Metamorphosis (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"Metamorphosis (Star Trek: The Original Series)"

"Metamorphosis" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast November 10, 1967 and repeated July 19, 1968. It is episode #38, production #31, written by Gene L. Coon, and directed by Ralph Senensky.

Overview: A shuttle crew from the Enterprise encounters a castaway and his mysterious alien companion.

Plot

On stardate 3219.4, Captain James T. Kirk, along with his first officer Mr. Spock and chief medical officer Dr. McCoy are ferrying Commissioner Nancy Hedford to the starship USS Enterprise aboard the shuttlecraft Galileo. Nancy, a tough diplomat who's devoted her entire life to her career, has caught Sakuro's disease, and is extremely bitter about the fact that she did not receive proper immunization against the disease. She will seek treatment for her illness aboard the Enterprise while the ship takes her to Epsilon Canaris III, where she will join in negotiation talks between the planet's warring factions.

As the shuttle passes near an unexplored system, a strange glob of energy appears and disables the craft's systems. The energy pulls them down to the nearby planet Gamma Canaris N. Once there, the party disembarks and finds a rocky planet with suitable atmospheric conditions to support humanoid life. Kirk tries to contact the Enterprise for assistance, but his signals are being blocked by some unknown phenomenon. With no time to waste exploring, Kirk and Spock try to figure out a way to repair the shuttle.

Suddenly a friendly young man appears from nowhere, and identifies himself as Cochrane. He tells the party he has been marooned on the planet alone for quite some time, and that he's afraid repairing the shuttle is futile. He explains that there is a dampening field in effect that won't allow the shuttlecraft to leave and they are stranded just as he is. Cochrane leads his new guests to his home, a small but cozy little shelter.

The crew find Cochrane's face familiar. When questioned, Cochrane admits he is in fact Zefram Cochrane, the human who developed the first warp drive technology, and tells how when he was 87 years old (150 years prior to the events of the episode), he took to space to die alone. When he came to this system his ship was disabled by an asteroid; he would have surely been killed if he had not been saved, grabbed at the last minute by the same energy force which brought Kirk's shuttle down. He calls the being who saved him "The Companion", a shimmering blob of sparking energy, and says the entity brought the others here to keep him company. Despite being so old, Cochrane appears young, claiming the Companion rejuvenated him.

Nancy soon develops a fever, the first sign her illness is getting worse. McCoy informs the others that without proper medical treatment aboard the Enterprise she may die. Not willing to stay any longer, Kirk orders Spock to try to repair the shuttle, while Dr. McCoy makes Nancy as comfortable as possible.

As Spock performs repairs on the shuttle, the Companion appears, and observes what Spock is doing. Spock tries to touch the entity, but is given an electrical jolt that knocks him back. The Companion then takes the liberty of frying the Galileo's electrical systems, rendering any hope of further repair useless. Spock returns to Cochrane's shelter and informs Captain Kirk of the encounter. Spock believes the creature's electrical attack may give a clue to how to disable it. He then sets to work constructing a device that may "short circuit" the entity.

Once Spock's device is complete, Kirk orders Cochrane to call the Companion. Cochrane becomes uneasy about having to harm the being, but calls it anyway, thinking of himself as a "Judas goat." When The Companion appears Spock activates his device. The effect seems to cause Cochrane more harm, as he stiffens in pain while the Companion lashes out at its attackers. Cochrane regains his composure and orders the Companion to stop the attack. The creature obeys just before finishing Kirk and Spock off for good.

Based on a suggestion by McCoy, Kirk decides to communicate directly with the entity and Spock modifies their universal translator (which translates brainwave emissions into spoken language) after fetching it from the shuttle. Hoping it will work on the incorporeal creature, Kirk begins to talk to it, asking why it is keeping everyone prisoner.

The device works, and the Companion responds - in a female voice. She explains she is keeping Cochrane on the planet, but not as a prisoner nor as a pet as the humans initially assume. The creature says she is in love with Cochrane, and wants only to care for him, showing him nothing but love and companionship. Cochrane, repulsed by the entity's words, barges off saying he will not be "fodder for any inhuman monster." Nancy, in a feverish daze and near death, overhears the whole thing. She observes that while she's proud of her work, she would give anything to experience another's love, and wonders how Cochrane could just run from it.

Kirk tries to convince the Companion that she is not compatible with Cochrane, and that she is not capable of loving a human the way another human can. If the Companion truly loves Cochrane, she would let him go. The Companion however seems to disagree, then suddenly she enters Nancy's body. To everyone's amazement, Nancy rises, fully recovered. The Companion, speaking through Nancy, then says she has merged with her, and the two are now one. This is now the only thing keeping Nancy alive: if the Companion leaves her body, she will die. The Companion then restores the shuttlecraft's systems allowing Kirk and the others to leave as they please.

In a moment alone, Cochrane discusses with Nancy/the Companion his plans for their future together back in civilization. The plans are foiled however, when Nancy explains that her "essence" belongs on this planet and that if she were to leave she would "cease to exist." Cochrane then takes Nancy in his arms and decides to remain behind and live with her for the rest of his life - it is not fully explained in the episode, but the Companion cannot rejuvenate Cochrane and keep him immortal any longer, probably because she no longer is exclusively an energy being and therefore she now has limitations, including a normal human life.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise arrives in the system and begins searching for the Galileo in an asteroid field containing over 9,000 asteroids. They soon pick up communications from the shuttle, and are relieved that the Captain is all right and will dock with the ship shortly. Kirk and the others agree to keep their encounter with Cochrane to themselves.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired November 3, 2007 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded two weeks earlier by the remastered version of "The Gamesters of Triskelion" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "The Deadly Years". 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 capture sequence of the Galileo shuttle craft has been changed to incorporate the CGI shuttle craft.
• The planet Gamma Canaris N has been made more realistic looking. The surface appears barren and mountainous and moving clouds have been added to the sky.
• The open landscape matte where Cochrane first appears to the shuttle crew has been altered to show the whole night time sky of the alien planet instead of blocking the view by rocks.

External links

• Metamorphosis at StarTrek.com
• Remastered "Metamorphosis" at TrekMovie.com
• Metamorphosis at Memory Alpha