Television: 'Star Trek: This Side Of Paradise' (Episode 1x24) (1967)

This is the one where Spock climbs a tree. Did other things happen? Yes, I suppose so, but really it's about Spock climbing a tree and smiling. Everything else is a bit redundant. McCoy talks about mint juleps a lot, if that counts?

'This Side Of Paradise' (TSOP) is a classic example of the anti-paradise strain of 'Star Trek'. Yes, there are evil alien flowers, which shoot out spores and brainwash host humanoids, but it's really all about people being too healthy, contented and stagnant. Paradise is bad in 'Star Trek' land, and maybe that's an interesting thing to think about. On the other hand, it's much less interesting than the tree climbing, or Kirk being the only one out of the whole crew who can cure himself of the spores' influence. He does a similar thing two seasons later, in 'Elaan of Troyius'. Apparently, the Enterprise is more important than anything else in his life, and he will even get Vulcan-pummelled if it means saving the day. Burn, spores, burn!

In a strange way, this is almost not 'Star Trek'. Yes, the familiar characters are all around, but it's much more like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', with the eerie smiles and odd behaviour multiplying exponentially as the episode wears on. It's very much of the 1950s or 1970s, but not 'Star Trek'. The only unifying aspect with the series as a whole is the great William Shatner, who pulls off confusion with the whole scenario with great elegance. He seems to be the all-purpose actor, pulling off practically anything with ease, except perhaps musicals. (All lovers of 'Rocket Man' or 'The Transformed Man' are free to disagree.)

Paradises get a very bad reputation from works of fiction. There are almost none which remain intact or aren't abandoned out of sheer boredom. 'Star Trek' pummels them repeatedly: 'This Side Of Paradise', 'The Apple', 'I, Mudd', 'The Paradise Syndrome' and 'The Way To Eden' all involve renunciations of the ideal, with other more tangential examples left unsaid. It's one of the great human ideas, that we're happier when we're attaining, rather than when we've attained.

So, 'TSOP' is a good episode about alien spores infecting a colony and the crew of the Enterprise, Spock jumping ship, and Kirk finally bringing a resolution to the whole misadventure. Sulu gets brainwashed, not an uncommon occurrence, and we end on a bittersweet note. We can call it a classic oddity. Oh, and Spock hangs off a tree.

O.