Obsession - episode #47
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Obsession - episode #47
OBSESSION (2nd season; episode #47)
Directed by Ralph Senensky writer: Art Wallace Air Date:12/15/67
Following the Moby Dick-inspired The Doomsday Machine, where-in commodore Decker (in the Ahab role) played the role of the obsessed captain, now it's Kirk himself who becomes obsessed with the destruction of something. But, as becomes a key point in the story, his nemesis is not some unfeeling machine; it really is a predatory monster, killing red-shirts left-&-right, like some space-faring shark with malicious tendencies, or a 'space vampire' as its been referred to. This breaks the record of red-shirt deaths previously held by The Apple episode (the Wikipedia article states 4 deaths and 3 wounded; I counted 5 deaths and 1 wounded; but, whatever it is, it's a lot).
The cloud creature, as it's also known, attacks living beings, draining them of hemoglobin in their red blood cells; death is usually quick. It has great power, able to travel through space at warp speed and even a starship's weaponry proves to be ineffective against it. This establishes some history for Kirk, who served as a young, inexperienced officer aboard the starship Farragut years ago. He carries some buried guilt over the incident on that ship, when half the crew were killed by the creature. Shatner gets to show some range here; he doesn't go off completely deranged, but there's enough disturbing behavior from him to briefly warrant Spock & McCoy teaming up against him, one of several effective scenes.
The story probably repeats one point one time too many, concerning Kirk's guilt over not blasting the creature years before. There's a very good scene with Kirk and McCoy, where the latter points out his captain's self-destructive behavior, but then we have Spock going over this again & again, with Kirk and the other guilt-ridden character, ensign Garrovick. Kirk does get to play stern uncle or older brother to Garrovick here, a change of pace. In all, this is a pretty exciting thriller about the dangers lurking in outer space, even in Trek's somewhat utopia future. BoG's Score: 8 out of 10
Much later, Captain Picard would be accused of Ahab-like behavior in Star Trek-First Contact (1996), the 8th Trek film, concerning his obsession with the Borg. This seems to be a recurring theme among starship captains in Trek.
Extra Trek Trivia: it's mentioned here that Spock's blood is copper-based, not iron-based like human blood. Lucky Vulcan. And, also stated, less than an ounce of antimatter is more powerful than 10,000 cobalt bombs.
Beam-out climactic footage of the Transporter use during an explosion - "crazy way to travel" McCoy says.
Last edited by BoG on Sun May 03, 2015 1:17 am; edited 6 times in total
Obsession - full episode
CLASSIC TREK QUOTES:
Spock: "I need your advice."
McCoy: "Then I need a drink."
(the last time Spock sought advice from McCoy was way back in The Conscience of a King)
_
Kirk: "Don't push our friendship past the point where I have to take official action –"
McCoy: "I'm not, Jim! This is professional!"
Spock: "I need your advice."
McCoy: "Then I need a drink."
(the last time Spock sought advice from McCoy was way back in The Conscience of a King)
_
Kirk: "Don't push our friendship past the point where I have to take official action –"
McCoy: "I'm not, Jim! This is professional!"
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