Star-Trek: TOS Season 1 Episode 1 Deep Dive…

This is the pilot to the massive franchise that Star Trek became over the years. This started it all and despite its outdated visuals and a little clunky acting, it has one of the best writing which kept it evergreen and relevant to this date and even beyond.

Star Trek: The Original Series or any other Star Trek before the Modern Trek has had deep meanings and allegories attached to them, the visuals and action is not the draw, the draw is the philosophy behind the episodes. Episodes that make you think, they make you question and sometimes they teach you how to be a better person. It is a vital show for kids because it can help shape good morals in children, knowingly or unknowingly. This episode in particular has multiple themes, from what I gather, there were 3 major themes in the episode which will be discussed in this article.

What you see might not be true?

Captain Kirk sees the woman as normal person for her age but Dr. McCoy sees her as a young person he knew and the other crewman sees her as someone he knew in the past. We know the events that unfold in the episode and gather the fact that sometimes when we don’t see the reality and instead see what we desire, it does not end well for us. It is in a sense telling us to keep our mental faculties in check and not get carried away when we see something we like or want. This is still a surface level theme of the whole episode as it ends with Dr. McCoy coming to terms with reality and ending the episode as a book end. But the next two themes in this article were not as much in the spotlight of the episode.

Last of it’s kind!

First episode of Star Trek and they went right to extinction of organisms and conservation. They have continued on this theme in other episodes and even movies like Star Trek 4 where they had to look for humpback whales. Conservation has been part of Star Trek, one way or another. In this episode the creature / alien is last of its kind and that does raise a lot of moral questions. Questions of how important is it to save the species, does the protection of species outweigh the lives lost because of the species. Most accurate answer to it would be to capture the creature and study it, maybe find others of it kind and establish the species. But this is a creature known to take lives in order for it’s own survival, it is noble thought to preserve the species but it is also important for it face consequences of its actions. For the circumstances where lives are at stake, we cannot risk the lives of humans for a small possibility of restoring a species or preserving last of its kind. There could be arguments for both sides though, and I love that about Star Trek that it is not black and white. For more information on conservation of animals and species I would suggest you to look into Colossal Biosciences. I am not affiliated with them in any sort, but in case for people who are curious about conservation, they can find more in detail from Colossal than they can from me.

Consumption & Addiction

Now this might be a reach but there is a slight nod to addiction as well. Salt being the substance that the creature requires to live. Now when we are discussing addiction it is usually about substance abuse. But if you are deep enough, you cannot live without those substances either. The creature in the show exhibits classic craving symptoms, it was mentioned as well that the creatures will go crazy if it did not get salt. This craving behavior is what leads to its demise. Argument can be made that it is justifiable behavior as it would not survive without the salt but when compared to substance abuse in humans; if we do not let go of such substances, they will be the demise of us too. In case you are struggling from quitting any certain habit, contact the correct services in your region and get some help. I did not intend the episode to be ranging from me talking about sci-fi to telling people to get help but Star Trek is also the same way; it can switch up from sci-fi to life lessons instantly.

Minor Negatives

Let me get some negatives out of the way because they are minor and do not matter in the long term. Visuals and sets are outdated, it is expected and I don’t really find it distracting from the plot, in fact it is quite charming to see the practical effects of the yesteryear. The acting in the episode is a little off if you notice it deeply. As a kid I did not notice it but after watching so much along the years I can pick up on stuff, characters in the background appear to be talking to each other but are completely silent and mouths are not moving, People doing menial task look like they are just there to fill the space. It has a campy vibe to it but again nothing major that would detract from the episode, it’s just product of its time at the end of the day. Upcoming deep dives will not have this section as it is decently elaborated on and don’t need to repeat it.

Overview