center of the Vian laboratory also appeared first in the episode "Spock's Brain" as the framework connected to the black box (by "light rays") that housed Spock's brain. It is inverted here from its position in that episode.
• The orange-red flickers that accompany the Vian transporter effect are frames of the same effect created to represent the Medusan ambassador Kollos .
• Nichelle Nichols ( Uhura ) and Walter Koenig ( Pavel Chekov ) do not appear in this episode.
• This was DeForest Kelley 's personal favorite episode. ( The Star Trek Calendar (1986) [ page number? • edit ] )

Continuity [ ]

• Though identified as Thann and Lal in the closing credits, the two Vians are never called by their proper names on-screen.
• In " Turnabout Intruder ", Kirk (in Janice Lester's body) mentions the events of this episode to try to convince Spock of the mind switch.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release ( CIC-Arena Video ): catalog number VHL 2075, December 1983
• Original US Betamax release: 1988
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 33 , catalog number VHR 2385, 5 November 1990
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.3, 6 October 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 32, 28 August 2001
• As part of the TOS Season 3 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS-R Season 3 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest star [ ]

• Kathryn Hays as Gem

Co-starring [ ]

• Alan Bergmann as Lal
• James Doohan as Scott
• George Takei as Sulu
• Davis Roberts as Dr. Ozaba
• Jason Wingreen as Dr. Linke
• Willard Sage as Thann

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli
• Dick Geary as Security guard
• Command crewman
• Sciences crewman
• Operations crew woman
• Illusory security guard

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Paul Baxley as stunt double for William Shatner
• Unknown stunt performer as stunt double for DeForest Kelley

References [ ]

abdomen ; analysis ; answer ; arena ; assumption ; atmosphere ; bearing ; bedside manner ; bends ; blood ; body ; " Bones "; brain damage ; brain pattern ; chance ; chest ; chief medical officer ; choice ; circulatory collapse ; circulatory system ; civilization ; coal ; collection ; compassion ; computer ; congestion of the lungs ; contact ; control mechanism ; control unit (aka T-bar control ); cosmic rays ; courage ; cut ; danger ; data ; death ; decompression chamber ; device ; distance ; doctor ; dust ; emotion ; emotional reaction ; empath ; energy ; energy transfer point ; environmental factor ; estimate ; evidence ; evolution ; exit ; experiment ; failure ; fear ; fear of death ; force field ; frequency ; friend ; Gamma Vertis IV ; Gem's planet ; Gem's species ; hand ; hemorrhaging ; head ; heart ; home ; Homo sapiens ; hour ; humanoid ; hypo ; idea ; identification ; information ; inhabitant ; insanity ; instinct ; intellect ; intention ; internal bleeding ; interrogation ; kidney ; kilometer ; knowledge ; laboratory ; landing party ; lifeform (aka life ); light ; liver ; logic ; lungs ; Manark IV ; matter-energy scrambler ; meaning ; mechanic ; mechanical device ; merchant ; metabolism ; meter ; Minara ; Minara II ; Minarian star system ; Minara Station ; mind ; mine ; miner ; mirage ; month ; mute ; name ; nervous system ; nitrogen ; object ; observation ; orbit ; order ; pain ; passage (aka passageway ); passion ; pathology ; peace ; pearl ; " Pearl of Great Price "; percent ; permission ; person ; phaser ; physical reaction ; physiology ; place ; pleasure ; power source ; price ; Prime Directive ; prime ingredient ; prisoner ; probability ; proof ; Psalm 95 ; pulse ; quality ; rate of decrease ; record tape ; research station ; result ; right ; Ritter scale ; rock crystal ; sand-bats ; scientist ; scientific knowledge ; search party ; self-preservation ; self-sacrifice ; sensor ; sickbay ; solar flare ; solar hour ; sound ; space travel ; specific gravity ; specimen ; spleen ; storm ; story ; strain ; strength of will ; subject ; surface ; survival ; symptom ; teacher ; telepath ; terror ; " the best defense is a strong offense "; thing ; thought ; torture chamber ; transporter mechanism ; tricorder ; value ; vestigial ; Vians ; vocal cords ; Vulcan ; Vulcan neck pinch ; week ; will : wound ; wrist

External links [ ]

• "The Empath" at StarTrek.com
• " The Empath " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Empath " at Wikipedia
• " "The Empath" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Galactic Journey

[December 20, 1968] A failure to communicate ( Star Trek : "The Empath")

This week's episode, “The Empath”, gave Star Trek fans some wonderful interactions from our crew on a rescue mission, but also had them running on a vaguely-guided track throughout the episode.

At the start, the Enterprise is tasked with evacuating a research station before the star it was studying goes nova, but when Kirk, Spock and McCoy arrive at the station, there is no one left to rescue. An enormous solar flare threatens the Enterprise during the search, so the ship leaves to safety just before a record tape reveals where the former inhabitants went. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy watch as the station researchers suddenly disappear while a strange noise shrills on tape, and the three distressed crew members are almost immediately teleported away by the same noise.

They find themselves in a dark area with a mysteriously mute woman, whom they nickname Gem. While the crew attempts to ask Gem about how they got there, two large-headed figures, the Vians, bluntly introduce themselves and refuse to tell Kirk what is going on. The crew is easily overpowered, the Vians collect data from Gem, and they vanish with the crew’s weapons. A small cut on Kirk’s head is suddenly healed when he checks on Gem, and McCoy realizes that Gem communicates through her highly responsive nervous system; all of Kirk’s feelings and ailments can become hers from just a touch.

Spock then locates a sophisticated lab, where they discover the Vians preparing large perspex tubes for the crew members, and the missing inhabitants of the station dead in tubes of their own. The three officers learn that they are meant to be subjected to deadly tests for reasons unknown, and they flee with Gem through a cave mouth. The Vians trick the escapees with a mirage of a search party to test their wills, and capture Kirk once they observe the crew’s perseverance. Kirk sacrifices himself by insisting he be the one specimen the Vians want for their cruel torture, after which Gem reluctantly heals his potentially deadly wounds at McCoy’s behest.

While Spock works out how to attune the Vians’ instrument to allow their escape, the aliens come back to reveal that they plan to gravely injure either Spock or McCoy next, and that the trio must choose the victim when they return. This leads to one of the most endearing displays of the crew’s dynamic I have seen in the show: both officers insist they be the test subject without hesitation, and antics ensue. The two begin to argue that the other is more valuable to leave with the captain, but Kirk insists he will be the one to decide, only to be rendered unconscious by McCoy’s treatment. Spock then notes his approval of the treatment, as it relieved Kirk of a rough decision and put Spock in charge as second-in-command. McCoy punctuates that sentiment by ambush-sedating Spock, saving the critical Vulcan the only way he could. Gem sheds a single tear as McCoy is taken away, since she has now emotionally connected with both Kirk and Spock and feels the depth of their affinity for him.

The two remaining officers eventually awaken and begin to configure the Vians’ device, acknowledging that the aliens likely wanted them to escape and leave McCoy behind. Instead, Spock transports Gem and them to the lab, where McCoy is found with multiple fatal injuries, and he tries to make light for everyone’s sake. The two realize their only hope for McCoy is for Gem to help him despite the risk, and the Vians restrict them in their force field to prevent their interference. The aliens begin to explain that they must see how Gem reacts on her own, because she is being judged of her worth on behalf of her whole species; Gem’s choice to save McCoy would determine whether the Vians use their limited resources to save Gem’s species. Spock and Kirk escape the force field, and Kirk indicates that the Vians do not know the value of the compassion they claim to idolize. The aliens, humbled all too quickly, mend McCoy and whisk Gem away with a short farewell. The episode ends with the crew appreciating Gem as an entity, and Spock delivering a fun riposte to Scotty in response to his joke at the Vulcan's expense.

The episode did a great job at highlighting the main characters, but left the intentions of the new ones blurry in execution. It is unclear why the Vians specifically found compassion to be the only trait worth preserving, especially when they didn’t practice it. It is generally accepted that self sacrifice is the ultimate show of love, but the weight that carries as a theme is undermined by how dubious the whole experiment is.

The crew’s interactions give a good taste of what the impact should have been, but the incomplete understanding of the threat ultimately caused the intense stakes built up for the captives to fall flat. Moreover, the Vians were presented as an overwhelming force, yet they hardly understood why they were conducting experiments, to the extent that insults from Kirk immediately caused them to question their motives. Not to mention that they conveniently and inexplicably had the means to save one of the races in the solar system. The crew’s roles in this episode outshone the disappointing parts, so I still consider this a good episode as far as enjoyment goes.

Amateur work

Joyce Muskat's name is probably new to you.  It wasn't to me—she's a N3FFer (member of the National Fantasy Fan Federation.  Also, a few months ago, her name was mentioned in one of the Trekzines.  I can't remember which one it was, but the author was pleased that her fan friend, Joyce Muskat, had sold a script to Trek on the slush pile.  This was remarkable since Trek officially doesn't take unsolicited manuscripts.  So, good for her.  I love that Trek has opened the door to new talent, particularly women.

I'd really like to know if the inconsistencies in the episode were the result of a spotty understanding of the material or revisions after submission.  I suspect the latter.  No true fan (he said hopefully) would write the Federation as inhuman monsters who would let the sundry races of Minar die when the sun went nova.  No sf aficionado would make the boner mistake of having a planet's atmosphere protect the surface from cosmic rays, but not the Enterprise's shields, not to mention having cosmic rays cause earthquakes.

It's never even made clear whether or not Gem (Jem?) comes from a race of empaths or if she was unique among them.  The latter seems more likely; I find it hard to believe that a race of empaths could fail to feel compassion.  I could see telepaths walling themselves off to avoid a confusion of the psyches ("where do I stop and you begin?") but given that Gem cannot verbally communicate at all , an empathic race would have to rely on its mental powers to relate.  And as Heinlein pointed out , no beings have more compassion than those who "grok" each other.

There's much to like about the episode, from the performances of the leads to the creative use of set and costume (the Vians have excellent Outer Limits -style make-up, though it is strange seeing such in color).  On the other hand, the unremitting score, the odd pacing (Shatner slo-mo-ing to the ground for about a minute springs to mind), the nonsensical motivations for the Vians' experiment, and frankly, the directorial decision to keep focusing on Gem's facial expressions, which made her look somewhat clownish, all drag the episode down to average territory.

Three stars.

Substitutionary Theology

“The Empath” is this week’s episode of Star Trek.  In it the crew of the Enterprise explore another strange new world.  Yet again they face forces that are overwhelming.  Yet again they find a way to pull their fat out of the fire and yet again the writers of this show chose to lace in overt theology into their story.  Not only were these salutes to God and the Bible poorly executed, they sought to teach biblical morals without delivering the substance of the message through the narrative of the story, but through imagery and exposition only.  This practice proved to be utter folly. 

In one of the opening scenes we witnessed a recording of two missing scientists going about their work when a quake happened.  This prompted the scientist named Ozaba to quote the first part of Psalm 95, verse 4, “In his hand are the deep places of the earth;…” A verse that when looked at by itself means nothing, but surrounded by the other verses in Psalm 95 that speak of the grandeur and majesty of God.  Ozaba quoting this added nothing to the scene nor did it make his sudden disappearance meaningful.  It was as if the writers desired to open the episode with a random scripture and blindly opened a Bible and picked the first verse they saw. 

At the very end of the episode this time Scotty delivered the references to scripture, without quoting it this time.  It was Mathew 13:45-46, where Jesus speaks about the kingdom of heaven being like a pearl of great price—it being worth selling everything that one has in order to obtain it.  Although closer related to the something in the story, (Gem) this scripture like the previous one was a bad fit for the message that the story was attempting to deliver: sacrificing oneself for the benefit of another. 

Strange use of scripture aside, the troubling part for me was in the main story of the episode: the imagery of Kirk as he was tortured by the aliens.  His hands were bound and his arms were stretched wide as if he were on a cross.  A nearly impossible position to hold as his wrists were bound with two ropes.  It was done intentionally so as to place Kirk in a crucified posture.  Conversely when McCoy was bound in a similar way his hands were above him.

The combination of the out of place scriptural references and imagery used for both Kirk and the girl (in particular, the Pietà at the end as she is draped in a Vian's arms) muddy the waters of what this episode is attempting to say.  A much more effective method would be to keep the moral message and the story only based in the environment of an alien world and deliver the message without the forced and uninspired asides to scripture.  I’m fine with teaching morality tales using other mediums. I’m not fine with the poor application of scripture. It has the potential to cause more harm than good if misused—as we’ve seen done throughout the centuries.

Lest I be misunderstood, it's not so much that I found the episode offensive; rather it was too shallow and ineffective to deliver its message faithfully and respectfully.

Staging a Comeback

When movies and television became widespread, early directors and producers treated them much like stage plays. There’s a static quality to shows, noticeable all the way up through the fifties and early sixties.

Eventually creators began to innovate, finally realizing that they could do things that weren’t possible on a stage. We began to see more creativity in how things were filmed, and particularly in how things were staged. In Star Trek we’ve seen both styles. Some episodes have had more traditional, static staging with actors carefully lined up in staggered and visible rows, while other episodes have pushed the boundaries of what can be done with a camera (the moving shots from Nomad’s point-of-view in Changeling come to mind).

“The Empath” is an interesting hybrid. There are a few scenes on the surface of the planet, and a couple on the Enterprise , but most of it is shot in a dark, empty space with minimal props. This makes it feel like a stage play, but more like a modern production than a traditional play. Gem’s interpretive dance-style form of communication strengthens this impression as well. It’s interesting to see how we’ve come full circle, from techniques drawn from the stage, to more dynamic shots made possible by modern filmmaking techniques, and now returning to a stage play, this time deliberately, to get a particular tone and feeling.

There was much I liked in this episode: the interactions between Spock, McCoy, and Kirk were excellent, and I loved the idea of Gem’s special ability. Unfortunately, rest of the story made no sense, with important or dramatic information revealed late and then ignored in ways that were entirely uncharacteristic. I found myself wondering, as Gideon did, how many of the inconsistencies were due to the original script and how much to modifications made by others (certainly Roddenberry never hesitated to cut up or re-write a script, as Harlan Ellison will bitterly tell you). The bright spots and dark spots canceled each other out, leaving me with a somewhat disappointing three star episode and a lot of questions.

A Familiar Song

The Talosians are back! Oh wait, these are different beings with bulbous skulls, silver robes, illusory abilities, and a penchant for experimenting on humanoids. Supposedly the Vians have the power to save an entire planet (but only one!) from the imminent nova, and are deciding the fate of said planet by coercing an empath to absorb injuries to the point of death. Are there representatives from other planets being tested elsewhere? If Gem “fails" will the Vians save their own planet? Why does an entire world need to reach a certain standard of “compassion” to deserve being rescued from annihilation? Pay too much attention and you will start to wonder if the Vians are making it up as they go along. Note the dead scientists stored in macabre tube displays! Nothing says good intentions like having three more tubes ready and labeled for when the landing party eventually dies!

The Talosians- sorry, the Vians pay strangely little attention to Gem, for all their claims. It's hard to tell if Gem was left on the sidelines more from being a woman, or from what translated in human terms as a disability. Captain Pike is one of the few men who have been equally dismissed by an episode at large, and it's very clear that his role in The Menagerie was impacted by his limited means of communication. Despite clearly being able to comprehend what was happening, his binary Yes/No indicator left him largely out of the conversation. Even when he did express an opinion, it wasn't always respected. Gem had a more interpretive means of communication, but she too was often overlooked. In a future with translators that can talk to glowing clouds, and in the company of Spock, a touch telepath who has expressed a growing willingness to meld with aliens he encounters, it's beyond me how the crew ever opts not to try to communicate.

Upon first finding Gem, Kirk wants to know what is wrong, why she won't speak. Most aliens they've met have compatible languages, after all. McCoy's analysis: “She appears to be perfectly healthy. As for the other, her lack of vocal cords could be physiologically normal for her species, whatever that is,” provides a good reminder about human norms and poses the question, is a being “mute” if their species doesn't speak to start with? If her entire civilization uses empathy to connect, then the landing party likely seems just as restricted to Gem as she does to them. Being an alien, she doesn't nod or shake her head, but she does press McCoy's tricorder into Kirk's hands when the question of where to go arises. Given the option of escape, she votes to rescue the doctor.

Katheryn Hays brought a lot to her role as Gem, when the episode remembered she was there at all. Her performance, the set, and some choice scenes between the landing party couldn't make up for the surrounding episode, though.

[ Come join us tonight (December 20th) for the next thrilling episode of Star Trek !  KGJ is broadcasting the show live with commercials and accompanied by trekzine readings at 8pm Eastern and Pacific.  You won't want to miss it… Plus early coverage of the Apollo 8 launch! ]

6 thoughts on “[December 20, 1968] A failure to communicate ( Star Trek : "The Empath")”

The reviewers have mentioned the few things that were right in this episode. I'm not sure I can get all the way to three stars, but I liked it a little more than Joe did.

My biggest problem was Gem. Blue liked Katheryn Hays's performance, but for me it combined the worst elements of mime and interpretive dance. Those long full-face shots made her look like she was posing for a Walter Keane painting.

On a smaller quibble, the character name was poorly thought out. With DeForest Kelley's accent, it was hard to tell sometimes if he said Gem or Jim.

"At the very end of the episode this time Bones McCoy delivered the references to scripture, without quoting it this time,"

Surely it was Scotty not Bones who talked about the pearl of great price

It must be just me.  This is one of my favorite episodes.  I found the mime-like performance of the mute female Christ figure perfect, and the minimalist sets appropriate.

Amazing for a fan to sell to TV like this.

Wig Trek: no Cave Trek: uncertain Fog Trek: no Doinnggg Trek: no Love Trek: yes (see comment)

Torture again, as with the deplorable "Plato's Stepchildren."  If Star Trek is something we watch in order to be amused for 48 minutes or so, the show is on the wrong track with this sort of thing.

Yet the teleplay is unlike any other Star Trek story that comes to mind, with the stark set suggesting some kind of contemporary theatrical play.  It works.

I didn't much enjoy this one, but the performance by the actress playing the role of the mute empath was at a whole other level from what we expect from Star Trek guest actors.  I just about teared up. 

Someone mentioned The Outer Limits.  I thought of the end of that series' teleplay "The Man Who Was Never Born," with the two figures receding, receding, receding into blackness, as the two Vians and Gem do.

I take it Gem died in saving McCoy.  I salute the show for having the courage to follow through on this (unless I missed something suggesting that, no, she was just worn out).  Seeing the Vian carrying her like that made me think of King Lear and Cordelia.

This teleplay is, I guess, one you will have to be in the right mood to watch.  Will I watch it again if it is rerun?  I don't know.

"Love Trek" usually means licketty-split romances for Captain Kirk and the leading lady for the evening's show.  The love this evening was a different thing, a self-giving love for others from whom the one who loves can expect no return, no benefits.  Good grief, you could watch a year of TV programming and hardly see any indication that such a thing could exist.  Family affection, even affection for horses, dogs, cats — yes; loyal friendship, yes; romantic love, yes.  But not this.

Dale, this episode was the very definition of Doingg Trek—with a big buzz preceding the doinggs.

Yes, that's right.  I was getting numbed, I guess.

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“The Empath” Review, Screenshots and FX Video

| July 30, 2008 | By: Jeff Bond 150 comments so far

REVIEW by Jeff Bond

“The Empath” is one of those classic Trek episodes that you appreciate more as an adult than as a kid or teen, when it’s likely to play as unbearably “mushy.” But it’s illustrative of how different Trek has always been from the other science fiction shows of the period—classic Trek was unashamedly “touchy feely,” focusing on humanity’s most noble impulses and feelings.

In “The Empath” Kirk, Spock and McCoy touch down on a planet threatened by an imminent supernova (see “All Our Yesterdays”), and find a Federation research station that’s seemingly abandoned. “Security cam” footage saved in the station’s computers shows the station’s crew mysteriously disappearing (this is one of several examples on the show of security cam footage employing arty zooms and pans) before the Enterprise officers themselves disappear and find themselves deep underground in an alien research facility. There they find an attractive female mime that McCoy dubs Gem (in a strange foreshadowing for an episode based on torture, the bed Gem is found lying on looks like a giant agonizer from “Mirror, Mirror”). Soon Gem’s captors also appear: the Vians, aliens who look a lot like the Talosians from “The Cage.” They eventually hang Kirk and McCoy from the rafters (given the show’s strange, minimal sets, just exactly what the rafters are in this case is an interesting question) and torture the bejeezus out of them as we discover that Gem is an “empath” who absorbs other’s emotions and physical pain into her own body. As in many Trek episodes, the superior Vians are running a test—but in this case the subjects aren’t the Enterprise crew and by turn humanity, but Gem and her race, with the Vians seeking to discover whether she is willing to sacrifice her life for her newfound friends Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

Like “Spectre of the Gun,” “The Empath” showcases an odd, stage bound theatricality, from Kathryn Hays’ pantomime performance as Gem to the strange minimalist sets, achieved by blacking out the stage floor, curtaining off the walls and lighting to create the effect of a pure black, featureless environment marked by “floating” set pieces including Gem’s bed and the Vians’ laboratory equipment. This was a technique often used on Lost in Space and Irwin Allen’s other sci fi TV shows of the period but rarely on Star Trek—in fact the sets, lab sound effects and even the Vians’ costumes seem much more like something out of Lost in Space than Trek. There are other stylistic touches that are out of character for Trek, notably the use of slow motion in an exterior scene involving the illusion that the landing party is about to be rescued by Scotty.

“The Empath” is all about caring, but there is some condescension in the way Gem is treated that echoes the “Mary Sue” approach of some later Trek episodes—McCoy especially seems instantly charmed by and concerned for Gem despite having little or no idea exactly who and what she is (although Spock does remind him that the sandbats of Maynart IV appear to be inanimate rock crystals before they attack…) and the doctor immediately raises the need to find a catchy name for her to Priority One. There’s a sense that this is more about her appearing to be a helpless, pretty “girl” rather than an alien and you have to wonder how Kirk, Spock and McCoy would treat Gem if she were male instead of female. On the other hand, while it’s unstated in the episode, women are often considered to be more “empathic” and nurturing then men so it’s somewhat of a natural choice to portray Gem this way.

Some of what appears to be clumsy plot development in the story winds up making perfect sense when we see what the Vians are trying to achieve—the fact that they tell the Enterprise officers how their force field works, giving them the key to their eventual escape, the fact that they label their experiments in English so Kirk and the others can read and divine what’s about to happen to them, and the fact that they allow the humans to obtain one of their “control units” all plays into their manipulation. And “The Empath” does pay off as an illustration of one of Trek’s key strengths, the unstated but effectively portrayed “love” between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Probably the warmest moment between Spock and McCoy in the entire series occurs in the aftermath of McCoy’s torture as the camera holds on a shot of Spock’s deeply concerned expression as he holds his hand to McCoy’s head, with a touched McCoy weakly responding “You’ve got a good bedside manner, Spock.” Gem herself expresses the affection between the characters with a warm and silent smile as she watches them vie to be the first to sacrifice themselves for the others earlier in the story.

Another Trek staple that works better here than in some other episodes is the way Kirk manages to change the Vians’ behavior with an imploring speech—this one makes particular sense given what the aliens want out of Gem; for them to refuse to show mercy and compassion when they value it so highly in others is a critical contradiction.

All that said, “The Empath” still registers sometimes as overly sentimental and it gilds the lily with its talky final scene on the bridge in which Kirk and McCoy have to admit that they were “awed” by Gem and Scotty unloads his “story of the merchant”—Trek often presented the moral of the story verbally but after such an effective wrap-up this coda seems like more hand-holding than an intelligent viewer really needs.

With most of the episode set underground there are few spaceship shots in “The Empath,” but in addition to their usual additions of a new planet, CBS-D puts their efforts in other directions—there’s a more realistic view of the star system’s sun with visible solar flares and most importantly, the team has worked to smooth out the transitions in the makeup effects that are used to illustrate Gem’s empathic powers. When Star Trek was originally filmed this kind of effect hadn’t changed much from the thirties and forties when films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Wolf Man showed transformations by fading between shots of different stages of theatrical makeup. While it worked for audiences of the time, the approach requires loads of suspension of disbelief. Because of the big changes in the look of the static makeups between shots, and even changes in the position of the subject and the sudden appearance or disappearance of hair, the technique has the aspect more of a magical quality than something organic. Here the impact of CBS-D’s digital “smoothing” of the effects is considerable as it actually adds quite a bit of emotional power to the growth of scars and bruises on Gem’s fragile facial features. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been employed for the healing scenes in “Miri” as well but the addition here is one of CBS-D’s more effective fixes.

SFX VIDEO by Matt Wright

SCREENSHOTS by Matt Wright

Remastered vs. Original

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Boy, this episode was always a tough one to swallow!

Eh. This one always felt phoned-in.

sound stage city

I guess I’m in the minority who liked this show, even as a kid in the 1970s. The stage-iness is part of the mood and the charm; Gem was oddly appealing in her muteness; and the Big Three had some great moments.

Sure, it’s no “Balance of Terror” or “City on the Edge…”, but it’s also far from the “Spock’s Brain” and “Children Shall Lead” end of the spectrum.

Uh oh. I always liked this one as a kid. But I was a wierd kid.

Never liked this episode. The merchant story that Scotty paraphrases is from the Gosples. Jesus used it as a parable. I like how trek writers lift material from scripture but given the show’s humanist bent would never properly give due credit. “Bread and Circuses” being a notable exception.

I love this episode. Reminds me of the last season of Batman.

so i guess its obvious that these guys are based on the talosians? i remember having an old copy of the cage i taped from BBC2, anyone remember the talosians voices changing from scene to scene> lol from high to loww and slowww

5. I still like this one, probably because it did feel theatric, more like a play than a television episode.

ive got to be in the mood for this episode. it has some really good moments but its very surreal.

I think this episode was one of four of TOS banned by the BBC here in Great Britain for many years before it was finally shown to UK audiences.

many thanks Greg UK

I loved some of the new music created for this episode.

Funny how Jeff nailed the fact that the platform looked like a giant agonizer. As many times as I’ve seen this episode over the years, I never picked up on that until I watched the remastered episode last weekend.

““The Empath” is one of those classic Trek episodes that you appreciate more as an adult than as a kid or teen,”

1. “Boy, this episode was always a tough one to swallow!”

Agreed Harry. I hated it as a kid and it really made for a lousy afternoon after school when I discovered, “Oh man!”, this was the one that was on. I just found it gory and sadistic. I couldn’t believe any race could be that way.

I do remember an ailing Deforest Kelly telling on those SciFi extras in between the commercials that this was one of his favorites because of the approach and art direction. Again, to quote Jeff Bond….I can appreciate them all on a different level these days.

Always loved this episode, when I was a kid I was very curious as to how Gem survived the pain, it looked so gruesome to me back then!

#8: The voices of The Talosians changed in pitch only during the “pieced together” version of “The Cage” that had both black and white and colour footage, this was before the “lost colour footage” was “found”. It’s been so long since I have seen the entire colour version of The Cage that i can’t remember if they kept the pitch correct throughout that one. On the original “Managerie”, their voices were re-dubbed at a lower pitch (and re-voiced), there was a post here a while back about the guy who played Commodore Mendez being one of the re-dubbed voices), and the main Talosian voice in the original “Cage” was the late Meg Wyle herself.

The story and dialog has some holes, but it’s heavy on the McCoy, so I still enjoy it. And like Paul, I liked the black box set. It manages to make me feel closed in, yet suspicious of what may be lurking in the darkness.

I think this was one of the ones the BBC dropped from showing because it was No Good

Oh boy More Mars like Planets!

No Season 2 Box-Set in UK???? What’s wrong? Season 2 only available in US-Stores next week? Why is it impossible to tell us the european release-date????

I’ll try to not ever say this again, but boy am I tired of the “realistic” planets!!

I’ll give it to them that the makeup transitions look great. Makes the episode better, even. However, whats with CBS and their hatred of over exposing shots? The new sun looks far less menacing than the old. Like a planet.

i am very impressed with the high def video clip shown above for this episode. if that’s what the remastered episodes looks like, I might change my mind and get the DVD.

I always liked this episode and still do. it made a whole lot of sense to me, even as a kid.

This may be the only original series episode that I’ve never seen all the way through. And, because I didn’t set my VCR correctly last weekend, I still only saw the last 15 minutes.

But as a kid, I’d read the James Blish adaptation, so I staged it in my head. I knew it was set in a pitch dark, nearly featureless underground cavern, so I pictured it as a dark place I knew — my grandmother’s spooky basement. Thereafter, when I’d go into that basement, I’d be expecting to see those tubes with the dead scientists in them. Yikes!

But last weekend, with the bit I did see… as Jeff ponders above, I wondered what the empath would have been like if it had been male instead of female. More to the point, I wondered, what if the Empath looked like the Vians(Talosians), and the captors torturing them were typican Trekian alien babes? Be an interesting change in the dynamic of the episode.

I miss the split-screen “comparison” videos!

The aliens in Lost in Space’s “Invaders from the Fifth Dimension” appear to be related to the Vians.

“(this is one of several examples on the show of security cam footage employing arty zooms and pans)” — I think it was mentioned in the review for “And the Children Shall Lead” that the reviewer didn’t see how the tricorder could take shots of the subject that contained the tricorder itself. Neil Stephenson makes a very believable for nanotechnology employing camera obscurae (sp?) of only a few molecules in size. Essentially, there would be no need for a fixed camera; you would get an indefinite number of tiny low powered cameras flying around.

Point is — if Trek ’09 is to use the three basic tools — phaser, communicator, tricorder — then each has to show us something that doesn’t exist in 2008. There are opportunities to do that and blow us out of our socks. I think JJ will.

re: better transitions and “It’s too bad this couldn’t have been employed for the healing scenes in “Miri” as well ” — As I’ve repeatedly said, I doubt this is the last time we’ll see a revamp of TOS. CBS-D has broken some important ground, but another complete pass would be nice to finish the job. I mean really, Paramount is making a mint off this 40+ year old property. COME ON.

Anyway, thanks Jeff. I always thought this one had a nice creepy beginning, then got sloooooow through the middle. Yes, I agree that this one is the most Lost In Space-like ep. I like Scotty’s little Gaelic storytelling at the end, but maybe that’s just me.

believable case for…

This one was one of my favorites… to the contrary of the popular opinion on it..

Yeah this was one of the ‘banned’ episodes in the UK for years. Probably until the 90s. It was released on a rental VHS along with ‘Miri’ the other banned episode in the UK. Renting the video in the 80s was the only way to see these episodes.

Oh, and the Talosians were all played by chicks. The Vians are dudes — with no dates. No wonder they’re grumpy.

10 — yes Beeb did restrict it because it thought the Kirk hanging/torture too strong. I like it’s theatrical feel. I watched for the first time the last but one episode of the Prisoner with just Pat McGoohan and Leo McKern in a very play like surreal script and theatrical set which also worked brilliantly with strong allegories to modern life and the individual fitting in to society etc (exec prod, written and directed by McGoohan too), very Trek like.

13 I can also remember reading De’s comments about this being one of his favourites with its theatrical prod design somewhere in an Starlog article I think years ago.

A big part of Trek and its appeal was is theatrical/Shakespearean feel and connections, hope this is not forgotten in the new film.

The set doesn’t just SEEM to be out of “Lost in Space,” the tubes holding Ozaba and Linke ARE from “Lost in Space.” They are, in fact, the freezing tubes from the Jupiter II, which can be identified by their crowns and pedestals. Five of these tubes are seen simultaneously in “The Empath,” six would have been available as old props from LIS.

Apparently, one year after LIS left the air, Star Trek felt it was safe to rent some of its props from 20th Century Fox.

As for the giant “agonizer”-shaped bed, it is actually the Eymorg conference table from “Spock’s Brain.” The base of the table was either cut off, or, more likely, the carpeted pedestal was built around it.

I think I have those stairs b4, which episode? Other than all the time Irwin Allen used them. The holding tubes for the crew, look like the freezing tubes from LIS.

This has to be one of the lowest budget episode of the whole series. Very few cast, no stage, and very little props. But not the worse episode by any means.

I’m pretty sure that CBS-D did touch up the healing “morph” shots in “Miri.”

I believe that a similar spiral metal staircase shows up as the way into the underground portion of Yonada in “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.”

25. CmdrR “I like Scotty’s little Gaelic storytelling at the end”

As #6 Roger points out, Scotty’s little story was actually one of Jesus’ parables.

13. Andy Patterson “I do remember an ailing Deforest Kelly telling on those SciFi extras in between the commercials that this was one of his favorites because of the approach and art direction”

“Star Trek Special Edition”! I can’t believe I forgot all about that! Strange that CBS/Paramount hasn’t included any of those interviews as extras in the DVD box sets. Same with the Patrick Stewart-narrated documentary that accompanied the “All-Color” version of “The Cage” that debuted just before the 2nd season of TNG. I always felt that little doc was far better than the lame anniversary ‘celebration’ shows that came in the years following it (the 25th anniversary show, the lame show that accompanied the TNG finale, and especially that *awful* Star Trek Honors show with Kenny G and some opera diva singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” plus that painful-to-watch Trek skit with the cast of “Frasier”).

RE: The agonizer bed

Glad to see I’m not the only one whoever noticed this! Genius bit of self-referencing (whether intentional or not).

The new close up of the sun looked even more fake than the original. It looked like a static painting. I didn’t care for it.

I love the planets the guys at CBS-D are doing.. MUCH better than the ones that they originally had. I love the realism to them.

I was watching an old episode on SPACE here in Canada… wow… you can see the choma key shadows of the enterpise as it orbits… the planets look horrible and unbelievable. But then again.. AT THE TIME, it was advanced and spectacular.

I look forward to purchasing the remastered series and watching the full episodes. Everything looks great in them!

I never cared for this episode. Call me a Philistine.

Also, it’s “gild” the lily, not “guild” the lily.

Lod Garth’s FAAAAAVorite episode

If JJ and company watched this episode and used it as a basis on how to treat the big 3. Their humanity, courage, sacrifice and hetero brotherly love for one another they will do well

WAY TOO MANY TORTURE SCENES THAT WENT NOWHERE…

…helped make “The Empath” seem as if it was being written as it went along. I never thought it was as BAD as some make it out to be… just irritatingly unfocused.

cbs does a great job with planets but they have no talent for anything else

This is not Lost In Space, it’s The Outer Limits “Nightmare”. Check the credits for both: directed by John Erman.

#31, There was also a hexagonal viewscreen (with rounded corners) on the set that was either from Land of the Giants or Lost In Space…not sure which, but definitely from one or the other.

I recognized it being in The Empath when watching my Irwin Allen DVDs recently…

#37 – I represent the Lily Pop Guild.

I always liked this episode. The low-fi production design forces you to pay attention to the acting and the dialogue, and in that way “The Empath” always reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone. Serling could get enormous mileage out of two or three sets, some well written dialogue and a handful of quality performers.

oh and the score is beautiful

STILL wish that they’d made the ‘remastered’ Enterprise a far LIGHTER shade overall, throughout the episodes…. The comparison shots here really show how much ‘whiter’ the original looked overall. And I don’t ever recall seeing ‘grey’ merchandise of the ‘E’ either….

41. I was just about to mention the similarity to “Nightmare,” which is quite a bit creepier than the “Empath.” Amazing that it’s the same director, though his style is certainly a big clue.

I also find Gem a bit like the Eloi in the 1960’s “The Time Machine.” Attractive, not very verbal, and really in need of developing an instinct for self sacrifice.

I always loved this episode! Spock’s reaction to McCoy’s hypo shot is priceless.

…the adventure continues….

ahhhh… reminds me of me boyhood boarding school…

St. Lulubell’s Co-Ed School For Misfit Boys by tha’ Isle o’ Eel… vast dark open spaces, strange blokes in robes running aboot, tha’ only women thar’ havin’ taken a vow o’ silence, showin’ strong emotion gets ya’ confined ta’ quarters, indiscriminate torture of alien life forms to (offical story) make them feel human, and a Scotsman relatin’ Bible stories…

tha’ best o’ times… tha’ worst o’ times… These days, iffi I had any, I would just send me kids ta’ bandcamp…

Arrrrrrrr…

on a more pedestrian note did anyone think the way they treated Gem was truly outrageous?

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Star Trek – The Empath (Review)

This July and August, we’re celebrating the release of Star Trek Beyond by taking a look back at the third season of the original Star Trek . Check back every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the latest update.

Like Is There in Truth No Beauty? before it, The Empath is very much  “weird big ideas” version of  Star Trek .

It is a simple story, as Kirk and his away team visit a planet in a star system about to go nova. It deals with fairly universal themes, like compassion and humanity. There are stakes, there are aliens, there is a test of worthiness. In many ways, The Empath is a quintessential Star Trek episode, one of those classic “humanity proves their worth to a powerful alien species” narratives in the style of Arena or Spectre of the Gun . The biggest deviation from that template is the fact that it is not humanity on trial; it is an unknown species represented by an anonymous mute.

The triumvirate triumphant.

However, The Empath works in large part due to this simplicity. There is an elegance to the story, one that distils a lot of core Star Trek ideals down to their very essence. The Empath is very much a “humans are special” story, in the vein of episodes like Lonely Among Us or The Last Outpost . However, it works better than most of these stories because it hits on a very strong core idea. The Empath suggests that what makes humanity special is not necessarily unique or intrinsic or intangible. According to The Empath , what makes humanity special is pretty basic.

As the title implies, humanity’s greatest virtue might be its empathy or its compassion.

Although humanity also offers “Shirtless Shat.”

The Empath works in large part due to its elegance and its simplicity. The set-up is fairly simple, established through the exposition of the opening log entry. The Minara star is entering a “critical period” of its “nova phase.” The Enterprise has been ordered to evacuate a research facility before the star goes nova and consumes everything in the system. When the Enterprise picks up a “gigantic solar flare” , it is forced to withdraw to a safe distance. Kirk and his party are left alone on the surface of the planet.

Inevitably, Kirk discovers that the researchers are not where they are supposed to be. Instead, they have been abducted by an alien species. Kirk and his away team are abducted by the same aliens, and subjected to a battery of brutal tests while an anonymous alien mute watches silently. Kirk finds himself wrestling with impossible questions of sacrifice and compassion as the sinister alien overseers confront him with one difficult choice after another. Lives hang in the balance, as the nature of the test slowly becomes clear.

Researching the research party.

It is a stock Star Trek plot, the kind of story that Gene Roddenberry would use in  Encounter at Farpoint to launch Star Trek: The Next Generation almost two decades later. However, what is striking about The Empath is the sheer unrelenting purity of its plot. This is an episode with a minimum of superfluous or distracting material. The outline of the story is established with ruthless efficiency in the opening minute of the teaser; Kirk explains about the star going nova, and Scott immediately has the ship withdraw to “minimum distance for absolute safety.”

This efficiency is reflected in other aspects of the script. The episode’s primary guest star is Kathryn Hays as Gem, the alien who finds herself caged up with the leading trio. As the climax of the episode reveals, Gem is primarily there to observe the activities of the Enterprise crew. “You were her teachers,” Lal states at the climax. The Empath doubles down on this idea. Reinforcing the suggestion that Gem is there to watch and learn, the episode reveals that the character is mute. As such, her abilities to actively contribute are minimised.

Empath to glory.

Actor Kathryn Hays quite enjoyed the experience of working on Star Trek , finding the role rewarding and the technical aspects of the production quite fascinating :

I’ve often thought that was an interesting role for me to play.  I loved playing that.  It was technically very interesting.  That show was fascinating to work on from a technical point of view.  It was so different from a regular show. 

Indeed, it is telling that Hays should mention the technical aspects of the episode. The Empath takes the simplicity of its premise and carries that all the way through, right down to the production design.

No need to be (Mc)Coy about it.

The bulk of The Empath unfolds upon a very distinctive set, particularly by the standards of Star Trek . The space is mostly blacked out and half-formed. There are occasionally items of furniture to be distinguished from the all-encompassing blackness; there are gigantic tubes, a sofa, a laboratory table, a readout. All of these items seem to have been conjured up from nothing, from the surrounding darkness. When Kirk and McCoy are tortured later in the episode, they are suspended from chains that seem to reach upwards into an infinity void.

The set design on The Empath mirrors that of Spectre of the Gun . There is a sense of abstraction, as if the characters have stepped into a world that is not fully formed. There is an absurdist quality to it, recalling the more visually creative touches of British sixties science-fiction like Doctor Who or The Prisoner . To some extent, British broadcasters embraced those designs because they were cost effective. With The Empath , that style of production design had a similar appeal to the production team. The third season of Star Trek was looking to save money.

Broken Bones.

The set design on The Empath is one of the episode’s most memorable features. When Starlog asked actor DeForest Kelley to single out his favourite episodes of the original run, he immediately jumped to The Empath :

Another one that I like very much, that I enjoy, is The Empath. That was an interesting show because it was done on a huge soundstage all blacked out. It was a very theatrical production, the only lights were pinpoint wipes that were spotting us and we had great fun doing it.

If the premise of The Empath is quintessential Star Trek , then the production design on the episode is much more unique. The Empath is an episode that lingers in the memory.

Running just as fast as he can.

At the same time, the consciously stagey design of The Empath captures a lot what is so distinctive and effective about the production of the original Star Trek show. The underground prison is very obviously a blacked-out sound stage, but the truth is that the production values on Star Trek were never enough to render alien environments in a particularly convincing manner. Even when Kirk and the away team leave the prison to enter the cave system, the cave system looks like a stage. Even when they reach the surface, the surface looks like a studio.

This is particularly apparent in the third season of the show. After all, budget cuts forced the cast and crew to work primarily on soundstages; The Paradise Syndrome and All Our Yesterdays were the only episodes that shot on location. All other planet surfaces had to be represented through set design. It is very difficult for standing sets to look natural. This has always been the case, even in earlier seasons. This is not to complain, this is simply to make an observation. The production design on Star Trek always felt slightly abstract, representational rather than literal.

“Production budget? What production budget?”

As Mervyn Nicholson argues, there is a very clear aesthetic divide between the original Star Trek series and the live action series that would follow :

There is an obvious difference between Star Trek, the original show, and the successor series and movies. And that is that they look so different. In terms of the look, there is a definite dividing line between the origin and what came after. The first series looks primitive, even quaint — not much more than “a lot of orange paint [and] plastic plants” — by comparison with the successor series, with their sophisticated special effects and updated styling. The computers in the original series appear to be plywood painted grey. The revolution in special effects came after the first series, and affected both the movies and the TV series that succeeded it. But the difference in style is much more than just special effects and, by the 1980s, changes in fashion and production values. The ’60s, the period of Star Trek, were long gone in a cultural sense, as well as in terms of visual fashions and production values. The original series has a definite look, a style. This look is not the mere consequence of what are today obsolete production techniques. By treating the style of the original series as integral to the show — and not as a kind of regrettable defect — we can get a better grasp on the Star Trek phenomenon itself. Typically, people talk about themes and characters, while the visual style is regarded with a patronizing sense of its quaintness. In fact, however, the look of Star Trek is deeply interesting in its own right.

The later series put a much greater emphasis on verisimilitude than the original Star Trek had, with the more abstract production design of episodes like The Thaw standing in stark contrast to the general look and feel.

They’re even vacuum-packed.

In some respects, it is interesting to wonder if the lack of detail on the sets of the original Star Trek simply reflected the reality of television production at the time. After all, television sets were a lot smaller during the middle decades of the twentieth century and broadcast reception was a lot rougher during the sixties. As such, set detail was a lot less important for sixties television shows than it would have been in later decades. Audiences at home were unlikely to be watching on sixty-inch high definition plasma television sets.

After all, a lot of the production design choices on Star Trek were made in the context of contemporary media technology. This is most obvious in the show’s use of colour. When Star Trek was first broadcast, colour television was a novelty. However, the show seemed designed for colour more than black-and-white. There was less emphasis on the sharp visual contrast associated with black-and-white cinematography, while the production design used all manner of bold and distinctive colour to give the series a unique visual flair.

Shadows and symbols.

In Inside Star Trek , Herb Solow argued that Star Trek benefited from its proud use of colour in its production design early in its first season:

However, in December 1966, with Star Trek having been on the air only three months, an NBC executive called with some news. The Nielsen research indicated that Star Trek was the highest-rated color series on television. I distributed the information to the Star Trek staff. We thought it was all very interesting, nothing to write home about, and went back to work. We were wrong; we failed to see the importance of the research.

Perhaps those initial and subsequent Nielsen color series ratings contributed to giving Star Trek a second year of life. Putting aside low national ratings and lack of sponsors, perhaps a reason for renewing Star Trek, other than all the phone calls, letters, and demonstrations at NBC, was its position as the top-rated color series on the ‘full color network.’ NBC’s parent company was RCA. Star Trek sold color television sets and made money for RCA.

Michael Kmet has suggested that this is something of an exaggeration , but it underscores how important colour was to the production design of Star Trek .

Talk about a black out.

This style of production design (heavy on strong colours and light on fine detail) was likely informed by the realities of contemporary television consumption. After all, television shows are designed to cater to the audience at home. This is not to diminish the fantastic work done by people like set designer Matt Jefferies, set decorator John Dwyer and cinematographer Jerry Finnerman. The fact that their work is still subject to so much discussion and debate today is a testament to their skill and technique.

The franchise wouldn’t begin moving away from this style of production until the third season of The Next Generation . The first two years of The Next Generation feature a number of studio sets that look and feel like they might have been lifted from the original Star Trek ; the planets featured in Arsenal of Freedom , Skin of Evil or Loud as a Whisper . From the third season of The Next Generation onwards, dry ice and lighting was typically used to disguise studio-bound sets in episodes like The Enemy or Battle Lines .

Getting away, Scott free.

Still, there is only so much that lighting and dry ice can do. Even on the later shows, the franchise’s fantastic (and famous) standing cave sets cannot perfectly emulate a real cave environment. On a science-fiction show like Star Trek , there is always some element of abstraction required. Given that this is a show with warp speed and transporters, suspension of disbelief comes with the territory. At the same time, even the cave sets in the later series would grow more elaborate and more detailed, more closely approximating real caves.

The set design in The Empath is simply the more abstract minimalist tendencies of the original Star Trek series taken to their logical extreme; sofas without furniture sets, consoles without walls, chains without ceiling hooks. It is haunting and unsettling, feeling incomplete. The set design in The Empath looks wrong on an instinctive level. The Empath wanders into the realm of the uncanny, suggesting that there something fundamentally broken. The set design is an artistic triumph.

It was, by all accounts, a pretty rough season.

It also fits quite comfortably with the apocalyptic themes bubbling through the third season of the show. Star Trek was dead at this point in the run. There was very little that could change that. The series had been lucky to secure a third season; there would not be a fourth. It seems as though the entire production team has accepted this fact, a grim resignation sinking into every fibre of the production. There is a sense of dread that hangs over the whole of the third season.

To be fair, there were earlier points in the run when the universe seemed like a haunted place that was hostile to the very notion of humanoid life. The Man Trap had been the very first episode of Star Trek to broadcast, the story of a predatory salt vampire that was the very last of its kind on a dying world. It would be quite some time before Kirk encountered a rival galactic power, when the Romulans appeared in Balance of Terror . The Klingons would not appear until Errand of Mercy . Otherwise, space seemed strangely empty.

For most of the first season, the universe seemed to be inhabited by dead or dying civilisations that had shuffled off this plane of existence; the all-powerful aliens of Charlie X , the long-vanished “Old Ones” of What Are Little Girls Made Of? , Trelane’s parents in The Squire of Gothos , the Telosians featured in The Menegarie, Part I and The Menagerie, Part II . Although the universe became a bit more vibrant early in the second season, producer John Meredyth Lucas returned to that tone with episodes like The Immunity Syndrome or The Gamesters of Triskelion .

While the third season certainly mirrors that early portrayal of the Star Trek universe, it feels more melancholy. It is no longer that Kirk and his crew are wandering through the light of long-dead stars in search of ghosts, it is that Kirk is in the process of becoming a ghost himself. Death stalks Kirk and the Enterprise in the third season. The tone was set quite effectively in Spectre of the Gun , with Kirk and his away team sentenced to die in a shoot-out as they watch their final minutes tick away.

“I hate to point it out, but…”

Death accompanies Kirk as he warps across the universe, literally and figuratively. Kirk dies metaphorically at the start of The Paradise Syndrome , replaced by Kirok; later in that same episode, Kirok’s wife and unborn child are stoned to death. Spock fakes Kirk’s death in The Enterprise Incident . McCoy diagnoses his own terminal illness in For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky . Federation outposts seemed to be staffed by dead bodies in episodes like And the Children Shall Lead , Whom the Gods Destroy and The Lights of Zetar .

This apocalyptic tone simmers through The Empath , as Kirk and his away team visit a system that will soon be consumed by a star going nova. The Viians are engaged in fatal research, torturing their subjects to death. The Federation researchers are found dead, stuffed in labelled tubes. The Viians warn Kirk that their experiments will exact a deadly toll. “There is an eighty seven percent chance that the doctor will die,” Lal advises Kirk. What of Spock? “The possibility is ninety three percent that he will suffer brain damage, resulting in permanent insanity.”

Let it Viian.

Ultimately, the Viians are conducting an experiment to determine which civilisation will be permitted to survive the supernova. “Of all the planets of Minara, we have the power to transport the inhabitants of only one to safety,” Lal confesses. Even allowing for the relatively upbeat optimistic ending of The Empath in which all four participants survive the latest iteration of the Viians’ deadly experiments, the episode still ends with the deaths of an entire star system. (Save one planet.) Death stalks the Enterprise.

Still, The Empath is an endearingly optimistic episode. Star Trek is a show with an intrinsically optimistic perspective on the human condition. Although the franchise’s utopian idealism would not truly galvanise until the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , this was always a show about how humanity managed to survive the twentieth century and find their way out into the stars. In the context of the sixties, with looming threat of mutually assured destruction, that alone provided a counterpoint to post-apocalyptic science-fiction like Planet of the Apes .

“Anybody up to recreate the poster for The Motion Picture ?”

It is debatable how much of this utopian humanism was part of the franchise from the beginning. After all, Gene L. Coon was highly critical of the Federation as an institution in episodes like Arena or Errand of Mercy . It was only in the early years of The Next Generation that the franchise came to embrace the idea that humans were generally just the best at everything. This could occasionally become suffocating and overwhelming, particularly in episodes like Lonely Among Us or The Last Outpost or The Neutral Zone .

The Empath hits on a number of similar ideas, with the Viians abducting Kirk and his away team because they seek to exploit that which makes humanity special. However, The Empath is never as clumsy or awkward as those later episodes. In part, this is because the Viians suggest that humans are not inherently superior, and that they just happen to have developed values that are worthwhile and can thus serve as an example. This is also because the episode chooses to be very specific about what makes humans so special: empathy and compassion.

“I sense a Gem of an idea here.”

In keeping with the rest of the episode, this is a very simple idea. However, it is also very specific. Humanity are of interest to the Viians for a  very precise reason. In fact, it seems to have been a happy coincidence that the Federation seemed to have a research post in the sector. Perhaps if another species had been present, the Viians might have used them instead. Indeed, Spock is just as capable of demonstrating the commitment and self-sacrifice which the Viians laud, with the episode never daring to suggest that Spock’s human half is superior to his Vulcan half.

(To be fair, there is some good-natured ribbing about Spock’s Vulcan heritage at the very end of the episode. “I find it fascinating that with all their scientific knowledge and advances, that it was good old-fashioned human emotion that they valued the most,” McCoy reflects. Scotty suggests, “Perhaps the Vulcans should hear about this.” Spock wrily responds, “I shall certainly give the thought all the consideration it is due.” However, Spock’s half-human heritage is never discussed, and he is just as willing to sacrifice himself to save Kirk and McCoy.)

Communicating his anxiety.

More than that, there is a sense that the humanism in The Empath is earned. In later Star Trek stories focusing on how special and unique humanity are, there is a sense that mankind is speaking from a position of comfort and luxury. It is easy for mankind to be selfless and altruistic in a world where the replicator can provide for just about every need, where poverty does not exist, and where the holodeck can allow individuals to live whatever life they choose. There is no conflict because technology has evolved to a point where it blunts the causes of conflict.

Watching later episodes of Star Trek , it can seem like the franchise embraces technological determinism. It can occasionally seem like mankind does not get along because they learned important lessons from history, mankind gets along because they invented magic technology. In a way, this aspect of the franchise’s utopianism feels quite cynical. After all, if the modern world does not have replicators or transporters, if it is not physically possible to eliminate poverty and starvation by pushing a button, can mankind really transcend its base impulses?

The brutality of the Viians really floored Kirk.

To be fair, it could be argued that there is some intrinsic worth to that sort of utopian thought. It is reassuring to know that all of our modern problems are transient, and that it is physically possible for mankind to get along with one another if all of our basic needs are met. However, it is also very much an easy answer with limited application to the modern world. It suggests that the problems with the world today have nothing to do with mankind, and everything to do with resource scarcity and competition.

This approach to utopian thought and idealism ignores the role that mankind plays in issues like food scarcity and poverty. It suggests that the problems facing mankind are all external, in a way that allows mankind “off the hook.” After all, what introspection and reflection is necessary if all it takes is a replicator to perfect mankind? If technology provides an easy answer, there is no need for personal development or growth to make a better world feasible. This is one of the big criticisms of Roddenberry’s utopian thought.

“Soon the Viians will have what we desperately need. Soon we will have the secret of William Shatner’s hairpiece.”

The humanism in The Empath is not anchored in technology. It is not an “easy” humanism preached to the universe by the crew of what is effectively a floating five-star hotel. Instead, the compassion and empathy in The Empath is well earned. It shines through a crucible of pain and suffering. Kirk’s compassion for Spock and McCoy is not diminished by the knowledge that he will suffer for the sacrifice that he makes, it is enriched by it. Spock’s willingness to sacrifice himself is even more altruistic once he knows the potential price of his sacrifice.

This is not the same as condoning the suffering or pain. The Empath is explicit in condemning of the Viians’ experiments. They may be a technologically advanced species, but their methods are barbaric. “You’ve lost the capacity to feel the emotions you brought Gem here to experience,” Kirk insists. “You don’t understand what it is to live. Love and compassion are dead in you. You’re nothing but intellect.” There is never any indication that the trials are  “fair” or  “justified” or  “righteous” , even if they form something of a crucible for the crew’s humanism.

“Dammit, Jim. I asked them to tear my uniform sexy, just like yours.”

Indeed, the torture inflicted upon the crew in The Empath was so striking that it was the first episode of Star Trek not to be shown on the BBC. The British Broadcasting Corporation pulled the episode from its schedule. When fans wrote to query the show’s absence, the broadcaster responded in June 1976:

After very careful consideration a top level decision was made not to screen the episodes entitled Empath, Whom Gods Destroy, Plato’s Stepchildren and Miri, because they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease. You will appreciate that account must be taken that out of Star Trek’s large and enthusiastic following, many are juveniles, no matter what time of day the series is put into the programme schedules. A further look has been taken following the recent correspondence, but I am afraid it has been impossible to revise the opinion not to show these episodes.

Reportedly, the controversy was sparked when the BBC’s broadcast of Miri in December 1970. The broadcaster reportedly received a high volume of complaints about content . As a result, The Empath , Whom Gods Destroy and Plato’s Stepchildren were not broadcast. They were first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky One in 1990.

No Miri illusion.

In some ways, the hard-earned humanism of The Empath foreshadows the approach that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would take towards the franchise’s utopianism. The second live action spin-off would adopt a more skeptical approach to the technological determinism that defined a lot of the early Next Generation episodes, instead suggesting that mankind’s capacity for empathy and compassion is best judged under pressure or facing threat. Deep Space Nine would suggest that those virtues meant nothing if they could not survive a crucible.

The Empath is very much a piece of “pop Christianity.” To be fair, a lot of popular culture is heavily influenced by Christian belief. In the United States, and the larger western world, Christianity is treated very much as the default belief system. Even those raised outside Protestantism or Catholicism will recognise many of the basic stories, lending those tales a universal and recognisable quality. These core Christian stories are ubiquitous in western culture. As such, pop culture can seem to absorb these elements passively, almost through osmosis.

Research stations of the cross.

Certainly, the original Star Trek embraced a passive Christian aesthetic. In the later spin-offs, the Federation would be defined as an atheistic organisation that had moved away from religious and spiritual beliefs. However, episodes like  Balance of Terror , Who Mourns for Adonais? and Bread and Circuses subtly seemed to suggest that the Federation shared the same religious outlook as sixties America; a monotheistic Christian belief system with chapels and a singular capital-g God.

The religious subtext in The Empath is distinct from those earlier stories. The episode is infused with Christian imagery and iconography, from the story itself through to the production design choices. The very idea of a representative chosen to suffer for the redemption of an entire species recalls the story of Jesus Christ. Like Jesus Christ, Gem takes the sins of the world upon herself. She even dies and is ultimately resurrected, saving her entire planet. The humanism at the heart of the story recalls a very New Testament philosophy of love and compassion.

A thorny issue.

Crucifix imagery abounds. The sofa on which Gem is sleeping evokes a cross. When Kirk and McCoy are tortured by the Viians, they are hung from the ceiling by chains that hold them in a position quite similar to the crucifixion. Gem’s miraculous healing powers recall those demonstrated by Jesus Christ, but it is worth noting the wounds that she takes upon herself. Early in the story, Kirk has a gash across his forehead; it recalls the wounds Christ would have suffered from the crown of thorns. Later, she heals his wrists, where the crucifixion nails would be.

The Empath is very much written in the style of a religious parable, something reinforced towards the climax of the story as Gem lays dying. When the Viians decide to take her away, they do not simply disappear as they did (repeatedly) earlier in the story. Instead, they float upwards, as if taking Gem towards heaven. The framing emphasise this ascent imagery, the camera inviting the audience to stare down at Kirk and the away team as the Viians ascend in their flowing gowns.

It’s all in the wrists.

While The Empath trades in Christian iconography, it never leans too heavily into it. Kirk and Spock never pause to label the story as one rooted exclusively in a western Christian tradition. Instead, the story incorporates the strong humanist values of the New Testament, recognising the ideas of empathy and compassion as intrinsically valuable without needing to tie them to a particular set of religious beliefs. It just so happens that the New Testament is one of the great humanist texts, so it makes sense to draw upon that imagery in crafting The Empath .

The Empath was the first and only episode of Star Trek to be directed by veteran television director John Erman. While Ralph Senensky’s work on Is There in Truth No Beauty? demonstrated the influence that a director could have on television production in the sixties, Erman’s experience on The Empath is perhaps more indicative of what sixties television shows expected from directors. There is a sense that television directors were largely treated as hired hands in the sixties, mostly in charge of getting the episode done on time and on budget.

Just floating some ideas.

Discussing the episode with These Are the Voyages , Erman stressed that he had very little input into the stylised aesthetic of the episode:

My memory was that [the stylised approach] was pretty much dictated by the powers to be. I don’t think I had a whole lot to say about it. The only place that I kind of exerted some influence was with Kathy Hays and a couple of the other actors, but I didn’t have control over what the look was supposed to be.

Erman was largely working within predefined boundaries established by the production team, rather than defining his own vision of what he wanted Star Trek to be.

The production team had to find new and exciting ways to keep William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy from killing one another.

In many ways, Erman seemed to be there to mediate between the various actors and their competing interests. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had a strained relationship at this point in the run of the original Star Trek show. Both actors had a legitimate claim to playing the lead character. William Shatner was top billed and played the senior officer, while Leonard Nimoy was very much the breakout fan-favourite character who received mountains of fan mail each and every week.

With all of that in mind, it was inevitable that there would be some tension between the two performers. Both Gene Roddenberry and Fred Freiberger had been forced to carefully navigate the egos of the two leading men, with the show often caught between their demands. William Shatner would notoriously count his lines in a given script and steal lines from his co-stars . Leonard Nimoy had been embroiled in a heated salary battle at the start of the second season, seeking to increase his input and influence over the show .

“Well, at least I don’t have to count her lines.”

The directors of individual episodes could often find themselves caught in the middle of this tug of war between the two actors. In Science Fiction Television Series , co-star Alan Bergmann recalled working on The Empath :

Working with Ms. Hays was a pleasure. Mr. Shatner and Mr. Nimoy seemed to be in conflict. They struggled over better camera positions and made life difficult for the director.

After all, as far as Shatner and Nimoy were concerned, the episodic directors were just blow-ins who were working on the series for a single episode. Erman must have seemed like easy prey to Shatner and Nimoy.

Things are looking up.

Discussing the experience with Marc Cushman for These Are the Voyages , Erman candidly acknowledged a sense of disappointment with how he was treated by the show’s two lead performers:

I just remember that I was really disappointed in Lenny. I had known him from before when we were both young actors. We had studied with Jeff Corey at the same time, and so I was really looking forward yo doing the show. But the role of an episodic director is not a very creative one. I likened it, at one point, to saying that you’re kind of sweeping the sh!t under the carpet. You’re not really able to make creative choices. The only time you’re really creative in episodic television is if you do the pilot, or if you come in right after the pilot. But nobody was like Bill and Lenny. I don’t remember any other actors absolutely saying what those guys said, which was, “Oh no, my character just wouldn’t do that.” That was kind of the ultimate put down [for a director].

Erman is quite honest in discussing the role of a director on a show like Star Trek , as something akin to a safe pair of hands. He is also quite frank in his assessment of the two lead actors.

This one’s a real Gem.

Still, beyond the difficulties facing Erman in dealing with Shatner and Nimoy, The Empath is a very effective and very intriguing piece of Star Trek . It is an episode that is striking and memorable, as much for its simplicity as for anything else. It is an episode that cuts to the heart of the franchise’s humanist and idealistic philosophy, without feeling heavy-handed or awkward. It is a piece of pop Christian television that never feels patronising or crass. The Empath is a remarkable accomplishment, all the more powerful for how surreal and odd it seems.

Then again, it is perhaps the perfect third season episode.

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: compassion , humanism , star trek , the empath , utopianism |

4 Responses

‘The Empath’ is a fine and moving piece of work. All concerned should be very proud of what they accomplished.

It really is. Massively underrated.

Strange that in all this write-up you mentioned Kelly but briefly though in many ways this is his episode.

I thought that as well, this was very clearly a McCoy episode, with him making the ultimate sacrifice for Spock and Kirk, and mentioning him so little in the review feels like a great disservice.

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Midnite Reviews

Detailed analysis of classic sci-fi movies and tv shows, star trek episode 67: the empath.

Technical Specs

Director: John Erman

Writer: Joyce Muskat

Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Kathryn Hays, Alan Bergmann, James Doohan, George Takei, Davis Roberts, Jason Wingreen, and Willard Sage

Composer: George Duning

Air Date: 12/6/1968

Stardate: 5121.5

Production #: 60043-63

Concluding Comments

Overall Quality: 9/10

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath

Recap / Star Trek S3 E12 "The Empath"

Edit locked.

Original air date: December 6, 1968

The Power Trio beams down to a planet in the Minaran system to rescue a pair of Federation scientists before the sun goes supernova. The scientists are nowhere to be found, but an audio/visual record they left behind reveals they seem to have vanished into thin air accompanied by an earthquake and an ear splitting buzz. Soon, our heroes are experiencing the same thing.

Fade from black . Spock's reading indicates that they are either on the set of a minimalist avant-garde play, or they're several miles below the planet's crust. They find a lovely brunette with a pixie cut and a diaphanous gown taking a nap. They wake her up to find that she is mute. Bones decides to call her Gem. (No relation to a truly outrageous pop star , or a young character from To Kill a Mockingbird , or a hyper active and immature power ranger ). Soon after, they are introduced to their hosts, a pair of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens named Thann and Lal. (No relation to a certain android who learned to feel )

Doctors Ozaba and Linke are now physicians under glass. Lal and Thann maintain that they had nothing to do with their deaths . They have experiments to do, and now they have three new lab rats. They even have neatly labeled glass cases in the event that they don't survive the experiments!

The Tropath:

• Act of True Love : Each of the Power Trio attempts to sacrifice himself to protect his friends. Kirk intends to give himself up to the Vians to keep Spock and McCoy from having to go through the Cold-Blooded Torture they would inflict on them; Spock fully means to do the same once Kirk is sedated, making him the highest-ranking officer on the mission. Then McCoy sedates Spock and sacrifices himself to protect him and Kirk . He lives, thanks to outside interference, but he did not know that that would happen.
• All There in the Script : Though identified as Thann and Lal in the closing credits, the two Vians are never called by their proper names on-screen.
• In the teaser, one of the doomed scientists calls the planet a "godforsaken place" just before the earthquake hits. His colleague quotes from the Book of Psalms , and jokingly suggests that God is registering an objection.
• At the end, Scotty paraphrases the parable of the Pearl of Great Price from Matthew's Gospel .
• Blue-and-Orange Morality : The Vians must have some form of compassion if they are willing to rescue a race from a supernova sun. Yet, their test to see which one is more worthy of saving is needlessly cruel.
• Book Ends : The scientists quote a Bible passage during the teaser, while Scotty recounts the story of the Pearl of Great Value, which while not identified as such, originates as another passage at the end.
• Everything is fanservice to somebody.
• Cobweb of Disuse : The research station has dust and cobwebs everywhere note  so we know the planet has spiders — will the Vians transport them and other life forms as well? to show how long it's been since the scientists disappeared. One of the away team does the traditional pick-up-an-object-and-blow-dust-off-it to emphasize the point.
• Cold-Blooded Torture : The Vians call it an "experiment".
• Cute Mute : Gem, with her pixie cut and modest if diaphanous outfit, is more cute than sultry. Her constantly startled expression adds to her cuteness. She has no vocal cords and never utters a sound, even her weeping being silent.
• Deadpan Snarker : The values of emotion are discussed in the epilogue. Spock is told that perhaps Vulcans could learn something about the importance of emotion. "I shall give the thought all the consideration it is due." Spock replies. Bones' compliment of Spock's bedside manner could count as a deadpan snark as well.
• Description Cut : While the Enterprise waits out the solar storms, Scotty figures that Kirk and the gang are all right. Cut to Kirk getting tortured, while Spock and McCoy are next.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism : A major theme of this episode. The force field Kirk and Spock are kept behind is triggered by their emotions. Spock is able to suppress his enough to walk through it.
• The Empath : Well, duh! Look at the title! However, it is implied that the Vians may have given Gem her powers (there's a short scene where they are using their devices to somehow alter her).
• Empathic Healer : Gem, and her decision of whether to risk her life to save Dr. McCoy is a major plot point.
• Friendship Moment : Bones knocks out both Kirk and Spock in order to sacrifice himself to the Enemy of the Week.
• Healing Hands : Gem has to touch people, and let their pain flow momentarily into her, in order to heal them.
• Hell Is That Noise : The sound that attacks everyone's eardrums just before they disappear and awaken in the Vians' "lab" for want of a better word.
• Heroic Sacrifice : Kirk offers himself up to save Gem and his friends. While Kirk is sedated, Spock declares himself in charge of the mission and decides that he will give himself over to the Vians. Bones sedates Spock and offers himself up. Gem's entire race will be destroyed if she is not willing to sacrifice herself to heal Bones.
• Hey, You! : Name dropped when Bones defends his idea of calling the female alien Gem with "It's a lot better than 'Hey you'."
• Homeworld Evacuation : The star of the Minara system is about to go nova. A group of highly advanced aliens known as the Vians can save the population of only one of the planets in the system. They decide to determine which planet's population will be saved by putting a member of each population through a Secret Test .
• Hope Spot : Hey, look! Scotty and a pair of Red Shirts are here to save us! Nope, just a mirage set up by those darn Vians.
• Humans Are Special : That's what the Vians learn from their "experiments". Thankfully, this also convinces them to save Gem and the other Minarans after all, in addition to healing McCoy.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder : Bones, complaining about the underground lair they're imprisoned in, says that he's a doctor, not a coalminer. Later, when Spock tries to get him to help with a captured alien device, he adds that he's not a mechanic either, but without using the whole phrase.
• Liquid Assets : Gem can heal others, but suffers concurrent damage to herself. If she heals someone badly enough injured, she could die.
• Making the Choice for You : The Vians give Captain Kirk a Sadistic Choice: which of his officers will be subjected to torture. If Dr. McCoy is chosen there's an 87% chance he will die, but if Mr. Spock is chosen there's a 93% chance he will suffer permanent insanity. Dr. McCoy makes the decision for Kirk by injecting him with a sedative, then injects Spock with a sedative when he decides to sacrifice himself and go.
• Moral Myopia : Gem has to die to prove she's worthy of life?! Well, to prove her people are worthy of it, but still...
• More Expendable Than You : The Vians intend to use either Spock or Bones for an experiment that is highly likely to cause death or permanent insanity. Spock declares that he is volunteering; Bones overrules that decision with a sneak knockout shot.
• My Brain Is Big : The alien Vians are much more intelligent than Earthlings and have the bulging heads to prove it.
• Never My Fault : When accused of killing the two scientists, the Vians insist it was their own physical weaknesses that killed them. It was their fault for not being immortal!
• Noodle Incident : Bones mentions that the sleeping woman they find looks harmless. Spock points out that people have said the same before being attacked by rock crystals. When the Hell did that happen, Spock?
• Ontological Mystery : How did we get here? This is not our red sheeted bed. This is not our beautiful healer. These are not our specimen jars. (OK, they have our names on them....)
• Parting-from-Consciousness Words : "My decision still stands" says Spock when Bones shoots him up with a sedative, taking the decision of who will be tortured out of Spock's hands. (He was going to offer himself.) "Good bedside manner, Spock." Bones tells Spock just before he passes out from his injuries.
• Discussed in the episode. Kirk actually suggests to the Vians that Gem could heal Bones just enough to keep the injuries from being fatal, and that would be sufficient. They reply back that it's not enough to just heal him—she must be willing to sacrifice her life to do so, to reveal the depth of her (and her species') capacity for compassion. The Vians just ain't gonna be happy unless SOMEONE dies in the process... They do finally take Spock's point note  "It is complete. Gem has earned the right of survival for her planet. She offered her life." that she's already shown herself more than willing to do it, and they heal McCoy, pick her up and leave.
• Prematurely Marked Grave : The Power Trio find two scientists dead in experiment cases and three more cases with their names.
• Psychic Powers : Gem has them in the form of Healing Hands . It is unknown whether other members of her race have this ability or if she is unique.
• Reckless Gun Usage : Kirk, telling someone you're not going to hurt them would be a lot more convincing if you weren't pointing a phaser at them. He does this twice.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Lal and Thann. Seriously, Will, what's up with the glittery Hefty bags?
• Sadistic Choice : Kirk is told he must give either Spock or Bones up to be tortured as he was earlier. He decides to Take a Third Option and offers himself.
• Screw You, Elves! : Kirk gives Lal and Thann a good Him Summation when the "experiment" is finally over.
• Secret Test : The Vians can save only one planet when the sun goes supernova and wanted to see if Gem's people were worth saving, all based on her decision to save another's life.
• Shirtless Scene : Kirk's torture (but not McCoy's).
• Single Tear : Gem sheds one when she realizes what these three men are willing to go through for each other. She breaks down in tears when she finds out just how tough it will be to heal Bones' extensive injuries.
• Some Kind of Force Field : Prevents our heroes from interfering with the "experiment".
• Stock Footage : The footage of the sun Minara is re-used from " Operation: Annihilate! ".
• Tareme Eyes : Gem is a rare live-action example.
• Unwanted Rescue : McCoy uses what's left of his strength to push Gem away so that she won't sacrifice herself. McCoy: Jim, I can't destroy life, even if it's to save my own. I can't.
• The Voiceless : Gem. Justified in that she has no vocal cords.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious : After the power trio's escape to the surface, McCoy refers to the captain as "Kirk," a rare deviation from the usual.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go : Said by Kirk after he offers himself up to the Vians. Bones and Spock are, as they say, safe. For now.
• Star Trek S3 E11 "Wink of an Eye"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S3 E13 "Elaan of Troyius"

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The Empath – Episode 67

The Empath was the twelfth episode of Star Trek’s third season to air, with Kirk, Spock and McCoy made unwilling participants in a test of character. In this episode Gerry and Iain discuss judgment and who gets to set the tests.

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Attending the planet Minara II to recover a research team before the local star goes nova, the Enterprise is shocked to discover no signs of life. Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate further and find themselves co-opted into a test set by the Vians, Lal ( Alan Bergmann ) and Thann ( Willard Sage ).

The subject of the test is Gem ( Kathryn Hays ), an Empath from one of the other planets due to face annihilation in the nova. She is being assessed by the Vians to see whether her species is worthy enough to be saved from their imminent firey extinction.

The Empath was directed by John Erman , his only Star Trek episode. The writer was Joyce Muskat , a freelance writer whose submission was purchased for the show. This was her only Star Trek episode.

In this episode Gerry and Iain considered distance and perspective without points of reference.

The discussion continues in the comments below and please keep in touch with us on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram where we’re @trekpodcast.

You can listen to the show here on the website, on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , Pocket Casts , TuneIn , Stitcher , Google or wherever you find your podcasts.

The Empath was released in 1968. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the NBC network. It can be viewed on Paramount+ in the United states, Netflix in the UK and is available on DVD and Blu Ray in other countries, including a comprehensive remastered set of all three seasons released by Paramount Home Entertainment.

5 Controversial Star Trek: The Next Generation Scenes Nobody Likes To Talk About

For all its philosophical contemplation of the human condition and nuanced exploration of sociopolitical issues, the "Star Trek" universe is not without its more bizarre moments. From problematic tropes and cheesy practical effects to poorly executed social allegories, sometimes the optimistic humanist message gets a little bogged down in questionable writing and production choices. And like every other series in the Trek canon, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has its share of controversial scenes. A few are so cringy or even downright uncomfortable that some fans don't even like to think about them, let alone talk about them.

Sure, "The Next Generation" is loaded with epic Jean-Luc Picard moments and triumphs of holodeck LARPing. But even in one of sci-fi's best franchises, things like weak character send-offs, misguided attempts at handling complex sociopolitical issues, and inconsistent character development can occasionally creep in. Hang on to your bat'leth as we take on five controversial scenes in "The Next Generation" that no one likes to talk about.

Pulaski's final scene in Shades of Gray

The only clip show episode in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — the finale of Season 2, "Shades of Gray" — is widely considered one of the series' worst episodes. It begins with Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) conducting a geological survey that goes south when Riker is stung by a sentient swamp vine with nightmarish retractable blue claws. Almost immediately, Riker begins to suffer from numbness and paralysis that Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) attributes to a neurotoxic virus. To save him, Pulaski has to use giant brain needles that stimulate his darkest memories, giving viewers a Wonkaesque trip through the show's most dramatic Riker-centric nightmare fuel.

After working tirelessly to bring Riker back from the brink, a relieved Pulaski gives Riker a quick update on his condition. When the camera pans away, we never see her again — and fans of the good doctor hated it. Although Muldaur later told People  that she did not enjoy her time on the series, it would still have been nice to see her character get a proper send-off rather than a weak clip show denouement.

Yar's pointless death in Skin of Evil

In terms of terrible send-offs, it doesn't get any worse than Tasha Yar's death scene in "Skin of Evil." Like Diana Muldaur, Yar actor Denise Crosby didn't have the best experience working on the series. Crosby explained to StarTrek.com , "I was just stage dressing. I chose to leave instead of just being satisfied with that." Roddenberry agreed Yar's death would add depth to the series. For a complex warrior like Yar, that should have meant some an epic emotional send-off. But instead, she was unceremoniously bodied by a sentient black puddle out of seemingly nowhere.

After a shuttle transporting Troi crash-lands on the planet Vagra II, the investigating away team encounters the literal embodiment of evil in an ambulatory slime calling itself Armus. When Yar demands Armus let her people pass to their shuttlecraft, he smacks her with an energy shock, killing her instantly. Despite a heroic effort on Crusher's part, the medical team is unable to revive her. Worse, Armus shortly reveals he did it for kicks.

Armus's sadistic attack was one of the most hated moments in "The Next Generation" — so hated that even Yar acknowledges it in the alternate timeline of "Yesterday's Enterprise." After a spacetime rift causes Guinan to encounter a reality-shifted Yar who never died, alternate Yar laments that she "died a senseless death in the other timeline."

The bros discuss Troi's reproductive rights in The Child

Science fiction loves a good mystical pregnancy and unfortunately "Star Trek" is no exception. The Season 2 opener begins with the ship's counselor becoming impregnated by a tiny purple energy orb the ship encounters while floating through space. And things only go downhill from there.

Empath that she is, Troi immediately realizes something is up and contacts Dr. Pulaski, who in turn tells Picard that Troi is pregnant. Cut to the briefing room for what may very possibly be one of sci-fi's best metaphoric representations of the controversy over women's reproductive rights — even if it is one of the most problematic scenes in "Star Trek." As a distressed and sullen-looking Troi sits alone at one end of the conference table, Picard announces — without context — that she is pregnant to the top-ranking members of his bridge crew.

Pulaski launches into an explanation about the embryo's alarmingly rapid fetal development. But the crew's reactions are equally alarming. Despite having learned Troi is expected to give birth in 36 hours, Riker demands, "Who's the father?" After Picard announces, "Our purpose here is to determine what is to be done about this," Worf, Data, and Riker — three male officers — argue over whether they should abort the fetus, study it, or abort it and then study it. Although no one seems particularly interested in Troi's feelings , she assertively interrupts them, declaring her intent to carry the baby to term.

Soren's post-conversion change-of-heart in The Outcast

"The Outcast" is another example of a problematic "Next Generation" effort at tackling social commentary, giving "Star Trek" fans one of the most depressing scenes in the franchise. The episode revolves around the Enterprise's interactions with the androgynous J'naii while assisting them with a rescue mission in a pocket of null space. Riker teams up with J'naii named Soren who secretly identifies as female — something that's forbidden in her society. And because Riker can't help but Riker, he immediately finds himself in a situationship with her.

While discussing their mutual feelings, Soren warns him, "On our world, these feelings are forbidden. Those who are discovered are shamed and ridiculed." Worse still, J'naii who are caught breaking gender norms are forced to endure conversion therapy. "Only by undergoing psychotectic therapy and having all elements of gender eliminated can they be accepted into society again," Soren reveals. After a moving speech where Soren declares she doesn't need to be cured but instead needs understanding, Soren is carted off to conversion camp. By the time Riker and Worf stage a rescue mission, she's already been reprogrammed, telling him, "I was sick. I had these terrible urges, and that's why I reached out to you." While the conclusion was sadly pretty true to what many experienced during this era, this disappointing outcome is one of many reasons the episode wasn't universally loved in the LGBTQ community.

Desperate Riker gets murderous in Parallels

One of the most controversial "Next Generation" scenes comes in "Parallels." Upon returning victorious from a bat'leth tournament, Worf is thrust back and forth between alternate realities aboard the Enterprise. It's a pretty cool concept, with the audience experiencing the trippy reality shifts from Worf's perspective. In one reality, Worf is a commanding officer, and in another, he is married to Deanna Troi. He and the crew must work to solve the mystery of what's happening to him while gaining different pieces of the puzzle found in each distinct reality. They ultimately discover a quantum gateway to infinite realities determined by individual choices.

When the fissure destabilizes, realities begin to merge, causing dozens of Enterprises to appear on the viewscreen. As they realize Worf needs to travel back through the fissure in his shuttlecraft, the Enterprise crew faces an unusual enemy: themselves. While every other Enterprise agrees to the plan to seal the fissure, one begins to attack Worf's shuttlecraft. A disheveled Riker appears on the screen declaring that they refuse to return to their world, where the Borg have taken over. When the two ships exchange fire, Riker's is destroyed. For many Trekkies, this brief encounter was one of the few moments in the franchise so disturbing it rivaled  the controversial decision to terminate Tuvix in "Voyager."

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Or, they try to. And okay, it turns out the gratuitous beaming was for good reason, story-wise, because in the instant that the pair attempt to beam back to the bridge, Discovery plunges through time, and only their mid-transport timing protects them from the ship’s time-hopping. Everyone else aboard Discovery is experiencing “regular” time travel, as it were, unaware of their movement and remaining “of the time” they jump to.

Everyone, that is, except for Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who thanks to his tardigrade DNA infusion all the way back in Season 1, the scientist is bouncing through time like the rest of the crew — but he’s mentally aware of the jumping remains “himself” like Burnham and Rayner.

Like “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” this is another episode about time shenanigans centering on Stamets and Burnham (and now also Rayner), but it doesn’t feel like a repeat of the same story so much as a deliberate permutation on a theme. Discovery , the show, is revisiting its past just the same way Burnham revisits her past self here; in both cases, the future versions have grown and changed in ways their past selves could never have imagined.

Who could have guessed, watching the series’ seventh episode, that original showrunner and creator Bryan Fuller would leave after just one season and a majority of the show would end up taking place in 32nd century? Not me, that’s for sure.

(As a side note, I was hoping one of the pasts they visited would be the “Magic” situation, just because come on, who doesn’t want to see what a time loop within a time loop looks like?)

It takes them all a few time jumps to figure out what’s going on, and a few more after that for all three of them to rendezvous. The second jump takes them back to Discovery mid-construction, sitting in dry dock at the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the Golden Gate Bridge framed nicely in a missing bulkhead section. (Both Star Trek and The Room have one rule: If you’re in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge must be visible at all times!)

Next jump is to the Season 2-ending battle with Control, and finally with three jumps there’s enough of a pattern visible for Rayner to identify what’s going on and what, exactly, is causing it. First, each time they jump Burnham and Rayner always return to the ready room – the place where they beamed themselves out of time — and second, that little mechanical spider that’s been crawling around the ship since it first detached itself from Adira’s uniform is a Krenim chronophage (yes, those Krenim ) left over from more lawless times  when paralyzing a ship by having it randomly cycle through time was a thing that apparently people did.

After a few more jumps, including one where a past version of Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) happens to save Rayner’s hide, he and Burnham land on an empty, dusty Discovery , abandoned by everyone except the one person who can’t leave: Zora (Annabelle Wallace). Listening to “Que Sera, Sera” and convinced that she’s dreaming, Zora explains that in this future, Discovery remained stuck in its time paralysis long enough for the Breen to get their hands on the Progenitor’s technology.

It’s a bleak future to visit, but it’s also very fortuitous that they did, because Zora is able to quickly do the math necessary for Stamets — who they finally meet up with in the next time jump –to figure out how to get them out of this. Just build a chroniton stabilizer and squish the bug with it, easy peasy!

And all Burnham has to do is get a component for it from her quarters without being seen. Not so easy as it turns out, as she runs into Book (David Ajala) who is very much in love with Burnham during this time period — and keen to show it. And she, as we all probably suspected, is still very much in love with him and gives herself a brief moment to indulge in that fact.

In their final final jump — this time to early in Lorca’s captaincy — Burnham runs into her much angrier and more jaded younger self; a Michael Burnham who is so barely out of prison that she still doesn’t even have a combadge and who flat-out does not believe this woman in a strange red uniform who claims to be her. Why? Because there’s no way anyone would ever make Michael Burnham a captain .

After a fight in a thankfully empty corridor, our Burnham ends up victorious and heads to the bridge… where she needs to convince everyone that they should listen to her and do something you never really want to do with a warp engine going at maximum speed: intentionally break the warp bubble and slam yourself back into the effects of general relativity.

Flashbacks are a tried and true way for shows to bring back departed characters, so the choice to include Airiam (Hanna Spear) on the bridge makes sense and is nice for audience members who miss her. What doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me is how her presence is used (which is a bit of an unfortunate parallel to her death for me – or at least the impact it was supposed to have).

Burnham knows she needs to convince the crew that she really is herself and that she really is from the future, but instead of, I don’t know, showing them her combadge which is full of 32nd century bells and whistles and exotic alloys that haven’t been invented yet she… convinces Airiam that they know each other because Burnham knows Airiam would sacrifice her life to save the ship? Then someone blurts out a “No she wouldn’t!” like that’s not the first thing any appropriately heroic Starfleet officer would do?

This scene is the one fumble in an otherwise great episode. Two minutes after this weird “I know you and here’s a generic hypothetical that applies to most people in Starfleet to prove it,” Airiam sees Burnham’s fancy holographic combadge and openly gawks at it. See, easily convinced! That would have worked and it wouldn’t have required the show to reexamine the hollowness of Airiam’s death without correcting its mistake.

The fact that Burnham doesn’t have anything better or more personal to say to or about Airiam except “You died, sorry that happened,” underscores just how undeveloped she was as a character. Why bring that up again? But hey, Burnham’s tactic works, and I suppose that’s what really matters here.

Meanwhile, past-Burnham and her era’s Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) show up in engineering, phasers drawn, to try and stop Stamets and this weird guy they’ve never seen before from doing whatever it is that they’re trying to do to the ship. Rayner, solidifying himself as a solid gold example of a favorite character trope of mine — Grumpy Guy who’s a Secret Softie — defuses the situation by being brave as hell (he walks right into Burnham’s drawn phaser) but also emotionally astute.

He doesn’t just tell Burnham personal facts he couldn’t have known if he were really a stranger, he tells her with conviction that she really does deserve to be here on Discovery…  something that sinks to the core of who she is and what she’s battling in this moment in time.

The plan succeeds: the time bug is proverbially squished, and Discovery and her crew are all right back where they belong, minus the six hours they lost during all the jumping. Unfortunately, those six hours were long enough for Moll and L’ak to catch up with them and leave again. Did they find anything, or did they get sick of looking at seemingly empty space and leave? We don’t know yet, so tune in next week.

Which brings us to the beginning of “Face the Strange” — see, I can jump through time too! — when we see Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) acquiring the bug in the first place. While the Progenitors’ technology is enormous in its power and implications and Moll and L’ak are willing to do just about anything to find it, their motivations seem strictly personal.

Sure, if the way Moll takes revenge on the guy who sells her the chronophage is any indication, they’ll get some personal satisfaction out of seeing the Federation burn, but more than anything they’re in it for their freedom. Freedom from someone or something, certainly – though who or what we still don’t know – but, given the themes in “Face the Strange”, I’d guess freedom from their pasts might be the real goal.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• “Face the Strange” is a reference to the David Bowie classic “Changes.”
• This episode is a spiritual sequel to Star Trek: Voyager’s “Shattered,” a similar final-season tale which saw Chakotay bouncing through different eras of Voyager adventures.
• Discovery’s time jumps include visits to the ship’s transit through the Red Angel wormhole (leading to the ship’s crash-landing in “Far From Home” ), a time when the starship was under construction in the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the battle with Control ( “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” ), Stardate 865422.4 (during Osyyra’s takover in “There Is A Tide…” ), an unknown date nearly 30 years into the future, a period in early Season 2 (shortly after Jett Reno’s rescue in “Brother” ), a point ahead of the Season 4 premiere after Burnham was promoted to captai), and the encounter with past-Burnham which takes place just ahead of “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” (denoted by the reference to a still-alive Ellen Landry ).

• Retrofit into corridor after Season 2’s set updates, the passage to the left-rear of Discovery’s command chair returns to its Season 1 “blue blinkies” configuration.
• Captain Pike’s broken wood-and-glass conference table returns to the ready room set during the first time jump, a good touch from the set decoration department.
• We’ve seen the San Francisco bay many times in Star Trek history… so just where in the heck was Discovery’s dry dock located?
• A Krenim chronophage — or “time bug” — snared Discovery in a time bubble, from the species behind Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell.”
• Season 3-era Reno’s drink of choice is a Vesper martini, served ice cold — and she tells Rayner that he can buy her a drink “at Red’s,” the onboard bar and lounge set added to Discovery during its 32nd century upgrades (though not introduced until Season 4).
• While the ready room set was not built for Discovery until Season 2, the second time jump confirms the room existed as part of the ship’s original construction… but in a continuity goof, the 32nd century version of the Starfleet emblem remains on the Discovery ready room floor in each different time period, instead of the old version seen in Seasons 1 and 2.

• Burnham gives a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nostalgic smile when Stamets hands her a 23rd century Starfleet communicator, retired after the crew upgraded to 32nd tricombadges in Season 3’s “Scavengers.”
• Saurian officer Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) appears in the Season 1 time period, indicating he boarded Discovery long before his first actual appearance in Season 2’s “Brothers.”
• Former Discovery cast members Hannah Cheesman and Ronnie Rowe, Jr. return as Airiam and Bryce, Julianne Grossman returns as the original voice of Discovery’s computer. (While Cheesman portrayed Airiam in Season 2, the role was actually portrayed by Sara Mitich in Discovery’s first season.)
• I forgot just how much Airiam moves like C-3PO. Might have toned down that arm placement there in that wide shot if it were me, yikes.
• Discovery’s viewscreen may be an open window to space, but it features blast doors which can be closed as necessary.
• The future time period Burnham and Rayner visit is reminiscent of the alternate future setting in “Calypso,” where Zora and Discovery sat abandoned for nearly 1000 years. Zora even believes she’s having “another dream” when the officers arrive, perhaps hinting that the events of “Calypso” may have been one of Zora’s dreams — as the “Zora-point-of-view” shots mirror moments from that  Short Trek  tale.

• This episode marks the first time we’ve seen Discovery’s original hull and nacelle configuration since its big 32nd century upgrade in “Scavengers.”
• Even living “outside of time,” it’s curious that Stamets can jump back to a time period before his tardigrade DNA injection occurred.
• Stamets’ tactics for clearing engineering get less and less sophisticated as the episode proceeds — going from making up specific problems with the spore drive containment field to just shouting “I’m grumpy!” It works.
• “Hey Paul, let’s show ‘em how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks!” Whoever gave Rayner a used copy of a dictionary of idioms from 1962, I thank you for your service.
• Rayner’s hand gets the “Timescape” treatment, aging uncomfortably fast while he squashes the time bug — though thankfully avoiding those awful long fingernails.
• Rayner surmises that Burnham must be the first person in Starfleet to captain a ship she first boarded as a prisoner. He’s probably right, but if we allow for a few technicalities I’d put Seven of Nine in that rare club as well: she’s imprisoned very quickly after boarding Voyager , and while she doesn’t hold a Starfleet rank at the time, she does command that vessel for over a month during the events of “One”.

Even with all the time jumping and the temporal-relativity-heavy plot, “Face the Strange” is a straightforward hour of television that confidently knows exactly what it wants to do – both in terms of the story and the characters. There are almost no extraneous moments, but the episode doesn’t feel rushed or overly full. The pacing is great: quick enough that we get to jump through a lot of different time periods, but relaxed enough that there’s room for smaller moments of comedy and character work.

The pacing and placement of the more emotional moments is especially effective, with characters examining and confronting their past and present selves in a way that’s emotionally resonant but also truly moves the story forward both at the episode and season levels.

A frequent frustration I have with Discovery is that the emotional beats and plot beats feel like they’re competing with each other for the same space, but with “Face the Strange” it feels like the show has finally figured out a way to have them work together and compliment one another.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Mirrors” on Thursday, April 25.

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Original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise Model Is Found After Being Missing for Decades

The 33-inch model surfaced on eBay after disappearing around 1979. An auction house is giving it to the son of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

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By Emily Schmall

The first model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series , has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the creator of the series, decades after it went missing.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Mr. Roddenberry wrote on social media on Thursday.

For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed.

“Red alert,” someone in an online costume and prop-making forum wrote, linking to the listing.

Mr. Roddenberry’s father, Gene Roddenberry, created the television series, which first aired in 1966 and ran for three seasons. It spawned numerous spinoffs, several films and a franchise that has included conventions and legions of devoted fans with an avid interest in memorabilia.

The seller of the model was bombarded with inquiries and quickly took the listing down.

The seller contacted Heritage Auctions to authenticate it, the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said on Saturday. As soon as the seller, who said he had found it in a storage unit, brought it to the auction house’s office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Mr. Maddalena said he knew it was real.

“That’s when I reached out to Rod to say, ‘We’ve got this. This is it,’” he said, adding that the model was being transferred to Mr. Roddenberry.

Mr. Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said on Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution. He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

“Whoever borrowed it or misplaced it or lost it, something happened somewhere,” he said. “Where’s it been?”

It was unclear how the model ended up in the storage unit and who had it before its discovery.

The original U.S.S. Enterprise, a 33-inch model, was mostly made of solid wood by Richard C. Datin, a model maker for the Howard Anderson Company, a special-effects company that created the opening credits for some of the 20th century’s biggest TV shows .

An enlarged 11-foot model was used in subsequent “Star Trek” television episodes, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum , where it was donated by Paramount Studios in 1974.

Mr. Roddenberry, who said he gave the seller a “reward” for its recovery but did not disclose the terms, assembled a group of “Star Trek” production veterans, model makers and restoration specialists in Beverly Hills to authenticate the find.

The group included a “Star Trek” art supervisor, Michael Okuda, and his wife, Denise, an artist on “Star Trek” television series and films, and Gary Kerr, a “Trek x-pert” who served as technical consultant for the Smithsonian during a 2016 restoration of the 11-foot model.

“We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood,” Mr. Roddenberry said.

“It was a unanimous ‘This is 100 percent the one,’” he said.

Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991 , kept the original model, which appeared in the show’s opening credits and pilot episode, on his desk.

Mr. Kerr compared the model to 1960s photos he had of the model on Mr. Roddenberry’s desk.

“The wood grain matched exactly, so that was it,” he said on Saturday.

The model went missing after Mr. Roddenberry lent it to the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979, Mr. Maddalena said.

“This is a major discovery,” he said, likening the model to the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” a prop that was stolen in 2005 and recovered by the F.B.I. in 2018, and that Heritage Auctions is selling.

While the slippers represent hope, he said, the starship Enterprise model “represents dreams.”

“It’s a portal to what could be,” he said.

Emily Schmall covers breaking news and feature stories and is based in Chicago. More about Emily Schmall

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The aunt of star trek: tng's tasha yar actress once romanced ds9's quark.

Despite leaving TNG in season 1, Denise Crosby has lasting ties to the Star Trek franchise, including her aunt, who fell in love with DS9's Quark.

The aunt of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Denise Crosby once had a brief romance with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Quark (Armin Shimerman). Denise Crosby played Lt. Tasha Yar in TNG , whose family continued to pop up in the show even after she was killed by Armus. Tasha's sister, Ishara Yar (Beth Toussaint), used the crew of the USS Enterprise-D to help her launch an invasion of the Turkana IV Alliance's territory in TNG season 4, episode 6, "Legacy". Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5 introduced Sela (Denise Crosby) Tasha Yar's half-Romulan daughter from an alternate timeline, who became a recurring villain on the show.

Tasha Yar's extended family appearing on Star Trek: The Next Generation was reflective of Denise Crosby's own family links to the wider Star Trek universe. Denise Crosby was the granddaughter of popular crooner and actor Bing Crosby, named after her father, and Bing's son, Dennis Crosby. Embarrassed by a high-profile child support case between Dennis Crosby and Denise's mother, Marilyn Miller Scott, Bing Crosby reportedly never met his granddaughter . Amid this court battle, Bing Crosby's second wife, Kathryn, gave birth to her second child, Denise's aunt and future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guest star , Mary Crosby.

Star Trek: TNG's Most Hated Episode Still Traumatizes Denise Crosby

Star trek: tng's denise crosby's aunt played quark's love interest in ds9.

Denise Crosby's aunt Mary played Professor Natima Lang in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 18, "Profit and Loss" . Mary Crosby was a prolific TV guest star in the early 1990s, appearing in shows such as Murder, She Wrote and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman before being cast as Natima in DS9 . A specialist in political ethics, Natima was a prominent member of the Cardassian dissident movement, who wanted to overthrow their government's military rulers. Natima Lang was a character who brought out Quark's romantic and heroic side, something that DS9 writer and producer Ira Steven Behr disapproved of :

" I felt we didn't need another tough, sexy, swashbuckling character on the show. We had enough of those." - Ira Steven Behr, The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion

Mary Crosby is best known for playing Kristin Shepard in the iconic soap opera Dallas between 1979 and 1981 . Kristin Shepard was the character who famously shot J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) in the soap, with the reveal becoming one of the highest-rated episodes of any TV drama. In an interesting parallel between her character in Dallas and her character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Mary Crosby also shoots Quark in "Profit and Loss", albeit accidentally. It's a fun nod to Mary Crosby's best-known TV role.

Denise Crosby's Other Star Trek Family Links

Mary Crosby isn't the only member of Denise Crosby's extended family to appear in the wider Star Trek universe. Denise Crosby's brother, Paul, is married to actress and stunt performer, Spice Williams, who has made many appearances in the Star Trek franchise . Spice Williams-Crosby played Vixis in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , the first officer on Klaa's Klingon bird of prey. As a stunt performer, Spice Williams-Crosby doubled for Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine on episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.

Denise Crosby is also a distant relation of Family Guy creator and Star Trek: Enterprise guest star, Seth MacFarlane . Ancestry details of Seth MacFarlane reveal that he was a descendant of William Brewster, an ancestor of Bing Crosby. This means that Denise Crosby and Seth MacFarlane are distant cousins, a detail which must have pleased the noted Star Trek fan. In 2011, Seth MacFarlane revealed his desire to reboot the franchise on TV, a dream he never got to realize. However, his sci-fi comedy drama The Orville is the next best thing, a loving homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation that features many of its alumni.

All episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.