Huge nit - If Kol-tai survived the first plague, how come he was affected by the one on the Enterprise?

Having a disease once doesn't necessarily confer immunity for the rest of one's life.

What exactly does this episode have to do with The Ancient Mariner?

Well nothing... just the fact that something McCoy did years before still "hangs around his neck".

But he cured them. He didn`t cause the disease.

Yup, the analogy doesn't go very far, does it?

I didn't mind this one. I actually didn't see the fact the Enterprise would get affected coming and so was actually surprised when Kirk turned blue. And I didn't guess it was the aurora, either.
Kirk turns blue, then later he's normal colour, then he seems to have a green tinge.
Could be just the station screening it here but there was no episode title with the author's name after the opening credits.
Was that Leonard Nimoy doing the voices of one of the Dramians?
Isn't the "albatross" analogy because it *appears* something McCoy did 19 years ago is "still hanging around his neck"? He is worried that he might have actually caused the problem until the Kirk and Spock come back.
Spock is half-human - surely the plague would affect him slightly?

I apologise if the post I put here previously was offensive. I don't see how - but I accept the ruling of the moderator.
I just hope something isn't wrong with the board and it disappeared for no reason at all.

Say Chris, I have no recollection of removing a post from this board... please remind me.

I don't understand but the post is back in its entirety where it should be. I knew it was there for a while, I came back and saw it had disappeared hence my note to you, Murray. And now, it's back!
The post was (in case it disappears again): "I didn't mind this one. I actually didn't see the fact the Enterprise would get affected coming and so was actually surprised when Kirk turned blue. And I didn't guess it was the aurora, either.
Kirk turns blue, then later he's normal colour, then he seems to have a green tinge.
Could be just the station screening it here but there was no episode title with the author's name after the opening credits.
Was that Leonard Nimoy doing the voices of one of the Dramians?
Isn't the "albatross" analogy because it *appears* something McCoy did 19 years ago is "still hanging around his neck"? He is worried that he might have actually caused the problem until the Kirk and Spock come back.
Spock is half-human - surely the plague would affect him slightly?"

Why would it be offensive? I realise some of your posts have been considered offensive, but it`s not the person who sends them, it`s the content.

Disappearing and reappearing posts? I think I'll Phil about this...

Apologies to all I may have offended, then.
And, no I am not crazy, - the post *did* disappear and then reappear.

Not that I followed the Animated Series much, but...
It would appear, from this episode, that a starship is programmed to self-destruct if no life-signs are registered aboard for a certain time-period.
Well, I can see where that makes sense.
However, it would also make search-salvage-rescue operations impossible for friendly ships.
Guess it's a good thing TAS isn't generally considered canonical...

Funny, TAS was considered canonical when Gene Roddenberry was still collecting his paycheck from it.

Really?

What flavor is this episode?

"What flavor is this episode?"

IT'S ANIMATED STAR TREK! IT'S BLOODY ANIMATED STAR TREK FLAVOR!!

At the end of this episode, when the gang is in the transporter room, Bones' tunic turns gold.

Do we get wafers?

"Do we get wafers?"

NO, YOU DON'T GET BLOODY WAFERS!

(At this rate we should get through the entire routine in about 10 years)

I never thought that I would be correcting Bjo Trimble, but, in her title reference for this episode in THE STAR TREK CONCORDANCE. She talks about the denizens of Demos I and Demos II. Demos is a character . She meant to say Dramia I and Dramia II.

I'll have two please.

Once again, Bill Reed directed this one, not Hal Sutherland. I'm beginning to think that Reed directed the entire second season of TAS. He certainly directed the majority so far.

If it is known that Vulcans have an immunity to the plague that swept through Dramia II, then it should be known exactly what disease it is. With that knowledge, surely it could be determined if the innoculations McCoy and his team passed out was actually a possible cause of the disease. Right?

Either Demos is very naive or very stupid. I'm not sure which. We see him watch, on his ship's view screen, the doors to Enterprise's Hangar Deck open and he still pilots his ship into the Enterprise. Anybody else would have suspected a trap, I'd think.

Wonder why Kirk and Spock didn't have security guards with them when they confronted Demos outside the Hangar Deck?

Just because the Enterprise is out of communication range with Starfleet, doesn't mean Kirk still couldn't send them a message apprising his superiors of the situation in the Dramia star system. Being out of range has never stopped Kirk from sending such messages before.

So since the Enterprise is out of communcations range with Starfleet, Demos plans to fly out to the nearest starbase, eh? Somehow, I don't think the Dramian would get there any quicker than a subspace message would. It would actually be a waste of time for him to make the trip.

Why is Spock in Sickbay during the trip back to Dramia I? Shouldn't he be on the Bridge, allowing Nurse Chapel and Dr. M'Benga (if he's still on the Enterprise) to take care of Kol-Tai?

Spock was trusting Kirk to beam himself and Dr. McCoy back aboard the Enterprise? The Vulcan was lucky his Captain could still stand and think well enough to do so. That was a mighty big risk Spock took - that Captain Kirk would still be able to operate the transporter. And why not Lt. Kyle or Scotty?

Spock says the library computer banks have no information on the disease or a cure for it. Well, the computer knew enough to tell Spock that Vulcans were immuned to it. So apparently something is known about the disease.

Why would the aurora cause the skin discoloration? That makes no sense whatsoever.

So Kol-Tai was the only one on Dramia II to be innoculated with the antivirus for Saurian virus? Why was he so special? And why wasn't anyone else given the Saurian virus shot? And having already been innoculated, shouldn't Kol-Tai have been immuned to the plague the second time around?

Flesh isn't the only thing to change colors in this ep. During the tag in the transporter room, MCCoy suddenly is wearing a yellow shirt rather than a blue one. After one shot, it switches back to its normal color.

"Live long and prosper."

Presumably Dremia II is in the same system as Dremia I so wouldn't going to Warp 6 in a solar system be overkill? You'd think life-bearing planets would be light minutes away from each other.

Funny how all the people who catch the plague turn the exact same colors despite different races & skin tones.

Summary - McCoy, who cures the plague using Kol-tai's blood.
No he uses Saurian virus anti-bodies that he just happened to have in his lab. Amazingly he had enough for the whole crew.

The rotation visual effects from outer space for Dramia I is beautifully done & stands the test of time.The series also used this effect for other worlds throughout the show's run.The Dramians themselves are a cool looking design for an alien race,although having tentacles as hands would make the development of tools & tech impossible.The transporter effect is nicely done,& Demos ship is a sharp looking design.I agree with Benn though that Demos was awfully foolish to fall for Kirk's obvious trap of sneaking aboard the Enterprise hanger deck.

How does the aurora affect skin tone?
Well, an aurora is an electrical effect, electrons can affect molecules, viruses have molecules...
That's about as far as I can take it....

Love the Monty Python reference!

Hard to believe that today is the 40th anniversary of this episode's initial transmission - I only realised while doing prep work for this episode's entry on my explaining errors in Star Trek wiki!

When first arriving on Dramia 2, Kirk remarks on the bleakness of the landscape, to which Demos replies "Plagues seldom leave behind fields of flowers, Captain." Well, actually they do. With the inhabitants gone, or at least their numbers seriously diminished, nature has a chance of reasserting itself and restoring the damaged ecosystems.

McCoy uses a classical syringe to inject the saurian antibodies in his patients instead of a hypospray.