Happy 40th birthday to Star Trek!!

[Ash]

The episode with the salt creature is titled "The Man Trap" and it was the very first regular episode after "The Cage".



She's an ugly bugger ain't she?

[Scott]

That's the one ASHTHECAT. Anyone who liked the original over the new ones has good taste. Always liked Captain Kirk and the rest of the crew. The sets and the colors on the set were great. The story is always interesting and you have to love the music during the action sequences with the kettle drums, trumpets, and other brass.

To see Shatner on the roast the other night at his age was really a treat. He is truely a TV legend.

[RCMerchant]

My favorite is the one with  Micheal J. Pollard...and the planet of rugrats.Bill does a virtuoso one man show in it."NO MORE BAM BAM!" So great...

[WyreWizard]

ASHTHECAT Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The episode with the salt creature is titled "The
> Man Trap" and it was the very first regular
> episode after "The Cage".
>
> http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1884/mantrapag0
> .jpg
>
> She's an ugly bugger ain't she?

According to Star Trek:  The Worlds of the Federation, that is called the M-113 creature.  It lived on a planet called M-113.  From what I seen on that show, this creature cannot really change shape.  It appears to be a telepathic being who is able to make others see it the way it chooses.

But I see a few problems with the M-113 creature.  For one, it seems to survive entirely on salt.  It has to have other nutrients to survive.  For one, how does it metabolize protein?  When it takes salt from its victims, their bodies are mostly intact, suggesting the creature takes only salt and nothing else from them.  If it took protein as well as salt, the bodies of its victims would appear very dessicated.  Aside from salt, this creature also needs carbohydrates to survive.  We can assume it takes carbs as well as salt from its victims.  Since carb loss wouldn't create any visible signs on a body.  Unfortunately, the creature needs a lot more than salt to survive.  We for one survive with the help of hundreds of different nutrients.  If all the M-113 creature survived on was salt, than it would be nothing more than a mound of salt.

[Scott]

Right. The salt monster actually changes it appearence according the the person viewing the creature. Neat idea.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

I gotta say "The Cage" is one of my favorite episodes.  Yeah its technically a pilot, but for all that I really like it.
I also like the one with the glowy thing that feeds on emotions and makes the humand and kilingons fight for all eternity. They have to banish it by getting along and laughing.
-Ed

[Ash]

Ed Wrote:
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I also like the one with the glowy thing that
> feeds on emotions and makes the humand and
> kilingons fight for all eternity. They have to
> banish it by getting along and laughing.
> -Ed

Awesome episode!
It's titled "Day of the Dove".

[trekgeezer]

"The Man Trap" was actually the third episode shot, but the first regular episode shown. The first one shot was "The Corbomite Maneuver" (the one with 5 year old Clint Howard as the alien commander) and was shown third.

Michael Ansara who plays the Klingon Kang in "Day of the Dove",  John Colicos who plays Kor in "Errand of Mercy", and William Campbell who plays "Koloth in The Trouble with Tribbles" (he was also "The Squire of Gothos") all reprised their Klingon roles  nearly 30 years later in the ST:DS9 episode "Blood Oath".

Here are some of my favorite episodes:

The Corbomite Maneuver - Kirk ditches chess for poker and bluffs the commander of really huge ship that looks like that ball they drop in Times Square at New Year.

The Naked Time - The crew goes space happy after a crewman brings back an alien germ. Sulu goes Errol Flynn (he actually punctured Shatner's nipple with the rapier).

The Galileo Seven - Spock is in command of shuttle that crashes on an asteroid inhabited by giant cave men and learns so times an illogical act can be logical.  

Mudd's Women - The first appearance of Harry Mudd. Harry tries to sell three homely women (who have their appearance enhanced by a drug) to some lonely dilithium miners.

I, Mudd - The ship is hijacked by an android named Norman and taken to  planet of Androids ruled by Harry Mudd. This episode features much silly behaviour by Shatner and crew.

Arena - Kirk vs. Lizard

Amok Time - Spock goes into heat and battles Kirk to the death. One of the few episodes where Spock smiles.

Journey to Babel - Family problems come home for Spock when his parents come aboard on a diplomatic mission.

Balance of Terror - The first appearance of the Romulans. A cloaked ship is taking out Federation outposts on the boarder of the Romulan neutral zone. Great shades of Run Silent, Run Deep.

The Trouble with Tribbles - Cutesy furballs, Klingons, and a Federation diplomats cause trouble on a space station. This has  the funniest sequence in the whole series when Scotty starts a fight with the Klingons and has to explain it to Kirk.

The City on the Edge of Forever - Kirk and Spock must follow a delusional McCoy through an ancient time portal to stop him from changing history. Kirk must make a terrible sacrifice. The original screen play was written by Harlan Ellison, and a rewrite was done by Gene Roddenberry to actually make it producable. Harlan has never forgiven them for it (he even wrote a book about it).

A Piece of the Action - Kirk and crew check up on the development of a planet visited by Starfleet 100 years ago, only to find an entire society fashioned after the Chicago mobs of the 1930's. We find out that Kirk can't drive a stick shift.

Mirror, Mirror - Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura get transported to an alternate universe where the Federation is an Empire and promotion is by assasination.  Alternate Spock sports an evil looking goatee, and we get to see Uhura in a two piece uniform complete with exposed belly button (how shameful!).

[RCMerchant]

Your trek fu is much stronger than mine.What was the episode with Richard Kiel as a big head bald bad guy? I like that one alot.

[Fearless Freep]

"The Cage" is interesting because you definitely can tell that Nimoy did not quite have a handle on how to portray Spock.  I don'tnow if Roddenberry and the writers had decided that Vulcans were supposed to be emotionless and totally logical or not, but Spock comes across more like an elf suffering a hang-over than the Spock he would be later

Also, "The Cage" looks much more like sci-fi (especially TV series) of the time.  Although still saddled with special-effects and production quality of the time, they managed to lift the rest of the series up to a more 'timeless' feel.  I give a lot of credit for that to Shatner, Deforest Kelly and James Doohan (along with Nimoy).  The cast from "The Cage" just seemed a bit too cookie-cutter for that era of TV show making.  Whataver you say abouth Shatner, I think he was a lot more interesting and pleasent to watch then Pike would've been over a series

[trekgeezer]

RC, the episode you're talking about is "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" The actor of which you speak is not Richard Keil, but Ted Cassidy who played Lurch on the Adams family. He has a very distinctive and deep voice and did a lot of voice work in Saturday morning cartoons.

A missing scientist who is the lost love of Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) has run across an ancient society which was taken over by the machines they built to do their work.

Kirk does his usual and makes the girl android fall for him.

[Ash]

I always wondered who played that big bald android in that episode!
He throws one of Kirk's Red Shirts over the edge into that chasm.

I remember that episode.

[RCMerchant]

It wasn't Richard Kiel! Wow.Ted Cassidy and RK look quite similar under heavy makeup,I guess.Another favorite trek episode...the one where they land on aplanet,and some weird plant makes Spock fall in love,McCoy turn into a hippy dippy...then Kirk had to ruin everyones fun.Lesson:Drugs are bad.Hippy thinking is evil. But,I actually agree.How can you cruise around space and fight alien monsters if your wasted?

[Ash]

Isn't that episode called "Shore Leave"?

[trekgeezer]

Actually, it's called "The Paradise Syndrome". Everybody leaves the ship, but Kirk finds out that violent emotions overcome the spores influence. He tricks Spock into beaming up, then calls him all kinds of names so he'll get p**sed. Spock then  proceeds to beat the crap out Kirk before overcoming the spores.