The episode started off just fine. Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy are traveling with Commissioner Hedford, trying to get her back to the Enterprise so that they can hopefully cure her of a rare and deadly disease that she has. They are pulled down to a planet. They meet Zefram Cochrane, who supposedly died 150 years ago.
He tells them that he had been out in space because he had gotten old and his wish was to die in space. However, he and his ship had been brought down to the planet just as they were. An entity he calls the companion was responsible for this as well as for rejuvenating him and making him back to around the age of 35. This companion has been able to keep him healthy, well and at the same age for all these years.
Here is where I have a bit of a problem. Commissioner Hedford gets even worse and if they cannot get off the planet soon she will die. Kirk asks Cochrane if the companion can heal the commissioner. Cochrane goes and communicates with the companion and is told that healing the commissioner is not possible. Really? Why? The companion was able to make Cochrane a healthy 35 year old man for the past 150 years (he was in his 80s when he first met the companion). If the companion can do that for him, why the heck can't the commissioner be healed and prevented from dying. Cochrane said that he was close to death when he first met the companion. This seems like a glaring plot hole in this story.
They find a way to have a direct conversation with the companion. Spock is wanting to spend time asking the companion questions so that they can learn more about it. It is a very different species and part of their mission is to find new species and learn about them. I concur with Spock on this. Of course, because they made an error when writing this and made it so that the companion cannot heal the commissioner, Kirk stops Spock from asking the questions, pointing out that they need to hurry and try to get the companion to let them go so that they can get to the Enterprise, hopefully in time, to heal the commissioner.
I have read a lot of the other reviews and so many of them are upset with the way it is presented that the commissioner is all upset that she is going to die and she has not had the opportunity for love. Up to now, she has been focused on her career. People may not have these same attitudes now, but getting upset that this is what was shown in the 1960s, is rather silly. This was still a very common point of view. I was born in 1961 and I was raised that the wife stays at home and takes care of her husband and children. I remember watching this show and others when I was a little girl. We did not find these shows out of line, this was common thinking. Therefore, I do not get offended or upset when I watch shows like this. Besides, she still had a valid point even in today's society. She was dying and had not had the opportunity to have a loving relationship and now she would not ever have it.
I also have the problem with the next part. Kirk tries to convince the companion to let them all go by trying to show that because they are so completely different from one another, there cannot truly be a relationship between the two. The companion then comments on being human and shortly thereafter has somehow merged with the commissioner and is now in human form. Again, if the companion could do this, then it should have been able to heal the commissioner. This alien seems to have powers that would allow it to do that, but the writers chose to ignore that and made it so that the commissioner dies and the companion takes over her body. I guess they figured that the commissioner is now healed because the companion has merged with her, but that takes away from the commissioner's individuality and she really was not asked if that was what she wanted.
He ends up staying on the planet with her as now that she has merged with the human she cannot leave or she would die in just a few days. Then McCoy asks about the war that the commissioner was supposed to help stop, and Kirk comments that surely they will be able to find another female who can stop the war. I am not sure why it had to be a female. It seems like an odd thing to say.
On the plus side, I do like the scenery and the colors they used for the planet. I also like the interior of Cochrane's house. Very nicely done. Overall, I still liked the episode. I took off a few points because of the plot hole.
He tells them that he had been out in space because he had gotten old and his wish was to die in space. However, he and his ship had been brought down to the planet just as they were. An entity he calls the companion was responsible for this as well as for rejuvenating him and making him back to around the age of 35. This companion has been able to keep him healthy, well and at the same age for all these years.
Here is where I have a bit of a problem. Commissioner Hedford gets even worse and if they cannot get off the planet soon she will die. Kirk asks Cochrane if the companion can heal the commissioner. Cochrane goes and communicates with the companion and is told that healing the commissioner is not possible. Really? Why? The companion was able to make Cochrane a healthy 35 year old man for the past 150 years (he was in his 80s when he first met the companion). If the companion can do that for him, why the heck can't the commissioner be healed and prevented from dying. Cochrane said that he was close to death when he first met the companion. This seems like a glaring plot hole in this story.
They find a way to have a direct conversation with the companion. Spock is wanting to spend time asking the companion questions so that they can learn more about it. It is a very different species and part of their mission is to find new species and learn about them. I concur with Spock on this. Of course, because they made an error when writing this and made it so that the companion cannot heal the commissioner, Kirk stops Spock from asking the questions, pointing out that they need to hurry and try to get the companion to let them go so that they can get to the Enterprise, hopefully in time, to heal the commissioner.
I have read a lot of the other reviews and so many of them are upset with the way it is presented that the commissioner is all upset that she is going to die and she has not had the opportunity for love. Up to now, she has been focused on her career. People may not have these same attitudes now, but getting upset that this is what was shown in the 1960s, is rather silly. This was still a very common point of view. I was born in 1961 and I was raised that the wife stays at home and takes care of her husband and children. I remember watching this show and others when I was a little girl. We did not find these shows out of line, this was common thinking. Therefore, I do not get offended or upset when I watch shows like this. Besides, she still had a valid point even in today's society. She was dying and had not had the opportunity to have a loving relationship and now she would not ever have it.
I also have the problem with the next part. Kirk tries to convince the companion to let them all go by trying to show that because they are so completely different from one another, there cannot truly be a relationship between the two. The companion then comments on being human and shortly thereafter has somehow merged with the commissioner and is now in human form. Again, if the companion could do this, then it should have been able to heal the commissioner. This alien seems to have powers that would allow it to do that, but the writers chose to ignore that and made it so that the commissioner dies and the companion takes over her body. I guess they figured that the commissioner is now healed because the companion has merged with her, but that takes away from the commissioner's individuality and she really was not asked if that was what she wanted.
He ends up staying on the planet with her as now that she has merged with the human she cannot leave or she would die in just a few days. Then McCoy asks about the war that the commissioner was supposed to help stop, and Kirk comments that surely they will be able to find another female who can stop the war. I am not sure why it had to be a female. It seems like an odd thing to say.
On the plus side, I do like the scenery and the colors they used for the planet. I also like the interior of Cochrane's house. Very nicely done. Overall, I still liked the episode. I took off a few points because of the plot hole.