Star Trek: The Original Series
"Operation--Annihilate!"
Air date: 4/13/1967
Written by Steven W. Carabatsos
Directed by Herschel Daugherty
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Alien life seizes control of a Federation colony and its inhabitants, leaving the Enterprise as the last defense from a species of parasitic invaders that induces anguish, madness, and even death in its victims. Among the victims: Kirk's own brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. While investigating on the planet, Spock is attacked by one of the creatures, leaving him in agonizing pain—which he is barely able to control with his Vulcan mental disciplines.
The most appealing aspect of "Operation—Annihilate!" is Spock's struggle of mind over matter—nicely conveyed through Nimoy's balance of wincing, writhing, and snapping back into control. Still, the way TOS plays with the galactic doublespeak can be corny, especially when Kirk and Spock talk about the lifeform coming from another galaxy where "our physical laws wouldn't apply." Come again? Just what galaxy are we talking about? Never mind.
As a body-snatching alien plot, the show is certainly entertaining, if not exactly inspired. I question, however, the wisdom of having an officer say, in regard to one of the fake-looking plastic creatures, "Captain, it doesn't even look real!" Perhaps not, but you never show your cards.
Previous episode: The City on the Edge of Forever
Next episode: Amok Time
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57 comments on this post
Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 1:29pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Aug 10, 2011, 10:54pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 12:51pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 1, 2012, 1:29am (UTC -6)
Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 6:22pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 2:25pm (UTC -6)
Charlie X: 3 (-0.5)
The Naked Time: 3.5 (+0.5)
What Are Little Girls Made Of: 2.5 (-0.5)
Dagger of the Mind: 3 (-0.5)
The Corbomite Maneuver: 3.5 (+0.5)
The Menagerie: 3.5 (+0.5)
The Conscience of the King: 3 (+0.5)
Balance of Terror: 3.5 (+1)
Arena: 2.5 (+1)
Tomorrow is Yesterday: 3.5 (-0.5)
The Return of the Archons: 2 (-0.5)
Space Seed: 4 (+0.5)
A Taste of Armageddon: 2.5 (-0.5)
This Side of Paradise: 3 (+0.5)
Errand of Mercy: 3.5 (+0.5)
The Alternative Factor: 1 (-1)
This is a really good season.
Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 3:29pm (UTC -6)
Top five episodes of season 1
Where No Man Has Gone Before - A good Kirk and Spock episode and they killed it with the pilot.
The Corbomite Manuever - A good crew under pressure episode.
Errand of Mercy - A good introduction for the Kligons and Kor was a great villian.
The City On the Edge of Forever - Classic nuff said.
Operation --Annihilate - A great way to end a great season.
Thu, Apr 3, 2014, 10:28pm (UTC -6)
to me this ep was a bit slow, just ok. 2 stars
Tue, Nov 18, 2014, 11:14am (UTC -6)
Top five Season.
The Corbomite Manuever.
The City On The Edge of Forever.
Balance of Terror.
The Enemy within
Tomorrow is Yesterday.
Honorable mention goes out to The Naked Time and Shore Leave.
Sun, May 29, 2016, 12:09pm (UTC -6)
"One question. What happens to Kirk's nephew in 'Operation: Annihilate'? Both his parents (Kirk's brother and sister-in-law) are dead. Assuming the kid survived -- which we aren't told -- shouldn't Kirk feel obligated to care for him? Oh well. It Takes A Village, I guess."
In at least one of the (non-canon, of course) novels, it is stated that Peter was sent to Earth to live with and be raised by his paternal grandmother, Winona.
Sat, Sep 10, 2016, 4:43pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 5:38am (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 17, 2017, 3:16pm (UTC -6)
It's an interesting story with Spock's acting the strong point - does a great job mimicking what it's like to be fighting through pain while still trying to help the cause. His logic wins out in this episode.
What is puzzling is how it took them so long to figure out that a certain type of light from the sun kills the creature -- from that standpoint the episode dragged a touch, but it was still engaging. Not a huge fan of Shatner's forceful style of acting in storming out of rooms, being very curt with Bones/Spock to figure out the solution. Given that his extended family was killed I think a more vulnerable Kirk would have been better.
Also, the part about Spock being temporarily blinded -- couldn't they have waited for the lab test results? Getting bailed out because of Spock's extra eye-lid is a let-off.
Nevertheless, a solid episode to conclude Season 1 of Trek TOS. I give it 3/4 stars.
Fri, Feb 17, 2017, 7:49pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 17, 2017, 7:50pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Apr 7, 2017, 6:42am (UTC -6)
Mon, May 8, 2017, 12:12am (UTC -6)
Sat, May 20, 2017, 2:44pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 4, 2017, 12:02am (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 7, 2017, 8:05am (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 10:20pm (UTC -6)
I do like the location shooting, possessed townspeople shouting warnings as they prepare to attack, the creature design, and Spock showcase struggle to regain intellectual and emotional control -- a welcome and common theme in Season 1 where Spock, except in "Paradise," generally proves victorious. I also appreciate the chance to learn a little bit about Kirk's family, even though they're out of it in the episode, as it makes a good lead-in to the Spock family episodes coming up next season in the opener "Amok Time" and "Journey to Babel." So there's a lot of good and fun stuff here, including the Vulcan second eyelid bit.
Sun, Nov 26, 2017, 3:47pm (UTC -6)
Anyway, this is the end of Season 1 of TOS. I'm a young viewer and regard is as the best, most consistent season of Trek; lots of original, unique premises, lots of exploring, lots of first contacts, lots of humor, lots of world building, great crew camraderie, cool retro sets, and a very alien, surreal feel. As a huge SF fan, TOS feels like good 1950s pulp SF with a 1960s progressive edge. I feel Jammer rated virtually all the episodes too low; I bet seeing the new remastered copies will change his mind on most of them.
My favourite episodes of the season? Conscience of the King, Balance of Terror, Court Martial, Miri and City at the Edge of Forever. I feel this season only has 2 bad episodes: Squire of Gothos and The Alternative Factor.
Fri, Feb 16, 2018, 7:13pm (UTC -6)
A tag scene was removed for time from the final cut where we would have seen Peter on the bridge sitting in the captain's chair in his miniature Starfleet uniform. Kirk would enter and they'd exposit on how Peter would be returning to Deneva to live with his father's research partner and his family.
If you believe that James Cawley's Phase II is canon, Peter SORASed into an Academy graduate who was assigned to the Enterprise late in the five-year mission as a redshirt...oops! I mean security officer.
Sun, Jun 24, 2018, 8:09am (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 7:24pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Feb 13, 2019, 8:38pm (UTC -6)
Good review by Jammer, not a bad episode, even over three decades after the last watch.
Mon, Apr 8, 2019, 7:42pm (UTC -6)
I liked the character development for Kirk, though there was an awkwardness to both the the dialogue and the performances as Kirk suddenly looses a brother and a sister-in-law and has an orphaned nephew.
The creatures and the technobabble were also contrived and awkward.
Just not smooth flowing.
Nimoy does a good job with a challenging story for his character.
Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:10pm (UTC -6)
The yeoman du jour was kind of intriguing.
Kirk got over the loss of his brother and sister-in-law a little too quickly. Such was episodic TV in those days.
Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 8:21am (UTC -6)
- As said before, seeing the California filming locations was very nice.
- I’m surprised the inner eyelid and Spock’s blindness is not more criticized as a cheap way to add drama. I haven’t seen Amok Time in a while but remember that the big twist at the end was done better.
Mon, Sep 30, 2019, 5:52pm (UTC -6)
There were a whole slew of guest starring minor roles and red shirts (that ultimately didn't perish) lines of dialogue that could have been given to Uhura. She's such an iconic character that never really did get her just due.
Mon, Oct 7, 2019, 10:13pm (UTC -6)
Of course, the alien parasites don't seem to have some kind of affinity for technology and it's not clear what their ultimate goal is. They seem to want to move from star system to star system, rendering inhabitants insane.
I see it less as a body-snatcher show actually. It's more like an infection. Other Trek episodes bring out the body-snatcher theme better like "Return to Tomorrow" etc.
Mon, Dec 16, 2019, 5:44am (UTC -6)
The story is intriguing, and the way it unfolds with Kirk, Spock and Bones at peak level, leaves almost nothing left to wish for.
I liked that Scotty also had a albeit short, but still memorable scene. Have to agree with some of the comments though that Uhura was way too underused, not only in this episode but in the whole season. She's such a likable character (shame on Kirk for questioning her in the beginning!)
"The yeoman du jour was kind of intriguing." I agree with this as well.
It was very entertaining to see the aliens in action, like flying pancakes XD
4/4, one of the best season 1, and way better than the previous episode.
Mon, Apr 13, 2020, 10:15am (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 7:01am (UTC -6)
McCoy: We should run some more tests
Kirk: There's no time. Put Spock in there now!
McCoy: But ...
Kirk: Now Bones. Now!!!!!
-- later ---
Spock: I'm blind
Chapel: Here's the results of the test you order Dr. McCoy
McCoy: Oh dear. I didn't have to expose him to all wavelengths of light. He didn't have to be made blind.
Kirk: Bones! You f'd up!!
Tue, Nov 24, 2020, 5:23am (UTC -6)
And an amazing thing about the 21st century, is that we can virtually walk around the location where "Operation—Annihilate!" was filmed.
https://goo.gl/maps/Zk1kNJ8vtjpiwBhD9
How cool is that!
Wed, Dec 9, 2020, 10:01pm (UTC -6)
The colonists running at the landing party while yelling we don’t want to hurt you was clever.
Great episode, though you’d think they would have given Spock an eye mask.
Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 4:20pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 2:49am (UTC -6)
Away team member rolls over body revealed to be Shatner with a moustache:
“Is this your brother, Captain?”
McCoy, Kirk, and Spock in a huddle:
“What qualities does the sun have? We’ve mentioned heat and radiation, but what else?”
Concentrated thinking...
“Wait. - It’s BRIGHT!l
Duh...
Perhaps I’m being picky but near the beginning there was also the moment where Kirk says “Follow me, fan out “, so of course they all follow in a straight line. Sigh.
The episode was slightly redeemed by Spock’s fight against his pain, but his “inner eyelid” was a complete cop-out.
Sorry, but this was a weak way to end the season, especially after ‘City.....’. 1.5 stars.
Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 7:26pm (UTC -6)
Hey, who says a deadly alien species WOULDN'T look like a cross between manta ray conjoined twins, a unit of whole blood, and a plastic puddle of novelty vomit, with the flight skills of a vampire bat.
It's a big universe, after all.
Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 9:11pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 5:38pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 18, 2022, 8:35am (UTC -6)
Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 8:57pm (UTC -6)
There is a single cell organism that can grow to 6 inches or so though so these creatures aren't completely implausible.
Yes, I also loved the unusual lampshading in dialog that prop was crap "doesn't look real!" Though it really wasn't that bad a prop for its time.
Sun, May 1, 2022, 8:09pm (UTC -6)
Sun, May 1, 2022, 8:32pm (UTC -6)
I'd suggest "Where No Man Has Gone Before" as a good example of the sci-fi you're thinking about. I think it's a good classic sci-fi story with plenty of analogies/allegories.
Sun, May 1, 2022, 9:10pm (UTC -6)
For the best of TOS *as sci-fi*, I would suggest Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever, or maybe Fontana's The Ultimate Computer. Both are strong sci-fi, different types, and both ask hard questions. A lot of TOS in general follows patterns of classic sci-fi, much more so than the series that followed. D.C. Fontana has the virtue of being one of the series most prominent writers, so that does represent the spread a bit more if what you want to cover is what TOS is like. If TOS is merely a vehicle to address 60's sci-fi then perhaps using one of the more well-know scifi authors like Ellison, or even Sturgeon (he wrote two eps, one of which you won't pick...). Given its present timeliness, you may also consider The Cloud Miners, which features not only the topic of mask-wearing but also that of an artificially stratified society kept in status quo through industrial exploitation.
Mon, May 2, 2022, 10:38am (UTC -6)
I suggest "A Private Little War" https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-tos/s2/private.php , it had a very contemporary allegory about the Vietnam war when it aired In 1968.
Good luck, let us know how well it goes.
Sat, May 7, 2022, 7:23pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 3, 2022, 3:20pm (UTC -6)
At first they have no idea why everyone on the planet is going batshit crazy. McCoy insists there’s no medical or scientific explanation. I had a theory at first--they ought to check to see if the population watched any Nancy Pelosi lectures recently. But I kid.
Spock was great. Leonard Nimoy put in a particularly superlative performance through his body language and voice inflections when he was under the alien influence. I think this was all meant to represent how hard it is to keep your cool when you’re exposed to outside stamina trying to screw with your mind. Fight the pain, fight the insanity.
Kirk and McCoy seemed to be under the grip of all the tension even without being affected by the creatures. Both of them acted like dicks--Kirk to Uhura (and his crew in the conference room) and McCoy to Chapel--which I guess is typical 1960’s shorthand for showing how someone is trying to keep it all together.
The flying, farting jellyfish were a hoot and Kirk was put through quite the sympathetic wringer--his close family dead*, and the prospect of killing human hosts to eliminate the parasites’ spread was a very real possibility for him. The simplistic plot itself was nice but nothing too exciting. I agree that McCoy could have waited a few minutes to get Chapel’s test results back before frying Spock’s eyes. (DeForest Kelley really sold the poor country doctor's devastation.) But the resolution of Spock’s special alien physiology saving his day was a nice little touch.
The ending did seem oddly upbeat, considering what just happened. But maybe it’s to show that although Kirk has lost his family, he’s gained some semblance of another one in his crew.
Best Line:
Kirk -- “I am faced with the most difficult decision of my life. Unless we find a way to destroy the creatures without killing their human hosts, my command responsibilities will force me to kill over a million people.” (How was your day?!)
* = Yes, all ended well for the nephew. It's too bad they had to cut the scene that explained this, as it sounds kind of heartwarming.
My Grade: C+
Fri, Jun 17, 2022, 8:24pm (UTC -6)
I think for many in the 1960s, blindness seemed a fate worse than death.
Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 11:29pm (UTC -6)
The concept of a collective intelligence, where each unit forms only a cell of the entire being, would seemingly later be re-tooled into an insectoid collective, and finally into the Borg. And in fact the Borg almost have more in common with this alien species than with that of Conspiracy, since here they also assimilate individuals by touch and take over entire planets at once. Another commonality is that the Borg appear to be calm and machine-like on the surface, but if Picard's experience is to be an example, are apparently suffering on the inside at being taken over. Likewise here, the colonists appear passive and mostly docile, until one or more of them are commanded to do something by the parasites.
One of the most thought-provoking elements to the parasites is the possibility that they not only form a disconnected being, but that this being may span very large ranges (like the Borg). It's also possible that each 'collective' is confined to one planet, or even smaller parts of a planet. But the galactic scope of the invasion almost seems to make it seem like a more coordinated and defined effort, suggesting that all of the parasites everywhere have an agenda. Of course I'm assuming they're intelligent in the way we understand it; perhaps it's all instinctive and the being they collectively form is still a primitive one. But then how could they know how to command people to pilot starships for them? And more, Aurelan (Kirk's sister-in-law) said they even made people *build* ships for them. So it sounds a lot like they're highly intelligent, which is chilling. If not for this trick of killing them with light, I imagine the Federation might have had to go to total war with them, destroying entire planets to get rid of them.
A lot to think about, packed into an episode with a great deal of screen time devoted to both personal stakes (even Nurse Chapel's) and to galactic-level issues. The acting is excellent, Nimoy going above and beyond, and overall it's a really good episode. As a kid I hated it because the creatures freaked me out, but now I think there's a great deal more than just a monster of the week here.
Mon, Dec 19, 2022, 7:47pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 20, 2022, 7:25am (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 20, 2022, 1:09pm (UTC -6)
Even with this episode, Kirk & co. are investigating what they believe is mass insanity spreading from solar system to solar system. What it turns out to be is mind/body possession, so I don’t think insanity is some kind of major feature here. The actions taken when trying to rid oneself of the parasites may appear insane but aren't technically speaking.
However, I’d say it’s probably at most like 1 in 8 episodes where actual insanity is an important part of the premise and basically is the plot device to create problems for the Enterprise crew.
- The Naked Time (or more like extreme intoxication?)
- Dagger of the Mind (penal colony — but is insanity really an important part of the premise?)
- The Conscience of the King (Lenore is bonkers)
- Court Martial (Finney, an insane antagonist)
- The City on the Edge of Forever (McCoy)
- The Doomsday Machine (Decker is suicidal)
- The Ultimate Computer (Daystrom is insane)
- Is There in Truth No Beauty? (Marvick goes insane after gazing upon the Medusan)
- The Tholian Web (similar to The Naked Time)
- Whom Gods Destroy (another insane asylum, Lord Garth is nuts)
- The Way to Eden (Sevrin is insane)
- Turnabout Intruder (Janice Lester’s insane jealousy)
No doubt TOS revisited certain themes, plot devices frequently but I didn’t really used to think insanity was one of them. But maybe it was.
Tue, Dec 20, 2022, 9:48pm (UTC -6)
Perhaps rather than literal "insanity" in the sense of a diagnosable mental illness, the category I'm talking about is people not being "themselves." It's not so much that possession is a type of insanity as that insanity is analogous to being "possessed" by a mind not quite one's own. That's why one of the time-honored way of describing it is to say that someone is "out of his mind."
Tue, Dec 20, 2022, 10:14pm (UTC -6)
I am indeed keeping it up. With help from @Rahul, I have updated my list on "Court Martial" to 25 out of 80 episodes …
… and counting?
Sat, Jun 24, 2023, 2:43pm (UTC -6)
I had never noticed before the similarity, at least in theme, between this episode and TNG’s season 1 closer Conspiracy. Interesting parallel. I also find the slight Borg similarities interesting. Overall this is a pretty solid outing, with a creepy monster and compelling mystery factor.
My only real gripe is the poor scientific method applied by Bones and Spock, they really should have known better to wait for the results of their risk averse test before charging ahead with their Spock-as-labrat test. And Spock’s vestigial-not-vestigial eyelid thing was a bit too convenient. But these are minor issues for me and certainly don’t ruin the show.
One of my favorite parts of the episode is Kirk’s brother being played by a fake mustache wearing William Shatner. I found that amusing.
Now that season one is done, I’ll put up my top 5:
1- balance of terror
2- city in the edge of forever
3- a taste of Armageddon
4- the corbomite maneuver
5- arena
Bottom 5:
5- the man trap
4- squire of gothos
3- shore leave
2- Mudd’s women
1- alternative factor
Out of these only the alternative factor is actually *bad*, the rest are still pretty good, just not as strong as the rest of the season.
Also, I’ll go ahead and declare my opinion that TOS is overall the best Star Trek series. TNG and DS9 have strong cases to be made(I won’t entertain any pitch for VOY, ENT, or especially NuTrek), and the mass of criteria that must be considered to measure any of these series is extremely complex, not to mention the nostalgia-factor, but after thinking it all out, I’m team TOS.
On to season two!
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