TOS Remastered

The Enterprise crew are on their way to some well-deserved R&R when Starfleet orders them to investigate the radio silence from the billions of inhabitants of the Gamma 7A system, as well as the loss of the starship Intrepid, crewed (despite being named for a U.S. aircraft carrier) by Vulcans. The Enterprise discovers a huge black splotch, which Spock identifies as “a zone of energy which is incompatible with our living and mechanical processes.” Worse, inside lurks—I kid you not—a giant space amoeba, some 11,000 miles wide (the metric system having fallen by the wayside for this episode).

"Bring Back Kirk!"Enterprise finds one of its sister ships, the Event Horizon – uh, Defiant – floating dead in space. Everyone important beams over and finds the crew dead with their hands wrapped around one another’s throats. After much investigation and careful consideration, "Bones" rules out natural causes and concludes that they killed each other. He also discovers that props and corpses aboard the ship are becoming immaterial. Fortunately, whatever’s going on doesn’t affect deck floors.

Robert Bloch’s “Wolf in the Fold” is typical both of the horror writer’s contributions to the series (he also wrote “What Are Little Girls Made Of? and “Catspaw”) and of the show’s second season, in that in year two Trek often presented some fairly dark and outlandish plotlines but shook them up with humor. The story centers around Scott, who’s accused of murder while on shore leave on the hedonistic world of Argelius. Scott’s under suspicion because a head injury has apparently created a temporary feeling of paranoia and distrust of women, but as the female bodies start piling up and the investigation continues the culprit is revealed to be the ancient spirit of Jack the Ripper, in actuality a formless alien entity which thrives on fear.

So here’s the pitch: The Enterprise is drawn to a lush, idyllic Class-M planet set in the path of an asteroid the size of Earth’s Moon.  Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the planet and discover a primitive culture in place that closely resembles several Native American tribes from Earth. Additionally, vegetation on the planet (pine trees, orange groves, etc.) is identical to Earth’s, despite being a half a galaxy away- the odds of which, according to Spock, are "astronomical."  The party discovers an artfully designed obelisk set in the woods, evidence of an advanced species later revealed to have planted human life on the planet.  In the show’s opening minutes, we are presented with a tantalizing mystery and a major clue. Archeologically speaking, this planet may answer the question of how humans appeared on Earth.  On paper, this is one of Star Trek’s more appealing high-concepts.  Unfortunately, "The Paradise Syndrome" wanders about, indulging in silliness instead of exploring its more ambitious themes.