Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 25: This Side Of Paradise [VHS]

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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.

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."

"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.

The first 90% of this episode was good. We saw good character development in Spock, an interesting mystery, a romance involving Spock, and Captain Kirk facing mutiny. But how does he solve the dilemma of riding the people of the spores? A subsonic transmitter! Granted they have transporters and warp speed capability, but isn't this stretching things a bit too far? Like Tomorrow Is Yesterday, D. C. Fontana wrote a very bad ending. The episode was almost saved when Spock said that for the first time in his life he was happy. But I still can't get over how it crashed and burned at the end.

Drugs, a bit of counterculture and the love life of Mr. Spock all combine to make one of the best episodes of the Star Trek series. The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III to investigate the status of a human colony. The planet is being bombarded with Berthold rays, a form of radiation that is deadly to human tissue. Therefore, the Enterprise landing party has no hope of finding anyone alive.
To their astonishment, they are greeted by the colonists, all of which appear to be hale and hearty. The level of astonishment rises even higher when McCoy reports that the colonists are in perfect health, even to the level that preexisting conditions have vanished. Spock is the first member of the crew to succumb to the spores, a plantlike creature that infects human bodies and grants immunity to the Berthold rays and repairs all body dysfunction. An additional effect is that it gives the infected person a mindset of complete tranquility. This causes Spock pain at first as it forces his human half to the surface, competing with his Vulcan half.
With the exception of Kirk, the rest of the landing party is quickly infected and they pass the spores up to the Enterprise. In a short time, with the exception of Kirk, the entire crew is infected and down on the surface. He is also infected, but the strong and negative emotion he experiences at the thought of leaving the ship destroys the spores. Kirk then tricks Spock into beaming back to the Enterprise and incites him to violence, which destroys the spores in Spock's body. Together, they beam waves down to the planet which irritates the humans, causing the spores to die in all of them.
One of the colonists is a female (Leila) that Spock had a prior relationship with. When they first meet he once again asserts his Vulcan nature and inability to show strong emotion. However, in some of the best scenes in the entire series, Spock hangs from a tree, talks back to Kirk and lies on the grass with his head in Leila's lap. Spock looks up into the sky and talks about what he sees from the romantic perspective rather than the scientific.
This is also one of the best acted episodes of the series, the plot device of the spores allow Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley to display a wider range of emotions than they could in other episodes. In combination with a solid plot, this makes it one of the best episodes of the series.

Happy is putting it mildly! See Spock swing from trees and engage in some serious lip-lock with Leila Kalomi! The care-free colonists of Omicron Ceti III have a secret -- they should have died of Berthold Rays, but they're all happy, healthy, and not at all concerned that all of their animals have died. Kirk gets to the heart of the matter (with Samsonite luggage in hand).
One of my favorite, favorite episodes of all time. This episode features one of the sweetest goodbye scenes ever. Guest stars include the lovely, and much missed Jill Ireland as Leila.

For the first time in his life, Spock has a good time. After Jill Ireland's character, Leila, tricks him into ingesting hallucinogenic spores, he smiles, laughs, plays in trees, marvels at clouds and sunsets, and becomes incredibly insubordinate to captain Kirk. He also falls in love with Leila.

Eventually, the entire crew, with the exception of the captain, succumb to the spell of the spores and abandon the Enterprise in lieu of an idyllic life on a peaceful planet.

This fun episode is a bit slow in parts, but Kirk's solution to the problem is one of those classic Trek moments. It must be viewed to truly appreciate. Over all, a very good episode.

This is a beautifully written story. So unlike the usual Star Trek, and yet, not straying from the Star Trek everyone is familiar with. It deserves the nickname "The Spock Love Story". It is unusual to see Spock acting almost human. He feels love for the first, and probaly only, time in his life. Anyone who loves the Spock character MUST see this episode of Star Trek!!

After over 30 years I still remember the last words of this episode. I think it was Dr. McCoy who asks him about the events on the planet and Spock responds "For the first time in my life I was happy".

Expecting the colonists of Omicron Ceti III to be dead after three years of exposure to deadly Berthold rays, Kirk and Spock are surprised to find the colony alive and flourishing. Spock beams to the surface and meets a young botanist, Leila Kalomi, that he'd worked with previously and they renew the old friendship. When she'd worked with Spock six years before on Earth, Leila had tried to interest Spock romantically, and failed. Now she leads the Vulcan to a secluded section of the planet where a native plant sprays him with their spores. Leila tells Spock that the plant induces feelings of harmony and peace and love, along with a desire to remain on Omicron Ceti III and their paradise. The spores serve to break down Spock's inhibitions and soon he has declared his love for Leila and his desire to remain on the planet. Some of the plants are beamed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and more of the crew are affected. Captain Kirk, the last holdout, finally is affected by the power of the spores and discovers, through his own violent, adverse effect at leaving his beloved U.S.S. Enterprise, that strong, violent emotions are what reverse the effect of the spores. Kirk manages to lure Spock back to the U.S.S. Enterprise where he goads Spock into a fight. The extra adrenaline in the Vulcan's system pushes the effect of the spores from Spock and he reverts to normal... just short of killing Captain Kirk. Using subsonic sound waves, the two officers manage to bring around the rest of the crew and colonists. Now that the colonists realize that the spores have prevented them from making any real progress and accomplishments, they plan to relocate where the plants do not grow.