The Way to Eden (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "The Way to Eden" | |
 The Enterprise is full of "peace and love", The Way to Eden. |
|
| Episode no. | 75 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 075 |
| Airdate | February 21, 1969 |
| Writer(s) | Arthur Heinemann story by Arthur Heinemann Michael Richards |
| Director | David Alexander |
| Guest star(s) | Elizabeth Rogers Skip Homeier Charles Napier Mary-Linda Rapelye Victor Brandt Deborah Downey Phyllis Douglas Roger Holloway William Blackburn Frank da Vinci |
| Year | 2269 |
| Stardate | 5832.3 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Requiem for Methuselah" |
| Next | "The Cloud Minders" |
"The Way to Eden" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, and was broadcast February 21, 1969. It is episode #75, production #75, written by Arthur Heinemann, based on a story by Arthur Heinemann and Michael Richards, and directed by David Alexander.
Overview: The Enterprise is hijacked by an insane doctor and his fanatical followers in an attempt to find paradise.
[edit] Plot
On stardate 5832.3, the USS Enterprise is in hot pursuit of the stolen spacecraft Aurora, which is on an unauthorized heading into the dangerous Romulan Neutral Zone. The Enterprise locks onto the ship with a tractor beam, but the Aurora tries to flee. With the craft already straining with pushed engines, the vessel begins to break up.
Captain Kirk orders the transporter room to lock on the passengers and beam them aboard immediately. As the Aurora explodes, the six humanoid passengers are safely brought aboard the Enterprise. Kirk heads down to meet with them and is shocked by their wild appearance. The six beings are barefoot, dressed in lavish robes and colorful tunics. Despite their close brush with death, they appear completely calm and relaxed as if nothing has happened.
The group identifies themselves, starting with Tong Rad, (the son of the Catuallan ambassador, and whose presence must be handled carefully, owing to the delicate relationship between the Federation and the people of Catualla), Irina (a Starfleet Academy dropout and a former love interest of Mr. Chekov's), Dr. Sevrin (a noted communications and electronics researcher from Tiburon, who specializes in the theories of sonic manipulation), Adam (a popular musician), Mavig (the blonde who later sings with Adam) and another, unidentified woman.
The group quickly shows a disrespect for authority and demands to be taken to a planet they call "Eden" (a reference to Garden of Eden). Eden's existence is believed to be a myth however. The group refuses to cooperate with Kirk, calling him "Herbert", an insulting reference to his rigid and limited ideals.
The group is impressed by Mr. Spock however, who gestures with an oval "symbol of peace" the party makes with raised hands, and speaks of "The One". Believing Spock is on "the level", the group gives Spock more respect and agrees to go with him to sickbay for a medical examination. Medical scans reveal the party to be in good health, all except for Dr. Sevrin, who is shown to have the Synthecoccus Novae virus, which has been accidentally created by technological society. Spock also believes Sevrin to be on the verge of insanity and mental breakdown.
Kirk orders Sevrin to be taken to isolation in case the virus spreads; however, his group loudly protests the decision, insulting Kirk further with a song. Spock attempts to reason with Sevrin and offers to help him find Eden in exchange for his cooperation.
Sevrin is taken to a holding cell while his group is allowed to freely walk the ship. The group however, secretly plans to take over the ship. Adam distracts the crew with a music concert, where even Mr. Spock joins in. Meanwhile, Chekov is alone with Irina, and the two revive their old feelings for each other. While Chekov is distracted, Irina manages to gain access to the ship navigation computer.
Tong manages to distract Mr. Sulu with interest in Sulu's botany project, then slips away to free Sevrin. Tongo disables a guard and lets Sevrin out of his cell. The group heads down to auxiliary control and changes the Enterprise's course for Eden. Once the crew realize what is happening, Sevrin manages to paralyse them ship-wide with an ultrasonic frequency broadcast through the intercom.
Once the Enterprise arrives at Eden, a planet inside Romulan territory, Sevrin and his followers steal the Galileo 2 shuttlecraft and head down to the planet. Kirk manages to reach auxiliary control and deactivates Sevrin's sonic device. Kirk, along with Chekov, Spock, and McCoy, beam down to Eden to fetch the group.
They find the shuttlecraft abandoned in the middle of a lush and beautiful garden; a real "Eden" by all outward appearance. Suddenly, Chekov severely burns his hand when he touches a flower, and McCoy scans his wound. It is discovered the plant life secretes a powerful acid. The team then finds Adam lying dead on the ground; his death caused by his eating of a fruit.
Sevrin and the other survivors are then found, all with severe acid burns to their feet, and Kirk tries to convince him that his "paradise" is completely uninhabitable. Sevrin refuses to listen and bites into one of the fruits. He quickly falls victim to the poisonous bounty as Adam did. Irina is heartbroken at how things have turned out. Luckily, no Romulans arrive, and everyone return to the Enterprise which quickly heads back to Federation space. Just beforehand, Spock advises the group not to give up their search for Eden and tells them he believes they will either find it, or create one for themselves.
[edit] Trivia
- Fans sometimes refer to this episode as the "space-hippies episode".
- Often unintentionally hilarious, particularly when music is being performed, this episode competes closely with "Spock's Brain" as the nadir of the original series and is often cited as the episode when the show jumped the shark. The hippies' songs are campy even by late 1960s standards, and their connection to Spock is a far too transparent attempt to pander to the youth audience. It makes one very worried about the Enterprise crew that they are nonetheless able to hijack the ship. The only effective scene is the cell conversation between Spock and Sevrin.
- Originally, the episode was titled "Joanna," and was written by D.C. Fontana, the title character being Dr. McCoy's daughter. Later, she was changed to Irina and Chekov, instead, was made her foil. The original episode, as written by Fontana would have provided much background on McCoy, including an unsuccessful marriage which led him into Starfleet. Fontana's script was so heavily rewritten that she asked her name to be removed from it. But given Fontana's extensive contributions to Star Trek mythology, and the fact that it provides insight into the McCoy character, many still consider the lost McCoy background story to be canon, even though it never made it to screen. It was later incorporated into the novels Planet of Judgment and Shadows on the Sun. Joanna herself was mentioned in the animated episode The Survivor.
- A young Charles Napier is one of the hippies. He would later star in films such as The Blues Brothers, Rambo, The Silence of the Lambs, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, as well as a part in the DS9 episode "Little Green Men".
- This was neither the first, nor the last, brush with space hippies that the Starship Enterprise was to have. In season one, episode #24, Kirk and the gang had an encounter with a group of what appeared to be middle-aged hippie gardeners in "This Side of Paradise". The crew of Enterprise-D later meets up with a race of perpetually youthful, hacky-sack playing space hippies in Star Trek: Insurrection.
- William Shatner may have been influenced by this episode when he made Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a movie which also featured a crazed guru and his spiritual followers who hijack the Enterprise to get to a (false) Eden.
[edit] External links
- The Way to Eden at StarTrek.com
- The Way to Eden article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "The Cloud Minders" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 3 |
Next produced: "Requiem for Methuselah" |
| Last transmitted: "Requiem for Methuselah" |
Next transmitted: "The Cloud Minders" |
