That Which Survives

TOS Season 3 Episode 17
Air Date: January 24th, 1969

Plot

In a survey of the sector the Enterprise encounters a planet that is a paradox. It is the size of the moon and is only a few thousand years old, yet it has vegetation and an atmosphere. Neither should be possible for millions of years. Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, Lieutenant Sulu and the geologist D'Amato transport to the planet to check it out. As they are beaming down, a woman appears in the transporter room and warns them not to go to the planet. It is too late, the transport was complete and the woman touches the transporter officer which kills him. As soon as the transport is complete the Enterprise is hurled just under 1000 light years stranding the away team.

On the planet, they try to find food and water with little luck. The plant life that is there is poisonous and they can't find any source of water. They assume it is either underground water or absorbed right out of the air. They split up to explore. Once split up the woman appears before D'Amato and claims she was made for him. She touches him and he dies.

Kirk uses his phaser to try to dig a hole to bury D'Amato but his phaser can't cut through the rock. It turns out it isn't igneous rock but rather a crafted alloy. When they go to sleep, Sulu has first watch and the woman appears to him. Sulu calls for help and is briefly touched which causes sever damage to his shoulder but not life threatening. They then learn that the woman's touch only hurts Sulu and they are able to body block her from getting to him. They deduce that the planet is actually a ship or station and track down the entrance.

Meanwhile on the Enterprise they are flying back to the planet at maximum warm, slightly faster then warm 8. The woman appears in engineering and asks Scotty's assistant for information about the engines. She then touches him and he dies. Later the Enterprise starts accelerating out of control which would eventually lead to the ship's destruction. The only solution is for Scotty to perform a complicated repair directly in the still running engine. The ship reaches warp 14.1 before Scotty can repair it, saving the day with mere seconds to spare.

In the planet ship, they find what appears to be the computer and the woman appears and claims she was made to touch Kirk. McCoy and Sulu body block but then two more exact copies of the woman appear each claiming to be made to touch McCoy and Sulu respectively. They try to body block for each other but the situation appears dire. But just in time, Spock beams down and destroys the computer with his phaser (Kirk's was destroyed, it overloaded on him).

A message plays on the viewscreen, the real woman from thousands of years ago explaining that they all died due to a disease and the computer was to protect the ship until backup arrives. Everything it did was to prevent aliens from taking the ship.

Commentary

This is the second episode in a row that Spock had to take over command of the Enterprise because Kirk was missing. In both episodes but even more in this one, Spock seemed to constantly reprimand the crew for their subjective opinions or uncertainties.

Quotes

"Once in Siberia there was a meteor so great that it flattened whole forests and was felt as far..." - Sulu

"Mr. Sulu, if I'd wanted a Russian history lesson I'd have brought along Mr. Chekov." - Kirk

"What happened?" - Uhura

"The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the arm of the chair." - Spock

Can you give me warp 8?

"Aye, sir. And maybe a wee bit more. I'll sit on the warp engines myself and nurse them." - Scotty

"That position, Mr. Scott, would not only be unavailing, but also... undignified." - Spock

"You have 8 minutes, 41 seconds." - Spock

"I know what time it is. I don't need a bloomin' cuckoo clock." - Scotty