TOS: The Immunity Syndrome

             There are episodes I question whether or not I have seen them before. Not the immunity syndrome. You don't forget a giant (and I mean thousands of miles long) space amoeba surrounded by a zone of darkness that eats starships. This is also an episode about self sacrifice and about how much McCoy wants to sacrifice himself to prove Spock inferior to him. Unlike the last few episodes this one is pretty straight forward and that isn't a bad thing.
             The episode begins with the Enterprise on it's way to a starbase for some rest and relaxation. So not at all shockingly the receive a garbled message from a starbase about the Intrepid, a Vulcan ship. Before they can get clarification Spock is hit by a wave of pain as he feels the Vulcan crew of the Intrepid suddenly die at once. The Enterprise diverts to investigate and scanners reveal the entire star system is now lifeless. Suddenly they encounter a zone of darkness that makes them feel tired and starts draining the ships systems. This is apparently what destroyed the Intrepid so Kirk makes the obvious choice and flies right in. 
             Inside the find themselves being drawn into the center of the darkness and reversing engines only seems to make them go faster inward. Forward thrust at least slows them down but the ship and crew are being drained of energy at an alarming rate. In the center of the cloud they encounter an 11,000 mile long space amoeba surrounded by wreckage from previous ships it has eaten. After exhausting their options McCoy and Spock agree someone should fly a shuttle in to investigate from the inside for some reason. They can't agree who should go and Kirk has to pick Spock for the role which he is deeply unhappy about.
             Spock flies inside and discovers the organism is about to reproduce. He locates it's chromosomes but loses contact with the Enterprise. Realizing they are out of options Kirk allows the ship to be drawn inside the organism and they plant antimatter bombs on the chromosomes. Just before the bombs go off Kirk uses the last of their energy to lock tractor beams on the shuttle with Spock in it. The bomb destroys the creature and blows both ships clear somehow. 

             What I thought: The write up for this episode is substantially shorter than most of the ones I have done lately, but that is due to lack of convolutedness more than anything else. This is a solid tale of adventure and risking everything to save the galaxy.

8 out of 10