The Apple
The Apple (Memory Alpha; SD Video), disappointly, contains not a single Apple product. This might be explained by the episode being originally aired some fifteen years before Apple was founded, but I thought Star Trek took place in the future.
Now, even if I forgive the suspicious lack of futuristic iProducts, this episode is kind of terrible.
The Enterprise is circling Gamma Trianguli VI, and a landing party is sent down. They think it’s paradise. But obviously, it’s not; one of the crewmen is killed by a poisonous plant and the world seems to be attacking the landing party and pulling the Enterprise out of its orbit.
There’s a lot of wandering here where absolutely nothing happens.
Then they find the natives. This brings us to…
Best Bit of Dialog
[Natives wrap flowers around Spock’s arm]
Kirk: It does something for you.
Spock: Yes, Captain: it makes me uncomfortable.
Begin Spoilers
We learn that the Natives serve Vaal, who appears to be a machine that controls the entire world. They feed him exploding rocks to keep him running. The solution to all the problems in this episode is violence, and it works.
End Spoilers
This episode has nothing going for it. It tries to work the mistaken paradise angle but just ends up looking lame. It tries to play the should-we-intervene card but is overridden by the impending-danger card. It tries to discuss utilitarianism vs idealism and which is the better method for determining the crew’s course of action, but gets shot down because everyone is about to die. But most of all, it just has no conflict. The baddie is faceless, the henchmen are clueless, the plot starts about two-thirds of the way in, and the resolution involves no insight and no clever tricks.
Grade
F
