Shore Leave : TOS Episode 15 Production 17 Original Air Date 12/29/1966 Stardate 3025.3

Shore Leave - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 17 Episode # 15
Air Date: 12/29/1966
Stardate: 3025.3

A U.S.S. Enterprise landing party beams down to an uncharted planet. The planet seems like a perfect candidate for shore leave with its "Earth-type" characteristics. Kirk sends McCoy down with the party to check it out.

McCoy's first encounter on the new world is with a life-sized white rabbit in a waistcoat, being chased by a little girl in a pinafore. Kirk answers McCoy's somewhat odd call for help and beams down himself to find his old rival from his academy days, Finnegan. While trying to catch his old enemy, Kirk meets Ruth, an old girlfriend. He notices that neither Finnegan nor Ruth have changed in appearance since he's last seen them. Elsewhere, Sulu is attacked by a Samurai Warrior while others are chased by tigers and aircraft.

McCoy, who has paired off with Yeoman Tonia Barrows, is killed by a black knight on horseback. As the perils become more and more deadly, Kirk and Spock realize that their thoughts are somehow coming to life around them.

An old man appears, explaining that this planet is designed as an "amusement park," and he is the Caretaker for the world. The planet is not meant to be hostile, and the results of one's fantasies are not lasting. McCoy appears, healed, with a Rigel Cabaret girl on each arm. Tonia disengages the good doctor and they go off to spend what promises to be an enjoyable vacation together. The Caretaker invites Kirk and his crew to spend their leave on his planet. Kirk agrees, realizing that once warned, it would provide a most diverting vacation spot. As he makes his decision, Ruth appears.

Volume 9 of Paramount's DVD series of original Star Trek episodes includes "Shore Leave," written by a literary giant in science fiction, Theodore Sturgeon. The story concerns a break in the action for the Enterprise crew, nearly all of whom beam down to the surface of an Eden-like planet for shore leave, where they find that everyone's wish comes true. Individuals from crew members' pasts turn up, fantasies of romance or heroism are instantly realized--and if it all seems too good to be true, it is. In time, the dark side of this dream shows itself when people start getting killed. This episode emerges from the trippier side of Star Trek's personality, and very cleverly sheds light on the personalities of the show's major characters by making their dreams manifest.

Also on this disc is a real treat for long-haul Trekkers: "The Squire of Gothos," an entertaining program in its own right and the obvious blueprint for "Encounter at Farpoint," Gene Roddenberry's pilot episode for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Guest star William Campbell plays Trelane, a bratty, impulsive alien given to wearing costumes appropriate for an 18th-century French aristocrat. Equipped with godlike powers that allow him to alter and manipulate the world around him, Trelane is the prototype of The Next Generation's beloved quasi villain, Q (John de Lancie). Like Q, Trelane regards the crew of the Enterprise as playthings, and when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) disrupts his games, the omniscient boy-man puts humanity itself on trial. Great stuff. --Tom Keogh