The Cloud Minders

"The Cloud Minders"
Star Trek: The Original Series episode
The floating city of Stratos
Episode no.	Episode 76
Directed by	Jud Taylor
Written by	Margaret Armen story by David Gerrold Oliver Crawford
Production code	074
Original air date	February 28, 1969
Guest stars
Jeff Corey Diana Ewing Charlene Polite Fred Williamson Ed Long Kirk Raymone Jimmy Fields Garth Pillsbury William Blackburn (actor) Harv Selsby Marvin Walters Lou Elias Jay Jones Richard Geary Bob Miles Paul Baxley
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Way to Eden" Next → "The Savage Curtain"
List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes

"The Cloud Minders" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, and was broadcast on February 28, 1969. It is episode #76, production #74, written by Margaret Armen, based on a story by David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford, and directed by Jud Taylor.

Overview: Kirk races against time to acquire plague-fighting minerals from a world in the midst of a civil uprising against a grievous social class disparity.

Plot

On stardate 5818.4, the Enterprise arrives at the planet Ardana on a mission to retrieve the mineral zienite, which is needed to halt a vegetation plague on the planet Merak II. Captain Kirk wishes to speed along the negotiations for the mineral and beams down directly to the zienite mines with Mr. Spock, despite Ardana's leader High Advisor Plasus's request to beam to the floating city of Stratos.

Once Kirk and Spock arrive at the mine, they are surrounded by angry miners and a savage brawl ensues. During the struggle, Kirk notices a strange yet beautiful woman among the rioters. Plasus quickly arrives with a security force, who easily drives the rioting miners off, then invites Kirk and Spock to go with him back to the city immediately while his people search for the zienite.

Once on the floating city, Kirk and Spock are entertained as guests until the zienite can be procured from the mines. They learn that the people of Ardana are divided between the labor-class Troglytes, who work hard in the dangerous mines, while the elite city-dwellers reap all the profits and live in luxury.

Currently the Troglytes are rebelling with the elites, and unknown to Kirk, the city's police have captured a Troglyte who had sneaked into the city and defaced priceless artwork. Instead of divulging the leader of the rebellious workers, the man jumps to his death from a city balcony.

Plasus's daughter, Droxine, takes a liking to Spock, fascinated by his exquisite ears, and another woman, Vanna seems to be interested in Captain Kirk. Vanna, however, is really the rebel leader of the Troglytes and takes Kirk hostage until the city elite meet her demands. Kirk recognizes her as the woman he saw at the mine and begins to question her, but she does not cooperate. She accuses the city-dwellers of using the Enterprise as an intimidation tactic toward her people.

Spock, Droxine, and a sentinel arrive, and Vanna is subdued. She is then taken in for interrogation where Plasus has her tortured until she reveals the names and locations of her fellow rebels. Kirk is outraged at Plasus's actions and demands the interrogation stopped. Plasus instead orders Kirk and Spock to leave his city immediately.

The two return to the Enterprise where Dr. McCoy reports that unprocessed zienite emits an odorless, invisible gas, which diminishes mental capacity and heightens emotion. Spock believes that the workers serving aboard the floating city have been isolated from the effects of the zienite gas. Instead of being mindless workers toiling away in the mines, they have become aware of their unfair treatment by the higher class.

Kirk has special masks made that will filter against the zienite gas and offers Plasus them for his workers; however, Plasus shows no interest. Kirk violates his ban from the city and secretly beams down to Vanna's holding cell. He explains his offer to help her and the other workers achieve equality with the city-dwellers and offers her the masks. Vanna seems interested, and Kirk overpowers a guard, whereupon Vanna and Kirk, return to the zienite mines. Once there, however, she grabs Kirk's phaser and takes him hostage again with the help of two other Troglytes, Midro and Anka. The two men would rather see Kirk dead but Vanna has other plans.

Vanna forces Kirk to experience the hardship of the miners and puts him to work digging for zienite. Vanna's men depart leaving her alone with Kirk, who takes advantage of the situation and regains his phaser. He blasts the ceiling of the mine and seals the only way out. He then contacts the Enterprise to have Plasus found and beamed to his location.

An indignant Plasus arrives and Kirk forces him and Vanna to mine for zienite. The effects of the zienite gas become apparent as Kirk becomes more hostile. As the supply of oxygen depletes, Plasus demands to be set free, but Kirk strikes him and the two begin to brawl with mining implements. Vanna, realizing that Kirk was right about the gas after all, manages to find Kirk's communicator and signals the Enterprise to quickly beam them up before the men kill each other.

Once the effects of the gas wear off and the three settle down, Kirk offers the masks to Vanna once again. She accepts Kirk's offer in exchange for a supply of the zienite, to which Plasus strongly protests, but realizes he really has no other option. Kirk tells Plasus that the elite and miners must be treated as equal while Vanna vows that her people, who will no longer be impaired by the gas, will demand it even more vigorously now. With the supply of zienite in hand, he and Spock return to the Enterprise.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired July 12, 2008 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded two weeks earlier by the remastered "The Savage Curtain" and followed a week later by the remastered "Spectre of the Gun". 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:

• The planet Ardana is given a more realistic appearance.
• The surface, as seen from Stratos, reuses the same Gemini 4 photograph of the Hadramawt Plateau in Yemen, from NASA archives, now seen more sharply than before.
• The city of Stratos, as seen from the ground and in closeup, is more detailed, more closely resembles the original sketch by Matt Jefferies, and has more alien-looking architecture rather than medieval Earth architecture. The basic dimensions are mostly maintained.
• When the Troglyte jumps off the platform, his fall is shown digitally.
• The torture rays used on Vanna are enhanced.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'C+' rating, noting that it "had enough story that it didn't drag too terribly near the end" but that "philosophy-wise, it chickened out in a way that's highly unusual for the show".

Influence

Manny Coto, showrunner of Star Trek: Enterprise, stated in an interview for startrek.com that he had wanted to feature the cloud city of Stratos in the fourth season of that series; "There was one I really wanted to do set on Stratos, the Cloud City [from "The Cloud Minders"]. I really wanted to do a two-parter on that location, to see Stratos in its earlier stages."

External links

• The Cloud Minders at StarTrek.com
• The Cloud Minders at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Cloud Minders" at TV.com
• Remastered "The Cloud Minders" at Trekmovie.com
• The Cloud Minders at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)