Trekking Through Compliance

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Way To Eden, which aired on February 21, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5832.3 Story Synopsis This episode explores themes of counterculture, utopian ideals, and the clash between authority and freedom. It centers around the crew of the USS Enterprise as they encounter a group of space-age hippies led by the charismatic D...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Requiem for Methuselah, which aired on February 14, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5843.7. The episode begins with the starship USS Enterprise seeking a rare mineral, ryetalyn, necessary to cure a Rigelian fever outbreak among the crew. They arrive on the planet Holberg 917G, which appears to be uninhabited. Captain James T....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Lights of Zetar, which aired on January 31, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5725.3. On its way to the Memory Alpha planetoid, the storehouse of all the Federation’s cultural history and scientific knowledge, sensors detect a strange storm. The storm travels at a speed of Warp 2.6, indicating that it cannot be a natural phe...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode That Which Survives, which aired on January 24, 1969, and occurred on Star Date Unknown. McCoy, Sulu, Kirk, and senior geologist D’Amato beam down to investigate a strange planet the size of the Moon but with the mass of the Earth. The planet has no magnetic field but a well-developed atmosphere and plant life, even though it...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Mark of Gideon, which aired on January 17, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5423.4 In an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with planet Gideon, Kirk beams down to the sensor-shielded planet using coordinates supplied by Gideon’s ambassador, Hodin. When Kirk materializes, he finds himself still on the transporter pad...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, which aired on January 10, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5730.0 On its way to decontaminate the planet Arianis, the Enterprise intercepts a shuttlecraft stolen from Starbase 4 together with its pilot. The pilot is an alien with solid white on his right side and solid black on his left. His...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Whom Gods Destroy, which aired on January 3, 1969, and occurred on Star Date 5718.3 Kirk and Spock are on a medical mission to deliver sanity-saving drugs to an institute for the incorrigibly criminally insane. An inmate is a former commander. He is also a homicidal master strategist. As a former Starship commander, he takes o...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Elaan of Troyius, which aired on December 20, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4373.5 Kirk and crew are playing taxi to Elaan from Elas and an ambassador from Troyius. (She is one of the greatest spoiled brat characters in all of TOS.) Their mission: get everyone safely from point A to point B. Sounds easy, right? Now add Elaan...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Empath, which aired on December 6, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 5121.5 Story Synopsis The episode centers around Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy, who are sent to investigate a research outpost on Minara II. Upon arrival, the crew discovers that the planet’s sun is about to go nova, threatening all life in the sys...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Wink of an Eye, which aired on November 29, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 5710.5 While exploring an outer quadrant of the Galaxy, the Enterprise receives a distress call from the planet Scalos. However, a landing party needs help locating the transmission’s source. Kirk thinks he detects the buzzing of insects, but the trico...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Plato’s Stepchildren, which aired on November 12, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 5784.0 Story Synopsis The episode begins with the USS Enterprise responding to a distress call from a planet populated by the Platonians, a group of telepathic humanoids who model their society in ancient Greece. Upon arriving, Captain Kirk, Mr....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Tholian, which aired on November 15, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 3842.3. When the Enterprise attempts to ascertain the fate of the U.S.S. Defiant, which vanished 3 weeks ago, Spock reports strange sensor readings. They visually detect the Defiant, but sensors indicate it is not there. A landing party beams aboard, and...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, which aired on November 1, 1968, Star Date Unknown. McCoy calls Kirk to sick bay and informs him that the ship’s Chief Medical Officer (himself) has contracted an incurable fatal disease called xenopolycythemia and has only one year to live. However, McCoy assures Kirk he can...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Day of the Dove, which aired on November 1, 1968, Star Date Unknown. Story Synopsis In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Day of the Dove, which aired on November 1, 1968, Star Date Unknown. Called to Earth colony Beta 12A by a distress signal which claims that the colony is under attack. Kirk...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Spectre of the Gun, which aired on October 25, 1968, Star Date 4385.3. Story Synopsis On a mission to establish contact with the reclusive Melcotians, Kirk ignores the message of a space probe. The landing party encounters a Melcotian who informs them they are an outside disease that must be destroyed. Their trespassing is to...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Is There No Truth in Beauty, which aired on October 18, 1968, Star Date 5630.7. The Enterprise is given the mission of transporting the Medusan ambassador Kollos, a member of a species so ugly that the mere sight of it causes humans to go insane back to his home planet. The ambassador arrives enclosed in a specially designed b...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode And The Children Shall Lead, which aired on October 11, 1968, Star Date 5027.1. Story Synopsis This episode explores themes of manipulation and the power of belief. The Enterprise crew responds to a distress signal from the Federation colony on Triacus and discovers all the adults dead from an apparent suicide, leaving only th...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Enterprise Incident aired on September 27, 1968, Star Date 5031.3. Story Synopsis The Enterprise Incident follows Captain James T. Kirk and his crew undertaking a daring and covert mission within the Neutral Zone, the border region between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire. The episode begins wit...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Spock’s Brain, which aired on September 20, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 5431.4. Story Synopsis Almost universally panned as the work Star Trek TOS episode, the story involves a race of beings who kidnap Spock’s brain to run a planet-wide computer system for insipid beings, both male and female. “Spock’s Brain” is the first...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the compliance lessons from Assignment Earth, which aired on March 29, 1968, Star Date unknown—the final episode of Season 2. The Enterprise has used the light-speed breakaway factor to propel itself backward in time. It can monitor Earth communications while on a historical fact-finding mission to study how Earth survived 1968. While in...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Bread and Circuses, which aired on March 15, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4040.7. On a routine patrol, the Enterprise happens upon space debris from the S.S. Beagle. This survey ship disappeared 6 years ago, commanded by Captain R.M. Merrik, an academy associate of Kirk. When Spock projects the path of the wreckage back in...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Ultimate Computer, which aired on March 8, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4729.4. The Enterprise is ordered to be part of a test of the new M5 Multitronic System, a computer designed to replace a starship crew. In an unscheduled drill at Alpha Carinae 2, M5 defends the Enterprise against attacks from the starships Excalib...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Omega Glory, which aired on March 1, 1968, and occurred on Star Date unknown. The Enterprise finds the U.S.S. Exeter in orbit with no one aboard. The boarding party then plays the medical log and is warned that they are dead men who must not return to their ship. They are told that their only chance for survival is to beam...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode By Any Other Name, which aired on February 23, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4657.5. A landing party beams down to investigate a distress call, and two “perfect” human life forms register and put in an appearance. They are members of the Kelvin Empire from the Andromeda Galaxy. They want a return trip home, which will take s...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Patterns of Force, which aired on February 16, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 2534. When the Enterprise approaches the inner planet Ekos to investigate the cessation of communication with researcher John Gill, it is attacked by a rocket carrying a nuclear weapon. Kirk and Spock beam down to explore and discover that a Nazi mo...