“The Man Trap” was
written by George Clayton Johnson, was directed by Marc Daniels, was produced
by Gene Roddenberry, held production code 6, was the 1st episode of Star Trek Season 1, and was originally
broadcast on 8 September 1966.
Perhaps a little
introduction is necessary before this review begins. I have never seen an episode of Star Trek. The closest I got to seeing and episode was
the film Galaxy Quest, but the
concept has intrigued me, at least more than the other franchise with the word
star in the title does so I’ve decided I would watch the show and type up
reviews for this blog with my 500-word minimum in effect.
“The Man Trap” is the
first episode of Star Trek aired in
September 1966. Unlike many television
shows, the episode opens without any real introduction to the characters and
lets the audience glean what they can from their interactions. This characterization without exposition is a
double-edged sword for the show as we get many characters who only get minor
characterization as the focus of this episode is on Dr. Leonard ‘Bones” McCoy,
played by DeForest Kelley. The plot
focuses on routine medical examinations on planet M-113 provided by the Enterprise. The planet is currently being used for
research by Professor Robert Crater, played by Alfred Ryder, and his wife Nancy,
played by Jeanne Bal. Our first glimpse
into the idea that something is wrong is when Bones sees Nancy Crater in the
same light as the day they broke up, while Captain James T. Kirk, played by
William Shatner, sees her as she would be today and a crewman sees her as a
completely different woman. This trope
of a monster disguising itself as a familiar love interest, or potential love
interest is nothing new, but the trope is used well to give insight into the characters
in the first half.
The creature kills the
crewman and the episode turns into a mystery to figure out how the crewman
dies, until about 15 minutes in we get the creature on the ship, reveal that it
is looking for salt to consume, stalks several crew members including Uhura,
played by Nichelle Nichols, killing many of them, and then impersonating Bones
to try and survive. This middle sequence
of the episode is the most problematic of the story. It’s 20 minutes of a 50-minute episode that
doesn’t know how to focus, attempting to give us some characters (we are
introduced to Spock, Uhura, Janice, and Sulu in a short period of time with
each getting different levels of characterization). The best characterization of Spock, played by
Leonard Nimoy, who feels like an alien as he doesn’t flirt back with Uhura and
has a less than normal reaction when a crewman dies, and Uhura, who is
portrayed as a confident, flirtatious woman.
The pacing is only one
problem of the middle of the episode as we have the creature inconsistently transform
into other crew members as well as lovers (real and fictional) for the
crew. The biggest flaw is that the
creature seems to wish to sexually assault the crewmembers due to the direction
of shots keeping the creature almost as an oppressive force looking down on its
prey. I believe the direction wished to
convey an almost hypnotic aspect, supported by the way the creature seduces
Bones, but the director could have portrayed that much better
The episode improves with
a conclusion where both Spock and Kirk must pull Bones out of his hypnosis and
force him to shoot the woman he obviously loves. It is an excellent climax for the episode and
the episode has a nice coda allowing Bones to express his emotions. The creature does reveal its true form, and
while it isn’t the worst design for a creature, it does have a clever enough
design and the idea of being a man in a suit and is only really shown in one or
two shots so it doesn’t take you out of the viewing experience as much as it
could.
“The Man Trap” is a
decent enough start for a science fiction show with positives being focused on
the ideas it plays around with, and some of the characters it introduces, but
has missteps in pacing and a lack of characterization in many of its characters
creating problems in serving as an introduction to a show. It’s good, just not great. 60/100.
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