Star Trek 1.4 (The Naked Time)

First Aired: September 29, 1966

Cast:
Stewart Moss (Joe Tormolen)
Bruce Hyde (Lt. Kevin Thomas Riley)
William Knight (Amorous Crewman)
John Bellah (Laughing Crewman)

Writer: John D.F. Black

I am very familiar with this episode for two reasons - firstly, I like it, and secondly I had not realised how similar the Next Generation remake (The Naked Now) was!

Also, this is the first episode of the run that has all of the season one regulars in place - Uhura, Rand, Sulu, Scotty, Chapel, Kirk, Spock, McCoy - all are there. And it's so cool to have them!

The plot moves along at a nice pace, and there is time for some enjoyable, and funny, character moments, but as their situation gets more serious, as the ship stops working and the planet starts to break up, there is a real sense of tension, even though you know in your heart of hears that they are going to survive. It is great watching everyone going bonkers, with only a few people remaining sane. The frustration on Shatners face as Kirk has to deal with the degenerating situation are great, Sulu going mental with a sword (surely one of the most iconic images of any character within the show) is a lot of fun, Kevin Riley taking over engineering and demanding ice cream and singing over the intercom is also funny when it could have got annoying. We also find out for the first time that Chapel has a thing for Spock.

One gripe - there is a Captains Log that says, and I quote, "...our need for efficiency critical, but unknown to us, a totally new and unusual disease has been bought aboard." How the hell can you do a Captains log that basically says "however, unbeknown to us..." It just sticks out. The Captains Log cannot be used to communicate something that the Captain does not know at the time. It's just bollocks.

Generally, this is a fun episode, the only part I was not convinced by was the last few moments where Kirk and Spock fight and this somehow cures Spock and he thinks up the formula for a "never been done before" cold start on the Enterprise engines and it causes them to go back in time in a way that is not at all relevant to the story and serves it in no way whatsoever. Yep, Kirk does the timewarp a few years before the cast of Rocky Horror! It is a slightly hokey ending that lets down an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable episode.

Crew Deaths: 1
Total Crew Deaths So Far: 17
Score: 7/10