When Kirk is on the bridge in the teaser, being called to the transporter room, the background sounds are that of the transporter room, not the familiar bridge whirring.
Most of the McKinley Rocket base exteriors were shot right on the Paramount lot. In the scene where we first see the missile, it was matted into the background of a shot of the Paramount stages. (I heard this one at a '70's convention.)

I can't help but wonder if The Department of Temporal Investigations was around during this era. If so, why would they approve of this mission? If not, no doubt it was founded after this episode occurred to prevent such ridiculous missions.

Didnt Kirk leave one of his commuicators after they left for 7 s apartment in act 4?


I think in Trials and tribulations of the Investigators said Kirk s file had 17 violations etc

When Kirk and crew learn that Seven has escaped the brig, they call red alert and run to the transporter room to stop him. Wouldn't it have saved time to order the shields up, or did Mr. Seven do some unspecified "magic" on the transporter to beam through the shields? (No one seems surprised at this.)

Also, Mr. Seven uses the Enterprise transporter to beam down, but his own race's transport effects appear as he materializes in the office.

And one observation, possibly unclear for the sake of delicacy, on Isis here and Sylvia in Catspaw: it's amazing how much of a woman you can get past the censors and onto the screen when she's turned into a cat.

It would have been interesting if this episode would have sold into a spun off series. It would have been a spin off that had nothing to do with Star Trek after this episode.

It's amazing how much of a woman you can get past the censors and onto the screen when she's turned into a cat.
Or, when she plays "Catwoman" in the movies or on TV. See Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt or Lee Meriwether. Meow!!

Over a year ago, Benn said:

She (Kathyrn Hays) was however, a very prominent character and one given a name. Unlike Eddie Paskey's character(s) in this ep.

Leslie does get called by name in this episode. In fact, this is the end of a hat trick if you're watching the series in production order.

At the start of The Ultimate Computer, Kirk doesn't have time to look at his report, and waves him away, saying "Not now, Leslie."

At the end of The Omega Glory, Kirk hands him a knife and says "Leslie, untie Mr Spock and Dr McCoy."

And here, one of Kirk's orders at the start of the episode are "Leslie, begin sensor scan."


Speaking of the extras...when Seven arrives at Cape Canaveral, Bill Blackburn (Hadley) walks past the hangar he arrives in. Surely they had other extras? It's crazy that they pick probably the most often seen Enterprise extra (he's certainly more visible than Leslie is) and stick him right there. He's also very visible in the control room. Presumably this is one of Hadley's ancestors...

I haven't noticed Eddie Paskey in these scenes, but knowing him he must be around somewhere.

Teri Garr has an autobiography out titled "Speedbumps". I'm still not sure how fondly she remembers her Trek experience, or if she even mentions it in the book, but IMHO, it kicked off her career.

The sound effects of the elevator near the rocket is the same as Christopher Pike's wheelchair.

If Roddenberry had wanted this episode to be seriously considered as a pilot for a spin-off, one thing he should have done was to commission a fresh music score, instead of re-using old Trek music.
This is the last episode where the velour uniform shirts are used. In the third season, they changed to better fitting (and I'm sure less prone to shrinkage) double-knit material.

Victoria Vetri plays (uncredited) the human form of Isis. She was a 1967 Playmate of the Month, and 1968 Playmate of the Year. She is more famous for her performance (if you can call running around in a deerskin bikini and yelling "Akita") in "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth". She didn't have much to say in this ep!

Barbara Babcock did the "voice" of Isis

>Teri Garr has an autobiography out >titled "Speedbumps". I'm still not sure how >fondly she remembers her Trek experience, or if >she even mentions it in the book, but IMHO, it >kicked off her career.

Garr does indeed credit "Assignment: Earth" for jump-starting her career in her book. But it seems to me that the TV show Mr. Novak was the one that gave her her first substantial guest role.

Strange how Gary 7 managed to slip that cool servo device past security protocols & had it readily available to use when he was in the brig.Could he somehow cloak it?

I think Chekov in Star trek 4 left his things with the FbI men?

that was just before Scotty invented transparent aluminum.

Wasn't "Assignment Earth" going to be the pilot for a new series? If there was ever a good Trek project to revive, that'd be it. It would take place in the same universe, but have a completely different concept.

TO: "!"

What does that have to do with "Assignment: Earth" or any postings I made on this board?

Just curious.

I heard that Assignment:Earth was supposed to be a pilot for a new spinoff from Star Trek, but it never happaned, that why Spock says what he says at the end of the episode. anyone else know any thing about this?

That is true. However, the networks sunk it.

Perhaps the sinking of "Assignment:Earth" is another reason why Roddenberry abandoned "Star Trek" during the 3rd season.

Did he abandon Star Trek? I've never heard that before.

'Abandon' isn't quite right, but the story goes that Roddenberry agreed with NBC to come back as full producer, replacing Gene Coon and John Meredyth Lucas who handled the second half of the second season. NBC agreed and said the show would get a Monday at 7:30 slot, but changed their mind and put Laugh-In in that timeslot and Star Trek Friday at 10. Gene said if NBC did that he wouldn't produce the show, but the network wouldn't budge. He felt he had to stick by his word, because if he didn't then how could NBC believe anything he said in the future, so he was forced to 'abandon' the show, or step far enough away out of it that we got Fred Freiberger instead of Roddenberry again.

But I see what John is saying here, and it never occurred to me, nor have I read about it, but perhaps Gene was hoping in the back of his mind that if a network would pick up Assignment: Earth, and his threat to NBC wouldn't matter either way; if they agreed, he would produce Trek and Assignment, if not, then at least he had Assignment to fall back on. Unfortunately, he didn't get either.

Interesting. I never knew any of that.

Over at TrekMovie.com, they've got a couple of "Assignment: Earth" opening sequences people have created. http://trekmovie.com/2007/08/03/assignment-earththe-series/

Assignment:Earth would be a wonderful television series premise to revive,as would Genesis II.And nowadays with the incredible level of CGI available,as well as huge developments in other areas of special&visual fx,these shows could be done even better that when their original pilots aired decades ago.

It would be a perfect Trek revival series, especially considering that the budget wouldn't have to be as big as a show set in space. This would make an excellent cable series, or even a network show if it had enough support.

One minor hitch: I've never seen Doctor Who, but the premise sounds kind of similar. Could an Assignment Earth revival be seen as a ripoff of that series?

Did he abandon Star Trek?
Roddenberry devoted much of his time to writing and producing the movie Pretty Maids All In A Row for MGM, while Trek was in its final season. He was only peripherially involved with Trek by that time.

I don't follow Dr.Who,David,so I have no idea if that series & A:E are so similar that it could be seen as a case of plagiarism. Hope not. And your correct about it not being as expensive a series to do because it would not be set in space,so it would not require as many optical fx.Probably why GR wanted to do the show as it wouldn't have the cost or headaches of Star Trek's effects.Both of those factors would be good selling points from the view of a tv network.So if A:E had succeeded & made it onto the network's schedule,there would have been little,if any,incredible fx,aliens,phenomena,& so forth.But with today's computer fx,elaborate make-ups,virtual sets,animatronic puppetry,etc,you could now do a much more visually interesting & rich looking A:E.Irwin Allen also did a pilot around the same time of A:E & it had a similar premise.Man From The 25th Century starred James Darren as a human who had been teleported far into the future by aliens,trained & returned back to Earth's present day with sophisticated technology.Exactly like Gary Seven's story but the major difference was that these aliens were hostile to Earth & the Darren character was to sabotage a high-tech defense shield,thus allowing the aliens' invasion to take place.But the character regains his humanity,throws in with his fellow humans,& decides to fight against the aliens.Not a bad premise for an Irwin Allen show,but knowing how he'd guide it,it would devolve just like all of his prior tv shows into a mess.Also,as someone pointed out in the nitpick department:why would an alien civilization that is 500 years ahead of Earth science be stopped by our 20th century defense shield? They should be able to swoop in,knock it & every other Earth tech out in minutes,& roll over us.They shouldn't require humans to have to sabotage us from within at all.

Dr. Who's premise changed over time.

The closest to Assignment:Earth would have been Seasons 7 to 11-ish, but IIRC Season 7 aired after this episode.

Of course the basic premise, person sent to protect mankind, could be said to be a ripoff of the Bible. ;-)

I've wondered why Spock and Scotty were in the transporter room at the beginning of the episode, since there was no indication that the 'historical research' would involve beaming down.
I'm guessing they were going to beam UP something, perhaps newspapers, to bring back as specimens. Perhaps they were going to beam aboard a satellite to examine, then return it to orbit, but whatever they were going to do, it must have had something to do with research.
(It's about 20 years too early to go around beaming up humpback whales! )

Someone posted just how did Gary Seven manage to beam through the Enterprise's shield at the beginning of the episode?I thought Kirk ordered the ship's shields down because the shaking of it,due to Seven's teleportation beam,was going to severely damage,perhaps destroy,the big E? Also,in the James Blish book adaptations of the Trek episodes,it clearly states that the location of Seven's apartment is indeed New York City.There are some differences between the A:E filmed episode & the January 01,1968 final draft of the script.In the confrontation between Seven & the Enterprise crew in the Transporter Room,Mr.Spock is sent onto the floor by Seven & not just into a bulkhead.Also,GS grabs a phaser off the floor from a security guard,but Kirk fires his phaser at GS first.The Beta-5 computer in GS's apartment is hidden behind a bookcase,but instead of the bookcase moving outward in a vertical manner,it opens horizontally with one half sliding upwards towards the ceiling,then the other sliding downwards towards the floor.I prefer the nifty way they did it on the episode as opposed to the script draft.In the final scene of the script,GS states to Kirk & Spock that he expects to be replaced shortly in this assignment.That's when Kirk tells GS that they cannot tell him anything more regarding Gary's future as it could alter history by doing so.The implication being that Kirk & Spock both know that Gary "won't"be replaced by new agents anytime soon.Wasn't that servo device Gary carried a cool looking gizmo? I think that if some wise folks revive this TV concept,they should actually not have GS have to use a transporter device inside his secret vault.It'd be sharper if he had a gadget which could open up portals,similar to what they did in the TV show sliders.

The remastered "Assignment: Earth" airs next weekend. The only real change is likely to be the orbital shots. The original used the same globe as in "Miri" -- you expect to see "Rand McNalley" printed on it.

Say, the shields were up while Kirk and Spock beamed downed too?

------------------------

Spock also said there would be an important assasination today?

As expected, the main update is the photorealistic Earth from orbit.

The live-action effects (force field, phaser shot, Seven's transporter and the stock NASA footage) aren't changed. The rocket footage is from Apollo 4, an unmanned test mission launched 11/9/1967. "Assignment: Earth" aired 3/29/1968. The separation footage is actually of the interstage ring between the first and second stages (you can see the first stage off in the distance) -- the Beta 5 describes it as the second stage detaching.

They really reach for the "cute" moment with the transcripting typewriter. With less than two hours left before the rocket launch, Seven insists on a typed report on everything the "agent" has done in the last three days. He can't just ask her why the rocket modifications haven't been done.

As noted above, Kirk and Spock are back in uniform in the last scene. However, Seven is also in a different outfit -- maybe it's supposed to be a final meeting the next day.

The deflector shields don't make the ship invisible, so I'm not sure how they keep the ship from being detected. Something as big as the Enterprise would be easily visible from the the surface.

McKinley Rocket Base looks exactly like the Kennedy Space Center. Maybe in the Star Trek universe, McKinley promised a man on the moon by the end of 70 years, before he was assassinated.

Just watched my tape of the remastered "A:E" guys & the only CGI enhancements were to the Earth & they now also include a background shot of our moon as the Enterprise orbits Earth.Good stuff but not an episode that they did lots of tweaking to.While its always cool to see them alter FX in these remastered episodes,I feel that the original optical FX for "A:E" work quite well & stand the test of time.I would have liked to see them enhance the scene where Gary Seven taps the brig force-field.Those sparks come off as appearing animated like a cartoon in my opinion.They clearly could do something superior with it via CGI today.

The deflector shields don't make the ship invisible, so I'm not sure how they keep the ship from being detected. Something as big as the Enterprise would be easily visible from the the surface.

Only if they knew where to look for it. I'm assumng the deflectors shield it from radar.

Gary Seven's security protocols in his penthouse appear to be very poor. Roberta accidentally pushes one of his pen holders on his desk & this slides open the wall & reveals his vault/transporter. Then by merely fiddling with it she opens up the vault door,then by simply pushing buttons on the inside of the door she's able to activate Seven's transporter system.All of which she does without any knowledge whatsoever about any of this equipment.I realize that this was all done in order to advance the plot,but it still comes off as ludicrous.And in the future Gary better safeguard all of his alien instrumentality far,far better than is evident here.

Being invisible to radar wouldn't help, as orbital space wasn't scanned by radar back then (or now).

I still think something as big and white as the Enterprise would be very bright in the sky, and hard to miss.

True, considering how easily artificial satellites are seen in our own skies nightly. It's worth a look.

The Enterprise would have had to remain in the Earth's shadow, so as to not be illuminated by sunlight and rendered easily visible from the ground.

A nit introduced in the new effects -- the Earth appears to be rotating backwards. This is easiest to see in the shot where the E passes over the Arabian peninsula and India. The Earth is clearly moving towards the camera (to the west). The Earth actually rotates to the east. It's not that the camera is moving, because the stars behind the Earth don't shift.

And this shot shows that that north is up -- in theory, the Enterprise could have been orbiting with the south pole on top.

If Assignment Earth had been made into a series it wouldn't have lasted more than a season, they would have run out of story ideas by then. I think NBC realized this and thats why they didn't green light it for a series.

That's one possible reason for NBC not going ahead with an A:E TV show.But it is also clear from articles that I've read by various creators of sf series that the television networks are often resistant to approving sf shows.The cost factor is one issue,& sadly,the other one is that many of the execs simply "don't understand sf concepts" & have no interest in backing such shows.

Here's an analysis of the original script, before it was incorporated into Star Trek.

>Being invisible to radar wouldn't help, as
>orbital space wasn't scanned by radar back then
>(or now).

On the contrary, then as now, space is under constant radar surveillance. The powerful military radar systems that look for missile attacks have no problem tracking all man made objects orbiting Earth, down to the size of a grapefruit and even smaller. Something as large as the Enterprise would have been instantly detected if it had not somehow made itself radar invisible.

I wonder if Gary Seven was involved somehow in the Temporal Cold War mentioned in "Enterprise"

There was some mention earlier of similarities to Doctor Who, and it struck me that Seven's weapon, the servo, was an all-purpose Sonic Screwdriver, even before the present-day Doctor hyped up it's caoabilities.
Seven uses it to lock and unlock doors (like the sonic screwdriver), and it can fire invisible energy beams ( a variation of the sonic screwdriver overloading and blowing up a target or machine)
They were both created in 1968, in the U.S. and U.K. almost simultaneously, so I don't think there's any chance of copying from either side.

There really was no need to have Seven destroy the missile manuallyu, other than to create an exciting climax. Seven wanted the missile detonated, so the Enterprise could have easily fired her phasers from 5000 miles away and blown it up.

Gotta wonder where that 'somewhat larger star-shaped' mole or tattoo is on Roberta's body...

Scotty directs Kirk and Spock up into the building, stating approximately 30 meters height. One meter is equal to 3 feet, so 30 meters multiplied by 3 is 90. Seven's office is 12-B, indicating a twelfth floor location. I'm only estimating, but from one floor surface to the next would have to be about 8 feet, so that Scotty's estimation would be 11 X 8 (88 feet), bringing Kirk and Spock to the floor surface of the 12th floor. An extra floor, taking into account Seven's 12-B apartment would make that 96 feet, but I'm estimating the sensors are saying where he's standing, not including the 12 floors area from floor to ceiling.

Not necessarily. 12-B could be on the first floor, 22-B on the second, etc...

A news item - Victoria Vetri, who briefly played Isis, has been arrested in L.A. and charged with attempted murder. Specifically, of her husband. More on that here.

Here's the original outline for this episode. As most of you probably know, one gag that got cut was the bridge crew watching an episode of Bonanza on the viewscreen. I wish it hadn't; IMHO, it probably would have been funny.

I have always suspected that this episode actually took place in 1968 on the day of Martin Luther Kings assasination. Spock said there was an important assasination on this day. On the day of Kings asassination in 1968 the unmanned Apollo 6 Saturn V rocket accidentally went off course with parts of it, so we were told, coming back down to Earth. Although the details of the incident, as we know it, differ greatly from the events in this episode, it is important to remember that Kirk at the end said that the true events were covered up and that it was "never generally revealed" at the time that a suborbital nuclear warhead platform had exploded just above the Earth. This episode then must actually reveal the "true history" behind that launch and the fact that a nuke was hidden inside the nosecone of the Apollo six rocket. Everyone in New York is also dressed as they would have been in April. All except of course Roberta. She must have been very thick blooded.

John A. Lang - "Once again the end credits guy screws up.... it lists Ms. Lincoln played by "Terri Garr" "Terri"??????? Hey, dingbat! It's "TERI"!!!!!"

I agree, John, so I checked her listing on imdb.com and found out she's listed in various Tv credits with 3 variations on her name! For example...

That Girl (TV Series)
Actress #1 At Audition / Estelle
- The Drunkard(1968) ... Actress #1 At Audition (uncredited)
- This Little Piggy Had a Ball(1967) ... Estelle (as Terry Garr)
1968 Star Trek(TV Series) Roberta Lincoln
- Assignment: Earth(1968) ... Roberta Lincoln(as Terri Garr)
- 1968 The Andy Griffith Show(TV Series)
Girl in Red Convertible
- The Wedding(1968) ... Girl in Red Convertible (as Terri Garr)

I guess she eventually settled on 'Teri'.

Luigi Novi - "Why don’t the crew frisk Gary Seven and strip search him? He pulls out a device that facilitates his escape from the brig! Why is everyone so laid back on this ship when it comes to security?"

In addition to his servo, he also keeps his wristwatch, which could have had hidden mechanisms inside it for all they knew.

gcapp - "Not only does it look like a Saturn 5 assembly, you can clearly see the Apollo CSM shape at the top of the rocket."

We all know that now, and it's ancient footage, but remember, to audiences in 1968 this rocket was very new, and hadn't even been sent to the Moon with astronauts yet. They were able to get away with the similarity for only a year or so before Neil Armstrong and crew really made the Saturn V world famous and recognizable.

Spock says he was drawn to the cat...I wonder if he'd be drawn to Isis as that lovely lady?

Kirk was unusually logical regarding the fight in the transporter room. Everyone tried to take on Seven physically, but the Ship's Greatest Fighter actually uses a phaser to subdue Seven instead of his own formidable fighting skills.

I would have liked to see an extended scene as Roberta speaks to the two cops that have just rematerialized back into Seven's apartment. Both would have been,
"What did you do to us?!"
"What did you do to yourselves?!"
"This is your fault, lady!"
"What did I do?! You guys are the ones that disappeared and popped back here!"
"I'm outta here, Charlie! I'm going back to being a mall cop where it's safe and boring!"

I've always felt like Sgt. Lipton looks like Gene Roddenberry, so I checked out imdb.com and found the listing for the actor, 'Lincoln Demyan', which sure sounds like a fake name. However, he's had many other shows-- ironically, imdb.com doesn't list the Trek episode that made me look up his name on their site in the first place!

When Seven was yanked away from the missile by Roberta fiddling with the apartment's transporter, Seven tells you, "The Enterprise was trying to beam be aboard...", Roberta just accepts it. Since she's unsure of what's going on, she should have a line like,
"The WHAT is trying to do WHAT to you?!"

NANJAO It is curious that the "other power" putting nuclear warheads in orbit is never explicitly named. There was only one other country in 1968 that had the technology to launch such satellites, so why not call it the Soviet Union?

In the remastered enhanced version of the episode, at the very beginning we are shown a view of Earth and the Moon from space. The Moon is a crescent turned toward the right. A short while later, we are again shown a view of Earth and Moon from space, this time with a crescent Moon turned toward the left. This makes no astronomical sense, the Moon's phase could not have changed so drastically in such a short time.

When Roberta arrives late at the office, Gary Seven mistakes her for the missing agent 201. But he is a supervisor agent on a special mission. Shouldn't he have been given a complete file on said mission, one that would have included pictures of both agents?

Seven has the computer replicate three fake ID's to help in his mission. One is for the CIA, one for the NSA and one for the New York City Police Department. The CIA one is strange, they are not authorized to operate within US territory. An FBI ID would have been far more appropriate. He is also not given a badge to accompany the NYPD ID.

We are shown a view of the launch control center, with a clock visible through a glass bay that reads 9:50. Then we see Gary Seven dealing with Sargent Lipton, after which we again see the same clock. Over two minutes separate the two views of the clock, but it still reads exactly 9:50.

When Scotty tries to beam up Seven working on the rocket, the panel Seven had opened to gain access to the rocket's electronics remains open. This means those delicate systems are fully exposed to the outside environment during launch, it's remarkable that the rocket doesn't suffer an unplanned malfunction right there on the launch pad or soon after taking off as a result.

While Seven is working on the computer to orchestrate the malfunction, Roberta tries to call the police, but Isis enters the room and alerts Seven, who uses his pen gizmo to sever the phone's line. However, the door Isis comes through opens toward the outside of the office, when we already know that said door opens INWARD instead.

The orbital platform being launched is referred to several times as SUB orbital.

When Seven first arrives at the launch base, we see a view of the rocket visible over a tall fence. That rocket is MUCH too close to the depicted location for a safe launch.

The CIA one is strange, they are not authorized to operate within US territory.

At least not officially. No doubt the Seven's computer has access to dark secrets.

NANJAO When Gary Seven first arrives on Enterprise, Isis, his black cat, lets out a loud "Meow". I can imagine that it translated as something like "What the ••••!?"

Why did Kirk wait until AFTER whatever was beaming in materialized to call for security?

Yeah, no one was expecting a transporter beam in that time.

John wrote, a long time ago (but not in a galaxy far, far away):

---

quote:

Perhaps the sinking of "Assignment:Earth" is another reason why Roddenberry abandoned "Star Trek" during the 3rd season.

---

Steve's August 17, 2007 post pretty much explains why Roddenberry left.

Mind you, it wouldn't have made much difference anyway, because NBC (the real villain of the piece) wanted Star Trek dead. During the final seasons, it constantly pre-empted the show, so you never knew when it would be on.

NBC would do the same thing in the final season of Quantum Leap, 23 years later. Heck, it worked for them once, and would do so again.

Roberta calls the police to 811 East 68th Street, which is a real address in Brooklyn. However, it's more of a residential area, and not a downtown office building, the way it seems in the episode.
This is the same idea on 'Seinfeld', where Jerry's apartment building isn't even an apartment in New York, either from the real-life street address given, or the outside view.
811 East 68th Street, according to a Google Maps search, is near Leif Ericson Park, the Gowanus Expressway, and near 8th Avenue.

Also,Highway 949, where the two agents were killed in a car accident, doesn't exist in Texas or Florida, which is where I believed the rocket base to be. State Highway 949 is in Pennsylvania, and Township Highway 949 is in Ohio. I don't think they have any rocket base in either state, considering they died 10 miles from the base.

McKinley Rocket Base seems to be fictional, too. I couldn't find a real-life base by that name in my search.

I also noticed that this episode seemed to have more first season music than your average second season episode. I wonder if this was intentional?

I don't think they have any rocket base in either state, considering they died 10 miles from the base.
I believe Vandenberg was active at that time. However, there is no Highway 949 near Vandenberg either.

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln were also brought back in numerous Trek novels. Greg Cox (one of the best Trek authors, IMO) featured them in his Eugenics Wars novels, in which Gary and Roberta played a key role in defeating Khan.

Of course, this episode was intended to start a Trek spin-off series (which would not happen again until the launch of DS9, 25 years later).

I wonder how said spin-off would have been received.

In the briefing room, Kirk presses a button on his computer console to call Checkov on the bridge. We first view this from behind Kirk, and he keeps his finger on the button. The shot then switches to a front view and Kirk's hands are sudddenly crossed on the table in front of him.

Why did they allow Isis to roam more or less free in the ship? Seven was obviously able to communicate with the cat, which should have alerted them that it was more than a mere cat.

If they have the transporter settings Seven used to beam down, why can they only pinpoint his location to within a thousand meters?

Why did Seven take the time to change from his dark blue business outfit to a lighter grey one?

Kirk's phaser shot to open the door to Seven's office appears to only scorch the wood around the doorknob and leave the lock's mechanism intact.

Seven starts working on the rocket with only 20 minutes left on the countdown. How did he plan to get far enough away to avoid being killed by the launch? Does he have a remote control for his transporter? If so, and if that transporter can target him at the top of the launch tower, why didn't he just beam directly up there from his office?

On the last closeup of the launch tower before Scotty finally pinpoints Seven, we can see two men in hard hat working on a tower supposedly evacuated and ready for launch.

Why are they keeping Kirk and Spock, two suspected saboteurs, in the launch center instead of taking them away to a detention area?

When Seven's computer announces the second stage of the rocket detaching and the third stage igniting, we are instead shown a view of the ring separating the first and second stages detaching, and then the second stage igniting.

During the whole sequence of the rocket's flight, everyone refers to THE warhead arming itself and exploding. But the computer earlier described the orbital platform being launched as a multi warhead one.

The communicators confiscated from Kirk and Spock are clearly shown closed, but one of them is open for no good reason when Scotty tries to contact Kirk.

When first arriving on Earth, Seven was not very happy at the prospect of staying on our primitive planet for any length of time. At the end of the episode though, he seems to have changed his mind about that. I wonder if him getting to know Roberta had anything to do with it.

When first arriving on Earth, Seven was not very happy at the prospect of staying on our primitive planet for any length of time. At the end of the episode though, he seems to have changed his mind about that. I wonder if him getting to know Roberta had anything to do with it.

Well, had this gone to series, they would have had many adventures together.

Alas, it was not to be. Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln would live on only in novels (Greg Cox's excellent Eugenics Wars novels, for example).

we are instead shown a view of the ring separating the first and second stages detaching,

NANJAO. That ring is called the interstage.

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln also appeared in the 1998 TOS novel, Assignment Eternity.

John Byrne (yes, THAT John Byrne) wrote a five issue comic series, which showed Gary and Roberta having some adventures:


https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Star-Trek-Assignment-Earth


Not bad (and considering how I feel about John Byrne and what he did to Superman, back in the 1980's, that's a compliment).

It almost seems as if the Enterprise transporter intercepted Seven's signal and it was forcing the ship to accept the signal and reintegrate Seven. Maybe the Enterprise and alien transporter systems are compatible and programmed very similarly?

I had to laugh when I finally noticed Eddie Paskey (Leslie) in the transporter room. He was smiling, looking very comfortable sleeping on his arm, unlike others knocked out, who slept in a sitting position.

Although it wasn't made clear intentionally that Seven was a good guy, there were clues; Seven's servo knocks out people but leaves them in a sleepy, euphoric state, rather than in pain, and when he escapes he does't take the guard's phaser with him.

I have to wonder how Roberta took the news that both of her former employers were killed in a car accident? Had she been working them long enough to be upset by their deaths?

The guard at the rocket base tells Seven to 'put the cat down and keep your hands at your sides', but Seven drops Isis, and folds his hands in front of himself.

Roberta's hairstyle doesn't match in scenes at the end. The far shots of her and Seven show her with a 'bob', two curled ends at the tips pointing inwards, but the close-ups of her as she asks who the strange woman is show her with a slightly different style.

Although it wasn't made clear intentionally that Seven was a good guy, there were clues; Seven's servo knocks out people but leaves them in a sleepy, euphoric state, rather than in pain, and when he escapes he does't take the guard's phaser with him.

Yeah, I noticed that as well.


I have to wonder how Roberta took the news that both of her former employers were killed in a car accident? Had she been working them long enough to be upset by their deaths?

Didn't she say that it was her first actual day on the job? I guess they hired her either over the phone or by mail.

Didn't she say that it was her first actual day on the job? I guess they hired her either over the phone or by mail.

No she didn't. Dialogue clearly indicates that she had been working for them for a while.

Been a while since I watched this one.

NANJAO When Seven's computer makes his fake IDs, I believe it is the first depiction of a replicator operating in the Star Trek universe.

Yeah, it is.

Of course, it took the Federation another century to develop the technology themselves.

Seven muses to Isis that Earth is 'primitive'and wonders 'how they can live like this.'
Well, 52years have passed since this episode premiered and I think we can say from our perspective that it was primitive compared to now, and you probably wonder how we lived without modern things like computers and cell phones.
And DVDs to re-watch these episodes.

He was probably comparing Earth to the planet where his superiors lived on.

I know, but watching it in 2020 does make 1968 seem 'ancient'.
Much like myself, sometimes!

While unnamed on this episode, the novels and comics call Seven's unnamed superiors the Aegis.

Wonder where they got that name from?

Sounds like an insurance company. "Gary Seven, you're in good hands with Aegis." ;-)

Oh, that's it! The Aegis are an insurance company, but they insure planets and work to keep them safe so they don't have to pay out!

That might be it

Something I never noticed before. The guy who played the director of the rocket base is the same guy who Billy Mumy turned into a jack-in-the-box on THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

So, he got better?

Sure, I mean, it's not like he got turned into a newt or anything...

Oh yeah, it's that guy!

Seven's office (or agents 347 & 201's office) has touch tone phones. Touch tone service (introduced at the New York World's Fair of 1964-65) was a novelty back in 1968, with only limited availability.

Well, he also has that super computer and transporter.

Touch tone phones are not a novelty to him.

Would Starfleet really risk sending the Enterprise into Earth's past just for historical research? This mission wasn't vital to the Federation, nor did they had to go back and get something that existed in the past to save the present (like they did in The Voyage Home). Time travel is a risky thing, you're always in danger of changing the past and I can't see Starfleet doing this for just a minor thing.

Granted, the Enterprise was just supposed to sit in orbit and monitor 1968 Earth, but still there are risks. Kirk said their deflector shields protect them from radar, but what about telescopes? You can see the International Space Station in a telescope, so I can imagine you can see a honking big ship like the Enterprise in one too. Given the political climate of the time, can you imagine the reaction if any nation saw the Big E?

I would have thought that Starfleet would forbid any further excursions into the past, to protect the time line (hence the reason no one uses this method in the later TV shows, it's all super duper top secret).

Kirk said their deflector shields protect them from radar, but what about telescopes? You can see the International Space Station in a telescope, so I can imagine you can see a honking big ship like the Enterprise in one too.

You can actually see the ISS with the naked eye, it is very bright. A white object the size of the Enterprise would be like a beacon in the sky and catch everybody's attention. One way to avoid that would be to maneuver the ship so it always remains above the day side of the planet, which they appear to do for most of the episode.

Btw, if you want to see the ISS for yourself, this website will provide you with times and trajectories in the sky for any location on Earth. How it works is fairly easy to figure out, although a working knowledge of astronomy will help a lot.

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quote:

A white object the size of the Enterprise would be like a beacon in the sky and catch everybody's attention. One way to avoid that would be to maneuver the ship so it always remains above the day side of the planet, which they appear to do for most of the episode.

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How did Isis know that Seven had escaped and that it was time for her to go join him in the transporter room?

When Kirk and Spock arrive at Seven's building, Scott tells them that they have to go up 30 meters. Seven's office is on the 12th floor. That's 2.5 meters per floor, doesn't sound like a lot to me.

This is the first and only time in all of Star Trek that the Vulcan neck pinch fails to knock out someome. Unless you count the time Spock tried it on one of the Alice androids in I, Mudd

Iris could be a telepath. We know noting of her species.

Ironically, that same cat was used in 'Catspaw', which Spock said that such cats could be the 'Familiars' of witches or demons (I can't remember which).
Does that make Isis a Familiar to Seven?

Does that make Isis a Familiar to Seven?

I definitely think this was the spirit in which she was written.

Perhaps a future novel can explore Isis's origins.

As in "The Omega Glory", Kirk records a Captain's Log, but doesn't give a stardate.

Of course, in this instance they are back in Earth's past, so stardates a probably meaningless.

To Steve: The other episode with a cat is called Catspaw.

I wonder if Gene Roddenberry's original script, the unsold pilot sans the Star Trek characters, still exists somewhere.

I don't know- it could be an interesting read.

My question is who uses a show that is on shaky ground to test a new program??

It would be interesting, since the Star Trek characters scenes on their own must make up a good 20 minutes of the script.
If the story was the basically the same, maybe enemy agents or aliens were tracking down Seven, instead of Kirk and Spock.

My question is who uses a show that is on shaky ground to test a new program??

Actually, Gene Roddenberry pitched his original script, for this series, more than a year before.

When that script got rejected, he put it on a shelf, and then eventually re-worked it into the Trek episode.

And yes, it was evil aliens from the future, that Seven and Roberta had to stop, in the original script.

There are several fan-made 'Assiognment: Earth' TV series opening credits videos out there.
Here's one;

https://youtu.be/s6lmBbV3VWo

Looks good.

This article from Looper documents how pissed off Teri Garr got, when Trek's resident horndog Gene Roddenberry wanted to take two inches off the length of Teri Garr's already short skirt.

Ms. Garr gave an interview for Starlog Magazine in which she more or less badmouthed not only Trek, but it's fans as well (such as Yours Truly).

Needless to say, I was not impressed.