Operation - Annihilate!

How many brothers does Kirk have? First one falls victim to Kodos the Executioner, and now another meets a no-more-pleasant fate on Deneva.

When the Federation suddenly loses contact with the entire planet, the Enterprise is sent to investigate. The news isn’t good. Everyone has been driven mad either by some mysterious, planet-hopping infection or by desperate efforts to keep from becoming infected.

The source of the contagion swiftly reveals itself: the place is infested with flying pizzas. Actually they look more like microwaved Dots, but when we were kids we called them pizzas and the name stuck. And speaking of sticking, one flies down from the rafters and sticks itself on Spock’s back. Though he’s able to use his mental prowess to avoid being driven mad by the pain the creatures inflict to control their hosts, it’s a near thing.

Turns out the flying pizzas are actually giant neurons, malicious brain cells that each function as a part of a larger collective consciousness. Now, if they need to kill brain cells, seems like they could just pipe American Idol onto all the TV screens on the planet. Or resort to the time-honored tradition of dousing them with alcohol. What they come up with, however, is a scheme to zap the critters with strong bursts of light.

Like Tomorrow Is Yesterday, the plot here is predicated in part on the Enterprise crew making dumb mistakes, not the least of which is McCoy’s blunder of blinding Spock with a burst of intense light (which at least does in fact kill the creatures) before testing to see if the parasites can be removed with a frequency narrow enough to avoid robbing the victims of their sight. Thank goodness the damage turns out to be temporary, thanks to the Vulcan’s extra set of eyelids (the dumbest Vulcan plot device since the ability to use telepathy to open doors).

All’s well that ends reasonably well. Kirk’s brother was already dead when the rescue mission showed up, and his sister-in-law died shortly thereafter. But at least they were able to save his nephew.

Episode rating:

Stardate: 3287.2

Episode type: Dangerous alien

Written by: Stephen W. Carabatsos

Original air date: April 13, 1967

The City on the Edge of Forever / Season Two - Amok Time

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