Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S1/E04 The Naked Time: Difference between revisions

*"The Naked Time"*
	Just how cold is Spock, anyway?
A story from Star Trek: The Original Series
Preceded by:	"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
Followed by:	"The Enemy Within"
Original release date:	September 29, 1966
Central Theme:
Synopsis:	A viral outbreak makes the crew do silly, stupid, weird, and occasionally dangerous things
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Latest revision as of 03:35, 16 April 2024

"I'll never lose you. Never."

—Kirk, revealing his... fondness... for the Enterprise

The Enterprise has arrived at the ice planet Psi 2000 to document its impending collapse. Spock and some other loser beam down in Hazmat suits to investigate why a laboratory on the planet shows no life signs: turns out, that everybody froze to death because someone left the door open and nobody cared enough to correct that. While Spock is investigating the corpses, his companion unwisely removes his glove to scratch his nose, allowing a strange red fluid to drip onto his hand.

Back on board the Enterprise, the Red Shirt starts acting strangely, in turns belligerent and depressed. He gets into a fight with Sulu and a guy named Lt. Riley, brandishes a dinner knife at them, and mildly injures himself. However, when McCoy operates on him, he dies, seemingly losing his will to live. McCoy is perplexed, as the victim was in good health and was previously known as a strong-willed individual. The reason for his odd behavior soon becomes apparent: he carries a virus that removes inhibitions (and makes one extremely sweaty, incidentally).

Chaos engulfs the ship as the virus spreads: crew members act careless, laughing maniacs run around the halls painting creepy messages in red paint, Sulu menaces passersby with a fencing sword, and Spock enters a crippling depression. Worst of all, Riley has locked himself in the engine room, stranding the ship just as the planet is breaking up, threatening the Enterprise. Kirk and Scotty try to break into the engine room while McCoy cooks up a vaccine. However, by the time Scotty gets the door open, it's revealed that the engines were stopped completely and that restarting them would take more time than the planet has. Desperate, Kirk orders Scotty to... do something involving matter/antimatter annihilation to get the Enterprise out of the way. Scotty cries that it only has a 1-in-10,000 chance of not blowing them to smithereens (so, naturally, it will work perfectly), but he needs Spock's help. Kirk tries to slap Spock out of his funk, but Spock only recovers when Kirk ~~hams it up~~ empathizes with him under the virus' influence and reveals the heavy burden of being Captain of the Enterprise -- contrary to popular belief, you can never get laid, at least not with crew members. McCoy cures the crew and the ship escapes, but with a strange side-effect: it travels about three days backward in time, in the series' first instance of time travel.

TNG ~~ripped off~~ simply revisited this scenario in "The Naked Now." ...just revisited.

Tropes used in The Naked Time include:

Deus Ex Machina: The Enterprise discovers how to Time Travel as an unintended bonus effect of the episode events.
Getting Crap Past the Radar:

Sulu: I'll protect you fair maiden.
Uhura: Sorry, neither.

Phlebotinum Du Jour: "Polywater", which was thought to be a real thing in the 1960s.
- When later series called back or referenced this episode, they made it a virus instead, to keep it more plausible.
What Could Have Been: According to The Other Wiki, this was intended to be the first of a two-part story, with "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" being the second part.

Back to Star Trek: The Original Series

Back to Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap

↑ Promotional image, which is why it's in black and white.

[1] Promotional image, which is why it's in black and white.

[1]

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-{{work}}
+{{work|wppage=The Naked Time}}
+{{Infobox episode
-{{sidemenu}}
+ | title = "The Naked Time"
-Series: [[Star Trek: The Original Series]]<br />Episode: Season 1, Episode 4<br />Title: The Naked Time<br />Previous: Where No Man Has Gone Before<br />Next: The Enemy Within<br />Recapper: [[Tropers/Cue|Cue]]
+ | image = Star Trek The Naked Time.jpg
-{{sidemenuend}}
+ | caption = Just how cold ''is'' Spock, anyway?<ref>Promotional image, which is why it's in black and white.</ref>
+ | franchise = ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''
+ | preceded by = "[[Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S1/E03 Where No Man Has Gone Before|Where No Man Has Gone Before]]"
+ | followed by = "[[Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S1/E05 The Enemy Within|The Enemy Within]]"
+ | release date = September 29, 1966
+ | central theme =
+ | elevator pitch = A viral outbreak makes the crew do silly, stupid, weird, and occasionally dangerous things
+}}
 {{quote|"I'll never lose you. Never."|Kirk, revealing his... ''[[Cargo Ship|fondness]]''... for the ''Enterprise''}}
-The ''Enterprise'' has arrived at the ice planet Psi 2000 to document its impending collapse. Spock and [[Red Shirt|some other loser]] beam down in Hazmat suits to investigate why a laboratory on the planet shows no life signs: turns out, everybody froze to death because someone left the door open and nobody cared enough to correct that. While Spock is investigating the corpses, his companion [[Too Dumb to Live|unwisely]] removes his glove to scratch his nose, allowing a strange red fluid to drip onto his hand.
+The ''Enterprise'' has arrived at the ice planet Psi 2000 to document its impending collapse. Spock and [[Red Shirt|some other loser]] beam down in Hazmat suits to investigate why a laboratory on the planet shows no life signs: turns out, that everybody froze to death because someone left the door open and nobody cared enough to correct that. While Spock is investigating the corpses, his companion [[Too Dumb to Live|unwisely]] removes his glove to scratch his nose, allowing a strange red fluid to drip onto his hand.
-Back on board the ''Enterprise'', the [[Red Shirt]] starts acting strangely, in turns belligerent and depressed. He gets into a fight with Sulu and a guy named Lt. Riley, brandishes a dinner knife at them, and mildly injures himself. However, when McCoy operates on him, he dies, seemingly losing his will to live. McCoy is perplexed, as the victim was in good health and was previously known as a strong-willed individual. The reason for his odd behavior soon becomes apparent: he carried a virus that removes inhibitions (and makes one extremely sweaty, incidentally).
+Back on board the ''Enterprise'', the [[Red Shirt]] starts acting strangely, in turns belligerent and depressed. He gets into a fight with Sulu and a guy named Lt. Riley, brandishes a dinner knife at them, and mildly injures himself. However, when McCoy operates on him, he dies, seemingly losing his will to live. McCoy is perplexed, as the victim was in good health and was previously known as a strong-willed individual. The reason for his odd behavior soon becomes apparent: he carries a virus that removes inhibitions (and makes one extremely sweaty, incidentally).
-Chaos engulfs the ship as the virus spreads: crew members act careless, laughing maniacs run around the halls painting creepy messages in red paint, Sulu menaces passersby with a fencing sword, and Spock enters a crippling depression. Worst of all, Riley has locked himself in the engine room, stranding the ship just as the planet is breaking up, threatening the ''Enterprise''. Kirk and Scotty try to break into the engine room while McCoy cooks up a vaccine. However, by the time Scotty gets the door open, it's revealed that the engines were stopped completely and that restarting them would take more time than the planet has. Desperate, Kirk orders Scotty to... [[Techno Babble|do something involving matter/antimatter annihilation]] to get the Enterprise out of the way. Scotty cries that it only has a [[Million-to-One Chance|1-in-10,000 chance]] of not blowing them to smithereens (so, naturally, it will work perfectly), but he needs Spock's help. Kirk tries to [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|slap Spock out of his funk]], but Spock only recovers when Kirk <s>[[Large Ham|hams it up]]</s> empathizes with him under the virus' influence and reveals the heavy burden of being Captain of the ''Enterprise'' -- contrary to popular belief, ''you can never get laid,'' at least not with crew members. McCoy cures the crew and the ship escapes, but with a strange side-effect: it travels about three days backwards in time, in the series' first instance of time travel.
+Chaos engulfs the ship as the virus spreads: crew members act careless, laughing maniacs run around the halls painting creepy messages in red paint, Sulu menaces passersby with a fencing sword, and Spock enters a crippling depression. Worst of all, Riley has locked himself in the engine room, stranding the ship just as the planet is breaking up, threatening the ''Enterprise''. Kirk and Scotty try to break into the engine room while McCoy cooks up a vaccine. However, by the time Scotty gets the door open, it's revealed that the engines were stopped completely and that restarting them would take more time than the planet has. Desperate, Kirk orders Scotty to... [[Techno Babble|do something involving matter/antimatter annihilation]] to get the Enterprise out of the way. Scotty cries that it only has a [[Million-to-One Chance|1-in-10,000 chance]] of not blowing them to smithereens (so, naturally, it will work perfectly), but he needs Spock's help. Kirk tries to [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|slap Spock out of his funk]], but Spock only recovers when Kirk <s>[[Large Ham|hams it up]]</s> empathizes with him under the virus' influence and reveals the heavy burden of being Captain of the ''Enterprise'' -- contrary to popular belief, ''you can never get laid,'' at least not with crew members. McCoy cures the crew and the ship escapes, but with a strange side-effect: it travels about three days backward in time, in the series' first instance of time travel.
 [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]] <s> ripped off</s> simply ''[[Sarcasm Mode|revisited]]'' this scenario in "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S1/E02 The Naked Now|The Naked Now]]." ...'''just''' revisited.
-----
+{{tropelist|page=The Naked Time}}
-=== Tropes ===
+* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: The Enterprise discovers how to [[Time Travel]] as an unintended bonus effect of the episode events.
-* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Uhura's quip when Sulu says, "I'll protect you fair maiden.":
+* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]:
-"Sorry, neither."
+{{quote|'''Sulu''': I'll protect you fair maiden.
+'''Uhura''': Sorry, neither.}}
+* [[Phlebotinum Du Jour]]: "[[w:Polywater|Polywater]]", which was thought to be a real thing in the 1960s.
+** When later series called back or referenced this episode, they [[Retcon|made it a virus instead]], to keep it more plausible.
+* [[What Could Have Been]]: According to [[The Other Wiki]], this was intended to be the first of a two-part story, with "[[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E21 Tomorrow Is Yesterday|Tomorrow Is Yesterday]]" being the second part.
-{{reflist}}
+{{recapfooter}}
-[[Category:Recap]]
-[[Category:Star Trek]]
-[[Category:Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap]]