This is another of the best from the animated show. If this story had been fleshed out to an hour it could easily be on the par with the best of Trek.

The title of this episode appears to be lifted from that of one of sci-fi legend Edgar Rice Burroughs' last novels. In Burroughs' version of "Beyond the Farthest Star" a WWII pilot is snatched from the cockpit of his fighter jet and transported to a planet millions of light years from Earth, where he finds himself in the midst of a society which devotes their entire civilization to war with another planet. I remember the novel as being very depressing.

The FSPCEE (Federation Society of Provention of Cruelty to Energy Entities) would object to this episode.

To bad that phaser-studded defensive system attached to the ceiling wasn't around to deal with the likes of Charlie Evans, or Rojan of Andromeda, huh?
This was also the first episode shown in my part of the country, so it's got a soft spot in my heart.

A few nits in this one. Early in the episode, during the scenes on the bridge, you'll see at first Lt. Arex sitting next to Sulu at the helm/navigation board. A few shots later, next to
Sulu is a red-shirted human at the navigation console. He must've suffered the fate of all Trek
red-shirts, 'cos the next time you see helm/navigation, Lt. Arex is back.

Also, how does Spock know the door on the alien vessel opens by phaser beam? And what maintains the integrity of his life-support belt when he fires his phaser? And would those belts provide
life-support for any extended period? Their fields only extend an inch or two from the body. How much air do they contain? How do they get rid
of the carbon-dioxide? Maintain heat?

Finally, what saves Kirk from the defense system's
phaser beam at the end? He used his life-support belt to short out helm/navigation.

Definitely a better than average episode of the
Animateds, even if the alien reminds me a little of Redjac.

Without a doubt, this is by far the best looking
animated Trek episode---the scenes on the derilict
alien starship are a great homage to comic book
artist Jack Kirby...one expects to see Galactus
appearing any moment.

BTW, there's a TNG episode that has Picard beaming
aboard a derilict starship...and then encountering
big troubles. It's called "Booby Trap."

Is this episode a tribute to "The City and the Stars", with the alien trapped in (essentially) a black hole?

The way Mister Kyle is animated in this episode, he looks EXACTLY like Captain Styles of the Excelsior in my opinion. Really weird coincidence.

When Kirk orders a view of the source of the hypergravity, the image on the main viewing screen drops down, like a scenery curtain in a play. Normally, the image would shimmer into view. At least in the live action version of the series.

Uhura then announces the hypergravity source is also the source of the radio transmission. Radio transmission? What radio transmission? This is the first time in this ep that radio transmissions had been mentioned.

Is it just me or does it look like Uhura is sitting well above her console in those shots of her over Spock's right shoulder?

When Sulu announces, "We're still gaining speed", we can see that Spock has suddenly vanished from his science station. Then when the Lt. says, "No good sir. We're still moving towards it", both Uhura and Spock have apparently abandoned their posts.

Spock and Uhura are still missing when Kirk orders the ship orbit the dead star.

What keeps the landing party from floating off the hull of the alien ship? I'm talking about when they are standing on the outer hull of the ship. Seems to me that the slightest movement should send each crewman spiralling away from the ship.

While I can understand Kirk not having a tricorder, but why doesn't Scotty have one? As chief engineer, he's also a scientist and should be recording and scanning the structure of the alien vessel along with Spock.

Spock mentions artificial gravity is now in effect when the landing party arrives in the interior of the ship. So, again, what was keeping the crew from floating around earlier?

How does Kirk know they've reached the navigational control of the ship? I mean, the vessel's very design is totally alien to the Enterprise crew's experiences. The control panel the landing party stand in front could, for all Captain Kirk knows, do anything. Be the aliens' version of a transporter or Sickbay.

Just after the landing party returns to the Enterprise, there's a panning shot of the bridge which ends at Scotty's station, to the left of the Main Viewing Screen. Just behind Scotty, there's what appears to be a recessed space that's never been on the bridge before. Normally, there's another station there.

This episode contains the first time we ever see what it is Spock sees in his scanner on the bridge. Kinda disappointing, isn't it?

When Mr. Spock reports there's trouble in the Engineering core, you can see his left hand in mid -air. It looks like it was supposed to be resting on the scanner. Guess someone forgot to animate it in the shot.

Why did Kirk order McCoy to the Engineering core? Spock only said there was trouble there. The First Officer didn't specify that someone was wounded or hurt. I would have thought from the Vulcan's statement that the problem was mechanical in nature. I guess Kirk read his Science Officer's mind. (Too many mind melds, I reckon.)

The device used as a cutter in this ep looks like the devices Spock and Tormolin used in "The Naked Time". I thought they were scanners or cameras of some sort. Versatile little buggers, aren't they?

Boy, the Enterprise's phasers are pretty damned powerful, aren't they? One shot and they wiped out that HUGE alien vessel.

Spock reveals that power is out on all but key levels of the ship and there's another panning shot of the bridge. This one reveals that the bridge got smaller. There's an entire section of control panels missing to the left of the Main Viewing Screen. Instead, to the left of the view screen is the turbolift. And believe me, the bridge looks very weird that way.

Kirk is struck down by a phaser blast from the bridge defense system. Spock runs to him. The Science Officer clearly does not have his life support belt on in this shot.

"Live long and prosper."

Additionally, Mr. Arex vanishes from his position and a REDSHIRT takes his spot at least two times in this episode. (When they approach the dead star & when they accelerate towards it)

I enjoyed this episode! I second the incredulity at the power of the Enterprise's phasers, who probably couldn't do that to a moderate-sized Scout Ship, much less an enormous alien vessel that dwarfs them- didn't they say something about the material being stronger and lighter than anything they'd encountered? We can only assume the energy being was somehow enhancing things...

I liked the sequence of Scotty being trapped in the Engineering core- don't ask me why, but it seemed to have a flavor of real tension about it and seemed well-done, not cartoony (except for that 'thunk' when the bolt falls off.)

I also like the tension/action music in this one- even though it quickly becomes over-used in the series, it's a good little piece, kind of catchy.

How can the transporter beam penetrate a person's life support belt force field in order to scramble a human being's atoms? Wouldn't the powerful force field of the belts when activated negate the transporter beam & not allow for the dematerialization/rematerialization process? Cool episode though.

The Enterprise is said to be beyond the fringes of their galaxy.
No mention of the galactic barrier?

Spock says, "Negative star mass".
Huh? It either has mass or it does not.

How exactly does the spectra tell Spock how old something is?
Spectra is what you use to determine what elements are present in a star, not age.

Kirk says, "300 million years ago before life emerged on Earth!"
Kirk flunks paleontology. 300 million years ago would have been the Devonian, the earliest signs of life on Earth is in the Pre-Cambrian over 600 million years ago. (And yes, these numbers would have been available had the writer done the research.)

I wonder why the animators gave Kyle a mustache?

Kirk says, "Transport it back out!" He then body blocks Kyle before Kyle can do that.

I wonder why the animators gave Kyle a mustache?

Well it was the 70s.

I hope that Kirk will order some kind of warning buoy employed in this sector to alert other exploration vessels about the energy being & its harmful intentions.Incredible that the powerful field around the crew's life support belts that allows them to survive in outer space in no way interferes with the operation of tricorders,phasers & communicators.

Was this written before or after Clarke's "Against the Fall of Night" and "The City and the Stars"?

"Against the Fall of Night" was written in 1948, "The City and the Stars" in 1956. So well after.

Because this seems highly influenced by the Mad Mind from those books.

Never mind, I don't even read my own posts... (commented the same thing earlier)

The malevolent alien's voice sounds like a Dalek.

Benn (Benn) on Friday, January 05, 2007 - 3:40 am: Boy, the Enterprise's phasers are pretty damned powerful, aren't they? One shot and they wiped out that HUGE alien vessel.
They probably hit a weak spot.

When being pulled toward the dead star, Spock states that impact will occur in 91 seconds, then 11 seconds later says it will happen in 40 seconds. He then announces impact in 38 seconds, and 14 seconds later says it will happen in 9 seconds.

Spock says the derelict's temperature is absolute zero. Such a temperature is physically impossible. Also, the lowest possible temperature it could have is 2.7 kelvin, which is the temperature of the cosmic microwave background.

Could the derelict's orbit remain stable for 300 million years?

The away team can speak to each other through the vacuum of space. However, this may not be a nit, their life support belts could be designed to permit this sort of communication. But if this is the case, why would Kirk need to use his communicator to speak to the Enterprise?

When beamed off of the derelict, the away team is lying on the floor, but they materialize standing on the transporter pad.

No, it's possible to have temp colder than CMB. But yes, 0K is like the speed of light. You can only get asymptotically close.

Yes, you can have colder temperatures if you are inside a dense nebula that shields you from the CMB, but not when you are fully exposed to space like they were. I should have specified that.