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Buttoned-down Spock shows a whole new lust for life when the "life essence" of an egotistical alien takes up residence in his body and decides not to leave. The
Enterprise is practically hijacked by a being of pure will, one of three ancient survivors of an extinct race (kept alive in a funky day-glo bubble) who makes a modest request of the human crew: lend us your bodies. It's only supposed to be temporary, just long enough to build a set of android substitutes to house their energy, but the devious character who lucks into Spock's Vulcan vessel likes his new flesh and blood and decides not to leave. It's bland drama but great fun as a character piece: Nimoy smirks and flirts as the cocky, swaggering kidnapper and Kirk still gets the girl, even with an alien pulling the strings. Diana Muldaur, who went on to play Dr. Pulaski during the second season of
The Next Generation, makes her first of two original-series appearances in this episode (she appears as a different character in episode 62, "Is There No Truth in Beauty").
--Sean Axmaker
From the Back Cover
Kirk, Spock, and Dr. Ann Mulhall allow noncorporeal beings to inhabit their bodies while these aliens prepare androids for themselves. One entity, however, secretly decides to remain in Spock's body!
TREK TRIVIA
Diana Muldaur (Dr. Ann Mulhall) appeared as Dr. Miranda Jones in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and portrayed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kate Pulaski during the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
This episode was the first to postulate the theory of an ancient space-faring race seeding our galaxy, and produced one of Star Trek's classic bloopers-William Shatner's "Have no fear...Sargon is here!"
