Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 47: Obsession [VHS]

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

 

 

"Obsession" begins with a classic TOS teaser. Kirk and Spock beam down to a "planet" with three redshirts to obtain a mineral they need. They have found a very good sample and are about to beam up when Kirk smells a familiar, ominous odor. He knows that whatever is emitting this odor is dangerous. Kirk, Spock, and the redshirts go off to find where the odor is coming from. The classic part--the three redshirts are killed by the alien of the week, a dangerous cloud.

"Obsession" is a wonderful character study of Captain Kirk as he faces demons from his past. This cloud killed 200 men on the USS Farragut, when Kirk was a luitenant. "Obsession" is very entertaining and quite dramatic in places. This is one of the most character driven plots the series has provided. This is definatley a winner.

"Obsession" tests Captain Kirk's character more than just about any episode of the original series. While on a planet, he smells something that smells familiar. He soon discovers it's the same cloud, or creature, that killed many people including his commanding officer that he was real close to. Now, Captain Kirk must fight off his anxiety and past memories and find a way to kill the creature.

Another interesting aspect is that Kirk's former commanding officer's son is now onboard the Enterprise in order to give Kirk a helping hand. Kirk is obsessed with killing this cloud and this episode is worth seeing so you can see if he can get rid of this 'obsession.'

"Obsession" is a good episode and I recommend any Star Trek fan to get it. It showcases one of William Shatner's best performances as Captain Kirk.

While conducting a survey, Kirk detects a smell that he recalls from his years on the USS Farragut. The ship was attacked by a gaseous entity and Kirk was one of the few survivors. In the years since that attack, Kirk has blamed himself for what he thinks was a momentary delay in his firing of the ship's phasers. When the creature encounters humans, it kills them by absorbing their red corpuscles.
Kirk warns the other members of the landing party, but it is not enough as the entity attacks and kills three of them. The son of Garrovick, the dead Captain of the Farragut is now a member of the Enterprise crew and he hesitated for a moment in firing his phaser. Kirk relieves him of duty, transferring his guilt to Garrovick. When the creature attacks and is fired upon, the phasers have no affect, as the creature is able to somehow transfer its' existence outside the field of fire.
The creature enters the Enterprise through the air ducts and attacks Spock, but it finds his copper based blood unpalatable. Scotty devises a way to eject the creature and it takes off at a high rate of warp speed. Kirk devises a way to kill it by creating an anti-matter bomb. They try to entice the creature to the bomb by using blood from the sickbay stocks, but before they can set the bomb, the creature consumes the blood. Kirk's strategy then is to use a human body (Kirk) as the bait, he has the transporter controller energize and then immediately detonate the bomb. After some rapid adjustments, Spock is able to cross circuit the transporter and recover Kirk and Garrovick.
While this episode has some points of real tension, the fight between Kirk and Garrovick on the surface of the planet goes several levels beyond the absurd. They are in a fight to the death with a creature that will kill them all if it can; yet Garrovick attacks Kirk in an attempt to be the hero. Even in times of complete safety, violating orders and striking a superior officer is a very serious offense. The ridiculous thing about this is that it was an aspect of the plot that was unnecessary. The deadliness of the creature and Kirk's obsession with it generated more than enough tension. It is also a good look into the past and psyche of Captain Kirk.