“By Any Other Name”
Story by Jerome Bixby
Teleplay by D.C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby
Directed by Marc Daniels
Season 2, Episode 21
Production episode: 2×21
Original air date: February 23, 1968
Star date: 4657.5
Mission summary
Enterprise follows a distress signal to a planet, but when Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Lt. Shea, and Yeoman Thompson beam down to investigate the source, they can’t find any life signs or evidence of a ship, only readings on some “small metallic objects.” Soon they do pick up two life signs, and a man and a woman enter the clearing. The man demands control of Kirk’s ship and presses a button on a box affixed to his belt, freezing the members of the landing party where they stand. He introduces himself:
I am Rojan of Kelva. I am your commander from this moment on. Any efforts to resist us or to escape will be severely punished.
Rojan releases them from their paralysis and explains he generated a neural field from a central projector. He wants to use Enterprise to traverse the galactic barrier and return to their home in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, as a prelude to conquering the Milky Way—a journey of only 300 years, after a few engine modifications. Rojan’s people handily take over the Starfleet vessel, appearing from thin air and paralyzing the crew in the key areas of Engineering, Life Support, and the Bridge.
Kirk and Spock try to reason with Rojan, but he’s unwilling to work peacefully with the Federation to establish colonies for his people, and he insists that no messages can be transmitted through the barrier. He recommends they resign themselves to destruction, “the fate of the inferior in any galaxy.” Kirk and the away team are imprisoned in a cave, while he and his subordinate Hanar discuss the peculiarities of the bodies they’ve adopted for their journey:
ROJAN: These shells in which we’ve encased ourselves, they have such heightened senses. To feel. To hear. To smell. How do humans manage to exist in these fragile cases?
Meanwhile, Spock ruminates on the strangely “perfect human life forms” who have captured them and examines the prison bars, composed of a dense metal even their phasers can’t cut through, if they had weapons. They decide to steal a Kelvan control device so they can trace the source of the neural field. If they can locate and disable the central projector Rojan helpfully mentioned, they can improve their odds a little.
Spock attempts a Vulcan mind probe on Kelinda through the cavern wall, but her mind violently severs the link and sends him flying backward. As soon as she enters their cell, Kirk chops her on the neck and takes the device from her belt. They escape into the open—where the Kelvans freeze the captain. To punish Kirk, Rojan selects Lt. Shea and Yeoman Thompson to be “neutralized.”
The Kelvans transform Shea and Thompson into small white cuboctahedra, distilled to “the essence of what they were.” Rojan crushes one of them into white powder, explaining that destroying it will kill that person. He restores the other to human form, revealing that Shea has somehow defied the red shirt curse but Thompson is dead. It’s obvious which one Kirk wishes had survived as he sifts through her remains.
Back in captivity, Spock describes some of the scattered impressions he remembers from his brief contact with Kelinda’s mind:
A series of bizarre and exotic images bursting on my mind and consciousness. Colors, shapes, mathematical equations fused and blurred. I’ve been attempting to isolate them, but so far I’ve been able to recall clearly only one. Immense beings, a hundred limbs which resemble tentacles. Minds of such control and capacity that each limb is capable of performing a different function.
They come up with another plan to defeat their latest galactic invaders, the one that always works: reverse the polarity! They theorize that if Spock can rewire a medical neuro-analyzer on the ship, they might be able to jam the Kelvans’ projector field. Spock lapses into a Vulcan trance to simulate illness, and they call Hanar into the cell. He’s suspicious, but he agrees to beam Dr. McCoy and Spock back to Enterprise for treatment. In Sickbay, McCoy pretends to treat Spock for “Rigellian Kassaba Fever,” and when the Vulcan wakes himself up they begin work on the neuro-analyzer.
Rojan is ready to bring Kirk back to Enterprise, but first they take a moment to stop and smell the flowers.
KELINDA: These are lovely. Captain Kirk, what is it you call them?
KIRK: Flowers. I don’t know the variety.
KELINDA: Our memory tapes tell us of such things on Kelvan. Crystals that form with such rapidity, they seem to grow. They look like this fragile thing somewhat. We call them sahsheer.
KIRK: “A rose by any other name.”
KELINDA: Captain?
KIRK: A quote from a great human poet, Shakespeare. “…That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet.”
The ship’s improved warp engines now go to 11 (again!), and they’re on a fast course for the galactic barrier. Scotty discovers the central projector in Engineering, but it’s encased in the same strange metal Spock studied earlier, so they can’t destroy it after all. The only alternative they can come up with is to flood the warp nacelles with positive energy from the matter-antimatter engines, so that when they reach the negative energy of the galactic barrier the ship will go kablooie.
Kirk is hesitant to give the suicide order. He stalls for time as Spock and Scotty press him to act, but ultimately he can’t bring himself to destroy his ship and crew just to stop the Kelvans. After a rough ride, the ship crosses the barrier and continues on its voyage to Kelva. Rojan orders Hanar to begin the “neutralizing operation” that will reduce all non-essential crew into inert cuboctahedra, making them easier to handle and stretching out the ship’s resources for its 300-year long trip. “Do you not agree that this is a better thing for them than exploding the ship as your engineer had thought to do?” Rojan asks Kirk. Only Kirk, Spock, Scott, and Dr. McCoy are spared, and even the doctor gets on Kirk’s case for not blowing them up. That’s no longer an option, and they can’t make another attempt at the projector because they need it to restore their crew.
In the rec room, a Kelvan named Tomar mocks them for eating food instead of nutritional pills. “Before you condemn it, why not try it?” McCoy says. He serves the Kelvan some food and… Mikey likes it! Tomar indulges in his meal enthusiastically, which strikes Spock as curious.
SPOCK: The isolated glimpses of things I saw when I touched Kelinda’s mind are beginning to coalesce in my consciousness. The Kelvans have superior intellectual capacity. To achieve it, they have apparently sacrificed anything which would tend to distract them. Perceptive senses such as taste, touch, smell, and, of course, emotions.
KIRK: But then Tomar shouldn’t be enjoying the taste of his food.
SPOCK: Yes. Quite correct, Captain. But they have taken human form and are therefore having human reaction.
Which gives Kirk the idea of “stimulating” their senses to confuse and distract the aliens. They each tackle a different Kelvan. Scotty takes Tomar under his wing, initiating him in the joys of binge drinking. McCoy doses Hanar with formazine shots that make him increasingly irritable. And Kirk does what he does best: he attempts to stimulate the female Kelvan Kelinda, but it doesn’t go exactly according to plan. He tries the old “apologizing with a kiss” trick, but she isn’t falling for it.
KELINDA: Is there some significance to this action?
KIRK: Well, among humans, it’s meant to express warmth and love.
KELINDA: Oh. You are trying to seduce me.
Rojan discovers them smooching, and Kirk beats a hasty retreat, embarrassed by the whole incident. But he may have had more of an effect than he thought. During a game of three-dimensional chess, Spock provokes Rojan into a jealous response to Kelinda’s interest in the captain. Later, Rojan orders her to avoid Kirk, but she refuses and he angrily grabs her arm. She seeks out Kirk in the rec room.
KELINDA: This cultural mystique surrounding the biological function.
KIRK: Yes?
KELINDA: You realize humans are overly preoccupied with the subject.
KIRK: Yes. We do think a great deal about it.
KELINDA: I’ve done some supplemental reading on it, and, er…
KIRK: You have a question?
KELINDA: Yes. I was wondering, would you please apologize to me again?
And that’s how Kirk got his groove back.
Under the effects of formazine, Hanar bursts onto the Bridge and yells at Rojan. Spock puts the Kelvan leader in an even worse mood when he intentionally rats on Kirk, mentioning that he last saw him in the company of Kelinda. “It would appear, sir, that you have little control over her,” he says. “Or perhaps Captain Kirk has more.”
In a jealous rage, Rojan breaks up their makeout session and Kirk slaps him, which devolves into a brawl. While they fight, the captain taunts the Kelvan, pointing out that he’s acting like a human and tries to goad him into using his neural device.
KIRK: Look what’s happened in the short time you’ve been exposed to us. What do you think will happen in three centuries? When this ship gets to Kelva, the people on it will be human. They’ll be aliens. Enemies!
Rojan insists he’s just doing his job, but the seed of doubt has been planted, allowing him to consider Kirk’s second offer for Federation aid in finding the Kelvans a suitable planet for colonization. The Federation will send a robot ship to Kelva to extend their offer of friendship, and Rojan and his people can settle on the planet where Enterprise discovered them. Kelinda tells Rojan she’ll be coming with him and apologizes to him the way Kirk taught her. The pleased Kelvan leader returns command of the ship to Kirk and they head for home.
Analysis
The title didn’t immediately tip me off to which episode this was. In fact, I accidentally watched “The Omega Glory” before “By Any Other Name” and mixed them up during the teaser. (In my defense, both episodes do show Starfleet personnel reduced to white powder.) When I saw Rojan and Kelinda on the planet I remembered pretty much everything following their takeover of Enterprise, though the tone at first didn’t mesh with my memories of the humorous efforts to stimulate the Kelvans that form the bulk of the episode.
The situation for the Enterprise crew is tense and engaging: once again, they’re the only defense against a devastating alien invasion. (Fontana and Bixby seem to borrow a page from Star Trek writer Robert Bloch and H.P. Lovecraft—mathematical equations and immense tentacled beings sound suspiciously like Old Ones.) But the Kelvan technology is so advanced, humans are powerless to stop them from taking the ship and incapacitating the crew.
Rojan is cold-blooded when he kills the Thompson-cuboctahedral to make a point, and his callous assessment of job functions for neutralization (“We have no need for communication.” Zap!) makes him a natural fit for corporate Human Resources if he needs a new job after botching the invasion. Ironically, it is human weakness that is the Kelvans’ downfall, coupled with their inability to handle the influx of new sensations and strong emotions. Of course, even with decades of experience, some humans never quite master their behavior…
Given the dark themes and serious nature of the episode, it’s surprising that “By Any Other Name” ends up as a comedy, but it certainly fits with the Shakespearean motif. It’s interesting that Shatner expresses sadness when he quotes Romeo & Juliet, “…that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” You can call a rose a sahsheer, but it’s still a rose. A Kelvan in a human body is still a human?
Much of the humor is excellent, particularly Kirk’s initial attempt to seduce Kelinda, Scotty’s scenes with Tomar, and Spock hinting at McCoy that they should leave the captain alone with the Kelvan woman:
SPOCK: Doctor, I’m due for another injection of stokaline.
MCCOY: Hmm?
SPOCK: Stokaline.
It’s also noteworthy that Spock serves as an advisor to Rojan as he does with Kirk—they even play chess together. Only in this relationship, the emotionless Vulcan is teaching the Kelvan about human emotion and inciting jealousy and anger. It’s appropriate that Spock is the one who realizes how to exploit the human side of the Kelvans, as he knows more than anyone how difficult it is to devote himself to logic with the distractions of his mixed heritage.
Some of the physical comedy is off—notably Tomar passing out after drinking the entirety of Scott’s liquor supply—but the main problem with the Enterprise crew’s “stimulation” of the Kelvans is that most of it isn’t necessary. Scotty is able to steal a device from Tomar, but then he passes out before he can deliver it to the captain. Hanar gets angry thanks to McCoy’s injections, but all he does is annoy Rojan a little, which Kirk is already doing a fine job of. And there are a few other Kelvans on board whom they don’t even interact with. The attempt to reverse the circuitry of McCoy’s neuro-analyzer also amounts to nothing; they were supposed to jam it, but once they find the central projector they talk about how their weapons can’t penetrate it. Does the casing shield it from their signal?
The major plot point that sticks out is Kirk’s decision not to sacrifice Enterprise to stop the Kelvans. Rarely do we see him so indecisive and torn over a command decision, and even his closest friends and advisors think he’s made the wrong call. Things work out in the end, as they do, but he probably did make a mistake. If he could have prevented a Kelvan invasion with the loss of just one ship, he should have. (Though I suppose Kelva might have sent another vessel eventually when they didn’t hear back from Rojan.) Not believing in the no-win scenario or in death as an option is one thing, but Kirk seems to think Spock and Scotty are nuts for even suggesting it.
Still, I found the episode both entertaining and intriguing enough to overlook its minor flaws and the recycled plot elements from previous episodes.
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 4 (on a scale of 1-6)
Torie Atkinson: I know the title’s from Romeo & Juliet, but didn’t this episode feel a lot more like Hamlet? I’ve never seen a more indecisive and weak Captain Kirk. It didn’t sit right to me that he wasn’t willing to self-destruct the ship. Granted, there would be no episode, but Kirk has always seen the big picture and acknowledged the burden of his position. He’s willing to plunge the ship into deadly space vortexes all the friggin’ time if it will save the Federation. What happened here?
The Kelvans are fascinating and I’m sorry they never return even in the later Treks. Their ruthlessness makes both the Romulans and the Klingons look like nothing more than schoolyard bullies. I especially loved that the Kelvan history brings up a few of the great science fictional problems with space travel: multigenerational ships, the emotional effect on a race that has grown up in the isolation of space, and the cognitive dissonance that goes with loyalty to an empire and culture they’ve never experienced. I was reminded of Contact and how Ellie Arroway is acutely aware that if she were to ever return to Earth, she would be an alien, an artifact, distant and different from the culture that produced her. It’s a terrifying thought and I liked that that became the pivot of the resolution.
Emotionally, a lot of things work. Usually red shirts just get zapped off, but here we (along with Kirk) actually watch them die. It’s distinctly uncomfortable, and I felt angry that Kirk didn’t try to do more to stop Rojan (a sentiment Kirk clearly shares, evidenced by the visible guilt on his face). The comedy was phenomenal—you can see how well the cast has come to relate to one another over the past year and a half. The banter, the body language, it all works much better than it did in the first season.
But despite all this the episode is ludicrous. Plot elements are introduced, then dropped; half the action is entirely unnecessary to the resolution; and Kirk’s reputation as a space-faring Don Juan teaching alien women how to love becomes, sadly, yet another catalyst for a pat ending. If “Return to Tomorrow” was a tightly focused laser beam, then “By Any Other Name” is like a plot colander. What ever happens to the medical device idea? Or Scotty successfully stealing the transmitter? Or the Kelvan that McCoy keeps giving the uppers to? The polyhedrons were obviously just an easy way to get rid of the rest of the crew for an episode—there is no reason the Kelvans would have actually let them continue on existing. For that matter, there’s no reason for them to let Kirk and the others exist, seeing as the Kelvans had no problem running the ship on their own. Even the Shakespeare reference fades from memory pretty quickly.
And finally, I don’t buy the ending. The Kelvans don’t seem interesting in much besides barking orders and generally being cruel to folks. They don’t even show an interest in getting in contact with their current government and homeworld. I don’t think they’d take a backwards planet in exchange for the chance to be ruthless conquerers, even if they’ve become squishy humans. Though I suppose a lot could have changed in 300 years—maybe their people have evolved into energy-based space douches.
Torie’s Rating: Warp Factor 3
Best Line: KIRK: “Immense beings with a hundred tentacles would have difficulty with the turbolift.”
Syndication Edits: Chekov reports something is penetrating the ship and Scotty orders him to increase power to the shields; Kelinda brings the landing party to the cave; Spock’s readings on the galactic barrier; some of the effects of crossing the barrier; two sections of Scotty and the Kelvan drinking; McCoy giving Hanar a second shot; part of Kirk and Kelinda’s second discussion of kissing.
Trivia: Two previous episodes are directly referenced, unusual for Star Trek: Enterprise’s previous visit to the galactic barrier (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”) and Spock’s use of a Vulcan mind probe to influence a guard on Eminiar VII (“A Taste of Armageddon”).
Scotty’s line, “It’s green,” is echoed by Data (without the use of a contraction) when he serves the engineer an unidentified drink in the TNG episode “Relics.” Picard later tells Scott it’s Aldeberan whiskey. A similar drink appears in the Enterprise episode “In a Mirror, Darkly” on the Constitution-class Defiant.
By the TNG episode “Where No One Has Gone Before,” maximum warp seems to match that of the Kelvan-enhanced engines, since they mention that a trip from Triangulum to the Milky Way would take 300 years.
This is the only appearance of Scotty’s quarters in the series, stereotypically decorated with a kilt, bagpipes, armor, and a wall plaque.
The idea to transform people into cuboctahedrals was inspired by a Mexican onyx dodecahedron that D.C. Fontana gave to Roddenberry which he played with while the writers discussed the problem of eliminating the crew.
Other notes: Fans might recognize Warren Stevens (Rojan) as Dr. Ostrow in Forbidden Planet and from appearances in The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, and Science Fiction Theater.
Yeoman Thompson’s death as a cuboctahedral (and the attractiveness of the actress who portrayed her, Julie Cobb) was discussed on Alton Brown’s cooking show Good Eats.
Next episode: Season 2, Episode 22 – “The Omega Glory.” U.S. residents can watch it for free at the CBS website.
Check the Star Trek Re-Watch Index for a complete list of posts in this series.
Eugene Myers thinks that if a machine is the source of your power, you should probably hide it better.
Torie Atkinson thinks that surely there are alien women out there who already know how to love, and is mystified that Kirk keeps finding the untaught ones…
It really isn’t a very good episode, and I always think of it primarily as a comedy. But it’s one I was always willing to watch, if only for Scotty’s “Ish green” line. That’s probably the only thing that makes it a 3 rather than a 2.
This is definitely a sort of midline episode for me. It’s one of those instances where they’ve gotten a pretty nice idea but just don’t seem to know how to satisfactorily carry it out.
The concept of a mysterious, outrageously powerful, utterly inhuman race is interesting. The return of that bizarre barrier in the galaxy is intriguing as well, and it’d have been nice if the Kelvans had been able to provide some more information about it.
I actually like that Kirk’s first attempt at seduction failed so badly. I also like Kelinda’s line, asking him to apologize to her again. I just don’t like them both involving the same character in the same episode.
I have to admit, I wish just once Kirk could have encountered a women that was genuinely more than he could handle. Maybe he did and I just don’t remember it, but the 60’s treatment of women dressed up in 23rd century miniskirts and soft white light gets pretty tiring after a while.
Anyway, ultimately it was an episode with some nice ideas and disappointing execution. I really enjoyed the Lovecraftian suggestions and wish they could have done more with that.
@@@@@1 DemetriosX
It was funny, but definitely not a comedy. The murder of the yeoman in the beginning is downright disturbing, and seeing the souls of the crew trapped in these crumbly polyhedrons strewn across the corridors was definitely unsettling.
@@@@@ 3 toryx
You’d call his first attempt at seduction a failure? She was confused but bought into it pretty quickly.
I like that you called the Kelvans “utterly inhuman.” Star Trek loves to go on about how empathy and compassion are fundamentally human traits. To see a race with none of that, even in small doses, was definitely interesting.
Re: the women: agreed, of course.
Who wrote the line in the summary “It’s obvious which one Kirk wishes had survived as he sifts through her remains.”? Kirk is very upset, although controlling it, because Thompson died as punishment for his action. Not that it did (or should) prevent fighting back.
I was suprised that the female was killed. How often does that happen in Star Trek (besides Wolf in the Fold).
This also established the Kelvan’s ruthlessness quickly. The scattered crew blocks are likely intended as a carrot and stick for Kirk & Co., if they really were needed to help.
I preferred the shotgun attempts at the Kelvans. Not every plan should work every time.
The barrier- yes, Kirk is quicker on the trigger in other (and forthcoming) episodes. Maybe he could have tried but failed, since Rojan apparently knew about the plan (how?).
I don’t think Scotty was ignorant of his green stuff’s name, just that he was so snockered he couldn’t remember.
And I’m still not sure if I like the outcome. An Andromeda full of unconverted Kelvans are still out there? I dunno….
@@.-@ sps49
Who wrote the line in the summary “It’s obvious which one Kirk wishes had survived as he sifts through her remains.”?
That would be me! I don’t doubt Kirk would feel bad if either or both of them died (and of course he’s feel guilty), but I’m pretty sure he’s a bit more protective of women. He comforted her earlier in the episode and touched her on her arm, but he practically snapped at Shea. More notably, Shea is a security officer and probably expects to die in the line of duty, but the Yeoman seemed to be more of a scientist, or just someone who can read a tricorder.
So, first things first:
Kirk and the away team
Kirk doesn’t lead namby-pamby, NextGen-speak ‘away teams’. He leads landing parties.
Now that we have that straight…
This was always a so-so episode for me, though I’d never really thought about why before. I think, yes, mostly it’s the half-baked efforts to get the transmitters, and the plans that didn’t work out. Though, as sps49 points out, not every plan should work out.
I do remember, though, being quite distraught when Yeoman Thompson is crushed, and watching the dust and fragments spill onto the ground. I still feel a pang when Shea is restored, and we realise that it’s Thompson who’s dead. I think that scene is one that’s always haunted me: knowing that Thompson was there one instant, young and alive, and then — oblivion. It was a clever dramatic choice on Bixby’s part to kill that character in that way.
And, again, as sps49 points out above, I don’t think Kirk’s obvious sorrow is that Shea survived, but that Thompson was lost, and that it was because of him. I think that’s quite clear; Kirk would never play favourites with his crew in that way.
I seem to also recall being fascinated by the bars on the door to the cave in which the landing party is held on the planet. Probably something about the long, smooth, rounded rods and the holes into which they fit so neatly…
I’ve always intensely disliked Kelinda’s hairstyle. Does absolutely nothing for me. But, hey.
And, finally, I just feel Scotty’s pain when he opens up that last, lovely, dusty bottle of Scotch. And it just kills me to know it was wasted on that twit, Tomar, with no ultimate benefit, as Scotty passes out. What a waste! But the entire drinking scheme is by far the funniest bit in the episode.
Yeah, this is a pretty much a 3. (I think that’s the second time I came in low.)
Scotty and Tomar were definitely the highlight.
And.. yeah, it’s a 3.
No comment on the female Kelvans’ outfits, with those weird backless tops? One wonders how an alien race with (initially) no interest in sex came up with that design, in contrast to the much more conventional male clothing…
ngogam@8: No doubt the female Kelvans generate more internal body heat, and therefore need more exposed skin area for cooling. I’m sure that’s it.
Wow. 9 comments. Is this an all-time low for the ST Rewatch?
@@@@@ 6 NomadUK
That scene really is haunting. Like I said, most redshirts just get zapped and disappear. But to see them actually be murdered, slowly, deliberately, with such cruelty and maliciousness, is disturbing.
@@@@@ 8 ngogam
I don’t think I even registered those outfits. I’m still laughing at the criss-crossing jumpsuits from “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
The red suited ( Very squeezable ) lady is crushed – the captain seems crushed on discovering who in fact did get pulverized. Then at the end of the episode, all is forgiven and nothing is said about the initial ladies quenching. In the end, she was crumbled for nothing ?
@8 ngogam
I figured those skimpy outfits pretty much spoke for themselves…and the less said, the better.
I remember very few episodes of Star Trek when they first aired, being that when it began I was three, and when it ended I was five. But due to the polyhedron scene, I remember this one vividly. I think I cried. My mom used to try to convince me the events on the show weren’t real (because I believed that anything that wasn’t a cartoon *was* real), showing me zippers on the monster costumes, things like that, but this one she couldn’t do a thing for.
@13 zenspinner
Sorry to stir up any lingering childhood trauma… :)
I’m surprised there’s no hollaback to the Krell of FP, right down to their immense, angular, squat doorways and power with minimal instrumentality — a little evocation back to the movie that helped build ST’s format.
@15 cdthomas
You’re right! Thanks for the reminder.
The other line that I enjoyed (besides “It’s green”) was when Kirk and Rojan are fighting and Spock and McCoy enter, essentially catching Kirk as he’s thrown toward the door: “I’m stimulating him!” And they simply throw him back into the fight.
Great continuity work in Thompson’s death, by the way–I was just obsessive enough to follow which polyhedron was which, and the correct one was crushed.
Even when this first aired I thought it was weird that the melodramatic music seems to cue us to think “Oh no! The black guy survived instead of the white woman!” Given the show’s obvious sensibilities I’m sure that was hardly the intention, but it is how it played. Talk about strange messages. Standup comic Franklin Ajaye did a hilarious routine based on this episode in the early ’70’s, one line of which became a sort of catchphrase for him. It’s too offensive to repeat here these days (though I saw it initially on network TV) but it’s got to be on the nets somewheres.
@18 Hawkwind
Indeed, I found a clip of that sketch immediately. Thanks for mentioning it–there’s some very funny stuff there, especially in the context of a re-watch of the series.
Watching this for the first time as an 8 year old , back in the early ’70s was that shocked by the death of the pretty Yeoman, at the beginning, kind of left me that numb, for years couldn’t remember the rest of the episode, have watched it countless times since and like Kirk, I ‘Can’t forget the picture of Yeoman Thompson, crushed to a handful of dust’
Recently I found myself thinking about this episode, and it suddenly hit me: This one is really a seriocomic story! It starts out serious enough, but there comes a turning point when both Kirk and Spock realize that the Kelvans, having taken on human form, are starting to experience human reactions—human emotions—and are expending tremendous amounts of energy just to maintain that human form! And so the Enterprise command crew goes into action, with hilarious results. There’s Scotty who drinks an alien under the table, then passes out himself but with a feeling of satisfaction. Dr.McCoy subjects another Kelvan-turned-human to a series of injections of a stimulant based on something called formic acid—which left me laughing fit to split as I remembered an old poem about the ant with these lines: “So what? Would you be calm and placid If you were full of formic acid?”—and which got said Kelvan-turned-human climbing the walls! And best of all was the apology as delivered by Captain Kirk to a first-puzzled-then-wildly- enthusiastic Kelinda who repeatedly asks him to apologize to her again and then asks the same of a first puzzled then enthusiastic Rojan. At this point the Kelvans realize that they’re stuck with this new form and can never return to the old one, so they might as well enjoy it—and that little planet is kind of nice too. Yes, this is a seriocomic episode, and a good one.