How "Operation -- Annihilate!" works as a season finale

[Lord Garth]

I can't remember the last time I watched "Operation -- Annihilate!" before tonight, maybe ~10 years, but what I didn't think of before was its effectiveness as a season finale.

Kirk is faced with a difficult situation from the beginning and it grows more difficult and personal as it progresses. First his brother and sister-and-law die, then McCoy says the parasitic alien infection cannot be cured through surgery because of the degree to which spreads througout the body, and Kirk is faced with either finding a way to destroy the organism or do the same while killing 1,000,000 people in order to stop the continuing spread from star system to star system.

With no solution to avoid killing the colonists on Deneba, Kirk becomes more desperate and says in his log that this is the most difficult decision he's had to face. Yes, he's said that before, but the stakes are higher this time because of so many people involved. In a way this is Kirk's final exam as a new captain which makes the dilemma a good fit for the finale of a first season.

Even when a way is discovered to neutralize the parasite, it still comes at a price -- even if was brief -- that Spock becomes blind. Spock is put to a test of his own by having to put so much control over the physical pain he had to endure and not let the madness he was feeling affect his ability to function.

At the end, McCoy, who had been verbally sparring with Spock for almost the entire season, tells Kirk he hopes he doesn't tell Spock he said he was the best first officer in the fleet and it shows the two respect each other even when they don't see eye to eye and exchange barbs.

While "City on the Edge of Forever" is a better episode I think "Operation: Annihilate!" is underrated.

 

[Christopher]

Except that the story depends on Spock and McCoy being so idiotic that they've forgotten that ultraviolet is a component of the electromagnetic spectrum, can't tell the difference between blindness and a closed inner eyelid, and forgot that Vulcans have inner eyelids in the first place. It also depends on the notion that UV light is somehow harmless to humans and other living things aside from flying pancake monsters. And it suffers from Spock-centrism, shifting the focus of the action and pathos to Spock and pretty much abandoning Kirk's grief over his family in the last half.

Also, of course, back then they didn't think in terms of season finales. Episodes were made to be shown in any possible order; the only reason the last episodes made were also the last ones shown is because, well, they were the last ones made and weren't ready until the end of the season. If not for that, if they'd been finished early enough or if a preceding episode in the production schedule had had really demanding effects, it could've just as easily happened that the last episode filmed in a given season could have been aired second-last or third-last. So as far as the production staff was concerned, "Operation: Annihilate" was just an episode like any other.

 

[Lord Garth]

Also, of course, back then they didn't think in terms of season finales. Episodes were made to be shown in any possible order; the only reason the last episodes made were also the last ones shown is because, well, they were the last ones made and weren't ready until the end of the season.

I already know that and maybe you know I do but to add for it's own sake, that's why I said I thought it works as a season finale instead of saying it was written with the intention of serving as one.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I have a different standard for season finales. I schedule my own, whenever a marathon. Usually I watch the episodes in sequence (however possible that may be, given the dvd's stupid original airdate order), except in these instances:

I end season 1 with The Menagerie Part 1 and start season 2 with The Menagerie Part 2. I do this, because I like how the passage of time allows better for Spock's "betrayal" to seem more shocking. Also, with this two-parter following "Operation -- Annihilate", and Kirk's brother's death, it gives some more poignency to Spock, making him angrier, after what they've been through. The rest of season 2 is as was produced.

I end Season 2 with The Naked Time, and start season 3 with Tomorrow Is Yesterday. I do this, because the original intention was for these two episodes to co-relate as a two-parter. With just a wee bit of suspension to disbelief, it can still work as such. The rest of season 3 is as the episodes were produced.

I end season 3 with All Our Yesterdays and beging season 4 (TAS) with, as expected, Yesteryear. I feel these two episodes are a nice, loose arc, that focuses on Spock self-rediscovery - having him go from dark, misogynistic like his ancestors in AOY, to having him go and save his own existance, thats cool.

And, as it is, I don't have a suitable finale for TAS. However, an excellent comic book story serves as my finale to the five-year mission, with Talod IV, Klingons and a reference to Edith Keeler bringing much poignancy to this journey's end. For those who don't know, and for those who do, its the DC Annual #2, called The Final Mission, written by Mike W. Barr. I retitled it, in the best TNG and DS9 fashion, To Boldly Go..., also rounding the series as a whole.

The only other changes I do in my viewing TOS order, is by putting Shore Leave after Balance of Terror, and placing Assignment: Earth after Tomorrow is Yesterday, as a result of historical interest in that era that arose in Starfleet following the previous episode. Otherwise, I follow the produced episodes order of events.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

RIP, thread.

 

[UnknownSample]

I can't remember the last time I watched "Operation -- Annihilate!" before tonight, maybe ~10 years, but what I didn't think of before was its effectiveness as a season finale.

Kirk is faced with a difficult situation from the beginning and it grows more difficult and personal as it progresses. First his brother and sister-and-law die, then McCoy says the parasitic alien infection cannot be cured through surgery because of the degree to which spreads througout the body, and Kirk is faced with either finding a way to destroy the organism or do the same while killing 1,000,000 people in order to stop the continuing spread from star system to star system.

With no solution to avoid killing the colonists on Deneba, Kirk becomes more desperate and says in his log that this is the most difficult decision he's had to face. Yes, he's said that before, but the stakes are higher this time because of so many people involved. In a way this is Kirk's final exam as a new captain which makes the dilemma a good fit for the finale of a first season.

Even when a way is discovered to neutralize the parasite, it still comes at a price -- even if was brief -- that Spock becomes blind. Spock is put to a test of his own by having to put so much control over the physical pain he had to endure and not let the madness he was feeling affect his ability to function.

At the end, McCoy, who had been verbally sparring with Spock for almost the entire season, tells Kirk he hopes he doesn't tell Spock he said he was the best first officer in the fleet and it shows the two respect each other even when they don't see eye to eye and exchange barbs.

While "City on the Edge of Forever" is a better episode I think "Operation: Annihilate!" is underrated.

Excellent. I acknowledge that knowing that there's more to light than the visible spectrum would be pretty basic. I don't feel like throwing an otherwise great hour of science-fiction drama into the crapper over that.

Garth-- Everything you said makes perfect sense. I had trouble seeing this as a suitable end to the season (the best season of SF TV ever I think), before this.

This has always been a great episode to me (despite the horrible title). I think it's the sad finale to pure Star Trek, actually. Anyway, there's a difference between saving one's ship or even saving a planet, which the kind of thing they're usually doing, and being faced with the prospect of having to kill a million people. That's an horrific idea, for any Trek series from any era.

Also interesting is McCoy's blunder, Kirk's initial reaction (silently but obviously blaming McCoy).... how many TV shows would have had the main characters start to lose their way as they seemed to do here? This makes me think of the first episode broadcast that season, Man Trap, where McCoy's mind wandered and he started reminiscing about Nancy, when he had a dead man in front of him, and Kirk had to shame him back to reality.... a reprise of that, maybe... These were fallible people, sometimes very fallible.

 

[Lord Garth]

I think McCoy's mistake exposing Spock to the full spectrum is understandable when considering that McCoy was under pressure, was navigating in the dark, and clearly wasn't thinking everything through as a result until it was too late. Mistakes happen, then it feels worse afterwards because in something so critical that person in error will damn themselves for their lapse in judgement and ask how they could've been so stupid.

Spock's concentration wasn't 100% either because he was mentally distracted by fighting his pain. The more problems someone focuses on the less chance they have to do any of it well.

If they were thinking correctly, they would've gone through each frequency of the electromagnetic spetrum at a time.

 

[MANT!]

I think McCoy's mistake exposing Spock to the full spectrum is understandable when considering that McCoy was under pressure, was navigating in the dark, and clearly wasn't thinking everything through as a result until it was too late. Mistakes happen, then it feels worse afterwards because in something so critical that person in error will damn themselves for their lapse in judgement and ask how they could've been so stupid.

Spock's concentration wasn't 100% either because he was mentally distracted by fighting his pain. The more problems someone focuses on the less chance they have to do any of it well.

If they were thinking correctly, they would've gone through each frequency of the electromagnetic spetrum at a time.

Maybe McCoy had been drinking with Scotty the night before?...Being hungover often clouds the mind..

 

[Botany Bay]

I end Season 2 with The Naked Time, and start season 3 with Tomorrow Is Yesterday. I do this, because the original intention was for these two episodes to co-relate as a two-parter.

Bob Justman shot this down as a myth a few years ago - it just wasn't possible to know which episodes would have enough effects work ready in time to air for any given week.

I like the way you watch the episodes though!

But back to "Operation -- Annihilate!" - I agree with the point about the episode's change of focus to Spock at the end reducing the impact on Kirk. Kirk really had a pretty challenging few episodes at the end of Season 1 didn't he!

It's a pretty decent episode apart from the silly blindness scenes. Did I read that the original ending involved the Enterprise phasering the creatures home planet out of existence to cut the link?

 

[Redfern]

If I have any "beef" with this episode, it's the "seeming" cheat about Spock's inner eyelids. It's like, "Dear G*D! Spock's blind! Wait, what? An inner eyelid? Where the h*ll did that come from?!" It's like the "pocket frammistan" scenario, a deux ex machina where the hero is cornered and seemingly beaten, only to whip out a device that saves the day. Only, there is no preparation. We never knew the hero had this device. He effectively plucks it out of thin air.

What is generally accepted in narratives is to present the "day saving whatsit" earlier in the story, hopefully in an unabstrusive fashion. We tend to ignore or even forget about it until the climax. I personally feel this episode had such an opportunity. Remember the scene when the private ship plows into the denevan sun? The bridge crew watch the event upon the main viewer, the star looming closer and brighter with each second. Everyone begins to squint, including Spock. Instead, Spock could have kept his eyes intently focused upon the screen without blinking. Was McCoy present in that scene? I can't remember, if he was, he could have made an idle comment about Spock staring. Spock doesn't have a chance to reply before Kirk interrupts. Then, at the end of the episode, Spock can regain his sight pretty much as filmed. The audience would hopefully make the connection with the earlier scene.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Nebusj]

It's a pretty decent episode apart from the silly blindness scenes. Did I read that the original ending involved the Enterprise phasering the creatures home planet out of existence to cut the link?

In the Blish novelization, yeah, the solution is Kirk blowing up the home planet of the creature. (Blish did say elsewhere that for one -- and only one -- story he felt the presented ending of the episode made no sense in print and so he changed it; what's not clear to me is that this was the one episode. I think he still had the old ``Operation - Destroy'' title and so was working from a pre-final draft, after all.)

I'm a touch curious about why they decided to have Kirk's family be on Deneva. I mean, obviously, it ratchets up the personal cost to Kirk of failure, but that call for a personal cost is satisfied when Spock's infected, and he could have been whether anyone Kirk knew was on the planet or not. In fact, once Spock is infected we don't see Peter Kirk again. His value as a plot token is redundant.

My suspicion is that they felt a need to make tangible the plot thread that Kirk might have to kill a million people in order to save the Galaxy from the space pancakes, and feared that if this threat were left as simple declarations from Kirk about what he might have to do then it wouldn't have the emotional pull of showing specific people who might be killed. And since we couldn't meet any Denevans before the episode began, making some of the Denevans be relatives to Our Heroes is the easiest way to instill that emotional charge early on.

That's a guess, anyway. It still does mean Kirk had a really crummy couple of weeks there.