'Star Trek' is unique amongst science fiction and 1960s television in its willingness to jump deep into theatrical drama and romance in the oldest sense of the word one week, science fiction adventure the next week, and then maybe comedy to follow. It was a show that did it all, and smartly. This time, we're going to think about 'Return To Tomorrow', which originally aired toward the end of the second season and in the shadow of the show's impending second cancellation of three. Yes, this was a show that was cancelled twice before the third time stuck! You might even argue it was cancelled four times, since the first pilot wasn't picked up, but that would be nitpicking.
Golly, this series could do 'epic' and have space left over for more. 'Return To Tomorrow' is based on a six hundred thousand year old love story, a love triangle in fact, which boils over into the present when the Enterprise is summoned to a long dead planet by a mysterious voice. The voice informs the crew that the surviving disembodied members of their species need to borrow three bodies in order to build android vessels to dwell within and then spend the rest of eternity teaching their 'children' - the current races of the galaxy - all their secrets. How's that for a sweetening of the deal?
There are three especially noteworthy parts to 'Return To Tomorrow'. Firstly, the creepy Nimoy performance as the vessel of Henoch, villain extraordinaire. Secondly, the love triangle between Henoch and the couple Sargon andT Thalassa, and the ultimate fate of the three ancients, echoing the tragic fate of Adonais at the beginning of the season. Lastly, and thirdly, Shatner delivers the Kirk speech that effectively defines 'Star Trek' for the rest of its existence. It's amazing that it took so long to get to the core of the show, but the Kirk speech is the best thing since bread and honey:
"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk. Risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her. You may dissent without prejudice. Do I hear a negative vote?"
I've said it a thousand times, but 'Star Trek' was the phenomenon that it was because it was optimistic. Exploration was the cornerstone of the whole show, doom wasn't lurking behind every corridor in the form of a monstrous alien that wanted only to destroy, and no other version of the series even comes close to matching its stature or uniqueness. Risk was their business, and they jumped in where no-one else dared to leap. 'Return To Tomorrow' isn't the best episode of the show, but it is one that brings the word 'epic' into focus, and allows both the main actors room to breathe and be different. Also, it uses the wonderfully classy guest star Diana Muldaur brilliantly, a classical actress who was wasted in general at the time, and would return much later as the cruelly underrated Dr Pulaski on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. This was what groundbreaking television was, and it was brilliant. Also, it had pulsating light spheres.
O.
Excerpt taken from 'The Star Trek Transcripts', which in turn were transcribed from 'Star Trek', presumably still owned by CBS.
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