Assignment: Earth

One of the best Star Trek episodes was this one where the Enterprise has troubles reconciling past, present, and future when it interferes with a transporter beam that takes a man from the future on the ship and the whole ship and crew are beamed to 1968.

The man from the future is Robert Lansing, code name Gary Seven and he's there to find what happened to a pair of agents from his time which is a thousand years ahead of the Enterprise future. He has a mission and he's on a deadline having to do with an orbiting satellite with an array of impressive nuclear weapons.

The dilemma for William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy and for the whole Enterprise crew is what to do. They follow Lansing down, but of course aren't sure how their actions might change history. The not knowing makes this a most tense episode.

Also Teri Garr gives a wonderful performance as a young woman who'd been hired by the two missing agents whom we learn were killed as a secretary. She's a bright but somewhat spacy girl who isn't quite sure what she's caught up in. Every scene she's in, Teri Garr steals.

Another thought provoking episode from Star Trek prime.

Robert Lansing and a young Teri Garr shine in this episode which features Lansing as the fascinating character Gary Seven who along with his black cat assistant, Isis, surely deserved more appearances in the tv series. Looking back it's fascinating to see Kirk and Spock in the vicinity of an Apollo rocket and the episode topically for its time highlights the potential for an accidental nuclear catastrophe. Some clever gadgets are also used by Seven including one similar to Dr Who's sonic screwdriver and an early version of a voice activated dictation machine!

This was a pilot episode of a new series produced by Gene Roddenberry about a time traveler named 'Gary Seven'. And the idea was introduced by having the stars of this potential series appear on a Star Trek episode. Robert Lansing appears uncredited as this main character (why he wasn't listed in the credits is odd considering he was obviously the star). I liked Lansing's cold and somewhat rigid style--I really thought it worked for his character, but I also realize this might have also left some feeling rather cold about him. He wasn't exactly 'Mr. Personality' in the episode. Instead, the major emoting was done by his ditsy assistant played by Teri Garr. It seems the spin off series was to have been about a man who traveled from a far more advanced world to secretly help mankind.

However, when Mr. Seven accidentally lands on the Enterprise, they are shocked to see him and think he's up to no good. You see, the Enterprise actually meant to go back to the 20th century to do some unobserved data collection for historical reasons and there is no conceivable reason why they should intercept a space traveler all the way back then. How all this is resolved is something you'll have to see for yourself.

As for the strengths of the show, the acting was very good and humor was infused now and again to make the show seem not so heavy-handed--which I appreciated. Unfortunately, the pilot was never picked up--and Roddenberry had a lousy track record in trying to bring other sci-fi shows to television (such as his two attempts with the character Dylan Hunt). And considering that it was pretty entertaining and a very interesting concept, I always feel a bit wistful when I see this episode.

The thing about this episode that stands out for me is my reaction to it when I saw it premier in early 1968, when I was 14. Terri Garr's character, far from playing as a ditzy blonde, instead read to all of us as a member of the baby boomer generation saddled with the hypocritical bs of those over 30, who we were learning to Not Trust. Thus her character suspiciously blowing the whistle on one and all, ultimately leading to her fine peroration toward the end where she expresses the hopes and fears of a generation. We all marveled at this episode in school during the course of the following week, and all boomer trekies have a soft spot in their hearts for Terri Garr on the strength of this performance. I'd also add that you have to remember we were all too close in memory to the Cuban Missile crisis of Oct 1962 for comfort. The notion of a nuclear war was physically felt back in those days in a way that it hasn't been since, well, 1962.

An enjoyable episode but I've decided to focus on a few perhaps lesser known points.

The Policeman who says 'Charlie' to his colleague (when beamed aboard the Enterprise) is the actor Ted Gehring who had a long career appearing in many well known series (Bonanza - The Virginian - The Fugative) to name but a few. He also met Mr Shatner again in TJ Hooker.

Meanwhile his sidekick was none other than Bruce Mars who played Finnegan in Shore Leave. He played that role very well but I cannot find a reason why his career ended in 1969.

Footnote Bruce is now known as Brother Paramananda, he is a senior monk in the Self-Realization Fellowship.

One other point which I do not understand is why - after the CGI enhancements - they left the rather obvious 'still' photographs of the rocket in the episode.