I thought the woman's line about her having green memories was a great set up for Kirk's retort - "I already have plenty of green memories." Do you think the joke was intentional?

Not a nit, just a coincidence.
(I'm fond of these, as you might by now be aware if you read the Voyager or TNG or DS9 boards!)
The key producer of this series was D.C. Fontana.
She wrote an episode for Gene Roddenberry's "Earth: Final Conflict" which was called "Jihad". I wonder I wonder I wonder...

The Jihad is currently the featured episode on my animated Star Trek website.
There are lots of pictures, 3 avi's, RealVideo, a link to buy the video,
and the entire episode in RealAudio format.
http://mainengineering.simplenet.com/tas_main.html
Please stop by, and comments are always welcome in my guestbook and disscussion area. Thank you.

Long before the Mideast terrorist group Islamic You-Know-What, I knew what the word "jihad" meant. To quote the book, I learned it all from STAR TREK----from this very episode!!!

The ships seen orbiting the Vedala asteroid were also seen in the ep, "The Time Trap". I guess some races are using really outdated ships to travel through space.

The discs on the transporter platform do not form a circle as they should normally. Also, there's one disc in the far left side that's way too small.

It looks like they used Telepath from "The Slaver Weapon" as the model for the Vedala who outlines the mission for Kirk and Spock. It's basically the same art with a slightly altered head.

The Vedala never did say why Kirk was chosen for this expedition. The reason for Spock is his scientific knowledge. Much as I love the character, but is Spock really the smartest scientist in all of the Federation?

Lara has the same "Shaggy walk" run that Uhura had in "The Slaver Weapon". It looks silly.

As the vehicle takes off to escape the lava flow, there's a stream coming down the side of a mountain that hits some quartz-like crystals. This shot was first utitlized in "The Terratin Incident".

The flying reptiles swooping down on the expedition were first seen in "Once Upon a Planet", IIRC.

The expedition has reached the building in which the Soul of Alar is hidden. As Kirk walks across the floor, you can see he's suddenly wearing a life support belt. The belt vanishes again as Kirk jumps on the wall.

I thought Kirk proclaimed the walls of the building unscalable. He and the others do a good job climbing these unscalable walls.

If Lara's rope would have bounced off the force field surrounding the Soul of Alar, how come Kirk could hook his foot on it?

Tchar was the saboteur on all four missions? That's the implication in this ep and it's not possible. It would mean the Vedala sent him on all three previous missions to retreive the Soul of Alar and never once suspected he was sabotaging the expeditions. From how Spock describes the Vedalans, that sounds unlikely. Also, we're told that no one survived the previous expeditions. On the other hand, I'd believe it if Tchar was part of a conspiracy to keep the Soul captive. His predecessors would only have to "disappear" after they wiped out the other members of their teams to make it look like no one survived. Tchar would just be the most recent conspirator to try to sabotage the rescue of the Soul.

I'm sure this was already explained in the ep, but I'm too lazy to go back and check, but... If the Vedala are so powerful, why didn't they go to rescue the Soul of Alar?

"Live long and prosper."

The flying reptiles swooping down on the expedition were first seen in "Once Upon a Planet", IIRC. - me

And I don't recall correctly. They debuted in "The Eye of the Beholder". Well, technically, they debuted in "The Infinite Vulcan". Sort of. The difference between the Swoopers in "TIV" and the flying reptiles in this ep and "TEotB" is that Swoopers had a pair of tenacles. The others didn't.

"Live long and prosper."

When Spock yells, "It's re-rigged", from the moon-buggy, the insect creature "M" is missing from the shot. (He was supposed to be next to Spock...rewiring the moon-buggy)

Some of the alien ships oribiting the planet in this episode were seen in "The Time Trap"

RATS AGAIN! Disregard previous observation

I REALY need to read those previous observations more closer!

SPECIAL VOICE: David Gerrold as Em/3/Green

The Vedala never did say why Kirk was chosen for this expedition. The reason for Spock is his scientific knowledge.

I thought the Vedala said that he was chosen for his leadership abilities. And oddly enough, although Kirk's leadership abilities are usually an Informed Attribute in this episode he actually comes across as an effective leader: cajoling or ordering his team civilian team members appropriately, effectively utilizing the different skills they bring to the mission. . .Spock's scientific knowledge, on the other hand, didn't actually seem to contribute. He was mostly limited to the like of observing that volcanic activity is to be expected---as a stream of lava is barreling down at the expedition.

Benn: I didn't get the impression that Tchar had been on the previous missions, just that he was the saboteur on this one.

So... Why have we never seen the alien races in this ep before or since?

Some shots of them discovering the soul made it look like they were at the same level & could just walk over to it rather than having to climb to reach it.

Shouldn't the force field have prevented the soul from being beamed up?

Summary Nit: When Kirk and Spock are returned to the Enterprise, no one else preceives any time having passed since they were beamed over to the Vedalan vessel
Actually Sulu estimates they were gone for around 2 minutes.

Benn,the Vedala did not go along on the rescue mission for the Soul of Alar because they cannot survive on the planet where it is held.When Kirk & the others enter the temple he states that they cannot scale the walls without special equipment.Can't the rescue team call for such equipment to be sent to them?And why can't any of those vessels in space we see in the beginning,including the Enterprise,be in orbit around the planet so that they could transport any needed equipment down to the surface? With all the wild weather on this planet wouldn't it be wise to have the vehicle the rescue party used have a cover to it? Why was it such an involved & complicated procedure rewiring the rescue vehicle so that it could go faster? This is the future & a critical mission,can't such a vehicle just require the flip of a switch?

Lara really had trouble keeping her mind on the mission, didn't she?

What planet was she from, Texas?

Mike on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - 3:11 pm – When Kirk & the others enter the temple he states that they cannot scale the walls without special equipment. Can't the rescue team call for such equipment to be sent to them? And why can't any of those vessels in space we see in the beginning, including the Enterprise, be in orbit around the planet so that they could transport any needed equipment down to the surface? Answer: The Vedala probably refused permission for the ships to stay within transporter range until the Soul was recovered.

BTW, this is my first successful attempt at posting a message!

Welcome to Nitcentral.

At the end, the Vedala say that the mission must remain secret, and that no questions will be asked about it after the team members are returned to their ships. She says that they will soon find out why, and true enough, they learn that from the point of view of Enterprise, they were only gone for two minutes. All well and good, except that there were three failed expeditions before theirs, from which no one returned. Won't there be questions asked about THEIR disappearances?

Just a small observation, but Kirk and Spock stand at the back of the transporter they beam to the first meeting. Shouldn't they stand at the front, like they usually do?

The Vedala would obviously select the best people available for such an important mission, so Kirk's team wasn't considered as best, second best or even third best, they were fourth best.

Amusing though that is. There are other factors that could affect who you choose.

Availability. If you need to do a mission right now and the right person is on the other side of the galaxy... slight problem.

Underestimating the ease of the mission. It could be the Vedala didn't realize they needed Kirk & co. until the first three teams failed. You don't contact Red Adair to put out a BBQ fire. You don't hire James Whistler to paint your porch. You don't hire Jacques Cousteau to clean out your fish tank. ;-)

That does make sense, but the other way is more amusing.

Oh, yeah. Just doing my duty as a nitpicker. :-)