The Cloud Minders
The Cloud Minders (Video; YouTube; Memory Alpha) brings us to Ardana, the only known source of zenite, needed to stop an agricultural plague. But when they get there, the crew is attacked by the miners!
The local government (played very well) is hush-hush about why the miners are upset, and try to play it off as a simple uprising. But it soon becomes evident (in multiple ways, including a terrible voice over by Spock) that Ardana is a bifurcated society with the workers oppressed by an upper class who literally lives in the clouds.
There’s a lot of great stuff in this episode. There’s prejudice and class, torture and diplomacy, intrigue and technobabble. There’s even a teleporter that uses a new special effect for no apparent reason.
But in the end it’s weak tea. The problem isn’t prejudice; it’s this magic gas that McCoy finds easily but has gone undiscovered forever. The ruling class really is smarter and really is right to rule; the working class really is dumber and are doomed to just go on working the mines, but now with gas masks. And neither side learns a lesson about anything; they aren’t even sure they believe in the gas, let alone their mistaken assumptions about each other. In short, this episode tries to say lots of big important things and gets in its own way while making it a sci-fi.
Grade
C
