By Any Other Name

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Star Trek: TOS episode
"By Any Other Name"
The Kelvanian Kelinda and two redshirts, By Any Other Name.
Episode no.	51
Prod. code	050
Airdate	February 23, 1968
Writer(s)	D.C. Fontana Jerome Bixby
Director	Marc Daniels
Guest star(s)	Barbara Bouchet Warren Stevens Stewart Moss Robert Fortier Leslie Dalton Carl Byrd Julie Cobb Paul Baxley Frank da Vinci Eddie Paskey William Blackburn Roger Holloway
Year	2268
Stardate	4657.5
Episode chronology
Previous	"Patterns of Force"
Next	"The Omega Glory"

"By Any Other Name" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, first broadcast February 23, 1968 and repeated May 31, 1968. It is episode #51, production #50, written by D.C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby, and directed by Marc Daniels.

Overview: Beings from another galaxy steal the Enterprise in an attempt to return home.

[edit] Plot

On stardate 4657.5, the starship USS Enterprise responds to a distress call from an uncharted planet. A landing party beams down to locate the source, and finds a humanoid man and a woman who approach them. The man orders Captain Kirk to surrender the Enterprise to him. Kirk, of course, refuses, and then the man and woman operate a strange control box on their belts which paralyze the landing party.

The couple identify themselves as Rojan and Kalinda of the Kelvan Empire, located in the distant Andromeda Galaxy. Rojan tells Kirk that he is now in control and any attempts at resistance will be severely dealt with. He also informs them that they will soon be leaving the galaxy and that they will face the "end of their existence", as they know it.

The landing team is released after Kalinda removes their weapons, and Rojan continues to explain that their purpose was to find planets suitable for conquest in this galaxy. However, their own ship was destroyed as it passed through the Great Barrier surrounding the galaxy and now they need the Enterprise to make the 300-year return journey home. They plan to modify the ship's engines to enable them to make the return trip.

While Rojan is talking, three other Kelvans secretly transport aboard the Enterprise, and quickly gain control of the ship. One of them, Hanar, beams back down to report to Rojan. Rojan then orders the landing party to a holding cell. Mr. Spock uses his telepathy to lure Kalinda over to him, where they grab her and remove her control belt. The party escapes, but encounters Rojan who activates his belt and reduces two of the landing team members to small cuboctahedral blocks of a chalk-like substance. The landing party gasps, and Rojan explains that the blocks are what is left over after a human is reduced to his basic elements.

Rojan picks up the blocks and crushes one to dust. Hanar then returns the other block back into human form, but the crushed block, which was Yeoman Thompson, cannot be revitalized. The landing party is returned to their cell, where Spock analyses the mental images he received while in contact with Kalinda's mind. He informs Kirk that he had seen images of a large creature, with hundreds of tentacles, and believes it to be the Kelvan's true form. He believes the Kelvans have adopted their human forms in order to make use of the Enterprise.

Spock places himself into a deep trance, and Dr. McCoy requests that the Kelvans allow him to take Spock to sick bay for treatment. The Kelvans agree and transport the entire landing party and themselves to the ship. Kirk meets up with McCoy and Spock in sick bay, where Spock reveals he may have found a way to disrupt the Kelvan control belts.

The three make their way to engineering with Mr. Scott, and they find that they cannot get to the Kelvans' modification equipment. Instead, Mr. Scott opens the control valves to the matter/antimatter system and informs Kirk he can destroy the Enterprise if needed. Kirk opts out of the scheme and instead decides to wait until they penetrate the Great Barrier.

After the ship reaches the edge of the galaxy, the Kelvans activate their belts, reducing all non-essential personnel into chalk blocks to keep them out of the way. They keep Kirk, Scotty, Spock and McCoy to help maintain essential ship functions. Through the Kelvans' uneasiness and verbal complaints, the Enterprise crew deduce that the Kelvans are not used to their human bodies, and decide to exploit that fact.

Scotty gets friendly with a Kelvan named Tomar, and takes him to his quarters where he juices him up with powerful Saurian brandy. McCoy prescribes a course of injections for Hanar after telling him that his human body looks unwell, and Kirk turns his attentions toward Kalinda. He apologizes to her for his previous behavior and demonstrates the "human" way of saying "sorry" by kissing her.

Rojan then walks in on them, and Kirk slinks out of the room. Later, Rojan plays 3D chess and loses to Spock. Spock points out Rojan's poor performance may be due to jealousy, which Rojan hotly denies. Rojan then goes to confront Kalinda, demanding that she stop fraternizing with Kirk and the other humans. He grabs her arm violently when she refuses to obey. Later, Kalinda sneaks off and finds Kirk, requesting to experience his kissing again.

Back on the bridge, Hanar begins to be affected by McCoy's injections and belligerently refuses Rojan's orders. Rojan dismisses Hanar to his quarters. By this time, heavy drinking has caused Tomar to pass out, but Scotty also finds he is too drunk to leave his own quarters.

Rojan finds Kirk and Kalinda together again and angrily confronts them. Kirk goads him into starting a fight, one on one, and the two go at it. Kirk, being stronger and faster, easily pins Rojan to the floor. Kirk tells Rojan that his people are already becoming human. Soon, they will become so alien to the other Kelvans that in 300 years (when the Kelvans are due to return home) their descendants won't be able to live among their own people.

Rojan thinks for a moment and agrees with Kirk, knowing it will be impossible to return home again. Rojan relinquishes control of the ship back to Kirk and restores the crew. Kirk turns the Enterprise around and heads back through the Great Barrier. He accepts Kirk's offer of being a liaison for the Federation if the Kelvans should ever return. A suitable homeworld is located so that Rojan and his people can live in peace.

[edit] Trivia

• Kirk recalls events in the first season episode "A Taste of Armageddon", where Spock used telepathy to lure a guard into their prison cell during a mission on planet Eminiar VII.

• In the December 1986 Saturday Night Live, "Star Trek Convention" skit, the convention host erroneously introduces Julie Cobb (played in the skit by Victoria Jackson) saying that "You all remember Julie as Yeoman Leslie Thompson from the first ten minutes of Episode 25 Errand of Mercy where she got transformed into a cube, then crushed." It is likely that the skit writers were aware of the error and included it intentionally as the same skit also had William Shatner referring to the Evil Captain Kirk episode ("The Enemy Within") as episode #37 when in fact it was episode #5.

[edit] External links

• By Any Other Name at StarTrek.com
• "By Any Other Name" article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

Last produced: "A Piece of the Action"	Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 2	Next produced: "Return to Tomorrow"
Last transmitted: "Patterns of Force"		Next transmitted: "The Omega Glory"