Review Text
The Enterprise happens upon a disabled vessel and rescues Carter Winston (Ted Knight), a human entrepreneur who has been missing (and presumed dead) for five years. It seems like an impossible miracle, and it might be, because some things are amiss: Winston's medical scans are slightly off, and he immediately informs the woman who was his fiancee (who is a member of the Enterprise crew) that he can no longer marry her.
Winston is, in fact, an imposter from an alien species called the Vendorians, who have the ability to shapeshift into anybody or anything with a similar mass. We learn this when he renders Kirk unconscious in his quarters and then takes his place on the bridge and orders the ship into the Romulan neutral zone. Sulu and Spock question the unorthodox order that's in violation of the treaty, but ultimately follow it.
Later, Winston impersonates McCoy, in an attempt to bury the suspicious medical scans. The plot thickens when the Enterprise encounters the Romulans inside the neutral zone, who intend to exercise their right in the treaty to impound Kirk's ship. The Vendorian is actually a spy who has been recruited by the Romulans to provide intelligence.
"The Survivor" is one of the better-executed examples of a straightforwardly plotted story in TAS so far. While no episode of TAS would probably be complete without an ending that features something crazy or unlikely — in this case, Winston shapeshifing into a deflector shield to protect the ship during the battle with the Romulans — I liked the idea that the Vendorian arrives at empathy for the crew as a result taking on Winston's form for an extended period.
M'Ress, a cat-woman alien voiced by Majel Barrett, makes her first appearance as the communications officer subbing for Uhura — although I'm uncertain why she is in this particular role. (Nichelle Nichols does the voice of most every other woman on the ship, including Winston's fiancee here, so it's not like she was unavailable to provide the voice.) Overall, not too shabby.
Previous episode: More Tribbles, More Troubles
Next episode: The Infinite Vulcan
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13 comments on this post
chris
I'm pretty sure Ted Knight did the voice of Winston
Elizabeth Palladino
I agree with Jammer on this one: Not too shabby. The story was suspenseful but heartfelt, and made sense. I liked the positive vibes of the resolution. If I were recommending episodes to watch from this series, this is one that I'd suggest viewing.
Rahul
An action-packed episode -- again pretty remarkable how much story is told in 24 minutes. There are some classic Trek themes at work here such as the human emotion (love) overcoming instructions for a nefarious mission.
The relationship between Nored and Winston could have been played up more if there was more time, but here one just has to take it as given. The treachery of the Romulans is on full display -- using a shapeshifting alien, who wants to feel useful but yet has tremendous powers. Perhaps TNG's "Future Imperfect" might have riffed off this episode.
But the Vendorian also has a conscience that develops in his interaction with the humans and gaining more and more of Winston's characteristics. Nored is willing to be attracted to a non-humanoid alien who impersonates Winston. The obvious comparison here is to "The Man Trap" as the salt vampire needed to be loved and here the Vendorian, despite its awesome powers, begins to feel the same way.
Spock and McCoy exchange a joke about the problems that would arise if there were 2 Spocks/McCoys.
3*
Black Oatmeal
Yeah, Chris is right about Ted Knight being the voice of Carter Winston.
This is the second best episode of the series, imo.
Jammer
"I'm pretty sure Ted Knight did the voice of Winston"
My mistake. I've fixed this in the review.
Trek fan
Totally agree with Jammer that this is a solid 3-star episode with a nice, suspenseful plot. Love the inclusion of empathy as a key, the Romulans, etc. I also like Trekkian depictions of shapeshifters and this is probably only the second real foray after the salt creature in The Man Trap, which appeared able to shift form in the subjective perceptions of others. (There were other shapeshifting antics in TOS, but not normally involving a dedicated alien race of shifters.) This one is a nicely realized take, although it’s little more than clever plotting.
Welsh Rat
Did no-one else notice that McCoy, right at the start, wells 'Winston' that his daughter was at school on Cerberus 10 years ago...'? If taken as canon, isn't this the first time McCoy is actually 'given permission' to have an adult daughter? (Edited out of 'The way to Eden' to avoid McCoy being that much older than Kirk.)
Natalya
Ehhh... mediocre.
Idk about you, Chapel, but I wuldn't settle for a imitation of the man I loved. I'd consider it a insult to his memory, and vaporized that shapeshifter. Also, don't tell me you didnt suspect something from the start? Him just cold-shouldering you like that? Really?
The shifter himself did a passable job carrying out his assignment. But no more then that. The bridge crew (Spock included) of the Enterprise proves how gullible they are, not even verifying the clearly illegal order the 'captain' issued, to go to the Neutral Zone.
Ehhhh... 2 stars. Generously. Because I like action eps.
Black Oat
" It seems, Captain, that I am more Carter Winston than I knew. He loved life. He loved Anne. I couldn't allow the Romulans to harm any of you because of him."
Another good episode. You can tell that Ted Knight has a lot of experience as a voice actor. I mean, it helps that he has a good voice to begin with, but he also seems more comfortable than a lot of the main cast.
I particularly liked the design of the Vendorian and the extremely funky Carter Winston.
I'm surprised the Vendorians have never appeared again in Trek. It's a shame that more hasn't been done with the stuff introduced in TAS.
Good zinger from Spock at the end too.
wolfstar
This for me is the best episode of TAS, not Yesteryear. It's like a dry run of DS9's The Adversary.
Proud Capitalist Pig
@wolfstar
I'm about to dive into The Animated Series, with only three episodes left of The Original Series to go. I'm actually looking forward to it -- cheesy 70's Filmation animation should be quite a hoot! My Saturday-morning cartoon memories are from the 80's, but I'm guessing the style won't be that far off from what I remember.
Proud Capitalist Pig
It took six episodes, but I’m officially sick of the repetitive music. It’s just sad that composers were such an unjustifiable expense back in the early 70’s, at least for Saturday-morning cartoons (not to mention Season 3 of TOS which had the same problem).
The dialogue in “The Survivor” is often clumsy, such as when McCoy says that the stranded occupant of the craft couldn’t possibly be “Carter Winston” because Winston has been “missing for five years." Why would that mean he couldn’t ever be found again?! The Romulan captain does deliver a zinger, though, telling Kirk, “Your imagination is creative but obviously out of control.” I wonder if the writer placed this into the script to make light of his boss telling him the same thing (but I kid). As for McCoy blowing up at Spock’s completely reasonable suggestion that Winston ought to be examined by a doctor and have his identity verified, I’m chalking this up to him just having a bad day.
Lt. Nored (what an airhead, by the way) may be animated, but she was completely flat as a character both in conception and execution. I had to laugh at my initial thought that Winston must have “crashed” and “disappeared” just to escape her. She’s that annoying. If this were a live-action show, you can best believe she’d at least have been played by some beautiful smokeshow that would have cushioned Nored's banality. That’s one of TAS’s biggest drawbacks, frankly.
Likewise, Ted Knight is comically dreadful as the voice of Winston. The back-and-forth between Winston and Nored is completely clunky. They should have just cast James Doohan.
“The Survivor” can’t decide if it would rather be a doppelganger thriller or a character study/love story. It does neither very well. The cheesiest moment is when “Winston” off-handedly asks Nored, “Can you love… this?!” and then immediately changes into his true tentacled form. I cracked up.
It was good to see the Romulans again, but their return deserved a better plot. What was so appealing about the Romulans to the Winston-thing, by the way? That was never really explained. “Winston” says that among his fellow aliens, he’s an outcast, and the Romulans offered him a meaningful life… but what made him think Starfleet / Earth wouldn’t have offered him a purpose as well?
I did love how Spock realized that “McCoy” couldn’t possibly be the Real McCoy (haha) because McCoy didn’t give him any shit when Spock pointed out that he could have made a mistake. Priceless!
Speak Freely:
McCoy -- “If he’d turned into a second Spock, it would’ve been too much to take.”
Spock -- “Perhaps. But then, two Doctor McCoys just might bring the level of medical efficiency on this ship up to acceptable levels.”
My Grade: D+
Proud Capitalist Pig
@Jammer: "M'Ress, a cat-woman alien voiced by Majel Barrett, makes her first appearance as the communications officer subbing for Uhura — although I'm uncertain why she is in this particular role. (Nichelle Nichols does the voice of most every other woman on the ship, including Winston's fiancee here, so it's not like she was unavailable to provide the voice.)"
Interesting! I didn't recognize Nichelle Nichols' voice as Nored at all. My only thought is that perhaps the producers introduced M'Ress because they were nervous that Uhura and Nored would have sounded too much alike. Obviously, at least for me, that would not have been the case at all!
@ Black Oat: "Good zinger from Spock at the end too."
I completely agree. That was one of Spock's best lines yet.
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