The Tholian Web

Season 3, episode 9. The Enterprise in previously uninvestigated territory run across the USS Defiant, a ship that is considered derelict and it vanished 3 weeks prior. Space is essentially breaking up, according to Spock's readings and logic. Sensors do not pick up the Defiant but they see it on their viewing screen, and their is no response from the ship when hailed. Kirk, Spock, Chekhov and McCoy board the Defiant wearing protective gear - they find 2 crew members dead, one seemingly about to chock the other when they died... looking like maybe a mutiny was about to occur. McCoy examines them and finds the Defiant's captain's neck broken. Kirk calls for some security because they fear that mutineers are aboard the ship and have all area of the Defiant searched... then he cancels the the security crew orders to Mr. Scott. All are dead on the Defiant when the ship is searched. While searching the area Chekov is overcome by something, almost fainting. Bones reported that all appeared to have killed each other on the Defiant. Then McCoy reports that the ship is dissolving, his hand just went though a solid object. The Enterprise can see the Defiant dissolving and is happening to the Enterprise as well. Only 3 can be beamed back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk decides to beam back last and he his disappeared along with the Defiant before Scotty can get him back to the ship. All contact with Kirk has been lost, with Spock in command of the Enterprise they must find away to get Kirk back before the Enterprise and crew disappears as well. Another problem: they must do this before all crew members go mad and kill each other or they will have the same fate as the Defiant. Time/Space fabric is ripping apart at that part of the Universe so it's a race against time - and space. The Tholians have taken over at area of space and will tolerate deceit - they are also punctual as Spock pointed out.

This is an episode that I recall rarely being shown on TV in the 80s when I was watching Star Trek fairly regularly. Having acquired all the Star Trek episodes recently, I am very pleased to see this one again. The Tholians are indeed a good foe and they are up against the always logical Mr. Spock acting as captain of an excellent starship crew. A very exciting episode.

9.5/10

One of the highest quality productions in TOS universe. Kirk is trapped alone in a hidden, unpredictable, parallel universe. Spock deals with the building tension of Enterprise systems failures, Tholian attacks, Kirk's disappearance, and McCoy's ranting in such a calm manner it only adds to the tension. With the crew going berserk, Kirk's ghostly 'phasing in and out' and the Tholians closing the trap, the well-written interactions between McCoy and Spock are the one thing the viewer can hang their sanity on. There's a lot going on and the writers and production staff did a stellar job in telling the story.

Even as a casual "Star Trek" fan I know about the somewhat difficult circumstances that the series' third and final season were made under. Creator Gene Roddenberry all but checked out, the budget was slashed and the show was moved to a Friday night dead zone time slot. In short, the writing was on the wall.

These challenges led to the show having to adapt and become less ambitious in terms of its scope and scale relative to seasons one and two. This has given the perception that season three is, for lack of a better word, "bad". However in recent years season three seems to have been re-evaluated a bit and many fans, both hardcore and casual, have found that there are more than a few very strong episodes to be found there. Take "The Tholian Web".

Character focused and story driven, this episode is smart, efficient and often compelling. It's a case where the lack of resources probably forced the writers and producers to focus on the fundamentals rather than try and distract us with baubles and beads.

As I write this, I'm struggling to place "The Tholian Web" into a Trek tier. Is it an all-time, top-ten? No. Though to be fair I'm still making my way through the series. But it seems to fit nicely on that shelf just below, and I'd have absolutely no qualms about revisiting it again in the, um, future.

A web that was thoroughly bare, I'm not sure that anyone cares, laddered, crosshatched, in need of a patch, to plug everything that just isn't there.

Fading in and out of phase with the Enterprise, the captain is caught interspace while a pair of alien vessels take up cross stitching.

The Enterprise enters a region of space where space itself phases in and out. Another starship, the Defiant, and her crew have already fallen victim to this spatial malady. Kirk beams over to the shifting Defiant with Spock, McCoy and Chekov; we get to see the crew wearing funky spacesuits in this one. In an eerie sequence of scenes, we see that the Defiant's crew appears to have killed each other. This shifting space also affects the brains of humans, causing a degeneration into insanity. These and later scenes recall the bouts of insanity in "Is There in Truth no Beauty?" earlier this same season. Unfortunately, Kirk should have left Chekov on the Enterprise; Scotty is able to beam back only 3 of them at a time and the Defiant fades away before they can get Kirk back - he's gone, all the way gone (there's something about the number 3 on this show). They even hold a funeral service for Kirk later; yes, this is Kirk's final episode...just kidding. Then the Tholians show up. They're territorial and want the Enterprise outta there!

Like about half of the 3rd season episodes, this is saddled with a snail pace in spots, but the alien Tholians almost make up for this. While we were still seeing actors in lame appliances 20 and 25 years later on the later series (TNG, DS9, etc.) to display alien reps, here we see a truly innovative attempt at visualizing an alien race, complete with an unusual audio signature. You won't soon forget the Tholians. Their energy web - well, that's another matter: seems to me this tactic would work only if an enemy vessel sat unmoving for an hour or two, not using its weaponry. How often does that happen? This episode is also unusual in that Kirk shows up only in the pre-credits scenes, the first act and then disappears until the last 5 minutes (not counting his shots as a ghost). Hence, we observe a new group dynamic shifting into place to fill in the gap: Spock & McCoy further their tense relationship, while Scotty moves in to complete a new trinity. There's an interesting scene with the trio in Spock's quarters near the end, just before final maneuvers are to be made and Scotty walks off with obvious plans to get drunk.