The Cloud Minders (TOS episode)

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"The Cloud Minders"
The floating city of Stratos, The Cloud Minders.
Episode no.	76
Prod. code	074
Airdate	February 28, 1969
Writer(s)	Margaret Armen story by David Gerrold Oliver Crawford
Director	Jud Taylor
Guest star(s)	Jeff Corey Diana Ewing Charlene Polite Fred Williamson Ed Long Kirk Raymone Jimmy Fields Garth Pillsbury William Blackburn Harv Selsby Marvin Walters Lou Elias Jay Jones Richard Geary Bob Miles Paul Baxley
Year	2269
Stardate	5818.4
Episode chronology
Previous	"The Way to Eden"
Next	"The Savage Curtain"

"The Cloud Minders" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, and was broadcast on February 28, 1969. It is episode #76, production #74, written by Margaret Armen, based on a story by David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford, and directed by Jud Taylor.

Overview: Kirk races against time to acquire plague-fighting minerals from a world in the midst of a civil uprising against a grevious social class disparity.

[edit] Plot

On stardate 5818.4, the Enterprise arrives at the planet Ardana on a mission to retrieve the mineral xenite, which is needed to halt a vegetation plague on the planet Merak II. Captain Kirk wishes to speed along the negotiations for the mineral and beams down directly to the xenite mines with Mr. Spock, despite Ardana's leader High Advisor Plasus's request to beam to the floating city of Stratos.

Once Kirk and Spock arrive at the mine, they are surrounded by angry miners and a savage brawl ensues. During the struggle, Kirk notices a strange yet beautiful woman among the rioters. Plasus quickly arrives with a security force, who easily drives the rioting miners off, then demands Kirk and Spock go with him back to the city immediately.

Once on the floating city, Kirk and Spock are entertained as guests until the xenite can be procured from the mines. They learn that the people of Ardana are divided between the labor-class Troglytes, who work hard in the dangerous mines, while the elite city-dwellers reap all the profits and live in luxury.

Currently the Troglytes are rebelling with the elites, and unknown to Kirk, the city's police have captured a Troglyte who had sneaked into the city and defaced priceless artwork. Instead of divulging the leader of the rebellious workers, the man jumps to his death from a city balcony.

Plasus's daughter, Droxine, takes a liking to Spock, fascinated by his exquisite ears, and another woman, Vanna seems to be interested in Captain Kirk. Vanna, however, is really the rebel leader of the Troglytes and takes Kirk hostage until the city elite meet her demands. Kirk recognizes her as the woman he saw at the mine and begins to question her, but she does not cooperate. She accuses the city-dwellers of using the Enterprise as an intimidation tactic toward her people.

Spock, Droxine, and a sentinel arrive, and Vanna is subdued. She is then taken in for interrogation where Plasus has her tortured until she reveals the names and locations of her fellow rebels. Kirk is outraged at Plasus's actions and demands the interrogation stopped. Plasus instead orders Kirk and Spock to leave his city immediately.

The two return to the Enterprise where Dr. McCoy reports that unprocessed xenite emits an odorless, invisible gas, which diminishes mental capacity and heightens emotion. Spock believes that the workers serving aboard the floating city have been isolated from the effects of the xenite gas. Instead of being mindless workers trolling away in the mines, they have become aware of their unfair treatment by the higher class.

Kirk has special masks made that will filter against the xenite gas and offers Plasus them for his workers, however Plasus shows no interest. Kirk violates his ban from the city and secretly beams down to Vanna's holding cell. He explains his offer to help her and the other workers achieve equality with the city-dwellers and offers her the masks. Vanna seems interested, and Kirk overpowers a guard, whereupon Vanna and Kirk, return to the xenite mines. Once there, however, she grabs Kirk's phaser and takes him hostage again with the help of two other Troglytes, Midro and Anka. The two men would rather see Kirk dead but Vanna has other plans.

Vanna forces Kirk to experience the hardship of the miners and puts him to work digging for xenite. Vanna's men depart leaving her alone with Kirk, who takes advantage of the situation and regains his phaser. He blasts the ceiling of the mine and seals the only way out. He then contacts the Enterprise to have Plasus found and beamed to his location.

A indignant Plasus arrives and Kirk forces him and Vanna to mine for xenite. The effects of the xenite gas become apparent as Kirk becomes more hostile. As the supply of oxygen depletes, Plasus demands to be set free, but Kirk strikes him and the two begin to brawl with mining implements. Vanna, realizing that Kirk was right about the gas after all, manages to find Kirk's communicator and signals the Enterprise to quickly beam them up before the men kill each other.

Once the effects of the gas wear off and the three settle down, Kirk offers the masks to Vanna once again. She accepts Kirk's offer in exchange for a supply of the xenite, to which Plasus strongly protests, but realizes he really has no other option. Kirk tells Plasus that the elite and miners must be treated as equal while Vanna vows that her people, who will no longer be impaired by the gas, will demand it even more vigoørously now. With the supply of xenite in hand, he and Spock return to the Enterprise.

[edit] Trivia

• Leonard Nimoy felt this episode greatly damaged the character of Spock, who casually reveals to Droxine what earlier seasons had shown to be intimate details about himself and Vulcans. He wrote a blistering memo to new producer Fred Freiberger about this, which did little to endear him to his new boss.

• David Gerrold expressed great discontent about the episode, feeling that his original script had been bastardized by extensive rewriting. In his The Trouble with Tribbles book, he stated that despite getting story credit, only one sentence of dialogue written by him remained.

• Manny Coto, showrunner of Star Trek: Enterprise, claimed that had the show gone to a fifth season, an episode would have dealt with the cloud city of Stratos.

[edit] External links

• The Cloud Minders at StarTrek.com
• The Cloud Minders article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

Last produced: "The Lights of Zetar"	Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 3	Next produced: "The Way to Eden"
Last transmitted: "The Way to Eden"		Next transmitted: "The Savage Curtain"