Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Jeanne Bal, Alfred Ryder, DeForest Kelley
• Directors: Marc Daniels
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, George Clayton Johnson
• Producers: Gene Roddenberry, John D.F. Black, Robert H. Justman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213102
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,728 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"The Man Trap" was the first broadcast episode of the Gene Roddenberry series. Though it was not the first story produced for the show, the process was still new enough that contracted writers were obliged to fill in various blanks, develop some of the key characters, and smoothly introduce some of the Trek technology we've come to take for granted. Writer George Clayton Johnson conceived a story in which Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) runs into an old flame, a woman named Dr. Nancy Carter (Jeanny Bealy), who's in need of medical supplies on a planet where she and her husband (Alfred Ryder) are the only humans. "Nancy," however, turns out to be a shape-shifting creature that sucks the salt from the bodies of humanoids. Once it's loose aboard the Enterprise, the "salt vampire" can look like anyone in its pursuit of nourishment. With McCoy having such a pivotal part in the narrative, Johnson worked with the series' story editor and episode director (Marc Daniels) on fleshing out his underdeveloped character. There were other issues to think about: this premiere show introduced the Enterprise's transporter technology as well as Star Trek's realistic take on scary extraterrestrials. Everyone involved survived the episode, and while it played only to a meager television audience, Trek was off and running for three-plus decades. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover

When the Enterprise's landing party arrives on planet M113, a nightmare unfolds as several members die with every trace of salt mysteriously removed from their bodies.

TREK TRIVIA
This was the first episode to air and was written by George Clayton Johnson of Logan's Run fame.
The "salt vampire" (officially known as the M113 creature) was later seen, albeit briefly, in "The Squire of Gothos". Many futuristic-looking salt shakers were purchased for "The Man Trap", most of which ended up as McCoy's medical instruments!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The most frightening Salt Vampire in history, November 2, 2000

By 

AmazingMrKimble "amazingmrkimble" (Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 6: The Man Trap [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It is rather early in the series to introduce a romantic figure from McCoy's past, but I like the touch early on where everybody looks at Nancy and sees what they expect to see. But the important thing here is that Nancy is really a Salt Vampire. This settles once and for all the question of whether a vampire merely has to suck blood to truly be a vampire. They can suck blood, salt, minds, whatever, as long as they suck, they are vampires.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome creature!, July 22, 2000

By 

Jon D. Stewart (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 6: The Man Trap [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was not another particularly acclaimed episode, but it is one of my favorite. The crew are doing routine medical examinations on an archeological couple who only request salt tablets, presumably because of the hot climate of the planet. It turns out to be that Dr. McCoy's old girlfriend, who is part of the couple is actually a shape-shifting creature that has to feed off salt to survive, so it goes around killing crew members leaving red suction cup marks on their faces. The creatures true appearance is revealed near the end. Only complaint: it seems that the creature could not get enough salt no matter how many people it kept killing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sympathy for the devil, November 17, 2004

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 6: The Man Trap [VHS] (VHS Tape)

McCoy, Kirk and a young Ensign beam down to M113, a deserted planet inhabited only by some indigenous plants and married scientists Robert and Nancy Crater... yes, Crater - like moon crater. Ten years earlier, McCoy and Nancy were an item, then they parted ways and she married Robert Crater. McCoy never saw her after she left and has mixed feelings about their visit to the scientists. M1113 is arid - dry, hot and extremely salt deprived. McCoy has come to give the Craters a required annual medical exam. Robert Crater is resistant and says all they need is salt pills.

When McCoy sees Nancy, he sees her just as she was 10 years earlier - a girl of 25. When Kirk sees her, she is a woman in her mid 40s and when the Ensign with them sees her, he sees a tall blonde hottie he claims to recognize from a pleasure planet.

As McCoy examines Robert Crater, they hear Nancy screaming. She is standing over the body of the young ensign - he is dead as a doornail - with circular mottled marks on his face. McCoy finds a piece of fruit in his mouth and Nancy states that it is the deadly Borgia plant - from the Nightshade family, indigenous to the planet.

A medical exam rules out poisoning - McCoy finds that the ensign was completely depleted of salt. When Spock, Kirk and 2 other ensigns beam down to investigate further, they find one of the ensigns dead and the other missing. When they find the missing crewman, they beam back up. Unbeknownst to them, Ensign Green is really some creature from the planet that has been masquerading as Nancy.

After Ensign Green's body is discovered on the planet, they realize that the person they beamed up wasn't Green... but it's too late.

This creature, as Robert Crater describes it, is the last of its kind, like the Do-Do bird of earth. All of its kin died from lack of salt and it's the last one. After it killed Crater's wife, he tried to kill it, but then felt sympathy for it. It took the form of his wife and has been his surrogate companion all these years, friend, lover, cook and entertainer.

In many ways, it's quite silly that the creature has been living peacefully with the doctor for at least a year, surviving on salt tablets, but now that it's on the ship, it goes on an eating rampage, killing one person after another to suck the salt out of them.

The creature, in its true form, looks like a cross between a blue shag carpet and a funnel - a truly loathesome looking mess - and Robert Crater has been knocking boots with this thing!

McCoy acts like a puppy in love, totally irresponsible and goofy - but this is only the 6th episode, so characters were still in development.

The concept of this creature was very clever - assuming the shape of what the viewer desires to see, siphoning the salt right out of them. Cheese, to be sure, but interesting cheese. Like Brie.