Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Kathryn Hays, Alan Bergmann
• Directors: John Erman
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Joyce Muskat
• Producers: Edward K. Milkis, Fred Freiberger, Gene Roddenberry, Gregg Peters, 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: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300988597
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,237 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This episode is an absolute must for fans of Star Trek's recurring shirtless-Kirk-being-tortured motif. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are taken to a strange laboratory and tortured by powerful aliens while a mute woman is forced to watch--a woman whose empathic abilities are being put to the test. There is, of course, a broader scheme to it all--this is one of the early manifestations of Trek's eternal conflict between the needs of the many and the needs of the few, or the one. Keep an ear out for one of the all-time great Bonesisms ("I'm a doctor, not a coal miner!") and hang on to those fragile but oh-so-important human emotions. --Ali Davis

From the Back Cover

As prisoners of the Vians, Kirk and McCoy are tortured so that Gem, a mute empath, can learn to use her abilities and save her race. .

TREK TRIVIA
"The Empath" contains one of DeForest Kelley's classic McCoy-isms: "I'm a doctor, not a coal miner!"
Note that when Kirk and McCoy are paralyzed by the Vians' energy-sapping beam, Kirk states that he can't stand up; this is strange considering that he's standing at the time!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of TOS's very best, not worst!, May 24, 2001

By 

Michael Topper (Pacific Palisades, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 63: The Empath [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Empath" is one of the highlights of the third season and should rank very highly against any ST episode past, present, or future--so why is it generally so reviled among the fans? This episode is a classic example of the surface elements of a story being confused for its substance. Yes, Kirk does get tortured, shirtless, in this episode (so does McCoy, but with shirt on). Yes, it's all in the name of saving a planet from extinction. So what? Next Generation fans love that episode where Picard is tortured by the Cardassian, why be hypocritical when it comes to "The Empath"? In any case, the episode is not an essential one because Kirk gets tortured. It is essential because it is a beautifully written, mesmerizingly performed morality play in classic Trek fashion.

It should be noted that this was DeForest Kelley's favorite ST episode, and it's easy to see why, for it is the most essential McCoy episode ever. The script basically examines the complex Kirk-Spock-McCoy triad in fine detail, with McCoy being the focal point, and it is his actions which prove the greatest test of his character in any of the episodes or films. The sparse, all-black sets work *very* well and are reminiscent of the Outer Limits episode "Nightmare". The performance of Kathryn Hays as the mute Gem (outfitted in a beautiful costume, to boot!) is spellbinding; anyone who gives this episode one star is doing her a great disservice, for she manages to convey a plethora of complex emotions without uttering a single word. George Duning's musical score is also superb, and enhances the episode immeasurably--its electric organ theme for the brotherly love in the Triad would become the score for all romantic scenes for the rest of the season. Finally, the Vians themselves are a most interesting species, and a parable for modern science, which can in its clinical detachment become unwittingly cold--the episode certainly does not celebrate their torturous actions, far from it. Indeed, there are so many emotions and messages at work here that the space for this review is not enough to write about them! In any case, the episode is highly recommended and you should judge for yourself what it is trying to say.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friendship, Tension, Emotion - A Good Story, January 12, 2002

By 

GeneH (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 63: The Empath [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the first Series's best episodes. Friendship, sacrifice and a plethora of tensions make this a well written episode. Instead of goodies and gadgets, emotion and character assume the center of the stage.

Cheap to make? Yes. There were few special effects. The Vians weren't cute and cuddly, quite the contrary, they were cold, heartless and "alien". "Gem", the empath is silent but deeply insightful and talented.

This isn't the typical Star Trek pablum; a secret widget or gimmick doesn't save the day. The Genesis Planet doesn't bring anyone back to life. The Transporter doesn't make anyone young again. None of Dr. McCoy's special nostrums cure every ill, instead Dr. McCoy's character is revealed. Under the whiny exterior is a tough man who can call the shots and back them up.

What saves the day is Kirk's appeal to the Alien's vestigial sense of morality and right and wrong. Their only motive, to learn if the equally alien "Gem" is capable of self sacrifice and learning the noble virtues which in their view make civilizations worthy to survive. Kirk turns this around on the aliens, convincing them to demonstrate the very virtues which they prize by letting the men and Gem go.

On the road to this realization Kirk is tortured. Spock and McCoy vie for the position of the next victim. McCoy sacrifices himself for Spock.

It ends happily but enigmatically. We never learn if the Vians save Gem's race or if she survives. We do not learn if the three men are better friends for having suffered so together.

Would I change this episode? Slightly, some of the dialogue was sophomoric, but the story was far superior to most Star Trek episodes. I recommend this episode highly.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Testing the bonds of friendship between Kirk, Spock & McCoy, November 21, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 63: The Empath [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Empath" is certainly one of the most intimate episodes of Star Trek on so many levels. The Enterprise arrives at a star system that is about to go nova to pick up a scientific team. Kirk, Spock and McCoy have just found the station abandoned when they are suddenly transported to a huge cavern. There they find the corpses of the scientists and a mute empath, who McCoy names Gem. The mystery as to what is going on is solved when two Vians appear and explain they are doing experiments which consists of torturing Kirk and letting Gem heal him with her empathic abilities. When the Vians return for more tests, McCoy sedates the others and goes in their place. Kirk and Spock awake to find the doctor dying, with Gem his only hope. There have been a lot of Star Trek episodes where superior aliens test humans, but in "The Empath" the Vians provide a surprise and interesting twist. It seems they can transport the inhabitants of ONE planet from the Minaran system before its star explodes and while Gem's people are the most promising, the Vians must learn if she can sacrifice her self for another, which they call one of the highest qualities. So all the torturing has not been in the name of sadism, but rather to justify the horrendous choice of which planet of people to save. Of course, the two Earthlings and the Vulcan get high marks for their performance during the experiments. The strength of "The Empath" is the clear evidence of the strong relationship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Probably no other episode in the series focuses on the trio as much as this particular one.