"This Side of Paradise" is a first-season episode #24, production #25, of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast on March 2, 1967 and was repeated on August 10, 1967. The episode was written by D.C. Fontana and Nathan Butler, and directed by Ralph Senensky. Image File history File links Image from Star Trek: The Original Series episode This Side of Paradise ©1967 Paramount Pictures, produced by Gene Roddenberry. ... is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... Dorothy Catherine D.C. Fontana, is a screenplay writer, best known for her work in the Star Trek television franchise, produced by Paramount Studios. ... Dorothy Catherine D.C. Fontana, is a screenplay writer, best known for her work in the Star Trek television franchise, produced by Paramount Studios. ... Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. ... Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... Jill Ireland (April 24, 1936 – May 18, 1990) was an English actress best known for her many films with her second husband Charles Bronson in the 1970s and her portrayal of Leila Kalomi in the Star Trek episode This Side of Paradise. She was married to David McCallum from May... Frank Overton (born March 12, 1918, Babylon, New York; died April 24, 1967) was an American actor who appeared in countless television programs during the early 1950s through the late 1960s. ... American actor, best known for appearances on Star Trek: The Original Series. ... Eddie Paskey-is an actor who is primarily known for playing the uncredited Lieutenant Leslie in the original Star Trek. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... A Taste of Armageddon is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. ... The Devil in the Dark is a first season episode Star Trek: The Original Series which first aired on March 9, 1967. ... 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. ... is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Dorothy Catherine D.C. Fontana, is a screenplay writer, best known for her work in the Star Trek television franchise, produced by Paramount Studios. ... Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. ...

Overview: The Enterprise visits a planet, where the inhabitants are kept in check by strange plant life. Enterprise or USS Enterprise are the names of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. ... The eight planets and three dwarf planets of the Solar System. ...

Plot

On stardate 3417.3, the Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III, where a Federation colony has been in place for several years. The planet however, is known to have been showered by Berthold rays, a deadly form of radiation which causes severe tissue damage within a few weeks of exposure. To make matters worse, there has been no communication with the colony for quite a while. The Enterprise's sad mission is to retrieve the colonist's remains and their equipment. This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Captain Kirk, along with Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock and a few other crewmen, beam down to the planet's surface and make the startling discovery that the colonists are still very much alive. The crew is greeted warmly by Elias Sandoval, a farmer who assures them that there have been no problems other than a faulty communications system. They encounter another colonist, Leila Kalomi, who was a love interest of Mr. Spock's six years earlier back on Earth. At a loss to explain why these people are still alive, Dr. McCoy arranges to perform medical exams on a number of the colonists while other crew members search the vicinity for answers. Captain James T. Kirk James Tiberius Kirk, a fictional character in the Star Trek television series, was the captain of the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A). ... 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). ... Spock, commonly called Mr. ...

The puzzle deepens as McCoy finds all colonists in flawless, textbook-perfect health; in reviewing the colonists' medical records, he finds that, although the records indicate that Sandoval had had his appendix removed, his earlier examination showed Sandoval to have his appendix intact. The other members of the landing party discover that there is no animal life present — no livestock, no birds and no insects. Evading Kirk's questions about the fate of the farm animals they brought with them and the general absence of animal life on the plant, Sandoval explains simply, "We're vegetarians."

As Spock is searching the surrounding area for clues, the lovely Leila meets with him and agrees to show him how the colonists have survived. She takes him to a place where there are strange flowers that shoot a puff of spores at him.

Being half-Vulcan, Spock doesn't normally express his emotions, but moments after exposure to these spores, the formerly logical Spock is able to tell Leila, "I love you." Now free to find bliss with Leila, Spock laughs and with his head in Leila's lap he lolls under a tree with her as they contemplate the clouds. When Kirk attempts to contact him, it is not Spock but Leila who opens the communicator. Unwilling for a moment to leave off embracing, nuzzling, and kissing Leila, Spock answers Kirk's questions with amused curtness and refuses to obey orders. It has been suggested that Tplana-hath be merged into this article or section. ...

Spock shows the strange flowers to Kirk and other crewmen, but somehow only Captain Kirk remains unaffected by them. When Kirk returns to his ship, it is full of the flowers and their spores. The entire crew, in an open but peaceful mutiny, begin to beam down to the planet. Before she leaves, Lieutenant Uhura sabotages the ship's communications system. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, is a character in Star Trek: The Original Series and the first six Star Trek films. ...

Soon, Kirk is the only person remaining aboard the ship. Eventually, the spores overcome Kirk's resistance and he begins to feel peaceful and makes plans to beam down to the colony. But as he is about to leave the Enterprise, he feels a wave of violent emotions which overwhelms and destroys the spores within him.

Kirk now realizes the spores cannot survive the presence of strong needs and feelings. He asks Spock to come up to the ship ostensibly to help him with some things that they won't be able to retrieve once the last of them leaves. Kirk actually wants to talk some sense into Spock. The Captain states for his log that his plan to kill the spores by enraging Spock carries considerable risk: Spock is a Vulcan, a being far stronger than a human whose race once were ferocious warriors before their control of emotion ended the slaughter on their world.

Nonetheless, when Spock arrives, Kirk insults him with a stream of racist abuse and taunts him as a freak who dares to make love to Leila. Spock becomes angry and a brawl ensues. Fortunately, Spock's rationality returns to him before he seriously injures the Captain. Together they rig a device to send a subsonic frequency through the communicators that will irritate everyone in the colony. Fights break out all over, quickly leading to the end of the spores' influence.

As the Enterprise, with the colonists safely on board, prepares to exit the planetary system, Spock comments about his experiences saying: "For the first time in my life, I was happy."

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was re-mastered in 2006 and was first aired July 28, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded one week earlier by the remastered version of "The Squire of Gothos". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include: is the 209th day of the year (210th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... The Squire of Gothos is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. ...

• Omicron Ceti III has been changed to look more realistic, and visible Berthold radiation has been added in shots of the planet from space. Not much else was changed visually.

Notes

• "Nathan Butler" is a pseudonym employed by writer Jerry Sohl, who was displeased with Fontana's rewrite. In Sohl's original draft (first titled "Power Play," then "The Way of The Spores"), it was Lt. Sulu who was infected by the spores and was able to fall in love with Leila.

• The title of this episode is the same as that of a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is part of an old expression describing an exceptionally pleasant place, e.g. "Southeastern Kentucky is the most beautiful spot this side of paradise."

• This episode is one of three in Star Trek in which Vulcans are revealed to have more than one name. In all three — according to Spock in this episode and in "The Enterprise Incident", and according to his mother in the episode "Journey to Babel" — the second name is described as difficult to pronounce by non-Vulcans.

• This is the episode referenced in the notorious "Get-A-Life" sketch on Saturday Night Live. The question asked to William Shatner was "When you were preparing to beam down to the planet, and you opened your safe, what was the combination?"

• Leonard Nimoy has recalled that Charles Bronson was on set during his love scenes with Jill Ireland (then Bronson's girlfriend, later his wife), to "keep an eye on her."

• Eddie Paskey as Lt. Leslie gets his biggest scene in the series, telling the captain off.

Leslie: I'm sorry sir, we're beaming down to the planet.

Kirk: This is mutiny, mister!

Leslie: Yes sir, it is.

• In the Futurama episode Where No Fan Has Gone Before, Fry talks to Leonard Nimoy, asking him if he remembered this episode, which Fry describes as the one when Nimoy "got high on spores and smacked Kirk around"

Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. ... The Enterprise Incident is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, first broadcast September 27, 1968 and repeated December 27, 1968. ... Journey to Babel is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 91-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City that has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ... William Alan Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for playing James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ... For other persons named Charles Bronson, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation). ... Jill Ireland (April 24, 1936 – May 18, 1990) was an English actress best known for her many films with her second husband Charles Bronson in the 1970s and her portrayal of Leila Kalomi in the Star Trek episode This Side of Paradise. She was married to David McCallum from May... Eddie Paskey-is an actor who is primarily known for playing the uncredited Lieutenant Leslie in the original Star Trek. ... Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated American sitcom created by creator of The Simpsons Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... Where No Fan Has Gone Before is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the animated series Futurama. ... Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ...

External links

• This Side of Paradise article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki