Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Robert Lansing, Teri Garr
• Directors: Marc Daniels
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Art Wallace
• Producers: Edward K. Milkis, Gene Roddenberry, Robert H. Justman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213595
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,349 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The final broadcast episode of Star Trek's second season was this clever and funny story in which the Enterprise travels back in time to 1968 (the year this program aired) to discover how the nuclear arms race came to an end. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) encounters a strange fellow named Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), who claims to have been trained by extraterrestrials in sabotaging the escalating nuclear threat. With the ambivalent aid of a nervous secretary (Teri Garr), Seven (yes, there was a Trek character with that name before Voyager) attempts to carry out his assignment, but Kirk isn't sure if he can be trusted.

Lansing's droll and somewhat imperious performance is nicely counterpointed by Garr's cute confusion, and the eerie presence of his familiar--a black cat named Isis--adds a hint of hoodoo exotica. (Don't blink at the end or you'll miss the really exotic creature Isis briefly turns into.) "Assignment: Earth" was actually the pilot for an intended Gene Roddenberry-produced TV series that never happened. Too bad... But speaking of eerie, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) at one point refers to an important assassination that will soon take place. A week after this episode's original airdate, Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover

Sent to the 1960s to study human history, the crew encounter a being claimed to have been sent by advanced aliens to save Earth.

TREK TRIVIA
"Assignment: Earth" was originally a pilot for another series and became an episode when the spin-off didn't sell.
In this episode, Spock notes than an important assassination will take place. Less than a week after the show aired, Dr. Martin Luther King was shot.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange episode, rarely seen anymore, January 22, 2002

By 

R. Shaw (Hanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 55: Assignment: Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I enjoyed seeing this episode again. It had been a long time and I had forgotten most of it. I think this is one of the least run episodes of the original series in syndication. I think it had a good plot. Its too bad the series didn't do a follow up on the main character and the alien beings he was returned to. Their technology was above that of Star Fleet's at that time. The episode had Star Trek's trademark mix of comedy and drama with a bit of mystery mixed in. I highly recommend this episode.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best Gary Seven episode ever!!!, March 28, 2001

By 

Rottenberg's rotten book review (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 55: Assignment: Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Everybody's favorite intergalactic troubleshooter Gary Seven, a human trained by a race of wise aliens and returned to 20th century Earth to save the planet from nuclear holocaust, just barely pulls it off again. In this action-packed episode, Seven (Robert Lansing) with the aide of his hilariously inept secretary (Teri Garr) works quickly to saboutage the launch of a US rocket being readied to place nuclear weapons into orbit. Unfortunately, Seven's carefully laid plans hit a snag when his transit beam is intercepted by what appears to be a spacecraft sent from 23rd century Earth on an exploration mission. Not having enough time to verify whether these are indeed explorers from Earth's future, and unable to reveal hsi true mission, and unable to convince thse possible humans of his own good intentions, Seven remains at odds with them thruought.

This is probably the best episode of "Gary Seven" though the special effects are typically lousy, and Terri Garr's charachter was still too adorable to be believable, Seven fans around the world know the show's real value was in its charachter interactions which are tops here. The way the writers concentrate on the crew of the Federation Spaceship Enterprise, you'd think that they were the stars. Some Seven fanatics (esp. the notorious "Seven of One") have speculated that this "Seven" episode was actually intended to be a spinoff for another series about the crew of the Enterprise, though we'll never know for sure. This episode is actually more memorable for Isis, who reveals in the last few minutes of the show some of the reason for the hold she has over loyal Seven fans across the world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Series That Could Have Been, December 7, 1999

By 

Scott Dutton (Calgary, AB, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 55: Assignment: Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This episode is at the top of my Star Trek list because of its concept. Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a descendent of humans abducted from Earth thousands of years ago, is sent to 20th century Earth to help avoid disasters. He is aided by a ditzy blonde secretary (Teri Garr), and his shape-changing cat, Isis.

Framed as a Star Trek episode, it was intended to be spun off from Trek in its own series. Like Trek, AE would have been decades ahead of its time (benevolent aliens! ). Intelligent scripting and good interplay between Lansing and Garr make this an engaging hour.

I liked this episode so much, I've got a website devoted to it.