Some episodes really come down to having a great guest actor or actress to give the show a little depth. And we have that here.
Plot:Enterprise crew members are stranded on a ghost planet and terrorized by the image of a beautiful woman.
Guest Stars:Lee Meriwether as Losira
Nitpick:The common nitpick for this episode is how short tempered Spock seems in several scenes. It doesn't seem to bad to me aside from a line or two. Obviously I'd be sarcastic to with some of the questions he gets asked. I love commercial cliffhangers. Scotty reports that there is nothing in that world that can stop the ship from blowing up, and after the commercial he and Spock have figured out a way to stop the ship from blowing up.
Summary:
Teaser-The Enterprise has found a planet which Spock cannot explain. It is similar to the Earth's moon but has an atmosphere like Earth itself. Kirk decides to beam down with McCoy, Sulu and geologist D'Amato. As they are dematerializing, a woman suddenly appears in the transporter telling them not to go. And then killing the transporter tech. When they finally finish dematerializing and then rematerializing on the planet, the planet is violently shaken. Just as the Enterprise is also. The shaking stops and while the Enterprise appears to have been flung far from the planet the landing part realize that the ship is no longer im orbit, meaning they are stranded.
Act 1-As the other guess what could have happened, Kirk tells them to start looking for sources of food and water. On the Enterprise there is no damage and no injuries except for the transporter operator. Spock calls M'Benga and asks him for a report as soon as he has it. No explosion could have hurled them away so it was something else that did it and the planet is still there. M'Benga reports that the officer's cells were disrupted as if they have been blasted from inside. Spock speculates that someone entered the transporter room after the landing party beamed down. Spock tells Scotty to get the ship back to the planet at top speed, and on the planet there has been no sign of any water or food. Kirk says there has to be some, somewhere. Kirk tells the three to split up and runs some scans. While scanning D'Amato runs into woman who was on the Enterprise. She seems to know exactly who he is, and reaches out as if to touch him. A few moments later, Kirk calls him but he foes not answer. Kirk, McCoy and Sulu scramble and find him dead on the ground, every cell in his body having been disrupted.
Act 2-While digging a grave Kirk realizes that the ground has a very high melting point. Thy will have to bury D'Amato with rocks. As the Enterprise races back to the planet, and Scotty reports that the ship feels wrong. He can't explain why but the feel is wrong. Scotty tells one of his engineers to check the bypass valve on matter/antimatter chamber. When he does he runs into the woman again, who knows who he is and what the chamber is. When he tries to shout out a warning he is killed before Scotty can arrive. Spock calls for a security alert on all decks. M'Bengs confirms the death was the same as the earlier officer. On the planet they figure that maybe the planet is hollow that may explain a few things. Sulu offers to keep watch while Kirk and McCoy get some sleep. While searching, the woman appears (her name is Losira it doesn't come up until the end but I am tried of saying "The woman") and says she is for Sulu. Sulu calls for help and she gets a grab at his arm before Kirk and McCoy appear in time to save him. They question her and Losira says she is just for Sulu, and when she touches Kirk nothing happens. She says she has no wish to destroy, before disappearing. McCoy says she almost killed Sulu, if she had gotten a better grab of him. On the Enterprise Spock stops the intruder alert, the speed keeps increasing. Scotty discovers that the bypass of the matter/antimatter integrator is fused and the ship will run hot until the ship finally explodes. And nothing can stop it.
Act 3-Spock and Scotty find a way to stop it. Scott will enter the crawlway leading to the matter-antimatter reaction chamber and attempt to manually shut off the flow of fuel with a magnetic probe. Spock acknowledges Scott's earlier comment and is running an analysis on the ship's condition. On the planet Sulu feels better so Kirk has them move on. The destructive power of Losira is only aimed at one person at one time so if they stay together they can protect each other. As Scotty gets into the crawlway and starts working, Spock has finished his analysis. Scotty was correct in his "feel" the ship has been put through a molecular transporter and then reassembled slightly out of phase which will be repaired by the probe. Scotty works in the crawlway and tells Spock to jettison the pod at the first sign of trouble. On the planet, Kirk, Sulu and McCoy are tracking down the power source when they see Losira who says she is for Kirk.
Act 4-Kirk asks why she wants to kill him and she says he is an invader. McCoy shows no life readings at all. Losira reveals her name and says she is commander of the station. Kirk asks how she feels about killing him, and she shows clear regret. She does it because she is "sent". They defend this place though the people who lived on it are no more. When she finally disappears they track down a doorway to an underground installation. On the Enterprise, Scotty continues to work and fixes the problem just in time. The three reach the control center where three Losira's form, being generated by a computer (because of course it is). They struggled to defend each other when Spock and security guard beam down. Kirk tells them to destroy the computer, and a phaser does the job. Suddenly a recorded Losira explaining that a terrible disease struck the Kalandans on the planet they had terraformed caused by their actions. She called for help but doubted it would ever arrive so she programmed the installation to selectively defend against all invaders. McCoy speculated tat the colony supply ships brought the disease back and the whole civilization was wiped out. She has been waiting to deliver he message to people who no longer existed. The outpost used the image of Losira as defense but it was to perfect, she felt regret for killing. McCoy comments she was a beautiful woman. Spock comments that beauty is transitory but Kirk disagrees, saying that beauty survives.
Final Thoughts:Certainly isn't a plot heavy episode. Lots of time wandering around and the climax with Scotty goes on forever. Also redundant dialogue that either has been said or didn't need to be said. It's not a bad episode though, always nice to see out characters clicking and here we see some other crewmen for a change. And of course there's Lee Meriwhether. She does a fantastic job giving Losira depth and humanity, you can feel the sorrow she feels as she does what she has to do. And looks amazing at the same time.
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