Script: D.C. Fontana
Story: Nathan Butler (aka Jerry Sohls) and D.C. Fontana
Director: Ralph Senensky
Producer: Gene L. Coon
By this point in the production of the series, it was clear that Mr. Spock was the breakout character of the series, receiving several times the amount of fan mail. Not only that, but he was disproportionately popular with the show's female audience.
And I think that says the most of the impetus of this show, where Spock gets to fall in love. Leonard Nimoy was understandably worried about the effect that this episode would have on his character, but once he saw D.C. Fontana's script, he knew there was nothing to worry about.
The premise is that the ship has been sent to check up on a Federation agricultural colony that was placed on a world that, unbeknownst at the time, is actually subject to deadly radiation, but when the crew beams down, they find all the colonists alive and happy. In addition to that mystery, other things don't add up - like the total lack of any kind of progress when the colony was meant to be a "breadbasket". Among the colonists is a botanist, Leila Kalomi, who had fallen in love with Spock several years earlier, but whose advances were rebuffed.
The secret turns out to be a species of plantlife that shoots spores into humanoid hosts, granting them emotional peace and perfect health in exchange for basically existing solely to ensure the plant's survival and transmission to other hosts. When Spock is exposed, the emotional peace also gives him the ability to feel happiness and love, and express that love to Leila.
Eventually these leads to more Enterprise crew being exposed until they all mass mutiny and beam down to take part in the planetwide Eden. All except Kirk of course, whose sudden devotion to his duty essentially keeps him immune. He eventually discovers that strong negative emotions undoes the bond with the spores, and frees Spock by inciting him into a fistfight. When the rest of the planet is freed, the colony realizes they've accomplished nothing in all the time they've been there, and agree to move to another world.
While a big part of the episode's appeal is in seeing Leonard Nimoy get to smile and laugh and make out, and essentially tap into every fangirl's "I can change him!" fantasy, the meat is in the episode's exploration of paradise. Very much in line with the Original Series ethos, Kirk concludes that essentially paradise is bad for you. That human beings aren't meant for idyllic, peaceful edens, but need goals, challenges, and obstacles to overcome.
The episode is as much a showcase for Shatner as it is for Nimoy, giving him the chance to run a gamut from annoyance, defiance, lonliness, anger and triumph. As much as it explores Spock's hidden desires to be happy, and how unhappy his devotion to his Vulcan upbringing makes him, it also explores Kirk's devotion to his ship, his stubborn inability to accept a simple or easy life, his need for the challenge of command -- a character trait that remained embedded in the character ever since.
Also, when McCoy gets affected his Southern accent ramps up to 11 and it is delightful.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4
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