The Naked Time (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "The Naked Time" | |
 Sulu fencing, The Naked Time |
|
| Episode no. | 4 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 007 |
| Remastered no. | 4 |
| Airdate | September 29, 1966 |
| Writer(s) | John D. F. Black |
| Director | Marc Daniels |
| Guest star(s) | Bruce Hyde Majel Barrett Stewart Moss John Bellah William Knight Christian Ducheau Woody Talbert Frank da Vinci Eddie Paskey Ron Veto William Blackburn (actor) |
| Year | 2266 |
| Stardate | 1704.2 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Where No Man Has Gone Before" |
| Next | "The Enemy Within" |
"The Naked Time" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast September 29, 1966, and repeated on April 27, 1967. It is a first season episode #4, production #7, and was written by John D. F. Black and directed by Marc Daniels. It has a sequel in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the episode "The Naked Now".
Overview: A strange affliction infects the crew of the Enterprise, destroying their inhibitions.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
On stardate 1704.2, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, beams a landing team down to a research station on the planet Psi 2000, which is a world in the midst of breaking up. The team finds all six of the scientists manning the station dead. The circumstances of their deaths are not apparent; however, the life support systems had been found shut down and all control systems frozen solid.
One of the Enterprise crewmen, Joe Tormolen, carelessly removes his gloves and is contaminated by a strange red liquid. When Tormolen and Mr. Spock return to the ship they are given a clean bill of health by Dr. McCoy. Later however, Tormolen notices a strange itch and begins to act irrationally. He threatens Lt. Sulu with a knife, then attempts to turn it on himself. Tormolen is stopped and escorted to the sickbay where he later dies apparently from the superficial wounds he caused himself during the incident. Dr. McCoy is left bewildered.
Soon Tormolen's bizarre affliction begins to affect other crew members and quickly spreads through the ship. They each begin to display both comical and horrific exaggerations of character. McCoy finds nothing like it in Starfleet records.
As the affliction spreads, Mr. Sulu abandons his post on the bridge and runs around the ship shirtless, brandishing a sword, and challenging everyone to a duel. Nurse Chapel confesses her deepest desires for Mr. Spock. Spock himself, shows troubled emotion and begins weeping uncontrollably for no reason.
Even Captain Kirk is affected, first becoming overly romantic toward the crew, then exhibiting paranoia, breaking down for fear that he is losing his ability to command.
Ship's navigator Lt. Kevin Reilly then declares himself the new Captain of the Enterprise and rushes down to engineering where he takes over control of the ship. He demands "free ice cream" for everyone, then begins flipping random switches and fouling up ship systems. The Enterprise starts to drift out of control and slowly falls out of orbit, pulled down by the erratic gravity of Psi 2000.
McCoy manages to avoid the effects of the contaminant. McCoy finds that in the gravity distortions of Psi 2000, polywater - strings of complex water molecules had formed. His research leads McCoy to find that the molecules cause a form of intoxication when they interact with humanoid brains similar to extreme alcohol intoxication. McCoy is forced to concoct an antidote on his own when the lab personnel all become intoxicated. McCoy runs around the ship injecting everyone. The antidote works incredibly fast, as crew begin to regain their sanity. Eventually Reilly is stopped and the crew regain control of the ship. Because of this the ship avoids a deadly crash into Psi 2000. However, Reilly has shut down the warp engines, requiring the crew to perform a "controlled implosion" – a theoretical procedure which sends the Enterprise backward in time, 71 hours.
Spock says that the crew of the Enterprise have three days to live over, to which Captain Kirk replies, "Not those three days."
[edit] 40th Anniversary remastering
This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired September 30, 2006 as part of the 40th anniversary rermastering of the Original Series. Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
- The planet Psi 2000 has been updated appearing more realistic.
- The matte painting of surface now includes the research station structure.
- When Scotty uses a phaser to burn through the bulkhead, the phaser beam has been properly added.
- When the Enterprise begins to fall into the planet's atmosphere, a firey glow appears on the view screen from the friction.
- The archaic mechanical clock has been replaced with a digital readout.
- The time travel effects have been enhanced.
The Naked Time side-by-side comparisons
[edit] Trivia
- The episode marks the first and only appearance of a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the entire Original Series. The rank was held in the episode by the character of Joe Tormolen with an insignia consisting of a broken "hash mark" rank braid on each sleeve.
- This was originally intended to be a two-part episode, with part one ending with a cliffhanger (with the Enterprise going back in time). The ending was revised so that the episode would become a stand-alone episode. What would have been part two eventually became another stand-alone episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday".
- In this episode Kirk confesses his love for the only woman in his life – The Enterprise.
- This is the only episode in which all three female regulars, Yeoman Rand, Lt. Uhura, and Nurse Chapel, appeared.
- In this episode Lieutenant Sulu was originally going to use the Japanese Katana in his famous fencing scene, but the weapon was changed to the European foil in order to avoid racial stereotypes.
- The events of this episode are repeated in a Star Trek: TNG episode,"The Naked Now". Riker even references something similar happening to a previous Enterprise crew.
[edit] External links
- The Naked Time article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Side-by-side comparisons of the 2006 "Enhanced" visual effects
| Last produced: "The Man Trap" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1 |
Next produced: "Charlie X" |
| Last transmitted: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" |
Next transmitted: "The Enemy Within" |
