Welcome back to the land of camp! I want to point out that even though I am about to rip into certain parts of this episode it is quite a fun one to watch. Before I start ripping I want to point out that one of my favorite parts of this episode is the Commodore. The last several Commodores have ranged from incompetent to insane. This one isn't exactly captain material, but he clearly respects Kirk and only step in after his hand has been forced. However the competence hearing he calls is by far the most boring part of the episode and could have been cut down to 3 or 4 minutes to the great benefit of the episode.
The episode opens with the Enterprise checking in on a Federation colony. When they beam down the find the place deserted. Chekov discovers a dead body and is absolutely terrified. The man died of old age, but just before Spock can point out that is impossible, none of the colonists were old enough, two surviving colonists arrive. Despite being chronologically 29 and 27 years old, they appear to be in their 80's. And unlike the rest of the aging in this episode it is very believable due to hiring aged actors rather than resorting to questionable aging makeup... Soon after beaming back Kirk's memory starts to go and when he asks McCoy about it Scotty also arrives with suddenly grey hair. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Lt. Galway and Spock to a lesser degree all start having progressively heavier aging makeup applied through the rest of the episode.
The B story this episode revolves around Dr. Janet Wallace, a former lover of the captain who is aboard on her way to Starbase 10 with Commodore Stocker. Despite breaking off her relationship with Kirk 6 years ago and marrying another man, she has found the only one she wants in her life is Kirk. Kirk clearly enjoys her company, but doesn't seem to share her enthusiasm for starting their relationship over.
Back to the main story Stocker is increasingly agitated on the bridge as Kirk continues to refuse to head to Starbase 10 while they investigate the aging problem. The captain is starting to lose his ability to command as he can't remember which orders he has given and what documents he has signed. Stocker pulls Spock aside to insist a competency hearing be called. He is clearly right, Kirk is in no shape to command, but Spock resists, maybe he knows what it would do to the pacing of this episode. But the Commodore prevails and the hearing is on. The bridge crew are called upon to state if the captain is repeating himself/losing his memory and the hearing concludes with Spock refusing to take command on the grounds that he is also being effected to the Commodore takes command.
And what a command he takes, his first orders are to fly to Starbase 10 directly through the neutral zone. Meanwhile they have discovered that Chekov getting hella scared may be preventing him from aging which clearly means they need to use adrenalin or something. A classic Star Trek last minute technobabble solution is arrived at just before Stocker can get the ship destroyed by Romulans. Kirk recovers just in time to take back control and save the day with a bluff.
Episodic judgement: I can't call this one of the truly great episodes. The cheesy makeup, pacing problems and overall silliness prevent that. But overall it manages to stay tense while still having moments of humor. Also it is really nice that Kirk was in fact clearly wrong to not leave sooner for Starbase 10.
6 out of 10
Side note: The remedy in this episode reminded me pretty strongly of the solution to the space virus in The Andromeda Strain which was published two years later.
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