The Empath
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "The Empath" | |
 The Vians run cruel experiments, The Empath. |
|
| Episode no. | 67 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 063 |
| Airdate | December 6, 1968 |
| Writer(s) | Joyce Muskat |
| Director | John Erman |
| Guest star(s) | Kathryn Hays Alan Bergmann Willard Sage Davis Roberts Jason Wingreen Richard Geary William Blackburn Roger Holloway |
| Year | 2268 |
| Stardate | 5121.5 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Wink of an Eye" |
| Next | "Elaan of Troyius" |
"The Empath" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, and was broadcast December 6, 1968. It is episode #67, production #63, written by Joyce Muskat and directed by John Erman.
Overview: While visiting a doomed planet, the landing party is subject to torturous experiments by powerful aliens.
[edit] Plot
On stardate 5121.5, the starship USS Enterprise arrives at Minara II to pick up research personnel. The mission is crucial since the Minaran star is close to going supernova. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Spock beam to the planet to locate the research team while the Enterprise waits in orbit. The landing team finds the research camp abandoned and the scientists missing.
Meanwhile in orbit, the Enterprise is bombarded by intense solar radiation which is causing instrumentation failure, and threatening the lives of the crew. Mr. Scott orders the ship to break orbit while the landing party continues the search for the missing scientists on the planet.
As the search continues, the landing party finds themselves teleported to an underground chamber, and there they find a young woman lying on a raised platform. The woman awakens but she appears to be mute and all attempts to verbally communicate with her are in vain. Dr. McCoy names the mystery woman "Gem".
Soon, two silver-robed aliens appear, and identify themselves as Vians. Kirk approaches the beings but they repel the team with a force field. Kirk is injured and knocked to the floor. The silent Gem then rushes to Kirk's side and uses a mental power to absorb Kirk's injuries, taking them on herself and then dissipating them, healing him instantly and revealing that she is a powerful empath. The Vians leave the chamber to prepare experiments upon their newly arrived subjects.
Spock takes the opportunity to scan their "prison" for a way out. He locates a nearby area filled with sophisticated machinery and computer banks. Along with the equipment are several glass cylinders, two of which contain dead bodies frozen in ghastly poses. Signs on the cylinders identify the test subjects as "Linke" and "Ozaba", the missing research scientists. Three more cylinders next to them are empty but contain name plaques: "McCoy", "Spock" and "Kirk".
The Vians appear again, explaining that Linke's and Ozawa's "own fears killed them," and demand that one of the landing party offer themselves for their tests. Kirk volunteers and the Vians subject him to physical torture, then sends him back to the first chamber where Gem heals his wounds. Kirk has been so badly hurt that Gem expends almost all her power on him, and faints from the strain. Because Gem takes on others' injuries in order to heal them, Kirk and McCoy are concerned that she could severely hurt or kill herself if she overdoes it. McCoy points out that her instinct for self-preservation would take over to prevent this.
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Not satisfied with the results of the experiment, the Vians return and demand another test subject. Kirk tries to volunteer again, but McCoy has sedated him and he offers to be taken next. Meanwhile Spock manages to steal a teleportation device from the Vians. Spock and Kirk follow the Vians to their medical chamber and witness the brutality to which the beings are subjecting McCoy. Kirk and Spock try to stop the Vians but are again halted by a force field.
The two are returned to the first chamber where Gem rests. McCoy is later returned with injuries worse than Kirk's and is near death. Gem is still too weak to help the doctor but struggles painfully with her remaining power to ease his suffering. The Vians return, and Kirk angrily demands an explanation for the tortures.
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The Vians explain that they aren't testing the landing party, but are in fact testing Gem. They claim they have the ability to save only one of the peoples living in their system from the impending supernova disaster. They want to see if Gem's race are worthy of rescue. If she has learned to value the lives of others before her own, they will consider her people worthy. If not, the Vians will spare another race that is doomed to die.
The aliens continue to observe Gem as she grows weaker, sacrificing her remaining energy to save McCoy's life, but breaking away from him to rest. This leads them to determine that she is not willing to give her life for that of another, and that her people will be the ones chosen to die. They demand that the test proceed to "completion", presumably the death either of Gem or McCoy.
Meanwhile, Spock observes that the force field's energy increases with strong emotions. He manages to break free and overpowers the two aliens. Kirk confiscates the devices used for controlling the force fields. At the same time, Gem struggles with all her power in one last attempt to save McCoy's life. In doing so, she collapses but McCoy is fully healed. Now, Gem lies on the floor, dying.
The Vians watch as Kirk explains that since Gem has already offered her life, she's earned the right of survival for her planet. Kirk accuses the aliens of lacking the one thing that Gem has already shown herself capable of: compassion. The aliens consider the behavior and agree that Kirk's words have merit. The aliens restore Gem to health and agree her people will be the ones they spare. The aliens, along with Gem, teleport away, and Kirk and his team return to the Enterprise. Kirk muses on the "chance" encounter with Gem, and Scott talks about her in terms of the biblical parable of the "pearl of great price".
[edit] Trivia
- This episode was reported to be DeForest Kelley's favorite.
- It is widely believed that the sparse settings for this episode were necessitated by the reduced budget under which the series worked in its last season on NBC. At the time of filming, writers and fan critics who were allowed on the set believed the sparseness was meant to be Expressionistic, for psychological effect.
- Dorothy Heydt, a personal friend of Muskat, has reported that the character of Gem was a deliberate Mary Sue; that is, a character based on herself or what she would have liked to be. Gem can also be seen as a type of stock character, a combination of an Ingénue and a Mute Kid With Powers.
- Soap Opera Digest once reported that it was Hays' appearance as Gem that inspired creator Gene Roddenberry to write a role for her in all of his projects, in case she ever wanted to return.
- In the United Kingdom, the BBC skipped this episode in all runs of the series in the 1970s and 1980s, due to the torture scenes. It was however released on home video with other "banned" episodes, and was shown on Sky One in 1991. It was broadcast for the first time on the BBC in January 1994.
- The daybed featured among the set elements is a replica in shape of the "agonizer" device from "Mirror, Mirror".
[edit] External links
- The Empath at StarTrek.com
- The Empath article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 3 |
Next produced: "The Tholian Web" |
| Last transmitted: "Wink of an Eye" |
Next transmitted: "Elaan of Troyius" |
