Can I nit Shatner's introduction on the Sci-Fi Channel? He stated that the dead guys took over the crews bodies so they could build a ship. Hello! they were building androids Captain!

Too bad Sargon couldn't wait another century or so. Then they could have cloned bodies and moved into them.

Perhaps Sargon should have contacted Norman from "I Mudd."

GUEST STAR PATROL (Henoch Corp. Subsidiary)

Diana Muldaur (Mulhall) we all know as Dr. Pulaski, but, of course, she was on "L.A. Law", and got iced in the infamous elevator scene.

Diana Muldaur is also Miranda Jones in "Is There In Truth No Beauty"

I wonder how the planet, after what Spock said happened to it, could still be classified as Class M.

What exactly does this title mean and why not call it, say, 'Back To The Future'?

Kirk wants to leave Spock on the ship because he doesn't want to risk both of them. Well, why not just send Spock down?

When Mulhall arrives in the transporter room she says that she remembers being ordered to the transporter room, but if Sargon could "order" Mulhall to go, then why did he just turn off the lights when Kirk ordered Spock to stay on the ship?

Isn't an "Astrobiologist" someone who studies the biology of stars? (Well, in 1999 the University of Washington will offer a Ph.D. course in Astrobiology.)

In the planet's chamber, it looks like Kirk's communicator is hooked on the back of his shirt and it doesn't seem that easy to reach.

Logically, Sargon should have known that inhabiting the body of the Captain of the ship would cause problems and he should have chosen a lesser officer, like Scotty for instance, but then Shatner is getting paid the big bucks and he wouldn't have had much to do if someone else had been inhabited by Sargon. I wonder if James Doohan got extra money for doing Sargon's disembodied voice?

I wonder what Sargon's original plan was? Obviously this robot body thing had to be thought up after they had put themselves in those glass spheres, because if they had thought up the robot bodies first, then why stick themselves in glass spheres and wait for someone to come along when they could have just built the robot bodies instead?

On the ship, Sargon and Thalassa don't seem to last as long in Kirk and Mulhall's bodies as Sargon had lasted in Kirk's body in the planet.

It looks like Nurse Chapel's insignia has a red cross in it.

When Sargon speaks from the main computer to Thalassa, his voice sounds a little too much like James Doohan at one point.

In the chamber, Mulhall says the readings are all off the scale. I know this is a typical Trek throw-away line, but... are temperature, atmospheric pressure, etc. off the scale?

The reason for Sargon and company being stored in the globes for half a million years requires some analysis. If their race was so advanced, why not move to another planet before theirs got wrecked? It seems easier than building a cave a hundred miles underground and waiting for somebody to pass by. Also, if the goal was to have long-lasting android bodies, why didn't they build them before the planetary catastrophe? It would have saved a lot of explaining and trouble later on.

What the heck is Sargon doing in the briefing room? What else does he have to do but help out with the building of the androids? The three of them sure do tool around the Enterprise a lot instead of getting to work.

After they bring Kirk's "dead" body back to sickbay, McCoy examines the body and we can see the readings on the wall monitor. The indicators are moving around a little in the middle. Isn't he supposed to be dead? Like, really dead? (At other times, a dead person's readings would have the arrows all at the bottom.) And we hear the heartbeat sound!

When McCoy leaves sickbay so that Thalassa can fix up Kirk, the ship seems to shake a couple of times. Why?

After Kirk is restored, he orders that Henoch be killed. No discussion, no bargaining; just kill him?

After Spock is apparently "killed", Sargon's voice says "I could not allow your sacrifice of one so close to you." One gets the idea that Sargon would have no problems killing a stranger (just an observation).

When Mulhall arrives in the transporter room she says that she remembers being ordered to the transporter room, but if Sargon could "order" Mulhall to go, then why did he just turn off the lights when Kirk ordered Spock to stay on the ship?

I got the impression that Sargon ordered her by faking a signal over the intercom. He couldn't do that on the bridge.

Ya' know why Sargon & his people would not settle for android bodies? They watch "Star Trek" and they know Kirk can defeat computers & androids with a single lecture!

Yes...Chapel does have a red cross on her badge.
See the "Star Trek Encyclopedia" under "insignias"

I love this insignia...KUDOS to the creators for spending a little more time with minor details like this one!

What I fail to grasp is why Spock--a Vulcan---an emotionless alien---would allow a non-corporeal life-form in his body that he knows has emotions.

First of all....Welcome back, Sulu.

My...Kirk must not keep track of his crew very well. He don't know Mulhall...you'd think he would.

Great Line: "You are a lovely female" Henoch in Spock's body to Chapel. (Chapel blushes)

ACADEMY AWARD WINNING LINE:

"Risk! Risk...is our business! That's what this Starship is all about! That's why we're aboard her!" Kirk in the conference room.

The thought wave SFX that Thalassa uses on McCoy is too cool to describe! KUDOS!

MISSED OPPORTUNITY:

Spock (possessed by Henoch) kissing Chapel!

C'mon! Geez! I can't believe they missed THAT one!

In sickbay, during the transfer, you can see the light bulbs inside Thalassa's sphere.

Also, when McCoy explains to Chapel how the metabolic rate will increase, his words don't match his lips..In fact, when some words are spoken, his lips don't even move! (I guess ventriloquism is an AMA requirement in the 23rd century)

Uhura STILL has problems screaming in this episode...her scream resembles that of a 90 year old woman. Her scream in "Arena" was lots better.

Mulhall's tricorder makes no noise when she scans the atmosphere.

Thalassa shows no emotion when Sargon/Kirk dies.

Henoch is identified as being a part of the enemy in the Guide. If that's so, then why does Sargon trust Henoch to make the correct formulas to compensate for the metabolic rate? I mean, would you trust your enemy to do so and get it right?
Wouldn't Sargon suspect that Henoch might alter one of the formulas?

Mulhall is an Astrobiologist. In fact, in the discussion about whether to let Sargon and Co go ahead, she explicitly states "I am a scientist"... so why the heck is she in a red uniform? Surely blue should be the colour for the science dept??? Or do female officers get to choose the colour uniform that looks best on them?? Can anyone with a DVD get close enough to see whether she's wearing the science emblem or the engineering/support services one, please!

Perhaps the reason why Mulhall was wearing red instead of blue is because the costume dept. only had one blue micro-mini skirt...and that was being worn by Chapel.(And that one is so short, you can see some of Chapel's rear!...See "Journey to Babel")

The really frightening thing about that suggestion, John, is that you may be right! Actually, there are at least two blue dresses... they are a slightly different design, so you can tell. Chapel's has a lower neckline, and pins the emblem on the collar, whereas the other one is a standard design. Hey... do I really notice things like that??

Just for the record...Mulhall is wearing an ENGINEERING insignia.

And she claims to be a scientist! BAH!

RevdKathy---I stand corrected...I just got done watching "The Alternate Factor" again and I saw at least 4 or 5 women with a BLUE micro-mini-skirt....some of them had SCIENCE insignias on them....What I'd like to know is what happened to these "extra" blue micro-mini-skirts? Were they stolen? Mislaid? Or did none of the blue micro-mini-skirts seen in "The Alternate Factor" fit Diana Muldaur? It's a puzzle indeed.

"Just for the record...Mulhall is wearing an ENGINEERING insignia.
And she claims to be a scientist! BAH!"

So, John, is Scotty NOT a scientist then?

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia he's the Chief Engineer....nothing else.

Engineers are traditionally scientists, I believe.

Whatever the case may be, Merat....
I've never heard of a maintenence engineer being a scientist (or vice-versa)...but then again anything is possible. You brought up an interesting thought. Thank you.

Of course, one has to ask: Why didn't Spock mind meld with these disembodied people while they were still in their spheres & find out their true desires...like keeping their hosts' bodies, the desire to kill one another, etc.

When Sargon vacates Kirk's body on the planet, he collapses. McCoy and Spock then lift him up by the shoulders. In the process they hitch up his shirt, revealing a couple of inches of most UnKirkly Grey Vest! Proof at last that Kirk wears a vest when he's not going to be required to lose his shirt (so how does he know in advance when not to wear it... )

Sargon's math bears scrutiny.
He's been in that receptacle for 500,000 years, and yet he can say that Adam and Eve might have been some of his people. Well, I'm pretty sure that Adam and Eve didn't live 500,000 years ago (a few thousand years according to the Bible), but even if Adam and Eve were Sargon's people, why didn't they know about the disaster on his planet that forced them underground? Maybe they didn't want anything to do with him?
And about that android that was prepared first for Thalassa; why wasn't it made with female features to start off with? Why a bald, muscular, oily male? If I were her, I wouldn't want to transfer into that 'thing' either!

Well, it's too bad, TNG couldn't have Dr. Pulaski for longer than one season. In this episode Diane Muldaur also appeares as Dr. Ann Mulhall.

By the way: Isn't it amazing, that all landing parties, no matter how they stood on a planet's surface, are beamed up looking to the transporter control?

LESLIE ALERT!

Mr. Leslie (who died in "Obsession") returns as a security guard in this episode.

Hey, Sargon...here's an idea...why not ask Leslie how to come back from the dead?

Good catch, Stephanie. I think even the Chief may have missed that one; I know I did, even after 35 years. I think your nit holds up all the way to the end of "Voyager." You should enter that in the "Favorite Nits" board in the Sink.

Also people who are sitting down when they are transported always appear in the chamber in a standing position.

In "Tomorrow is Yesterday", Captain John Christopher(Major if you believe the Scpipt guy)was seated in his jet yet he transported standing up. But.....he was facing away from the transporter control....

It's a great observation in general, although there are exceptions. Of course, the transporter must be able to reorient people. Otherwise, if you beamed up someone on the planet immediately below the ship they'd materialise lying down!

In 'The Enemy Within', didn't evil Kirk materialise backwards, so he could turn to camera with a snarl?

Doubtless it was done for dramatic effect, Sophie. The close-up of the snarling evil Kirk turning toward the camera, combined with the intense music, made a great way to end the teaser and lead in to the episode. (Sorry to get off topic.)

Once again the crew uses the term "miles" to determine how deep Sargon's chamber is located. What happened to the metric system?

Why didn't anyone mention to Sargon the location of Mudd's planet? (From "I, Mudd") PLENTY of androids there!

It's an old problem...but when Hanock/Spock gets up from the bed in Sick Bay, the Med Panel is still showing his life signs

GREAT MOMENT:

There are some great shots of De Kelley (McCoy) in the Conference Room in this episode that are my personal favorites.

I'm not sure if this has ever been mentioned in any capacity, but I saw this episode again for the first time in a long time last night, and maybe I was just supremely tired or something, but did the whole thing seem.....off? I don't really know how to explain it. The scene where Mulhal was introduced was just so....silly. Excepting the fact that the captain doesn't know who she is (possible, I guess), the fact that she just shows up after being ordered to do so by a disembodied Scotty-like voice without even calling up the bridge first to see what's going on...it just struck me as....silly! The acting really wasn't the greatest. It seemed like the usual cast chemistry just wasn't there. Like it was a pilot episode or something. It was weird. Again, I was probably just tired, as I've never noticed this before.

NANJAO: The actor playing the android body is Bill Blackburn, who is up on the bridge playing Hadley. Did he know they were modeling their android bodies after him?

Ya know, I too have no idea what the title means, except we are perhaps seeing a "tomorrow" that Sargon, et al., dreamed of each day for half a" million years, but we're not "returning" to it, are we?

If I was Sargon, et al., I would have protected my balls better (juvenile pun intended). Two are on open shelves, one is on a tripod thingie. Any little earth tremor and you're broken or rolling around on the floor like an out-of-control bowling ball.

This is a prime episode to see Nimoy's missing bottom teeth (right side, about halfway toward the back) as he laughs and smiles widely.

I took the ship shaking to mean Sargon was settling into the computer banks.

The actress who plays the African American nurse is named Cindy Lou. Now, of course you're supposed to say, "Cindy Lou Who?" :D

Sir Rhosis

I wonder if Cindy Lou Who's father was a Doctor? ;-)

---

Quote:

By John A. Lang on Friday, November 29, 2002 - 10:13 pm: Why didn't anyone mention to Sargon the location of Mudd's planet? (From "I, Mudd") PLENTY of androids there!

---

---

Quote:

By John A. Lang on Saturday, July 07, 2001 - 06:22 pm: Wouldn't Sargon suspect that Henoch might alter one of the formulas?

---

Henoch probably just found it much easier to use his mental powers on her.

Henoch : Look! Shiny object!
Chapel: Oooooooh...

Kirk says "Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon...?" Technically, the first Apollo mission was never supposed to reach the moon. But, Apollo 1 caught fire on the launch pad during a test, and killed all three astronauts. Apollo 7 was the first manned flight launched, Apollo 8 orbited the moon (but didn't land), and Apollo 11 was the first moon landing, in the summer of 1969. More on the Apollo missions here.

Kirk says "Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon...?" Technically, the first Apollo mission was never supposed to reach the moon.


I suppose you could take it that Kirk meant,"Do you wish that the first Apollo mission that made it to the moon hadn't done so?"

Hmm, Sargon ... Like Sargon The Great from 2 or 3 thousand BC. I guess you could consider this a NANJAO but they always seem to pick character, planet, and place names from earth history-talk about a lack of creativity.

If we haven't used the name Sargon in like 4 or 5 thousand years, i think that is pretty creative. I dont know anyone named Miri, Atoz, Spock, or Horta. thats creative. Or Gav, or Thelev, or Sarek, or Trelane etc. But how can you top Talos IV and Rigel VII? The lack of creativity was a result of the monetary constraints of the Studio. The naming of things however: was impeccable. IMHO.. Think about it.. we made NASA change the name of the prototype Shuttle to the Enterprise. What? we weren't creative? We want the past to be remembered and reuse names often.

I dont know anyone named Miri, Atoz, Spock... - glennofnas

Never heard of famed pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, eh? Then read about him here.

Live long and prosper.

There is also Scott Spock, the music supervisor for the film Free Enterprise.

Then there's the "Mr. Spock" in that pre-ST Jack Vance novel. I wonder if Roddenberry had ever read that and subconciously got the name from there.

There is also a cartoonist Darren "Gav" Bleuel who does Nukees, the main character of which is also named Gav. Not sure where he got the Gav name from though.

>I don't know anyone named Miri


In a book from the 1970's called "Letters to Star Trek", there is the story of a couple who named their daughter Miri, after this episode. I can only imagine the monstrously awful schoolhood that poor girl must have had. "No, it's not Mary . . . it's Miri . . . no Miri . . . well see, my parents named me after a Star Trek episode . . . please stop laughing . . .")

When Sargon reappears to Thalassa and McCoy in sickbay as a disembodied voice Thalassa says, "Sargon? I thought you destroyed by Henoch?"
Either she's perceptive or in on the plot, because nobody, other than the viewers, knew that Sargon was 'killed' by Henoch! And if Thalassa knew that her beloved mate of 500,000 years was killed by Henoch, shouldn't she have been as outraged against him as she was when McCoy denied her regarding keeping Mulhall's body? She was furious about that, so I would think that she would have charged after Henoch and 'destroyed him with a single thought'.

Kirk's shirt is really too small for him in this episode. Especially the sleeve length; compare it to Spock's and McCoy's shirts. It must have been cleaned one time too many. (The velour uniforms shrank every time they were cleaned, and they were cleaned daily.) For season three, the uniform material was switched to double-knit polyester.

The enhanced version is on next week.

What the heck is Sargon doing in the briefing room? - MattS

He was checking Henoch's formula to make sure it was correct.

When the Enterprise first sights Sargon's planet, it's light green, but when they go into orbit, it's brown/yellow.

When Spock says that Sargon is "pure energy; matter without form," Kirk responds, "Impossible." Did he forget about the Organians already?

We return to "Return to Tomorrow" next weekend. "The City on the Edge of Forever" is the following week.

Since I didn't comment on it before....

Very little to do here, just new orbital shots of the grey, dead planet. The flame effect on McCoy was unchanged.

Why didn't Kirk take Sargon, Thalassa, & Henoch to Mudd's Planet (I, Mudd) ?

OOPS! I already mentioned that

Because Harcourt Fenton Mudd was there. Would you really want to condemn Sargon and the others to living on the same planet as Harry Mudd?

Live long and prosper.

Ooooh, what a skit or parody that would make! Thalassa's mind is trapped inside Stella # 200! Do you think Sargon and she would have made out as much? Agh!

Well, they just drop by and pick up three or four android bodies, return to Arret and let Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch move into them and see if they work out. Since the Arretians are complete mind entities, the bodies should work just fine without central control, and thus work elsewhere than Muddworld.

I'd also remark that the Mudd Androids offered to transfer Uhura's mind into an android body, so obviously, she'd also be independent of central control, or she'd become Uhura #1!

This could have worked.

There was also the android technology Korby found on Exo-III.

I don't think it would work-Sargons androids were very different(and probablely more advanceed) than the others. Remember-Korbys and Mudds androids both seemed to be hard-wired circitry, even Scottie was clueless about Sargons.

I'd mostly agree with you that Sargon's would be technologically superior, but Mudd's androids had a lifespan of thousands and thousands of years, which must say something about their sophistication.
Probably like choosing a Ferrari instead of a Lamborghini. It gets the job done, but you could do better.

Plus, in the Mudd android bodies, Sargon and company can improve the designs to their own specifications without having to resort to using human hosts.

Live long and prosper.

While I agree that both Mudds and Korbys androids were far bettor than anything we have in real life(Mudds Alice had an est. life of 50,000 years, and Ruk might have been half a million)--Sargons people seemed far more advanced than they did. In fact-Sargon seemed closer to a race reaching for, and falling short of becoming the next Organians or Q's. As such, I don't think that they would work with either of the other android types.

As they approach Sargon's planet, Spock identifies it as 'class M', but then tells Kirk it has no life and no atmosphere. Uh, that means it's NOT class M, buster! Class M means 'Earth-like' in Star Trek. It sounds like Sargon's planet is more like the Moon, than any planet.
'Engines the size of walnuts', Kirk theorizes. Would the parts be the size of Rice Krispies? Might not be too scary to the Klingons and Romulans if they saw such teeny-tiny engines!
The Chief noted a nit that I found kinda funny. Thalassa tells McCoy that he can allow her to live on in Mulhall's body and nobody would know...except for the strange, echoing reverb in her voice everytime she speaks! Might just give it away, you know?!

Might not be too scary to the Klingons and Romulans if they saw such teeny-tiny engines!

Yeah, but the weapons Sargon and Co. could give the Federation would more than make up for that.

MikeC on Saturday, January 16, 1999 - 3:33 pm:
GUEST STAR PATROL (Henoch Corp. Subsidiary)
Diana Muldaur (Mulhall) we all know as Dr. Pulaski, but, of course, she was on "L.A. Law", and got iced in the infamous elevator scene.
Pulaski's entry in the 1994 edition of the Star Trek Encyclopdia referes to this, stating There is no truth in the rumour that an ancestor of Dr. Pulaski was killed falling down the elevator shaft at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. None at all.(Top of page 264. It's not in the later editions!)

Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, April 17, 1999 - 6:46 am: I wonder what Sargon's original plan was? Obviously this robot body thing had to be thought up after they had put themselves in those glass spheres, because if they had thought up the robot bodies first, then why stick themselves in glass spheres and wait for someone to come along when they could have just built the robot bodies instead?
They probably only had enough time and/or resources to build the less complicated spheres, and transfer their conciousnesss into them before the event that destroyed their civilisation.

MattS on Thursday, May 13, 1999 - 1:45 pm: The reason for Sargon and company being stored in the globes for half a million years requires some analysis. If their race was so advanced, why not move to another planet before theirs got wrecked? It seems easier than building a cave a hundred miles underground and waiting for somebody to pass by.
They may not have had enough suitable ships, even if there was a viable destination.

The actor playing the android body is Bill Blackburn, who is up on the bridge playing Hadley.
In the second season blooper reel, Blackburn is shown peeling off the android makeup. An off-screen voice says to him "You wanted show business? Well, G..damnit, you got it!" A still of Blackburn peeling off the makeup made it to the closing credits of at least one episode.

Why didn't Sargon take Spock's much more resistant body? It would have allowed him to function for much longer periods and keep a closer eye on his companion's behavior. He could not have been so naive as to think they would not have been tempted to permanently keep the borrowed bodies.

It has been suggested several times that they could have taken Sargon to Mudd's or Korby's planets to obtain superior android bodies. Here's another suggestion, take them to the Shore Leave planet, where the manufacturing facilities can probably make them a biological body far superior to anything mechanical they could come up with.

They could have, but remember what Thalassa's whole point of the humanoid bodies was all about-- real feelings, real emotions. Not a machine body with artificial organs and skin.
I don't think I'd want to live for hundreds of years inside a humanoid shape but not 'feel' things with my fingers or experience actual emotions.

What if they moved into a body that was brain dead. Would that work?

I don't think so. If the body has no brain then the organs shut down and begin to decay. Maybe that's who's on 'The Walking Dead'-- Sargon's people are inhabiting dead people!

I think that the androids of Mudd's World could have worked.

What if they whipped up some clone bodies. That might work.

Would you really want to condemn Sargon and the others to living on the same planet as Harry Mudd?

After enduring three years of that colossally incompetent prunefaced hair helmet (whose name I will not utter), the above scenario doesn't seem that bad.

I could see him becoming Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance.

Thankfully, his kind seems extinct among humans in Kirk's era.

This may have been noted before. Kirk says, in his pep talk (one of his better ones, IMHO) "If man could fly, he'd have wings". I believe the correct phrase is "If man was meant to fly, he'd have wings'.

The meaning is the same though.