In this episode Spock uses the "Vulcan mind-touch" to talk with the entity. In Classic Trek, The Next Genration, Deep Space Nine and Voyager it`s called the Vulcan mind-MELD. The Vulcan mind-"touch" also appears in "The Infinite Vulcan" but since that was used for a different purpose it could have been a slightly different thing.

Did they recycle this for ST The Motion Picture?

Nice observation Neal. Combine this show with Nomad and you got the motion picture.

This was written by Marc Daniels, who directed quite a few episodes of TOS, including "The Man Trap", "Spock's Brain", etc.

In this episode, the Enterprise runs out of antimatter and barely survives by beaming some antimatter aboard to use as fuel.

If memory serves, Kirk and Spock have to deliver the antimatter to a huge section of the Engineering which is entirely constructed of antimatter, machines, walkways and all. (I think they use shield belts to avoid touching the antimatter walkway.)

Although this premise must surely be non-canon, I applaud the creators for such an astonishing vision.

But it does beg the question, how could the Enterprise ever run out of antimatter? According to this episode, the engines don't appear fussy about what type of antimatter they are fed. Why not just cut out a bit of the antimatter walkway and stick that into the fuel receptacle?

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From somewhere, possibly this episode or its novelisation, I remember a character commenting that the antimatter doesn't look real. LOL! Of course it doesn't look real ... it's a cartoon.

Sophie, I think you must be remembering this wrong. I don't believe they state that parts of the ship are made of anti-matter, but the entity in which the Enterprise is trapped is.

Possibly. I've searched in vain for a detailed description of that scene.

I see from my search that it was Scott and Kirk, not Spock and Kirk, who loaded the antimatter (which came from the entity) into the engine, and that the impressive engine set I remember did exist in this episode.

My memory of the engine set being antimatter itself could be flawed, which is odd as I distinctly remember being intrigued by the novelty of that concept.

I've just rewatched this episode, and Scotty says he's going to put the anti-matter into the anti-matter engine. I think this is what confused you.

In order of airdate, this is the first episode in which we learn the name of the Enterprise's new navigator: Lt. Arex.

In order to reach Alondra so quickly and to be a threat to Mantilles, the anti-matter cloud must be moving at a very high speed, possibly warp speed. Yet no one comments on this. If it's not moving at warp speed or somewhat less, then surely there'd be time to evacuate Mantilles. (And as know from watching this ep, there isn't.)

Whoever did the close captioning for this ep, must've flunked Spelling. They spelled "amoeba" "a-m-e-b-a".

Nice bit of continuity that the governor of Mantilles is Bob Wesley. Wesley was first seen in the ep, "The Ultimate Computer". In that ep, he was the captain of the U.S.S. Lexington.

Well, once again, when Kirk gives the order to lock phasers, we find that Spock and Uhura have abandoned their posts. They should be visible in the background in the shot showing Arex, Kirk and Sulu. They aren't. (I've got a feeling I'm going to be pointing this nit alot throughout the series.) The shot is repeated three more times in this ep. On the third repeat, Uhura and Spock have returned to their posts.

I dunno. It looks to me like Governor Wesley is still wearing his Starfleet uniform. But what's weird is that it's a blue uniform. Wesley was a Commodore in "The Ultimate Computer". And his uniform was yellow.

When Uhura is showing Cloud/Spock images of Earth, one of those images is of a dog chasing a couple of kids. And I swear that had to have been taken from Lassie's Rescue Rangers, another cartoon series Filmation was producing at the time.

Why does the anti-matter cloud have to return to its point of origin? Why couldn't Starfleet establish some means of further communication with it and direct it to dead (or otherwise lifeless) planets and dead stars? It's quite possible the anti-matter cloud could teach the Federation a lot.

Kirk and crew sure treat this cloud creature a lot differently than they did the one in "Obsession". They let this one live.

"Live long and prosper."

I thought this episode resembled "The Doomsday Machine"

Benn said:

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quote:

When Uhura is showing Cloud/Spock images of Earth, one of those images is of a dog chasing a couple of kids. And I swear that had to have been taken from Lassie's Rescue Rangers, another cartoon series Filmation was producing at the time.

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A cloud that eats planets was reminiscent of the Sun-Eater from Adventure Comics #352 & 353 published in 1966.

On that three-screen viewer on the tabletop you can see part of Bob Wesley's shoulder on another screen.

Kirk comments that if the anti-matter should touch any part of the ship or themselves it could explode.
Actually contact with the AIR would be enough.

The idea that they can manually put anti-matter into the engines just seems... odd.
I mean the box is matter, the air flowing into the nacelle is matter, all of that would react with the anti-matter as soon as the field is dropped.

How many of the concepts that Spock used to communicate with the cloud are really something that a big cloud floating through space would be familiar with?

The idea that the cloud could sense the people on the planet was ridiculous.
I mean if some bacteria started telepathing to your brain that it was inside a ship inside you & not to eat an apple I doubt you could sense the bacteria living on the apple.

Of course now the cloud will be a really picky eater trying to avoid eating planets with things on them & possibly starve to death. ;-)

On this episode when Kirk is talking to governor Bob Wesley,Wesley's hair is brown.Yet on ST:TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer" where Bob Wesley is shown as a starship commander his hair is totally white.

Spock asks the cloud to return to its point of origin,possibly to another galaxy.How come the cloud cannot remain in the Milky Way Galaxy now that it is aware that there is life on the planets it consumes to survive?It can locate numerous planets in our galaxy that are not inhabited to feed upon & not be a threat to any life..Given the vastness of our galaxy that should not be a problem for any lifeforms.

Mike - Wesley's hair is brown.Yet on ST:TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer" where Bob Wesley is shown as a starship commander his hair is totally white.
Hair dye? ;-)

It can locate numerous planets in our galaxy that are not inhabited to feed upon & not be a threat to any life..Given the vastness of our galaxy that should not be a problem for any lifeforms.
I wonder what effect a creature that eats planets would have on a solar system even if it avoided the inhabited ones? It comes in, eats some planets & leaves. Unless it leaves behind an equal amount of mass (waste) that would seem to effect the overall distribution of mass & gravity within the system.

Not to mention the creature eating planets useful for mining or planets that could be terraformed.

I was thinking about this episode when the last 3 panels of this comic came to mind.

Somehow I suspect the other cloud creatures will have a similar reaction to this cloud creature's story of tiny intelligent creatures living on their food. ;-)

Keith,you make valid points regarding the Cloud Creature upsetting the balance of a solar system should it consume any planets within it.However,as our telescopes are now showing us distant planets in our Milky Way Galaxy,many of them are lifeless.They are very close to their own suns & the intense solar heat & radiation would make terraforming impossible.Wouldn't these be perfect candidates for the Cloud Creature? I'm also thinking that the Cloud Creature should be able to consume asteroids & not have to solely depend on planets for its existence.

many of them are lifeless.They are very close to their own suns & the intense solar heat & radiation would make terraforming impossible.

That's only for Life as we know it, Jim™

Benn (Benn) on Friday, January 05, 2007 - 12:06 pm: In order to reach Alondra so quickly and to be a threat to Mantilles, the anti-matter cloud must be moving at a very high speed, possibly warp speed. Yet no one comments on this. If it's not moving at warp speed or somewhat less, then surely there'd be time to evacuate Mantilles. (And as know from watching this ep, there isn't.)
The speed of the cloud could vary depending on the strength of the gravitational forces in the area.

Why does the anti-matter cloud have to return to its point of origin? Why couldn't Starfleet establish some means of further communication with it and direct it to dead (or otherwise lifeless) planets and dead stars? It's quite possible the anti-matter cloud could teach the Federation a lot.
The cloud didn't realise it was devouring inhabited world until the mind link with Spock, so how is it expected to be able to tell the difference? Sending it back to it's point of origin is the safest option.
Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 2:27 am: The idea that the cloud could sense the people on the planet was ridiculous. If some bacteria started telepathing to your brain that it was inside a ship inside you & not to eat an apple, it is doubtful that you could sense the bacteria living on the apple.

Kirk and crew sure treat this cloud creature a lot differently than they did the one in "Obsession". They let this one live.
There isn't enough anti-matter available to make a bomb capable of destroying this cloud.

The title of this episode makes little sense. One planet is indeed destroyed, but it's not missing, they know precisely what happened to it.

Spock measures the cloud as being 800,000 kilometres across, which Lieutenant Arex comments is twice as large as Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune together. Those 3 planets together only come up to 611,000 kilometres though.

Sulu announces that the cloud will reach Mantilles in 31 minutes, then a minute later he announces that it will reach the planet in 26 minutes.

On the display of the cloud's anatomical scan, Kirk remarks that the opening through which the Enterprise was drawn in appears to have closed. However, it looks to me like it's still very much open.

The Enterprise manages to repel the objects trying to "chew" and "digest" it with an antimatter pulse. But then, no other such object tries to approach the ship. You would think that even if the first wave of such objects was destroyed, others would automatically try to attack the Enterprise and the ship would need to continuously repel them.

NANJAO The villus in the cloud's digestive track are made of antimatter. However, most of the cloud is made of matter, so it must have a way to combine the two that avoids them annihilating each other, something potentially very valuable to the Federation.