"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #65, and was aired by NBC on November 8, 1968. It is written by Rik Vollaerts, and directed by Tony Leader. The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... The 1986 Peacock logo, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar. ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Quick Overview: The crew of the Enterprise rush to stop an asteroid from colliding with a Federation world, but discover the asteroid is also inhabited. The starship Enterprise (NX-01). ... An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... In the fictional Star Trek universe, the United Federation of Planets is a federation of more than 150 member planets and thousands of colonies, based in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the Milky Way galaxy. ...

Natira's world is facing destruction in For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.

On stardate 5476.3, Dr. McCoy, the USS Enterprise's chief medical officer, discovers he has a rare disease called xenopolycythemia, and has only one year to live. At the same time, the Enterprise is monitoring a large asteroid called Yonada which is on a deadly collision course with the Federation world of Daran V, a planet with a population of nearly four billion inhabitants. Unless a way is discovered to divert Yonada, the asteroid will destroy the planet in less than a standard year. Image from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky © 1968 Paramount Pictures, produced by Gene Roddenberry. ... Stardate is the dating convention used in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Dr. Leonard H. McCoy Leonard Horatio McCoy, M.D., nicknamed Bones, is a fictional character in the fictional Star Trek universe, played by the late DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 - June 11, 1999). ...

As the Enterprise approaches and scans Yonada, the sensors suddenly detect a set of ballistic missiles targeting the ship, however the Enterprise quickly dispenses with the primitive weapons. Curiously, the sensors track the point of origin of the missiles to Yonada. When the asteroid is discovered to contain a breathable atmosphere, Kirk assembles a landing party consisting of himself, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Spock, to beam down to the surface to investigate. Mr. ... A transporter on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) In the Star Trek fictional universe, transporters are teleportation machines. ...

Upon their arrival, the landing team discovers several metal cylinders that strangely protrude from the ground. The team is then quickly captured by a group of humanoid men who emerge from the cylinders, along with a stunningly beautiful woman who appears to be their leader. The woman identifies herself as Natira, the High Priestess of Yonada, and orders her men to take the prisoners below.

The three officers are escorted to a chamber that appears to be some kind of temple. Natira kneels on a platform and "prays" to her god she calls the "Oracle". Kirk steps forward and tries to explain that their team came in peace. Natira wants to believe the party, but the Oracle threatens severe punishment if that party is found to be enemies. As a show of force, the Oracle strikes the party with a powerful stun beam that knocks them unconscious. The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer vaguely to a Supreme Being. ...

Kirk and Spock awaken sometime later, however McCoy is slower to recover due to his medical condition. McCoy's health upsets Natira who quickly shows an attachment to the doctor. She even expresses to the Oracle, that she wishes McCoy to become her mate. Natira tends to McCoy giving Kirk and Spock an opportunity to have a look around. The two find out that the entire asteroid is artificially built. It is in fact a giant spacecraft housing millions of people. It is a fact that the Yonada people do not seem to be aware of; all except for an old man, who realizes Kirk and Spock are visitors, and rushes over to talk to them.

The old man tells Kirk that the others do not know they are living in a hollow sphere and how, when he was young, he climbed a high mountain and discovered the secret for himself, saying "...for the world is hollow and I have touched the sky".

Suddenly, a red glow appears under the skin at the temple of the old man's head. He then falls dead at Kirk's feet. The team is informed that the man has been killed by the Oracle for uttering "forbidden words". It is then revealed that the Oracle controls the people by means of an implanted device referred to as an "instrument of obedience".

Kirk and Spock then make their way to the Oracle chamber. They discover ancient rune texts inscribed in the wall by a race known as the Fabrini. It is learned that the Fabrini constructed the asteroid ship 10,000 years ago, when their star exploded into a supernova. They created the ship in hopes of saving members of their race, and later transplant them on a new world. All the current inhabitants of Yonada are Fabrini descendants. Remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ...

Kirk wishes to get a closer look at the Oracle which he and Spock believe is nothing more than a central computer, but they hide when Natira enters the chamber to pray. They overhear the Oracle's message to Natira that the "new world" is only 390 days away at present course. Kirk however, knows that just a few days before that, Yonada will crash into Daran V. He must try to convince Natira to have the Oracle change its course.

Kirk and Spock's forbidden intrusion into the temple chamber is discovered and again they are painfully stunned and taken away to be punished for their atrocities. Meanwhile, McCoy has grown fond of Natira and expresses his desire to remain behind on Yonada, since he has one year to live. He agrees to Natira's marriage proposal only if she allows Kirk and Spock to go free.

Natira agrees, but if McCoy is to remain behind, the Oracle demands that he is implanted with a punishment device like all the others. McCoy accepts under the circumstances and Kirk and Spock are returned to the Enterprise. Kirk however, never gets the chance to reveal Yonada's secret and warn Natira of its eminent doom. McCoy undergoes the implant procedure and once that is done, a marriage ceremony between him and Natira gets underway.

After his wedding, McCoy is allowed to look through the "Book of the People", the sacred text that reveals information on numerous star systems and Fabrini technology. McCoy excitedly contacts the Enterprise with his communicator about the discovery of the book, but the Oracle discovers what he is doing, and McCoy is stricken with pain by the punishment device, and suddenly communications with him are cut off.

Kirk and Spock waste no time in beaming back to Yonada to find McCoy. They locate him unconscious with Natira next to him in grief. Spock then operates on McCoy and removes the punishment implant. Kirk explains to Natira that her world is really a spaceship, and is doomed to be destroyed if she does not convince the Oracle to alter course. Believing Kirk's story Natira confronts the Oracle for the truth. The Oracle responds to her "blasphemy" with a blast of pain from her punishment implant which almost kills her.

McCoy, now free of the punishment device, rushes to Natira's side and begins to remove her implant. Kirk and Spock rush to the temple chamber to retrieve the book and find a way to shut down the Oracle computer. The Oracle becomes furious at their attempts to gain access, and the rune stones of the chamber begin to glow red hot causing Kirk and Spock to retreat back. Having seized the book however, Kirk and Spock figure out a way to bypass the Oracle's defenses and shut the machine down. At the same time, they discover access to a secret room with the controls to the entire asteroid ship.

With the Oracle out of the way, Kirk and Spock enter the room and learn that a malfunction in the navigation system has moved Yonada off its intended course. Kirk and Spock makes the proper repairs and corrections to the ancient navigation system and Yonada turns back on its proper heading, saving itself and Daran V.

Kirk and Spock then discover the Fabrini's medical records, which includes a cure for xenopolycythemia. McCoy is returned to the Enterprise for a successful treatment, but hopes to see his "wife" Natira again, once the Yonada people reach their new homeworld in less than two years.

External Links

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki Memory Alpha is the name of a collaborative project launched in November 2003 by Harry Doddema and Dan Carlson. ... The Enterprise boldly going where no man had gone before. ... A wiki (pronounced , or ; see section Pronunciation) is a web application that allows users to add content and their own version of history, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. ...