This article was first posted on
September 1, 2010. It is presented in its entirety with some minor
changes.
I have a problem with this episode.
Just what motive did Dr. Adams have for doing what he did? Was it
megalomania? Was he trying to make a better world (or universe, in
this case)? Was it hubris? Was he convinced that he had arrived at
the method of rehabilitating criminal minds? Was he just
bat-shit crazy? We, the viewers, aren't given an inkling of what
motivated him to build the neural neutralizer and begin turning it on
whoever happened to draw his ire.
Dr. Adams, villain
of the week. What's his motivation for the evil acts he perpetrates
in this episode? Did his parents not buy him a puppy to love and to
hold when he was a boy? Is he just bat-shit crazy? Inquiring minds
want to know!
This is probably one of the weaker of
the early Star Trek: The Original Series episodes. The villain is
nothing more than a two-dimensional caricature, doing evil simply for
the sake of being evil. Its one saving grace is Marianna Hill, who
plays the ridiculously beautiful Dr. Helen Noel, whom Dr. McCoy
mischievously assigns as Kirk's assistant, knowing the two had "met"
at a Christmas party. Even the stoic Mr. Spock seems to check her
out when he and Kirk meet up with her in the Enterprise's transporterroom.
Dr. Helen Noel, eye
candy of the week
I can't say that I blame him.
