The Naked Time - episode #7

THE NAKED TIME (1st season; episode #7)
Directed by Marc Daniels / writer: John D.F. Black / Air Date: 09/29/66

This is the episode which is well known for scenes of Sulu, stripped to the waist, running around the ship's corridors with a sword (nearly all stills for this episode are of him). However, a few of the other actors get to shine in their roles as we learn a few new things about their characters, early in the series - this episode functioned as a 'get-to-know-the-characters' episode.
We learn that Kirk secretly yearns to walk on a beach somewhere, perhaps with Yeoman Rand; that nurse Chapel secretly yearns for Spock; that Sulu secretly yearns to be a swashbuckler; and Spock? he tends to weep a lot, in secret. A lot is revealed and I didn't look at the characters in quite the same way for awhile after viewing this episode (especially Chapel; I looked on her with a wary eye since then, waiting for the next time she might try some seduction; see Amok Time for the closest we got to that). This was a more interesting 'bottle' show than the later remake The Naked Now, on the 1st season of TNG, where it was very one-note by comparison.


We were also introduced to crewman Riley (Bruce Hyde) in this episode, in the first of his two appearances on the show (the next was The Conscience of the King). Riley provides most of the dark humor in this episode, taking over the engine room as he succumbs to the latest space malady, a disease which removes inhibition. Hyde seemed to be a very natural performer on TV and it's a little strange that he didn't have a bigger career; I think he was more interested in playing a guitar in some small club somewhere or just hanging out. Click here - INTERVIEW WITH THE HYDE MAN - for an interview with a much older Bruce Hyde.
One thing, it's too bad Uhura did not fall victim to this - strange in that she had prolonged contact with the sweaty Sulu - that's how the disease spreads, through such social contact; the cause is altered water. The episode builds to a crescendo, as Kirk loses control of his ship and then himself. He and Spock have another intense confrontational scene. Some of the later scenes, as things build to a fevered pitch, are almost surreal. A very good early episode. BoG's Score: 9 out of 10
Extra Trek Trivia: another guest star in this one was Stewart Moss as a doomed crewman; only months earlier, Moss guested on an episode of Bonanza, "Ride the Wind," as a doomed Pony Express rider and which also guested DeForest Kelley and featured scenes filmed at Vasquez Rocks; Moss also guested on a later episode of TOS, By Any Other Name; some firsts in this episode: 1st shot of the Jeffries Tube, where Scotty usually has to effect some repairs; 1st mention of antimatter as a power source for the warp engines; besides Riley, the 1st appearance of nurse Chapel. This episode was designed as a 2-parter; but, the 2nd part was broken out into the separate episode, the time travel tale Tomorrow is Yesterday. The concluding scenes here, when they go several days into the past, are shown on a video screen in a late scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), a film in which early scenes revolved around time traveling several days into the past.