Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan
• Directors: Ralph Senensky
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, Jerry Sohl
• Producers: Gene L. Coon, 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: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213293
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,563 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Enterprise's Vulcan-born first officer, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), generally smiles about as often as Greta Garbo. But in episode 25 of the original 1960s series, not only does Spock smile, he laughs, dangles from a tree, kisses a good-looking blonde woman, and gets into a fight with his best friend. Could this be some long-lost episode in which Nimoy's stoic hero regresses into a 6-year-old? No, but it is one of the most popular stories from Gene Roddenberry's classic Trek. Spock, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Sulu (George Takei), and a couple of crewmen beam down to Omicron Ceti III hoping to find out what happened to a group of scientists who built a research colony on the planet. What they discover is a little spooky. The self-satisfied colonists claim they've created a true paradise where no one has needs or wants, where no one ages or gets sick, and everyone is part of a collective mind bent on positivity. Kirk, naturally, argues that paradise robs men of their need to suffer and crawl toward progress. Meanwhile, Spock is zapped by an exotic flower that is the real source of all this community goodwill, and he instantly gets happy--acting like a kid, renewing a romance with a comely biologist (an angelic Jill Ireland), and giving the sputtering Kirk an earful of entertaining insubordination. Story editor D.C. Fontana's script contains some obvious parallels between a chemically induced "paradise" and a drug-induced high in the '60s. But the real draw here is Spock's uncharacteristic joy and the drama behind Kirk's shattering decision to break his friend's heart. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover

Omicron Ceti III's colonists should have been killed by deadly Berthold rays, yet Kirk finds a group of mysteriously healthy colonists - and Spock falls in love!

TREK TRIVIA
Jill Ireland (Leila Kalomi) later starred with husband Charles Bronson in several popualr films including Death Wish II and Breakheart Pass. Grant Woods reprised the role of Kelowitz in "Arena" and "The Galileo Seven".
Notice that there are no combination numbers on Kirk's safe, just buttons!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star "Trip"!, April 1, 2009

By 

Babak Esfandiari - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 25: This Side Of Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There's often been hints of drug culture in Sci-Fi series from the 60's and 70's (especially in Space 1999), and this is one of the most obviously "trippy" episodes of Star Trek.

The Enterprise crew lands on a strange planet that is very peaceful, and where everybody seems healthy. The reason for this is the spores of a plant that proliferates under the effects of a normally lethal ray. Under the influence of the spore, humans lose their ambitions and their sense of duty and responsibility. In short, they become happy.

The colony on that planet is basically a hippie community: it is a humorous fact that animals for some reason all died on the planet and the humans all turned vegetarian! The planet is neon-green and looks like a typical tie-dye t-shirt! The plant spits its spores like confetti! Peace and love reigns supreme and makes people improvise bad poetry!

Is that all such a bad thing? Is the path of progress over stagnation always the right one? What would you choose: a carefree life or one where one must pursue his/her ambitions, never satisfied, always frustrated? This episode opts for the latter, but thankfully it doesn't preach too hard against the former.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Episode Full of Bliss, June 30, 2007

By 

Brian Overland (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 25: This Side Of Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Which is better: to live a life of perfect happiness but no accomplishment? Or to live a life of achievement and progress yet never feeling content? This is one of the major questions of life. "This Side of Paradise" deals with it directly. An Earth colony has been zapped by a bunch of spores, which sustain life and induce blissful contentment in their hosts, but at a price. The spores take away all ambition, drive, and sense of duty.

You can imagine how, when the Enterprise visits the planet, the spores change Mr. Spock, who at first fights them. But he finally gives in. In his case, they let his human side, for the first time in his life, reign supreme, enabling him to return the love of a beautiful woman (Jill Ireland) who has adored him from afar. It is Kirk, not Spock, who finally overcomes the spores. This is a running theme in the series... Spock is superior to Kirk in many ways: intellectually, physically, spiritually. But it is Kirk's unconquerable will that makes him the leader of the Enterprise.

This episode is outstanding because of the subtle touches in DC Fontana's script and the marvelous way it is acted. Anyone who thinks Shatner is incapable of convincing acting should look at the scene in which Kirk says to the spore-influenced Spock, "Are you out of your mind?" while Spock hangs from a tree like a monkey.

But it is the last half that is more than worth the price of admission. First, the scene where Kirk drives the spores' influence out of Spock by calling him a "freak" and insulting his parents. (Y'see, strong negative emotions overcome the spores.) This is followed up later by perhaps the best-written scene in the entire Star Trek franchise: Spock explaining to Leila that he cannot go back. "If there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than anyone else's."

The scene ends with the following exchange:

LEILA: (Weeping.) You never told me if you had another name, Mr. Spock.

SPOCK: (Pause. Touches her cheek.) You couldn't pronounce it.

Then there is the final line of the show. As they prepare to warp out, Kirk asks Spock what he has to say about their adventure. Spock responds that he has nothing to say, except: "For the first time in my life, I was happy."

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spock discovers 'Human' emotions for the first time, May 23, 2000

By 

jasenao (Dothan, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 25: This Side Of Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"This Side of Paradise" isn't like most of the other Star Trek episodes, but that doesn't mean that it's not great. Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy beam down to a planet and discover that there are a few people still living there that are happy to see them. It's a land without animals or insects, yet the people can survive. Any plants that they plant will grow no matter what they are. However, the 3 from the Enterprise are invited to make themselves at home and the people on the strange planet want them to stay there. Spock discovers a woman that he knew 6 years ago that used to love him. Spock and the gorgeous blonde go off together to talk and Spock gets hit in the face by some spores from a huge flower. He then falls into a spell of complete peace and falls in love with the woman. Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy also get hit by the spores, but for some reason, the captain is not affected by them. He goes back onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and tries to maintain control. But he discovers that some of the plants were beamed onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and they have affected every single person onboard his ship. Soon they all beam down to the land and discover peace. Of course, they have all committed mutiny, but they are under the spell of the flowers' spores and can't help it.

The spores finally affect Shatner, but he fights them off by getting angry and refusing to pack up and leave his ship. That is the only defense to the spores, to get angry. He tells Spock to beam up by himself so they can talk. He gets Spock very upset by calling him a computer and a half breed. Spock and the captain then engage in a ruthless fight until Spock comes to and they put together a machine that makes all the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise angry and they all start fighting each other. This also marks an end to Spock's love affair with the woman he's shortly in love with. She knows Spock is no longer one of them when she boards the Enterprise and she herself gets upset because she has lost Spock and the spores no longer affect her. Eventually, everybody gets off of the planet and is not affected by the spores anymore. The main guy from the planet accepts an invitation to board the Enterprise and to get help and then get re-stationed somewhere else.

This episode could also be called "Spock's Only Experience of Love and Human Emotion." Leonard Nimoy puts on one of his best performances in "This Side of Paradise." The landscapes look real peaceful and it'll keep you watching it wondering how Spock and the rest of the crew will snap out of the spores' spells. If you're a Star Trek fan and even if you're not, I recommend getting this episode.