Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 55: Assignment: Earth [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As Season Two was coming to an end, it was believed that Star Trek was going to be canceled. So what did Gene Roddenberry do? Did he stick to his guns and go down with his ship firing? Nope. Instead, he wrote a pilot for a series called Assignment: Earth. The show was not picked up and for good reasons. Gary Seven is so boring and the story is kind of lame. So basically, Shatner and gang are guest stars on their own show. This is not Star Trek; it is a pilot for a crappy series that didn't get picked up.

This episode was designed to be the pilot for a new series starring the guest characters of Gary Seven and his secretary Roberta Lincoln. From the story content, it is easy to see why the series was not picked up by any network.
The Enterprise has traveled back in time to the late twentieth century in order to investigate an apparent historical anomaly. At the time, Earth was an armed camp with nuclear weapons being used in brinksmanship games. Yet, somehow everything managed to work out and peace was declared.
Suddenly, a mysterious man beams aboard the Enterprise from a distant location. He claims to be Gary Seven, a human abducted by advanced aliens and subjected to rigorous training. His mission is to come back to Earth and engage in activity that will allow the Earth to survive this critical time.
Kirk and the Enterprise crew are skeptical, they can find no record of the man in their archives. Gary Seven goes to an office developed by his two predecessors, who unfortunately were killed in an accident. There, he meets his secretary, the daffy Roberta played by an attractive and scantily clad Teri Garr. After some maneuverings that are a hi-tech version of hide-and-seek, a rocket containing a nuclear weapon is launched and Gary Seven pleads with Kirk to allow him to take control of it and explode it in the atmosphere. Kirk assents and after the fact, they learn from their historical archives that such an airburst did indeed take place. The magnitude of the error frightened all nations into reaching a treaty regarding the use of nuclear weapons.
The absurdity of the plot and the obvious hints of a subsequent series make it hard to follow or appreciate. Roberta Lincoln is such a dizzy character that it was annoying and offensive, even by the standards of late 1960's television. I rank it as one of the worst shows of the series and a sad way to close out the second season.

In "Assignment: Earth," a man that is supposedly from earth beams onboard the Enterprise. The man tells the crew to beam him to earth where he belongs, but Captain Kirk is worried that if the man isn't telling the truth and if he's not even human, that beaming this man to earth could possibly change history. What will Captain Kirk decide to do this time around?

I thought "Assignment: Earth" was a pretty good episode. Apparently I'm not as fond of it as some of the other reviewers, but I did like it because it made me want to watch it the whole time to see if Captain Kirk and Spock would catch the earthling and find out the truth about him. The episode also has some footage of rockets taking off from earth, which I thought was a cool bonus. There's also some other noticeable earth history included in "Assignment: Earth." Not to mention that Teri Garr is also in the episode.

I recommend anybody who likes Star Trek episodes that deal with history to get "Assignment: Earth."

Fantastic "Star Trek" offered here! The scantily-clad TERI GARR is captured in her full-beautymaking this episode extra-special! A favorite!

Sent back in time to find out how Earth managed to survive without destroying itself, the U.S.S. Enterprise inadvertently beams aboard a space traveler, Gary Seven, along with his black cat, Isis. Seven claims to be a twentieth century Terran raised and trained by unknown and unnamed aliens to prevent Earth from destroying itself. Before Kirk can determine whether or not the man is telling the truth, Seven escapes to the planet below. Kirk and Spock follow him to Earth. Meanwhile, Seven has tried to contact two fellow agents, who are discovered to have recently died in an auto accident. Instead, he contacts Roberta Lincoln, who becomes his reluctant cohort. An orbital bomb is about to be launched by the United States and it is Seven's mission to make sure the rocket explodes somewhere over Asia, thereby frightening the governments into not launching future bombs into space. When the rocket goes out of control, Seven barely succeeds in stopping it, despite Kirk and Spock's well-meaning interference. Before Kirk and Spock leave Earth, Kirk consults the Enterprise's computer records and informs Seven and Roberta that they have a very interesting future in the offing.