That Which Survives

Now here’s a thankless job. Imagine you’re a robot from a long-dead civilization and your only job is to kill people who accidentally stumble upon what’s left of your world. You’ve been given the power to “disrupt” every cell in your victims’ bodies merely by touching them, which should make your task fairly simple, right? Ah, but here’s the catch: it only works on your target, not his companions. And if he asks, you have to tell him that he’s the target. And if he can avoid being touched – not too difficult once he knows what you’re up to – you can’t do your job.

If it’s any consolation to you, at least you’re being played by former-Miss-America Lee Meriwether.

Our heroes run afoul of this strange planetary defense system when they beam down to an unexplored planet. Or to be more precise, the mysterious woman appears out of nowhere just as they’re beginning to transport. Apparently she’s already been pre-programmed to snuff the transporter ensign, but she’s too slow to stop the beaming.

On the planet, the robot (or hologram or whatever it is) Losira shows up again, touching a red shirt (inconveniently wearing a blue shirt) before going after the regulars (Kirk, Sulu and McCoy, the physician who has transported down to the lifeless planet presumably to doctor some rocks). Fortunately they catch on to the enemy’s weakness and serve as bodyguards for one another.

Meanwhile, back on the ship somebody must have stirred a turd into Spock’s oatmeal, because he’s being extra Spock-y to everyone. That doesn’t exactly help matters any when another Losira appears out of nowhere, kills an engineering red shirt and somehow manages to fling the Enterprise light years away, forcing it to speed back to the planet to rescue the stranded away team. To make matters worse (and Spock even bitchier), the flinging damaged the warp drive. If Scotty can’t fix the problem, the whole ship is going to blow.

And here’s the fun part. When Scotty climbs into the Jeffries tube to tinker with the gravitivity and polarity, the first tool he brings to bear on the problem is a plain, old-fashioned, 20th century monkey wrench. But a shot or two later it’s suddenly replaced by a suitably futuristic-looking space wrench. For some reason I imagine Gene Roddenberry showing up on the set, getting one look at that monkey wrench, and shouting “Is that a monkey wrench? This is Star Trek, dammit! Give that thing back to the gaffers and get Doohan a space wrench, for cryin’ oul loud!”

Wrench problems aside, Scotty fixes the engine. Down on the planet, the trio of Trekkers square off against a trio of Losiras. Spock shows up just in time to torch the planet’s controlling computer and shut down the whole deadly system. As a final, dying act, the machine conveys a message from the real Losira, dead these many millennia, conveying hope for the future of her people. Sniff.

Episode rating:

Stardate: Unknown

Episode type: Dangerous alien

Written by: John Meredyth Lucas, story by Michael Richards (D.C. Fontana)

Original air date: January 24, 1969

The Mark of Gideon / The Lights of Zetar

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