Dagger of the Mind

For the second season Columbo episode of the same name, see List of Columbo episodes.

"Dagger Of The Mind"
Star Trek: The Original Series episode
Captain Kirk being tortured
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 9
Directed by	Vincent McEveety
Written by	Shimon Wincelberg as S. Bar-David
Production code	011
Original air date	November 3, 1966
Guest stars
James Gregory Morgan Woodward Marianna Hill Larry Anthony Susanne Wasson John Arndt Eli Behar Walt Davis Ed McCready Lou Elias Eddie Paskey Frank da Vinci Irene Sale
Episode chronology
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List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes

"Dagger of the Mind" is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #9, production #11 and was broadcast November 3, 1966. It was written by Shimon Wincelberg under the pen name "S. Bar-David", and directed by Vincent McEveety. The title is taken from a soliloquy by the title character in Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

The Enterprise visits a prison planet where a new treatment for the criminally insane has deadly results. It marks the first appearance of the Vulcan mind meld.

Plot

On stardate 2715.1, the USS Enterprise, commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, makes a supply run to Tantalus V, a rehabilitation colony for the criminally insane. After transporting supplies, they receive cargo from Tantalus for delivery elsewhere. Unbeknownst to the staff, the box contains an escaped inmate. Upon contacting the Tantalus administration, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discover that the stowaway is Dr. Simon van Gelder, former assistant to Dr. Tristan Adams, the Director of the Tantalus facility.

Appearing very distressed, van Gelder subdues the transporter technician and makes his way to the bridge. With a phaser in hand, he demands asylum but is quickly subdued by Mr. Spock with a Vulcan Neck Pinch. Dr. Leonard McCoy suspects something is wrong and wants to keep van Gelder for examination. He urges Captain Kirk to investigate, and Kirk transports to the colony with Dr. Helen Noel, a beautiful ship psychiatrist he met at a Christmas party.

Upon arrival, Dr. Adams introduces them to a blank, emotionless woman named Lethe and gives Kirk and Noel a tour of the colony. Adams is affable and accommodating, but his staff seem blank and detached. Adams shows Kirk and Noel the device that caused Dr. van Gelder's injury, an experimental beam called a neural neutralizer. Adams explains that van Gelder felt compelled to test the device on himself before using it on inmates. He was blasted by the beam at full power and driven insane. Dr. Adams claims the machine is perfectly harmless at low intensities and is only used to stabilize and calm deranged inmates. Dr. Noel is satisfied with this explanation, but Kirk remains suspicious.

Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Van Gelder issues increasingly frantic warnings that the landing party is in extreme danger. His warnings contain cryptic references to the neural neutralizer, but whenever he tries to elaborate, he is racked with pain and unable to continue.

Spock mind-melds with Dr. van Gelder to obtain a clearer picture of his story. The mind-meld reveals that Dr. Adams is actually insane and is using the neural neutralizer to control both the inmates and the facility staff. After receiving this information, Spock assembles a security team, but the colony's force field blocks transport and communication.

In the mean time, Kirk examines the neutralizer without Dr. Adams and decides to test it, on himself, with Dr. Noel at the controls. The test begins and Dr. Noel playfully suggests that their Christmas party encounter went further than it did. Suddenly, Adams appears, grabs the controls and increases the intensity of the neutralizer. He brainwashes Kirk to believe he has been madly in love with Dr. Noel for years, and Kirk and Noel are subsequently taken prisoner and confined to their quarters.

Dr. Noel escapes into a ventilation duct. She reaches the facility's control room and interrupts Kirk's neutralizer session by shutting down all power in the complex. Kirk regains his wits and subdues Adams, leaving him unconscious on the floor of the treatment room. A guard discovers Noel's sabotage and restores power. He then turns his attentions towards Noel. He expects an easy fight against a woman but after a hand to hand struggle she defeats him by sending him hurtling into the electrical equipment with an athletic kick, whereupon he is electrocuted. After killing the guard, she again turns off the power, takes his phaser and returns to the ventilation duct. With the force field down, Spock, McCoy and a security team beam to the planet. Spock restores power to the colony after disabling the force field, unwittingly reactivating the neural neutralizer in the process.

When the neural neutralizer restarts, Dr. Adams is still lying on the floor of the vacant treatment room; the neutralizer empties Adams's mind and kills him. Van Gelder, having recovered his sanity, takes charge of the colony and destroys the neural neutralizer. Spock helps Kirk forget Dr. Adams romantic suggestions about Noel to Kirk.

Production and continuity

This episode marks the first occurrence in Star Trek of the Vulcan mind meld. According to the book The Making of Star Trek by Gene Roddenbery and Stephen Whitfield, the Vulcan mind meld was conceived as an alternative to using hypnosis to tap Van Gelder's subconscious. The writers wanted to avoid improperly depicting hypnosis as a medical technique. Also, they did not want to shoehorn into the dialog an assurance that Spock is legitimately qualified and certified to use hypnosis given his non-medical credentials. Lastly, they did not want to risk accidentally hypnotizing viewers at home.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired October 13, 2007 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered version of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "The Gamesters of Triskelion". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

• Tantalus V has been given a more realistic appearance, including a set of rings.
• The Tantalus facility has been redone to a circular building with the planet's rings visible in the sky. Originally, the scene was a reuse of the lithium cracking facility matte painting from "Where No Man Has Gone Before", slightly changed and with some of the buildings removed.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B" rating, noting that the episode had "a handful of excellent moments (the mind-meld, that damn booth) that don't fit as well as they should". Handlen noted Kirk's and Noel's relationship as the plot's "weakest element" and that Adams did not make a compelling villain. In contrast, he felt that Nimoy made Spock's mind meld sequence "fairly effective". The booth and its effect on Adams were also memorable moments in the episode.

Legacy and influence

In articles in the magazines Starlog and Entertainment Weekly, actor Morgan Woodward called the role of Dr. Simon Van Gelder the most physically and emotionally exhausting acting job of his career. Desperate to get out of Westerns and expand his range, he was cast against type for this episode and was so well regarded that he came on board next season to play the tragic Capt. Ronald Tracey in "The Omega Glory." Playing Van Gelder did take its toll on his personal life, as he confesses that for three weeks afterwards he was anti-social towards friends and family. He is grateful that this episode opened up whole new opportunities for him.

The second-season South Park episode "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" is a parody of this episode.

External links

• Dagger of the Mind at StarTrek.com
• Dagger of the Mind at the Internet Movie Database
• "Dagger of the Mind" at TV.com
• Dagger of the Mind at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Dagger of the Mind side-by-side comparisons before and after remastering
• Full Episode of Dagger of the Mind - at CBS.com