star trek tos metamorphosis cast

Metamorphosis (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Story and script
• 4.2 Production
• 4.4 Reception
• 4.5 Remastered information
• 4.6 Production timeline
• 4.7 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest stars
• 5.4 Featuring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 References
• 5.7 External links

Summary [ ]

Kirk , Spock , and McCoy are ferrying Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford back to the USS Enterprise . The commissioner, who has been called upon by the Federation to prevent a war on Epsilon Canaris III , has developed Sakuro's Disease , an extremely rare life-threatening illness , and must be removed to a medical facility for treatment. The commissioner is bitter at what she regards as incompetence in the Federation Medical Department , which she believes should have properly prepared her.

En route (shortly past point 3, on course 201 Mark 15), the shuttlecraft Galileo encounters a phenomenon that Spock describes as "vaguely like a cloud of ionized hydrogen , but with strong erratic electrical impulses". Moving at warp speed , it quickly envelops the shuttlecraft and disables its systems. The craft is pulled to course 98 Mark 12, towards the Gamma Canaris region .

Act One [ ]

McCoy, Kirk, and Spock on Gamma Canaris N

There, it is soft-landed on an iron - nickel planetoid with a standard oxygen - nitrogen atmosphere and standard gravity – a place entirely suited for Human life. Examining the shuttlecraft, Spock discovers something that should be impossible: nothing is damaged and yet nothing works. McCoy notes that the gaseous cloud they encountered in space seems to be here, on the surface. Then a loud "hallooooooo" breaks the stillness. Someone else is here – a young man who quickly joins the stranded group. He introduces himself simply as Cochrane . He tells the officers that a damping field prevents some technology here from working. But he denies knowledge of the force that brought the shuttlecraft here.

Kirk and McCoy find this man familiar, somehow, but cannot quite place him. Cochrane shows his visitors to his home, decorated with instruments Kirk regards as antiques. Ominously, Commissioner Hedford has developed a fever , the first symptom of her illness.

Finally, Kirk presses Cochrane, and learns about the Companion . This is what he calls the strange creature that brought the Galileo here. Kirk asks him his first name, and then realizes why Cochrane seems so familiar: he is Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri , inventor of space warp drive. Cochrane was old, and knew he wanted to die in space. So he took a spacecraft and left his home on Alpha Centauri for parts unknown. The Companion found him, reversed his aging process, and has maintained him here ever since. Cochrane is responsible for the abduction of Kirk and his party via communicating his loneliness to the Companion; he had thought that the Companion would simply release him. During the discussion Hedford suddenly starts crying and yelling incoherently, forcing McCoy to sedate her with a hypospray and place her in Cochrane's bed.

Act Two [ ]

Kirk asks Spock to attempt to repair the Galileo . While doing so, with a trident scanner , the Companion appears there, directly behind him. Curious, he touches it, and receives an electrical shock that destroys the scanner and knocks him out cold. The circuitry of the Galileo bursts into flame; the Companion is taking no chances.

Cochrane agrees to summon the Companion , to see if it can help Commissioner Hedford . Kirk asks him how he will summon the Companion and Cochrane replies "I just sort of clear my mind, and it comes." While observing the Companion with Cochrane, McCoy and Kirk notice the apparent, almost Telepathic communion, and find it cannot be minimized to anything less than love. Unfortunately, Cochrane learns that the Companion cannot do anything to help Commissioner Hedford .

McCoy discovers Spock; the encounter has left Spock with a new insight: the Companion is largely made of electricity . McCoy asks Spock if he is correct in surmising that something made up of electricity can be shorted out. Spock confirms this and later constructs a mechanism to scramble electrical impulses; with this, Kirk intends to disable or destroy the creature, so that the Humans may depart. Cochrane now has reservations; he doesn't want the creature killed, saying " we've been very close in a way that's hard to explain ". Kirk overwhelms him with the force of his personality, though Cochrane understands their perspective. Unhappy at being forced into the role of a Judas goat, Cochrane nevertheless agrees to summon the creature. Spock throws the switch, and discovers that his mechanism is sufficient only to irritate the creature. It attacks Kirk and Spock, choking them. McCoy yells at it to stop before it kills his friends.

Act Three [ ]

" It's a big galaxy, Mr. Scott. " " Aye. "

Despite McCoy's pleas, the Companion continues to attack Kirk and Spock. Cochrane eventually comes to and calls off the Companion. McCoy suggests to Kirk he is thinking too much like a soldier, not a diplomat. Trying the carrot instead of the stick approach, Kirk decides that they will communicate with the creature instead using the universal translator .

Nearby, the Enterprise searches for the now long overdue shuttlecraft. Finally, at 210 Mark 40, the sensors detect a strong antimatter particle concentration. Lacking evidence that the shuttlecraft has been destroyed, Scott elects to follow this tenuous course.

On Gamma Canaris, Spock has completed modifying the universal translator from the Galileo so Kirk can communicate with the Companion. Kirk begins by saying "We wish to talk to you" and the Companion replies with "How can we communicate? My thoughts… you are hearing them. This is interesting" in a feminine voice. From the voice, Kirk surmises that the Companion is female, casting her relationship with Cochrane in an entirely new light. Kirk implores the Companion to permit their departure, but she is adamant; to her, the safety and health of Cochrane is the only important goal. And to ensure that, she intends to keep the shuttlecraft crew here, forever.

Cochrane is dismayed to discover the truth behind the dynamic that exists between himself and the Companion. He finds it repulsive, disgusting even, and feels used. Kirk, Spock and McCoy do not understand his parochial attitude. For her part, the Commissioner – who is now barely conscious and close to death, but has regained some level of lucidity – is baffled by someone who, offered love, rejects it. The great regret of her life, as it draws near its end, is that she has never been loved.

The Enterprise continues its search. Sulu has discovered an asteroid field containing 7,000 bodies in sizes ranging from A to M. Thirty percent of them have atmospheres in types ranging from H to M. The search will be a long one, but Scott remains convinced by the lack of evidence that the shuttlecraft landed safely somewhere , and he is prepared to search every asteroid if necessary.

Kirk tries new tactics. First, he tries to convince the Companion that without obstacles to overcome, the Humans will weaken and die. When that fails, he tries to convince the Companion that there can never be real love, because it and Cochrane are too different. The Companion considers this, and then disappears. Kirk's hope is that the Companion will release Cochrane and his party – love expressing itself as sacrifice – but this is not her choice. Instead, moments later, an apparently healthy Nancy Hedford appears in the door of Cochrane's small home, her voice now gently echoing.

Act Four [ ]

The Companion has joined with Hedford, sacrificing her powers and immortality to become Human, and experience life with Zefram Cochrane as a Human woman would. Cochrane is reluctant, but becomes enthusiastic, promising to show her the galaxy now that he can. Sadly, she tells him that she cannot leave; her life emanates from this small planetoid. Just as he must eat, so she must remain here or perish in a short march of days. Cochrane cannot bring himself to leave her, and elects to remain behind. He asks Kirk to keep his existence a secret, a request Kirk grants. Spock observes that Cochrane and Companion/Hedford will now live out a normal life span without immortality – a condition that both of them accept as inevitable and uniquely Human. McCoy fears that they have failed to stop the war on Epsilon Canaris III, but Kirk gives him relief that the Federation can surely find “another woman, somewhere, who will stop that war.”

Galileo flies off through space, heading back to the Enterprise .

Log entries [ ]

• Ship's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" You're food to a starving man. "

" I could even offer you a hot bath. " " How perceptive of you to notice that I needed one. "

" You wear your age very well. "

" Immortality consists largely of boredom. "

" What was it they used to call it? The Judas goat? "

" Maybe you're a soldier so often that you forget you're also trained to be a diplomat. Why not try a carrot instead of a stick? "

" It's a big galaxy, Mister Scott. "

" The idea of male and female are universal constants. "

" You're not a pet. You're not a specimen kept in a cage. You're a lover. "

" But I've never been loved. Never. What kind of life is that? Not to be loved, never to have shown love? And he runs away from love. "

" This is loneliness. Oh, what a bitter thing. "

" I can't leave her. I love her. Is that surprising? " " Not coming from a Human being. You are, after all, essentially irrational. "

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ].

• Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The fifth installment was an adaptation of this episode and featured an interview with Elinor Donahue.
• This is the only episode in the first two seasons in which Captain Kirk is not on the Enterprise at any time during the plot. Likewise, the Enterprise does not appear until twenty-seven minutes into the episode. In four third season shows, Kirk also spends the entire episode off-ship: " The Paradise Syndrome ", " Plato's Stepchildren ", " Whom Gods Destroy ", and " All Our Yesterdays ".
• In the first draft script, Scott is also on board the shuttlecraft (here called the Edison ) with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Hedford. It was originally he who was to encounter the Companion while attempting to repair the shuttlecraft. [1]
• In the first draft, the Enterprise is temporarily commanded by Sulu, and the helmsman is an officer with an African background named Lieutenant Ackrumba. [2] The character later appeared in the novel Mission to Horatius .
• The first draft script ends with a joke: as the landing party leaves the planetoid, Spock wonders if Cochrane is a bigamist, by having two entities in the same body for his partner. Kirk assures him that this is nonsense. [3]
• A Gold Key Comics comic book was released as a sequel to this episode, #49: " A Warp in Space ".
• This is the first story to feature Zefram Cochrane , inventor of warp drive and an important figure to Federation history. He later re-appeared in Star Trek: First Contact and ENT : " Broken Bow ", played by James Cromwell .

Production [ ]

A moment from the filming of this episode

• The Companion was designed by future Star Wars Oscar-winner Richard Edlund who created photographic effects at the Westheimer Company . ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 84)) The sparkling effects of the Companion was reused in "The Apple" when the Enterprise fires phasers at Vaal, and again in "Obsession" inside of the deadly vampire cloud.
• The episode's preview includes a take not used in the final episode, during which Hedford tells McCoy that she doesn't want to die. She does say this in the episode, before explaining that she has not had love in her life, but the scene is filmed as a close-up instead.
• The shuttlecraft mock-up is not the same as the set used for the interiors of the Galileo . Kirk and company are all crouching as they emerge from the ship, yet the shuttlecraft interior set had a lot more headroom.
• The scenes of Cochrane communicating with the Companion were all shot at one time. The set was then completely redone with his house added for all of the sequences with Kirk and company. The inconsistencies between the two versions of the same set can be seen in alien trees that are near Cochrane in one view and absent in the next.
• Symbolically, the colored patterns in the scarf worn by the commissioner are identical to the patterns in the energy field of the Companion. This is shown clearly as she looks at Cochrane through the scarf near the end of the episode. This wasn't scripted or even intended by the production staff. Director Ralph Senensky came up with the idea on the set, calling it "one of those wonderful freak accidents that happen". [4] The inspiration was a scene in "The Escape", a 1966 episode of The F.B.I. , also directed by Senensky. [5]
• A few scenes featuring Elinor Donahue had to be re-shot, because the original film negatives were damaged and couldn't be used. Portions of the planet set had to be rebuilt, since other episodes were shot there by that time, using different sets. Meanwhile, Donahue got pneumonia and lost ten pounds. To hide this, they put Hedford's scarf around her neck and upper body. However, her weight loss is still visible on her face. [6] The re-shots were not directed by Ralph Senensky. [7]
• Senensky was unhappy with the initial reading of the Companion's lines by Elizabeth Rogers and had them re-recorded by actress Lisabeth Hush. [8]
• To give an illusion of open space to a confined stage set, wide angle lenses were used. Although Glenn Corbett appears to be hundreds of yards away when he first runs toward the shuttle, he is much closer. Strategically placed rocks also allowed the camera to be very far away without seeing the edges of the set.
• A drawback to the use of a wide angle lens is evident in the scene where actor Corbett first approaches the shuttlecraft. Accent lights on top of the set's background are clearly visible along the top of the "sky" as the camera pans to the right when following Corbett's path. At the end of the shot the black edge of the set is clearly visible behind the shuttlecraft.
• In a rare effect, slowly moving "clouds" were blown in from hidden vents, adding a touch of reality to the usually static planet set. This was also used in " Obsession ".
• A view of the starship from dead center in front of the saucer section is used only in this episode.
• All the footage of the shuttlecraft in outer space was reused from " The Galileo Seven ", some with the Companion animation added in post-production.
• The planet used as Gamma Canaris N (a purple color-corrected version of the planet created for " Operation -- Annihilate! ", portraying Deneva ) was reused in subsequent episodes, representing the Halkan homeworld in " Mirror, Mirror ", Omega IV in " The Omega Glory ", and Holberg 917G in " Requiem for Methuselah ".
• This was George Duning 's first Star Trek score, the strength of which got him rehired for many more assignments, including " Patterns of Force ", " Return to Tomorrow ", " And the Children Shall Lead ", " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", and " The Empath ". Portions of the score were heard again throughout the season, but the love themes were reused only once more, in " The Gamesters of Triskelion ".
• Walter Koenig ( Pavel Chekov ) does not appear in this episode.
• The original voice of the Companion by Elizabeth Rogers was too emotionless and robotic, and all of her dialogue had to be re-recorded by another actress, Lisabeth Hush. [9]

Reception [ ]

• Elinor Donahue recalled about this episode, " I remember watching it at home. And I am quite often nervous about watching something I'm in because there is nothing you can do about it once it's out there. But I was very pleased with it; very happy. " ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two , p. 72)
• Ralph Senensky named this episode as his favorite among those he directed. [10] Senensky recalled, praising the work of Gene Coon, " I just thought the script was absolutely wonderful. As I remember Gene [Coon], he was the least author-y type of person. He just didn't seem like an author. He didn't present that kind of sensitivity that his writing had expressed. It was just a deep, deep script and scene after scene had so many angles to come at it from. It was a complex script. " [11]

Remastered information [ ]

The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of 3 November 2007 . It featured new shots of the Galileo and the Companion in space, replaced a foreground rock with a shot of the sky in Cochrane's initial appearance, and included the shuttle returning to the Enterprise in the closing shot. Curiously, the remastered version of the planetoid matches the purple sky of the sound stage less than the original. The original planetoid was all purple while the remastered version is brown with only a slight purple atmosphere.

Production timeline [ ]

• Story outline by Gene L. Coon : 7 April 1967
• First draft teleplay: 14 April 1967
• Second draft teleplay: 19 April 1967
• Final draft teleplay: 21 April 1967
• Revised final draft: 3 May 1967
• Additional page revisions: 8 May 1967 , 12 May 1967 , 13 May 1967 , 17 May 1967
• Day 1 – 11 May 1967 , Thursday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 10 : Ext. Gamma Canaris surface
• Day 2 – 12 May 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Shuttlecraft , Bridge
• Day 3 – 15 May 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Cochrane's home
• Day 4 – 16 May 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Cochrane's home
• Day 5 – 17 May 1967 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Cochrane's home , Ext. Outside Cochrane's home
• Day 6 – 18 May 1967 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 10 : Ext. Gamma Canaris surface
• Day 7 – 19 May 1967 , Friday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 10 : Ext. Gamma Canaris surface
• Score recording, 28 June 1967
• Original airdate, 10 November 1967
• Rerun airdate, 19 July 1968
• First UK airdate 11 May 1970

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 17 , catalog number VHR 2329, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.1, 3 February 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 16, 19 September 2000
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest stars [ ]

• Glenn Corbett as Zefram Cochrane
• Elinor Donahue as Nancy Hedford

Featuring [ ]

• James Doohan as Scott
• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley (stock footage)
• Jeannie Malone as Enterprise operations yeoman
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Lisabeth Hush as Companion (voice)
• Ron Veto as Harrison (stock footage)
• Unknown actor as Enterprise command lieutenant

References [ ]

2030 ; 2119 ; affection ; " all right "; " all the best "; Alpha Centauri ; animal ; antimatter ; antique ; argon ; " as a matter of fact "; Assistant Federation Commissioner ; asteroid ; asteroid belt ; atmosphere ; " at the moment "; attitude ; automatic scanner ; bath ; bearing ; blindness ; blood pressure ; body ; body temperature ; " Bones "; boredom ; brain wave pattern ; cage ; cane ; cannibalize ; captivity ; carrot ; chance ; chief surgeon ; choking ; chronological age ; cities named after Cochrane ; Class M ; classroom ; climate ; cloud ; Cochrane's home ; Cochrane's ship ; commissioner ; computer central ; congruent lifeform ; contact ; coordinates ; course ; crash landing ; creature ; dampening field ; day ; death ; debris ; decency ; degree ; density ; device ; diplomat ; distance ; Earth ; earth ; electric shock ; electrical impulse ; electricity ; electronic scrambler ; element ; emotion ; emotional reaction ; English language ; entity ; Epsilon Canaris III ; estimate ; estimated time of arrival (ETA); " excuse me "; existence ; " eye-opener "; " face up to it "; Fahrenheit ; Federation ; feeling ; feet ; female ; fever ; field ; fig tree ; first officer ; first name ; fodder ; frequency ; full alert ; Galileo ; Gamma Canaris asteroid belt ; Gamma Canaris N ; Gamma Canaris N sun ; Gamma Canaris region ; garden ; gas ; gender ; grammar ; gratitude ; gravity ; hammer ; hand ; handshake ; heat ; hello ; heart ; hijack ; hiking ; home ; hospital ; hour ; Human (aka Earth people); hydrogen ; immortality ; " in fact "; inoculation ; intelligent life ; " in view of "; ion ; iron ; job ; joy ; Judas goat ; kiss ; knowledge ; krypton ; life ; light ; logic ; loneliness ; love ; lover ; Maker of All Things ; male ; marooning ; matter ; medical branch ; medical facility ; Milky Way Galaxy ; million ; mind ; minute ; monster ; morality ; name ; nature ; nickel ; nitrogen ; neon ; non-verbal communication ; " not a chance "; " not a word "; " of course "; " off the beaten path "; opportunity ; " out of circulation "; " out of style "; overload ; owner ; oxygen ; parochial ; pattern ; percent ; pet ; phaser ; physical age ; physicist ; place ; planet ; planetoid ; planets named after Cochrane ; pod ; " point of view "; power relay ; power system ; prisoner ; probability ; propulsion ; question ; range ; rejuvenation ; relationship ; rendezvous ; respiration ; ridge ; " right down your alley "; risk ; Sakuro's Disease ; scarf ; scientist ; search ; sensor ; shelter ; shuttlecraft ; shuttlecraft bay ; size ; soldier ; space ; space warp ; species (aka race ); specimen ; spherical sweep ; spirit ; standard orbit ; " stand by "; Starfleet ; Starfleet Medical ; starship ; stick ; story ; sun ; surface ; switch ; symbiosis ; " take it easy "; " take my word "; Telepathy ; temperature ; theory ; thing ; thought ; thousand ; tolerance level ; tool ; toy ; tractor beam ; trick ; tricorder ; trident scanner ; university ; universal translator ; vegetable ; voice ; voltage ; Vulcan ; war ; water ; weapon ; will ; year ; zookeeper

External links [ ]

• "Metamorphosis" at StarTrek.com
• " Metamorphosis " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Metamorphosis " at Wikipedia
• " Metamorphosis " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 3 USS Antares (32nd century)

• The Original Series
• The Next Generation
• Deep Space Nine
• Strange New Worlds

Metamorphosis

The crew of the U.S.S Enterprise finds themselves in an unlikely predicament when they stumble across an alien life form, known as the Companion, in orbit around a mysterious planet. The Companion has been living in space for hundreds of years and is the last of its kind. It is believed to be the source of a powerful energy field that has been affecting the Enterprise crew and wreaking havoc on the ship.

Kirk and Spock set out to investigate the planet and what the Companion might be. Upon their arrival, they find out the Companion is the last survivor of the ancient race of the Eeiauo, a race of beings that has the power to transform individuals into new forms.

The Eeiauo had the power to transform humans into energy forms, creating a perfect balance between the human and the energy universe. But this power was abused by the Eeiauos’ enemies and the Eeiauos were forced into exile.

The Companion, however, is still powerful and has been using its energy to affect the crew of the Enterprise. Kirk and Spock must find out how to help the Companion and put an end to its dangerous influence on the ship.

The crew discovers that the Companion is actually in love with a human – a woman named Commissioner Nancy Hedford. She was transformed by the Companion and had been living as an energy being for centuries.

In order to save Hedford and the crew of the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock must travel to the Eeiauos’ home planet and complete a special ritual to return the Companion to human form. Along the way, they must battle a powerful enemy and face the consequences of interfering with the power of the Eeiauos.

Kirk and Spock soon discover the true purpose of the Companion and the ancient race of the Eeiauos, learning that the ritual was meant to create a perfect balance between the human and the energy universe. In the end, the crew of the Enterprise is able to save Hedford and restore balance to the energy universe.

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Metamorphosis

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Midnite Reviews

Detailed analysis of classic sci-fi movies and tv shows, star trek episode 38: metamorphosis.

Technical Specs

Director: Ralph Senensky

Writer: Gene L. Coon

Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Glenn Corbett, Elinor Donahue, James Doohan, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols

Composer: George Duning

Air Date: 11/10/1967

Stardate: 3219.8

Production #: 60331

Arguably the most emotionally stirring episode in the original series, “Metamorphosis” explores the concept of immortality as it relates to human beings. In addition to its insightful commentary on the above topic, this entry benefits from a touching, albeit unorthodox, love story.

(Spoilers beyond this point)

It should be noted that a general lack of action allows the romance narrative to maintain central focus from start to finish. That being said, the pacing tends to progress sluggishly at times due to a near absence of physical conflict.

Concluding Comments

One of season two’s more delicate offerings, “Metamorphosis” will appeal to fans of the romance and science fiction genres alike. Also, those who would prefer a respectable Cochrane over James Cromwell’s oafish take on the character are advised to view this episode for its subtle qualities.

Overall Quality: 9/10

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Please note: Comments that are malicious, offensive, or excessively profane will be removed. Off-topic messages belong in the About section.

One thought on “ Star Trek Episode 38: Metamorphosis ”

Jon, I should be commenting on all these all along. However, unlike LOST IN SPACE, I have not seen these nearly as much and it has been several years for the great majority, so I mainly go on memory. However, I like and enjoy classic STAR TREK just fine.

I remember this one being one of my ‘least’ liked of the season. I know this one is a delicate love story. I do not remember much. The actress looks pretty though. Your nine out of ten score will have me rethinking this one as I view it sometime anew.. :-]

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Recap / Star Trek S2 E9 "Metamorphosis"

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Original air date: November 10, 1967

Kirk, Spock, Bones, and our Girl of the Week , Nancy Hedford, are flying around on the Galileo shuttlecraft. Nancy is some Federation bigwig and apparently also a 1960s mod fashion aficionado. She was on an important mission when she contracted a rare space disease and is being brought to the Enterprise so McCoy can fix her right up again. But, of course, something goes wrong. No sooner has Kirk told Hedford that they'll get her back to her mission in no time, the shuttlecraft gets zapped by a Negative Space Wedgie and pulled off course. It's like nothing Kirk and Spock have seen before ! Like all Federation officials who get stuck in unfortunate situations with Enterprise crew members, Hedford immediately starts acting demanding and unreasonable.

The Galileo gets deposited on some planet. Kirk and Spock can find nothing wrong with the shuttlecraft and yet nothing works. Suddenly, a man runs in wearing an orange jumpsuit. As we will learn later, he is Zefram Cochrane. Yes, that Broken Pedestal guy who will invent warp drive in Star Trek: First Contact . Or rather has already invented warp drive in... no, that's not right either . He now looks a lot younger than he did when he flew the Phoenix , but this actually gets explained. He introduces himself as just "Cochrane" ( still doesn't like being a hero apparently ) and flirts with Hedford. Explaining that he's been marooned on this planet for ages, he offers them his hospitality with an offer of a hot bath directed specifically at Hedford. She shuts him down with The Power Of Sarcasm. Evidently he hasn't gotten any more subtle since the drunk Troi days. Cochrane takes them all to his settlement, where Kirk, Spock, and Bones see the entity which brought them to the planet. After failing to convince them that it's a hallucination, Cochrane admits that "the Companion", as he calls it, brought him to the planet and rejuvenated him, as he was an old man near death. This effectively resolves a Plot Hole which won't exist for thirty years, but there's a less resolvable plot hole coming up. He admits to being Zefram Cochrane and Kirk asks " Of Alpha Centauri? The discoverer of the space warp?" Cochrane agrees, apparently too lazy to say "That's Bozeman, Montana. Don't you know where First Contact happened, genius?" In any case, McCoy gasps that Zefram Cochrane died a hundred and fifty years ago, but Spock concedes that they Never Found the Body . Cochrane reveals that he can communicate with the Companion and that it brought the rest of them there because he complained about being lonely. Trouble is, Nancy is now dying of overacting and McCoy says she only has hours left.

Kirk orders Spock to create a viable weapon to use against the Companion. Cochrane agrees to cooperate, admitting that " immortality consists largely of boredom ". Kirk figures that the Companion might be able to cure Hedford, so he gets Cochrane to ask it. It turns out Cochrane and the Companion communicate with each other using some kind of nonverbal symbiosis. Unfortunately, the Companion can't do anything to help Hedford. Yes, rejuvenating a near-death 87-year-old man into a thirties-looking guy is a piece of cake for this Companion thing, but it's out of the question for it to cure the same disease which McCoy says he could cure in a jiffy if he only had the equipment in Sickbay. Meanwhile, Spock determines that the Companion is mostly electricity, so he creates a device to scramble it. Cochrane fears this may kill the Companion, but he reluctantly goes along with it, though not without throwing a guilt trip at Kirk. However, the device only succeeds in making the Companion mad. McCoy does his thing by suggesting that they try to reason with the entity instead and Kirk tells Spock to modify a Universal Translator . Meanwhile, the Enterprise reaches the point where the shuttlecraft was grabbed by the Companion. Back on the planet, Kirk talks to the Companion with the universal translator. When the translator gives the Companion a woman's voice, Kirk realizes it must be a female. It's immediately presumed that this means the Companion is in love with Cochrane. Kirk tells the Companion that they need to leave or one of them will die, but she says they need to stay to keep her dear Zefram company and refuses to hear of any holes in this plan.

But for the past one hundred and fifty years, Cochrane has been Oblivious to Love and failed to notice that his best friend was a girl (typical guy). Cochrane insists that She Is Not My Girlfriend and McCoy replies that Everyone Can See It . But for Zefram, it's drunk ship's counselors and islands of naked women, thank you very much! The Companion's just not his type and he storms away. Nancy, however, seems to be jealous of Cochrane for being loved as she is Married to the Job and seems to regret that now that she's dying. Kirk talks to the Companion again and plays the "if you really loved him" card. He ends up telling her that she can't properly "join" with Cochrane anyway since their forms are incongruous. This prompts the Companion to join herself with Hedford, curing her of her disease and making them one being. Spock mentions that the Companion can't create life and Hedford/Companion replies that "that is for the maker of all things". So... Carol Marcus then? In any case, this means she no longer has the power to keep them on the planet, having given it all up because she is such a Love Martyr . Kirk contacts the Enterprise , which apparently happened to follow the right course, and Sulu lays in a course for the planet. When Hedford/Companion tells Cochrane that she can never leave her planet, he chooses to stay . Kirk points out that there is a whole galaxy out there waiting to honor him. Yeah, great idea, Kirk. Cochrane just loves it when people make a big deal out of his accomplishments. Giving Cochrane his word that he won't tell the galaxy what became of him, Kirk takes the shuttle back to the Enterprise with Spock and Bones.

Metatroposis:

• All Gravity Is the Same : Spock comments on the absurdness of a planetoid that size having Earthlike air and gravity. It's presumably caused by the Companion's power but they don't all float into space when she's Brought Down to Normal at the end.
• Call-Forward : An unintentional one; in spite of a century and a half of isolation, Cochrane immediately recognizes Spock as a Vulcan. This was (in part) the inspiration for bringing the Vulcans in at the end of Star Trek: First Contact .
• Does This Remind You of Anything? : Beyond sixties heteronormativity, Cochrane's reaction to the companion being female is one of disgust, and accuses the boys of being disgusting for being alright with it, a lot like he's just been told a man is in love with him.
• Early-Installment Weirdness : We're introduced to Zefram Cochrane, whose backstory would be heavily retconned by the time we met him again in First Contact . For instance, Kirk says he's of Alpha Centauri, while he would later be shown to be from Earth. In addition, Cochrane only discovered warp drive for humans; other species discover it on their own. So in a sense the weirdness is on the part of the Next Generation.
• Exposition of Immortality : Kirk notices the "antique" instruments from Cochrane's ship, and doubts that they're from a ship that crashed only a few years ago as Cochrane's apparent age indicates.
• Grand Theft Me : The Companion takes over Nancy's body when she's dying, stating "we are one" but there doesn't really seem to be much of Nancy left in her personality.
• Translator Microbes : This episode gives us the first appearance of the Universal Translator, and gives some detail as to how it works. It appears here as a hand-held device that Kirk talks to the Companion through, though it's indicated to have been installed in the shuttle; presumably they're usually built into the comms system.
• Stock Footage : All the footage of the shuttlecraft in outer space was reused from " The Galileo Seven ", some with the Companion animation added in post-production.
• Stumbling Upon the Lost Wizard : Lost scientist Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, is discovered by the Enterprise . He has an otherworldly companion that allowed him to live for centuries, not unlike the fey servant of the Ur-Example of this trope, Prospero .
• Who Wants to Live Forever? : The central theme of the episode. Being trapped in one location as a prisoner with eternal life without being allowed to experience anything is considered no different from death.
• Star Trek S2 E8 "I, Mudd"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S2 E10 "Journey to Babel"

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Star trek : metamorphosis (1967), directed by ralph senensky / gene roddenberry.

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Synopsis by Judd Blaise

Characteristics, related movies.

Metamorphosis (Star Trek: The Original Series)

" Metamorphosis " is the ninth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek . Written by Gene L. Coon and directed by Ralph Senensky , it was first broadcast on November 10, 1967.

In the episode, a shuttle crew from the USS Enterprise encounters a man out of history and his mysterious alien companion. It is the franchise's first mention, and first appearance, of Zefram Cochrane .

Assistant Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford is being ferried by shuttlecraft to the USS Enterprise to be treated for Sukaro's disease - a potentially fatal condition - before resuming a peacemaking mission. A glowing energy field appears in the shuttlecraft's path, and pulls it down to a nearby planetoid with an Earth-type atmosphere . All communications are blocked, and the shuttlecraft is totally inoperable .

Soon afterward, a young man calling himself Cochrane appears. He tells the party that he has been marooned on the planet for years and that a damping field is preventing their systems from working. Cochrane takes them to a shelter built from material salvaged from his crashed ship. In the course of their visit, Kirk and Spock and Dr. McCoy notice a glowing mass resembling the phenomenon that brought them to the planetoid. Cochrane calls this entity "the Companion", and explains that as an old man, he took one last flight, intending to die in space, but his crippled ship was intercepted and rescued by the entity, which restored him to youth and has been keeping him alive since. The Starfleet officers are stunned to discover that he is Zefram Cochrane , the inventor of warp drive . Cochrane then reveals why they were brought to the planetoid: he had told the Companion that he would die without the company of his own kind, believing it would release him. Instead, the Companion hijacked the shuttle.

When the Companion attacks Spock as he works on the shuttle, Spock deduces that the entity is largely composed of electrical energy. Kirk and Spock attempt to disable the Companion with an improvised electrical disruptor, but the Companion retaliates violently, and only Cochrane's intervention saves Kirk and Spock from being killed.

With Hedford's condition rapidly deteriorating, Spock modifies the shuttle's universal translator to communicate with the energy force. Kirk discovers it has a female personality and is in love with Cochrane. The Companion declares that it has stopped all of them from aging, and will keep them there forever as company for Cochrane. Cochrane, for his part, is disgusted by the idea of an intimate relationship with an alien, rejecting the idea of the Companion's love and affection for him. The dying Hedford, on the other hand, expresses her yearning to love and be loved before dying.

Cochrane summons the Companion again, and Kirk explains that it and Cochrane are too different for true love. The Companion hypothesizes about being human and disappears. Moments later, Hedford appears outside the shelter, completely restored to health, and they realize that the Companion has merged with Hedford within Hedford's body, which would otherwise have died within moments. In this way both Hedford and the Companion can experience love. Cochrane excitedly talks about his plans for traveling the galaxy, but the Companion/Hedford reveals that its life-force is bound to the planetoid; it cannot leave for more than a few days, so Cochrane chooses to remain with her out of love for her and gratitude, declaring that they will “have many years“ together. Cochrane then requests that Kirk and his crew refrain from informing anyone about his presence on the asteroid so that he and the Companion/Hedford can be left in peace. When McCoy asks who will complete Nancy Hedford's mission, Kirk shrugs and says, "I'm sure the Federation can find another woman, somewhere, who'll stop that war."

Production Notes and Reception

"Metamorphosis" was the Star Trek debut of Zefram Cochrane (created by writer Gene L. Coon ), one of the key figures in the fictional history of the Star Trek 'universe'. In this episode, Cochrane is credited as "the discoverer of the space warp — i.e., " warp drive " technology — which enabled Earth to achieve interstellar travel with faster-than-light starships . This led to Earth's first encounters with alien civilizations and the formation of the United Federation of Planets. In the series timeline (as it had evolved by 1967) Cochrane, "of Alpha Centauri," had vanished 150 years earlier at the age of 87 and was presumed dead. Commissioner Hedford, who embodies "the Companion", was portrayed by Elinor Donahue who was known for the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best , on which she played Jane Wyatt 's eldest daughter. On the next broadcast Star Trek episode, Jane Wyatt guest-starred, portraying Spock's mother Amanda.

Guest star Donahue recalls that a number of scenes had to be reshot after flaws were discovered in the film stock during post-production. The reshoots involved calling back actors and rebuilding sets which had been struck.

Director Ralph Senensky was dissatisfied with the initial reading of the Companion's lines by Elizabeth Rogers and had them re-recorded by Lisabeth Hush.

Cochrane reappears as the focal character of the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996), in which he is played by James Cromwell .

This episode was the first time in the original series that Kirk does not appear on board the Enterprise at any point.

In 2009, the [A.V. Club] rated this episode as a "B."

• Immortality in fiction
• Star Trek: The Original Series (season 2) episodes
• 1967 American television episodes
• Television episodes written by Gene L. Coon
• Television episodes directed by Ralph Senensky

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Star Trek : "Metamorphosis" / "Journey To Babel"

While the Enterprise's basic "search and explore" mission provides a lot of open ground for the writers, it does get a bit old to start each new episode with Kirk and the others taking readings off a brand new planet, right before the situation goes pear shaped. I'm not sure if that's the reason why "Metamorphosis" opens the way it does, with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a woman named Hedford in the Galileo shuttle-craft on their way home, but it's as good a reason as any. We don't even see the Enterprise until a good twenty minutes in, which gives the proceedings a certain unmoored quality; as though Kirk and his two best buds decided to play hooky for the week, and we get to tag along.

But the whole point of playing hooky is having fun, and with Hedford around, there's precious little chance of that happening. Another in a long line of pissy Starfleet officers, our miss is an assistant commissioner forced to leave her post due to health problems; she'd been brokering a peace treaty, so it's understandable that she'd be frustrated, but what isn't understandable is the way she takes that frustration out on anything that has the temerity to show concern or even moderate interest in her well-being. Kirk is charged with bringing her back to the Enterprise for treatment (stray thought: I wondered why the Enterprise didn't just come pick Hedford up itself, given how much time is of the essence here, but maybe those warring factions that Hedford is working to calm down wouldn't be too happy to see a big ass symbol of Starfleet authority show up in the middle of their war), and she's making him pay for every minute of it. It's one of the episode's weak spots; the show's never been much for strong women, and to have one of the few prominent career gals we see behave like the stereotypical cold shrew (a key plot point is that she's never had real love in her life) is distracting and tedious. Thankfully, a space anomaly shows up to snatch the Galileo before things get too unpleasant. While Hedford continues to gripe (with McCoy joining in; the idiots don't seem to realize that when a sparkling cloud grabs you, you don't really have many options), the anomaly brings the shuttlecraft to one of those "wow, the atmosphere here is just like Earth's!" planets. I love how they make a point of mentioning this every once in a while; given that nobody ever wears a space suit on this series, isn't every planet Earth appropriate? On this new, pink and purple world, the shuttle-craft lands, and won't rise again. McCoy finds signs that the space cloud has followed them to the planet's surface, but before anybody can work out what's going on, a man appears on the horizon. He calls himself Cochrane, and he's just delighted to meet everybody. He's especially delighted to meet Hedford, which he makes sure to point out to her numerous times in a creepy, "I'm going to refer to you as if you couldn't understand what I'm saying" way, like he's praising a horse to its owners. (Hedford's reactions are pretty hilarious; it's not quite outrage so much as a fifty year-old schoolmarm getting repeatedly goosed.) He's also impressed with their ship, although he assures them it won't get running again—some kind of damping field on the planet surface keeps engines down. Everybody hikes to Cochrane's place. He tells them he crash-landed a while back, but he underplays just how long ago that "while" was, and that's not his only secret. While Hedford collapses in the living room (not before getting a few choice remarks out beforehand, of course), Kirk and McCoy try to remember where they've seen Cochrane before. Then the space cloud shows up to float around the edge of the garden outside, and Kirk finally demands Cochrane spill the whole truth. His first name is Zefram, and he's known to Kirk and the others for inventing warp drive. And he disappeared 150 years ago. One of the things I enjoyed most about "Metamorphosis" is that it gives a few more pieces of Starfleet history. I'm not sure I'd call myself a hardcore continuity geek (you have to wear leather and read tech manuals for that), but I appreciate world-building as much as the next guy, and while I doubt anyone at the time thought that Cochrane's name would ever come up again, it's cool to have a sense of history here. What's unfortunate is that that history is only a means to an end. Zefram invented warp drive so that he would be famous enough for Kirk and the others to be shocked he was still alive. Apart from some cursory interest in the Galileo's design, his engineering work is meaningless, as is his fame; his love of travel drove him into space in his old age, where the space cloud (aka the Companion) found him and made him young, but in the 150 years since then, he's been a lump. Hell, he's as boring as any other random jerk we've run into on the show. I realize we can't have him gibbering and bathing in his own filth, but surely some concession could've been made to the century and a half the guy spent in exile. When Zefram spills the beans to Kirk, he explains how he communes with the Companion, and that it's peaceful, so maybe some of the horrors of all that time seperated from human contact were mitigated by those sessions. But still, that's a long time to just sit around and not die. And it's certainly not a history that Kirk is willing to repeat. After explaining the nature of his relationship with the Companion (a relationship he himself doesn't really understand), Zefram gives the bad news: Kirk and the others were brought to the planet to be Zefram's buddies. That it took 150 years for this to happen seems a stretch (unless there are more things buried under the sand than plastic rocks—maybe Zefram doesn't play well with others), but stretch or not, our heroes are stuck. If they want to get off the rock, they're going to need to find a way past yet another god-entity. And this one won't even do Kirk the courtesy of having a corporeal form to punch. Apart from the introduction of the man who gave us warp drive, "Metamorphosis" has a wonky enough vibe to stay fairly interesting through out. The two scenes back on the Enterprise are essentially pointless, but other than that, the script doesn't wast much time. We get one failed attempt to "short out" the Companion, which goes badly; after that, it's just a matter of realizing just why the space cloud who just happens to have a female voice on the Universal Translator swiped a hunk of man meat out of the cosmos to be her forever friend. Love comes in many sizes, y'know? And hardly any of them make sense. Here's where things go off the rails for me, as Zefram is revealed to be a lunkhead and an ass. When Kirk breaks the news that the Companion is his sort-of lover, Cochrane wigs out, and calls the whole relationship "disgusting." I can understand him being unnerved, but the bizarre attempt to apply conventional morality to the situation falls utterly flat; he even busts out the "Maybe this kind of thing is okay in your neck of the universe" speech. Thankfully McCoy and Spock are more reasonable about it, so we get the usual Trek nod to tolerance and respect. But that's undercut by the fact that Zefram doesn't back down until the Companion merges with the near-death Hedford. It's only when the alien has a human form—a form that Zefram has admired earlier—that he starts to appreciate all that's been done for him. Basically, it's only when he gets everything he wants that he stops sulking. Ever read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein? It's about a tree that loves a boy, and how that tree gives its shade, its fruit, and ultimately its body to keep the boy happy. I knew someone years ago how absolutely despised the book—said it was all about a woman who sacrifices everything she has without getting anything in return—and while I didn't agree with her at the time, there's something about "Metamorphosis" that reminds me of that story. The lesson here is subtle, and you can argue I'm reading too much in, but notice how the Companion is stereotypically "feminine," nuturing, sacrificing, to the point where she is willing to give up immortality in order to make her man happy. And notice how Hedford, snipey twerp that she is, confesses in her final moments as a single entity that she regrets never knowing love. As though the whole peace treaty wasn't nearly as important as hooking up and making babies. (Kirk even dismisses the importance of Hedford to the treaty in the episode's last line; you have to wonder what kind of story he's going to tell Starfleet to explain losing one of its officers during critical negotiations.) It's enough to take some of the fun out of a reasonably entertaining storyline. As things end, the Companion merges with Hedford's body, Zefram finally sees the error of his ways, and since the new Hedford can't leave the planet without dying, he decides to stay where he is, because hey, he's got something he can actually fuck now. Kirk and the others, having seen the beauty of true whatchamacallit, leave with strict orders to never tell another living soul what happened. Why? I dunno. That's just how things get done. And as always, we're left with questions. Like, we only have the new Hedford's word that the merging was a peaceful process—which is kind of creepy, isn't it? And how long are the newlyweds going to stay happy once Zefram realizes that the Companion sacrificed her powers to become physical? Better hope that the planet's 72 degree atmosphere is a naturally occurring phenomenon… "Journey to Babel" moves away from high concept to settle into what was always my least favorite kind of episode growing up: old-fashioned melodrama. There are sci-fi trappings, of course—we're still in a space ship after all—but instead of focusing its attentions on some new world or scary alien, "Babel" gives us feelings and people and relationships and stuff. This just seemed like a waste of potential to my ten year-old self. In my defense, I was watching a lot of Next Generation at the time. A lot of the "we're transporting aliens to such and such, and it's tense" episodes on that series were really, really dull. "Babel" is definitely not dull. It's sappy and at times muddled, but since this is the original series, even the so-called emotionless characters are on edge. And hey, if the introduction of Zefram Cochrane in "Metamorphosis" thrilled you, we get a far more important player here: Spock's father, Sarek, played by Mark Lenard (last seen here as a Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror") and Spock mom, Amanda, not being played by Winona Ryder. (It's Jane Wyatt, Miss Jane Wyatt if you're nasty.) The Enterprise has been charged with transporting a gaggle of ambassadors to an important Federation council meeting, and Sarek is one of those ambassadors. Funny how Spock never bothered to mention that to Kirk until just before the opening titles, huh? One of the original Trek's greatest strengths is Leonard Nimoy as Spock; one of its greatest weaknesses is its shaky (at best) grasp on the concept of logic. Much the way that Jedi Knights turned from bad-asses with laser swords into muddled, contradictory cultists when Lucas tried to explain their culture in the prequels, the more we see of how Vulcan's put their philosophy into practice, the more Spock's rationality seems like some kind of fluke. That worked to great purpose in "Amok Time," which gave us a society whose rigid self-control rests as much on arcane ritual as it does on stoicism, but here, the basic message is, "Those wacky Vulcans are just like humans at heart, if only they'd realize it!" (Okay, maybe "heart" is a poor word choice in this case, given McCoy's struggles to keep Sarek's still beating.) After the freaky abstraction of "Amok," "Babel" just gives us The Jazz Singer in space. Thankfully, Lenard is as up to the task as Nimoy. Sarek is basically just a cooler variation on the Romulan from "Balance," but the chemistry between him and Spock is sound. Jane Wyatt, not so much, although it's hard to know how much of that is the writer's fault; Amanda initially seems as smart and strong as her husband, but as the episode progresses, she turns into the same emotionally spastic, intellectually over-matched woman we get all the freakin' time on the series. Only she's slightly maternal as well. A marriage between a human and a Vulcan is, as far as we can tell, an incredibly rare thing. You'd expect Amanda to be a singular person, and the connection between her and Sarek to be something more complicated than "He's repressed! She's in touch with her heart!" But it doesn't seem to be. Buried in amidst all this (incredibly predictable) family drama is something sort of resembling a plot. A pig-headed (literally—and good lord, the DVD is not kind to the mask here) ambassador named Gav is found dead on ship, his neck broken in a manner similar to certain Vulcan practices of old. Gav and Sarek were seen fighting earlier, so he falls under suspicion. It's a development that seems to come more out of dramatic necessity than anything anyone actually believes. Not even Spock's "My dad could totally kill a guy" conversation with Kirk is very convincing. When the boys go to confront Sarek, he collapses; and McCoy, after his usual grumblings about Vulcan anatomy (seriously, you'd think the Vulcans would've provided biological information to the Federation; it's not like they don't have science where Spock is from), explains that Sarek's heart is mucked up, and he needs an operation. Now, you may have initially thought that "Babel" was about the dead ambassador; and when Sarek drops to the floor, you might reasonably have assumed that this was connected to the earlier killing in some way. Perhaps whoever killed Gav is planning on bumping off others? This would be an incorrect assumption on your part. Sarek's health problems now take center stage, because he needs a lot of Vulcan blood if he's going to have that operation, and Spock is the only person who can provide it. Maybe this will give them a chance to patch up the 18 year long silence between them? So that's what the episode is about—Spock and Sarek getting chummy again. There's a lot of back and forth about the operation; it's dangerous for Spock, he'll need to produce a lot of blood for Sarek to survive, Amanda doesn't want Spock to risk his life, and so on. Just when you thought the whole dead-pig-guy thread got dropped, we come back from commercial break to find Kirk fighting against a blue skinned Andorian (who may not be what he appears to be). Kirk gets stabbed, the Andorian goes to the brig, and now we have a new complication; there's still some kind of conspiracy going on (which probably has something to do with the unidentified vessel that's trailing the Enterprise), and now Spock has to take command while Kirk recovers from his injuries. Given the situation, Spock refuses to step down and let someone else take charge, even if that means delaying his dad's operation and costing Sarek his life. (Oddly enough, now Amanda is bitching Spock out for not agreeing to the surgery.) Simultaneous plotlines are nothing new for the series, but "Babel" is all over the place. The conspiracy plot keeps getting dropped to the side, and while the pay-off—a tense confrontation between the Enterprise and the ship that's been stalking them—is solid, it seems to come from another episode entirely. I wanted more diplomacy, more discussion about what was at stake beyond a handful of rapid lines thrown out more as justification than storytelling. The Sarek/Spock stuff has its moments, but there's an awful lot of cliche here; the most interesting twist is Spock's commitment to duty, and how it doesn't really seem like a bad thing, no matter how hard his mother might hit him. It falls to Kirk to fake recovery long enough to get Spock to relinquish command, but even that plan is just much an excuse for Kirk to get back into the action as anything else. In the end, everybody winds up happy. Sarek survives, he and Spock share a quip, and the conspirators, who turn out to be raiders trying to play both sides against the other, all die. One of them even poisons himself; it's slow-acting poison, which seems a poor choice for a spy ("Ha-ha! You may have captured me, but I'm going to die… eventually… so you'll have no time to get information out of me! Not unless you act fast!"), but he's dead regardless. "Babel" is an important episode in Trek because of the introduction of Spock's parents. On its own, it's fun, provided you don't mind the disjointedness. It's nice to see the Enterprise working a different job, and one that implies a larger system than we ever see. It's just frustrating that the politics are largely tossed aside in favor of overheated soap opera. Spock's half-human, half-vulcan heritage has a lot of potential for character drama, and that potential is briefly explored here; but while Nimoy turns in his usual strong work, and Lenard provides able assistance, I'm just not feeling it. But hey, sometimes you just have to enjoy the episode you get, instead of pining for the one that might have been. Grades: "Metamorphosis": B "Journey To Babel": B Stray Observations:

• There's a lovely moment in "Metamorphosis" when the Companion, in Hedford's body, lifts up her scarf so she can see Zefram through it; it's like she's remembering how he looked when she embraced him as a multi-colored cloud.
• For those not up on their Trek -lore, Zefram Cochrane is a main character in the only Next Generation movie worth a damn, First Contact.
• Looks like the writers on the new Star Trek movie watching "Journey to Babel" at some point—in addition to a reference to Spock having a troubled youth, the final bit of dialogue between Spock and Sarek ("Why did you marry her?" "At the time, it seemed like the logical thing to do.") sounds very familiar.
• Up next, "Friday's Child" and "The Deadly Years."

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery just made a mirror universe theory more likely.

A TOS reference in Star Trek: Discovery's season 5 premiere suggests the USS Defiant may return from the Mirror Universe, confirming a fan theory.

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 1, "Red Directive"

• The return to the Mirror Universe in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is teased by a Terran Empire logo in the trailer.
• Captain Saru mentions the Tholian Republic as a threat, setting up for a potential return to the Mirror Universe.
• The USS Defiant from Star Trek: The Original Series could play a key role in a bridge to the Mirror Universe in season 5.

One line from Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 1, "Red Directive" makes a return to the Mirror Universe more likely, confirming a fan theory. Discovery last paid a visit to the Mirror Universe in the season 3 two-parter "Terra Firma", in which the Guardian of Forever sent Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) back to her last day as Terran Emperor. The return to the Mirror Universe was part of an elaborate test by the Guardian, now assuming the form of Carl (Paul Guilfoyle) , to prove the positive impact of Georgiou's experiences in the prime Star Trek timeline .

Now it seems that Star Trek: Discovery could be making a final return to the Mirror Universe in season 5. The final trailer for Discovery season 5 appeared to show L'ak (Elias Toufexis) standing in front of what appeared to be the symbol of the Terran Empire . Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revealed that the Terran Empire had fallen in the 24th century, but it's certainly possible that it could have risen again in the 800 years between DS9 and Discovery . How the USS Discovery's treasure hunt would lead to a return to the Mirror Universe is unclear, but there's a small hint in season 5's premiere.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1 Ending & TNG Treasure Explained

Discovery’s season 5 premiere made a mirror universe theory more likely.

The Star Trek: Discovery season 5 trailer teased a tense gunfight aboard what appeared to be a 23rd century Constitution-class starship. This has led fans to speculate that it could be the USS Defiant from Star Trek: The Original Series , the starship that phased in and out of reality in "The Tholian Web". That theory gets a further boost in Discovery season 5, episode 1, as Captain Saru (Doug Jones) outlines possible threats to the Federation in the 32nd century .

Saru reveals that the Breen Imperium and the Tholian Republic are potential threats to the Federation in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . It's even possible that either of these classic Star Trek aliens could seek the Progenitors' technology to gain an advantage over the Federation. Saru's mention of the Tholians also gives Discovery a pathway back to the Mirror Universe later in season 5, perhaps affording the chance to settle some unfinished business.

Who Are Star Trek: TOS’ Tholians And How Do They Connect To The Mirror Universe?

In Star Trek: The Original Series , season 3, episode 9, "The Tholian Web", the USS Enterprise encounters the stricken USS Defiant. The entire crew killed each other, driven insane by the effects of a spatial interphase caused by the non-humanoid Tholians. Star Trek: Enterprise revealed that it was the Tholians from the Mirror Universe that had actually dragged the USS Defiant out of their own time and reality, dragging it backwards into the 22nd century. Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) of the ISS Enterprise NX-01 stole the Defiant, but the knowledge contained inside it led to a revolt aboard the ship .

The events of Star Trek: Enterprise 's Mirror Universe episodes later informed Star Trek: Discovery season 1's Mirror Universe arc . When the USS Discovery was dragged into the Mirror Universe by the machinations of Captain Gabriel Lorca, they used the information about the USS Defiant to return to their own reality. At the end of "The Tholian Web" - which takes place after Star Trek: Discovery - the USS Defiant is phased out of reality to parts unknown. Given that the Defiant had been dragged through both time and reality, it could have ended up in the 32nd century, providing Burnham with a bridge to the Mirror Universe.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.

Star Trek: Section 31 Director Praises Michelle Yeoh's 'Incredible' Performance

Star Trek: Section 31 is already receiving high praise. Specifically, for Michelle Yeoh's first scene in the movie.

Per ScreenRant , Star Trek: Section 31 director Olatunde Osunsanmi remarked that Yeoh's first scene in her return as "incredible." Osunsanmi opened up about directing the scene itself, recalling that "Michelle came in, [and in] that very first scene that we shot, it was like she never left. It was incredible. Actually, that was literally what I told her: 'It feels like we just stopped filming with you yesterday.' And so, what happens in that very first scene is… Oh wait, I can't give that away."

'Bittersweet and Shocking': Star Trek: Discovery Star Addresses the Series Getting Canceled

Osunsanmi previously directed Yeoh on Star Trek: Discovery , which introduced her character Emperor Philippa Georgiou , leader of the Terran Empire in the 23rd century of the franchise's mirror universe. After being displaced to the primary universe, this version of Georgiou was eventually recruited into the ranks of the clandestine Section 31. Yeoh also portrayed the Emperor turned Section 31 agent's primary counterpart, Captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou, who lost her life in the process of saving those of members of her own crew during a decisive battle against a Klingon vessel in the 2017 episode "Battle at the Binary Stars."

The concept of Section 31, an official, autonomous intelligence organization working on behalf of the Federation, was first introduced on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1998 episode "Inquisition." In 2023, it was confirmed that Yeoh would be taking the lead in a Star Trek: Section 31 film . At the time, Yeoh stated, "I'm beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I’ve loved for so long... We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!"

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Section 31 has wrapped with filming.

Filming on Star Trek: Section 31 ended on March 23 , 2024, as confirmed by actor Robert Kazinsky on social media. Kazinsky had high praise for his costars and crew, writing "They say never meet your heroes, but I'm glad I did. I have few bigger heroes in my heart than Star Trek and for the first time in my life a hero exceeded my wildest hope." Kazinsky specifically named Osunsanmi as "the finest Captain I've sailed under leading a cast the likes of which I've never experienced before."

Star Trek: Section 31 does not currently have an official release date. It will premiere on Paramount+.

Source: ScreenRant

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The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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