

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

A mysterious creature stalks the Enterprise, murdering crew members. (Series Premiere/Franchise Debut)

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Summary

Teaser

In 2266, the USS Enterprise, in the service of Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets, arrives at the planet M-113 to provide supplies and routine medical exams to Doctor Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy, with whom their Crewman Doctor Leonard McCoy was once romantically involved. M-113 has supposedly been home to the Craters for five years, during which time they have conducted an archaeological survey of the planet's ruins. They are the only known inhabitants of the planet.

Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Darnell beam down to the planet and meet Dr. Crater and, apparently, Nancy Crater, but each of the landing party sees a different woman. McCoy, who says he is amazed at how little Nancy has changed since the last time he last saw her, sees the Nancy he knew twelve years prior. Kirk sees a woman similar to the woman McCoy sees, but more appropriately aged. Darnell sees a completely different, younger blond woman who looks exactly like someone he met before on Wrigley's pleasure planet. When he mentions this, "Nancy" doesn't seem to mind, but Kirk and (especially) McCoy find this an offensive remark and ask the crewman to step outside. Minutes later, "Nancy" leaves and still looks (to Darnell) like a beautiful blond woman, and he is lured away by this seductive version of Nancy Crater.

Act One

Dr. Crater then arrives, treating Kirk and McCoy with hostility, telling Kirk that the only thing they need are salt tablets. Otherwise, he and his wife want to be left alone. Kirk debates this, insisting they must need other supplies and that regulations require that McCoy give them physicals at a yearly interval. After Crater realizes that McCoy is the same man he heard his wife mention, his demeanor takes a turn for the better. During the physical, a woman's scream is heard from outside.

When Kirk goes to investigate, he finds Darnell dead, with "Nancy" standing over him. Darnell's face is scarred with circular marks. "Nancy", appearing very distraught, claims she saw him put a poisonous plant called a borgia in his mouth, but was unable to rescue him in time.

On the bridge, a bored and somewhat flirty Communications Officer Lieutenant Uhura is attempting to engage Commander Spock in conversation while he sits in the Enterprise's command chair, to no avail, due to Spock's half-Vulcan heritage causing a lack of a sense of humor. Kirk and McCoy beam back up. When the transporter room reports that one of the party is dead, Spock, who is still talking to Uhura, unemotionally responds, "Bridge acknowledging." This causes Uhura to express wonder that Spock did not even ask who among the party had died, as it could have been Captain Kirk, whom Uhura notes is the closest thing he has to a friend. Spock replies that showing concern would not change the outcome of the event and implies that therefore doing so would be meaningless.

Aboard the Enterprise, McCoy determines that Darnell was not poisoned, and in fact McCoy can find nothing wrong with him at all. When McCoy recalls that Nancy looked younger to him and notes that he could have been looking at her through a romantic haze, Kirk snaps, "How your lost love affects your vision doctor doesn't interest me. I've lost a man. I want to know what killed him."

Act Two

Later, McCoy discovers that Darnell's body has been completely drained of salt.

Kirk, McCoy, and two crewmen beam back down to the planet to investigate further, and Kirk insists that Dr. Crater and his wife beam up to the Enterprise until the investigation is complete. Abruptly Dr. Crater runs off to find "Nancy". Sturgeon, one of the crewmen who beamed down with Kirk and McCoy, is found dead. The other, Green, is also killed by "Nancy" and then "Nancy" transforms into Green.

Kirk and McCoy question "Green", and then the three beam up to the Enterprise.

The being Kirk and McCoy saw as Nancy Crater, and later Green, is a shape-shifting creature, the last surviving native of M-113, and can literally appear as a different being to each person it meets. By reaching into their minds and drawing on their memories, the creature can lull potential victims into a false sense of security, and hypnotize them, before killing them. Still in the image of Green, the creature follows Yeoman Janice Rand (who is carrying a tray of food, including a salt shaker) into a botanical laboratory where Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu greets Green by name. "Green" says nothing, which Rand finds curious. Eventually, "Green" exits without harming anyone, revealing the deception, or getting any salt.

Loose aboard the Enterprise, the M-113 creature still disguised as Green, bites his knuckle nervously, an idiosyncratic gesture "Nancy" had done earlier. When Uhura appears, the creature assumes a new form, one Uhura regards with curiosity and a sense of familiarity. When "he" begins speaking in Swahili, Uhura is delighted and responds in the same language. But then her smile fades as the creature apparently causes her to "freeze", to the point which she is unable to respond to hails for her to return to the bridge. It is only the appearance of Sulu and Rand leaving the botanical laboratory that saves Uhura from being the next victim. She comes to her senses and acknowledges through an intercom panel that she is on her way to the bridge. But soon another victim, Crewman Barnhart, is found dead by Sulu and Rand on the Enterprise, with the same distinctive markings on his face. Kirk now knows that whatever killed Darnell and Sturgeon on the surface has now killed again – on board the Enterprise.

Act Three

Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet to capture Professor Crater. While Kirk tries to reason with Crater, who is armed with a laser pistol, Spock finds the real Green's body. Kirk calls up to the Enterprise with his communicator and orders general quarters condition three, and has Sulu begin the search for "Green". Crater does not want to be captured and fires his laser pistol at Kirk and Spock, hitting and partially destroying one of the ancient archeological structures. Kirk and Spock set their phasers for stun. Spock then distracts Crater and Kirk fires a red bolt from his phaser and stuns Crater. Kirk and Spock question Crater about the creature. After Kirk inquires about Nancy, Crater says that she has been dead for a year, maybe two. He also describes the M-113 creature, comparing it to the buffalo on the planet Earth: once they were so plentiful, a herd covered three states, but no longer. The problem facing the M-113 creature is the need for sodium chloride – salt. The creature will die without salt. The rest of its race died due to this shortage, and now "Nancy" is the last of its kind.

Act Four

In the Enterprise's briefing room, Kirk holds a conference with department heads and Professor Crater. The M-113 creature appears at this meeting as McCoy, whom the creature knows is asleep in his quarters. It is during this meeting that Crater reveals that he and the last surviving creature have formed a symbiotic relationship. Crater provides the M-113 creature with the needed salt and, in turn, the creature gives the professor companionship… something Crater has craved since the creature murdered his wife, the real Nancy Crater, for her salt. Crater also admits that he can recognize the creature in any guise--but does not reveal that the creature is presently sitting right next to him, in the appearance of Dr. McCoy. When Crater refuses to assist in the capture of the creature, Spock suggests a truth serum, and the captain asks "McCoy" about it. "McCoy" reluctantly agrees, and it (the creature) leaves with Crater. Spock volunteers to accompany them.

Finally, the creature kills Crater in sickbay and attacks Spock. Fortunately Vulcan physiology makes him an unappetizing victim for the creature (as Spock explains to the captain from sickbay). Now desperate, the creature, now once again appearing as (age-appropriate) Nancy, returns to McCoy's quarters, begging him to defend it (her) from Kirk and Spock, who have figured out the creature's secret. Kirk appears, with salt tablets in one hand and a phaser in the other, and tries to convince the doctor to stand clear: this is not the real Nancy. Even when the creature overpowers Kirk, and McCoy is standing dumbstruck at the turn of events, the doctor still cannot bring himself to shoot what appears to be the woman he once loved. Spock arrives, sees Kirk in distress, and immediately urges McCoy to shoot, but the doctor refuses. After a brief but unsuccessful struggle to take the phaser away, Spock repeatedly and violently strikes "Nancy", in an effort to convince McCoy that this is NOT Nancy. The creature, who is apparently not affected at all by Spock's blows, strikes the Vulcan, knocking him across the room. Then the creature reverts to its natural form, placing its hands on Kirk's face. Kirk cries out, and finally, in an emotionally painful move, McCoy kills the creature with a phaser blast, saving Kirk and the Enterprise crew. Afterwards, the Enterprise departs its orbit of M-113. Spock notices a solemn-looking Kirk in his captain's chair and asks what is wrong. Kirk solemnly replies "I was thinking about the buffalo, Mr. Spock." The Enterprise departs M-113.

Log entries

"Captain's log, stardate 1513.1. Our position, orbiting planet M-113. On board the Enterprise, Mr. Spock, temporarily in command. On the planet, the ruins of an ancient and long dead civilization. Ship's surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down to the planet's surface. Our mission, routine medical examination of archaeologist Robert Crater, and his wife, Nancy. Routine, but for the fact that Nancy Crater is that one woman in Dr. McCoy's past."

"Captain's log, additional entry. Since our mission was routine, we had beamed down to the planet without suspicion. We were totally unaware that each member of the landing party was seeing a different woman, a different Nancy Crater."

"Captain's log, stardate 1513.4. In orbit around planet M-113. One crewman, member of the landing party, dead by violence… cause unknown. We are certain the cause of death was not poison."

"Captain's log, stardate 1513.8. I am now certain that the violent death of my crewman was caused by some strange lifeform."

"Captain's log, additional. Armed and able-bodied crewmen are not attacked and slaughtered this easily. Apparently, the killer can immobilize them as it approaches, perhaps with some hypnotic or paralyzing power. The answer lies with Professor Crater."

"Captain's log, continuing. The Enterprise has been invaded by a creature capable of assuming any form and with the capacity to paralyze and draw the life from any one of us."

Memorable quotes

"Go away. We don't want you."

"What you want is unimportant right now. What you will get is what is required by the book."



- Crater and McCoy, on the routine medical examination required by Starfleet



"Mister Spock, sometimes I think if I hear that word frequency once more, I'll cry."

- Uhura, starting a conversation with Spock



"Tell me how your planet Vulcan looks on a lazy evening when the moon is full."

"Vulcan has no moon, Miss Uhura."

"I'm not surprised, Mister Spock."

- Uhura and Spock



"This man shouldn't be dead. I can't find anything wrong with him. According to all the tests, he should get up and just walk away from here."

- McCoy, on the death of Darnell



"Message, captain. Starship Base on Corinth IV requests explanation of our delay here, sir. Base Commander Dominguez says we have supplies he urgently needs."

"Tell José he'll get his chili peppers when we get there. Tell him they're prime Mexican Reds, I hand picked them myself. But he won't die if he goes a few more days without them."

- Uhura and Kirk



"But it's a mystery. And I don't like mysteries. They give me a bellyache. And I've got a beauty right now."

- Kirk, on the unexplained deaths of his crew members



"You could learn something from Mister Spock, doctor. Stop thinking with your glands!"

- Kirk to McCoy, on the search for Nancy



"Why don't you go chase an asteroid?"

- Rand, to "Green"



"Hey, how'd you like to have her as your own personal yeoman?"

- Crewman, admiring Yeoman Rand walk down the corridor



"May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet."

- Sulu to Rand, as she brings him a food tray



"Why do people have to call inanimate objects she?"

- Sulu, to Rand



"You been nipping Saurian brandy or something?"

- Rand, to "Green" in the botany room



"What's the matter? Can't you sleep?"

"No."

"Try taking one of those red pills you gave me last week. You'll sleep."

- Kirk and McCoy, after beaming up from Sturgeon's death, and Nancy's disappearance.



"Keep a tight fix on us. If we let out a yell, I want an armed party down there before the echo dies."

- Kirk to Uhura, just before he beams down to the planet



"This thing becomes wife, lover, best friend, wise man, fool, idol, slave. It isn't a bad life to have everyone in the universe at your beck and call! And you win all the arguments!"

- Kirk to Crater, on the M-113 creature



"Fortunately, my ancestors spawned in another ocean than yours did. My blood cells are quite different."

- Spock, on surviving the creature's attack



"We don't want you here! We're happy alone! I'll kill to stay alone! You hear that, Kirk? Or you'll have to kill me! I don't care either way!"

- Professor Crater, to Kirk and Spock



"Lord, forgive me."

- McCoy, before killing the creature



"Something wrong, captain?"

"I was thinking about the buffalo, Mister Spock."

- Spock and Kirk, on the death of the creature

Background information

Production timeline

Script and story

Credits

As the first episode actually telecast, the opening credits are slightly different from most other first season shows. Gene Roddenberry has "created by" credits and there is no "starring" before William Shatner's name. This version of the credits was used only once more, in " Charlie X ".

". In this episode, Garrison True and Larry Anthony both speak several on-screen lines, yet are not listed in the closing credits.

In the first season, directors and writers were not credited until the very end of each episode, while they are credited right after the title of each episode beginning in season two.

Cast

The very first Enterprise crew members whom the television audience saw in this premiere episode were Spock, Uhura, and Leslie, sitting in the command module on the bridge (which is, in fact, a recycled shot from " The Naked Time ").

crew members whom the television audience saw in this premiere episode were Spock, Uhura, and Leslie, sitting in the command module on the bridge (which is, in fact, a recycled shot from " "). James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) does not appear in this episode, but he is briefly heard on Kirk's communicator in dialogue lifted from another episode.

Costumes

Visual and sound effects

The visual of the planet M-113 from orbit was reused footage previously representing planet Alfa 177 in " The Enemy Within ", though this episode aired first. This planet effect was reused again many times during the original series.

", though this episode aired first. This planet effect was reused again many times during the original series. When Nancy Crater first walks into the dig headquarters, Nichelle Nichols' singing from " Charlie X " was briefly dubbed in as Crater's voice. ( citation needed • edit)

" was briefly dubbed in as Crater's voice. In early episodes like this one, there are up and down indicators that light up outside the turbolifts. Although they are seen in subsequent episodes, only in the earliest ones do they actually light up to indicate direction of travel. Elevator indicator lights later show up in engineering above one of the consoles.

The bridge sound effects still retain sounds from the two pilots. By the time Roddenberry left as producer, those original sounds were not heard again, with the brief exceptions of being heard while on the bridges of the Exeter and the Lexington . The DVD releases, however, have overlaid these older sound effects in every episode. They are presented as "rear channel" sounds which gives the episodes a "surround sound" effect.

and the . The DVD releases, however, have overlaid these older sound effects in every episode. They are presented as "rear channel" sounds which gives the episodes a "surround sound" effect. A unique phaser ricochet sound effect was used when Crater was stunned by a phaser shot, the only time this effect was ever used in the original series. Alfred Ryder's voice then slows down, representing the stun effect.

In a Desilu Inter-Department Communication from Bob Justman to Bernie Widin, dated 3 November 1966, it was noted that the music score cost for this episode was an exorbitant $9,029.63.

Production

Preview

The preview contains a captain's log recorded solely for the preview: "Captain's log, stardate 1324.1. On Planet M-113 we encounter a killer from a lost world." Interestingly, the stardate is significantly different from those used in the episode.

Syndication

During the syndication run of Star Trek, no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Reception

Apocrypha

A cat version of "The Man Trap" was featured in Jenny Parks' 2017 book Star Trek Cats.

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Co-starring

Guest star

Featuring

And

Uncredited co-stars

Stand-ins

William Blackburn as the stand-in for DeForest Kelley

Frank da Vinci as the stand-in for Leonard Nimoy

Jeannie Malone as the stand-in for Grace Lee Whitney and Jeanne Bal

Eddie Paskey as the stand-in for William Shatner

References

2254; 2256; 2261; 2265; "a great deal"; "a little"; "a little bit"; age; affection; alien; alkaloid poison; "all right"; analysis; ancestor; animal; animate; answer; apology; arch: archaeologist; archaeology; argument; artifact; asteroid; "at once"; attitude; autopsy; beast; bellyache; bait; best friend; black; blood cell; body; body heat; "Bones"; borgia plant; botany section; braid; bribery; briefing room; buffalo; bully; "by the book"; "calm down"; captain's log; Carbon Group III; case; celery; chameleon; chance; chemical structure; chili pepper; class M planet; coincidence; column (record-keeping); communications console; communications officer; complaint; Constitution-class decks; conversation; coordinates; Corinth IV; Corinth IV starship base; crewman; crying; danger; day; death; deck; demonstration; digging; dispensary; doctor; Dominguez, José; door; doubt; dream; duty; earring; Earth; Earth history; "either way"; Electrographic Analysis; engineering; Engineering Deck; engineering level; error; evening; explanation; "excuse me"; eye; face; fact; fang; fear; feeding; feeling; file photo; flower; fool; foot; frequency; friend; general quarters; Gertrude; girlfriend; gland; "go ahead"; "go away"; gold; "got it"; gray; great bird of the galaxy; hall; hair; hand; harassment; head; health; heat; heaven; "hello"; herd; Human; hunger; hypnotic power; hypothesis; "I don't know"; "I guess"; "I see"; idea; idol; "in a way"; "in fact"; "in love"; inanimate object; incisor; "in effect"; instruction; intelligence; intruder; intruder alert; "it's good to see you"; job; landing party; libary record tape; life sciences department; "like it or not"; logic; Lord; love; lover; M-113; M-113 creatures; machine; marriage; match; MD; medic; Medical department; medical examination; medical team; medical test; medical tricorder; memory; Mexican; mile; military log; mind; minute; mission; mistake; moon; mouth; muscles; mystery; name; natural ability; nickname; nightshade family; ocean; "of course"; "on board"; "on foot"; "on my part"; "on my way"; orbit; order; "out of your mind"; passenger pigeon; past tense; person; phaser; physician; pill; place; plant; "Plum"; poison; pound; prairie; professor; provisioning; quarters; question; quote; reason; red; red pill; reference; report; research personnel; risk; ruins; salt; salt depletion; salt tablet; sample; Saurian brandy; search; search radius; section; ship's surgeon (aka starship surgeon); shipment; "sit down"; skin mottling; slave; sleep; sodium chloride; solitude; space; Space Commander; space happy; speaker; "stand by"; starship base; Starfleet regulations; state; subspace log; subspace message; Supply and Maintenance; surface search equipment; surgeon; suspicion; Swahili; Swahili language; swallowing; symptom; "take it easy"; "thank you"; thing; thunder; time; tonsil; tongue depressor; teeth; tranquilizer; transporter room; tray; trespasser; trick; trust; truth; truth serum; United States of America; universe; vegetation; violence; vision; Vulcan; Vulcans; "wait a minute"; water; weeper; wife; wise man; worry; Wrigley's pleasure planet; Wrigley's pleasure planet girl; year

Unused references

M'Umbha; mess call



