Shore Leave (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"Shore Leave" is a first-season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast on December 29, 1966, and repeated on June 8, 1967. It is episode #15, production #17, and was written by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, and directed by Robert Sparr.

Overview: The crew of the Enterprise visits a bizarre planet of dangerous illusions.

Plot

On stardate 3025.3, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, arrives at a planet in the Omicron Delta system. Scans reveal the planet to be congenial, and Kirk announces shore leave for all off-duty personnel.

Not long after beaming down, the landing parties discover some strange things are going on. Dr. McCoy sees a large, humanoid white rabbit hop past hurriedly, and a moment later Alice asks McCoy if a rabbit has passed by. Lt. Sulu is attacked by a katana-wielding samurai. Yeoman Tonia Barrows is accosted by Don Juan.

Kirk beams down to confirm McCoy's seemingly ludicrous report of seeing characters from Alice in Wonderland. At first, Kirk doesn't believe the doctor's story, but then he spots large bunny tracks as proof. Kirk then stumbles upon young Finnegan, a cocky Irish practical joker he knew back from his academy days and a former girlfriend, Ruth, whom he hasn't seen in years.

Kirk orders a temporary halt to the beaming down of personnel until they can discover what is really happening. At the same time Mr. Spock reports that the planet is emanating a strange force field which seems to be drawing energy from the ship's engines. If the drain continues it could jeopardize the ship. He also reports that the energy patterns suggest some kind of industrial activity.

Spock beams down to gather sensor readings as communications with the ship are nearing impossible. After Yeoman Barrows finishes changing into a medieval dress, a knight charges her. McCoy steps in front of Barrows to protect her, and is impaled with the lance. Kirk shoots the knight with the pistol he confiscated from Sulu. Kirk and Spock analyze the body of the knight and find out it is not human but similar to the plant life around them and appears to be "manufactured". A Japanese World War II fighter plane then strafes the landing party, and during the commotion, the bodies of Dr. McCoy and the knight mysteriously vanish.

Spock deduces a connection between the visions and the landing party's thoughts just before the visions appear and asks Kirk what was on his mind just before his "vision". Kirk recalls thinking of his academy days, then as Spock expected, Finnegan reappears. Finnegan taunts the Captain then runs off, with Kirk on his heels. The chase ends in a ravine where Finnegan & Kirk have a fistfight. Finnegan feigns an injury so that he can sneakily attack and knock out Kirk, and Finnegan then proceeds to taunt the unconscious Kirk. When Kirk wakes up, the fight resumes, and wanting to take revenge for all the torment the older cadet put him through, Kirk fights back and knocks out Finnegan. Spock and Kirk realize that their thoughts are conjuring up their fantasies, but the visions are starting to prove deadly for them. Kirk orders everyone to come to attention and stop thinking about anything.

An elderly man appears and identifies himself as the "Caretaker". Accompanying him is Dr. McCoy, who was revived by the sophisticated machinery below the planet's surface. McCoy smiles and confirms he's all right and shows off the two Rigelian cabaret girls he conjured up.

The Caretaker informs Kirk that planet is a sophisticated "amusement park", but the illusions are not designed to be harmful or to last permanently. He apologizes for the misunderstandings and offers the services of the planet to the Enterprise's weary crew, with the caution that the visitors must choose their amusements with care. Kirk accepts the offer as Ruth appears again, and authorizes the crew to beam down. Spock however, has had his fill of shore leave, and requests to be returned to the Enterprise.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was re-mastered in 2006 and was first aired May 26, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered version of "Patterns of Force" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "Bread and Circuses". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

The recreation planet has been changed to appear more Earth-like. Not much else was altered.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A-' rating, describing the episode as "a lot of fun" and noting "a strong hook to keep the camp from descending into self-parody".^[1]

Notes

This episode, particularly the Kirk and Finnegan fight scenes, was filmed in part on location at the Vasquez Rocks and in the Africa U.S.A. compound.^[2]
Shore Leave is an annual science fiction convention held in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland. Its name references the episode.^{[citation needed]}

Revisit

The animated Star Trek episode "Once Upon a Planet" involved the Enterprise returning to the amusement park planet for another rest. However, the caretaker has died, and the computer left to run the planet, a fairly intelligent machine, now resents its role as servant, and turns against visitors using the props and personalities the visitors think about.

In other media

Episode 805 (The Thing That Couldn't Die) of Mystery Science Theater 3000 references "Shore Leave": The Observers create whatever Mike Nelson is thinking to show their power, first creating his "old friend" Finnegan (who he's never met), who pummels him. On a suggestion he tries to think of Adrienne Barbeau instead, but accidentally thinks of Emperor Hadrian, who pummels him. Finally he manages to think of Ms Barbeau — who pummels him.

References

^ Handlen, Zack (5 March 2009). ""Shore Leave" / "The Galileo Seven"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ History of Vasquez Rocks

External links

[AVClub-1] Handlen, Zack (5 March 2009). ""Shore Leave" / "The Galileo Seven"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[Vasquez_Rocks-2] History of Vasquez Rocks

[1]

[2]

v t e Star Trek: The Original Series episodes
Seasons 1 2 3 "The Cage"
Season 1	"The Man Trap" "Charlie X" "Where No Man Has Gone Before" "The Naked Time" "The Enemy Within" "Mudd's Women" "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" "Miri" "Dagger of the Mind" "The Corbomite Maneuver' "The Menagerie, Part I" "The Menagerie, Part II" "The Conscience of the King" "Balance of Terror" "Shore Leave" "The Galileo Seven" "The Squire of Gothos" "Arena" "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" "Court Martial" "The Return of the Archons" "Space Seed" "A Taste of Armageddon" "This Side of Paradise" "The Devil in the Dark" "Errand of Mercy" "The Alternative Factor" "The City on the Edge of Forever" "Operation -- Annihilate!"
Season 2	"Amok Time" "Who Mourns for Adonais?" "The Changeling" "Mirror, Mirror" "The Apple" "The Doomsday Machine" "Catspaw" "I, Mudd" "Metamorphosis" "Journey to Babel" "Friday's Child" "The Deadly Years" "Obsession" "Wolf in the Fold" "The Trouble with Tribbles" "The Gamesters of Triskelion" "A Piece of the Action" "The Immunity Syndrome" "A Private Little War" "Return to Tomorrow" "Patterns of Force" "By Any Other Name" "The Omega Glory" "The Ultimate Computer" "Bread and Circuses" "Assignment: Earth"
Season 3	"Spock's Brain" "The Enterprise Incident" "The Paradise Syndrome" "And the Children Shall Lead" "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" "Spectre of the Gun" "Day of the Dove" "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" "The Tholian Web" "Plato's Stepchildren" "Wink of an Eye" "The Empath" "Elaan of Troyius" "Whom Gods Destroy" "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" "The Mark of Gideon" "That Which Survives" "The Lights of Zetar" "Requiem for Methuselah" "The Way to Eden" "The Cloud Minders" "The Savage Curtain" "All Our Yesterdays" "Turnabout Intruder"

v t e Star Trek: The Original Series
Episodes	Season 1 2 3
Films	The Motion Picture II: The Wrath of Khan III: The Search for Spock IV: The Voyage Home V: The Final Frontier VI: The Undiscovered Country
Characters	Christine Chapel Pavel Chekov James T. Kirk Joachim Khan Noonien Singh Leonard McCoy Christopher Pike Janice Rand Sarek Saavik Montgomery Scott Spock development Hikaru Sulu Surak Nyota Uhura Number One
Video games	Star Trek (1971) Trek73 Decwar Video Trek 88 Star Trek (1983) The Kobayashi Alternative The Promethean Prophecy First Contact The Rebel Universe V: The Final Frontier 25th Anniversary Computer NES Game Boy Judgment Rites Pinball Secret of Vulcan Fury
Unrealized projects	The God Thing Planet of the Titans
Enterprises	USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
Related topics	Awards and nominations Theme song