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
36 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.
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