Trekking Through Compliance

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Operation Annihilate!, which aired on April 13, 1967, Star Date 3287.2. The Enterprise goes to investigate the planet Deneva. Spock consults the computer and discovers. While approaching the planet, the Enterprise encounters a Denevan ship heading straight for the sun. The pilot flies into the sun, claiming he is finally "free...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider perhaps the most beloved TOS episode of all time, City on the Edge of Forever which aired on April 6, 1967, Star Date 3134. Investigating ripples in time, Kirk and Spock are sent back in time to 1930’s earth to find Dr. McCoy, who has altered time. They meet Edith Keeler, head of the food kitchen, which is the focal point of this change....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Alternative Factor, which aired on March 23, 1967, Star Date 3087.6. As the Enterprise maps a planet with an iron-silicon surface and oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere and begins heading towards Starbase 200, the ship is twice subjected to massive disturbances. Spock reports that the magnetic field of the surrounding space “blink...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Devil in the Dark which aired on March 9, 1967, Star Date 3196.1. The Enterprise arrives at the pergium mining colony with an unknown creature that has killed 50 miners and engineers and destroyed equipment with a strong corrosive substance. Kirk and his security team search for the creature. Spock, suspecting it may be a sili...

In this Trekking Through Compliance episode, we consider the episode Errand of Mercy, which aired on March 16, 1967, Star Date 3194.8. The Enterprise is sent to the world of Organia, a non-aligned planet near the Klingon border, to prevent the Klingons from taking advantage of its strategic location.  Upon arriving on the planet’s surface, Kirk and Spock find a peaceful but technologically primiti...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode This Side of Paradise, which aired on March 2, 1967, Star Date 3417.3. The Enterprise is ordered to a Federation colony on Omicron Ceti III to evacuate them from some deadly rays. Kalomi offers to show Spock how the colonists have survived and expose him to spores that protect humans from the rays. Kirk returns to the ship whi...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode A Taste of Armageddon, which aired on February 23, 1967, Star Date 3192.1. The Enterprise arrives at Eminiar VII to open diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, the Enterprise is declared destroyed by a tri-cobalt satellite explosion from Vendikar, and all persons aboard the Enterprise are ordered to report for disintegration wit...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Space Seed which aired on February 16, 1967, Star Date 3141.9.  The derelict DY100 class spaceship S.S. Botany Bay built in the 1990s is discovered by the Enterprise. The Enterprise has no record of the ship, but this is not surprising as many records were lost in the great World War of Eugenics fought during that period. The...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Return of the Archons which aired on February 9, 1967, Star Date 3156.2.  The Enterprise arrives at the planet Beta III in the C-111 system where the USS Archon was reported lost nearly 100 years earlier. They find the inhabitants living in a 19th-century Earth-style culture, ruled over by cloaked and cowled "Lawgivers" and a...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Court Martial which aired on February 2, 1967, Star Date 2947.3.  After sustaining severe damage in an ion storm, the Enterprise is forced to seek repairs at Starbase 11, where  Commodore Stone investigates the death of records officer Ben Finney, who died in the storm. Stone finds it was Kirk’s negligence that led to Finney’s...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Arena, which aired on January 19, 1967, Star Date 3045.6.  The Enterprise arrives at the Cestus III Outpost by invitation of its commanding officer, but the crew finds the outpost obliterated and then under attack from an unknown vessel. Both ships enter a new space sector and lose all propulsion power shortly after. Enterpris...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Squire of Gothos, aired on January 12, 1967, Star Date 2124.5.  The Enterprise encounters a rogue planet previously hidden from their sensors. As Sulu attempts to enter a course around the planet, he suddenly vanishes from the bridge, and Kirk vanishes a moment later. The Enterprise then receives a strange message on a vie...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Galileo Seven, which aired on January 5, 1967, Star Date 2821.5 The Enterprise passes close to a quasar-like formation identified as Murasaki 312. Kirk sends a science team to investigate the formation. Soon after launch, the shuttle is pulled off course. Spock makes an emergency landing on Taurus II, a rocky, fog-shrouded...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Shore Leave, which aired on December 29, 1966, Star Date 3025.3. This is one of the most fun and beloved TOS episodes. It begins with the Enterprise discovering  Omicron Delta, which appears to be the ideal location for rest and relaxation for the Enterprise crew. However, strange things soon begin to happen to the landing par...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Balance of Terror, which aired on December 15, 1966, Star Date 1709.1 Enterprise investigates the lack of response from Earth outposts 2 and 3, monitoring the Neutral Zone between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy. The Earth outposts have been constructed on asteroids and were authorized by treaty following...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Conscience of the King, which aired on December 8, 1966, Star Date 2817.6. The Enterprise is called Planet Q by Dr. Thomas Leighton. Leighton suspects Anton Karidian, the leader of a Shakespearean acting troupe currently on the planet, is Kodos the Executioner, former governor of the Earth colony of Tarsus IV. Kodos had or...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Menagerie (Part Two), which aired on November 24, 1966, Star Date 3012.4. This was the original pilot episode presented to NBC. Spock’s trial continues, and the transmitted scene resumes with Pike in 2254 in a cell with a transparent wall. The Talosians begin their “experiment,” which consists of several illusory situation...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Menagerie (Part One), which aired on November 17, 1966, Star Date 3012.4. This was the original pilot episode presented to NBC. Set in 2267, the Enterprise arrives at Starbase 11 in response to a subspace call Spock reported receiving from the former captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike, under whom Spock had served....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Corbomite Maneuver, which aired on November 10, 1966, Star Date 1512.2. Novice navigator Lt. Dave Bailey spots a large spinning multi-colored cube floating in space. He advocates attacking it with phasers. Kirk instead orders the ship to back away from the object. The cube pursues them, emitting harmful radiation, and Kirk...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Dagger of the Mind, which aired on November 3, 1966, Star Date 2715.1. The Enterprise makes a supply run to planet Tantalus V, a colony where the criminally insane are confined for treatment. The facility's director is Dr. Tristan Adams, a psychiatrist famous for advocating more humane treatment of such patients. After the Ent...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Miri which aired on October 27, 1966, Star Date 2713.5. A landing party is attacked by a disfigured man who dies after Kirk strikes him. They discover a preadolescent, Miri, who ran away from them because "grups" kill and maim children before dying. She and her friends are "onlies," the only ones left. The distress call is tra...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode What is little girls made of?, which aired on October 20, 1966, Star Date 2712.4. After the Enterprise travels to the planet Exo III to investigate the fate of Roger Corby, two security guards, Matthews and Rayburn, are killed after beaming down. It turns out that Corby, known as the Pasteur of archeological medicine, has disc...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Mudd's Women, which aired on October 13, 1966, Star Date 1329.1. Harry Mudd attempts to evade the Enterprise with his small class J cargo ship and leads it into an asteroid field. The Enterprise extends its shields over Harvey's ship, burning out three of its four lithium crystals. The crew of the Enterprise becomes fascinated...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider The Enemy Within, which aired on October 6, 1966, Star Date 1672.1. While gathering specimens on planet Alpha 177 (whose night temperature reaches -120 degrees), the transporter malfunctions, stranding the remaining 4-man landing party (including Sulu) on the planet; Kirk beams up. Kirk is split into two alter-egos, the evil one (hostilit...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider The Naked Time, which aired on September 29, 1966, Star Date 1704.2. A landing party from the Enterprise beams aboard Psi 2000, an ancient planet about to break up. They find all six of the crew manning the station dead. However, the circumstances are bizarre since the life support systems have been switched off, and everything in the sta...