The Cloud Minders by: Margaret Armen from a story by: David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford and directed by: Jud Taylor

 

“The Cloud Minders” is written by: Margaret Armen, from a story by: David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford, and is directed by: Jud Taylor.  It was filmed under production code 74, was the 21^st episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 76^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on February 28, 1969.

 

“The Cloud Minders” is the definition of a great episode of television that utterly falls apart in the third act.  It’s another episode of Star Trek engaging with social commentary, this time directly looking at slavery and to a lesser extent some of the contemporary myths as to why slavery in the United States of America was justified, presenting them largely as ridiculous and as part of upholding the system.  The premise is that there is a planet in danger of ecological collapse that the Enterprise needs a mineral, zenite, from the planet Ardana.  Standard stuff for Star Trek, Ardana’s main city being Stratos, a floating city in the clouds where the rich and intelligent live while there are miners, the unintelligent Troglytes, on the planet’s surface responsible for mining the zenite.  It’s setting up an obvious class divide based around intelligence, a belief that mirrors contemporary and modern-day racism with the leader on Stratos, Plasus played by Jeff Corey, is insistent that the divide is an objective fact of reality.  This is biting commentary and honestly quite bold for Star Trek to attempt, being explicit for the first two thirds of the episode in pining the problems on the system itself and not just individuals in the system, all through having one person represent that system.  This is assisted by the attempts to present Stratos as literally heavenly and having the first scenes set on the planet be outside of the mines, on the ground with Troglyte revolutionaries because yes there is an attempted revolution occurring, using the Enterprise’s needs in the crossfire.  They are holding the zenite hostage and what shows promise for the episode at this point is that Kirk and Spock are presented the conflict and do not immediately take the side of the upper class.  They immediately criticize the government for not following Federation regulations and set to getting the zenite.

 

The first crack in the episode is that the class divide by intelligence has an actual reason that is not due to systemic oppression, but because of an odorless gas that affects the brain through prolonged exposure removing the intelligence from the Troglytes.  This is apparent from the Troglyte servant Vanna, played by Charlene Polite, being intelligent and one of the leaders of the rebellion.  Vanna later in the episode is derided for being ungrateful for what the cloud city of Stratos gave her, reflecting the idea of the white man’s burden in the sphere of colonial powers directly.  It’s also a stroke of genius (and slight padding for the episode) to have Vanna mistrust Kirk throughout when a solution of filter masks to avoid the effects of the gas are suggested.  This is where the episode begins to fall behind, partially due to the need of Star Trek to wrap up a conflict in a nice 50 minute package, as it suggests the centuries of oppression can be undone by a simple solution while still showing Plasus in power and unwilling to see the equality of the Troglytes.  The episode ends with an almost glib comment that he will continue, though one reading could be of an understanding that the quest for equality would still be ongoing despite the masks.  The third act also decides at points to be sympathetic to Plasus as an oppressor and Kirk directly chiding the Troglytes for their resistance.  There’s a sequence of Kirk trapping himself, Vanna, and Plasus in a cave to show the existence of the gas which is an odd plan to lead to the end of the episode when it would also be possible to beam the trio up to the Enterprise for mediation.

 

“The Cloud Minders” as an episode title also doesn’t make much sense, according to Google a minder is essentially a bodyguard so apparently this is about people who protect the clouds in what is a clear attempt to reference the sky city setting, but it’s kind of non-sensical.  The script itself has also clearly undergone several drafts.  David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford are credited with story by credits, Gerrold’s influence being the strongest in terms of the outline of the plot while Crawford feels at least partially responsible for the commentary, but the actual script was by Margaret Armen.  Armen had previously penned two episodes, both plagued with problems in retrospect on being contradictory in terms of their messaging.  This is an episode where there is a beautiful woman as a character just there to be a sex object and someone for Spock to talk to, Spock being characterized in places as more human in a very odd way that feels like Armen’s influence.  While I do not wish to blame Armen without any proof of what she is responsible for in comparison to Gerrold or Crawford, but it is telling that this is her strongest episode and it’s the only one not coming from one of her own story ideas.

 

Overall, despite a third act that falls apart, “The Cloud Minders” is one of the rare third season episodes of Star Trek that manages to work incredibly well.  The biting nature of the first two thirds of the episode being so strong is really what makes it work, and after the commentary of “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”, doing an episode like this which looks at the system as a whole as a form of oppression (even if it fails in the end) is the logical next step.  7/10.