An Alternate Trek

[Lindseyman]

Episode 7 Shiva Broadcast February 18th 1967

On mission date 401.9, the Endeavour, exploring the Wilder star system finds a derelict ship floating in space. Its hull identifies it as the Shiva. It has all the appearances of an enlarged version of a late 20th Century space shuttle. Intrigued as there is no record of the Shiva nor should an earth ship of its period have made it this far in the time since the 2000s, Pike orders a scan of the ship. They detect about 100 suspended animation pods but more horribly a working warp drive which was not invented for another sixty years!

A landing party consisting of Braun, Doctor Noyce, Chief Engineer Scott, and historian Lieutenant Wheeler (Anneke Wills), is beamed over to the freighter. Wheeler is selected because she specialized in late 20th-century history and culture. The landing party finds a cargo of 94 humans, 82 of whom are still alive in suspended animation after 200 years. Scott examines the engines and finds that they are very similar to Cochrane’s but much cruder especially with regard to the antimatter shielding. Wheeler finds the stasis tube that contains the body of the group's leader. The male occupant begins to revive, but his stasis cell begins to fail; he is taken back to Endeavour for a medical examination.

Pike has the Shiva taken in tow by a tractor beam, and Chekov starts calculating the quickest course for CSB Gandhi. In sickbay, Wheeler marvels over the man, who is a living relic from an era she has studied all her life. The patient puts a scalpel to Fynely's throat, demanding to know where he is. Fynely responds by suggesting the optimal way to kill him if he wishes to do so. Impressed by Fynely's bravery, the man puts the scalpel down and introduces himself as "Khan" (special guest star Pran Sikhand). To Wheeler and Fynely’s horror on finding where he is, Khan says “Ah yes, so he was right after all”

Spock discovers that their guest is Gunwant Khan who, along with his people, are products of 20th-century genetic engineering designed to be perfect humans. The genetic superhumans instead took over the Middle East and South Asia sparking global war. At end of WWIV, between ninety and a hundred of them were unaccounted for; Khan is recorded the most dangerous of these people.

Khan is given quarters, although his door is locked and an armed guard posted outside. Pike and Stiles question him. He is quite forthcoming about how he knows about the Endeavour. Not only did the beaming back of Cochrane not result in him forgetting about the incident with the Endeavour (episode 3 Yesterday is Tomorrow) but Stiles and Holmes had also left behind a communicator. Khan kidnapped Cochrane in the early 90s and interrogated him for all he knew. He also acquired the communicator from the vaults beneath the Tower of London. His scientists knowing that warp drive was possible and reverse engineering the communicator developed a crude warp drive. Asked how he knew about Cochrane, Khan replies “You weren’t the only ones around at that time”.

Khan manages to escape and beams back aboard the Shiva (causing more consternation as he knows how to operate the machinery)where he revives the rest of his supermen. They return to Endeavour and assume control of the ship. Khan throws Pike into a decompression tank, and threatens to slowly suffocate him unless Pike's command crew agree to follow Khan. Spock frees Pike from the chamber but at the cost of his own life. Pike and Noyce vent anesthetic gas throughout the entire ship to disable Khan and his cohorts. Khan escapes the gas and heads to Engineering, where he attempts to destroy Endeavour, but Scott confronts him and a brawl ensues. Though outmatched by Khan's superior strength, Scott uses a tool as a club to knock the superman unconscious.

When Khan and the other superhumans are rounded up, Pike holds a hearing to decide their fate. Khan is unapologetic but states that he regrets Spock's death although he died as a good subordinate should in defence of his commander. Pike decides that Khan and his followers should be put back into suspended animation until the Commonwealth authorities decide what to do with them. He freely admits that his own judgement would be faulty because of the death of Spock. Khan's final statement is to warn Pike that there are forces in play that make the Commonwealth look as but children in comparison. The Endeavour tows the Shiva to the jump point where it makes a rendezvous with CSS Warspite and CSS Solath who are to tow the Shiva to Earth. They also take Spock’s body so that it can be transported to Vulcanis. A memorial service is held for Spock. Pike makes a full report to Fleet headquarters and as he expects the Endeavour is recalled to Earth.

 

[Lindseyman]

The viewing figures for Star Trek were remarkable. It trounced the BBC early saturday evening programmes with the exceptions of Doctor Who and the Forsyte Saga ( which the Beeb were very careful not to have clash with Star Trek). This was despite mixed reviews in the papers. The established critics hated it as it was sci-fi although even they admitted that it was more thought provoking than most programmes. The other critics really liked it and said that it was an exceptionally good follow-up to Thunderbirds that deserved its prime time billing. As always the British public went their own way and voted with their choice of channels.

ITC had a smash. Star Trek sold everywhere, even when it had to be dubbed. The one market it couldn't crack was the US. The networks wouldn't touch it despite it getting exceptional viewing figures everywhere it was shown. Lew Grade once said in an interview that he thought that to begin with it was sour grapes on the US broadcasters part as they had all rejected Roddenberry's initial pitch.Then he was told that it was "too British". However he had very few problems selling his other productions to the US even those which were really British such as "Randall and Hopkirk deceased"!.

 

[Lindseyman]

Apologies in advance there are 3 posts here in one. I was busy whilst the board was being maintained. Please let me know what you think.

Episode 8 The Guardian of Time Broadcast February 25th 1967

Mission Date 404.8, the Endeavour is on route to Earth having been recalled after the Shiva incident. After a jump they receive a strange signal giving them a set of jump coordinates. These would take them light years away from explored space. They ignore the signal and make the next jump towards Earth. When making the jump there is a strange discontinuity and they do not arrive at their expected destination but at the coordinates given in the signal. They make several attempts to leave but all fail. Pike then gives the order for the Endeavour to set course for the planet from which the signal emanates.

Pike, Stiles, Holmes and Noyce beam down to the point from where the signal is generated. They are met by a humanoid figure wearing a gown with a deep hood and they are unable to make out his face. This figure tells them that they are expected but are late and have little time to put things right and that they can call him Guardian. On asked what he means, the Guardian says that history is being radically changed and as they, albeit unwittingly, were the agents of that change they have to put it right. Holmes again asks why. The Guardian sighs and mutters that no matter where they are humans are always the same! He shows them a viewscreen upon which he first shows them being thrown back to the Earth of 1964 and then their recent incident with Khan. He then shows them pictures of “what is yet to be”. They show Khan and his fellow supermen being released from stasis and being set free. Over the next ten years they take over Earth, then the Commonwealth and start a war with the Klingons. The Commonwealth and the Klingons fight each other to a standstill and then, both sides of the conflict are conquered by Aliens, that the shocked Endeavour crew do not recognise. Rhihannaun is the name given to them by their guide.

The Rhihannaun have been clandestinely observing the Earth for a thousand years or more observes the Guardian. They never made a move because of the Vulcanians and Klingons. Your accident gave them an opening and they took advantage of it. A few bribes in the right places in both time periods and they get what they want the Klingons and Humans as their slaves forever more. Khan is just the fall guy! Stiles and Holmes are told to retrieve their communicator and Pike and Noyce to ensure that Khan does not capture Cochrane (Tony Booth).

He leads them to another room and machine. Pike enquires as to the planet’s name. He is told that it has had many but none are currently relevant. The Guardian then informs them that he is the last of his race. He sends Stiles and Holmes through the machine, which he calls a portal, back to the RAF base in 1964. Their quest goes without a hitch although they nearly run into themselves and the military policeman again. Pike and Noyce then go through to ensure Khan does not capture Cochrane. They manage to intercept the kidnappers and to free Cochrane. They then have a dilemma; they cannot ensure that Khan does not capture Cochrane at a later date unless they kill him. Cochrane works this out as well and says that he is willing to die. His son has emigrated to Australia and does not need him any more. Pike and Noyce both object to killing him as it would make them no better than Khan. In the middle of their argument they, together with Cochrane, end up back on the strange planet with the Guardian, Stiles and Holmes.

The Guardian states that they have proved worthy of his trust and that Cochrane will be returned to Earth at a date after Khan is too preoccupied with other matters to be bothered with him. Cochrane says his farewells and jumps back through the portal. The Guardian informs them that their history has now been fully repaired but also warns them that there are consequences to their actions. Pike and the others signal the Endeavour that they are ready to beam up. Just as they are leaving Pike asks the Guardian his name. The Guardian replies but his reply is lost in the whine of the transporter.

Postscript


The actor who played the Guardian was never credited. Rumours abounded about the character and whom he was meant to be. Of course the most popular rumour was that he was this timeline’s version of the Doctor, however this was never confirmed nor denied, but it was pointed out that there would be the odd copyright issue involved if that was the case, and the furore died down. There were also persistent rumours about a deleted scene. This was easily dealt with, as there are always scenes that are filmed but not used. There it rested until 2003, when the BBC showed this episode of Star Trek at 6pm on Friday 21st of November as part of a run of ITC programmes to which they had acquired the rights (including Thunderbirds which they had finished showing 2 months before). After the credits had been run there was an extra scene. As Pike was beaming back to the Endeavour you heard him say “Who?” in response to the Guardian’s lost reply. There is a dry chuckle from within the hood and the Guardian says in a more familiar cheery voice, “Well that’s the first time I’ve been called that here!” and pulls back his hood to reveal Patrick Troughton.

Episode 9 The Court Martial Broadcast March 4th 1967

Unusually for Star Trek, there was a scene before the titles. It showed a court martial and the Judge Advocate General (special guest star Peter Cushing) was passing sentence on Christopher Pike. “You have pleaded guilty to all charges and it is therefore the decision of this court that you are relieved of command of the CSS Endeavour and all the rights and duties thereof”. (Roll titles.)

The programme proper opens with the Judge Advocate General Admiral (retd) Campbell-Foreman and the Board (Admiral Ross (guest star Guy Doleman), Admiral Bourne (guest star Nigel Green) and Admiral Saito (special guest star Sessue Hayakawa)) taking their seats in the courtroom together with the prosecution council Captain Reid (guest star Ian Hendry) and the defence council Captain Decker (Richard Bradford). During the programme it is made clear that Decker volunteered to be Pike’s defence council as Pike was not going to contest the charges so that his crew were not also charged.

Pike has been charged with altering the course of history and so recklessly endangering the billions of lives in the Commonwealth and beyond. The court goes through the entire last 4 months of Pike’s command. They pay special notice to the incident that the Endeavour back to 1964 although this board acknowledges that Pike and his crew were exonerated in a former board hearing. The board then turns its attention to the Shiva incident of which there are no records what so ever in the Endeavour’s computer banks, nor in the memories of any the crew EXCEPT Pike, Noyce, Stiles and Holmes. Spock is well and truly alive and is a witness at the Court Martial. Pike is relentlessly cross-examined as are the other three and it becomes increasingly clear that they are not believed.

The incident with the Guardian of Time is then dissected. There is no evidence of Fleet Headquarters recalling the Endeavour but there are orders sending them to the jump coordinates of the Guardian’s planet as there were strange signals emanating from that point in space. However in the light of Pike’s report on returning to the Endeavour, the CSS Zeng He was sent there. In a video link, the captain of the Zeng He confirms buildings similar to those described by the four in their reports but that they have obviously been abandoned for centuries due to their state of repair. Reid then goes to town over the lost communicator and the fact that Cochrane remembered the incident. It becomes apparent that they are going to be found guilty.

Decker puts up an admirable closing defence statement; this draws on the fact that the defendants cannot be found guilty of anything as there are no other records than the defendant’s own memories. He argues you cannot be convicted on a confession if there is no other evidence to support that confession. The Admirals withdraw to consider their verdict.

They come back in and begin to deliver the verdict. Suddenly the video screen comes back to life. There are wavy lines all over it and a voice can be heard bemoaning the inefficiency of human equipment. Finally a picture appears it is the Guardian. He states that if they are going to convict Pike they might as well see of what he is being convicted. The screen then shows the astonished court the entire Shiva and planet episodes. The Zeng He confirms that the signals are coming from the planet they are currently orbiting but that the source is intermittent as if it’s not there all the time. The judges withdraw again and the sound of arguing can be heard coming from the chambers.

The judges return and deliver an altered verdict. Pike is relieved of his command but is promoted to Admiral to act as the Fleet’s representative on the executive board of the Department of Temporal Investigations, under the chairmanship of Campbell-Foreman. Braun is offered the captaincy of the Endeavour but turns it down at this time, so to his astonishment Decker is offered the captaincy and he accepts.

 

[Lindseyman]

Addendum to postscript

Although the scene had been done with the full cooperation of both casts and crews both the ITC and BBC management went ballistic. The BBC because they didn't want to have to include Star Trek as part of the Who universe as they didn't have the budget (or were not willing to have that budget),ITC because it was a BBC character and they didn't want copyright issues or the public expecting this Doctor to act as Deus ex Machina for problems that the crew couldn't solve and perhaps more importantly they didn't want the public seeing them as one interlinked programme (and lets be honest neither management were consulted!).

So the clips were "destroyed". Fortunately not as successfully as occurred to some BBC programmes! Interestingly it was the BBC who went looking to see if it still survived when they acquired the rights to the original ITC Star Trek (and other programmes in 2000) as they had half an eye on Doctor Who's 40th anniversary in 2003. A copy was found in the belongings of an Ex ITC cameraman and was used.

The fallout from the clip being shown was that the naysayers at the BBC were totally silenced and BBC Wales and Russell T Grant were given the final green light for their reboot of Doctor Who.

 

[Lindseyman]

A bit more from the handbook

The Vulcanians

Inhabitants of Epsilon Eridani II, Vulcanians are humanoids with pointed ears, slanted eyebrows and a very red complexion. They do look remarkably like the popular image of the devil, lacking only horns, teeth and tail! This did cause some consternation at first contact and some people still harbour doubts about them because of the way they look.

Vulcanians are intensely interested in humans and their history and helped greatly with the rebuilding in the aftermath of WWV. At first it was believed that this was because we had undergone the war that they had avoided, however after the Klingon War it appeared that it was also because the Vulcanians thought that they had found a lost colony of Klingons who had forgotten that they were Klingons and instead of following the trends of Klingon history were instead following the trends of Vulcanian history! One example is that the Klingons never developed monotheistic religions that promoted peace even as an unattainable ideal, Earth had at least 4 (if you included Buddhism which isn't monotheistic) that believed in the ideals even if they didn't always achieve them in practice. Vulcanis had had 3.

Vulcanians had avoided their equivalent of WWV by adopting a Buddhist like philosophy. This enabled them to control their emotions which are at least as intense as human ones often more so, especially those connected with aggression. They had developed much more slowly than humans taking 4 thousand years from their equivalent of Earth's late classical period to Industrialisation. They have had space flight for 800 years and warp and jump technology for 600 years.

They discovered Earth in the early 1800s when an exploration ship discovered Sol's jump point. The Vulcanian's had then kept an eye on us for the reasons mentioned above. It was Christopher Cochrane's discovery of Warp Drive before WWV and his achievement in building a working warpship in the aftermath of that conflict that precipitated first contact.

Just as some humans are wary of Vulcanians, so some Vulcanians are wary of humans. They keep expecting us to revert to Klingon type. This fear was especially intense during the Earth-Klingon War when Humans showed that they could be just as lethal warriors as the Klingons. The shock was that after that conflict, humans then proposed the Commonwealth with equality of species rather than founding a Terran Empire to rival the Klingon Empire.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 10 Where No One Has Gone Before Broadcast March 11th 1967

On mission date 431.6, the Endeavour is on a mapping mission, the first under the command of Matthew Decker. Things are not going smoothly, Decker has a very different command style to Pike and the crew, especially Braun, are finding it hard to adapt. Things have not gone completely wrong because the crew are professionals and he is their commanding officer but mainly because Decker stuck his head above the parapet to defend Pike at his Court Martial. The jump engines have been behaving increasingly erratically since they were used to jump start the warp engines (episode 2 Inhibitions) even though Scott, O’Gorman and indeed the Fleet and Navy specialists can find nothing wrong. Then one jump they fail completely and the Endeavour ends up in the space between solar systems.

This has never happened to any Commonwealth ship and there are only vague records of it happening to either Vulcanian or Andorian ships. In these cases the failures happened close enough to a solar system that it could be reached by warp drive within 2 months. On scanning around them the Endeavour’s crew find that the nearest star system is 2 years away at maximum warp and their engines wouldn’t hold out that long. Whilst the crew are digesting this news sensors pick up an approaching object. It looks like a moving purple force field. It cuts through the shields and defensive systems as if they don’t exist. The field appears on the bridge and moves from person to person. When it reaches Eisen it brightens and encloses him. Decker tries to push Eisen out of the way but is repelled by the field. It contracts around Eisen and then disappears. Eisen collapses to the deck. When Eisen opens his eyes, they glow with an inner purple light. Decker orders him to the Medical Centre so that he can be closely observed.

Eisen develops psychic powers and becomes increasingly arrogant and hostile toward the rest of the crew, declaring that he has become godlike, enforcing his desires with fearsome displays of telepathic and telekinetic power. These powers do all seem to be connected to metal which Eisen always had had a slight ability to manipulate. He had said that it had run in his family since they were interned in German Concentration Camps during WWII. Spock and Braun advise Decker that Eisen may have to be killed before his powers develop further, but Decker angrily disagrees.

Finally alarmed by another display of intemperance by Eisen, Decker decides that he will have to order the self destruction of the Endeavour. However not only does Eisen prevent the self destruct mechanism from working, he also causes the Endeavour to move at fantastic speeds to the nearest solar system. A journey that should have taken 2 years took 2 minutes! The effort has drained his powers and Eisen is once again his old self. He warns Decker and Braun that they should kill him now whilst he is powerless. They are unwilling to do this but they do find that there is a habitable planet in this solar system. They decide to maroon Eisen on this planet with no metal objects.

Noyce manages to keep Eisen sedated, he warns that he is already using a strength that would sedate a herd of Elephants. Scott and the engineering crew think that they have found the malfunction in the jump engines and have repaired it, however they cannot guarantee that it will work. They orbit the planet and beam the sedated Eisen down. Decker orders that they make a run for the jump point. It would appear that Eisen has woken up and recovered his powers, the ship is rattled like a tin can and keeps being shaken almost to the point of coming apart at the seams. They reach the jump point and take the chance. Luckily it functions and they end up in an already mapped system.

Back on the Endeavour, Decker makes a log entry that Eisen is "missing in action," rationalizing that he did not ask for what happened to him. However he does inform the authorities that there is a powerful being on that planet and the system should be placed under General Order 2 (this is the only General Order that carries the Death Penalty). This the Commonwealth does.

Note
No guest stars this episode or the next one or two. Guest star budget blown on the court martial episode!

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 11 Yin and Yang Broadcast March 18th 1967

On mission date 452.1, the Endeavour is on a geological exploration of the fourth planet in the Roosevelt system. Science Officer Stein falls from an embankment and injures his hand. He is immediately beamed back to the Endeavour for medical treatment. During the beamup, the transporter system behaves oddly. Nearly losing Stein, Chief Engineer Scott immediately checks over the transporter equipment, but finds nothing wrong. He only notices magnetic dust from some ore samples covering Stein's uniform when he materialized. Scott orders him to have the uniform decontaminated.

Soon afterward, Spock beams back to the ship. The transporter seems to work smoothly, but Spock feels disoriented. Scott escorts him out of the room, leaving it empty. A moment later, a second Spock materializes on the transporter pad and no one is aware of his arrival. This Spock is the "other half" of a split persona: a physical manifestation of his more selfish and evil qualities.

The first thing the "evil" Spock does is head to his quarters, where he quaffs a bottle of Vulcanian spirits spilling some of it down his tunic. Snarling he leaves his quarters and heads for the Science Labs.
Back in the transporter room, Scott beams up an animal specimen from the landing party, which appears to be a cat like creature. Two "cats", however, arrive on the transporter pads. One is extremely vicious, while the other is very docile, yet they appear physically identical. Confirming that the team only beamed one animal to the ship, Scotty realizes that something is very wrong with the transporter system. He is forced to stop using the transporter until further notice.

Meanwhile, the evil Spock, appearing drunk and disorderly, enters the Science Labs. Whilst there he does some analysis on the samples from the planet but loses his temper and sweeps the samples and the microscope from his bench cutting his hand . He storms out of the lab and heads to the medical centre. Whilst there he abuses Fynely and has to be physically stopped from assaulting Stein. Noyce at this point comments that its very hard sometimes to not assault Stein! However he contacts the bridge to inform Braun what has happened.

Simultaneously, on the bridge, the good Spock, who has the con, begins to show signs of weakness, apparently losing his ability to give orders, the so-called "power of decision." When Scott informs the Command Crew of what happened to the animal and Noyce’s report about Spock is heard Decker and Braun realise what has happened. Decker gives orders for all crewmen to arm themselves with phasers set for stunning force and locked and for all crewmen to be on the lookout for the impostor, the evil Spock, who can be identified by the cuts on his hand. The crewmen are not to injure the evil Spock.

The evil Spock, hearing the Decker's orders, hides the scratches on his hands with gloves and acquires a phaser from a crewman, whom he also incapacitates, and then hides in the lower levels of the ship. Anticipating how his other half will behave, the good Spock finds the evil Spock on the Engineering Deck, and Braun disables both with a phaser set to stun. She observes the that evil Spock is showing signs of fatigue. It is quickly surmised that neither Spock can survive for long in his separated state. Time is running out for the Spocks. Meanwhile Decker has ordered that the survey team be picked up by shuttle and the Herschel is despatched.

Scott reports that the transporter unit ionizer is damaged and would normally take a week to repair; however, he and Stein rig up a connection to power the transporter from the ship's warp drive. They recombine the cat-creature, but it dies as a result of the strain. Not giving up hope, Scotty continues to work on the problem.

In the meantime,Decker orders both Spocks to be kept under sedation. It requires far more sedative for the evil spock than the good one and Noyce is worried that he will cause medical problems if he has to keep using that amount of sedative. Scotty reports that the modifications to the transporter have been made. They wake the good Spock. With fingers crossed, Scott dematerializes both Spocks, and finally a single Spock returns. Decker confines him to quarters and Spock complies with a wry smile thus indicating that he is back to normal.

In the briefing room later Spock tells the Command crew "Thank you from both of us." He also tells them that his evil self actually did some excellent work in the lab before he had the temper tantrum. Braun comments that being evil does not necessarily mean that you are stupid.

 

[Lindseyman]

Cast Readjustments

Given Ian McKellens departure and the fact that Dereck Jacobi wanted to spend more time in the theatre gave Grade, Roddenberry and the Andersons a chance to change the bridge crew a bit.

Frazer Hines was now heavily engaged in Doctor Who as Jamie Macrimmon and was so limited to only a few appearances as Bailey. Susan Hampshire was going to be Fleur Forsyte, so that ruled her out of a full time role as Elizabeth Tydder and Margaret Tyzak had landed a role in Kubrick's 2001.

So Caroline John's character of Colt was given a firstname of Linda , a promotion to Ensign and made relief Communications Officer ( she appeared nearly as much as Carmen Monroe). Jacqueline Pearce's Rand was made senior yeoman and given a much more prominant role, Gabrielle Drake's Yeoman Johnson also appeared more often. Alexandra Bastedo's character Caroline D'Alembert was moved from Helm to Navigation, promoted to Lieutenant and made a regular. Ed Bishop's Gary Mitchell became the regular helmsman but Martin Shaw's Dare appeared regularly enough to keep him happy.

On a less happy note Leo McKern had had a heart attack(as in OTL he recovered and went on to play Rumpole of the Bailey) but Alfred Burke stepped in for a couple of episodes and then William Gaunt's Richard Fynely took over as Acting CMO. Noyce is still referred to throughout the rest of the series as Majel Barrett's Chapel recieves regular updates on Noyce's health. (They wrote in that Noyce had had a heart attack and survived but was too weak to continue with his duties).

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 12 The Aphrodite Syndrome Broadcast March 25th 1967

On mission date 479.1, the Endeavour is undertaking a routine mapping exercise in the Hampson system to ensure the equipment and its programming are up to Scott’s specifications. Dare is at the helm and is visibly fraying under the teasing he is getting along the linesof “you are looking very drawn, Dan” especially from Stein at the science station.Decker is bemused and asks what’s going on. Dare explains that Dan Dare was a fifties British Comic strip drawn by an artist called Frank Hampson. Decker is still bemused admitting that his knowledge of comic characters doesn’t extend much beyond American Superheroes.

Suddenly the Endeavour recieves a distress signal from a Jason class cargoship. Its shields and engines have failed whilst transitting the Asteroid belt of this star system. Decker orders the Endeavour's shields extended around the other spacecraft to protect it until the cargo ship's occupants can be transported aboard the Endeavour. This action, however, severely strains the Endeavour’s shield generators.

The Endeavour beams the cargo ship's passengers (three women) and its captain (one man) aboard, just as an asteroid impact destroys their spaceship. In the transporter room, the man steps forward and introduces himself as " Francis Raleigh"(guest star George Cole). The three women who accompany him are stunningly beautiful, and they distract many of the male crew members of the Endeavour, including Noyce and Scott much to the female crew members disdain. The women are destined to be wives for settlers on the planet Hampson III and are introduced as Rebecca Bonet, Eve Hughes, and Karolina Kovacs(Pauline Collins,Polly James and Nerys Hughes)
.
Decker has Raleigh taken into custody and then he convenes a ship's hearing. With Raleigh in the spotlight of a truth verifier scan, he is forced to reveal his true name, Harold Fenton Mudd a criminal wanted in several star systems and with a long rap sheet of crimes,all usually linked with the Santrynnianne Syndicate one way or another. Decker doesn't charge Mudd's women with anything at the moment. For now, he has a bigger concern: the welfare of his ship as the shield system is now failing. Meanwhile, in the Medical Centre, Noyce notices a strange reading on his medical panel when Rebecca walks in front of it. He has her walk past it again and asks whether she's wearing some exotic perfume or something radioactive. Rebecca innocently replies, "No, I'm just me", and she leaves sick bay while Noyce remains baffled by his medical panel.

With the shields failing, the Endeavour must make her way to the space station, run by the mining company Geeco, orbiting Hampton VI to shelter beneath her shields as there is a solar storm approaching. Mudd steals a communicator device, using it to communicate with the Space Station; he convinces the head miner, Hildreth(Joss Ackland), to exchange sheltering berneath the station’s shields for Mudd's women, and Mudd's release. Taking one look at the women's stunning beauty, Hildreth and his fellow miners (Alexis Kanner and Norman Bowler) excitedly agree.

Decker flatly refuses this deal. The Endeavours's remaining shielding is insufficient to protect the ship from the soalr storm and the ship cannot outrun it. Decker is forced to allow Mudd and the women to beam down to the station. Hildreth is so distracted by Eve that he forgets about the plight of the Endeavour. Decker nervously watches the last bit of his sheilding dwindle away, unaware of what is occurring on the station.

Eve becomes dissatisfied with being treated as a sex object. She runs away in anguish, and Hildreth pursues her. Beaming with a security team to the station to extend the station’s shields to protect the Endeavour, Decker also tracks Eve and discovers the secret to the women's startling beauty. Mudd has been giving the women the illegal "Aprodite drug", which creates an illusory beauty and appeal. Without the drug, the women appear to be plain. Hildreth confronts Mudd over the deception.

Chapel gives Eve a dose of fake Aphrodite drug, which she believes to be an authentic one; the placebo effect grants her self-assurance and reveals her natural inner beauty, impressing Hildreth. Ultimately, Mudd's women decide to marry the miners after all. Mudd is handed over to be arrested. Most importantly the Endeavour is shielded during the storm whilst Scott repairs them

Addenda
Harry Mudd is now either an older, but not wiser, Flash Harry or a younger and less weary Arthur Daley. You make your own mind up! (Yes the music people did manage to sneak an appropriate tune (remember the year this is made as to which one) into the programme score!)

 

[Lindseyman]

The Bad Guys

The Rhihannaun

The Rhihannaun have an Empire the other side of the Klingon Empire. They are in a constant state of war with the Klingons although most of the time it is standoffs and "unofficial" border raids rather than all out war.

The Rhihannaun do have a sense of duty, honour and justice however it does not apply to anyone else but the Rhihannaun. Every one else is just a slave(at best).

They are small (maximum height 1.5m tall), black haired and brown eyed with a heavy brow ridge and have beards and moustaches which are braided according to rank. To all intents and purposes they are dwarves but not the Tolkien kind (and certainly not the Disney version!!). They are the malevolent dwarves from European legend (Rumpelstiltskin would be considered FAR too lenient by allowing a get out clause however hidden in the small print).

Like every other race in this universe, Humans confuse them terribly being apparently Klingons who don't act anything like Klingons. They have been trying to manipulate our history for centuries but their manipulations, even when they have apparently worked, have not in the long run worked in their favour.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Rhihannaunn and Earth ( a note from the handbook)

The Rhihannaun discovered Earth by accident when a destroyer fleeing from the Klingons (in Earth Year 1200) had a malfunction of its jump drive and ended up at Sol. To their horror on investigating the interesting third planet, they found Klingons, well what they thought were Klingons. However these Klingons lacked any noticeable technology. The destroyer somehow managed to find its way back and reported its findings.

It was difficult to get back to Sol because the only route lay through Klingon space but several times the Rhinhannaun made the effort because another set of Klingons attacking the Klingon Empire from the rear made strategic sense. However every attempt they made to remilitarise the Humans and force their technology failed. They came closest with the Nazis, then Stalin's USSR and then Khan's Asian bloc but although each attempt pushed Earth technology forward the Humans for some reason still didn't regain their Klingon heritage.

The Rhihannaun came to the conclusion that they were being opposed but they didn't know by whom. The Klingons seemed ignorant of the planet and the Vulcanians once they discovered it seemed content just to observe. It was baffling especially as the Humans had a war that should have reduced them back to the Stone Age but instead it propelled them centre stage into stellar politics.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 13 It came upon a Midnight Clear Broadcast April 1st 1967

On mission date 525.12, the Endeavour is surveying the RoiIII system. The star is a white dwarf formed after a supernova. Captain Decker is completing his personal log. He notes that Dr Noyce suffered a massive heart attack and that it was Dr Fynely’s swift action that saved his life.
Admiral Sergei Karentov (Guest star Alfred Burke) decided that he would replace Noyce in the short term to as he put it “Practice some proper medicine”. He brought with him Dr M’Beke (Johnny Sekka)a medical doctor from Durban to be Fynely’s second and the human face for the Medical Centre (Fynely had been recalled to Earth for a bereavement).

The Endeavour picks up a subspace signal from a long-dead world. Joseph Holmes, on duty at the Science station on the bridge, claims it is impossible that a civilization could have survived its star going supernova. However the planet was so far from the star when it exploded that it escaped the worst.

Upon landing on the now-dead planet, the explorers discover that the planet holds the last remains of a race which was destroyed when the supernova hit. Their civilization was quite advanced ( about the level of the late 20th century), with remnants of art and other pieces of their culture. Along with a computer record of their entire history comes evidence that they had had a thousand years of peace before their extinction. Spock requests that Holmes determine when the star went supernova. He calculates that the star exploded in about the year 4200 B.C.

To his dismay, however, Holmes, who not only follows the Hanovarian Way is also a committed presbyterian, realizes that it would have taken about 4200 years for the light from this explosion to reach Earth, in the Eastern Hemisphere. This star was the same star that shone down on Earth the day Jesus was born, "The Star of Bethlehem". In front of Dr. M'Beke, Holmes cries out to God, to question why it had to be these people who had to lose their lives, why it could not have been a star with no life around it.

Surprisingly it is Braun and Spock who attempt to comfort him by reading a poem found among the archives of the advanced culture. It says that no one should mourn for them, for they lived in peace and love and saw the beauty of the universe. It says to grieve for those who live in pain and those who never see the light of peace. Braun says that "whatever destiny was theirs, they fulfilled it. Their time had come, and in their passing, they passed their light on to another world". Spock states that a balance was struck, and “perhaps one day we too will light the way for people yet to come." Their words and this quiet artifact consoles and encourages Holmes.

PS Yes they did pay royalties to Arthur C Clarke for this one. Although mindful of the audience they did make the ending more upbeat.
PPS No this is NOT intended to be the April Fool edition

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 14 The Lost Broadcast April 8th 1967

Mission Date 531.6 the Endeavour is mapping the Lorenzo Cluster with special regards to its jump points to other systems. When the ship reaches one jump point, they receive a pre-recorded signal (guest star Bernard Bresslaw ) advertising "The Weapons Emporium", and invites the crew to the surface. Then the Endeavour receives a weak signal that says “Keep away it’s a trap!”

The ship edges closer to the planet Lorenzo IV and to the crew’s surprise they find a very badly damaged Klingon cruiser in orbit. There are no life signs on the ship but there are, what the computer identifies as, human life signs on the planet’s surface. Karentov admits that the computers are virtually never able to distinguish Klingons from Humans (apparently they can just about distinguish a Northern Norwegian from a Klingon from the equatorial regions of Kh’onnos).

A security team led by Stiles plus Dr M’Beke beam down to where the life signs appear to be concentrated. They beam down into the middle of a firefight. Several Klingons are fighting small very fast moving probes which are appearing to be unaffected by the Klingon weapons. Stiles and his security team soon dispose of the probes. However the leader of the Klingons Quos (guest star Earl Cameron) tells M’Beke that the probes adapt to whatever is used against them. A force field, meanwhile, has been formed around the planet preventing the Endeavour from beaming up the security team and the Klingon survivors.

The survivors take refuge in a deep cave, however Stiles is injured by a probe. Stiles wryly comments to M’Beke that the only member of the Endeavour team to whom the Klingons will speak is M’Beke! Later on, after making Stiles comfortable M’Beke tackles Quos about this. Quos is reluctant but finally admits that it is because at least M’Beke looks like a Klingon unlike the whiteskins. He admits that while with their heads, Klingons know that all humans are genetically Klingon, with their hearts they cannot accept this applies to the whiteskins as well. This is even though they accept the whiteskins are warriors under the Code of kh’Less.

Klingons refer to all Humans as “The Lost”, as they have lost everything from their Klingon Heritage as well as being physically lost from the Empire. Meanwhile the Endeavour is attacked by a cloaked sentry probe, Decker finally manages to destroy it with a torpedo.

On the planet, Stiles whilst hobbling on a makeshift crutch discovers a computer terminal. He activates it, causing a screen to come on and the person whom they saw in the earlier signal explains that they are witnessing a demonstration of the "X-kaliba", a system of intelligent weapons, which are able to upgrade in response to any enemy threat.

Quos says that is what must have destroyed the Klingon Cruiser, they used their weapons so much that the probes adapted and destroyed their ship, leaving only the landing party alive. Quos attempts to negotiate with the computer, eventually agreeing to buy the weapons system. Satisfied the computer system shuts down. As the force field also disappears the Endeavour beams up all the survivors.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 15 Brothers Broadcast April 15th 1967

Mission date 541.2, the Endeavour is docked at CSB Constitution dropping off Admiral Karentov and picking up Richard Fynely who is now acting CMO of the Endeavour. Whilst at the base a distress signal is received from a survey team on Jenkins III. Someone who appears to be the survey commander (guest star Donald Sutherland) is gabbling what can only be complete rubbish about the survey’s shuttle pod crew disappearing and the pilot committing suicide after crash-landing the shuttle pod near the base camp and then his body disappearing. Decker immediately volunteers to investigate. Braun inquires why when this is a Navy matter and Decker replies that the survey commander is his brother William Decker and that although they are estranged and haven’t spoken for at least 5 years his brother is not given to wild flights of fancy.

The Endeavour makes the jumps to get to the Jenkins system. Once there McKenzie manages to establish communications with the survey team. William Decker is very surprised to see Matthew Decker and also not that happy. The antipathy between them is plain for all to see. However William Decker does explain what has happened and what is happening. A crew took the shuttle pod to explore a remote area of the ice bound Northern Polar continent, which was green and verdant due to a proliferation of hot springs. All seemed to be well until the shuttle pod was on final approach when over the com they heard screams of “push it out” and phaser fire. The shuttle pod banked away and they couldn’t contact it.

Eventually it approached the landing field but crash-landed. As they approached the shuttle pod they heard a phaser fire again and they found the pilot dead slumped over the controls. There was no sign of the other 3 members of the shuttle pod’s crew. They put the cargo and the pilot in a warehouse. During the night there were crashing noises from the warehouse. When they went to investigate the warehouse had been wrecked, although nothing was missing except the pilot’s body. It was then that William Decker had contacted CSB Constitution as the nearest Commonwealth authority.

The next night two of the men posted as security guards had disappeared and their bodies could not be found although some of the packed trees from the polar continent appeared to be damaged as there were some broken branches. Decker beams down with Spock, Stein and a security team led by Lynch. Spock orders that the Endeavour keeps its sensors locked on the warehouse and he carefully scans the ground looking for clues. Stein suddenly gives an exclamation and tries to grab something on the ground. He swears volubly and wrings his hand. It appears that a strip of flesh has been torn from it. He says something about a moving stick with leaves but seems to be delirious so is beamed back to the Endeavour.

Holmes contacts Spock to say that there seem to be many more life signs than can be accounted for by the survey team and crew from the Endeavour. Meanwhile the professional relationship that the brothers were trying to maintain breaks down and they have a fight. Matthew finally floors William and turns his back. William suddenly screams. He is being attacked by lots of small twig like creatures, which have erupted from the ground. Matt Decker is also attacked, as it seems are other people who are outside. Phasers do have an effect and with difficulty the little twig like creatures are driven off. The survey team and Endeavour crew retreat into the main office block but Fynely is not willing to have them beamed on board unless they can guarantee that there are no creatures with them. As the creatures begin to break through the floor of the office Scott on the Endeavour has an idea. He asks them all to stand on the furniture. He then sets the transporter to start beaming from 2 feet above the ground. However on Fynely’s insistence he beams them into a cargo bay.

It is as well that he does as two of the creatures get beamed up with them. They are both phasered and put in containment vessels for later study. After 2 fraught hours Fynely lets them out of the cargo bay. Preliminary investigation of the creatures shows that they are mainly vegetable in character but are extremely carnivorous. However human flesh is toxic to them but that humans would be dead before the creatures would die. Fynely suggests that the planet is put under quarantine until further notice. Further study of the specimens should give ideas as to where they came from and how to contain them.

The Endeavour takes the survey team back to CSB Constitution and the Decker brothers part promising to keep in touch with each other, albeit with bad grace.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 16 The Forgotten Broadcast April 22nd 1967

On mission date 612.2, the Endeavour, arrives in the Adams system. They discover a malfunctioning black box from the CSS Pelican, which had disappeared in the mid 22nd century. Unable to get any useful information from the black box, they retrace the Pelican’s course to the third planet. Lieutenant Holmes is the only member of the landing party who beams up from the planet's surface, and exhibits strange behavior.

Braun beams down with another party to investigate. They find the inhabitants living in an apparently pre-industrial culture, with little or no individual expression or creativity. The entire culture is ruled over by hooded “Monks”, controlled by a reclusive leader known as “The Abbot” (special guest star Patrick Wymark). The landing party has arrived at the start of "Festival", a period of bacchanalian behaviour, which apparently is the only time that “The Abbott” does not exercise control over the populace.

Braun’s landing party seeks shelter from the mob at a boarding house owned by Reginald (Guest star Harry Towb), A friend of Reginald's suspects that the visitors are "not of The Book" (the whole of society), and summons Monks. The Monks kill Reginald's friend, Thomas (John Barron), for resisting the "will of The Abbot". When the landing party refuses to do as the Monks say, the Monks become immobile and Reginald leads the Enterprise landing team to a hiding place.

Reginald reveals that The Abbot "pulled the Pelicans down from the skies" and that his grandparents were Pelicans. Contacting the Endeavour, Braun learns that heat beams from the planet are attacking the Endeavour, which must use all its power for its shields. Its orbit is deteriorating and it will crash in 12 hours unless the beams are turned off.

A projection of The Abbot is projected into the hiding place, and Braun and her team are rendered unconscious by ultrasonic waves and captured. The landing party is imprisoned in a dungeon, and Lynch is "absorbed into The Book" and placed under The Abbot's mental control. Braun is taken to a chamber full of high technology, where she is to be "absorbed". But Jane (Joan Hickson), one of the Monks of The Abbot who is immune to The Abbot's control, rescues her and Heather (guest star Peter Thornton). Returning to the dungeon, Reginald and Jane tell how The Abbot saved their society from war and anarchy 6,000 years ago and reduced the planet's technology to a simpler level. Also the only inhabitants of the planet who can resist The Abbot to any degree are descended from crew of the Pelican.

Lynch summons the Monks to "absorb" Braun and Heather, who subdue them and done their robes. Jane takes Braun and Heather to the Hall of Audiences, where priests commune with The Abbot. A projection of The Abbot appears and threatens Braun, Heather, and all others who saw the landing party with death. Braun and Heather use their phasers to blast through the wall and expose the truth: the reclusive Abbot is actually a computer. The computer neutralizes their phasers. Heather argues with the machine, telling it that it has destroyed the creativity of the people. The computer shuts down and the heat beams stop, and the Endeavour is saved.

Decker agrees to contact the Commonwealth to send advisors help the civilization advance, free of The Abbot's dominance and the Endeavour leaves. However when the Endeavour reaches the jump point a force field springs into existence around the planet and the ship is informed that anything else coming through the jump point will be instantly destroyed. An Asteroid near the Endeavour is vaporised by a discharge from the planet. The message concludes with the comment that The Abbot hopes that this shows that it is able to carry out its threat if necessary and that the Commonwealth will no longer be forgotten. Decker orders the Endeavour to leave the system.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 17 Charlie's Law Broadcast April 29th 1967

On mission date 643.6, the Endeavour takes charge of Charlie Brown (guest star Dennis Waterman), a teenage boy from a small Klingon cargo vessel called the Prakciss. As a three-year-old child, he was the sole survivor of a transport ship that crashed on the planet Fazus on the edges of Klingon space. For 14 years Charlie grew up, stranded in the wreckage, and apparently only learned how to talk from the ship's computer systems that somehow remained intact.

The boy is to be transported to his nearest living relatives on Wessex, a Commonwealth world settled by Humans, and the crew of the Prakciss speak nothing but praises about Charlie. They seem, however, more than pleased to see the boy removed from their ship as soon as possible and after the transfer (during which Charlie gives an ominous glare), they bid the Endeavour an unusually hasty goodbye and depart. This is put down to them being Klingons and not really knowing how to deal with a human teenager. Charlie undergoes a cursory medical examination by Dr. M’Beke and Charlie tells the doctor that the crew of the Prakciss did not like him very much, and that all he wants is for people to like him.

Charlie quickly becomes obnoxious, and shows signs that he possesses strange powers. First, he develops an infatuation with Yeoman Amy Johnson (Gabrielle Drake), who is evidently the first human female he has ever seen and also comes from Wessex like his relatives. He presents her with a bottle of perfume, which turns out to be her favorite scent, even though there is none of it in the ship's stores. Having observed a man in engineering seal an agreement to go to the recreation room with a friendly slap on the rear, he does the same to Johnson, to which she of course objects.

Charlie meets Johnson and Rand later in a recreation room, where Spock (whom Charlie later calls "Mr. Ears") plays a Vulcanian Lyre, and Lt. D’Alembert sings. Charlie is annoyed with being a subject in D’Alembert's performance as well as Johnson paying more attention to the song than to him, so he causes D’Alembert to abruptly (but temporarily) lose her voice.

As the Endeavour reaches the jump point, it receives a message from the Prakciss, but the message gets cut off before it can be finished. Charlie makes the curious and sinister comment, "It wasn't very well constructed." But shortly after, Spock determines that the Prakciss has blown up. Progressively more bizarre events begin to take place aboard the Endeavour. For example, a cook reports that the synthetic meatloaf in the kitchen has been transformed into real sheep.

Back in the recreation room, Decker defeats Holmes at chess, beating Holmes' mastery of the game with his own quirky move. Charlie is intrigued with the game and tries to duplicate the same feat but loses quickly. Decker and Holmes leave the room, but an angered Charlie stays behind and causes the white chess pieces to melt, revealing he has both a bad temper and powerful telekinetic abilities.

Later, Decker tries his best to interest Charlie with something other than following Johnson everywhere, and attempts to teach the young man how to play Squash. Decker's training partner Crewman Cook (Robert Arnold), laughs at Charlie’s attempts, and Charlie makes him "go away"; Cook vanishes before Decker's eyes. Shocked by what he has witnessed, Decker calls for security guards to escort young Charlie to his quarters, but Charlie says he will not let them hurt him; he then makes their phasers disappear. Charlie admits he used his powers to destroy the Prakciss, but says the ship would have blown up on its own sooner or later, and regardless, he insists, "They weren't nice to me."

Charlie takes control of the Endeavour. He forces Braun to recite Earth poetry, turns Rand into a cat, and chases down Johnson. When she resists his advances he gets angry and makes her disappear, saying, "She wasn't nice at all." Charlie tells everyone that he can make him or her all go away, anytime he wants to. Decker and Spock attempt to confine him in a detention cell, but to no avail. Charlie goes on a rampage, insisting “Be nice to Charlie, OR ELSE!” transforming or vanishing members of the crew who mock him or rebuff him.

Decker has resigned himself to setting the self destruct and laments that this is beginning to get to be a habit, finding people with great mental powers and trying to destroy the ship to stop them. Two glowing spheres appears on the bridge, saying that their race gave Charlie his powers to help him to survive on their world, but these powers render him too powerful and therefore dangerous to live on Wessex. The spheres are sorrowful over the loss of the Prakciss (which they could not save), but return Yeoman Johnson and repair the damage Charlie has done. They apologize to Decker and promise to take Charlie to live with them. Charlie begs Decker for forgiveness and pleads frantically with him to not let the aliens take him away. Decker does ask if the spheres could take Charlie’s powers away so that he could live amongst humans but they refuse saying that he now couldn’t live without them, as they have become an integral part of him. So Decker lets the spheres take Charlie away.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 18 Mutual Destruction Broadcast May 6th 1967

On mission date 687.5 the Endeavour is surveying the Lenard system, which is unusual as it is supposed to have 2 asteroid belts, however, on arrival, the Endeavour finds that the system now has 3 asteroid belts! The new asteroid belt occupies the orbit of what had been tentatively identified as Lenard III, which a previous probe survey had identified as being inhabited with evidence of an early industrial civilization. On investigating further, Spock infers that it was not a natural disaster but was caused by a deliberate act by persons unknown. Especially since the Endeavour intercepts signals from the planet pleading with an attacker to stop, offering complete and unconditional surrender.
Then, suddenly they come under attack. A truly massive ship about twice the size of the Endeavour suddenly springs into existence and fires upon her, causing damage to the jump engines. Decker manages to evade the ship by hiding amongst the debris of the new asteroid belt. Scott informs Decker that the damage isn’t serious and that the jump engines can be repaired within a few hours. Decker tells Scott to make it much shorter than that.
During a briefing over this ship's capabilities, Stiles suggests that the Endeavour attacks the vessel before it can destroy them. Spock agrees with Stiles' suggestion, believing that the Aliens will not be open to negotiation given the intercepted signals and the evidence of the destroyed planet.

A cat-and-mouse game ensues, with each ship having its strengths and weaknesses. The Endeavour is faster and more manouverable, while the Alien ship has a cloaking device, has far more power available and an arsenal of immensely destructive plasma torpedoes, but their range is limited and firing them requires so much power that the ship must decloak temporarily.

O’Gorman manages to tap into the Alien ship’s communication signals but is not able to establish a visual link. He suggests that the Aliens may well be able to do the same. That they are able to intercept Endeavour’s internal communication systems, becomes apparent when the alien ship keeps anticipating Decker’s maneuvers. Decker is forced to giving his orders in French, in the hope that the Aliens will not be able to understand as quickly. Luckily this does turn out to be the case and the Endeavour is able to badly damage the Alien ship.

In the final act, the Aliens, almost beaten, with their cloaking device damaged and malfunctioning dump a nuclear weapon along with other debris in hope that the Endeavour will get near enough to the weapon to be destroyed. However, Decker suspects a trap and orders a point-blank phaser shot that detonates the bomb. The Endeavour is badly shaken by the blast; Decker decides to use this to his advantage, ordering operations to work at minimal power to exaggerate the apparent damage. When the Alien ship decloaks to launch a torpedo, Decker springs his trap. The Alien ship is badly damaged, life support is failing and their power is off line.

Decker hails the crippled vessel and at last communicates directly with his counterpart, offering to beam aboard the survivors. The Alien commander, who looks humanoid with a heavy brow ridge and intricately braided hair, beard and moustache, declines, saying that it is "not our way to accept such assistance from inferior species”. The commander then triggers his ship's self-destruct, preventing its crew and technology from falling into Decker's hands.

Postscript
This episode was heavily influenced by war films such as "Run Silent, Run Deep", "We Dive at Dawn" and "The Enemy Below". It was unusual in two respects,firstly the Endeavour took the role of the submarine and secondly there were a good 10 minutes where the actors spoke in French and subtitles appeared on the screen. This was what caused the comments in the Sunday Papers the next day. Subtitles were not at all common on ITV (nor on BBC1 although they had been seen on BBC2) except occasionally on the news. Critics didn't know whether to praise ITC or to condemn them. Certainly it never happened again on prime time television on ITV or BBC1, and was rare in this time slot on BBC2 and Channel4 (from the mid 80s)until the advent of the digital channels in the 2000s.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 19 Old Wounds Broadcast May 13th 1967

On mission date 713.1 the Endeavour arrives at planet M-113 to check on archaeologist Professor Robert Simard and his wife Juliette. Decker, Dr M’Beke, Lieutenant D’Alembert and CPO Webb (John Woodvine) beam down. Juliette (guest star Dinah Sheridan) arrives and seems taken aback at D’Alembert’s obvious hostility towards her. Decker takes D’Alembert outside to have a word and to remind her that she should be polite as Juliette Simard is also a renowned archaeologist. Decker goes back inside giving D’Alembert time to calm down.

Professor Simard (guest star Cyril Cusack) arrives and doesn't appear happy to see them, telling them that he and his wife don't need checking on, but that they do need more salt tablets to help them cope with the planet's hot, dry climate. D’Alembert then reenters the hut and Simard looks totally stunned as D’Alembert greets him with “Bonjour Papa”. It is revealed that Simard is D’Alembert’s father but that he had left her and her mother for Juliette ten years before. He had not been in touch with either of them for the past 3 years. Meanwhile Juliette has gone outside.Then they hear a scream from outside. They go out to find Webb, dead, with red ring-like mottling on his face. There's a plant root in his mouth and Juliette comes up, saying she saw Webb taste the plant and she couldn't stop him. Decker is skeptical that Webb would taste an unknown plant as he has twenty years service in both the Navy and the Fleet. Decker has Webb’s body beamed up to the ship.

Stein analyzes the plant, and confirms records showing it's poisonous, but skin mottling is not a usual symptom. M’Beke conducts the initial exam, but can't find any cause of death — poisoning or otherwise. Decker decides to remain to investigate Webb's death. M’Beke and Stein determine that Webb had every bit of salt drained from his body, which caused his death. Decker beams back down to the planet with M’Beke and two crewmen, Jeff and Martin (Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope). They spread out to search, but Simard slips away and calls out to Juliette, saying he has salt. Decker and M’Beke find Jeff's body; unaware that Juliette is nearby over Martin's corpse. Both the bodies have the same red rings on their faces. She pauses and then changes her shape, turning into a duplicate of Martin. He meets with Decker and M’Beke and they beam back up to the ship to conduct a search from orbit.

"Martin" roams the halls and runs into Yeoman Rand, who is taking a food tray to Lt.Holmes in the botanical lab. "Martin" is attracted to the salt and follows her in, but the plants react badly to him. He leaves and runs into Lt. McKenzie, taking the hypnotizing form of a crewman from her memories in preparation for an attack. McKenzie is summoned to the bridge over the intercom. That and Rand and Holme's arrival break the trance.

On M-113, Decker and Spock find Martin's body and realize an imposter is on board. They find Simard, who tries to frighten them off with phaser fire. They flank and then stun him, and the dazed Simard says that his real wife died a year ago, killed by the creature, which still appears to him as Juliette out of true affection. Decker informs the ship of the creature's intrusion: "It's definite Number One, the intruder can assume any shape — crewman, you, myself, anyone, do you understand?" Braun acknowledges. As they're about to transport to the Endeavour, a frustrated Decker tells the Professor, "Your creature is killing my people!"

With Simard, Decker calls a meeting. M’Beke and Spock join them. Meanwhile Stiles finds another two dead crewmen with the mottling on their faces. Decker wants to eliminate the predator and insists that Simard help identify it. Simard refuses and Decker puts him in the brig. Taking the form of Simard, the creature goes to D’Alembert’s's quarters and asks her for help. D’Alembert sounds the alarm but the creature stuns her and begins to feed. Decker arrives with a phaser and a handful of salt and tries to entice the creature into attacking. “Simard” lunges for the salt and succeeds in knocking Decker’s phaser out of his hand, Luckily it is distracted by the salt and Spock manages to stun it before it turns on Decker and D’Alembert.

The creature is beamed back to the planet and the Endeavour leaves.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 20 Organia Broadcast May 20th 1967

On mission date 754.8, the Endeavour receives a signal from Fleet headquarters diverting it from its current mapping mission to another set of coordinates. On being asked why Admiral Bourne (Nigel Green) just says that it will all be explained when they get to their destination! Decker orders the jump and the Endeavour arrives in a system with 8 planets with the third one in the normal zone for habitable planets. Upon arrival at the planet they are hailed from the surface and Quos (Earl Cameron) speaks to them and asks if Spock, M’Beke and it appears grudgingly, Decker and Stiles will join him on the surface of the planet.

On beaming down they are met by Quos and his second in command Quohr (special guest star Gordon Heath). Quos welcomes them and introduces them to Quohr who has difficulty looking Decker or Stiles in the face although he will talk to them. When asked why he has asked the Endeavour to come Quos smiles and says because they have proven themselves as worthy of trust (see previous episode “The Lost”) and ask them to follow him.

To their surprise Quos leads them over a hill and into a village, which appears to be populated by humans! These humans look much like Earth Caucasians. Quohr comments on this to M’beke and says that is why the Klingon Ruling Council finally agreed to let Quos call in advice from the Commonwealth. “They are even less martial than you humans” Quohr exclaims. Quos agrees with Quohr, and adds “Your people put up a fight when we occupied your colonies in the War, These people do nothing! They smile at us, do as we ask and just get on with their daily life. We might as well not be here!”

M’Beke scans the villagers and notes that they just come out as normal humans and if dressed appropriately would pass unnoticed on any Human world of the Commonwealth. Perplexed Decker asks Quos what he would like the Endeavour crew to do. Quos says that they would really like any input that they could give. The Organians, to use their word for themselves, are even more like Humans than Humans! Quos then adds that they appear and act much like the image that the average Klingon has of Humans. Looking shamefaced he says that the average Klingon considers whiteskin humans to be placid peacemakers albeit ones with honour. They still think that the earth warriors have dark skins like M’Beke.

Spock asks how that can be when most of the crews lost in the war were, to use the Klingon phrase, whiteskins. Quohr replies that the High Command of the Fleet and the Ruling Council know differently, however it is due to disinformation put out by the Ruling Council that the average Klingon thinks that way.

Stiles meanwhile has wandered around the village and talked to some of the Villagers. “They think that they have always lived here”, he reports to Decker, ”but they have no creation myth or legends”. Decker thinks long and hard and asks Quos if the Klingons would let the Commonwealth send in specialists to investigate. “ It looks like there are more “Lost” than either of us think” he says and then tells Quos about the incident on Adams III.

Just then Braun contacts Decker and informs him that a ship like the one they fought in the Lenard system has come through the jump point. Quos and Quohr ask them to describe the ship and snarl “Rhihannaun” on hearing the description. Quos tells them that they were a little lucky in defeating the previous ship but that that did not detract from the honour in doing so. Then Braun announces that two more have come through the jump point. Decker asks Quos where his ship is and is told it is not due back for a week.

Decker sighs and says that if he had wanted to fight this much he would have joined the Navy! However given what he had seen the “Rhihannaun” do to another planet he was not going to just run away and leave the defenceless Organians to their tender mercies. Quos and Quohr both state that this is honourable and that again this shows that the Humans are worthy of being treated under the code. They ask to beam aboard with Decker to share the honour of defending the planet.

As the Rhihannaun ships converge on the planet. Scotty informs Decker that they can take out the Rhihannaun ships if they self-destruct in between them. Decker groans “Not again”. Then the Organians then reveal their true nature: They are not peaceful humans, but are highly advanced incorporeal beings. They instantly incapacitate the Rhihannaun ships and send them elsewhere. They tell the Endeavour and the Klingons that the Rhihannaun will not threaten Organia ever again but that they will meet them in the future. They also say that they are very pleased that their children have found each other again and that they are getting to know each other better. However the Organians also say that this system is off limits for both the Klingons and the Commonwealth until the Organians decide otherwise, possibly in a few thousand years.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 21 To Thine Ownself Broadcast May 27th 1967

On mission date 817.6, the Endeavour has stopped at CSB Franklin to replenish some supplies and rotate some crew. At the base Decker is surprised to be greeted by his brother William (Donald Sutherland) who is awaiting being posted to a new survey team after the incident on Jenkins III (episode Brothers) and is filling in his time doing administration for the Survey Office on the base.

William reveals to Decker that he has suspicions that Andrew Hathaway (guest star Richard Hurndall), the manager of an acting troupe currently on the base, is, in fact “Butcher Cumberland” , the former governor of the Earth colony of Alba who was responsible for the massacre of over 4000 people—including members of their family—20 years before.

At first, Decker is unwilling to believe William accusations. He states he is satisfied with the official version of history that Cumberland died in the aftermath of a battle between his loyalists and relief forces from the Commonwealth and that a burnt body discovered in the wreckage was that of Cumberland. He begins to doubt those convictions when William is found very badly injured, apparently left for dead, the next day under mysterious circumstances.

Decker contacts the captain of the transport ship that is to pick up the acting troupe, and convinces him to miss the pick up, effectively stranding the troupe. He then persuades Hathaway's daughter, Ann (guest star Anouska Hempel), into putting on a special performance for the crew of the Endeavour.

Decker's actions arouse First Officer Braun’s suspicions as Decker has never shown the slightest interest in any plays before let alone Shakespearean ones!. After doing some investigation on the ship's computer, she discovers that former Governor Cumberland had ordered the executions of more than half Alba’s population after the food supply was all but destroyed by a fungus. He also uncovers evidence that Cumberland applied his own ideas when he chose who lived or died. Furthermore, the vital resupply ships that could have saved the whole colony arrived much sooner than Cumberland had anticipated, rendering all the executions unnecessary.

The computer research also reveals that there are no records of Hathaway's existence prior to Cumberland's death; that there were twelve known people left after the massacres who could identify Cumberland, were he still alive; that, in the intervening years, seven of these had died, all under mysterious circumstances; that in each case of the deaths of the former witnesses, Cumberland's acting troupe has been somewhere nearby; and that two of the surviving witnesses were the Decker brothers.

Braun and Spock confront Decker with Braun's evidence and Braun's concern that another assassination attempts will be made on William Decker and one on the Captain. Decker confesses that he is unsure if Hathaway is Cumberland and he is unwilling to make such an accusation without proof. However the base is almost damaged by a phaser on overload left in William's hospital room whilst Decker is visiting him.

Braun and Decker have another conversation which is overheard by the Hathaways, who investigate. Andrew Hathaway, who for twenty years has tried to forget his past and shield Ann from it, learns to his horror that his adoring daughter has (by her own admission) been on a crazed crusade to protect him by assassinating the witnesses.

Ann then snatches a phaser from a nearby security guard and takes aim at Decker. Desperate to prevent any more bloodshed in his name, Hathaway jumps into the line of fire as Ann tries to shoot Decker. Hathaway takes the shot, dying. Ann breaks down and goes to a mental hospital, hallucinating that her father is still alive.

PS Thank you to all of you who read this thread. 10 000+ views is more than I ever expected