The Apple
A large team from the Enterprise (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Chekov, Yeoman Martha Landon, and four security officers) beams down to investigate Gamma Trianguli VI. They quickly discover that despite looking quite beautiful, the flora of the planet can be quite deadly. A flower kills one of the security officers with poisonous darts. Spock accidentally discovers that some of the rocks can be explosive when he tosses a piece of one away after easily breaking it in half.
Scott contacts the away team and lets them know that some force on the planet has locked onto the Enterprise with a tractor beam like effect. The crew of the Enterprise is doing what they can to prevent the ship from being dragged down to the planet but the ship only has enough energy to keep resisting for about 16 hours. Two more of the security officers are killed, one by lighting and another by an exploding rock, while the team from the Enterprise explores the planet.
Kirk and the others meet one of the locals who has been spying on them. His name is Akuta. He is the leader of the People of Vaal. He is surprised when Kirk attacks him. He explains that they live in peace. Kirk promises not to hit Akuta again. Akuta takes them to the village of the people of Vaal. It quickly becomes clear that the people of Vaal, despite looking human maybe more than that. Doctor McCoy says after examining some of them that there is no sign of aging in any of them. He can't tell how old they are.
Kirk and the others are welcome in the village until Makora and Sayana, a man and woman from the village, observe Chekov and Landon kissing. They ask about it and then try doing it themselves. Vaal gets angry and orders the men of the village to get big sticks and crush the skulls of the team from the Enterprise. Spock senses that something is wrong. The men of the village attack. Only the last remaining security officer is killed while the others fight off the men of the village and force them to stay away from Vaal.
Vaal weakens without the sustenance that the villagers bring to it. The Enterprise shoots Vaal with phaser beams until it no longer seems to be alive. Kirk and the others say goodbye and beam back up to the Enterprise.
Thoughts
Sulu and Uhura are not in this episode. Mister Kyle is shown on the bridge, sitting in Sulu's seat. This is the sixth of 11 appearances that he made on this show. All of the scenes on board the Enterprise take place on the bridge or in a corridor.
What do the people of Vaal give to Vaal? What ever it is it seems to be sustenance of some sort but it isn't clear what they are gathering for Vaal. Are the people of Vaal originally from Earth? I have no idea. What exactly is Vaal? In the episode he seems to be a cave whose opening looks like the head of a snake.
There is a mention of the Non-Interference Directive in this episode. I assume that's either predecessor or the old name for what later became the Prime Directive. It was first mentioned in 1.21 The Return of the Archons.
This was an okay episode. It might have been a little too campy for me. I'm pretty sure that I have seen it before, probably in the 1980s. I'm not wild about it. None of the guest stars got enough to do or did anything interesting. One thing that brought a smile to my face was that Yeoman Landon took part in the fight with the men of Vaal. She singlehandedly knocked two of them out of the fight. The fight is unfortunately over kind of quickly so you have to watch closely to see her fighting prowess.
Notes
Keith Andes played the part of Akuta. This is his only appearance in this show. He also appeared in one episode of The Outer Limits (1963). Celeste Yarnall played the part of Yeoman Martha Landon. This is her only appearance in this show. David Soul played the part of Makora. This is his only appearance on this show. He is best know for playing Hutch in Starsky and Hutch in the 1970s.
Max Erlich is credited as a writer (story, teleplay) on this episode. It is the only episode of this show on which he worked. Gene L. Coon is credited as a writer (teleplay) on this episode. It is the sixth of 13 episodes on which he is credited as a writer. The episode he wrote prior to this one was 1.26 Errand of Mercy.
This is the seventh of 14 episodes of this show that Joseph Pevney directed. The one he directed prior to this one was 2.01 Amok Time.
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