He was severely out-hammed by Kelley in this one...
I got the impression it was trying to toe the party line when it comes to US views on communism.
Brainwashed masses, bland uniform clothing, barley producing enough food to survive, cultural and economic stagnation, completely lacking the entrepreneurial capitalist spark that's vital for humanity...
Why was Kirk ordered to move them out in the first place? They had no evidence at the time their minds were being affected by the spores, all the medical tests came up excellent with no apparent threat to the population from the death rays and they expressed a wish to stay?
Was the Admiral who ordered the relocation secretly working with the Sona to harness all the radiation for themselves... oh wait .. wrong movie right?
But yeah, the spores have extraordinary healing properties, seems a shame nobody suggested to investigate them further, trying to isolate the healing properties from the mind-altering ones would seem like a really good idea.
Sulu says he has no clue what a farm is supposed to look like... well that's encouraging coming from a ship's botanist.
The plot's pretty basic, but it goes into Spock's division between his human feelings and his decision to follow the Vulcan(ian) ways rather beautifully, and Nimoy absolutely nails the nuances in the period after he gets cured of the spores.
Spock also mentions his other unpronounceable name, is there a list somewhere of all the names that tie-in fiction and fandom have come up with over the years?
