episode #12 - The Time Trap

Air Date: 11/24/73    written Joyce Perry

Here we had one of those cosmic time/space traps which were premises in a couple of TNG episodes. The Enterprise is investigating a region named The Delta Triangle (a space age version of The Bermuda Triangle) where ships have been disappearing for centuries. They come into conflict with a Klingon vessel and both ships end up in an alternate dimension where all the disappeared ships have gone to. There, they find a society which began a thousand years ago, composed of all the many alien races of the ships which became trapped there. Time moves much more slowly in this pocket dimension, so all the original outcasts are still there. Unfortunately, this means that in all that time, no one has found a way back, which is bad news for the Enterprise crew and the Klingons.

The premise here incorporates the notion of an ideal peaceful society, instituted out of necessity - for mutual survival. No violence is allowed and it's a very advanced, perhaps superior society. It's startling in that among the many races we see here, there's even a Gorn (an animated version), which shows that peaceful co-existence is possible with anyone. The newly-arrived Klingons, as expected, cannot be expected to acclimate to this new environment. The message of peace and tranquility is strong here - that it can be done under the 'right' circumstances - and it's a mature message. More immediate is the problem of getting out of the trap; Kirk prefers being 'home' even to this tranquil society (there is no planet in this pocket dimension and the inhabitants live in their various ships, a limiting and tedious existence, I would think).  Quite intruiging overall. BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10