It's established in this episode that newly-accelerated people are very vulnerable to cell damage and that any damage of cells, even something as small as a scratch, will cause one to suffer a horrible death. Yet when Kirk and Deela are viewing the Scalosian's device, Kirk tries to grab it and gives himself a bad case of freezer burn. Wouldn't this damage the cells on his hands?

Also, when Deela first brings Kirk "up to speed," so to speak, Kirk attempts to stun her with a phaser. But Deela is easily able to step out of the way because the phaser is firing in normal time. So how come the rest of the bridge crew, operating also in normal time, doesn't seem to take notice of the fact that a phaser bolt shoots through the air out of nowhere?

The scene at the beginning of the episode (with Scotty in the captain`s chair) is stolen from "The Empath" which was produced before this episode. Look at Scotty`s mouth. Also, in the background you can hear Scotty`s voice saying something about a "solar flare". That line is from "The Empath"! Also, both the scenes of the viewscreen are stock scenes with a new image on the screen. Chekov is at the nav console in one of them, when it was clearly a different guy in the scene from "The Empath" and it will still be him at the very end.

If the hyper-accellerated people are moving so quickly that they can dodge a phaser blast, shouldn't they burst into flames from friction with the air? Spaceships and meteors reentering the earth's atmosphere are heated to thousands of degrees because of friction, and they are moving much slower than these super-fast aliens.

Just what kind of people are they recruiting at Starfleet, anyway? Compton made a lousy showing throughout the episode. First off, when taking samples of alien water, it's not a good idea to rinse your hands in it, then rub your face and mouth. Secondly, this trained Starfleet officer tosses aside his loyalty to Starfleet and the Federation for the sake of a pretty girl he's only known for a short time. It's just as well that he died. Presumably treason will still be punishable by death.

When Kirk came back from Scalos, he asked Scotty if the transporter controls had been fixed. Obviously, they were. He got back to the ship, didn't he?

Deela seems very enthusiastic about her duty. Too much so. To me, she came across like a very immature child, playing with her live toy.

Phil mentioned that the accelerated scenes were done with the cameras at an angle. I also noticed an odd, whooshing sound whenever the accelerated people were in a scene.

Deela told Kirk that her country was damaged by volcanos, etc. I think the word should have been "world" or "planet."

After these generations of inbreeding, there are no pure Scalosians anymore. Why are they unable to produce any fertile sons?

Another point that was never raised in the show. The Scalosians only needed men for breeding, apparently. What were they going to do with the female crew? Leave them frozen permanently, or bring them out for the men to play with while their women were doing their duty?

Observant Science officer Spock never noticed that a new tape had been inserted in the console.

Kirk talks a good philosohpy about advances and how they no longer judge on appearances, etc, etc, etc. Then he tells Deela that he notices women if they're PRETTY enough. Apparently with Kirk, it's "Do as I say, not as I do."

Those tricorders are really something. Who was recording McCoy looking at Compton disappear? Who recorded McCoy and Kirk talking together?

Spock made a buzzing noise, indicating speech, right before he slowed into normal time. What's the logic of a Vulcan speaking out loud to himself, since no one else could hear?

At the end, there was no indication that the Federation might attempt to help these people. Deela said that Kirk would prevent others from coming, and he didn't deny it. It somehow doesn't seem "Star Trek" that they would leave them to die out.

On the other hand, Kirk had previously offered help, and Deela shrugged it off. Bad move. He offered to take them to a different planet, which might be a very good idea. The Scalosian water, which they would have to drink, is still tainted, after all. Perhaps it's the water that's keeping them accelerated. Move to a different planet, with different water, and they just might slow down in a few generations.

Kirk never told Deela about the decelerant, either. Now that they have it, what's to prevent volunteers from breeding with them, then returning to normal? Or how about donating sperm? That could be done with no hazard whatsoever.

I also have a nit involving the fired phaser. wouldn't it have caused a phaser burn in the wall.

In addition to a buzzing sound, the Scalosians should have made another sound--a sonic boom. At the rate of speed they'd have to travel to become invisible, they'd have to break the sound barrier. At the very least, they should be causing a backblast of air currents by their movements. Howcome no one notices this phenomenon?

The Scalosians must have been very careful not to stand still for too long. Otherwise, someone would have seen odd blurs around the ship.

I guess the reason the sabotage of the ship took so long was that the Scalosians had to use the turbolifts. To them, that must have seemed like days or weeks. On second thought, they must have taken the jeffries tubes. They would have starved to death on the turbolifts.

D.K.--The whooshing sound heard during the speeded up scenes must have been the sounds of the ship slowed down.

How come the transporter worked in accelerated time? Shouldn't they have had to stand on the pads for an extremly long time?

Everything should have taken a long time for the Scalosians. For example, everytime they pushed a button on the Enterprise, there should have been a noticable delay while they waited for the circuit to make. When the Scolosian lady poured water into Kirk's cup, it should have poured slower than the coldest molasses (and Kirk should have been able to see it; the water wasn't accelerated). When Kirk zapped the Scalosian guy, he should have taken ages to fall to the floor (I'll give the actor credit; he did take a long time to drop).

There's no way that two accellerated beings could have a fight, as Kirk and Scalosian guy did. As I've mentioned before, if a Scalosian can dodge a phaser beam, they must be going close to the speed of light. A punch from a Scalosian would have the energy equivalent of an H-Bomb! The two combatants would be vaporized, along with the Enterprise.

The Scalosians' voices should have been so accelerated that they could conceivably been boosted to the radio wave level. Uhura should have been able to hear them on her panel.

Mike,

We did see (and Kirk would have too, if he was looking) when the Scalosian water was poured into Kirk's cup.

Anti-nit. The Scalosian voices would not have been on the radio. Radio is an EM wave, carried by photons. sound is an acoustic wave, carried by the transmission medium (hence the variability of the speed of sound).

Nit. The accelerated people had better not build up a static charge (by rubbing their feet on the carpet, etc...) or else they would give off Cherenkov radiation. This is radiation emitted by a charged object which is travelling faster than the speed of light in a given medium. It has been observed by shooting electrons at near the speed of light into crystals (or water). The speed of light in water or crystals is a few thousand km/s slower than in vacuum.

Scott--all we saw was the surface of the coffee being disturbed by the water; we didn't see the stream or drops of water falling through the air.

I like the point about Cherenkov radiation. This episode is great to nitpick; if the writers had stuck firmly to the laws of physics, it would have been the most bizarre episode ever.

But you can't change the laws of physics!!

Cap'n, I canna change the Laws of Physics!

If you're a writer, you can. Especially a writer that flunked physics 101.

If you break the laws of physics do you get punished?

Depends on the law. I wouldn't to try to break the Law of Conservation of Momentum; that would sting.

Actually their speed related to their voice does raise an interesting nit. Remember how you can tell how far away a lightning bolt is by counting the seconds between when you see it and when you hear it? The same thing (problem in this case) applies. Sound will only travel at...the speed of sound Which they are obviously going way past. Obvioulsy speech is no longer a viable way of communicating at this speed. When Deela says something Kirk should have plenty of time to run down to the kitchen and grab a bit to eat before the soundwaves reach where he was standing. Everyone else around him however would still hear what he's saying, it would just sound like the voices Dr. Crusher heard in "Cause and Effect", the pitch of his voice wouldn't change.
Speaking of Kirk eating. Doesn't anyone else find it odd that our good Captain, whose metapolism MUST have been sped up also, doesn't have to spend the whole time running between the Galley and the Bathroom as his body tries to intake/expel the requires nutriants to run at this excellerated rate? Shouldn't he age that must faster as well?
I'll now turn over to any doctor in the house any further question about the physical problems of a "normal" person operating at this speed. Including...his brain's ability to process data coming in this fast, his nervous systems ability to transmit electrical impulses at the required speed, etc, etc, etc.

The speed of sound is not an absolute, like the speed of light. Sound travels at a different speed depending upon the travel medium and the temperature. For instance, the speed of sound is much slower in water than air, and much slower in cold air than hot.

Thanks to the Doppler effect, there would be a different pitch to Kirk's voice depending on whether he was moving away or towards the listener.

As to Kirk's increased metabolism, it would appear to the outside observer that all Kirk is doing is eating and excreting. But from Kirk's perspective, he is moving normally, so his bodily functions would appear normal to him. Since we mostly saw events from the speeded up perspective, we wouldn't see a hyper-ingesting Kirk.

Nits not discussed:

Accelerated beings would have either caused beyond hurricane force winds or suffocated to death, just trying to catch a breath of air. Cooling the air (as was their plan) would not have made those air molecules respond any faster.

Gravity: a constant -- you could virtually stand on air if you're accelerated.

Light: (the phaser said it all). If your traveling faster than the speed of light and so is someone else, light which is slower than either of you has to leave a source, bounce off the person you are looking at, and enter your eyes for processing. By the time this happens, both of you could be out of the room.

Time: It's pretty lucky for the Scalosians, that the Enterprise and all those previous ships came when they did. Unless they put themselves in cryogenic freeze, their life span should be considerably less than a month.

Nits aside:

Yet another example of lost oppportunity for the Federation. Scalosian water could be usefull in times of crisis when quick action is needed.

Try new Scalosian water--for that quick, quick, QUICK pick-me-up!

I forgot about the defying gravity bit, and I'm an old fan of the Flash. He used to run up the side of buildings, because his momentum would overcome gravity. In one issue, he actually ran fast enough to reach escape velocity (he was on an asteroid).

Another episode where things could have been interesting if they'd done it right.
Here's one other people haven't mentioned.
At the end Spock says, "It was an accelerating experience."
Isn't it out of character for him to say that?
It sounds like a pun, but the word only has one basic meaning, so it's just a lame comment, not even interesting wordplay.

Spock also makes a pun (of sorts) in "The Omega Glory" with his "I am making a suggestion" line.

And, as before, the word has one basic meaning. Just another of Spock's lame attempts at humor.

The first shot of Kirk shows him with Mr. Lemli, a security guard. I'm not sure that he was beamed up with the rest of them, but I can be mistaken.

This episodes indicates that Kirk likes fast women.

There's always time for a quickie.

This leap year month seems to be bringing out the puns....

Re: "...the Flash...actually ran fast enough to reach escape velocity (he was on an asteroid)."

A normal person's running speed could exceed escape velocity on many asteroids, but how would he get enough traction to run at all? The 1st step would likely bounce you up quite a ways. Maybe if you had long, slanted cleats on your shoes...

Before Kirk is accellerated, a young woman is walking around the bridge with cups of coffee. First of all, Kirk says; "Is that coffee for anyone, or are those circuits damaged as well". Why would she be walking around with mis-replicated coffee? and second, Coffee circuits? Seems like Kirk needs to start learning some better come-ons.

When Uhura turns off the replay of the Scalosian message, it winds down very slowly before stopping. Not very advanced technology.
Kirk says on Scalos, "It registers on my ears." When they replay it later, he says, "My ears register it."

Good catch. Nove. Bad editing for whoever cut this ep. Recordings are still called tapes on Trek. Even now, tape is getting obsolete. Try to find a good cassette deck or car cassette player lately? The number of models is dwindling rapidly.

Guest Star Patrol: Jason Evers (Rael) was in the grade Z classic "The Head that Wouldn't Die." He also used to go under another first name (Herb, I think.)

Kathie Browne (Deela) was married to Darren Mc Gavin, of "The Night Stalker" and "A Christmas Story". Are they still married?

Why doesn't Spock ask UHURA to speed up the Scalosian tape?....I mean, she's the COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, d'oh!

The creators did a good job at adding the stream to the stage set.

At the start of the show, Scott is giving a log by using a voiceover...however, when they cut to the Bridge, he is saying something else.

BAD SFX---When Kirk finally destroys the cryogenic unit, the creators used a bright light to simulate the explosion and just tore the thing apart and burnt a few pieces with a torch or something...it's bad.

For some strange reason, when Kirk is trying to leave a message for Spock, he is talking VERY, VERY slow....as if he's trying to make himself more understandable...it's like he's thinking,"Spock's too dumb to figure out that all he needs to do is speed up the Scalosian tape to get the buzzing noise and then go back and slow down my tape and get my message" At least, that's what I think.

I thought the saying was "in the BLINK of an eye"

I've seen them both used. 'Wink of an eye' may be the British version, as in the Victorian slang expression 'quick as wink [at you].'

NANJAO: The "dirge" from "Spock's Brain returns in this episode.

Uhura is not at her post in the opening shot, but *MAGICALLY* appears in the closeups.

During Kirk's exam, McCoy uses the old portable cardio-stimulator from "Journey to Babel" (Heart problems, Jim?)

Finally...the beam returns to the hand phasers in this episode.

DUMB LINE: "He's pretty!" Deela, regarding Kirk..hey, dumb-dumb...the correct term is "He's handsome!"

There are some scenes in which Deela's face does not show up in Kirk's mirror. (A Vampiress, maybe?) BTW..I hope Deela doesn't catch a cold with NO UNDERWEAR ON! (Geez, what is it with these alien babes anyway? I guess it is proof that Playtex is out of business in the 23rd century)

The Eminiar VII disrupter sfx show up again in this episode (Man, those creators really LOVE that sfx, don't they?)

GREAT LINE: "I found it an accelerating experience" Spock near the end of the episode.

When Kirk fakes his acceptence into the accelerated state of living, he makes some really goofy faces. It's so bad, it's funny.

The door to the turbolift on the Bridge remains open when Kirk sits down to drink his coffee and when the crew is listening to "Speed Racer" Kirk's message.

When Kirk first comes up to the Bridge (just before his exam) you can see the shadow of a STAGE LIGHT just to the left of Uhura's station.

I caught this episode on Sci-Fi this evening. It has been years since I have seen it, but I just noticed something. After Kirk records the message, he runs to the transporter room and removes a part. Deela arrives and tries to beam Kirk down. The transporter doesn't work and Deela calls Rael. When Rael asks Deela if Kirk sabotaged the transporter, she tells him that she doesn't think so, because "he didn't have the time". That's quite an assumption. How does she know how much time it would take Kirk to sabotage the transporter?

The opening shot, with Scotty dictating the log, was lifted from "The Empath." Note how Scotty has his hair combed back in that. Jimmy Doohan's first episode with the shorter haircut was "Day of the Dove."
I always felt that Deela knew that Kirk sabotaged the transporter, but she covered for him with Rael.
I bagged an assignment in Bio class (to watch some ABC documentary that they had the nerve to air opposite "Trek") to catch this episode in its first run. (This was 10 years before VCR's, guys.) I was about to fail the class, and the teacher didn't like me anyway, so I had nothing to lose.

So the Enterprise discovers a cure to the acceleration, but they don't bother to share it with the Scalosians?

Nope---go to "TOS The Kitchen Sink--TOS Groaners" and see "Kirk's Top Ten Reasons for the quarantine on Scalos" for the complete explanation.

For a planet that's claimed to be barren, it sure is pretty from space; an attractive blue marble in space that looks like it's almost all ocean.
Kirk's sabotage of the transporter is pretty amazing; he appears to remove a single, tiny component, and when Deela tries it, the system doesn't so much as 'bleep'. My theory is that this is a safety/invasion precaution for starship captains; they remove a certain circuit and the system fails to operate. Of course, they get the thing working later, so maybe they located the missing circuit and replaced it.

As far as the quarantine issue, if it had been more firmly established in the episode that no antidote would work for the Scalosians, then Kirk's actions would have been completely justified. Maybe they should have played up the fact that the Scalosians had been accelerated for generations with continued exposure, while Kirk and Spock had only been accelerated for a short time - hence the effect was reversible only for them.

Again Bill Theiss' gets a medal for his unique wardrobe for Deela..her entire right leg is exposed while the other is in a nylon-like stocking.

Kirk sure has a thick skin; cell damage will kill him, and yet he sustains freezer burns from the Scalosian machine, a stun beam from Rael, and all the fun stuff that comes from a romp in the hay with Deela.
I don't buy the inability to use phasers on Deela. Phaser beams are concentrated light, which travels at 185,000 miles a second, and I don't believe they'd be able to step away in time. (Hey, nice aimming, Jim!? You fired at Deela's face???!!! Why not her belly, you crazy guy!!!)
Kirk races for the machine in engineering, unarmmed!!! So what if the beam comes out so slow that the Scalosians can step aside? The machine is a stationary object. Of course, that would lead to Short Show Syndrome.
Kirk uses the Scalosian weapon to destroy the machine, but wait! What's that? Smoke from the destruction...moving in accelerated time! The destruction of the device, which is in normal time, but constructed very rapidly in accelerated time, would blow up very, very, very slowly, in actuality.
Even if Kirk returned to Scalos a month later, would Deela and her people still be alive?
The planet isn't accelerated, but the people are, which means that the days and nights would also be very, very, very long for Deela and her people.

The first time I saw this ep I thought of this one. Even if the phaser was moving slow enough for them to step aside what is to stop him from taking a few more steps toward her and shooting her at point blank range? Remember the imortal line from The Matrix "Dodge This"?

Of course one has to ask why did the Redshirt taste the Scalosian water to begin with? I mean...you're on an alien planet, light years from Earth, and just because you see a clear stream of water, it does not mean it is safe to drink.

It's like the moron in "Naked Time" who takes off his glove and rubs his nose while on that frozen starship.

I agree. Not to mention the fact he failed to tell Spock he touched the panel after Spock said, "It is imperitive that we touch nothing" (or something like that). I guess it was just too much work for Tormolen to make that kind of report so McCoy could've scanned his hand and prevented the whole thing from occurring. BUT..that would lead to Short Show Syndrome.

When Kirk attacks Compton, it looks like the actor falls into the camera -- the picture jerks a bit as he falls past the lens.

To answer my own question from 1/18/01, Kathie Browne stayed married to Darren McGavin until her death earlier this year.

How did the scene of Kirk sitting on his bed, pulling his boots on and Deela fluffing her hair get by the censors? They just did the wild thing!

The premise of the acceleration in this episode is sooo completely unbelievable, it's 50's scifi comic bookish. I could believe the volcanic, etc. pollutants would sterilize the population. But the rest.... Waste of an episode. I liked Compton's girl, she seemed a bit sweet (then again I haven't seen this epi since around 1990).

It's a good thing Deela didn't get too... um... errr... you know... this is supposed to be a family friendly board... In any case, it's a good thing she didn't scratch Kirk during the unshot scene.

I think Kathie Brown inverted two words in a line, and it got left in. When Rael is getting upset over her and Kirk, she says something like: "Why can't I like the man I want to choose?"

Makes more sense by switching the words "like" and "choose."

Sir Rhosis

No, she wants to choose Kirk, and so she's asking Rael, why can't she like him, too?

I'm sorry, if you're standing still you're standing still. Period

I believe the line was, "Allow me the dignity of liking the man I select."

According to James Blish's adaptation (which I happen to be re-reading right now), Nove is correct. The line refers to the fact that the Scalosians need new blood for breeding purposes. Deela has chosen Kirk to mate with. Her line is a plea to be permitted to be allowed to like him and not just engage in casual sex, as it were. Hope I'm not being too pedantic.

Live long and prosper.

RE the point of Compton betraying his Starfleet training: docility was specified as a side-effect of hyperacceleration. Compton initially DID decline to help them ("At first I refused...").

This is borne out by Deela's comments and attitude--she clearly expected it would only be a matter of time before Kirk chilled out.

Johnny Veitch made a comment above, way back when, noting that the opening scene with Scotty is taken from "The Empath." That creates two more goofs as well. In that shot, Uhura is not at her console, but a few seconds later, she converses with Kirk - from her station. Also, Scotty's hair style is different there than in the rest of the episode. Was the show on that low a budget that minor shots, on a frequently used set like the bridge, had to be re-used?

for John A, re the redshirt on tasting S. Water- I remember seeing a cowboy movie where they were transporting 2 women prisoners. They came along a stream made fun of the thirsty women went to the clear stream and get a drink and they ended up dead! POison, POsin! po..

(forgot the name of the movie, what was it?)

The Environmental Engineering set seems like a fresh one - built for this episode, and never seen again.

The only nit that really bothers me is how the turbo lift doors on the bridge stay open all the time whether or not anyone was getting on or off. This never happens before or after this, in this series or any of the other Trek series or movies.

Oh and Adam Bomb, after watching this episode today, I see that The Environmental Engineering set is in fact a redress of the briefing room.

I see that The Environmental Engineering set is in fact a redress of the briefing room.

Oh, for crying out loud. Well, what else could I (or we) expect? Thanks for the eagle eye, Mr. C.

Sorry! You don't have to get hostle.

He wasn't getting hostile towards you. That was addressed more towards TPTB. And that was a good catch, Mr. Crusher!

Sorry! After rereading i see that he wasn't getting hostile towards me.

That was addressed more towards TPTB.
Yes, it was. Sorry if you misinterpreted, Mr. C. Maybe I'll watch this episode tonight, as I'm not into "March Madness." Or, I could always watch Catwoman; it's on one of the HBO channels. .

Shatner has stated that when the show was filming, the episodes filmed earlier in the season would air while he was shooting the later ones. He'd note how much weight he had gained, and go on a crash diet. I wonder if this episode was the turning point, as he's getting to be "Captain Gut" here.

I've seen from several sources that sharp-eyed fans can always tell where in the shooting schedule an episode was, just from watching Shatner's waistline. He would start the season fully fit. Then, the hectic schedule would cut back on the time that he could exercize properly, and the waistline would start creeping up.

Am I the only who has noticed that when Kirk is first accelerated and he looks over the bridge that Spock's chair swivels?

Live long and prosper.

"Bring it to the Bridge."

It would have been more efficient if, instead of McCoy having to bring the tape to the bridge, the Enterprise had had a pneumatic delivery device. Especially in this episode, where time was of the essence.

After all, banks and department stores had those ... oh, gee, way back in the twentieth century, wasn't it? Or maybe even before?

He (Shatner) would start the season fully fit. Then, the hectic schedule would cut back on the time that he could exercize properly, and the waistline would start creeping up.

There is a funny story about Shatner's on-set exercise regiment, but I forgot where I heard it from. Shatner would use the weights that counterbalance the camera to weight-lift while on set. Well, the crew (we all know the cast and crew were inclined toward practical jokes) went to great expense to make a wooden replica of the weights. Shatner picked up the dummy weight to exercise with it, and it went flying. I would have loved to have been a fly on the set wall that day.

It would have been more efficient if,.... the Enterprise had had a pneumatic delivery device.

Well, they had those food slots, didn't they? Except that there were none on the bridge.

The "remastered" version of this episode is set to air this weekend. Memory Alpha says that it will be "the first episode to feature a new opening sequence". Wonder what that means? New teaser? I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.

I think it's the first Season Three episode to be remastered. S3 was when they switched the opening from yellow text to blue, right? And they added De Kelley to the opening credits, IIRC.

As usual, those orbiting shots look great.

At the beginning Kirk asks, "Scotty, are the transporter controls functioning now?" though we never see a problem with the transporter. My guess is that there was a cut scene showing something weird happening during beam-up (the Scalosian's hitching a ride). There are various other comments about them making "changes" to the ship to make it compatible (which Spock undid at the end).

McCoy acts astonished that someone could vanish before his eyes, but transporters do that all the time. Nobody suggests that Compton was transported.

Kirk gives a little smile when he first sees Deela. "Oooh, a sexy invasion." Theiss certainly did do a good job on her outfit, but 1/3 of it's missing.

In addition to new space shots, the remastered episode has a very nice new model of the Scalosian city. They do good work allowing the live actors to walk in front of it.

The phaser shot on the force field is revised. The original just showed the entire field glowing green. The updated version shows the individual phaser beams splattering on the force field as they sweep their fire. However, this isn't present in the original. It looks like they grabbed a still right before they fired and animated their arms moving.

The force field repulsion effect is unchanged, as is the acceleration fadeout of Compton.

We see five Scalosians in the distress call, but I think we see only 3 on the ship, and at the end, only 2 beam down. What happened to the others??

Maybe Kirk and Spock wanted to discuss the antidote and its possible side effects before sharing it with the Scalosians.

Maybe they weren't sure what the Scalosians would do or what effect it would really have on them, since their biochemistry would be altered, different from humans'.

So they wanted to study it further, and Spock had surreptitiously taken readings of the Scalosians which he'd study later when considering the antidote's possible effects.

They'd send somebody back to Scalos with the antidote, later.

Does that make sense?

Kirk offered them help and they refused. After trying to put his ship and crew on ice, Kirk wasn't in the mood to be cooperative. He surely suspected Spock had a solution. When Deela asks what they'll do on the Enterprise, Kirk gives a long look at Spock who says effectively, mind your own business.

TV Land ran this episode this morning. Nothing unusual there. But, the theme music used was the second season version, with the third season (blue colored font) titles.

Re-reading the previous posts about eating it occurred to me that eating would be complicated, and possibly impossible.
Let's say Kirk wants to eat a sandwich and coffe. The sandwich is virtually solid, and could be chewed and swallowed, as it's an inert object. However, coffee is a fluid, and susceptible to gravity, so he shouldn't be able to swallow coffee or any form of liquid, because it can't be sped up to his level-- it would block his throat completely. Food is inaminate, like a book or chair that could be picked up and moved.

About the phaser not being seen on the bridge, Kirk pressed the trigger for only a moment in his time, so it would be one lf the shortest phaser shots ever. It should have appeared like a very brief flash or flicker to the crew, and I guess a burn mark isn't present because the stun effect wouldn't burn the wall, because that would burn Deela! He doesn't want to harm her, just incapacitate her temporarily-- a bit of an overkill if you're tending to phaser burns on her, as well!

The Scalosian stun guns zap Kirk with a second's worth of force, and Kirk does the same to the Scalosian machine, but the same one second blast strikes the two security guards in normal time. For this to happen one or two Scalosians would have had to stand for a long time (one second of real time) holding their finger on the trigger. During that one second Kirk, Spock, and the guards should have seen the Scalosians for one second.

Also, Kirk and Spock were pushed back from the machine, which took about a second, which means the Scalosians were pushing against them for a long time, enough to make them trip backwards. Shouldn't they have seen the Scalosians for another second?

Kirk offers to take the Scalosians to a different planet, but there's still the time factor. Even a planet, just 3 light years away, with a ship travelling at warp 8 would take a long time to reach from the Scalosian viewpoint. Still, it's better than dying on Scalos, where the water might be the cause behind the trap of acceleration. As someone else posted here, maybe if they'd stopped drinking the water, which was used to accelerate Kirk and Spock, they might just return to normal.

Deela touches her throat communicator, and comments, "This species is capable of much affection. I wonder if they'll demonstrate it to us?" How is she accessing this information? Does she have an implant in her brain and she's accessing computer records?

Rael tells Deela that the transporter is fixed, and Deela asks why she didn't tell him earlier, to which he answers that he didn't want to intrude.
Apparently, he believes Deela and Kirk hadn't snuggled yet, when he barged in. Boy, was his timing off! Of course, if she winds up with child then he'll just believe they had sex after he barged in and not before. That would have been an intrusion of the worst kind!

The Voyager episode "Blink of an Eye" is somewhat similar to this one.

This episode is a retread of "By Any Other Name."

The following describe BOTH episodes, unless where distinctions are noted:

It involves a distress call as a trap. There are aliens that take over the ship, with a device** that won't let them get at it (initially, for at least one of the episodes). The head aliens are seen as an adult human male and female. Captain Kirk gets affection stirred up in the head alien female, and jealousy gets stirred up in the head alien male. Captain Kirk gets into a physical fight with the head alien male while the head alien female looks on. A limited number of the Enterprise crew are against the aliens in each episode: "By Any Other Name" has the handful of aliens temporarily neutralizing all but four of the crew, and in a similar way, "Wink of an Eye" included one non-senior officer at the beginning accelerated, and then Captain Kirk (with a later joining) Spock both being accelerated and joined together against the aliens and their device**.

Here's a few other similarities:

The aliens consist of a small group of 3 males and 2 females.

Kirk offers help in finding a planet for the aliens to live on, but his offer is rejected. The aliens (implied in the case of "By Any Other Name") end up on the same planet they were on at the beginning of the episode.

The aliens kill one member of the Enterprise landing party but no other crewmembers.

Okayyyyyy... to keep their population going the Scalosians apparently have to mate with non-Scalosian partners & yet the Scalosians were going to put the crew in a deep freeze until they needed more people despite only having one hyper-accelerated crewmember (still alive). Did the other gal decide that she could share Kirk with Deela?

Deela touches her throat communicator, and comments, "This species is capable of much affection. I wonder if they'll demonstrate it to us?" How is she accessing this information? Does she have an implant in her brain and she's accessing computer records? - Steve


How does she know this? Notice how the line is worded: "He's trying to communicate with the Vulcan. His species is capable of much affection." Hmmm...I knew there was something between those two.

When Rael is working on the transporter, we see Scotty in the background, very slowly walking through the door of the transporter room. Later, when Kirk and Deela enter, Scotty is still there. That might be OK, but the problem is that we see a scene in normal time in between - McCoy and Spock discussing the antidote and Spock drinking the Scalosian water. So Scotty should not have been standing there that long.

That's got to be a generic nit for this whole episode.

Kirk and the Scalosians are so fast that a phaser beam (travelling at the speed of light) seems slow, yet it doesn't take forever, from their POV, for non-accelerated crew to move around the ship.

It's also never explicitly stated, but accelerated people must have to take the stairs. The turbolift would take forever.

When Kirk hears the insect-like buzzing in sickbay, the intercom hail sounds. Kirk walks over and says, "Kirk to Spock. Come in." How did he know it was Spock calling him?

Why didn't Kirk share the cure with the Scalosians?

Wasn't there a line about the Scalosians being too far along in the disease for a cure to do any good? If not, that would be my explanation.

As I mentioned above, I think Kirk was just angry at them for taking his ship, which is why he didn't share the cure with them.

Actually Della mentioned they'd tried to cure themselves before, but all attempts failed. It worked on Kirk and Spock, but there were no tests made to see if Scalosian physiology could have survived the cure, which should have been done, but maybe it couldn't because a mere scratch (ie blood test) would accelerate one of their kind and kill them.

I'd think 23rd century medicine could do the testing without a physical scratch. :-)

Spock looks dubiously at McCoy in the teaser when he reveals that Compton simply disappeared. However, not only should Spock know that McCoy's not crazy (because transporters exist and Compton obviously is not there), but Spock is also facing the general direction of Compton! He should have seen the disappearance off to one side of his vision!

When Kirk pops back into normal time in the transporter room, Scotty asks if Spock is coming back too, but why? He just left Spock on the bridge! Only McCoy and Chapel know Spock is accelerated.

I wish the city had been colored individually. Every building is bland gray, unlike real cities, which have buildings of numerous colors.

I can understand Kirk wanting to hide his tape from the Scalosians, and it set up the scene of McCoy accidently finding and playing his tape, but it would make alot more sense to slip the tape up Spock or McCoy's sleeve. They would instantaneously notice it.

Quite a dramatic CGI difference for Scalos-- from a brilliant blue ball to one that looks Earthly with plenty of land.

Kirk wasn't sure how to destroy the Scalosian suspended animation machine, but I guess it's because Deela is constantly hovering near him, and he doesn't have enough time to run there and blow the thing away with his own phaser-- which he tried to shoot Deela with.

1) How were the Scolosians beamed aboard the ship? Doesn't the transporter operator have to deliberately lock onto a specific object in order to beam it up? Or do the transporters just beam up everything within a certain area?

2) Based on the rate Scotty moves in the background, Phil estimates in the Guide that the Scolosians are living at least 840 times faster than normal. Assuming a lifespan of 100 years in accelerated time, that would give them a lifespan of 43 days in normal time.

However, when Della dodges Kirk's phaser beam, both she and the beam appear to be moving at around 1 m/s from their accelerated perspective. The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/second, so that would mean Della is living about 300 million times faster than normal. At that rate, the Scolosian lifespan would only be about 10 seconds in normal time.

3) Scolosian water must also make the Scolosians a lot more durable. Assuming a Scolosian weighs 70 kg, at a normal walking speed of about 1 m/s, his kinetic energy is about 35 J. Increasing his velocity 840 times would increase his kinetic energy to nearly 25,000,000 J, meaning that each step has the force of an armor-piercing round. And at 10% of light speed, every time his foot touches the Enterprise deck, the impact could be measured in megatons.

4) While moving about, Scolosians have to be careful that both feet never leave the ground. If they are accelerated 840 times, then a fall of only 1 cm would seem to take about 40 seconds, and if they are accelerated to near light speed, it would seem to take months!

5) Perhaps the Scolosians don't need to get about on foot though: They might be able to fly around the Enterprise, by flapping their arms very fast (acc to what I can find online, a human could theoretically achieve liftoff by flapping their arms hundreds of times per second).

Ok, there are five Scalosians, plus Compton, aboard the Enterprise. Later, Kirk is added, making it seven accelerated people on the ship. In the book, Phil estimates that they are accelerated by a factor of at least 840, probably more. This means that there are at least the equivalent of 5880 people on the ship added to it's normal crew of 400. Can the ship's life support system really handle that many extra people, and could the added strain on the ship's resources go unnoticed for long?

The new special effects create theri own nit. The remastered episode has a new, excellent-looking city in the background. However, later in the show when Spock is adjusting the distress signal at various speedsa, if you freeze frame the blurry images, you'll see the original cityscape behimd Rael.

Why not just capture and accelerate everyone in the landing party while onb Scalos. If an infected person eventuaklly comes around and wants to obey the Scalosians, the brainwashed landing party would bring down more crewmen in the form of rescue parties.

The beam of light from the Scalosian weapon that Kirk fires at the machine doesn't matcvh where the burned-up, damaged part of the machine displays when he destroys it.

He calls one of his crewmen, 'Yeoman' (the one with the coffee.) However, she's seen regulary at the engineering statuion on the bridge. Isn't she an engineer? And is she allowed, as a woman, in Scotty's engineering room?

Jonathan - "The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/second..."

Jonathan means 'metres per second', and not 'miles per second' if anybody's curious, since the speed is 186,000 miles per second.

It's good to see that one from the five surviving members of the planet Scalos is a hairdresser, while one other is a couturier.

That acceleration sure would come in handy if your ship was taken over by hostile forces.

Think of it, you could defeat said hostile forces before they could say "boo." You don't really have to do much, just take all their weapons away from them.

Imagine their faces when they suddenly fine themselves unarmed.

When Rael couldn't contact Deela, he might have thoughtr Kirk had hurt her or locked her up somewhere. Oh, boy, if he had entered Kirk's quarters just a couple minutes later...bad scene, man!
I wonder if Deela had Kirk's child?
Scotty's log is footage from the beginning of 'The Empath'. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but his hair style is different from the rest of the episode. It's thick and combed back, whereas this episode has his hair shorter with short bangs.
Such excellent new effects for the Scalosian city in the background. It moves in perspective when the camera moves with the actors. Also, kudos for the creators making that water fountain-- something never done in that size before.
Della says that her parents and their parents before them tricked space traveller into coming to Scalos, and mating with them to keep their race going. But where are they? Rael's distress signal clearly states that there are only 5 Scalosians left, and all of them are reasonably young. At least the parents should still be alive, but apparently not.
Which makes me wonder; how old is Deela? Actress Kathie Browne was 35 at the time, so let's say Deela was 35.
Now we need to figure out how fast the Scalosians were accelerated. If they were sped up 365 times (they weren't because not enough time elapses for that to be true), then one Scalosian year would equal one Earth day. At that rate, she was born only 35 days before this episode took place!
If they're 100 times faster, then one Earth day passes for every 100 Scalosian days. That puts her birth 3.65 times further back than the 365 days mentioned, than she was born about 4 months before the episode.
And if the Scalosians have been tricking travelers since their grandparents were around, then even though Deela says it was 'long ago' for her, it might have been just a couple years ago in Kirk's time. Maybe Scalos isn't that far from well-traveled space lanes.

I wonder if Deela had Kirk's child?

How many sprogs did Kirk leave in his wake. Imagine an episode where Starfleet has to deal with all the paternity suits


Scotty's log is footage from the beginning of 'The Empath'.

I wonder why they did that? I mean they wanted to save money, but come on!


Such excellent new effects for the Scalosian city in the background.

I agree. Pretty impressive.


Rael's distress signal clearly states that there are only 5 Scalosians left

Why didn't the Scalosians just be honest with what happened to them? I'm sure the Federation would have been willing to help out.

Answer: SSS (Short Show Syndrome)

When Deela first meets Kirk and Kirk is trying to talk to his bridge crew, Deela says you sound like an insect to them. That's your own description.
How would Deela know what Kirk said? The time difference would have made any description Kirk made unintelligible from being so slow.

She read the script

Compton told her.

Whoops, forgot about him.