A guest blog Mindless-Droid

This week’s OS Star Trek episode is Operation: Annihilate! You can see the original version here http://www.startrek.com/watch_episode/Il_GjiaESiGF and the episode guide is here http://www.startrek.com/database_article/operation-annihilate.

This is another good episode as alien creatures have taken over the bodies of the people of Deneva including Captain Kirk’s brother his wife and son. They find Kirk’s brother dead and his wife and son infected by the parasitic aliens. They take them back to the ship and in the sick bay Aurelan tells Kirk of the invaders before they kill her too. It is one of the most dramatic scenes from the series as Aurelan struggles against the aliens to inform Kirk that they must be stopped. It is quite unsettling as she screams in pain as the aliens try to stop her and eventually kill her.

Back on the planet Kirk and the landing party find the creatures and they are resistant to phaser fire. One of the creatures attacks Spock and now he is infected. Although being half Vulcan Spock is able to control the pain and beams back to the planet to collect a specimen. Kirk ponders his dilemma that if the creatures cannot be destroyed he may have to kill the entire population of the planet along with Spock and his nephew.

Knowing from earlier when a Denevan ship headed toward the sun and the pilot exclaiming that at last he was free that the creatures can be destroyed by something in the sun they begin to experiment on the specimen eventually discovering that light is deadly to them. An experiment on the specimen proves successful and Spock volunteers to be exposed to the blinding light to see if it will drive the creature from him. It does but also renders him blind. It is then they discover that it is ultra violet light that kills the creature and Spock need not have been blinded. With this knowledge the Enterprise places satellites in orbit to shine the light everywhere on the planet and the creatures are destroyed. To add to the happy ending Spock’s blindness is only temporary as Vulcans have a second inner eyelid.

Now some mindless thoughts

Does space have a straight line?

Why didn’t they go back in time when they pulled away from the sun? lol

The terror in Aurelan’s voice and screams of pain really emphasize how dangerous the creatures are

The re-mastered planet and the Enterprises approach to it is very cool

A regular door you have to open

Kirk putting aside his personal grief reminds me of “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one”

The creatures remind me of an organic Borg

The fact of having to possibly destroy the population of Deneva, Spock and his nephew is very poignant

Spock’s logic can be compassionate

Was that Windex on McCoy’s lab table?

Whoever is responsible for the edits in the aired version of this episode did a very poor job. It was to the point of being unwatchable whether you had seen the episode before or not. I would suggest if you watch this episode watch it online instead of an aired version as it was just cut up too much. There were the usual small cuts here and there which seemed more noticeable this week. They cut Kirk and Scotty discussing a tractor beam in the beginning, then Spock’s sensor report in the transporter room which was important to the story. The worst being that they cut portions of Aurelan’s scene in the sick bay and McCoy and Kirk’s discussion about his nephew afterwards. They also edited portions of the scene in which they discuss whether or not Spock should wear googles in the light chamber and McCoy saying he is the best first officer in the fleet but left the comment in at the end where McCoy tells Kirk not to let Spock know he said that.

Apart from the planet and Enterprise being re-mastered they also had a small Denevan ship inserted against the backdrop of the sun in the beginning. They also added two scenes of the Enterprise placing the satellites in orbit and then the satellites initializing, very cool additions. I need to figure out a cool exit quote maybe next week so anyway Live Long and Prosper.