episode #17 - The Pirates of Orion (season #2 start)

Air Date: 9/7/74    written by Howard Weinstein

The villains of the piece are these Orion pirates which were only mentioned, not seen, on TOS.  The first half of the episode deals with a fatal illness for Spock. For humans, this illness is only a bother, like the common cold; much of the Enterprise crew contracted it but are OK; it's much more serious for Vulcans, however. McCoy & Kirk come up with a rendezvous plan to get the cure in time (3 days) but the Starfleet ship transporting the serum is waylaid by an Orion ship; the pirates steal the cure. Kirk pursues the pirate ship and ends up confronting the Orion captain on an asteroid.
This episode featured a reversal of the usual set-up on TOS, where-in the half-Vulcan Spock was usually superior to humans physically or immune to something (as in Miri and Obsession).  This time, Spock proves to be more vulnerable due to his blood make-up. This also featured a couple of different and interesting ship designs - the Orion ship and the transport ship. The uniforms for the Orion pirates follow a somewhat classic, golden age style of costumery in sci-fi. The animation for the climax in the asteroid belt was picturesque.  BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
Trek Trivia:
one of the few animated Trek episodes directed by Bill Reed, not Hal Sutherland, as was the case in the 2nd season. This has an obvious blooper: when McCoy calls from sickbay, summoning Spock, he is also seen standing next to a seated Kirk on the bridge at the same time.