Name That STAR TREK Episode...

[Steven P Bastien]

I think Kirk used a hand disruptor to bring them down.

He did slap them around with disruptors, but he decided to make the final coup de grace with a hand phaser to get some extra style points. But, let's try "The Apple". Kirk brings down the ship's phasers to kill big daddy Vaal. The natives' "balanced" numbers are sure to grow since they are free to procreate now that their natural multiplicative proclivities will have no restraining factors.

 

[Henoch]

Yes, winner, you make take a bite out of the Apple. You got both clues correct. I thought the destruction of Vaal by phasers was a great special effect. Sparks. Smoke. Eyes dim out. Vaal is dead.

 

[Discofan]

Why do I always think of "Vaal" when I hear the name "Val Kilmer"?

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Why do I always think of "Vaal" when I hear the name "Val Kilmer"?

Maybe because Val thinks he is a God too? My x-wife would agree with him. She loved him in "Tombstone". Actually, I did too.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

OK, new random episode has been selected. All 79 episodes are in play.

Clue #1 Bad day for one crew member and friends too are concerned. But wait, the day just got a bit better, at least for that crew member. All back to normal at the end though.

 

[Discofan]

Spectre Of The Gun?

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Good answer Discofan, but not correct. I think you are considering Chekov, who has a situation somewhat similar to the crew member I referred to. Hence, I will use that for the next clue.

Clue #2. In this episode one crew member has a vaguely similar situation to what Chekov experienced in "Spectre of the Gun". But, for Chekov I would have said, "Good day for one crew member and friends are concerned. But wait, the day just got worse, at least for that crew member. All back to normal at the end". However, it seems Chekov's situation was a simulated reality, while this episode deals with a harsh reality.

 

[Discofan]

"The Changeling": Uhura gets her memory erased but by the end of the episode is back to her normal self.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Sorry DIscofan, you were closer on your first guess. Although, perhaps all wrong answers are equidistant or equally misdirected.

Clue #3 A Star Fleet officer refusing a direct order? Well, it's not the first time.

 

[Henoch]

Who Mourns For Adonais?
1. Scotty has a bad day. First a god steals your woman. Next, he bitch slaps you. Then, he zaps you. But in the end, you get the girl.
2. Scott almost gets killed over a woman, but recovers after a while. Chekov got fake-killed over a woman.
3. Kirk gives Carolyn a direct order to spurn Apollo, but he is unsure whether she will do her duty.

 

[Discofan]

Obsession?

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Both good answers. Henoch is more on target, much like Discofan's first guess.

Clue #4. Death by sauna? That's more creative than a villain in a James Bond novel.

 

[Discofan]

Turnabout Intruder

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Nope, not "Turnabout Intruder".

Clue #5 Nothing so extreme as a turnabout it needed to solve a problem in this episode.

 

[Discofan]

Both good answers. Henoch is more on target, much like Discofan's first guess.

Clue #4. Death by sauna? That's more creative than a villain in a James Bond novel.

As a matter of fact in one of the Bond movies "Thunderball", one of the Villains is cooked in a sauna machine, not dead but pretty close to it IMO, first degree burns over your body will get you hospitalized for a very long time!!! With countless complications to boot. Our skin is VERY important for our long term survival and it doesn't grow back very fast.

 

[Henoch]

I think I got it based on the sauna clue: For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky?
1. McCoy finds out is has an incurable disease. But he gets better at the end of the episode.
2. Instead of a fake western town, we have a fake planet surface.
3. The Admiral ordered Kirk to leave and continue his mission. He stays after McCoy phones home.
4. The Oracle room heats up to kill the intruders.
5. The Instrument of Obedience inserted into your brain controls you with pain up to and including death. Easy to remove. Easy to fix the course of the ship. Easy-Peasy.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Very good Henoch, You got it. Your explanations are all good. I had a different idea in mind on a couple of them. For #3, I was thinking of McCoy refusing Kirk's order to come back to the ship, but there are so many disobeyed orders in this series anyway. For # 5, i was thinking that Yonada did not need to have a complete turnaround. A very slight correction would be enough to not impact Darren 5 or whatever planet it was headed for.

There were also a few hints in the comments. For example, the word "misdirected" which Yonada was. Also, "more on target" which characterizes Yonada after the course correction.

 

[Henoch]

1st Clue: Originally, a prominent technological device later seen in The Animated Series was to be used for this episode, but they use an older style technological version instead.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

I'm thinking "The Tholian Web".

They use environmental suits for an environment without air. In the Animated Series, we see them using the belt which creates a force field barrier.

 

[Henoch]

Correct.

TAS replaced the traditional space suits with the environmental belts. If the belts were used in the Tholian Web, I wonder how they would have portrayed it in the show; whether "no special effect" or a glowly yellow field around the user. Instead of running out of air, they could have said it was was running out of power. The field flickering right before failure could have been used. I think any special effects would have been prohibitively too expensive and too big an impact to the schedule to outline the actors in every frame of film, hence the fantastic and beautiful space suits.