This episode is the only time we see a Classic-era academy uniform. One nit, though: Since Finnegan is being displyed as Kirk remembered him from the academy, shouldn`t the collar on Finnegan`s outfit be the kind seen in "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" instead of the current style? (Picky, picky, picky, picky picky....)

Kirk makes a "Captains Log: Supplemental" after McCoy is killed. He does it in the present tense, implying he's making it in the field instead of aftewards, onboard ship. So, how is he recording it? He isn't writing it down, and the communicators don't work at this point, and we don't see him talking into a tricorder. It would have made more sense if Kirk used past tense, or was shown talking into a tricorder.

Hmm. Maybe Kirk had a microcommunicator inside his mouth and when he spoke it sent his words to the computer on the ship that then stored what he said for later perusal? On the other hand, if he did that, why not mention it on the ep? Unless it was super-duper top secret thing only starships captains are supposed to know, so secret in fact that even the tv audience isn't supposed to know, either. ALTMTAISTI

Was Rigley's Pleasure Planet too far away? What about Risa?

The Pleasure planet formerly know as Wrigley. Or maybe it just costs too much to go to Wrigley's :)

Double your pleasure, double your fun...

This episode seems to be the precursor to all those 'Holodeck fantasy gone wrong' stories that later Star Treks would use so much.

Sulu says, that there is no animal life on the planet, but if that were true then what does Sulu think pollinated all those plants? (Later McCoy says, that no insects were detected, and, of course, the ship's sensors missed all that machinery which is later revealed to be under the planet's surface.)

McCoy is the first to see something, but then quite a few minutes pass before somebody else discovers a fantasy object. Why didn't several people see things at around the same time?

It is mentioned that there are several scouting teams on this planet, but the only scouts we ever see are McCoy & Sulu, and Angela & Rodriguez.

Why didn't Sulu think it odd that an old fashioned Earth gun would be lying around on an unexplored planet? Just how mentally exhausted is the crew anyway?

When they first find the White Rabbit's tracks, how come they didn't see Alice's footprints also?

Later when they do find Alice's tracks, Kirk says that he is going to follow them, but we see him walking across some very thick grass, that does not look like it could hold tracks.

Just after Kirk meets Ruth, they have an establishing shot of the Enterprise orbiting the planet. Pay attention to the top of the planet, there is a light green area that looks like Florida and North America's eastern seaboard.

McCoy stands up to the knight because he doesn't believe it is real, but Yeoman Barrows is wearing a Princess outfit, so does McCoy believe she is just walking around wearing nothing? (Well, that would be my fantasy.)

The hole in McCoy's chest appears to be high up on his chest. Unfortunately I don't have this episode on tape, but I thought when they showed McCoy reacting to being stabbed, that part of his chest is visible and not stabbed.

Boy, this planet has the same landscape as the planet that Kirk would fight the Gorn on. Amazing.

Spock mentions their encountering a force field. Did I miss something earlier about encountering a force field or was something edited out?

So why wasn't Yeoman Barrows surprised that her uniform had been magically mended?

After the Caretaker explains to them about being careful about their thoughts, Kirk has the parties beam down without giving them this warning. Won't that just result in more dangerous fantasies?

On page 60 in the Classic Guide, Phil wondered what happened to Angela Martine after being knocked unconscious. Well, the Chief Nitpicker weren't paying close enough attention. While we don't see her when Kirk is telling everyone to think of nothing, we do see her for a second or two with Rodriguez afterwards.

At the end, when the ship is orbiting the planet, the light green areas appear to be Saudi Arabia and part of Africa. (Well, maybe the Caretaker is trying to make them feel at home?)

It looks like there is a road and guard rail on the other side of the lake from the glade. (Opening scenes.) My tape is a little fuzzy, however.

The crew behaves in an unusually undisciplined manner. They must be really, *really* tired.

Rodriguez doesn't draw his phaser on the tiger.

There are multiple shadows cast on the cliff walls. (Lots of suns nearby again, apparently. Or perhaps someone has been fantasizing about camera lights.)

A small continuity error: Finnegan is on his feet in a shot immediately after Kirk has thrown him to the ground.

The sky seems a deeper blue in the close-ups of Spock, and there is nothing else behind him but the sky. (Scene where he and Kirk start to figure out what is going on.) I'd guess they shot the close-ups after they left the filming location and had to shoot them in front of a screen or in the Desilu parking lot or something.

Kirk and Spock look in the wrong direction after being fired upon by the airplane.

Sulu, McCoy, and Barrows pause behind the captain's chair to pose for the shot at the end of the episode. (Happens a lot on Trek. People don't naturally stand close together, they give each other some space.)

Are there wind chimes hanging somewhere on the planet? They appear to be audible in the final scene where the party meets the caretaker.

After Kirk beats Finnegan, and meets up with Spock, and the tiger appears, you can see the chain around the tiger's neck.

When Kirk asks Finnegan "Can you feel that?", Kirk is standing up and his uniform shirt is whole. When Finnegan flips Kirk over and he is lying on the ground, suddenly his shirt is all ripped up.

When Yeoman Barrows is hanging her damsel in distress outfit back on the bush, why does she smile and look nostalgic? After all, her little fantasy cost poor McCoy his life!

Maybe her real fantasy was watching Dr. McCoy get skewered?

Is it just me or does Yeoman Barrows remind anyone else of Sue Ellen Mishki, the O'Henry candy bar heiress from several Seinfeld episodes? Obviously not the same actress, being 30 years apart, but I kinda found their faces similar.
Also; can somebody tell me if Angela was killed in the strafing run by Rodrieguez's plane, or did she simply run into the tree?

She was murdered by the tree!

You can see Angela, briefly, at the end. Look quickly because it's only a second or two. (As I mentioned in my comments on April 14.)

In the Blish version, she "died" from the strafing, but was restored like McCoy.

That was my opinion, too, as she didn't look like she slammed into the tree hard enough to be knocked unconscious. Without bullit wounds in her back, and having the actress run towards the tree, I've always felt it was ambiguous as to what happened to her. Of course, as you say, KAM, that she wasn't present until AFTER Kirk says to stand at attention, and McCoy reappears. Well, I guess I just answered my own question.

Maybe Angela was doing her "George of the Jungle"
imitation?

(singing)

Angela, Angela, Angela of the Enterprise
Pretty as she can be....

[Tarzan yell]

Watch out for that tree!

[Crunch!]

I'm sorry...I can't help but wonder if the poor girl was really hurt after doing that.

BEST LINE:

"I'm a doctor, when I peek it's in the line of duty."

McCoy to Barrow when she goes behind the bush to change into the princess outfit.

I must add that after her dress gets ripped by Don Juan, she holds up a large portion of the torn dress to cover her exposed flesh.

My guess is they had her do that in case the censors complained about it.

I've got to book a flight to Rigel II so I can get me a couple of cabaret girls!

MMM-MMM-GOOD!

Dear Todd,

Actually, the wind chimes can be heard throughout the entire episode...if you crank up the volume loud enough.

So someone must of been thinking about wind chimes.

NITS:

In this episode, the Enterprise orbits the planet from the right of the screen to left instead of from left to right....BUT that's because they used a "mirror" image of the Enterprise orbiting the planet...you can tell...the "NCC-1701" is flipped backwards!

During Kirk's fight with Finnegan...Kirk's pants get ripped a little bit between the knee and the hip.

The eyes of the Black Knight Dummy close up a bit during the examination

When everyone returns to the glade, Kirk orders,
"Don't breathe"...isn't that a bit extreme?
I know it's a tense situation, but he forgot tell his crew "at ease" when it was all over.
It's a miracle no one passed out.

When Barrow's tunic gets ripped, you see no bra strap. (Unless she's wearing a strapless bra)

If she has no bra...that means the other yeoman under Kirk's command haven't worn one either....which make PERFECT SENSE for the Intergalatic Gigalo Kirk.....I can see the "Want Ads" now....

Wanted:

Gorgeous women to fill Yeoman's position aboard USS Enterprise....
Must wear red micro-miniskirt,B-52 hairstyles, and no bra.
Must be able to serve coffee, give back massages, record logs etc on command.
Include picture and measurements (IE: 36-25-37)
No experience necessary.
Call James T. Kirk 1-NCC-1701

Shouldn't Angela be in mourning over Tomlinson? I think she took up with Rodriguez a bit too soon. I know she wasn't married at the end of "Balance of Terror," but she was thisclose.

If Kirk is the Enterprise's gigilo, then Angela must be the ship's gigilette; she was simply working her way through the crew!

GREAT MOMENT: When Barrow drapes her panty hose over the bush. (Hammina hammina!)

Angela must be the ship's gigilette
Don't you mean 'Jiggle it'?

*quickly dives for cover*

Which side of Yeoman Barrow's tunic got torn? It seemed to be the right in the first shot, then when she put it back on later, it was torn on the left.
Spock seems inappropriately 'amused' at the attention he receives from McCoy's fantasy woman.

And why are those chorus girls wearing tribbles??

Finnegan: "I’m gonna beat ye up ta bloody pulp, Kirk, me boy!"
Kirk (taking a drag of a cigarette): "Whoa, that’s violent, dude!"
Gorn: "Back off, mammal face, he’s mine!"
Finnegan: "Me God, it’s a bloody reptile with Christmas tree ornaments for eyes!"
Kirk: "Heh-heh, that’s funny." (puff, puff!)
Gorn: "What the hell is the matter with you, Kirk? And where’d you get that cigarette?"
Kirk: "From that blond guy and fat guy over there."
Jay: "So, like, you’re like, 1,500 f***ing years OLD, dude?"
Metron: "Yeah, man. Thanks for the blunt, by the way."
Jay: "So, like after 1,500 years, do ya still get wood in the morning?"
A poster at TrekNation named MyRojo pointed out that the scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where Jay decides to keep the orangutan was filmed at the Vasquez Rocks, a county park that was used in this episode for the Kirk/Finnegan fight, as well as Arena(TOS), The Alternative Factor(TOS), Friday’s Child(TOS), and Who Watches the Watchers(TNG), and that a scene in that part of the movie features a diner called the "Arena Diner"

Please stop talking about the alleged movie jay and silent barf. Those two no talent crapheads need to be locked in a rooom with real talent until they can do a movie on more than two brain cells between them. And yes I did see it because my girlfriend's sister dragged me and my girl to see it on a double date. The movie was dumb and insulting.

If you didn't like Smith's other movies you wouldn't like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Now I don't flame people for talking about whatever •••• you like and I'd appricate the same from you. As for being dragged to something you don't like, either grow up and deal with it some other way than bitching at other fans, or grow a set of balls and tell her you don't want to go.

Uh, excuse me, Hater, but the quality of that movie isn't the point I was making. This is a board for nits and ruminations for the episode Arena, and I was merely posting one.

For what it's worth, I didn't care for the movie either

***Leslie Alert***

Once again, Mr. Leslie is at the helm in the very beginning of this episode...but guess what?...He ain't mentioned by name nor is he mentioned in the end credits. Geez, does Screen Actors Guild know about this scandal involving Eddie Paskey?

RevdKathy asked above..."And why are those chorus girls wearing tribbles??"

They're not...the Tribbles are wearing the chorus girls!" (Hammina hammina)

This is a board for nits and ruminations for the episode Arena

Sorry, Luigi, but this is Shore Leave.

When Finnegan starts to run from Kirk near the end of the episode. He darts out and says "here I am, run". You can see a shadow in front of him move and then stay there as he runs off.

Here's one....

When Don Juan shows up near the end, he grabs Barrows. Sulu runs to her rescue....Don Juan draws his sword and points it at Sulu...

What does Sulu do?

He stretches out his hand as if he's trying to grab the sword!

No exactly a brainy idea!

It's a good way to get your hand chopped off.

Sulu explains the functioning of a revolver at unnecessary length to Kirk. I realize that Sulu is tired, but anyone with a passing knowledge of Earth history would know about guns (and lots of alien civilizations that the Enterprise encounters also have chemical leadthrowers).

On the other hand, Kirk almost always uses phasers or similar recoil-less weapons, but seems to have no trouble using the revolver to take down the knight. He must have had some practice with handguns. And surely Sulu wouldn't let him stick the gun in his pants and wander around without making sure that he knew how to operate the safety?

Apparently the "Amusement Park Planet" failed to entertain the Enterprise crew. No one in the Federation ever returns here again.

Obviously John's never seen the animated episode "Once Upon A Planet".

Hmm...let's see...on Risa, I have hot babes who will sleep with me if I display a little wooden idol. On the Amusement Park planet, I have fighter planes trying to strafe me, old school bullies trying to beat me up, and giant bunny rabbits.

Gee, John, that's a TOUGH DECISION, let me tell ya!

I'd go back for those cabaret girls!

Well, if you're into simulations, and not the real thing...

I'll tell you who the "gigalette" is...It's Yeoman Barrows! She's first seen strolling with Kirk then she strolls around with McCoy. Whatta hussy!

Soon after Spock beams down, they go looking for the tiger. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looks like Spock drew his phaser. Why didn't Kirk tell him it wouldn't work? (Spock still thought it was functioning when they encountered the knight later) Spock could have had a nasty, yet somewhat amusing, surprise.

Also, without phasers, what were they going to do if they found the tiger? "Yep, it's a tiger, all right. RUN!!"

Maybe this is in Phil's book, but a shadow (presumably a boom mike) is seen on a tree during the scene where Kirk is telling everyone to be quiet and not breathe. (I can't remember which part of the scene)

Spock said that the knight was made of multicellular castings just like the plants there. How come Sulu never mentioned the artificiality of the plants when he was studying them?

Why didn't Sulu think it odd that an old fashioned Earth gun would be lying around on an unexplored planet? Just how mentally exhausted is the crew anyway?

It certainly took them a looong time to realize that the appearances of these people and things coincided with what they were thinking about at the time. Spock had to figure it out when he got down there.

McCoy's death may have been temporary, but it looked awfully painful. They call that "amusement?"

Are there wind chimes hanging somewhere on the planet? They appear to be audible in the final scene where the party meets the caretaker.

Several episodes had an "alien planet noise" in the background, meant to somehow convey the feel of an alien environment...the same noise that the Talosian plants made in "The Cage." I assumed that the "wind chimes" in Shore Leave were a slightly different version of that.

When Kirk asks Finnegan "Can you feel that?", Kirk is standing up and his uniform shirt is whole. When Finnegan flips Kirk over and he is lying on the ground, suddenly his shirt is all ripped up.

His shirt wasn't even ripped when he fell to the ground until the close-up shot, and then suddenly it is.

Fun stuff! You could say McCoy had "a knight to remember." *snicker*

Going Back to Shore Leave nitpicks, when McCoy states that the Knight is not real, then why does he have the lady get safely out of the way?

A good while back TWS Garrison wrote:
And surely Sulu wouldn't let him stick the gun in his pants and wander around without making sure that he knew how to operate the safety?

Double action revolvers such as the one shown here have a passive type safety that doesn't have to be switched on or off.

I hate that talking rabbit. It would be more at home in Lost in Space than Trek.

>I hate that talking rabbit. It would be more at >home in Lost in Space than Trek.

Or give it green fur and it would be at home in the Star Wars universe (Marvel Comics version).

CG enhancing: Following up on an idea in the Space: 1999 threads, if Star Trek the Classic Series could be enhanced with CG, these are ideas I have for this episode.

There is supposed to be only one airplane, but two are shown in some shots. Perhaps one could be erased. As the Caretaker returns to stand near Kirk, Kirk is about to remark about the death of McCoy. The background where the Caretaker walked out from is clear, and suddenly McCoy is there. Can something be done by creating some sort of close-up of Spock or Kirk as the Caretaker returns to Kirk?

The Barbara Baldwin character in this one is Angela Teller...Kirk calls her Teller at the beginning when he beams down with Yeoman Barrows, and Rodriguez calls her Angela after they got strafed. I think the first bit was cut for syndication.

When Kirk first meets Finnegan, he approaches close enough for Finnegan to hit him with his fist. Kirk jumps the wrong way, though. Finnegan swings with his right, so Kirk is supposed to jump backward spinning to his right from the impact, but he went the other way. Odd laws of physics maybe?

The role that Barbara Baldavin plays in this episode was originally written for a crew woman named "Mary Teller". However, when Baldavin was secured for the role, it was decided that she should reprise her role from "Balance of Terror". So she is called "Angela", throughout this episode, as the original name was crossed out of the script and that name replaced. However, someone forgot to do this on Shatner's line.
The Star Trek Concordance attempts to explain the apparent contradiction by saying that Angela Martine married an Enterprise crewman named Teller and took that name. This would mean that the girl got over the death of Robert Tomlinson awfully quick!

Kirk even calls her "Lt. Lisa" in Turnabout Intruder.

The Kirk move must have been influenced by pro wrestling. They get hit and jump the wrong way quite a bit.

If you watch the episodes air date order, which i have been doing with the season one DVD set, Angela got over Tomilinson REAL quick! "Balance of Terror", where he got killed (on their wedding day I might add)' was aired right before this episode!

When she told Kirk at the end of "Balance of Terror" "I'm alright", she meant it!!!

What about production order?

In the Blish adaptation (was this episode in his first Trek book?) Angela and Tomlinson did marry. In the earlier books, Blish probably worked from a first draft script, so the books would be out not long after the episodes aired. The downside is that many of the details were different. (In his "Doomsday Machine" adaptation, Decker survives.) In his later adaptations (the fourth book on) the show had been cancelled by then, and the adaptations were closer to the filmed version.

See the discussion in the Trek novels board for a detailed examination of the differences between the adaptations and the aired episodes from the earlier volumes.

I own a copy of Sturgeon's script. In a cut scene, Rodriguez states that Angela was indeed killed by the strafing run. In another cut scene with the Caretaker after McCoy returns to life, Rodriguez says, "What about Angela?" She then shows up, and runs into his arms.

Barrows uniform stays torn throughout the ep, it is never "magically mended."

Sir Rhosis

This is my favorite Star Trek episode!

Unfortunately, TV Guide gave the series a bad review on the basis of this episode.

Cleveland Amory later apologized for that review.

How do you apologize for your opinion?

Barrows uniform stays torn throughout the ep, it is never "magically mended."

But, the tear switches sides. Before she put on that "fairy tale dress" (which just happened to be Yeoman Barrows' size, btw) the tear was on the dress' right side. When she changed back into it, the tear was on Barrows' left.

Cleveland Amory spoke of Trek in a much more positive light than he first did, in a piece he wrote for TV Guide later on that season. I guess that counts as an apology.

Mine:

Great Line: Kirk, after the title break: "Stardate thirty twenty-five, ah, point three." They really are tired.

Can anyone swear that Carroll's "Alice" had blond hair? Kirk knows without being told ...

I love the panning antenna.

At one point, staring at mudprints, Kirk says to Bones, "You're the doctor, ..., can you explain this?" Bones seems just this once to accept Kirk's continual assertion that doctors should sometimes be other things, in this case an exoforensic scientist ...

I'm sorry, but even with telepathy no little robots are going to "drag off" two bodies from an open glade without being noticed (i.e., heard).

I think it is curious that both of the people from Kirk's past date from fifteen years ago. Did Ruth end up (in "reality") being a Finnegan maybe?

Phil's:

Either they have recently remastered it, or I am way seriously more tone-deaf than I thought I was, because I couldn't hear anything wrong with the cello in the Ruth scene. It sounds completely dominated by the flute, at least volume-wise.

This-blog's:

It seems to me that Barrows' uniform gets ripped twice, both of the times that she is attacked by Don Juan. Leaving aside why The Don attacks her in the first (and second) place, we can actually see her lifting the outfit (completely repaired) off the tree while she stares "wistfully" at the princess garb. Then the (second) fantasized clothes-ripping-attack occurs and when she comes out from behind the tree the shoulder is indeed torn, this time the left one. Remember those robots know what you want!


And as a postscript, I gotta say that it is way cool that someone owns a copy of Sturgeon's script for this episode. Cut scenes, wow!

Wow nitpicking is hard work. Good thing it is a labour of love. My respect for the Chief and indeed all true nitpickers again groweth.

But seeing as how even the greatest of us might need assistance, it is with no shame that I call "Fie" upon myself and reveal ...

MarkI-blunders:

Kirk actually logs "Stardate three oh two five, ah, point three." With a huge pause between the five and the ah.

And I cannot believe how much my eyes lied to me (no wonder eye-witnesses have little credence in court) about Tonia's outfit. It is not only damaged (and incorrectly on the left) when we first see it after her princess routine, she is wearing it. Argh!


So with that out of the way, on with some more of my potentially-nitpickable nitpicks:

The tree behind Barrows after the first attack looks like it has blood, well, something red, sprayed on it. Is this supposed to indicate an alien tree? If so, it fails miserably.

We see the same bunny-prints, albeit a different shot of them, in what are supposed to be different locations.

I get a chuckle out of Finnegan. He is supposed to be a practical joker, a trickster, a gamester. Yet all he does is slug Kirk. To me this is in exact accord with true reality, every practical joke is indistinguishable from a punch in the face.

And (thankfully, I know you are thinking) finally, I still remain confused about this whole force field thing. The caretaker says nothing about it, even indirectly. So where did it come from, why did it increase slowly, and why did it go away? It seems deliberately contrived to allow Kirk to despair "all contact has been lost". Is this supposed to be why he gives in to his urge to whale Finnegan?

I would like to correct a nit for this episode, and I realize this may already have been mentioned.

During the show two officers are 'killed'. Dr McCoy is attacked and killed by a Black Knight, and Angela Marteen also dies. I presume she dies as a result of being straffed by a WWII era airplane.

When the Caretaker appears to explain the purpose of the planet to Kirk; Mr. Farrand states that Ensign Marteen is still missing even though Dr. McCoy returns to the landing party alive and well.

In fact this is not true. Watch the background shot as Spock disengages from the chorus girl and says "I've already had as much shore leave as I care for..." Here Marteen is shown arm in arm with Rodriguez.

Dear 74s tm

I've been watching Star Trek for years. The first Star Trek I ever saw is still my favorite,
"Balance of Terror".

I came home from school one day and found Star Trek playing. I was hooked!

Sulu calls the Black Knight a 'dummy' that couldn't be alive, but wouldn't a Starfleet officer of the 23rd century think 'android' before 'dummy'? And as an android, it most certainly could do what was asked of it.

The Black Knight wasn't constructed to be an exact, life-like copy of a humanoid, as Ruth and Finnegan were, since Kirk couldn't differentiate between them and the real people from his past.

And speaking of Ruth, I did (as Number One in The Menagerie) a little time-computation. In the second season we learn that Kirk is 34 years old, so he's about 33 in Shore Leave. Ruth is from 15 years in his past, making him about 18 when he knew her. He seems completely smitten with Ruth, upon seeing her again, and I think it's because she was his first real love. He'd be young enough for it (and she looks older than 18 so there's that older woman turn-on there). Whether or not she was his First Time is anybody's guess, but I've read that some think Ruth is the 'little blonde lab technician' that Gary Mitchell directed to Kirk (who almost married her), while others think it's Carol Marcus.

When Spock mentions the tiger and it appears behind him, I saw fear in his expression as he turns around. Understandable; tigers won't be influenced by logic only hunger!

I also read that originally instead of fighter planes the landing party was to be harrassed by pterydactyls, but they couldn't afford the effects or find anyone to do them. I'm glad, because other than Ray Harryhausen there wouldn't have been too many f-x people that could make it realistic.

Sulu sees Spock beaming down and he notes to Kirk that someone is beaming down from 'the bridge'. The bridge? Since when is there a transporter on the bridge?

30 years of watching this episode again and again and I still laugh at the part where Kirk tackles the Samauri before he can swing his sword, while Spock is left to scurry behind him having fallen down, too!

I wish we could have seen Yeoman Burrows again; she gets better looking every time I watch this episode. Would have been a worthy replacement for our dear Janice Rand.

And one last thing; I'm curious as to why Kirk wasn't going to beam down at all, until Spock tricked him. Why wouldn't he want to spend time in forests and in fresh air, considering he 'likes the smell of growing things' according to The Apple? He notes that the past 3 months have been stressful, and sure, he's gotten off the ship, but there's no way for him to know if another Earth-like, peaceful planet is on his route. He might have been stuck inside the Enterprise for the next 6 months, so to shrug off shore leave seems odd.

Umm Hi all...

I just got donw watching that ep.

Did anyone notice the planes?? when you 1st
see the one (?) its WWII American... on close up it a Jap Zero...

& In 1 verry brief shot... there is 2 planes on the screen...

Just my nits

There are no enhanced moments worth mentioning here aside from the new footage of the Enterprise in orbit.

The footage of Spock's beam down still contains scratches and dirt. The footage is too far gone I guess

Location shooting at its finest! I always felt that whenever ST could do location shooting,be it on the studio back lot or at a park,an episode was always enormously enhanced.Unfortunately the reverse was also true,poor interior soundstage sets passing for the outdoors could hurt an episode visually.And ST had many artificial sets that simply did not come off well as the great outdoors over the course of the show's three year run.I realize that going on location is costly & the weather has to be on your side,but I wish that the show could have taken much more advantage of going outside.

Mark- I had that kid in grade school, in jr . high then high school,then jr. college. He was exactly like Finnegan.He followed me like my shadow. He even joined the boy scouts when I did. When my grandma died in her sleep at 88, he laughed at me. seriously.How I managed to graduate I dont know)I can still hear him.Today he's a qaudroplegic when he had an accident .Serves him right!
His bro told me this in 89.

Mind me asking what was your first Trek and how old?

Theodore Sturgeon trivia - He was born in Staten Island, New York. Where I was raised and currently reside. And, he was married five times. More here.

I think Bill Shatner blows a line early in this ep. When he first encounters Bones on the planet he says, "Know any good rabbit jokes lately Doctor?"

Doesn't make sense.

He would either say, "Heard any good rabbit jokes lately Doctor?" or "Know any good rabbit jokes Doctor?"

I can't tell you why that bothers me.

This is not one of my favorite episodes, anyway. The lack of discipline of the exploration party ,chronicled by many others above, is just too much for me.

By Hans Thielman on Saturday, January 23, 1999 - 11:56 am:

Was Rigley's Pleasure Planet too far away? What about Risa?

By BrianB on Tuesday, April 06, 1999 - 8:53 pm:

The Pleasure planet formerly know as Wrigley. Or maybe it just costs too much to go to Wrigley's

I think Wrigley's just got all chewed up.

Next weekend's remastered episode is "Shore Leave", with "Patterns of Force" the following weekend.

Going way back to a comment in 1999, Spock commented that everything on the planet -- the plants, the people -- were multicellular castings. That is, manufactured. The plants were just as artificial as the rabbit and the knight.

As noted above, the only new effect was the planet from orbit. The Enterprise is now orbiting the conventional left-to-right direction as well.

The reason the Enterprise always orbited one one way in TOS was because the model was only camera-ready on the starboard side. There's no such limit on the CGI model of course.

For "Mirror, Mirror" backwards lettering was applied to the model so it would look correct when photoreversed.

The classic nit for this ep (it's even in Phil's book) concerns Sulu's gun, the Police Special that fired 7 or 8 bullets when it should only fire 6. I've thought about it and realized it might not be a nit after all. The whole premise of the Shore Leave planet is that a computer (or computers) monitors the thoughts of any visitors to the planet, then creates for the guest anything they desire. The created object(s) act as the guest would expect them to act. e.g.: Finnegan or Ruth, the people Kirk "met" again on the Shore Leave planet.

When Captain Kirk fired the gun at the Black Knight, he expected it to fire every time he pulled the trigger. He gave no thought to whether it had already been fired nor how many times it had been fired. Or whether it should be out of bullets. Obviously, the computer on the Shore Leave planet either manufactured and beamed the extra shells into the gun or it caused the appropriate bullet holes to appear in the armor of the Black Knight and the Knight to "drop dead". In other words, when Sulu first got the gun, it may only have had six bullets in it, but when Kirk shot at the Black Knight, the computer(s) read Kirk's "desire" for the gun to fire all the shots it did and "kill" the Black Knight. Nit un-nitted.

Live long and prosper.

Matt S - "Rodriguez doesn't draw his phaser on the tiger."

He also doesn't try to call the ship for an emergency beam-up, or at least we never see it. Of course, transporters are out, so he couldn't escape that way.

The dummy black knight's eyes change from scene to scene. Sometimes his eyelids are drooping, and in one scene his eyes are wide open.

Spock mentions, "When Rodreiguez thought of the tiger..."
Only problem is, how did Spock know this? Nobody's seen Rodriguez and Angela and their tiger encounter.

I checked IMDB, and Shirley Bonne, who played Ruth was 32 at the time. So if Kirk was about 18 when he last saw her, and she was about 30, well, if she was His First, then all I can say is...Good Choice, Jimmy-Boy!!!

When the landing party notices McCoy's body is missing, the camera follows the actors, and you can hear a soft rumbling in the background, as the camera is rolled along a wooden plank or base.

Interesting that the new CGI version of this episode has the Enterprise orbiting as usual, from left to right, instead of the reverse from the original effects. I wouldn't have changed it, if only to keep that unique feature to the episode.

When Star Trek was first created it was Gene Roddenberry's intention to give alien worlds their own individual background sound in order to create atmosphere.This concept never came to fruition.However,the wind chimes sound affect for the "Shore Leave" planet may have been an example of what GR was aiming for.

I realize that sensors didn't register any lifeforms, and events seem to lean towards objects being presented to the crew (the gun, the dress), but that means there IS somebody around!

So it occurrewd to me just recently that McCoy and Barrows were a little presumptuous in having her put the dress on, when it might belong to someone that got undressed and is now swimming somewhere, and now sopme strange lady is wearing her clothes!

Sulu never reports to anyone, once he goes off looking around.

And Kirk simply keeps calling out his name. Why isn't he using his communicator to contact Sulu instead of running around aimlessly?

Kirk orders Spock and Sulu to find the tiger, after they hear it growling. Um...why? The phasers don't work! And he and Spock wanted to get away from it when they finally saw it!

The crew examines the knight and discovers it's a dummy, a.k.a. an android-- but nobody mentions the horse it was riding, which disappears like McCoy's body.

I've always felt that Finnegan reminded me of Jay Leno with a Beatle mop-top haircut.

Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, April 14, 1999 - 11:58 am: McCoy is the first to see something, but then quite a few minutes pass before somebody else discovers a fantasy object. Why didn't several people see things at around the same time? They were probably concentrating on their allotted tasks, leaving McCoy free to let his mind wander.

McCoy stands up to the knight because he doesn't believe it is real, but Yeoman Barrows is wearing a Princess outfit, so does McCoy believe she is just walking around wearing nothing? No - he just finds the outfit more believable than the knight.

MattS on Thursday, May 13, 1999 - 10:31 am: Rodriguez doesn't draw his phaser on the tiger. He knows that getting out an obvious weapon, such as a phaser, may make the tiger more angry.

Who Threw That?!

He knows that getting out an obvious weapon, such as a phaser, may make the tiger more angry.

Seriously, unless domesticated, a tiger would have no idea of what a phaser is or the danger it represents. Rodriguez could draw his phaser and shoot before the tiger has time to react. A more plausible explanation is that Rodriguez is too panicked by the tiger's appearance to remember he HAS a phaser he could use. It would have done him little good anyway, the landing party finds out soon after that their weapons are no longer functional.

This planet is supposed to be an amusement park for an advanced civilization. So, where is everybody? The Enterprise's crew appear to be the only ones anywhere on the planet, except for the caretaker. This is like going to Disney World and finding it deserted.

Well, it is a big planet. If the Enterprise is in a geo-synchronous orbit, there will be large portions of the planet the crew will know nothing about. There could be others on the opposite side of the world having the time of their lives. It's also possible the race that created the Shore Leave world are extinct or have lost spaceflight capabilities. Or maybe the Enterprise got there during the off-season?

Maybe they're inside watching Star Trek? ;-)

I made a list of the things and people the Amusement Park created for the crew. In order of appearance...
White Rabbit
Alice
gun
Finnigan
Don Juan
Ruth
flock of approximately 10 birds (possibly geese)
princess dress
butterfly (I'll explain)
tiger
Samurai
Black Knight and his horse
World War 2 fighter plane
Two chorus girls

That made me think that the Caretaker showed up at the end not to tell Kirk that they'd only just realized that the crew was having trouble and getting hurt, but rather he was there to give Kirk the BILL for creating all these objects and people!
The butterfly is included in the list because we see one fluttering twice around the princess dress, and McCoy stated specifically at the beginning of the episode to Kirk that the sensors detected no birds, animals or insects, so it must be a creation of the Amusement Park factories and not living.
And that's just a list of what we saw. Sulu, Esteban, and Martine weren't on screen as much as the others, so it's safe to assume that each inadvertently created at least one thing that we didn't see, and could have been sent back down to the factory.

Kirk tells Spock and Sulu to fan out and find the tiger, when he hears it growl nearby.
Find.
It.
Without working phasers.
Without any weapons.
Without a cage or a net.
Or a three-ring circus.
Find it.
Uuuhhhhhh.....no, thanks.
And despite the illogic of the decision, Spock doesn't voice his disapproval.

Sulu's comment about the Black Knight being a dummy still sticks with me., In a futuristic society that should be aware of androids, it's a little weird that he'd call the humanoid creation a 'dummy' and not an 'android'.

Well, it LOOKS like a dummy. Androids usually look much more lifelike that this.

It didn't look that smart either. ;-)

Kirk tells Spock and Sulu to fan out and find the tiger, when he hears it growl nearby.

Shame there was no Ensign Calvin around. ;-)

Who the heck is ensign Calvin?

It was a failed attempt at a Calvin and Hobbes joke. (A newspaper comic featuring a boy and his imaginary tiger.)

Ah yes, I know them, I just wasn't making the connection.

Not really a nit, but why is Yeoman Barrows walking around with her torn uniform, instead of going back to the ship to change?

It's also possible the race that created the Shore Leave world are extinct

According to the follow up episode on the animated series, the race is extinct. The Caretaker, who had died at some point between the two episodes, was the last of the race.

No explanation was given as to how and why the race died off.

I hope the safety catch is on that pistol that Kirk takes from Sulu, because once he takes it away from Sulu, he gets hit in the face by Finnegan and falls to the ground, then he runs to find Barrows, then jogs about looking for Sulu. Good thing all that activity didn't fire the gun down into his privates!

Apparently, Starfleet Academy makes tougher shirts than Starfleet Command. Kirk's is ripped to shreds in the fight, and Finnegan's is still intact. I guess we can blame it on the Shore Leave Planet's factory-made fabrics, but that odd fact just occurred to me.

I'm an H.P. Lovecraft fan.

You would not want me on that planet with you!

Two more things;
I guess the wardrobe people wanted Ruth's shoes to match her black and white dress, because her left shoe is black and the right one is white!

Also, Kirk's torn shirt poses a problem. Finnegan is down and he tell's Kirk he's broken his back. Kirk asks, "Can you feel that?" and his shirt is intact. Finnegan grabs him and flips him over him onto the rocks and Kirk's shirt is intact from the medium camera shot. However, in the close-up, when he loses consciousness, the shirt is in shreds. How did that happen in a blink of the eye?

If Chapel beamed down, I can imagine her having a very good time with a Spock duplicate.

Kirk's torn shirt poses a problem. Finnegan is down and he tell's Kirk he's broken his back. Kirk asks, "Can you feel that?" and his shirt is intact. Finnegan grabs him and flips him over him onto the rocks and Kirk's shirt is intact from the medium camera shot. However, in the close-up, when he loses consciousness, the shirt is in shreds. How did that happen in a blink of the eye?

One would think that Starfleet would make stronger material for its uninforms.

One would think that Starfleet would make stronger material for its uniforms.

Good point. In "Miri", Kirk rips the sleeves of his shirt quite easily, to reveal the blotches resulting from exposure to the planet's "life prolongation" experiment.

This may have been pointed out before - When Spock beams down to the shore leave planet, his boots (at least the part that goes over his feet) are already covered with dirt.

What happened to Finnegan when Kirk and Spock left the area after the big fight? Did the tiger have him for lunch?

Angela knocks herself silly running into that tree, and Rodriguez just wanders off and leaves her there!? I guess he was trying to find McCoy, but a little dialogue on that subject would have helped.

In his book, Phil wonders why Angela doesn't show up at the end, like McCoy did. Actually, she does show up. It's a blink and you'll miss her, but she is there.

What happened to Finnegan when Kirk and Spock left the area after the big fight? Did the tiger have him for lunch?

Finnegan is not a real person, nor is the tiger a real tiger. They are toys, artefacts made for people's enjoyment. I suspect that once those people lose interests in those artefacts, the amusement park just disposes of them. For instance, I'm pretty sure the Finnegan Kirk has that big fight with is not the same one he first met. That one was disposed of after Kirk left him to investigate the reason Yeoman Barrows had screamed. The second one, the one he had the big fight with, was manufactured when Kirk was telling Spock about the circumstances of his first encounter.

Finnegan is not a real person, nor is the tiger a real tiger.

Yeah, but it's amusing to imagine the tiger nomming down on Finnegan. ;-)

On the other hand maybe Finnegan and the tiger went on to have a series of adventures ala Calvin & Hobbes. ;-)

Why did the planet deactivate their phasers and cut them off from the Enterprise? Kind of odd for an amusement park.

I guess they couldn't have them 'protecting' their guests by shooting down those ancient airplanes, or anything else that's part of someone's fantasy.

Why did the planet deactivate their phasers and cut them off from the Enterprise?

I think it was just some sort of incompatibility between the technologies, easily fixed by the caretaker once he realized what was happening.

And you'd think that the creators of the planet would have some kind of message giving space travellers a heads up about the place.

The Enterprise crew were totally unprepared for what happened. Yes, it turned out to be okay, but they had no way of knowing that for most of the episode.

I just had a funny thought. Maybe someone in the landing party had wished to be cut off from Enterprise so they could stay and enjoy the rest for longer, and the planet was just obliging them.

What if an aggressive species, like the Cardassians, landed on this planet and wanted to use it to make weapons.

Would it allow them to do that?

Spock; "...just as pleasant...or just as deadly."
Yep. I'd say deadly weapons could be made.

Francois; I'd say that you're completely right about someone subliminely wanting to be cut off from the ship, so they could stay longer. Until they started getting killed, then it wasn't such a good idea.

You would think that the planet would have safeguards against something like that, the Cardies using it to make weapons.


Maybe someone in the landing party had wished to be cut off from Enterprise so they could stay and enjoy the rest for longer, and the planet was just obliging them.

Wonder if Kirk had a few words with that person, once the dust had settled.

It just occurred to me-- this might be the perfect place for someone to experience their 'fantasy' of a near-death experience. You could get yourself 'killed' like McCoy, and the Caretaker would revive you, and in the process you might retain a memory of the Afterlife.

Oh, random redshirt chap

This was one of the few TOS episodes that would get a sequel story.

Okay, it was one of the animated episodes, but since they seemed to have been canonized (that happened around 2006), I'll take it.

While Spock is attempting to go down to the planet, Sulu says, "Someone's beaming down from the bridge." I don't believe I've ever seen a transporter on the bridge--indeed, there is none, or what would be the point of going all the way to the transporter room when they want to leave the ship. Even if there was, how would Sulu know that he was beaming specifically from that location?

Turning away from nitpicking for a moment and going into my personal life, to this day my dad has a silly misconception about this episode. Whenever I'm talking about Star Trek and refer to it, I'll usually say something like, "the planet where everything they think of comes true--people, airplanes, Alice in Wonderland, the StayPuff Marshmallow Man," he would invariably add, "Oh yes, and someone only half thought of a tiger so only half a tiger appears." It was decades ago the first time he said that, and I remember wondering what he was talking about. I thought maybe there was a syndication cut. Finally, it hit me what he was referring to. Spock says, "When Rodriguez thought of the tiger..." and Kirk cuts him off, pointing to the tiger. So that would be the "half thought of a tiger moment" dad thought he saw. Then when we see the tiger an instant later, the camera is shooting him from the front. We can't see his hindquarters because the front of his body is blocking it. Then we see the tiger walking to one side, but the shot only shows his front portion. I figure somehow dad got the misconception that the tiger had no rear! I remember trying to explain this to him, but he still insists there is only half a tiger in this scene!
So basically, I just nitpicked my dad. That's okay. I'm sure he has a few nitpicks of me.

While Spock is attempting to go down to the planet, Sulu says, "Someone's beaming down from the bridge." I don't believe I've ever seen a transporter on the bridge--indeed, there is none, or what would be the point of going all the way to the transporter room when they want to leave the ship. Even if there was, how would Sulu know that he was beaming specifically from that location?

Phil pointed that out in his book.

Of course, by the time of TNG, it was possible to beam down from the bridge without going to the Transporter Room.

Thanks. I haven't seen my copy of the book for a long time, so I don't always remember what he pointed out.

In that same book, Phil comments that Angela was not seen again after the incident with the plane.

However, she does show up at the end, but it's a blink and you miss her thing. The James Blish adaptation has, after McCoy shows up okay, Rodriguez ask about her, after which she emerged from some bushes, saying that she's fine.

The scene was either never filmed or cut.

Kirk sure does A LOT of running in this episode.
- He runs to find the source of gun shots.
- He runs away from Finnigan when he hears a scream.
- He runs again, this time with McCoy to find Burrows.
- He runs into the desert to find Sulu.
- He runs after Finnigan.
- He runs some more to catch Finnigan.
- He runs away from the tiger, runs away from the plane shooting at him and Spock, and he runs into (and over) the Samauri.
Turns out it was quite prophetic when Spock told him at the beginning of the episode it was illogical to run up and down fields when he should be resting!
Would it have been any more appropriate for the ship's First Officer to be rubbing the Captain's back in front of the crew, rather than Yeoman Burrows? Had Janice been around she would have been very jealous!

Yeah, he did run a lot in this one.

Following the rabbit's footprints, McCoy notices the second set of prints and says, "A girl's footprints." Then suddenly he snaps his fingers and realized, "The young blonde girl I saw chasing him!" as if it's a big revelation. I know the planet is strange, but who else do you think could have made the prints, Bones?

When Sulu examines the "dead" Black Knight and discovers it's a dummy, we see a close up of the open helmet and the dummy's face. In the long shots showing McCoy's body in the background, such as when Spock comes over to speak with Kirk, you can clearly see there is no head in side the helmet.

I'm always amused that when Kirk starts after Finnigan, he feels the need to jump over the same boulder that Finnigan did, even though it would be easier to go around.

And here is something odd I just noticed for the first time. Immediately after the Samurai attacks Kirk and Spock, the camera pauses for a moment on a wall of rock. Take a close look. There is writing on it! I can't make out any words, but I can see a few letters. I can see what looks like "WOAN" for example. I think I see the word "LORDS" on the right. Since the episode was shot in a public park, it's not surprising there might have been some graffiti on the rocks, but it's odd that they chose that spot to do the scene.

Can we really be sure the Angela seen at the glade in the scene with the Caretaker is actually her? Rodriguez must have been thinking of her, after all.

The Caretaker had arrived by then, so yes, I'm sure it was Angela. She was healed, like McCoy was.

Did you ever have that one person who made your life hell, and wish you could go back and kick their sorry a**. Kirk got that chance with Finnigan.

Regarding the words, the jury's still out as far as I can see, Brad. I can *kind of* see what you're talking about, but it could also be a coincidence and the fake or real wall has some grooves in it that look like letters. I had to tilt my laptop to cut down on the glare to actually see what I think you're seeing.
For anyone else that wants to check it out, here's a video of the scene. The attack takes place near the end of the video;

https://youtu.be/6_w2XkFKW6M

Interesting.

The remastered episode DVD set includes the televised trailers for next week's episode, and a missing scene, or re-worked scene is included for this episode.
Don Juan grabs Barrows arm from behind a tree-- just one problem-- she's in her princess dress. Both times he appears in the episode, she's in her Starfleet uniform.
As this appears in a trailer and not an actual episode, I suppose it can't count as a nit.

Phil referred to that in his book.