Trekking Through Compliance

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Return to Tomorrow, which aired on February 9, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4768.3. The Enterprise receives a distress call from a planet hundreds of light years too distant to have been visited by any Earth ship. Spock determines that the planet is similar to Earth but older and that its atmosphere was ripped away half a m...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode A Private Little War, which aired on February 2, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4307.1. Spock, Bones, and Kirk beam down to a planet Kirk surveyed 13 years ago and are attacked. Spock is shot while trying to escape. Kirk speculates that the Klingons have violated the treaty governing the “neutral planet,” which restricts both...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Immunity Syndrome, which aired on January 19, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4307.1. The Enterprise is diverted to investigate the mysterious cessation of communication with the Gamma 7A star system. While on its way, Spock telepathically senses the destruction of a starship manned by Vulcans. The Enterprise encounters a...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode A Piece of the Action, which aired on January 12, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 4598.1. The Enterprise crew attempts to contact the inhabitants of planet Sigma Iotia II, whose inhabitants of Sigma Iotia II have built a culture around the book Chicago Mobs of the Twenties accidentally left behind a hundred years ago by the S....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Gamesters of Triskelion, which aired on January 5, 1968, and occurred on Star Date 3211.7. Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov prepare to beam down to Gamma 2 and are whisked away from the transporter platform. They are captured and fitted with “collars of obedience” by Galt, master Thrall of the planet Triskelion. Spock finds them 11...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Trouble with Tribbles, which aired on December 29, 1967, Star Date 4523.3 The Enterprise is called to Deep Space Station K7 by a priority 1 distress call. A Klingon ship arrives at the space station and requests that its crew be granted shore leave. Meanwhile, the intergalactic trader Cyrano Jones gives Uhura a thrilling c...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Wolf in the Fold, which aired on December 22, 1967, with a Star Date of 3614.9. Scotty, Kirk, and McCoy beam down to Orgellius II for shore leave when Mr. Scott is accused of murder. His fingerprints are the only ones on the murder weapon, and he has a concussion and amnesia. Mr. Scott claims that he felt the presence of a fou...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Obsession, which aired on December 15, 1967, with a Star Date of 3619.2. Kirk notices a sweet, honey-like odor on a planet that he recognizes. He orders the security guards to scan for choronium and fire at any gaseous cloud. Before they can do so, 2 are killed and one seriously injured. Kirk becomes obsessed with the destruct...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Deadly Years, which aired on December 8, 1967, with a Star Date of 3478.2. When Chekov, Spock, Lt. Gallway, McCoy, Kirk, and Scotty beam down to resupply the experimental colony on Gamma Hydra 4, they initially find no one home. They see the leader, Robert Johnson, and his wife, Elaine. Both appear to be extremely old. Kir...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Friday’s Child, which aired on December 1, 1967, Star Date 3497.2. Kirk attempts to secure a mining agreement for topaline on Capella 4, where Bones had once been stationed. He warns Kirk that although the Capellans are scrupulously honest, they are war-like. After beaming down, a security guard pulls out a phaser to shoot a K...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Metamorphosis, which aired on November 10, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 3219.4. Commissioner Nancy Hedford, who had been on a diplomatic mission to stop a war, is ill with Sicuro’s disease and needs treatment aboard the Enterprise. The shuttlecraft is forced down on a small planetoid, and Kirk cannot contact the Enterprise...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Journey to Babel, which aired on November 17, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 3842.3. The Enterprise transports ambassadors to a conference to discuss the admission of Corridon to the Federation. Sarek is the ambassador from Vulcan, accompanied by his wife, Amanda. To Kirk’s surprise, they turn out to be Spock’s parents. Also,...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider episode I, Mudd, which aired on November 3, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 4513.3. The Enterprise finds Harry Mudd (Harcourt Fenton Mudd) on a planet and the “ruler” of 500 robot women. Mudd is being studied by the robots, who are accommodating but refuse to let him go. The androids tell Kirk people from the Andromeda galaxy built them....

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Catspaw, which aired on October 27, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 3018.2. Strange things happen to a landing party consisting of Jackson, Sulu, and Scotty when they beam down to planet Pyrus 7. When Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to investigate, leaving DeSalle in command and Chekov as his sidekick, they are enveloped in f...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the compliance and leadership lessons from the episode The Doomsday Machine, which aired on October 20, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 4202.9. The Enterprise responds to a distress beacon from the Starship U.S.S. Constellation and then finds the battered remains of the ship itself. Kirk sends a boarding party to the Constellation to inve...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the compliance and leadership lessons from the episode The Apple, which aired on October 13, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 3715.0. A Landing Party finds danger on a seemingly pristine planet as the Enterprise is threatened. The planet’s inhabitants are the feeders of Vaal. Kirk asks to be taken to Vaal, just as Scott reports that the En...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Mirror Mirror, which aired on October 6, 1967, Star Date unknown. During an ion storm, the Away Team is transported into a parallel universe and a mirror image of the Enterprise. There, they find members who are mirror images of themselves and belong to an evil Federation known as the Empire. Kirk, Uhura, McCoy, and Scotty imp...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the compliance lessons from the episode The Changeling, which aired on September 29, 1967, and occurred on Star Date 3451.9. The Enterprise encounters a probe that identifies itself as Nomad. The probe believes that Kirk is its creator. Nomad says its mission is to destroy anything imperfect, including humans. Kirk confronts Nomad, tellin...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Who Mourns for Adonais?, which aired on September 22, 1967, with a Star Date of 3468.1. While approaching Pollux 4, an energy field shaped like a giant green hand stops the Enterprise dead in space, and an apparition wearing a laurel wreath appears. The apparition addresses the crew as his “children” and congratulates them for...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode Amok Time, which aired on September 15, 1967, with a Star Date of 3372.7. Spock begins to request that he be granted leave on his home planet, Vulcan, which is given. Spock must explain that he is undergoing pon farr, a condition male Vulcans experience periodically throughout their adult lives and must mate or die. Kirk conta...

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 the most beloved TOS episode of all time, City on the Edge of Forever, which aired on April 6, 1967, Star Date 3134. In investigating ripples in time, Kirk and Spock are sent back to 1930s 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. Kirk falls in...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Alternative Factor, which aired on March 23, 1967, with a Star Date of 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 sp...

In this Trekking Through Compliance episode, we consider the episode Errand of Mercy, which aired on March 16, 1967, with a Star Date of 3194.8. The Enterprise is sent to 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 primitive t...

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the compliance lessons from the episode 'Devil in the Dark', which occurred on 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 suspects...