Star Trek: The Original Series

“Wink of an Eye”

2.5 stars.

Air date: 11/29/1968
Teleplay by Arthur Heinemann
Story by Lee Cronin
Directed by Jud Taylor

Review Text

Responding to a distress call from the Scalosians, the Enterprise landing party beams down to a planet to find ... nothing. Or apparently nothing. When one of Kirk's men vanishes in front of McCoy's eyes, a search for the mystery's solution becomes the new focus of the mission. Kirk suddenly finds himself pulled into another dimension of existence, where the Scalosians exist in a hyper-accelerated pace, faster than any human being can see. Deela (Kathie Brown), the leader of the remaining dying Scalosians, needs Kirk and his crew's men to repopulate a world that has sterile men.

"Wink of an Eye" has an interest-piquing concept involving the perspective of a race who lives in this accelerated state; the Enterprise crew appears frozen from their perspective. Unfortunately, this episode suffers from a crucial flaw in logic: the fact that the action of two extremely different rates of time are allowed in story terms to unfold alongside each other at the same rate. Spock is able to discover what has happened (in a nice scene where he uncovers the mystery without any dialog but rather with logical visuals) and send himself into the Scalosians' time rate ... but in the time it takes Spock to uncover this mystery in normal time, Deela's plan should've been carried out 1,000 times over.

"Wink of an Eye" works best if you don't try to use reasoning or logic and just go with the flow. The way the Scalosians' dimension is always photographed in canted angle proves effectively surreal without being distracting.

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36 comments on this post

    I love this episode. I also like all the season 3 episodes if for nothing else, nostalgia. Everytime I watch I am transported back to being a child watching them with my father whom is no longer among the living. That being said I do realize season 3 is weaker but this episode is a highlite. Just don't use logic and it goes down well.

    I like this episode a lot because it was DIFFERENT. It broke what was becoming a litany of formulaic templates for Star Trek episodes. The accelerated race of people makes for an intriguing and refreshing concept, and it was a fun mystery to build up to ("what was that mosquito sound?").

    Well.... I can't help but compare this episode to other episodes of the franchise with similar takes on the "sped-up time" concept: Voyager's "Blink of an Eye" and TNG's "Timescape." The former uses the concept to look on long-term societal evolution, among other things, and is pretty exceptional; the TNG episode is a fun, techy adventure with (mostly) carefully-thought-out details. Both leave this episode in the dust. It's not so much that I need TOS episodes to be well thought out in terms of the techy details; the big discrepancy between the ratio of the two timelines (Kirk's and the crew's) is something that could maybe have been fixed with a bit of a rewrite. The bigger problem is that the episode starts with this cool idea -- what if there was a society that lived far, far faster than humans do? -- and then doesn't do anything with it, or does very little. It doesn't really make use of the cool implications of how that would impact society the way "Blink" does, nor does it make use of the time continuity to do cool plot/storytelling developments the way "Timescape" does. Put it this way: would either the plot mechanics, or the meaning, of the episode be particularly changed if, say, the Scalosians lived in an alternate dimension or some such, one in which Kirk could send messages out but -- without doing some hefty research -- no one could expect the crew to come, as Spock does, in?

    I guess we can sort of say that the Scalosians' disappearance into obsolescence is the danger of a culture going "too fast" to survive -- which makes some kind of figurative sense. The redshirt death, with a single cut making him launch off into an even further, and indeed instant, acceleration, sort of supports this linking of speed with lack of security. I guess it's also cool, as a small detail, that it's the *coffee* of Kirk's that gets spiked so that he ends up finding himself thinking far faster than his crew -- you need to lay off a bit there Jim! I should say that some of the speed up/speed down stuff is fun, and the mystery surrounding the buzzing is fairly effectively presented.

    I like how finely-tuned the Kirk/Spock team is by this point in the series -- the episode's best moment is the one in which Kirk sees Spock, at his own speed, in the corridors, and just nods and the two continue on, no need for any explanation of how Spock got there! Similarly to the way Kirk just looks at Spock for some kind of clue as to the odds of Kirk and Spock returning to normal speed later in the episode. And there's something so goofy and funny about Spock repairing the whole ship before returning. And Spock tells a joke! ("It was an accelerating experience.") I think it works more than it doesn't -- because it's such a tiny joke, delivered so deadpan, and when Spock's level of trust with Kirk is at an absolute high.

    What's interesting is that this episode is really "mostly" about the question of whether it's right for a dying people to use people who are not themselves dying. And the answer Kirk gives is "no," but it's an interesting, kind of un-Trek ending that Kirk doesn't seem particularly intent on sending anyone to save this dying specides when he warps away at the end. It's not really a criticism, though it does give a kind of unfinished feeling to the episode; Kirk spent all that time with Deela, but while he found himself sympathetic to her he didn't seem to want to devote any of the Federation's resources to find any alternate methods for Deela's people to not entirely die out. I actually enjoyed some of the Kirk/Deela banter, and the way she seems somewhat evenly matched for him (though ultimately of course Kirk inevitably gets the upper hand); the way she knows he's lying and finds the fun and pleasure in the game they play, works pretty well. Less well is the jealousy plot with her alternate mate. Oh well. I guess ultimately the Kirk/Deela stuff seems like it should have pointed to at least some indication of *some* alternative plan to help Deela, even if it's as simple as Spock giving some advice as to how to improve their research so they stand a chance of surviving the next Earth day. But there's nothing.

    I think I'd say 2 stars -- not terrible by any means, and largely pretty competent, but it doesn't make good enough use of the SF concept, and the main story focus is itself undercooked.

    I'm surprised no one has commented on the scene the episode is most famous for: Deela is fixing her hair in the mirror while Kirk sits on the bed, pulling his boots on. The implication is pretty obvious.

    Enjoyable episode, 3 stars, if one looks aside the ovious plotholes and the screeming voice to do things different.

    also this suffers from again : kirk the spacepimp (tm) to much. (one of the things I hate about TOS in general.)

    The things that brought this down for me a noth
    -the timelines that indeed did not match... two different timespeeds... and events happend at the same rate??
    **but they also did not keep the fast time at the same speed.
    How fast WERE those being moving?
    Well we know that they could not been seen.
    The human eye registers 80Hz, we have seen them in direct sight before peoples eyes in the same spot, for as much as 3 minutes in a row. That makes their time acceleration at least 15000x as fast as our time. Or Put differently well over 10 days would pass in 1 minuut of "real time"
    => yet all events we see happen in the span of a few hours, socrry sais he goes to the beaming room, and is there in the next shot.. makes no sence.

    But than there is the argument of the nerves.. More speciffic Touch. Touch is not made by one type of nevers.
    You have chemical nerves (that would detect the pheremones and the different acidity of the other person touching you)
    You also have Elektric nerves, that detect the static field that is around every living thing.
    And than you have heat&cold nerves, that register the difference in temperature between you, your surrounding and whatever is touching you.
    I could not find if there is a minimum amount of time to make a signal.. but it seems logic it is quite posible to move under the radar of your nerves and no be registered at all.
    But given that it is registered, nerves are quite slow, 100m/s
    that means to feel a kiss, 0,002 seconds are needed.
    at 15000 times time exeleration, thats 30 seconds, so plausible.


    But than the last piece of the puzzle.. they still can be HEARED talking.
    The human ear hears upto 20.000hz, but the sound we register as mosquito, is only 600-1000hz.
    Human voice is between 80 and 180Hz
    that would mean the reordings were only at about 16x normal speed, a lot slower, that is not sound science.

    And than there is the fact the invented a drug that would counter-react the effect of the speed up effect.. but did not share it with the people on the planet??
    (would have solved their problem, at normal speed she could just go to a bar... and I let you fill in the blanks..)

    Also, how often DO ships pass through there...
    if they had a normal lifespan of say 200 (future healthspans longer) and they were like 20 now.. That would give them only about 5 days left. (and given that woman are only fertile until 50 orso.. (and that would not change even with longer lifespans) that would give them only 18 real time hours to breed and proceed their society.

    =even IF they would keep catching ships, they needed to be incredibly lucky to have one passing by, only 18 hours later=
    also.. as the thing what made the man infertile, seems to be the same thing that speeds things for them up.. would not races they speeded up to their time, not also be infertile?=
    And if not, what would prevent the spieces from eventually regain fertility?=
    And if the infertility is caused instead by the chemicals on the planet.. why not leave it? Or at least instal water purification devised.

    Also would have have hurt the enterprise to have the males leave some seamen samples on ice, with regulair shipments added to that (seems all they needed was that)..

    to much plotholes... it could have been written a bit better.

    Just a small nit: When Kirk reappears in the transporter room, Scott asks him, "Where in the blazes did you come from?" and Kirk answers, "Out of the nowhere, into the here." Scott then says, "And Mr. Spock, is he comin' too?" But Scott left the bridge before Spock drank the Scalosian water, so he shouldn't know that Spock has also been accelerated.

    I wonder if they died out. Oh well, at least they got one baby out of the deal (Kirk&Deela). More, of they used that one redshirt before killing him off.

    It was an ok episode, and definitely one of the best of the season for me.

    The beginning was a tad slow (ba dum tiss?) but it got better and better when the pretty blonde came in. On one hand, I also liked to see an extended role for an actress for once, she seemed smart and on Kirk's level apart from being gorgeous. On the other hand, most of her character's motivation is the search for a good man. D'oh.

    Just like WIlliam B. I also noticed they didn't seem to share the solution of accelerated life with the Scalosians. Kirk and company basically condemned them to death, "please don't bother us anymore and go die quietly in the corner of the universe". A very untrek ending, indeed.

    Overall, it was a fun episode, loved the slow motion effects and actors just moving slow.

    A good S3 episode - the idea of hyper-accelerated living is a good one combined with the plot of the crew trying to figure out how to deal with their impending takeover by the Scalosians. Some interesting sci-fi here.

    The interaction between Kirk and Deela was great - both each playing each other in a way - great acting by both. This is one of those 60s Trek episodes that benefit from good guest actors - Deela and Rael were both very good.

    A fairly simple plot but with a good premise -- hyper-accelerated living. I think the bit of an oversight Jammer mentions can be lived with for the purposes of enjoying this episode and making it work. Yes, the Scalosians are operating way too fast for the Enterprise crew to do anything about it and the times are not in synch.

    Ultimately I guess they leave the Scalosians to die on the planet? Kirk never says anything about sharing the antidote.

    "Wink of an Eye" is worth 3 stars for me. Has some of the elements that make a good Trek episode - decent premise/plot, Shatner's acting is good, Spock/McCoy figuring out a solution, and capable guest actors.

    I have always thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Like so much of Trek, if you can ignore the numerous flaws in logic and science there is so much to like. For example, Scotty putting that dude down with his precious stores of booze is awesome.

    I've always liked "Wink of an Eye" as a fun high-concept Sci-Fi outing that we rarely see on TOS before Season 3. While the execution in TNG's Timescape and Voyager's Blink of an Eye (clever title, that) may be slicker, "Wink" has always been a solid 3-star episode for me, maybe even 3 1/2 stars. Although TNG stays entirely in the accelerated time, and Voyager stays mostly in the slow-paced real time, "Wink" provides us the great fun (provided we accept the vague/fudged time frames) of watching the crew work this problem from both sides of the time acceleration.

    The mosquito buzzing sound, initially suggesting a tiny rather than accelerated group of people, is clever. I love the growing mystery of the ship shutting down and being linked to an alien device; the revelation of a ship takeover is cleverly revealed. The slow-motion effect when Kirk drinks his coffee, and his genuine distress as he journeys through accelerated time, are cool. And the red shirt who mutinies to become a drone of the Scalosian queen is intriguing. Meanwhile back in real time, it's neat to see Spock and McCoy working the problem at a rate that seems impossibly slow, and Kirk's Hail Mary log entry for Spock in mosquito-talk feels like a plausible gamble (fitting the characters) that Spock will find it in the wrong place, play it, and realize someone is trying to communicate.

    One thing holding this episode back from a higher rating, for me, is that some of the beats feel a bit recycled by this point in the series. While Kirk's utter helplessness makes his seduction of the Scalosian queen -- who may or may not (she tells Kirk "you won't last forever") keep her new "king" for very long -- a bit more necessary than usual, and we accept that a strong woman might prefer the ship's alpha male to Red Shirt Ricky as a consort, the dynamic between the king and Kirk and her head male drone feels much like what we saw in By Any Other Name second season. And the red shirt death also feels par for the course. Finally, although we can excuse all of these things because the execution in this one is so darn fun, "Wink" just isn't very deep: It's a cerebral pleasure, a Sci-Fi concept show that gives our heroes an intriguing puzzle to solve, but it lacks the greater human and moral themes that mark the best Star Trek episodes. Still, it's a darn good watch!

    PS -- Three standout moment in this one for me: 1. The queen's disappointment when Kirk (albeit faking it) suddenly pretends to become compliant and obedient; she likes to be the queen, but she likes to mate with men who are "stubborn and independent." And not long after, she doesn't seem TOO disappointed when Kirk proves to be faking it and wins the day with Spock. 2. Spock's stone-cold "fascinating" line when he observes that McCoy is moving slowly, then turns promptly and walks out, is uber cool, top-shelf Nimoy. Nimoy says the line with amusement and later says the same thing to Kirk ('you seem to be moving very slowly') with amusement; not sure why, but it's a whimsically fun delivery. 3. And finally, I want to add that I like how everyone ends on good terms, with Kirk returning the Scalosians to their home in a goodbye that establishes respect without pretending all of their differences over the whole taking-over-the-ship thing are solved. It's good to see a little optimism remaining in Season Three after so many episodes where the aliens have simply been good or evil in a black-and-white way.

    I agree with Jammer and William; another great season 3 premise which wastes all of its concepts. TNG and Voyager offered superior takes on these themes precisely by omitting conventions which this TOS episode dwells on: super villains, babe-of-the-week romances, hijackings and god-like aliens.

    Fun episode, but a science disaster, anybody accelerated like they were would consume enormous amounts of oxygen and any movement would create very powerful sonic shock waves.There are 101 other problems also , you have to shut your brain down on this one.

    Definitely requires major suspension of disbelief, but I'm game.

    An interesting premise, not repetitive like so many others, except for the Kirk-as-babe-magnet thing, which is endlessly repeated and ever-ooky, but I have come to accept it.

    As someone mentions above, the "Kirk putting his boot on" scene is what this ep is known for. Caused quite a lot of chatter.

    Loved Spock fixing the whole ship in moments, by staying behind.

    Didn't like the ending . . . why didn't they share their "cure?" But again, so much of it made so little sense, the ep can't really be enjoyed if you worry on that score.

    Above average.

    The crew was practically motionless in scenes with Accelerated Kirk and the Scalosians, yet the crew was able to get from bridge to lower decks and back during the course of the show.

    The producers didn't think that out at all.

    And someone should have told the Next Gen and DS9 folks about this acceleration liquid -- they could have wiped out the Borg and the Dominion and be back in time for supper.

    The Federation really dropped the ball on incorporating opportunities like this. Other beings are intrepid crew encountered who ended up leaving things on a somewhat friendly note and could have helped them out:

    Talosians
    The Corbomite Kid
    The Organians (they must have gotten bored with peace brokering)

    While I can overlook almost all the flaws in this episode, the one that always gets me is that Kirk fires a phaser on the bridge, but it doesn’t appear in real time (even though it should). The story just kind of ignores that he did it.

    Well, it's an interesting episode concept and I agree with others that the time mechanics portion of the concept was underutilized. On the plus side, Shatner is really on his game this episode and it's fun to watch him resist a hopeless situation using whatever means he can manage (e.g. sabotaging the transporter to buy some time, sleeping with Deela to play into her belief Kirk would eventually come to terms with his situation).

    I really liked the costumes and props in this one. Naturally Kathie Brown is a knockout, but even things like the Scalosian wearable communicators provided an interesting beyond TOS-era feel. I also think that, despite the deplorable use of the Enterprise crew as a sperm bank, Deela came off as an antagonist the audience could be sympathetic with. I suspect this is why many were feeling that the ending was off when Kirk didn't go to any lengths to save the Scalosians.

    2.5 Stars.

    Rather than write a whole lot of my own words, let me just endorse @Rahul's opinion above. A solid 3 stars from me. I'm always happy when Kirk knocks boots with an impressive woman.

    https://youtu.be/So0ZrTwf8vI

    A 4-star sci-fi concept delivered in a 2-star vehicle. Well, 2.5 to be fair; the episode was always entertaining despite the logical flaws many have highlighted. I’ll have to look out my DVD of the Voyager episode ‘Blink of an Eye’ - it’s some years since I last saw it.

    Series 3 still not proving to be so very bad, after all.

    This is one episode that benefited greatly from the enhanced extended dvd version. There was more dialog in several places that explained the story better and allowed more in depth appreciation. I liked this episode a lot better watching it now than when It was chopped up to allow for more commercial breaks. Agree completely with the prior comments rating this 3 stars.

    It always bothered me that they didn't share the cure they found. Picard would have saved them.

    To be fair, Kirk does offer to take the Scalosians to another world and to request the best Federation scientists to look at their problem, but Deela turns down the offer on the grounds that those of her people who tried cures before died.

    Yes you have to ignore the synchronisation issues and also two references Deela makes to things she overheard Kirk saying, just before he is accelerated on the bridge, which given his relative slowness to her would have been so dragged out and low that I can't see how she could have understood. Also you would think the bridge crew would have seen not only the phaser beam, but the phaser itself would have fallen with quite a clatter when she uses her weapon to make it fly out of his hand. But I do like the episode despite these plot holes.

    Interesting and better than average episode. Now, as for the Kirk and Deela interlude. He's operating at warp speed, as they say in Spocks Brain. Scottys comment to Kirk, '' And Mr. Spock, is he coming too?" Well , I wouldn't put it past him.

    I forgot to say that the cure may have killed the Scalosians who had been born at an accelerated state and came from a long line of accelerated ancestors, even if the first of those were accelerated by drinking the water on their planet. Kirk and Spock were affected directly by the water, had only been in that state for a short time, and the cure was developed to counteract the water.

    @Ms Spock:

    That’s a good explanation… from this point of view, the ending makes much more sense. I always wondered why Deela suddenly seems to give up, but it’s clear that she knows that even with the cure McCoy has found, there is no hope for her and the other Scalosians.

    Overall, I think she’s one of the really good antagonists: judged by her behavior towards her people, she’s a leader type, she’s got authority and strength of will, she’s assertive, self-confident and determined, she does what she thinks is necessary and is totally unapologetic about it… and what I found most interesting was the short scene with Rael when she allows him to kiss her. Her compassion with his feelings towards her seems genuine, but first and foremost she expects him to obey her. It’s striking how much she and Kirk have in common… all the character traits I’ve named before could be ascribed to him as well. She’s a match for him in every way, and although she’s the villain of this episode, it’s kind of funny to see him under her thumb, for once beaten at his own game. I had the impression that at some point he admits to himself that he can’t defeat her alone – that’s when he starts stalling in every possible way. And when she notices that, he dodges again by pretending to bend to her will and accept his fate. I admit that at this point, I really wondered why she believes him without any doubt and hesitation. He’s fooled her several times before – she knows he has tried to sabotage the transporter and to communicate with his crew – you’d think she’d know better than to trust him suddenly doing a 180 degree turn. But in general, despite all the logical flaws and holes, I liked the episode and its concept of alien beings coexisting with us in an accelerated state – it’s just so interesting and unique.

    Another episode I faintly recall from the first run when I was 6.

    Nimoy's acting in the first scene put me off. He was shouting like he was in The Cage, even though he was face-to-face with Shatner.

    I had never noticed that The Federation is utterly lacking in pencils and paper.

    Apparently, the women's costume designer left the show after this episode. Well, she went out with a bang!

    Yeah, 2.5/4.

    How would Scotty know Spock had accelerated himself when he discovers Kirk appearing out of thin air in the transporter room?

    Also..lotsa boring TNG fanatics forever whingeing about how TNG was "better" than Kirk/Spock (will NOT use THEIR conceited "TOS" tag).

    Kirk/Spock is vastly better...you clowns need girlfriends.

    But they are two utterly different shows...and products of their time...

    Also still wish there was an "edit" feature.

    While I enjoy a good nitpicking session when it comes to trek episodes, it can be a dangerous game. Sometimes unraveling the logical flaws of an episode can exsanguinate all the basic enjoyment that you’re supposed to get by simply sitting back and watching. Wink of an Eye is one of those episodes where the central premise, while a cool idea, is so fundamentally flawed that it’s really tempting to shred it to pieces. But I think that starts to be a self destructive process, because in the end, this is a pretty fun outing, and if you don’t think about it, there’s a lot to enjoy here. Of course, “just don’t think about it” automatically starts this episode off in the weeds, but still…

    I think the temptation to blast apart the MANY plot logic failures here is made all the more pronounced by the lack of symbolism or deeper message. Normally TOS episodes have more interesting philosophical concepts playing out under the surface, sometimes requiring a bit of interpretation, other times being directly drawn from notable conundrums of human thought. But here, the only real debatable idea is whether your survival can be morally justified if it comes at the expense of another. Other than that it’s pretty much just a standard sci-fi adventure, which in my opinion works better if the ‘sci’ is well thought out. In Wink, it is not.

    There are two notable moments in this one tho. First is the Kirk/deela post-bang scene. Who would have thought brushing hair and putting on boots would catch so much side glancing, but the late 60s was a bit more of a prudish time, despite the ongoing sexual revolution.
    Second, is one of my favorite moments in all of TOS in which Kirk and Spock run into each other in the corridor in super speed time and simply acknowledge each other with a nod and a smirk and move on with their plan. No words, no spectacle, no overt reactions of surprise or confusion, not even a quip, just two characters who had been so well established and crafted that they could convey volumes in a single three second, wordless exchange. This brief, wink-and-you-miss-it(get it?) moment should be a lesson to writers everywhere how to write character beats and relationships. Melodrama is not really the best path, or even necessary, which is unfortunate since it seems to be all the rage these days. Understated interactions like we see here between Spock and Kirk, so clearly demonstrating trust, professionalism, an assumption of competence, all conveyed with a touch of swagger, do so much more to tell us about these guys than a dozen scenes of blubbery emoting could ever do.
    A few other thoughts:
    -Kirk falls in doomed love once again. His final goodbye to deela implying to me he had some real skin in the game feelings-wise. He’s such a hard luck case. Most people rip on TOS and Kirk for his galavanting ways, but I think he’s more of a tragic figure, experiencing constant loss and loneliness. I mean, he gets lucky a lot, but all the same..
    -this episode can’t escape comparisons to later trek time differential episodes, particularly Voyager’s Blink of an Eye, which is one of the few times Voyager really knocked it out of the park. Blink pretty easily mops the floor with Wink thanks mostly to the lack of science-focused follow through that plagues Wink, but that Blink was far more careful with.

    2.5/4 mysterious buzzing noises.

    @Idh2023

    While I agree with most of our points, I found your comment "Kirk falls in doomed love once again" quite surprising, since I myself never had this impression. When they first meet, Deela seems to be more of a nuisance than a love interest; later he gives in to her advances in order to buy time, he pretends to "adjust" and accept his fate, but he doesn't give the impression that he particularly enjoys any aspect of the situation... more that he's on edge most of the time. And the regret in his goodbye to her may as well be due to the fate which awaits her. In general, I fully agree with your classification of Kirk as a rather tragic "hard luck case", but I would have cited other episodes as an example, not this one... but of course, that's a matter of interpretation.

    @lannion

    You may be right, I might have misinterpreted Kirk’s final line. But they did unequivocally hook up, and Kirk’s goodbye seemed a little wistful. Also, Kirk doesn’t say “good riddance” or express hostility or resentment, but “goodbye, deela”, which feels personal. Anyway that was my reasoning. This might not be the best example, but kirk gets his heart broken a lot.

    @Idh2023

    Well, to turn around the phrase, I'd say he gets as good as he gives when it comes to broken hearts. I've felt awfully sorry for him a couple of times, but I've rolled my eyes just as many times, and for me, personally, the Deela romance falls more in the latter category...

    @Lmo "This is one episode that benefited greatly from the enhanced extended dvd version. There was more dialog in several places that explained the story better and allowed more in depth appreciation. I liked this episode a lot better watching it now than when It was chopped up to allow for more commercial breaks. Agree completely with the prior comments rating this 3 stars."

    I completely agree. I had not seen the enhanced episode and was pleasantly surprised at the enhancements and additional dialogue. I've always liked this episode, and watching it again, I found I really enjoyed it even more. My biggest nits are with the Scalosians and the transporter. While it would work fast for the humans, I would think it would either not work for the Scalosians, or work so slowly that Deela would take much, much longer to disappear. As for the ships doors, I suppose a Scalosian could hang onto a human to get through them, but I don't know how the doors could detect them otherwise.

    I also enjoyed the banter between Kirk and Deela, and naturally, he would be the one who is so rebellious, he would never be compliant. However, with the other men that would be used, I'm curious as to how this compliant affect occurs. Would it then be considered some kind of physical influence? Deela acts like it's a natural thing, but she never goes into detail.

    I like the way the episode leaves the question of whether or not the Scalosians will be allowed to play the same trick on other ships. Kirk acts like this is a minor thing. Even at the end of the episode, he's not really ticked off about this trick. Instead he's got a smile on his face as though he's not going to condemn them to death.

    At times my work requires a fast pace, and when I observe someone who seems to move annoyingly slowly, or does not recognize the need for up tempo effort, and I feel like I'm literally buzzing around everyone ...."I feel like I drank the Scalosian water."

    This season 3 episode is great after not being able to handle yesterday's Plato's nonsense. Yes there are logical quirks discerned from repeated viewings, but these shows were done start to finish in less than a week while working on the next several at the same time.... no one could have anticipated the level of scrutiny placed on these episodes 50 years later, watching on 60 inch screens with the ability to view and replay any episode at will at any time. Kirk tells Scott to go to the transporter room, and in the next scene, and for half the episode Scott is depicted as statue like approaching the entrance of the transporter room, because the accelerated ones are zipping by all the time. Yet during that same time Spock and McCoy can become alerted to the situation, analyze it, develop an antidote, and a strategy to overcome the problem. Then when Kirk returns to normal time and appears suddenly as Scott finally completes the motion of entering the transporter room. ...... Scott asks if Mr. Spock is coming back from nowhere too even though Scott had already left the bridge way before Spock drank the Scalosian water. Let's call it, a Freiberger. Anyway, what I am wondering, was the Captain worried that he might incur cellular damage on his you know what before putting his boots back on? I always ad lib the last scene when Kirk is watching Deela's poignant goodbye with a smile, substituting "Thanks for the ****" for the last line.

    I do recall seeing this as a wee lad before, upon some subsequent viewing, the "Aha!" moment finally arrived while watching Deela brush her hair and Kirk put his boots back on. That was an inventive way of handling things in a 1960s family show.

    Yes, the science does not really work, but that's true for many episodes. The script needed Scotty, or anyone, to be passing through the transporter doorway so that the doors would be open. That permitted accelerated people to also pass through without having to wait for the doors to very slowly open. A trip via the Enterprise's turbolifts must have been painfully slow for Scolosians, but I agree with Idh2023 that we shouldn't inspect this episode too closely.

    There's a uncommon production glitch. During the opening, McCoy and Kirk discuss the buzzing noise on Scalos.
    MCCOY: My tricorder doesn't register it.
    KIRK: It registers in my ears.

    When that is later played back on the bridge, the dialogue changes to

    MCCOY: My tricorder doesn't register it.
    KIRK: My ears register it.

    So, different takes. Given how swiftly these episodes were put together, it's surprising similar did not happen routinely.

    3 of 4 fly swatters

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