Star Trek Initiation: "The Man Trap" (episode 101)

I was all set to watch "Pushing Daisies" tonight, but since the schedule changed I decided to start on my New Year's resolution instead. Thanks to the magic of online videos, I can watch all of Season 1 without having to buy the DVDs or pay $2 an episode on iTunes. Oh, and it's legal (Netflix Instant Viewing to the rescue!). Tracking down season 2 may be a bit tougher, but I've got time.

This was one of the few episodes of Star Trek that I'm somewhat familiar with; I've seen part of the episode but tonight was the first time I saw the whole thing. The basic premise for this episode is a shape-shifting salt-sucker (say THAT three times fast!). Captain Kirk and crew visit a planet that is mostly abandoned, except for Professor Crater (love the name!) and his wife, Nancy. Then people start dying, and it becomes apparent that "Nancy" is really a creature who can take any form. Professor Crater defends the creature, which is the last of its kind. He compares it to the "Earth buffalo" who, in this future, is completely extinct (not an unreasonable prediction, either then or now). We get a glimpse of the creature's true appearance at the end. It looks kind of like a Yeti combined with the mermaids from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

It's strange to watch "Star Trek" because whenever I see Kirk, I think, "Hey, it's William Shatner before he got old and fat!" and whenever I see Sulu, I think, "It's Hiro's dad!" But I love recognizing actors, so it's cool. Oh, and I think I recognized Sulu's living plant (which is quite obviously a hand puppet) from the old "Addams Family" show. Quite a resilient thing, that plant. Morticia must have fed it well.

I learned that if I lived on the Enterprise, I'd probably go nuts. Everything bleeps or dings or makes some kind of sci-fi sound effect. Johnny says he'd probably love it.

Stay tuned for another "Star Trek Initiation" post coming soon!