The Galileo Seven

"The Galileo Seven"

"The Galileo Seven" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series, broadcast by NBC on January 5, 1967. It was written by Oliver Crawford and directed by Robert Gist.

Overview: Mr. Spock leads a scientific team aboard the Enterprise shuttlecraft Galileo on an ill-fated mission.

Plot

On stardate 2821.5, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is en route to Makus III, delivering much needed medical supplies to be distributed at the New Paris Colony - a plague-ridden world. The ship passes close to a quasarlike system called Murasaki 312, which Kirk's standing orders require him to study. Since the ship needs to run the supplies, Kirk decides to send Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Scott, and four other specialist crewmembers out in the #7 shuttlecraft, Galileo, to investigate.

Soon after launch, the shuttle is pulled off course and out of the Enterprise's sensor range. Spock makes an emergency landing on the planet Taurus II, a rocky, fog-shrouded world in the middle of the Murasaki phenomenon. Crewmembers Latimer and Gaetano scout the area, eventually encountering Taurus II's inhabitants; giant ape-like men armed with enormous spears and shields.

Latimer is killed when he is impaled by one of the creatures' giant weapons. The others soon come running to investigate, chasing off the creature with phaser fire. When Spock shows more interest in the archaic weapon than Latimer's death, Lieutenant Boma begins to criticize Mr. Spock's methods of command. The crew retreat to the Galileo only to discover that the creatures seem to be preparing for an organized attack. Despite objections from the others, Spock insists that it should only be necessary to frighten the creatures, not kill them.

Meanwhile, Kirk turns the Enterprise around and flies back to search for the shuttle, despite concerns from Commissioner Ferris, who strongly reminds Kirk of his obligation to deliver the supplies to Makus III as soon as possible. The shuttlecraft Columbus is dispatched to search the planet from orbit. A landing party, sent to search the planet surface, returns to the Enterprise with casualties and reports being attacked by the large, furry creatures. Lieutenant Kelowicz, leader of the landing party, explains that the creatures are similar to creatures on Hansen's planet, but are much larger.

Between boulder-throwing attacks by the primitive giants and quarrels amongst themselves, the crew attempt to make repairs on the shuttle. Mr. Scott concludes that he will need to siphon the energy from all the phaser power packs in order to restart the ship's engines. Being told to give up their only way to defend themselves is something the frightened crew do not want to hear, but they reluctantly hand over the powerpacks.

Scott's repair to the engine is successful and Spock barely manages to get the Galileo off the ground and back into orbit, however by this time the Enterprise has given up the search and is heading back on course to Makus III. However, Kirk decides to follow his orders 'to the letter' - and orders Enterprise to proceed at space-normal speed, hoping to catch the Galileo at the last moment.

The shuttle is too low on power to escape the planet's gravity or even to achieve a stable orbit. With communicators scrambled by the ionization from the phenomenon, the Galileo has no way to call the Enterprise for help before it falls back into the atmosphere and burns up.

Spock gets an idea and decides to dump and ignite all the remaining fuel from the shuttle's engines. This produces a giant flare that is easily spotted by the sensors. Once again, Kirk turns the ship around and transports the survivors out just moments before the shuttle is destroyed on re-entry.

Back on board the Enterprise, Kirk questions Spock on his seemingly emotional solution, attempting to get him to admit to having an "emotional outburst." After Spock gives a rather stoic response, Kirk and the rest of the bridge burst into hysterical laughter.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired September 15, 2007 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded after a several week break by "This Side of Paradise" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "The Conscience of the King". 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 Murasaki object has been recreated with a swirling disk and ejecta streamers more reminiscent of a black hole.
• All Galileo shuttle take off and flight animations have been redone in CGI.
• The planet Taurus II has been given a rocky surface with cloud layers and now resides in a cloud of green gases instead of appearing as a green blob.
• The shuttle plasma streamers have been redone in CGI. The shuttle now appears to burn up in the atmosphere upon re-entry.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'B' rating, noting that it "raises some interesting issues" but described it overall as watching a "fixed fight".

External links

• The Galileo Seven at Memory Alpha
• Galileo Seven screenshots before and after remastering