Amok Time

"Amok Time"

"Amok Time" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #30, production #34, and first broadcast on 15 September 1967. It was repeated 26 April 1968. This was the first episode to feature regular cast member Walter Koenig, as Pavel Chekov, and also the first one to list DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy in the opening credits. Also, this was the first television episode of the second season, and the first to air after the series moved to Friday nights at 8:30pm. It was written by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, scored by Gerald Fried, and directed by Joseph Pevney.

The episode features Mr. Spock returning to his homeworld for a brutal Vulcan mating ritual. It is the only episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to depict scenes on the planet Vulcan.

Plot

Spock requests a leave of absence to his home planet of Vulcan after displaying irrational behavior. Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy witness one of Spock's outbursts, and McCoy agrees Spock needs some "time off."

Kirk is baffled by Spock's behavior, but diverts the Enterprise to Vulcan. Soon however, Kirk receives a priority signal with orders to proceed to Altair VI to represent the Federation at an inauguration ceremony for the planet's new president. Kirk tells Spock his leave will have to be delayed, but Spock secretly has the ship rerouted to Vulcan.

Kirk confronts Spock, who says he has no memory of changing the order. Kirk orders him to report to Sickbay. Dr. McCoy discovers Spock's blood chemistry is extremely active and has the presence of unknown hormones. If the condition persists, Spock will die in eight days. Spock does not wish to discuss what is currently affecting him, but Kirk demands an explanation.

Seemingly embarrassed, Spock informs Kirk that his condition is called Pon farr, a syndrome that all Vulcan males painfully endure periodically throughout their adult life. (In the episode "The Cloud Minders" Spock claims that the cycle occurs every seven years, although he does not state which planet's years he's referring to). During this time, they must mate or die. He cites precedents in nature, such as Earth salmon, which "must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn...or die trying".

Kirk contacts Admiral Komack at Starfleet and requests permission to divert to Vulcan. The admiral denies permission, but Kirk ignores the order, arguing there are already two other starships attending the inauguration.

The Enterprise arrives at Vulcan, and Spock invites Kirk and Dr. McCoy to accompany him. Spock explains that Vulcans are married as children ("less than marriage, more than a betrothal") with the understanding that they will fulfill this commitment when they become adults. His bride T'Pring, who was betrothed to him at the age of 7 (played by the child Mary Elizabeth Rice in a view screen Spock crushed), awaits him.

T'Pau, a highly respected member of Vulcan society, and best known as the only person to ever turn down a seat in the Federation Council, arrives to conduct the ceremony. T'Pring arrives accompanied by Stonn, a pure-blooded Vulcan, who is obviously her lover. She invokes kal-if-fee, her right to a physical challenge between Spock and Stonn, but instead of Stonn, she picks Kirk to be her champion. Spock asks that T'Pau forbid it because Kirk "does not understand, he does not know," but T'Pau allows Kirk to decide, telling him another champion will be selected if he declines. Kirk accepts the challenge thinking he can let Spock win — and only then discovers that the fight is to the death.

Despite Spock's condition, he displays superior strength and agility, demonstrating his expertise with the Lirpa, a traditional (and deadly) Vulcan weapon. Kirk is weakened by Vulcan's heat and thinner atmosphere (and, though it is not mentioned in the series proper, the higher gravity). McCoy objects, telling T'Pau that Kirk is seriously disadvantaged, and suggests he inject Kirk with a tri-ox compound to compensate. T'Pau allows the injection. The combat continues and Spock garrotes Kirk with another traditional Vulcan weapon, the Ahn'woon, at which point McCoy pronounces the Captain dead and has his body beamed back to the Enterprise.

With the battle over, Spock gives up his claim on T'Pring but questions her choice of Kirk as her champion. In a display of logic that impresses Spock, T'Pring explains that she "did not wish to be the consort of a legend," and developed a mutual attraction with Stonn. Since she could only legally divorce Spock through the kal-if-fee, and allowing Stonn to take the challenge as her champion would risk losing him, she instead chose Kirk, knowing that regardless of the outcome she and Stonn would be together - as Kirk would not want her and Spock would probably release her. Even if Spock held her to her vows, he would return to Starfleet, "and Stonn would still be here."

On the ship, Spock announces his intention to resign his commission and submit himself to Starfleet, to face the consequences for killing Kirk. However, he finds his Captain alive and well, and expresses overt joy in front of McCoy and Chapel. McCoy and Kirk then explain that McCoy actually injected the Captain with a neuroparalyzer drug that simulated death but merely knocked him out. Spock says that when he thought he had killed the Captain, he lost all desire for T'Pring. Furthermore, Kirk is let off the hook for disobeying orders when Starfleet retroactively grants permission to divert to Vulcan at T'Pau's request. Spock unconvincingly denies having expressed undue emotion at seeing Kirk alive. McCoy is disgusted by this, and Kirk and Spock leave Sickbay without further illogical displays.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired February 17, 2007 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by "The Doomsday Machine" and followed a week later by "The Paradise Syndrome". 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 appearance of the planet Vulcan from orbit was changed to match its appearance in the remastered version seen in "Journey To Babel", and included the addition of a polar ice cap.
• A photo of T'Pring as a child (played by Mary Rice) was altered so that the previously flat color behind her was replaced by a garden reminiscent of the home of T'Les, T'Pol's mother, on Star Trek Enterprise.
• A panoramic shot of Vulcan's surface has been created showing the characters walking across a stone archway to the temple which is atop a massive spire, and reminiscent of the temple seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
• Also, seen to the background of the arena spire, is Spock's home city of ShiKahr, as seen in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear".

References in popular culture

Gerald Fried's incidental music for the fight became the standard score for combat scenes later in the series. It was notably spoofed during the Medieval Times sequence in the Jim Carrey movie The Cable Guy.

Peter David's 2000 Star Trek: New Frontier novel Excalibur #2: Renaissance included a direct sequel to the episode, featuring Doctor Selar and her mate.

The episode was parodied in "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?", an episode of Futurama, in which Zoidberg must travel to his home planet to spawn, and initiates a battle to the death with Fry.

This is the first episode to feature the puppet head from "The Corbomite Maneuver" in the end credits. It was parodied in the end credits of Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".

The episode was parodied in "Pig Amok", an episode of Back at the Barnyard, in which Pig must complete a ritual marriage with a female pig, he also has to battle his bull/cow friend. The weapons, outfits, and even dialogue are copied from Amok Time.

External links

• Preview of the remastered “Amok Time” at Trekmovie.com
• “Amok Time” at StarTrek.com
• “Amok Time” at the Internet Movie Database
• Amok Time at Memory Alpha