“Return to Tomorrow”

Why does Dr. Mulhall wear red if she's an astrophysicist? Why isn't she wearing blue?

What I dislike most in this episode is the revelation that the prime directive apparently only applies to other, less advanced cultures - the moment they meet superior beings they cant't wait to learn whatever they can from them with no concern for meddling with the natural development of their own society.
It's more than only little bit hypocritical...

The Prime Directive is a convenience to hang a plot on and not much more. It's a nice idea, but it's not consistently enforced in any way at all. Right now I'm watching Bread and Circuses, in which we hear that they take an oath to die rather than to violate the PD, but they violate it all the time, especially in self-defense.

Besides, Sargon contacted them, they didn't violate the PD by initiating contact.

Holy crap I just realized Dr. Mulhall in this episode is Dr. Polaski from TNG season 2, except much younger (and surprisingly attractive back then). I only recognized her by her voice, and then I started noticing her face was similar, but I thought it was my imagination, but no, it's Dr. Polaski alright.

Just watched this episode again last night. The episode raises all kinds of questions. Some answered, some not. But the first which came into my mind happens very early in the episode. As they approach the planet Spock says it registers as Class M. A moment later he informs Kirk that the atmosphere was ripped away thousands of years ago. So how can it currently be registering as Class M? Unless the sensors are so powerful they can detect what the planet's atmosphere used to be. A minor technobabble quibble, but it stuck out to me for the first time.

Was it ever canonically established that "class M" includes atmosphere? It was widely assumed (and, once assumed, may have fed back into canonical scripts). But the designation could refer to a more limited set of geophysical traits (mass, magnetic field, surface temperature) without reference to chemical composition. When I hear Spock say, as he often did, "Class M, nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere," I take that as two different facts.

Strider's nitpick about Mulhall's uniform is fair, but there's also this: why send an astrobiologist (her stated specialty) to investigate a lifeless planet? (Or was this the one where Mulhall was summoned by the aliens?)

@ Grumpy. I get what you mean mentioning how they always say Class M, Earth type conditions (or variations). But I always took that to mean Class M meant, planets similar to Earth, including atmosphere. I've always thought they kept repeating that phrase for the benefit of first time viewers who otherwise wouldn't know what Class M meant. But it could mean two separate things. At any rate, it shows how powerful the Enterprise's sensors are. :)

This is not one that I ever thought of as a "classic" episode; you won't find it on very many "best of" lists. However, on a recent viewing I was struck by how much I enjoyed it, and how well it represents what the message of Star Trek is and should be. And it isn't just the "risk is our business" speech, though that is indeed one of the very best moments in all of Trek.

Star Trek was a breakthrough in television science fiction because at its very core was the simple idea that people could live together and respect one another -- not only among themselves, but even with alien beings from the edge of the galaxy, whose very natures stretched the limits of our understanding. The writers and producers of Trek were very brave about presenting such an idea on national television at a time in which America was descending into violence and chaos.

"Return to Tomorrow" presents this idea as well as any episode of Trek I've seen. It begins with Kirk's visible agitation over a distress signal his officers can't explain, but the agitation gives way to curiosity and wonderment in short order as Sargon reveals himself and begins to explain who and what he is. Sargon, for his part, has the power to take what he wants from the Enterprise crew, who to him are at about the level mice are to us, but is committed to their right to life and self-determination even at the cost of his and his wife's existences. Finally, a (literal) meeting of minds convinces Kirk that the mutual possibilities of Sargon's proposal are worth any danger to himself. Ultimately, Sargon and Thalassa choose to sacrifice themselves rather than cause harm to what to them are the most inferior of beings.

And all of it is, indeed, tied together with the understanding that "RISK is our business". The risk undertaken by the Enterprise and her crew, in this case, but what Roddenberry and co. were saying, by extension, was that risk is the business of all of us. It's risky to trust others. It's risky to put our faith in the intentions of people we don't understand. Mutual trust is a hard-won commodity, but Kirk chooses to trust his instincts in the case of Sargon -- and the result is that even beings at opposite ends of the evolutionary scale are able to communicate with, work with, and understand one another. This was pretty heady stuff in 1968, and is just as remarkable now.

Sci-fi TV before Star Trek was mostly space monsters, and much of it post-TOS has been slickly-produced cynicism. Even TOS had its share of "captured by hostile aliens" plots, and so an episode like "Return to Tomorrow" is a breath of fresh air and a pleasure to watch. It is, as I now believe, a classic episode after all.

(As for the definition of "Class M" planets, it's made pretty clear from the very beginning, when Spock runs his scan of the Talos system in "The Cage" and notes that "Number four appears to be Class M.... oxygen atmosphere.")

I completely agree with Brundledan, this is a wonderful episode. I love the "risk" speech. I love the fairly mature plot. It is paced well, and is truly a pleasure to watch. I think Brundledan would probably agree with me that I love the true-sci-fi episodes. bettering the human race, exploring the unknown. This episode is so much better then the black face-white face social commentary schlock that makes up a good chunk of star trek.

Also, you make a great point about modern sci-fi being slickly designed cynicism.

I can't believe it took me until the final scene to realize that Ann Mulhall was played by Diana Muldaur! I think it's the eyebrows that gave it away. Also interesting how similar her character's name was to her actual name.

I really, really liked this episode for the reasons stated by Brundledan. So far I found season 2 a bit difficult to get through so this was very welcome.

Bravo to Brundledan, who makes the case for this episode very well.

I guess further commenting is somewhat superfluous. I guess I'll try:

The thing about Kirk's "RISK...IS OUR BUSINESS!" speech is that Shatner could have played it more, uh, subtle, naturalistic, etc., but instead he went for broke. He took, in other words, the riskier course. Look, I find it hammy and ridiculous, but it's also charming, elevating, and inspiring. It is all of those things, and part of the thing that stands up about Shatner's acting choices is that there is something inseparable about this man's bravado from its more ridiculous aspects. Which, you know, is true of the series at large. I think a different actor would maybe have been able to sell the gravitas of Kirk's speech without chewing the scenery, having that glint in his eye, etc. -- but I'm not entirely certain I want anyone to.

In addition to this, it really gets to me that Kirk brings up the first Apollo mission landing on the moon so casually like that. Again, there's some risk to this. History could have proven them wrong; the Apollo mission could have burned up and never made it to the moon, and then, well, this episode looking foolish would have been a small problem/consequence of this, but still, there it is. There is a go-for-broke mentality to this: "we should take the chance on being hurt by *believing* in something, daring to risk being wrong."

In some respects, this episode is as much engaged with the idea of grace in aging and death, not just on a personal level but on the level of society, as something like "The Inner Light" is. Yes, it's not as good (how often is Trek that good?), but this is also an episode which presents a few models on how to deal with the inevitability of death -- staving it off with technology (the robot bodies), completely using other people (as Henoch does), or accepting it with courage (as Sargon does). Thalassa finds herself torn between the Henoch and Sargon models of how to behave, and in that she makes the conflict seem human-scaled and relatable, even though Henoch and Sargon are more ideas (of evil and good, respectively) than fully-fleshed out characters. And through Thalassa, we understand how tempting it must be, to let Mulhall disappear and live again. She's going into death. And yet, she has to make the right choice.

In addition to (quite genuinely) being an idea-play about a possible future for the human race, where we have developed far beyond where we are now, and then can choose whether to deal with this like Sargon and Thalassa on the one hand, or Henoch on the other, this is also a story about aging, and old people; older people have superior knowledge and experience, and can choose to use this knowledge to instruct and help the young, or to exploit the young to hang onto everything they have. There is something of the conflict between generations, writ large, and I think the ambiguity here of whether or not Sargon's people actually are responsible for seeding humans (are they the beings from "The Chase"?) related. They may, or may not, be our "parents," but they could well be, and as a result how do parents choose to deal with their children -- by manipulating and using them for their own benefit, or letting them live their lives?

There is something going on with Chapel in this episode -- Henoch may be using alien powers, but I think he is using some Vulcan telepathy on Christine, when he touches her head and brainwashes her into being his slave. If Spock *wanted* to, I think, he could do this; use Christine, use her trust of him and attachment to him for his benefit, either through Vulcan mind control powers or just through everyday emotional manipulation. But he doesn't, and Henoch's rough treatment of her highlights how Spock's stoicism is a form of kindness to her. (I think Spock was tempted to use Chapel in "Amok Time," after he thought he wouldn't be able to go to Vulcan -- something the episode hints at and promptly dropped.) Henoch's inability to see Chapel as anything but a pawn is his downfall -- he stops being able to think of those around him as anything but people to be used. And she turns on him. That she gets to be the hero, in a sense, and also is able to share consciousness with Spock is something like a way of the episode "compensating" Christine for how she suffers. Spock will never show her the love she wants, but she gets some moments of intimacy with him, in some sense, justifies her faith in him, even if her faith in Spock, I think, left her open to be exploited by Henoch. Which really ties in with the episode's themes. The risk Kirk et al. took really *did* leave them open to Henoch; Kirk, Mulhall and Spock (and Chapel) just *barely* escaped with their bodies and their freedom intact. But being open to new experiences is not wrong, and those risks are worth it. Risk is their business.

The episode still has a slowish pace at times and its plot has some turns that don't quite make sense -- Sargon's powers change pretty suddenly, and the question of whether the possessed individuals' original minds are left in those glowing jars or stay in their bodies is unresolved. (How can Spock be stored in Chapel, and Kirk and Mulhall briefly possessed, if up to that point they were all housed in receptacles?) Sargon remains something of a blank, and in general it's an odd choice to have the episode's emotional dynamics be carried basically by characters we don't know. But these seem to me to be mostly unimportant -- weaknesses, sure, and I don't think this episode is a classic, but I think it does what Trek does very well. A high 3 stars.

I'm in the "strongly like" camp, as well. I consider the "Risk is Our Business" speech classic and well done, whether one judges the entire episode as a classic, and despite what second-handed clowns like Kevin Pollack use to earn their way through life. But it's all been written better by William B and Brundledan so I won't reiterate it here.

Funnier than Pollack would have been the opportunity presented in the Nurse Chapel / Henoch Filling Hypos scene, something that Mel Brooks, Monty Python, or Saturday Night Live might have spoofed. Did you notice how Henoch has to touch Christine's head to make her forget that she noticed the hypos were different? Okay, fair enough. But then he immediately launches into a rationalization (no doubt for our benefit, but she IS there in the scene) about why he's done that. Uh, why didn't he then catch himself, silently curse, then place hand on her head again to make her forget THAT? Of course, in the realm of beating a dead horse (unlike Pollack, right?) a good spoof might have him then prancing about again, silly grin, carrying on about what he'll next do, only to catch himself a second time, make her forget, then himself forget as he prattles on a third time, only to...

Now that... (pause) would be... (pause) funny, Kevin.

A nice and enjoyable episode. 3 stars.

Some minus points however :

This planet is NOT class M, as far as star trek classifications goes this is a class K world (like mars is) I like consisicy, and it is not given here.

As a reminder how star-trek classification works :

Class M, is a rocky planet with atmosphere that naturally has plant and annimal life, suitable for humanoid life
Class L is a rocky planet with atmosphere that naturally has plantlife but no annimal life, suitable for humanoid life.
Class K means without atmosphere, and no life, but can be made habitable with pressure domes and such.
Class D is also without atmosphere and no life, and the surface can not be terraformed, sub-surface habitats are however possible (like monitor stations/research stations)

Class H means toxic to humanoid life, uninhabitable, even if it has atmosphere and life on it.

Class N means toxic to MOST life humanoid and otherwise, sulfuric world, all water (if any) excist only as vapor, extremophiles and silicicium-based lifeforms may however still live here.

Class Y means toxic to ALL life

Class J means gas-giant


So clearly this is a K-class world.

Now minus point 2 : why the rush in self-destructing.
this race could have learned the federation A LOT, and even if they deemed themselves "to dangerous" to recieve their new android-body's, least they could have done was give SOME tech manuals as a thank you for the assistance in the first place?
We DID help them for the possible "gains" after all, so if we were willing to take the risk why chicken out now? How is kirk ok with them self-destructing and not trying to talk them in "stay a little longer we still could learn a lot"??
missed oportunity I say.

Also Making sex (ok kissing still point stands) in ONEOTHERS persons body?? and everybody standing around it is ok with that?? serious?? It is one thing to LEND a persons body, one complete other what you use it for, and sexual pleasure SURELY was NOT included in the agreement.

And did we really need multiple awkward relationships ak sexism [TM] again?? it's all that sexism that makes me dislike TOS in the first place.. your the army, behave professional!

Love evil-grinning Spock!

I agree with Jammer that this episode is very intriguing but the ending is a bit of a mess. I do think Kirk's speech is very important for the Trek cannon - yes maybe Shatner's dramatics overdoes the moment but that is a very minor nitpick. Kirk makes very valid arguments for what they should do and reaffirms Trek's purpose - good to reestablish again.

Also nice to see Muldaur's first appearance in Trek - a very attractive woman and good actress. Always preferred her over Crusher as doc on TNG.

Great soundtrack from George Duning - really nails the romantic music and creating an atmosphere. Some good moments between Muldaur and Shatner. It is a captivating story about love lost for so long and found again.

Not clear how Henoch dies or what kind of powers Sargon has but it does seem as if it gives the writers some kind of convenience for a nice ending.

Ultimately this is one of the "purer" TOS sci-fi episodes for me. Some of the ideas are very interesting - how Sargon et al evolved into energy beings, their planet being destroyed in some cataclysm but they preserved themselves in a chamber over a 100 miles beneath the surface.

The pacing is a bit slow - a lot of good ideas in this episode but the ending leaves a bit to be desired. I'd rate this 3 stars out of 4 for its concepts and intentions.

I like this episode, but I think there is a problem with it.

Although it turns out Sargon and his wife are benevolent, Dr. McCoy rightly points out that the aliens wanting the bodies of the two highest ranking officers seems suspicious. Kirk gives a lame explanation about him and Spock being the best matches (maybe so, but surely somebody else would have been an okay match). Of course, the real reason Kirk and Spock are chosen for the mind transfer is because this a TV show, and they are the stars of the show. So I guess a certain amount of artistic license has to be allowed.

This is a classic "deep thought, big idea" Trek show: Non-corporeal aliens wanting to borrow crew bodies to build their own android bodies and revive their species is pretty darn high-concept. Some classic moments here like Kirk's risk speech come in slow-paced story that is heavy on mystical tones but light on logic and tension. Because the stakes never feel very high here, it's easy to doze off, but the stylish direction and thoughtful performances/dialogue make it a 3-star episode for me.

Not much to add here, but one final note: Does anyone else find it ironic that the android bodies in this episode (see when the male android raises its hand while Henoch and Thalassa are examining it) actually look more like today's lifelike robots (see the freaky one in Japan) than Data and anything else we see from TNG forward? Sometimes TOS was really ahead of its time and TNG was really more dated in its vision of the future.

Why does Chapel and the other nurse have red cross badges but Mccoy has the standard science badge? Why bother with a drug that’s super deadly to Vulcans when a phaser set to vaporise does just fine?

I think most will argee that the freshest, most original thing about this episode is that the super-powerful aliens are well-meaning, respectful and have no insideous plans. They simply wish the help of humans. The humans - socialised to distrust the alien motives - altruistically offer help anyway. This altruism in the face of risk, and the kindness of the aliens, makes the episode's message fairly unique.

What spoils it all is that one of the aliens reveals himself to be evil. This hokey cliche was wholly unnecessary. The episode's "help aliens build robot" plot had enough risks and dangers to make the generic "evil alien" subplot superflous. Granted the subplot does offer some nice additional themes (absolute power can corrupt absolutely), but such themes are as old as Trek itself. Indeed, Trek's pilot - Where No Man Has Gone Before - features a man buckling under the pressure of becoming a God-like alien. So, in a way, this bit of tacked on moralising spoils the episode's more interesting and original moralising.

It's a excellent, above average, interesting episode, but with a little less conventional action and/or villainy, it would have been great.

Hello Everyone!

@Tanner

As far as the deadly drug goes, as I recall, the entity in Spock was able to use and augment his mental abilities, so he'd be able to sense if someone was coming at him with a phaser and stop them. But someone believing the hypospray was deadly, and eventually injecting Spock/entity with it, caused entity to leave. In conclusion, no one could get close enough to Spock to shoot him, so they had to resort to subterfuge.

Regards... RT

If Sargon and his race could make android bodies for their minds. Why did they not make them in the past, instead of putting their consciousness in the sheres. They certainly could have done so in the past and escaped the planet in ships. Building them perhaps underground .

This has always been one of my favorite episodes. And, for me, the ending never unraveled even a little bit. Thalassa explained to McCoy quite clearly that they had powers Sargon wished them to never use. That would include the powers of life and death. When their consciousness inhabited the Enterprise, that would have been no different than their android bodies. I never had any trouble with it at all. This was a wonderful morality tale steeped in genuine science fiction. And the "risk is our business" speech will forever be the most inspiring words Trek has ever produced for me.

Hello Everyone!

@Tony

That... is a good question. Make androids, put minds in them, walk around and maybe get off the planet someday. Instead of just hanging around in the globes.

I had never thought of that...

Regards... RT

About a third of the way through, right around Kirk's big speech, I thought to myself "hey, we might have something special here!" And then it turned into the same old shit.

Nice to see Nimoy get to show some range, though. He was very slick here.

A good ep.

Intriguing storyline - not perfect handled, but generally well done.

Love Muldaur here, and later in TNG as Pulaski - a beautiful, talented lady.

Not a fan of the Shatner histrionics in the Risk speech. What could have been the highlight of the ep gets chewed to bits instead.

Enjoyed Nimoy's portrayal of Henoch and Nurse Chapel's role.

Definitely above average.

-The risk-speech was a bit over the top in its execution; for a while I was convinced Kirk was still possessed by the alien.

-Immediately when Sargon enters Kirks body, he starts to talk ... like ... Kirk. That was a bit dissapointing, but I understand.

-Once again a missed opportunity to use Uhura. She would've been a perfect host for Thalassa. I understand why though; but what a shame.

-Didn't really buy into the whole android body main plot, but on the other hand, I feel it really wasn't about that.

-Bones gets no credit but he is the true hero of this episode.

III / IV

Brundledan's brilliant comment on this episode (from 5/13/14) is worth reading in the context of what I would call "pure Star Trek" vs. modern day sci-fi including "nu-Trek".

"Return to Tomorrow" is a beautiful episode -- not perfect by a long-shot (especially the ending) but it is great sci-fi and Kirk's "risk is our business" speech is so fundamental to what Trek is about.

And by the way, happy 89th birthday Mr. Shatner!

Only a 5/10 for the disappointing ending.
@4:00 Uhura says Kirk's subspace message will take over 3 weeks to reach Starfleet, I'm sure that violates continuity some how with the Enterprise D travelling further but never mentioning comm-range.

@10:05 The energy being Sargon said his species once seeded the galaxy 6000 centuries ago & his ancestors could have been Adam & Eve. This explains why there are so many humanoid species in the galaxy better than the TNG episode The Chase.

Every time Diana Muldaur (Ann) spoke I couldn't help imagining her as Dr. Pulaski, she actually looks beautiful here, she really changed in the 20 years between this & TNG season 2.

After watching many of the allegory-intense TOS episodes recently, this episode was a breath of fresh air. Most engagingly, the setup is an early take on the now classic Sci-Fi concept of ancient species that were once like humans but somehow became so advanced they destroyed themselves.

I like how Kirk mentioned that humanity may be already superior in one way to Sargon in that it already overcame a similar self-inflicted disaster (presumably he means WWIII and the post-atomic horror but even the Cold War would be a sufficient example). Sargon dismisses Kirk's point and says that his people already evolved past an atomic incident, but one wonders if Sargon's people ever united in peace the way humanity did. The being that possesses Spock is from the "other faction", which implies there was still dissent and unrest among Sargon's people. This other faction ends up being Sargon's Achilles' heel by stopping his plan and showing that a part of his people never got past the original conflict.

This chink in the armor also adds another dimension to Kirk's "Risk is our business" speech. Indeed, humanity is willing to take such risks for curiosity's sake but it appears that in this particular case humanity is better off without the reward of overwhelming power.

It's worth mentioning since others commented on the disappointing ending that there was a controversy with this episode's writer John Dugan, a Catholic. He wanted Sargon and Thalassa to live on in the end as spirits without bodies, which is how he ended it in the original script. Roddenbery changed it so the two would simply fade into oblivion. Dugan was pretty upset by this change as he believed there should be an afterlife for even these beings and ended up using a pseudonym in the credits because of the change. I'm not sure the change materially affects the story, but it's funny Roddenbery went to such lengths.

Anyway, this episode speaks to many of Trek's strong points and I think Jammer underrated it quite a bit (to be fair, he was right about Shatner overacting). I give it a high 3 stars.

Random Historical Fact Check: Kirk rhetorically asks "What if the first Apollo mission failed?" Apollo I was the victim of a tragic fire that forced the mission to abort. Naturally though, NASA made more attempts after that.

"It's worth mentioning since others commented on the disappointing ending that there was a controversy with this episode's writer John Dugan, a Catholic. He wanted Sargon and Thalassa to live on in the end as spirits without bodies, which is how he ended it in the original script. Roddenbery changed it so the two would simply fade into oblivion."

What a petty argument? Are both of them under the assumption that Kirk is a wizard and can "just tell" when a person dies whether their spirit 'goes on' or fades into nothing? I don't even know what it means to argue about this point. Catholics already believe that we have an afterlife *and* that you see nothing special when someone dies. Haha, what a dumb thing to fight about. And actually, the idea of disembodied human spirits floating around isn't even a Christian concept afaik. Or if it is one it's one of those quasi-pagan superstitious beliefs they had been in the 1500's when the old religions were still bound up with the new in many places.

Wow, this must indeed be the epicenter of shatnering. Not only does Sargon go through all stages of inhabiting a human body, which is at first extremely painful, then very nice, then painful again; but also the whole briefing looks like Kirk is fighting a toothache or something. Compare that to Nimoy just boyishly enjoying his bad guy. Or Diana Muldaur, who I think hasn't changed that much at all. Even back then Ann Mulhall conveys a quiet but resolved competence. I also actually like Dr Pulaski, but I guess I let you scream at me for that in a different comment section :)

As to the speech, a similar point has been made - much more effectively imo - in The Immunity Syndrome, where they simply point out that look, we have come all the way here, this is what we do, so it *would* be kind of stupid to turn around and do what? go back home and hide under the bed? So yes I think it is comically oversold here, but you guys are right, it just wouldn't be Kirk without Shatner.

I also like that the aliens actually are who they say they are. Genuinely surprising when Sargon says 'ok let's get to work building those robots to teach the humans the things'. It sounds a lot like a con, but for once it's not.

Btw the funniest Shatner impressions have to be the ones that come from his crewmates, in interviews I found on youtube. Nimoy and especially Koenig do a great Kirk, sometimes to his face. Priceless.

Very enjoyable episode, nevertheless the moment when the transparent globes are no longer needed for switching souls (Kirk destroys them in sickbay actually giving up on Spock and Mulhall believed to be inside, a detail which does not bother anyone much), the logic string of the story telling is done for, unfortunately.
What's also a plot mistake, is the temptation the aliens feel by staying in human bodies instead of proceeding into robotic bodies later. Robots mean much more of an extended life expectancy (with changing parts as they may become defect) than clinging to mortal bodies which are aging and dying some day (or by accident quite suddenly). And being able to construct such sophisticated bots should mean also to incorporate some sensors in them coming close to human feel. After all, it's just nerve ends collecting the impulses and the result (as sensation) is still done in the brain.

@Kubershark, yes, watching Spock was lots of fun!

@Rahul is spot on, this is a beautiful episode. Episodes like "Return to Tomorrow" give Trek its soul.

And the touchstone for that is Kirk's incredible "risk is our business" speech. I never get tired of hearing it.

I was reminded of Kirk's speech recently by an equally inspirational speech in the current season 5 of The Expanse.

Call it the "Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers" speech.

Courtesy "The Expanse," a show that in this day and age, seems to have more of Trek's soul than Trek itself.

https://youtu.be/xd26sQ58zHk?t=71

Jammer is spot on - a great potential story early on, that descends into chaos. (Or rather, as I saw it, not so much chaos as 1940s Hollywood-style 'romance / jealousy' with sentimental orchestral strings to unnecessarily hammer home the message).

It's a real 'could have / should have' episode. The premise of incorporeal minds was fascinating, though one would immediately question why they hadn't originally built robot receptors before they voluntarily went into the spheres. The hijacking of The Enterprise before making a polite request to 'borrow' 3 bodies, was an excusable plot device, as no-one got hurt in the initial stages. As for the Henok using of Spock's body, that was a highpoint, as we got to see Nimoy getting the chance to emote again.

Kirk's "risk" speech was melodramatically delivered, but a good moment:
"Do you... WISH.. that the Apollo mission hadn't got to the moon? Then to Mars...?"
It's a sobering thought that this was shown a full two years before the moon landing, and now it's only days since a drone flew over the surface of Mars. Fine stuff.

As others have pointed out, it was also good that Nurse Chapell got to share her body briefly with Spock, in a wish-fulfilment of her dreams. Small wonder that it didn't put her off him!

But in the end, I simply couldn't believe in those incorporeal minds retaining their passions and jealousies, and the whole thing turning into a botched melodrama.

2.5 stars

On this viewing, for some reason I found myself thinking how forgiving everyone, crew and Sargon alike, seems to be of Thalassa. She had shown a very dark side of herself that I don't think can be blamed simply on Henoch's evil influence unless you're her mom and you subscribe to the "just fell in with the wrong crowd" theory of moral development. She planned to kill Mulhall for her body and was willing to torture McCoy to get his cooperation.

Is this the kind of person Mulhall trusts to borrow her body one more time so she can enjoy a final kiss, or the kind of person the supposedly high-minded Sargon wants to kiss?

As I continue the search to the purpse of life and love, being battered along the way with false dawns, but remaining incurably optimistic as a Star Trek fan, my comments:
This is the most romantic ending to a Star Trek episode ever, with perhaps only Metamorphosis coming close. I am sure there many holes in the plot, with even the concept of binary sex being challenged. But look beyond our current limitations and marvel at the idea of love being presented here.
After refusing her own temptations of power, Thalassa and Sargon choose to be together for oblivion, together. Imagine that, when current realtionships are so fragile.
Imagine CHOOSING to be with one person for oblivion, having already spent half a milliion years as energy trapped in a ball.
Takes your breath away.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, there is still huge danger that the pursuit of total power may get us all killed, facing the same problems as Sargon and his band. Who would we choose to survive the extinction of mankind?
A most thought provoking and romantic episode of Star Trek.
I like it even more every time I watch it, being jealous of those who have never had the pleasure.
TOP MARKS!

Amazing. Muldaur used to be incredibly sexy back in the day. Sad she turned into such a bitter old shrew by the time of TNG.

That said, the regular cast turns in some great performances this show. Spock tampering with the hyposprays, plotting to kill Kirk, all the while a friendly smile upon his face, is frankly, chilling. Top drawer TOS era trek. (Drek compared to 90s trek and the film's so TOS gets its own "rating" standards.) :)

Interesting episode, and the idea of the crew's bodies being taken over is a Trek staple.

Not to be a pain, but Dr. Mulhall should be wearing a blue shirt, not a red one.

Why didn't they build the robots back when their planet was dying, then they would not have had to spend millions of years living in those globe things.

I pretty much agree with Jammer. Some intriguing fascinating stuff then wtf in the final act?

And Kirk's "in the business of risk" speech is the most ridiculous sophistry I think Kirk ever engaged in.

Probably Shatner knew the speech was nonsense and decided to go full Shat mode.

We're in the business of risk so we should allow three officers (including the top two commanders) to be possessed by spirits? What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

It's ridiculous, and if I were McCoy I would suspect Sargon planted this enthusiasm in Kirk's head when he first possessed him.

You know that soon after, Starfleet must have added a "DO NOT WILLINGLY BE POSSESSED" rule to the books.

And to be clear, the speech IS great, but using it for this situation is ridiculous.

Kind of fascinating how themes of consent are filtered through this story; it's obviously not the focus, but for a 1960s story to just take that element seriously is wildly progressive

Every time I watch this I wonder why someone doesn't suggest in the briefing room scene that they take the globes to the planet they left Harry Mudd on and get the androids there to build three androids for Sargon and co to move into - after all, those had a conservative lifespan of a quarter of a million years, not the paltry one thousand that the ones Sargon etc build and were completely life-like.

So in what sense is humanity doomed to "perish," as threatened in Sargon's first message, now that Sargon has had to abandon his plan of passing his society's knowledge on to his "children"? Or was their brief contact sufficient to prevent that fate?

Or was that just a trick to secure their cooperation?

The whole episode would look different if viewed from the perspective that Sargon is no more trustworthy than Henoch or Thalassa.

A very good episode that manages both an intimate, low stakes story and an epic, millennia-spanning feel.

- To the question as to why Sargon and co didn’t build robot bodies back in the day, it’s possible that:
A) the disaster that trashed their planet might have come on too fast for them to get artificial bodies ready, maybe just getting into their globes was all they could muster.
B) they didn’t have that tech yet and only came up with adequate robot body designs while they were sitting around thinking for the last 500,000 years or whatever.

- Perhaps the androids from I, Mudd were Sargon’s people’s butlers? Just waiting around for the return of their creators?

- Kirk’s “risk” speech is great. I know Shatner catches a lot of flak for the giant mouthfuls of scenery he chews but honestly it’s one of the reasons Kirk was such a standout character and thus one of the main reasons TOS worked. Subsequently Shatner’s ACTING!! is one of the reasons we have decades of trek to pour over. So while it makes me chuckle at times, I still have an appreciation for his style.

- It’s always fun to see Nimoy get to stretch his acting legs a bit. He does a great job in this episode of making henoch seem like a distinct personality.

- I very much liked the poignant ending, Sargon and Thalassa accepting their fate as long as they can accept it together. Very touching.

3.5/4 hypospray shenanigans.

Is Captain Kirk insane?

I’d remind Kirk of a simple two-word phra--uh, two-letter word, I mean--that is best used whenever an alien entity asks to “borrow” your body to house its consciousness. This beautiful word, which isn’t said enough in our society, and is the best protection against scam artists, charlatans, and ungrateful bums, is the useful and emphatically delivered word, “No.”

“No.” It’s *my* body. You can’t have it! (Those pro-choice feminists have a point, you know, and I applaud them.)

Sargon can kiss my ass and go to hell. Sure, he has all the power in the world to destroy my starship and kill everyone on board. But I say this without irony--far better to be disintegrated in a fiery death than to have an alien entity “possess” my body for whatever nefarious purpose it has in mind. “Risk is our business” when it comes to acceptable risks like defending a Federation colony, facing down a pile of Commie Klingons or exploring some bizarre gas cloud with evil proclivities. But in “Return to Tomorrow,” the risk is a foolish one, and I agree completely with the plaintive, sarcastic reactions of McCoy and the incredulous, hilarious skepticism of Scott when Kirk is trying to convince them to sign their bodies away for--get this--SCIENCE! (I mean, shit, I would at least ask for money.)

Kirk’s entire argument is based on what the crew could obtain from Sargon’s promised gifts and insights regarding scientific progress. That MILF scientist played by Diana Muldaur (who went on to play Rosalind Shays--a magnificently conniving, cutthroat bitch--in L.A. Law) enthusiastically agrees to be used as a meatsuit because of *what her scientific mind could gain in knowledge.*

The message here is as true today as it was then--we will literally sell our souls during our quest to figure out “how to fly.” Well, you can’t use AI slaves if they all rise up and destroy humanity, can you? For scientific progress to work, you must control it at all times and at all costs. You must come out on top of any arms race. And you must have a prophet motive in mind for your innovation to be fully embraced and integrated into society. But here, Kirk is about to make the proverbially fatal mistake of relinquishing such control. He’s giving up his very mind in the name of progress. And he’s goddamn lucky that Sargon isn’t a malicious interloper--which, by the way, Spock’s alien definitely is.

Spock, you see, is possessed by The Evil Alien. I mean, duh. This is my whole point--what do you *think* will happen when you give up your autonomy to a stranger for no good reason? Other than hosting a pricelessly hysterical Leonard Nimoy performance, you’re just going to be eaten alive if not shoved aside. And don’t get me started on Nurse Chapel. Some friend of Spock’s she is. “Spock,” fully possessed by a maniacal pesky pervert, rises up from the bed leering, sneering and complimenting her on her foxy body. All this airhead can say in response is, “Thank you!” Where’s her revulsion? Where’s her horror? Where’s, frankly, her disgust? Oh, that’s right! This is the 1960’s where “brainless blonde bimbo” is a redundant term!

You know, The Haunting of Bly Manor (on Netflix), without giving away too many spoilers, has a shocking scene in its seventh episode “The Two Faces, Part Two” where the prospect of body possession is treated with all the terror and devastation that such an idea deserves. Seems like we all need more Henry James and less Albert Einstein, amirite?!

Kirk’s big speech is delivered well by Shatner, but it’s pure nonsense considering the circumstances. This speech would actually have worked really well in “The Immunity Syndrome” when the crew needed Spock’s help to face down their scary encounter with a space monstrosity. In that context, it quite possibly would have brought tears to my eyes. Here, I wanted to throw things at the screen and relieve Kirk of his captaincy.

Despite Shatner and Muldaur delivering sensational performances, and Nimoy a hilarious, entertaining one, “Return to Tomorrow” is clumsy, hammy, and completely collapses under its own weight.

Keep your aliens off my body!


Speak Freely:
Spock -- “Not even a Vulcan can know the unknown, Captain.”


My Grade: C-

"prophet motive"

Haha, the Grand Nagus would like to have a word :)

@Proud Capitalist Pig

I know this episode isn't regarded as a Trek classic, but I think it should be. In fact I think it could even have been the pilot episode (if it was made earlier). The idea of taking risks and the near impossible situations it presents the crew, I think, is a very worthy premise for an episode. Here, the upside and downside risk are basically unquantifiable, infinite. Engines the size of walnuts as an upside example, the destruction of the Enterprise and maybe even the human race etc. as the downside. I don't think Kirk can just walk away either...

I'd encourage you to check out Brundledan's comment from 2013 -- thought it was one of the best comments I've ever read on this site. It really helps frame this episode in terms of the beauty of sci-fi and what made TOS so special for me. As I said in a prior comment, this is great sci-fi.

The "risk is our business" is kind of the soul of Trek, the idea of exploring and not knowing what you will encounter. Doing some kind of cost-benefit analysis won't always come with well-defined inputs (and even outputs), as this episode exemplifies.

But I agree with you that the episode collapses under its own weight -- just with respect to the ending where the plot machinations are a confusing mess. But there was potential for a 4* episode here. I think I'd give it a B+ on your scale!

Even though Sargon protests heartily, the similarities of this story to nuclear destruction are obvious. I never thought about it in my younger years, but Sargon, Thalassa, and Hanoch are located within a bomb shelter.

There are some great elements to this episode. The story behind the planet's destruction would have made a great standalone episode.

Trish wrote:
"The whole episode would look different if viewed from the perspective that Sargon is no more trustworthy than Henoch or Thalassa."

Very true. According to Sargon has powers that Hanoch doesn't suspect. He didn't include Thalassa in that statement, but that would have to apply to her as well. She didn't know that he had taken up residence in the Enterprise. It would take a very great power to rip the atmosphere away from the planet. Just saying. Sargon includes himself in thinking his race were gods.

I wonder just how the Prime Directive works in an episode like this where aliens promise wonders if humans lends them their bodies for a short time.
Kirk is useless in this aspect as he's already been dazzled by Sargon. But Dr. Mulhall and Spock make the conscientious decision to allow the entities to use their bodes.

Regarding Kirk's speech, yes, it is totally hammy. But Shatner make have done that extra deliberately in this case. It almost makes him seem somewhat childish, but when he assumes Sargon's character, I really felt like I was watching a different actor. It was wonderful.

As far as love stories go throughout Star Trek, this is, in my opinion, hands down the best. No tragedy here. The two aliens went off into oblivion together, fearless. That made for a great love story.

I apologize for the typos on my post above.

@Rahul

Out of curiosity, and as a courtesy to you for your input, I took your advice and Control-F'd the name "Brundledan" on this page.

So Brundledan's take is that Kirk's decision to accede his autonomy to a total stranger is part of the spirit of Star Trek--that the "risky business" of being in Starfleet includes putting blind faith in the kindness of strangers, of making that leap for the sake of communication, of understanding, of progress and of the betterment of one's character. Lofty and admirable, but hardly workable and definitely actionable. I'm still dubious. I think a straight body possession story might have been the way to go here, as we still would have learned about the aliens' core motivations without any minor changes in the plot. Making it about "consent," as others above point out, frames the episode in very deliberate way.

If Gene Roddenberry wanted to convey that true harmony and acceptance means willingly giving up your control to your neighbor, well, that may fly with aspirational Star Trek viewers but would never fly in the real world. Maybe that's the argument, that this is something that we all should aspire to. But I think most people, including myself, are highly cynical with a healthy dose of skepticism.

I'm again reminded of The Haunting of Bly Manor*, which is fresh in my mind having just watched the series with my family over the past few days. In that series, the motivations of certain characters are exactly the same as the aliens' motivations here--prolonging life. It's an understandable wish to be sure, and one might certainly empathize with Sargon here. But as pointed out in both Bly Manor and in "Return to Tomorrow," sometimes things are just too big of an Ask.

Good to hear from you as always!


* = Folks, if you're a fan of horror, ghost stories, love stories, creepy psychological dramas, or all of the above--watch this Netflix show! It thrilled, chilled, and moved this old Pig to tears.

@Peter G

Oh, yikes! Hahahhaha. Stupid homonyms--an occupational hazard of the English language. Despite my username, I encounter the word "prophet" just as much as the word "profit" in my travels, so I was bound to mess this up sooner or later.

Yes, that should be "profit motive" in my comment.

And to be frank, most "prophets" indeed have a healthy profit motive to be sure, so we should all bear that in mind.... Look at that, me giving free advice. Maybe Star Trek is rubbing off on me.

@Proud Capitalist Pig

Great to hear from you as well - look forward to more of your Trek thoughts.

Re. this episode — Of course we’d be totally skeptical / cynical if somebody like Sargon (analogy could be the government) asked to possess our bodies to do X, Y, Z. The environment today is one where one has to be very skeptical of all the BS narratives that come one’s way. Can’t trust government, major media to be independent and objective, public health etc. So with this healthy dose of skepticism, it turns into cynicism when some “authority” figure genuinely asks for trust (and a lot more than that). I totally get that.

But if we put ourselves in Kirk’s shoes, growing up in a utopian 23rd century, there’s far less reason to be skeptical and maybe no reason to be cynical. The other thing to consider is that Kirk had joined with Sargon so maybe that gave him an added understanding of things — and so Kirk is perhaps biased to adopt Sargon’s proposal. And thus the episode goes along its way with Henoch providing some antagonism, which comes across as silly given the more mature nature of the main theme.

Well we know that an episode has 52 minutes and has to tie up all the loose ends in the last several minutes. This time the drama is with Spock's body needing to be killed since the crew believes (incorrectly) that his mind has already been destoyed. The all powerful but morally benevolent incorporeal being has any power than can be imagined by the viewer, and thankfully returns the status quo in the ending. Nimoy gets to portray dual personalities and Nurse Chapel gets to share Spock's essence that she has the hots for but was never able to penetrate before. Kirk gets to make out with the female lead but it's not really him doing it, as opposed to many season 3 episodes when he really does get the goods. There is not really much sci fi in the episode other than McCoy enduring the blue flames of punishment, and the lighting that occurs during body switching. So this episode was produced while those before and after used a lot of outdoor sets that are more expensive, correct me if I'm wrong. This was 60's television that had to be done start to finish in less than a week, and one of a series of many weeks that were done on the fly by the producers, which had many mutinies going on all the time with directors and producers and Roddenberry doing whatever it takes to hold the ship together. I'm sure they wouldn't have suspected that many decades later people would be over analyzing every aspect of every show with much of the technology the show inspired now reality. I watched this episode decades ago, but while revisiting now the sets, scores, and bit character parts picque the most interest since we obviously already know the story.

Well, all I can say is there is a great love for the series, otherwise people wouldn't be overanalyzing it.

One thing I found while doing some research is that in the original writing, Sargon and Thalassa were to go off together, alive. Roddenberry nixed the ending on that, instead having them making the fateful decision to end it all by committing suicide.

I enjoy the informed, intelligent posts here as a way to open my mind. I used to dismiss Return to Tomorrow but can now better appreciate its good qualities. I'm not big on romances, so this is an episode that does not appeal to me, but that does not make it inferior. My sense is perhaps unfairly colored by Diana Muldaur who has a certain body language and speaking style that comes across to me as snobby and off-putting. It's not role specific because I get the same negative vibes from her in Is There in Truth No Beauty? and later in TNG. I guess it's just me. Consequently, I do not feel in a position to fairly review and rate this episode.

In this episode Nimoy plays an alter ego, as happened a few times such as the spores that made him happy, the frozen cave in the past with the woman who offered him meat which he enjoyed because Vulcan culture used to be omnivorous, and to some extent mirror mirror and spock's brain. Much of the drama revolves around his character conniving to keep the body he inhabits and get rid of the Captain and Sargon who would presumably try to stop him. I'm trying to focus on this instead of the annoying violin that plays when the main characters are kissy kissy. A major plot hole I did not see mentioned above, if the energy entities are so all powerful as they seem, and two express benevolence as to the human's rights to their own selves, albeit the obvious temptation ........ why couldn't Sargon ask to be transported to a star base or another planet where they could commence the task of building their android receptacles? If they waited a half million years couldn't they wait another week? ..... why did they have to do it right then using the command crew as guinea pigs? And the answer of course is that the show has TV stars that have to be involved in each dilemma, and be depicted making out with the female lead, or doing someting to save the situation. Body snatching/character inversions appears in quite a fe w episodes like mirror, turnabout, weak vs. strong Kirk, what are little girls made of, amok time, etc. Nimoy goes on to portray a snatched body in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake. One of my favorites.