I realize that they had budgetary issues that might be evident in it,but I must agree that the theme of self-sacrifice was indeed a valid one,regardless of any script opinions.The way the empath showed compassion,projected the pain of others on herself,and even healed.Hmmm..theologically mirrors a similar character that we all know who Im referring to!(and it's a Good thing!)True,with all the dark corners of this "underground lab..cost-cutting could easily be inferred,but..how many other 60's shows did the same thing?Irwin Allen's sci-fi series were notorious for this.Anyhow..it's interesting what can be redeemed in spite of working with limited raw materials.
42 Reviews
The Message is the Thing
Hitchcoc7 May 2014
Yes, it has shortcomings. It is done on the cheap. It is also an intriguing, interesting episode with a message we need to learn from. It has a marvelous performance from the young woman playing Gem. She has one of the most expressive faces I have ever encountered. Granted, it is difficult to watch. The scenes of torture are really quite unnerving. The beings that are testing the young empath are cruel and have lost their right to make judgments. Nevertheless, to react with such rage about this episode. Unless it is some throwaway summer B horror movie to throw a one rating at it is like spitting on someone's birthday cake. Let's consider what else was on in those days, the vapid sitcoms and crummy cop shows. At least let's consider the effort to confront philosophical issues and stretch our minds a bit.
One of the Best of the third season
slimbob-875443 December 2021
While the third season of Star Trek was its lowest in terms of quality and budget, the episode The Empath delivers a great Ethical situation wrapped in dramatic story that manages to keep us entertained while only taking place in a black void. It shows how the relationship between Kirk, Spock, and Mccoy helped them survive along with even helping others. While the Vians only want to help as many people as possible, we don't figure this out until the end and just assume that they are evil villains who only want to do an experiments. I like how Kirk is able to show them that they have lost some of the feelings that they are trying to give Gem. This is a very solid episode.
Underrated Gem in an age without Empathy
philosopher-827 May 2009
It saddens me to see how many people are utterly lacking in any perspective on this episode. This episode is very different from any other, and perhaps this explains some of the pointless critique I have seen.
Deforrest Kelly called this his favorite episode. Those of you who fail to see its beauty are simply lacking in any artistic sense or human empathy.
Of course there are mistakes with effects, plot, etc. Show me an episode of ANY show from the 60's that is pristine. Show me any Star Trek episode with a perfect plot. This episode isn't about these things. It is about Empathy. It is about love. It is about the ability to perceive the feelings of others, and to incorporate these so completely into your own emotional and mental state that you must act in such a way as to serve the interests of others just as you serve your own.
This episode shows the pure love that exists between the big 3, and how each man will do his damnedest to protect the other, even unto death. This goes to the extent of even violating normal codes of conduct. This love is even expressed by Spock. Love is not only a gushy, touchy-feely thing. It is also respect, admiration, and duty. It is the moral imperative to serve one's comrades, and to sacrifice oneself if needed. No episode shows this so poignantly as this one, and this message is at the heart of all that is humane and civilized.
Torture? Gratuitous? Not at all. Anybody who has ever lived a significant life knows that life involves all kinds of torture on a continual basis. It is all around us, in our schools, our jobs, and sometimes even our relationships. It is part of the natural world too, and we can even say that life itself is often torturous.
The episode is a test for Gem, and the quickest way to evoke her empathic response is to injure somebody for no reason. This is exactly how any scientist would go about the experiment, were the test subjects considered to be below us like mice.
This episode loudly proclaims the most powerful of all of the messages in the series: It is our capacity to feel what others feel and to act in the interests of others that makes civilized and humane. It is this which ensures our survival.
But, as we all can see from the comments here, few people understand this. They do this for we live in an age where empathy is bad taste, and love is a cause for ridicule.
Deforrest Kelly called this his favorite episode. Those of you who fail to see its beauty are simply lacking in any artistic sense or human empathy.
Of course there are mistakes with effects, plot, etc. Show me an episode of ANY show from the 60's that is pristine. Show me any Star Trek episode with a perfect plot. This episode isn't about these things. It is about Empathy. It is about love. It is about the ability to perceive the feelings of others, and to incorporate these so completely into your own emotional and mental state that you must act in such a way as to serve the interests of others just as you serve your own.
This episode shows the pure love that exists between the big 3, and how each man will do his damnedest to protect the other, even unto death. This goes to the extent of even violating normal codes of conduct. This love is even expressed by Spock. Love is not only a gushy, touchy-feely thing. It is also respect, admiration, and duty. It is the moral imperative to serve one's comrades, and to sacrifice oneself if needed. No episode shows this so poignantly as this one, and this message is at the heart of all that is humane and civilized.
Torture? Gratuitous? Not at all. Anybody who has ever lived a significant life knows that life involves all kinds of torture on a continual basis. It is all around us, in our schools, our jobs, and sometimes even our relationships. It is part of the natural world too, and we can even say that life itself is often torturous.
The episode is a test for Gem, and the quickest way to evoke her empathic response is to injure somebody for no reason. This is exactly how any scientist would go about the experiment, were the test subjects considered to be below us like mice.
This episode loudly proclaims the most powerful of all of the messages in the series: It is our capacity to feel what others feel and to act in the interests of others that makes civilized and humane. It is this which ensures our survival.
But, as we all can see from the comments here, few people understand this. They do this for we live in an age where empathy is bad taste, and love is a cause for ridicule.
Decent idea of Empathy, but overall boring for Star Trek
Bababooe2 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Enterprise arrives on a planet to evacuate a couple of scientist left there months ago to study the local star that is ready to go nova. Kirk Spock & McCoy (KSM) beam down to the planet and find the science lab is deserted and find a video tape showing the two scientists disappear. KSM also disappear and reappear in a dark room, find a mute woman, that McCoy names Gem. Gem heals a cut on Kirk, she's an Empath, a being that can absorb the pain and damage of others and then healing herself. Good idea.
We are then introduced to a couple of aliens, Vians. They are apparently testing Gem, and torturing KSM for some unknown reason. We have filler scenes of KSM and Gew discovering the 2 scientists dead and frozen in giant tubes, and they escape only to be recaptured by the Vians. The boredom has started.
The Vians take and torture Kirk, Gem heals him. Vinas then say they will next test Spock or McCoy. Chances are one will become insane and the other will die. McCoy injects Kirk to sleep. Spock, since Kirk is out, is now in command and decides to sacrifice himself. McCoy sneak attack, injects Spock with sleep, sacrifices himself. How noble. The Vians beat the hell out of McCoy. Gem at first reluctant, but then helps McCoy. McCoy knowing that this could kill Gem, pushes her away. Nice move, but the whole thing is not executed very well.
Then we are told by the Vians their plan all along was to test Gem to see if her people were worth saving before their star went nova. They were not convinced until Kirk made his BIG SPEECH that the Vians have become all intellect and no "EMPATY". The Vians agree with Kirk and save Gem's people.
It's ironic that these Vians were testing Gem's capacity for empathy, but they needed Kirk to point out that they themselves have lost empathy. The idea is fine. But repetitive filler and boring scenes. KSM acting was ok. Gem was good. The Vians sucked. Sets sucked. The music sucked. This is not a great episode. But it has some decent ideas and all Star Trek fans must watch.
Here's some plot holes. What were the Vians going to do if KSM didn't show up? The two scientist were dead, and no others to torture for Gem to save. Not enough background on Gems people and the Vians. Bare bones script, and tons of repetition. What happened to the two scientists? Whey were Kirk and McCoy tortured? Why not just put some pain to them and see what Gem does? The Vians were relying on saving Gems people off this one test? Seems illogical.
We are then introduced to a couple of aliens, Vians. They are apparently testing Gem, and torturing KSM for some unknown reason. We have filler scenes of KSM and Gew discovering the 2 scientists dead and frozen in giant tubes, and they escape only to be recaptured by the Vians. The boredom has started.
The Vians take and torture Kirk, Gem heals him. Vinas then say they will next test Spock or McCoy. Chances are one will become insane and the other will die. McCoy injects Kirk to sleep. Spock, since Kirk is out, is now in command and decides to sacrifice himself. McCoy sneak attack, injects Spock with sleep, sacrifices himself. How noble. The Vians beat the hell out of McCoy. Gem at first reluctant, but then helps McCoy. McCoy knowing that this could kill Gem, pushes her away. Nice move, but the whole thing is not executed very well.
Then we are told by the Vians their plan all along was to test Gem to see if her people were worth saving before their star went nova. They were not convinced until Kirk made his BIG SPEECH that the Vians have become all intellect and no "EMPATY". The Vians agree with Kirk and save Gem's people.
It's ironic that these Vians were testing Gem's capacity for empathy, but they needed Kirk to point out that they themselves have lost empathy. The idea is fine. But repetitive filler and boring scenes. KSM acting was ok. Gem was good. The Vians sucked. Sets sucked. The music sucked. This is not a great episode. But it has some decent ideas and all Star Trek fans must watch.
Here's some plot holes. What were the Vians going to do if KSM didn't show up? The two scientist were dead, and no others to torture for Gem to save. Not enough background on Gems people and the Vians. Bare bones script, and tons of repetition. What happened to the two scientists? Whey were Kirk and McCoy tortured? Why not just put some pain to them and see what Gem does? The Vians were relying on saving Gems people off this one test? Seems illogical.
"Their will to survive is great".
classicsoncall5 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I had another one of my oddball observations while watching this show. Could this have been one of Bill Clinton's favorite Star Trek episodes? You know, because of his signature line - "I feel your pain". Picture him saying it and biting his lower lip, the way Darrell Hammond did on 'Saturday Night Live'. Hilarious.
I have to agree with a couple other reviewers on this board who felt the scientific method of the two Vians was a little off base. They were going to make their decision on who's planet to save based on an experiment with Gem (Kathryn Hays)? Not too much pressure there now, do you think? The other thing that never ceases to amaze me is how an alien like Gem (sure, she was humanoid, I get it), manages to affect a perfect application of female beauty secrets. Check out the flawless eye shadow and mascara, while the nail polish treatment was definitely superb. I'm not sure if all of this was necessary for Gem to learn human compassion, but I guess it helped.
The twist in the story is that instead of being merely captives of the Vians, the Enterprise Trio were to perform the role of teachers, demonstrating their will to survive, their love of life, and their passion to know. It would have been somewhat more satisfying if the Vians' takeaway from all this might have left them better positioned to save the universe, but they seemed rather non-plussed as the story came to a close. That's the trouble with pure intellect, you never connect with the emotional side of the equation.
I have to agree with a couple other reviewers on this board who felt the scientific method of the two Vians was a little off base. They were going to make their decision on who's planet to save based on an experiment with Gem (Kathryn Hays)? Not too much pressure there now, do you think? The other thing that never ceases to amaze me is how an alien like Gem (sure, she was humanoid, I get it), manages to affect a perfect application of female beauty secrets. Check out the flawless eye shadow and mascara, while the nail polish treatment was definitely superb. I'm not sure if all of this was necessary for Gem to learn human compassion, but I guess it helped.
The twist in the story is that instead of being merely captives of the Vians, the Enterprise Trio were to perform the role of teachers, demonstrating their will to survive, their love of life, and their passion to know. It would have been somewhat more satisfying if the Vians' takeaway from all this might have left them better positioned to save the universe, but they seemed rather non-plussed as the story came to a close. That's the trouble with pure intellect, you never connect with the emotional side of the equation.
Inspiration for Clive Barker??
jpowell18015 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
In the late eighties, I had many episodes of TOS recorded, including this one, and would sometimes (as I had two VCR's) copy them, dubbed with different sounds. At the time, Clive Barker's Hellraiser was quite popular, so naturally I dubbed some of the music and torture sounds from Hellraiser onto selected "Kirk torture" scenes from this ep...I must admit it really worked! Perhaps a young Clive Barker saw this episode and was given a few ideas? I think the only other Star Trek episodes that might work better for dubbing a Hellraiser soundtrack onto would be The Cage, and, of course, the TNG double-episode Best of Both Worlds, where Picard is tortured by and turned into a Borg (I actually did that one, but sadly all of those dub-tapes were lost or recorded over). If you think about it, the Borg do travel in cubes (like the Cenobites' puzzle box), and do resemble the Cenobites...hmmm, maybe Berman was in turn inspired by Hellraiser? Perhaps the Borg are merely an advanced form of Cenobite! Resistance is never futile when they sick the chains and hooks on you!
Powerful Kirk/Spock/McCoy scenes, but it is a torture chamber
bgaiv5 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is an odd one for me in that I liked it a lot better when I was a lot younger, yet it's a heavily dramatic episode with little action or excitement.
Basically, Kirk is right-- the Vians HAVE created a torture chamber. Watching the scenes of the shirtless Kirk being savaged don't really bother me, but the ones with McCoy are quite uncomfortable, particularly when we see the aftermath, McCoy on his death bed.
Great acting there by Kelley, but this all feels far too real to be entertainment.
Certainly each of the trio is great stuff, with each trying to save the others, and McCoy making the decision with hyposprays. It's worth noting that McCoy was correct, he was the right choice under the circumstances.
I really liked the strange hallucination scene on the surface where they saw the happily smiling Scotty waving in the distance.
Basically, Kirk is right-- the Vians HAVE created a torture chamber. Watching the scenes of the shirtless Kirk being savaged don't really bother me, but the ones with McCoy are quite uncomfortable, particularly when we see the aftermath, McCoy on his death bed.
Great acting there by Kelley, but this all feels far too real to be entertainment.
Certainly each of the trio is great stuff, with each trying to save the others, and McCoy making the decision with hyposprays. It's worth noting that McCoy was correct, he was the right choice under the circumstances.
I really liked the strange hallucination scene on the surface where they saw the happily smiling Scotty waving in the distance.
One of my favorite episodes of all the Star Trek series
gcrunner-595385 June 2017
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes of all the Star Trek series.
It introduced to me as a young lad, the notion of empathy, and took it to a level which has at times been debated as possible or not, physical empathy. To be able to take the pain and suffering from someone and transfer it onto oneself while removing that pain and suffering from another is an incredible concept. It made me wonder - Were any of the great healers in ancient times physical empaths?
The actress playing Gem I thought was excellent,watching her throughout the episode was as Spock would say, fascinating.
Sometimes we don't need million dollar special effects and wild chase scenes to have a beautiful episode. And where would we be as human beings without empathy ?
It introduced to me as a young lad, the notion of empathy, and took it to a level which has at times been debated as possible or not, physical empathy. To be able to take the pain and suffering from someone and transfer it onto oneself while removing that pain and suffering from another is an incredible concept. It made me wonder - Were any of the great healers in ancient times physical empaths?
The actress playing Gem I thought was excellent,watching her throughout the episode was as Spock would say, fascinating.
Sometimes we don't need million dollar special effects and wild chase scenes to have a beautiful episode. And where would we be as human beings without empathy ?
Tortured Like Rats in a Trap
Bogmeister18 February 2007
The main trio (Kirk,Spock,McCoy) beam down to a planet whose sun is on the verge of going nova. The 2-man scientific team assigned to the planet is missing and our heroic trio are whisked away underground in the same manner. They are the subjects of some creepy experimentation by a couple of big-headed aliens who are, in actuality, testing another prisoner - a female mute who also possesses true empathetic powers: she can absorb the injuries of another person onto herself. This episode can sharply divide the fanbase: you are either enamored of the stylistic, minimalist approach here or you aren't. I am not. The scenes of the trio walking around the darkened chamber of wherever they are just scream 'ran out of funds!' This is also one of the least eventful episodes - a 25 minute "Twilight Zone"-type show dragged out to twice that length. Hence, it's extremely dull in half the scenes. There's even a lengthy scene in slow motion; you know an episode's in trouble when it resorts to a drawn-out shot of Kirk running at 2 miles per hour, gesticulating strangely.
I can't find any fault with the actress, Hays, who plays the sympathetic mute alien; her performance does the art of mime and silent film acting proud. But, she can't save this one. Even the entire premise of the story is faulty: the supposedly advanced aliens here are basing their plan to save an entire planet's population on the test results of one subject. This is meaningless. Even if she reacts in the most positive manner to their tests, what does this prove? What if 90% of her race are actually selfish uncaring snobs? The alien testers are just wasting their time with pointless torture - this is what Kirk should have spelled out to them in the end, not his now-patented speech about compassion vs. intellect, the latest version of the speech he usually saves for wrong-thinking machines. At the conclusion, the testers seem to shrug and acquiesce to Kirk's pleas, a not very exciting climax. The one interesting aspect to the plot is a continuation of the Spock-McCoy competition in achieving their respective death wishes, but even this is simply a repetition of their tension in "The Immunity Syndrome." On the other hand, you may look at this as McCoy's chance to get back at Spock for 'winning' their round in that earlier episode.
I can't find any fault with the actress, Hays, who plays the sympathetic mute alien; her performance does the art of mime and silent film acting proud. But, she can't save this one. Even the entire premise of the story is faulty: the supposedly advanced aliens here are basing their plan to save an entire planet's population on the test results of one subject. This is meaningless. Even if she reacts in the most positive manner to their tests, what does this prove? What if 90% of her race are actually selfish uncaring snobs? The alien testers are just wasting their time with pointless torture - this is what Kirk should have spelled out to them in the end, not his now-patented speech about compassion vs. intellect, the latest version of the speech he usually saves for wrong-thinking machines. At the conclusion, the testers seem to shrug and acquiesce to Kirk's pleas, a not very exciting climax. The one interesting aspect to the plot is a continuation of the Spock-McCoy competition in achieving their respective death wishes, but even this is simply a repetition of their tension in "The Immunity Syndrome." On the other hand, you may look at this as McCoy's chance to get back at Spock for 'winning' their round in that earlier episode.
To be alien
septerra7 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
There is one reason why I rate this episode very high. There are encounters with strange aliens all the time in this series, but this is the first time that a somewhat more intellectual and emotional interaction is portrayed, and we get a picture of what it would mean to be alien.
I enjoyed it and was even a little moved when Gem tries to save McCoy and McCoy tries to save her in turn. That said, there seems to be a considerable tonal shift in the series by season 3, and this episode of part of it.
I'd rate it a 7.5.
I enjoyed it and was even a little moved when Gem tries to save McCoy and McCoy tries to save her in turn. That said, there seems to be a considerable tonal shift in the series by season 3, and this episode of part of it.
I'd rate it a 7.5.
It hurts me to watch this one.
BA_Harrison20 June 2022
Thus far, the lowest I have rated a Star Trek episode is 2/10: I knew there would be an occasion where I had to go lower, and The Empath is it.
Two ugly aliens with massive heads: check! A beautiful woman for Kirk to swoon over: check! William Shatner shirtless: check! On the surface, this seems like fairly formulaic stuff, but it is the execution that really drags The Empath down. The production values are terrible: the episode looks like it has been shot in a warehouse, the lighting is sparse, and the props are minimal and cheap looking, giving the whole thing the look and feel of a poverty-stricken avant-garde theatre production. The titular character, an empath named Gem, is also a mute, and actress Kathryn Hays puts in a performance reminiscent of French mime Marcel Marceau, her movements exaggerated and dance-like, making this feel more like a pretentious piece of performance art than an episode of Star Trek. Worst of all is the music: a sickeningly saccharine lilting tune whenever Gem is on screen, it is truly horrendous.
On top of all this is some serious sadism: the aliens torture Kirk - nothing new there... the captain is used to being roughed up by now - but McCoy gets it far worse, bludgeoned to within an inch of his life, part of an experiment by the big-headed E. T.s to see if Gem is willing to risk her life to save another. I'm not usually averse to a spot of the old ultra-violence, but it seems so out of place in a show like Star Trek, especially when perpetrated against poor old Bones.
1/10 - surely it can't get any worse than this.
Two ugly aliens with massive heads: check! A beautiful woman for Kirk to swoon over: check! William Shatner shirtless: check! On the surface, this seems like fairly formulaic stuff, but it is the execution that really drags The Empath down. The production values are terrible: the episode looks like it has been shot in a warehouse, the lighting is sparse, and the props are minimal and cheap looking, giving the whole thing the look and feel of a poverty-stricken avant-garde theatre production. The titular character, an empath named Gem, is also a mute, and actress Kathryn Hays puts in a performance reminiscent of French mime Marcel Marceau, her movements exaggerated and dance-like, making this feel more like a pretentious piece of performance art than an episode of Star Trek. Worst of all is the music: a sickeningly saccharine lilting tune whenever Gem is on screen, it is truly horrendous.
On top of all this is some serious sadism: the aliens torture Kirk - nothing new there... the captain is used to being roughed up by now - but McCoy gets it far worse, bludgeoned to within an inch of his life, part of an experiment by the big-headed E. T.s to see if Gem is willing to risk her life to save another. I'm not usually averse to a spot of the old ultra-violence, but it seems so out of place in a show like Star Trek, especially when perpetrated against poor old Bones.
1/10 - surely it can't get any worse than this.
The Best display of Self-Sacrifice
woljm4520 March 2006
Though most hale "Amok Time", "The Naked Time", "The Man Trap", and "The City on the Edge of Forever", as the best episodes, and maybe they are, but I would have to say that is the most underrated story of all three seasons. It is an over-looked treasure I couldn't wait to get on DVD. The whole story takes place pretty much in one main facility. There are no back-and-forth to the ship or to other planets and stuff, which means the writing had to be extra clever to keep our attention. The big three of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, are forced to show an alien female what it means to sacrifice your life for someone else. The experiment is conducted by two superior alien beings who lose the meaning of life themselves in the midst of all the testing. With all the bickering Spoke and Bones do, you really see how much compassion they have for each other and their captain.
The Best of the Silent Era!
gmzewski15 October 2006
Kathryn Hays' mime portrayal of Gem ranks with the finest of the silent actresses, such as Lillian Gish in her work for D.W. Griffth ("Broken Blossoms" is what comes to mind}. This is some of the finest true ACTING I've seen in a sound film! Don't know why she wasn't at least nominated for the Sci-Fi version of the Academy Award for this performance, she's quite good in all her other work as well, even though her voice doesn't quite live up to her acting ability. This episode remains among my "top 10"list of TOS favorites. The interplay of emotion between McCoy & Spock truly brings forth the camaraderie they shared, and the feelings, respect, and admiration they felt toward each other. But again, if you've never seen a silent classic, or a character portrayal By the like of Lillian Gish, take time to watch an old silent, and see just how beautiful they were!
Been there, done that... and MUCH better!
profh-12 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
There's long been a number of ST's that I rank as the "worst" episodes, among them "MIRI", "BREAD AND CIRCUSES", "THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELLION", "THE PARADISE SYNDROME", "SPOCK'S BRAIN", "PLATO'S STEPCHILDREN". This one is squarely on the list. It's slow, it's cheap-looking, it pointlessly vicious, and parts of it don't even make much sense.
I had a feeling, like with "IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY?", that I was almost watching an OUTER LIMITS episode. Then I read the comments about "NIGHTMARE", and the fact that both were directed by the same person. Too much! Just as LOST IN SPACE's 3rd season spent quite a few episodes doing "LIS" versions of 1st-season ST's, ST's 3rd season spent quite a few episodes doing inferior versions of stories already seen on other shows. Among them were "WINK OF AN EYE" (done much better on THE WILD WILD WEST), "TURNABOUT INTRUDER" (done much better on THE OUTER LIMITS, and THE AVENGERS as well), "THE PARADISE SYNDROME" (well, by this point, just about every show on network TV had already done an "amnesia" story).
Kathryn Hays is incredibly beautiful and does a great job as a member of an alien race quite different from anything we've seen before, even though she looks totally human. An interesting idea not properly dealt with, due to the nature of this particular story.
Davis Roberts is a terrific character actor I've seen on many shows, including TARZAN, who's wasted in a role where he gets maybe 2-3 lines of dialogue before being murdered for no reason whatsoever. ("WE didn't kill them", says the Vian. Right, like a guy holding a smoking gun will say it was the bullets that did the job.)
At one point Kirk brings up The Prime Directive. I can't think of a single instance where that thing was MORE uncalled-for and out of place than here. It seems to me The Prime Directive was a poorly-conceived idea of Gene Roddenberry's that he hatched when he wrote "THE OMEGA GLORY" (an episode so bad it was shelved for 2 whole years before being dusted off!). It's used so inconsistently, it's more of a joke and a gimmick used in poorly-thought-out episodes. Federation personnel are kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a pair of heartless "scientists" (the phrase "AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A SCIENTIST?" comes to mind), and he insanely quotes the P.D. saying it's not HIS place to "interfere".
And what about self-preservation? Kirk should have SHOT first and asked questions later. Instead, he tries to talk to 2 killers and winds up without any weapons, at their mercy. The rest of the story involves Kirk, Spock & McCoy arguing about which one of them should gladly commit suicide (more or less).
In the entire 3-year run of STAR TREK, I think the Vians may top my list of villains I just wanted to see DEAD. Not only them, but their entire civilization with them. Imagine if Ron Tracy had been their victim. HE'd have shown those "scientists" what he thought of them. (Marv Wolfman & George Perez may well have taken inspiration from the Vians when they created the "Psions", a very similar alien race of cold-hearted scientists who pursue knowledge without any care how many countless innocent lives are damaged or destroyed in the process.)
I know this will sound sexist, but what was going on with all these 3rd-season stories being written by women? And, on the other side of the coin, WHERE was D.C. Fontana? I didn't see her name in the end credits. I guess a change in story editor was part of the reason for the show's decline in this period.
The 2nd Varese Sarabande CD of newly-re-recorded STAR TREK scores (1986) included Fred Steiner's version of George Duning's score for this episode. After seeing Duning's name on quite a few other episodes, I find myself wishing they'd have included one of the OTHER ones, instead.
Finally, NBC had nothing to do with the budget cut. That was all Paramount. When Lucille Ball's new husband convinced her to sell Desilu to Paramount, the big movie studio was in deep dept from too many expensive films bombing at the box office. When they found themselves now running a TV studio, the first thing they did was order the budgets on all "their" shows slashed-- so they could use the money to make bigger, even more expensive bombs.
When MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE's creator & producer Bruce Geller heard the order, he told all his department heads-- "This year, SPEND MORE." The network was thrilled. They'd already paid for the shows. The sponsors were thrilled. Ditto. Paramount was P***ED. But because Gene Roddenberry had stepped down (feeling rightly so that he'd been shafted by NBC over the schedule change), he wasn't around to make a difference. Imagine if Roddenberry had done what Geller had. STAR TREK's 3rd season MIGHT have been its best-ever, and that could have made a difference in the ratings. We'll never know.
I had a feeling, like with "IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY?", that I was almost watching an OUTER LIMITS episode. Then I read the comments about "NIGHTMARE", and the fact that both were directed by the same person. Too much! Just as LOST IN SPACE's 3rd season spent quite a few episodes doing "LIS" versions of 1st-season ST's, ST's 3rd season spent quite a few episodes doing inferior versions of stories already seen on other shows. Among them were "WINK OF AN EYE" (done much better on THE WILD WILD WEST), "TURNABOUT INTRUDER" (done much better on THE OUTER LIMITS, and THE AVENGERS as well), "THE PARADISE SYNDROME" (well, by this point, just about every show on network TV had already done an "amnesia" story).
Kathryn Hays is incredibly beautiful and does a great job as a member of an alien race quite different from anything we've seen before, even though she looks totally human. An interesting idea not properly dealt with, due to the nature of this particular story.
Davis Roberts is a terrific character actor I've seen on many shows, including TARZAN, who's wasted in a role where he gets maybe 2-3 lines of dialogue before being murdered for no reason whatsoever. ("WE didn't kill them", says the Vian. Right, like a guy holding a smoking gun will say it was the bullets that did the job.)
At one point Kirk brings up The Prime Directive. I can't think of a single instance where that thing was MORE uncalled-for and out of place than here. It seems to me The Prime Directive was a poorly-conceived idea of Gene Roddenberry's that he hatched when he wrote "THE OMEGA GLORY" (an episode so bad it was shelved for 2 whole years before being dusted off!). It's used so inconsistently, it's more of a joke and a gimmick used in poorly-thought-out episodes. Federation personnel are kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a pair of heartless "scientists" (the phrase "AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A SCIENTIST?" comes to mind), and he insanely quotes the P.D. saying it's not HIS place to "interfere".
And what about self-preservation? Kirk should have SHOT first and asked questions later. Instead, he tries to talk to 2 killers and winds up without any weapons, at their mercy. The rest of the story involves Kirk, Spock & McCoy arguing about which one of them should gladly commit suicide (more or less).
In the entire 3-year run of STAR TREK, I think the Vians may top my list of villains I just wanted to see DEAD. Not only them, but their entire civilization with them. Imagine if Ron Tracy had been their victim. HE'd have shown those "scientists" what he thought of them. (Marv Wolfman & George Perez may well have taken inspiration from the Vians when they created the "Psions", a very similar alien race of cold-hearted scientists who pursue knowledge without any care how many countless innocent lives are damaged or destroyed in the process.)
I know this will sound sexist, but what was going on with all these 3rd-season stories being written by women? And, on the other side of the coin, WHERE was D.C. Fontana? I didn't see her name in the end credits. I guess a change in story editor was part of the reason for the show's decline in this period.
The 2nd Varese Sarabande CD of newly-re-recorded STAR TREK scores (1986) included Fred Steiner's version of George Duning's score for this episode. After seeing Duning's name on quite a few other episodes, I find myself wishing they'd have included one of the OTHER ones, instead.
Finally, NBC had nothing to do with the budget cut. That was all Paramount. When Lucille Ball's new husband convinced her to sell Desilu to Paramount, the big movie studio was in deep dept from too many expensive films bombing at the box office. When they found themselves now running a TV studio, the first thing they did was order the budgets on all "their" shows slashed-- so they could use the money to make bigger, even more expensive bombs.
When MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE's creator & producer Bruce Geller heard the order, he told all his department heads-- "This year, SPEND MORE." The network was thrilled. They'd already paid for the shows. The sponsors were thrilled. Ditto. Paramount was P***ED. But because Gene Roddenberry had stepped down (feeling rightly so that he'd been shafted by NBC over the schedule change), he wasn't around to make a difference. Imagine if Roddenberry had done what Geller had. STAR TREK's 3rd season MIGHT have been its best-ever, and that could have made a difference in the ratings. We'll never know.
Gem and also the music.....
schlagzeugplayer19 August 2019
Its good to revisit these old eps. Younger this was different. Now this whole concept is an incredible emotional powerhouse . Gem is one of my all time favorite characters. Her performance along w the wonderful composition which is very unusual almost jazz like or early what used to be called 20th century music is just so powerful. But this whole ep is a wonderful example of being human and sacrifice and yes empathy, it sort of brings tears to your eyes because there is such an absence of this in this 21st century. So please enjoy this deeper and intellectual Gem . " A pearl of great price ".
I feel for You...
Xstal17 February 2022
Lal and Thann have devised a cunning plan, you couldn't tell from their demeanour, as they're very deadpan, involves a voiceless lass, she's able to amass, all the trials and tribulations of a tortured distressed man.
It's touch and go whether the landing party will survive when they're put under physical duress in an experiment with an empathetic alien.
It's touch and go whether the landing party will survive when they're put under physical duress in an experiment with an empathetic alien.
I enjoyed the episode themes and appreciate the budgetary constraints
snoozejonc27 October 2021
Enterprise visits a research station on a planet in a system where a star is about to go nova.
At first glance this appears to be a fairly weak episode but when you consider what has been produced with a low budget I think it's a solid effort.
The plot structure is a recycled formula of crew members held captive by more powerful beings, but the purpose of this isn't to fight or amuse captors, it is something a bit different. I will not say much more story details not to spoil, but there is a good ethical stance to it and fits very well in the Trek vision of the future.
From a character perspective it is excellent, as the central trinity of Kirk, Spock, and Bones have some very memorable moments of comradeship and sacrifice. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are all on great form.
I also like the guest character Gem who is played well in the style of a classic silent movie performance by Kathryn Hays. They almost feel like a theatre group at times.
Visually it is minimalist, but the production team did a lot of good practical work with a darkened sound stage and recycled props. Some of the effects are quite repetitive and slow, but I've seen far worse on series 3. The Vians are designed very similar to the Talosians, which feels a bit of a cheat, but they look very alien so it has the desired effect.
For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.
At first glance this appears to be a fairly weak episode but when you consider what has been produced with a low budget I think it's a solid effort.
The plot structure is a recycled formula of crew members held captive by more powerful beings, but the purpose of this isn't to fight or amuse captors, it is something a bit different. I will not say much more story details not to spoil, but there is a good ethical stance to it and fits very well in the Trek vision of the future.
From a character perspective it is excellent, as the central trinity of Kirk, Spock, and Bones have some very memorable moments of comradeship and sacrifice. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are all on great form.
I also like the guest character Gem who is played well in the style of a classic silent movie performance by Kathryn Hays. They almost feel like a theatre group at times.
Visually it is minimalist, but the production team did a lot of good practical work with a darkened sound stage and recycled props. Some of the effects are quite repetitive and slow, but I've seen far worse on series 3. The Vians are designed very similar to the Talosians, which feels a bit of a cheat, but they look very alien so it has the desired effect.
For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.
Beatnik Trek
Blueghost2 June 2009
There's a lot of criticism of Star Trek's third season, and deservedly so. And, among those stories, this one seems to have gotten its share of bashing for the skeleton like production values.
Where I agree with the thrust of a lot of the reviews I would like to point out some of the more redeeming aspects of this episode. To me it seems more of a dramatic exercise for the actors. We're witnessing performances, not so much a plethora of adventure and special effects.
It's the kind of thing a university acting class would do. It's the kind of thing a local theatre troupe would conjure to keep their creative and performance juices fresh and active. That's the charm of this episode. The ability to pull off a story with a fraction of the budget.
Regrettably there's only so much frugal art that the audience (in this case the Trek fan base) can take. Without offering something more meaty for us to chew on, Trek was doomed with continued efforts like this one.
Still, for me at least, this episode has a certain charm to it. The theme of intellect-verse-emotion is abundant, and how one collides and synergizes with the other is made all too plain. The story shows an imbalance of sorts, but then shows the audience the true meaning of who and what we are, and what it is to be human.
It's an interesting episode. It lacks gloss and punch, but from a dramatic point of view it is an interesting exercise.
Where I agree with the thrust of a lot of the reviews I would like to point out some of the more redeeming aspects of this episode. To me it seems more of a dramatic exercise for the actors. We're witnessing performances, not so much a plethora of adventure and special effects.
It's the kind of thing a university acting class would do. It's the kind of thing a local theatre troupe would conjure to keep their creative and performance juices fresh and active. That's the charm of this episode. The ability to pull off a story with a fraction of the budget.
Regrettably there's only so much frugal art that the audience (in this case the Trek fan base) can take. Without offering something more meaty for us to chew on, Trek was doomed with continued efforts like this one.
Still, for me at least, this episode has a certain charm to it. The theme of intellect-verse-emotion is abundant, and how one collides and synergizes with the other is made all too plain. The story shows an imbalance of sorts, but then shows the audience the true meaning of who and what we are, and what it is to be human.
It's an interesting episode. It lacks gloss and punch, but from a dramatic point of view it is an interesting exercise.
So Slow
chrisbaird-ma9 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This entire episode could have been shown in ten minutes without any removing any of the plot. But taking a ten minute plot and stretching it into a hour presentation makes for a very slow and boring show. The viewer is forced to watch essentially the same scene five times in a row: one of the crew gets tortured, the Empath girl makes over-expressive sad faces for several minutes, she heals the crew-member, and then the cycle repeats again and again, seemingly with no end in sight. It's like watching Groundhog Day: you see it once and you feel like you've seen it ten times. It's obvious at this point that the production team has run out of money and run out of ideas, and they are desperately just trying to fill minutes.
Combining a virtually non-existent set, bad acting, bad special effects, and a plot so simple that it quickly becomes un-engaging; this episode fails to maintain the illusion of drama. It no longer looks like Kirk, Spock, and McCoy trudging along some alien planet in palpable peril. It looks like Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley bumbling about a Hollywood stage counting the minutes until they could go home and watch a ball game.
The mission of the production crew for this episode seemed to be: find a girl with very sad looking eyes and let's do a hundred close-up shots of her eyes, and then fill the rest of the episode with fluff. I consider the principles of empathy and self-sacrifice to be noble and inspiring. This episode simply doesn't do these principles justice. What the Empath girl was doing wasn't really free-will sacrifice because they were all pawns in the aliens laboratory. Every time she healed a crew-member, she was enabling the aliens to have more subjects to torture. She was effectively a useful fool perpetuating the torture cycle with her "empathy". The truly empathetic action would have been for her to refuse to play along with the "experiment" and stop enabling the sadists.
Between the syrupy, fluttery music, the Empath's over-exaggerated mime expressions, and the blinking "special effects" I felt like I was watching a high school's failed attempt at modern dance. I say all this as an ardent Star Trek fan. Episodes like this are just painful to watch because they show how far Star Trek had fallen.
Combining a virtually non-existent set, bad acting, bad special effects, and a plot so simple that it quickly becomes un-engaging; this episode fails to maintain the illusion of drama. It no longer looks like Kirk, Spock, and McCoy trudging along some alien planet in palpable peril. It looks like Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley bumbling about a Hollywood stage counting the minutes until they could go home and watch a ball game.
The mission of the production crew for this episode seemed to be: find a girl with very sad looking eyes and let's do a hundred close-up shots of her eyes, and then fill the rest of the episode with fluff. I consider the principles of empathy and self-sacrifice to be noble and inspiring. This episode simply doesn't do these principles justice. What the Empath girl was doing wasn't really free-will sacrifice because they were all pawns in the aliens laboratory. Every time she healed a crew-member, she was enabling the aliens to have more subjects to torture. She was effectively a useful fool perpetuating the torture cycle with her "empathy". The truly empathetic action would have been for her to refuse to play along with the "experiment" and stop enabling the sadists.
Between the syrupy, fluttery music, the Empath's over-exaggerated mime expressions, and the blinking "special effects" I felt like I was watching a high school's failed attempt at modern dance. I say all this as an ardent Star Trek fan. Episodes like this are just painful to watch because they show how far Star Trek had fallen.
A moving portrait of camaraderie and concern for others
aaustin-1022 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy find themselves trapped in the laboratory of two callous alien scientists who subject them to experiments to measure their will to live and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for others. At the center of the experiments in Gem, a mute woman with the ability to absorb the injuries of others, but only at great cost to herself. The three Enterprise men discover the experiments are to see if Gem will sacrifice her own life to save them from the tortures the aliens will inflict.
This episode falls just short of a ten. The flaws include the rather silly slo-mo running scene. Also a problem: the aliens' ultimate motive for their experiments. Once the motive is revealed, it seems a little too contrived and strained. The motive could have been handled better. And the aliens' decision to show compassion at the end seems a little too abrupt, but that part probably was unavoidable given the episode's time constraints. Also, the deaths of the two human scientists seem to get forgotten and glossed over by episode's end. Glossing indifferently over the deaths of minor characters by an episode's end, especially the deaths of red shirts, has always been a problem in the scripts of Star Trek. It takes away some of the humanity of the main characters.
But, here, these are minor quibbles. Stacked up against all of that is an excellent script that slowly builds the foreboding and mystery as to what the aliens are up to and where Gem fits in. And we see a wonderful message of compassion and camaraderie in how the show's Big Three interact with each other and with Gem in this episode. Note, especially, how Spock reacts when he realizes McCoy is dying: there is no big change in his usual impassive demeanor, yet Leonard Nimoy manages to convey the real grief Spock must be feeling. This is the episode where the Big Three's friendship is put on full show, and it is awesome to watch.
And at the center of the show is a superb performance by Kathryn Hays as Gem. Her Gem is utterly beautiful, gentle, and heart breaking, and Hays' silent movie style acting a joy to watch, especially in the final scene. Whatever chronic script problems Star Trek TOS ever suffered from, that show frequently got great guest performances.
This episode falls just short of a ten. The flaws include the rather silly slo-mo running scene. Also a problem: the aliens' ultimate motive for their experiments. Once the motive is revealed, it seems a little too contrived and strained. The motive could have been handled better. And the aliens' decision to show compassion at the end seems a little too abrupt, but that part probably was unavoidable given the episode's time constraints. Also, the deaths of the two human scientists seem to get forgotten and glossed over by episode's end. Glossing indifferently over the deaths of minor characters by an episode's end, especially the deaths of red shirts, has always been a problem in the scripts of Star Trek. It takes away some of the humanity of the main characters.
But, here, these are minor quibbles. Stacked up against all of that is an excellent script that slowly builds the foreboding and mystery as to what the aliens are up to and where Gem fits in. And we see a wonderful message of compassion and camaraderie in how the show's Big Three interact with each other and with Gem in this episode. Note, especially, how Spock reacts when he realizes McCoy is dying: there is no big change in his usual impassive demeanor, yet Leonard Nimoy manages to convey the real grief Spock must be feeling. This is the episode where the Big Three's friendship is put on full show, and it is awesome to watch.
And at the center of the show is a superb performance by Kathryn Hays as Gem. Her Gem is utterly beautiful, gentle, and heart breaking, and Hays' silent movie style acting a joy to watch, especially in the final scene. Whatever chronic script problems Star Trek TOS ever suffered from, that show frequently got great guest performances.
"Best of the silent era"?
planktonrules8 December 2006
I know this will probably sound mean, but I was surprised by one comment about this episode that said the performance of the leading lady ranked with the "best of the silent era". I have seen hundreds of silent films and I would seriously beg to differ! Her character was pretty dreadful and it reminded me more of a mime than a silent actress.
Now as for the rest of the episode, it's pretty sub-par, as the threesome of Kirk, Spock and McCoy are stuck in a dark sound studio that is supposed to be some lab run by guys who look very reminiscent of the aliens in THE MENAGERIE (the first Star Trek pilot). Here, they do lots of experiments on the men in order to get the mute woman to develop empathy--all of which time the crew behave very protectively towards her. In the end, after a whole lotta torture (even worse than for us watching the episode), they are released and everything is apparently cool.
The bottom line is that this is a minimalist episode where most of it could have been filmed in a dark theater. The plot is ultra simple and the show is amazingly dull and lethargic. Not a great episode at all.
Now as for the rest of the episode, it's pretty sub-par, as the threesome of Kirk, Spock and McCoy are stuck in a dark sound studio that is supposed to be some lab run by guys who look very reminiscent of the aliens in THE MENAGERIE (the first Star Trek pilot). Here, they do lots of experiments on the men in order to get the mute woman to develop empathy--all of which time the crew behave very protectively towards her. In the end, after a whole lotta torture (even worse than for us watching the episode), they are released and everything is apparently cool.
The bottom line is that this is a minimalist episode where most of it could have been filmed in a dark theater. The plot is ultra simple and the show is amazingly dull and lethargic. Not a great episode at all.
Kirk, Spock and McCoy are part of a cruel experiment
Tweekums10 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
When an away team go down to an alien planet that is about to be destroyed by a supernova to retrieve a two man research team they find their base abandoned and covered in dust. A solar storm causes the Enterprise to move away leaving Kirk, Spock and McCoy on the surface. Soon afterwards they find themselves teleported to dark room with no apparent way out. In the room there is a beautiful woman who appears to be totally mute who is named Gem by McCoy. It turns out that she is the prisoner of the Vians. Two Vians injure Kirk and Gem demonstrates her empathic powers by curing him; she does this by taking his injuries herself. This means as the cut on his head vanishes an identical cut appears on her. Spock then discovers a way out of the room; this takes them to another room where they discover the two missing researchers, dead, in two tubes
there are three more tubes with the names Kirk, Spock and McCoy on them. They manage to escape to the surface, but not for long. Back in the Vian's custody Kirk finds himself the victim of tortuous experiments after being returned he is told they will experiment on McCoy or Spock next; it is stated that it is likely that McCoy would die but while Spock wouldn't die it was very likely that he would be brain damaged. The difficult choice is taken out of his hands when McCoy sedates the other two. His actions lead to him being taken and seriously injured
it is only when he is returned that we learn that the real subject of the experiment is Gem; how will the empath respond when helping McCoy could lead to her own death?.
This is an interesting and emotional episode dealing with the idea of self-sacrifice. Having Gem mute makes her more mysterious as she can't tell people about herself; the members of the away team must determine for themselves what she is and decide whether she is a fellow prisoner or working with those holding them captive. Kathryn Hays does a fine job in the role; expressing Gem's emotions entirely through facial expressions. We also see how our protagonists are each willing to sacrifice themselves to save their friends; the actors do a fine job making this totally believable. The Vians are interesting antagonists and even though their experiments aren't ethical their motives are actually pure for reasons I won't spoil here. The low budget clearly shows but this actually works to the episodes advantage in places as the dark, minimalist sets create a sinister atmosphere. The torture scenes are mild in comparison to those in many series but are still pretty strong for a show broadcast at dinner time given that we see some injury detail. Overall I found this to be a pretty good episode.
This is an interesting and emotional episode dealing with the idea of self-sacrifice. Having Gem mute makes her more mysterious as she can't tell people about herself; the members of the away team must determine for themselves what she is and decide whether she is a fellow prisoner or working with those holding them captive. Kathryn Hays does a fine job in the role; expressing Gem's emotions entirely through facial expressions. We also see how our protagonists are each willing to sacrifice themselves to save their friends; the actors do a fine job making this totally believable. The Vians are interesting antagonists and even though their experiments aren't ethical their motives are actually pure for reasons I won't spoil here. The low budget clearly shows but this actually works to the episodes advantage in places as the dark, minimalist sets create a sinister atmosphere. The torture scenes are mild in comparison to those in many series but are still pretty strong for a show broadcast at dinner time given that we see some injury detail. Overall I found this to be a pretty good episode.
Not keen on this one.
melanieakehurst7 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is about the only episode where I wished they would just get to the end. All those interminable shots of Gem's' one 'expression' while music swelled in the background each time became very hard to bear after a while. Yes I know it was all about empathy and the human spirit and sacrifice and all, but that was overshadowed by the terrible miming which was really over-egged. The 'logic' when the reason for it all was revealed fell short as well. How had Gem's race survived until now if they were so lacking in compassion and decency? How were they so primitive that they had to be taught such basics of civilisation yet apparently (even in 'captivity') could be so perfectly presented with faultless nails, hair and make-up? Of course I'm used to suspending disbelief quite often when watching Star Trek episodes, that's par for the course, but somehow I couldn't quite manage it for this.
A Mute Empath And Lab Rats
Rainey-Dawn14 January 2017
Season 3, episode 12. The Enterprise has arrived at Minara II to save the research group there before a supernova. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down and find no one there, Scotty is in command of the Ship, he moves the ship to a safe distance from the oncoming solar flare. Scotty and crew will return to the planet as soon as they feel it is safe from the solar flares. Below, Kirk and crew meet a mute empath who McCoy names Gem - she has the ability to heal. Two aliens, the Vians, appear and want specimens: Kirk, Spock and McCoy. The Vians are wanting to study them, their strength, love, courage, etc. - making the trio essentially lab rats of the Vians. They are very lucky to have Gem with them, healing them and taking away their pain. What does Gem have to do with the Vians?
Interesting episode. Gem is much like a dancer and a mime in her movements - very theatrical, beautiful. She speaks volumes without saying a word. Experiments to save Gem and her planet's people.
8.5/10
Interesting episode. Gem is much like a dancer and a mime in her movements - very theatrical, beautiful. She speaks volumes without saying a word. Experiments to save Gem and her planet's people.
8.5/10
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