Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 31: Metamorphosis [VHS]

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

 

 

I don't see why a lot of people didn't like the "Metamorphosis" episode of Star Trek because I thought it was pretty good. A man that is a well known explorer is stranded on a planet along with a cloud-like being that keeps him young and healthy by floating over him and 'talking' to him. Kirk and the crew must do something to get off the planet while they try to find out more about the classic explorer and this mysterious being.

If you like the original series of Star Trek, I recommend getting this episode. It'll keep you interested and it has some good effects. It's not one of the more action packed episodes, but that doesn't mean that it's not any good.

This episode establishes Zefram Cochrane as the man who invented warp drive. Cochrane is played by Glen Corbett.

Maybe other reviewers found "Metamorphosis" to be a lesser "Trek" effort, but I beg to disagree. Guest stars Glen Corbett and Elinor Donahue are superb in this well-written love story. Maybe, that is the reason for its placement in the middling range of Trek favorites. But, wasn't "City on the Edge of Forever" basically the same thing?

Another plus is George Duning's moving score, reminiscent of his earlier work on the film "Picnic."

Gene Coon is clearly the best writer Star Trek ever had. This is a much better episode dealing with a lost shuttlecraft than The Galileo Seven. I also like Cochrane better in this episode than in First Contact. The one in First Contact was a putz!

Although not quite a 5-star episode, "Metamorphosis" is an almost perfect example of all that was uniquely Trek. If you could only show one episode to an alien visitor to show what Star Trek was all about, you might pick this one.

While trying to save an ambassador (Elinor Donahue), Kirk and co. are captured by an alien being, the "Companion." The Companian is trying to provide human company for a man, Zefram Cochrane, whom "she" has kept for over a hundred years. Kirk faces a problem: how to escape before the ambassador succumbs to fatal illness?

That might be a classic "Outer Limits" plot, but of course this is Trek, so there are twists that make this more humane. Kirk tries short-circuiting the Companion with Spock's help, but that doesn't work, so (on the advice of McCoy) he tries diplomacy. It turns out that Cochrane isn't a pet so much as a lover; and although this is touching and Platonic, there are sexual and even Oedipal overtones.

The most stirring moment (watch for it) is a visual one... after the Companion has given up immortality and changed into a mortal body, "she" views Cochrane through a colorful veil that suggests the flashing lights of the Companion. This has to be seen to be appreciated.

The character of Zefram Cochrane was reused in TNG movie "Star Trek First Contact" with an actor (James Cromwell from "Babe") who looks nothing like Glenn Corbett, the actor in this episode. There's a stronger thematic link to "Star Trek the Motion Picture," in which flashing lights suggest a romantic-erotic merger between human and non-human intelligence. In the end the message is: the need for love is universal.

An Enterprise shuttlecraft carrying Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford is taken off course by a strange force and deposited on a small planet. Nothing in the shuttle appears to work and suddenly a man appears and greets them. He is very glad to see them, inviting them back to his dwelling. Commissioner Hedford is suffering from a fatal disease, so Kirk tries to pry information out of their host. The mysterious energy cloud that grabbed the shuttlecraft is an intelligent being, and the unknown man turns out to be Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive. However, he should have been dead for many decades, so the Enterprise group is suspicious of his claims.
After investigation, Spock discovers that the energy being, which Cochrane refers to as the companion, is composed largely of electrical fields. Spock tries to short it out, but the being retaliates. They then try the universal translator and discover that it is female and is in essence Cochrane's lover. He rebels at the idea of having such a relationship, but finally comes to grips with the reality.
In the meantime, Commissioner Hedford rapidly grows worse and is on the verge of death. Kirk manages to explain to the companion how humans react to captivity and that it is wrong to keep the humans on the planet against their will. At the moment when the Commissioner dies, the companion enters her body and they fuse to become a single entity. The companion is now mortal and Cochrane realizes that he loves the fused entity and decides to stay with her. The Enterprise crew then leaves the planet and Kirk promises not to tell anyone about them.
This episode introduces the character of Zephram Cochrane, love and a form of sexual union between two vastly different species and the universal translator. It is the original series episode that deals the most with the idea of self-sacrifice for love. The companion gives up immortality for love and Cochrane gives up freedom and the adulation due a hero to stay with the companion. Love and sex between two species (human and non-human) is something that will eventually happen and there will be those who will find it obscene. In this episode, it is handled with class and dignity, and they live happily ever after.

Assistant Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford has become ill while trying to stop a war on Epsilon Canaris III. The shuttlecraft Galileo is assigned to take her to the U.S.S. Enterprise, where she will receive treatment for the otherwise fatal Sakuro's disease. En route, the shuttlecraft is pulled off course by a mysterious, cloud-like entity. Deposited safely on the planet Gamma Canaris N, Kirk and his party meet Zefram Cochrane, the scientist that discovered warp drive over 100 years before. But Cochrane appears young and vital, despite his age. The cloud-like creature, whom Cochrane calls, "The Companion," has kept him young and handsome over the years. The Companion captured the Galileo in order to give Cochrane human companionship. The Companion prevents Spock from repairing the disabled shuttlecraft and Kirk is worried that Nancy Hedford will die before they can get her to the U.S.S. Enterprise for treatment. By using a translating device, Kirk discovers that the cloud entity has a female personality and is in love with Cochrane, who doesn't care for that idea at all. He's fallen in love with Nancy Hedford and agrees to help destroy the cloud creature so that they can save Nancy's life. When that attempt fails, the cloud creature enters Nancy's body, saving her life, healing her. In this way, the Companion can know human love with Cochrane and Nancy Hedford's life can be saved. With the Companion no longer holding him on the planet, Cochrane is free to leave, but decides to remain with what is now Nancy/Companion. As the landing party departs, Cochrane and his new mate contemplate children and a normal life span.