"Star Trek" Assignment: Earth (1968)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Art Wallace (teleplay)
Gene Roddenberry (story) ...

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

29 March 1968 (Season 2, Episode 26)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

When the Enterprise is assigned to observe earths history in 1968, suddenly it intercepts a transporter...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot Within Series | Black Cat | Failed Pilot | Federation | Space

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Robert Lansing	...	Mister Seven
Teri Garr	...	Roberta Lincoln (as Terri Garr)
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Don Keefer	...	Cromwell
Lincoln Demyan	...	Sergeant
Morgan Jones	...	Col. Nesvig
Bruce Mars	...	First Policeman (Charlie)
Ted Gehring	...	Second Policeman
Paul Baxley	...	Security Chief

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

No scenes for this episode were actually shot at Cape Kennedy itself. The illusion of being in Florida was achieved by using a combination of stock footage and Paramount studio locations.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the gantry elevator rises with Gary Seven, a shadow of the grating wall is cast on the floor of the elevator. But as the elevator car passes girders, their shadows should also be cast on the floor, but they are not. (This shows that the passing girders are simply backdrops being scrolled by.)

Quotes:

Roberta Lincoln: Hold it Mr. Seven. I'm telling you, you're through monkeying around with my country's rockets.

The Mission of Gary Seven and Ms.Lincoln

An anomaly among the episodes of the original series, this finale to the 2nd season functions both as a sequel to "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and as a pilot for a new series which never came to be. Rather casually stated by Kirk's voice-over in the beginning, the Enterprise crew has purposely traveled back to 1960's Earth, following up on their accidental visitation in the previous episode from the 1st season. I wonder what Federation bigwig(s) greenlit this mission - everyone's always concerned about the Prime Directive but they think nothing of possibly altering Earth's history and wiping away the past couple of centuries of progress - I guess 'Murphy's Law' no longer applies in the 23rd century. Sure enough, the ship intercepts someone beaming to Earth from over 1000 light years away - so much for non-interference. The episode is at its best in these early scenes, when we meet the mysterious Gary-7, who, tho apparently human, can resist Spock's Vulcan nerve pinch and has knowledge of the future. Kirk, the one who is in the wrong time, still behaves like it's his job to police the spaceways above Earth and treats Gary-7 as guilty until proved innocent. The shots of '60s New York City now appear as strangely primitive, just as Gary-7 describes them; it's a weird play on perspective since the viewer is in 'futuristic mode' when watching this show.

The episode has some slow spots, especially with all the stuff about the rocket waiting to be launched, but it makes up for a lot of this with the intriguing Gary-7 character, played by actor Lansing with gravitas, an aura of solemn heroism and possible menace (note: Lansing's credit appears in the beginning of the episode rather than the end, also anomalous). The interesting backstory for such special agents as Gary-7 was created, of course, with the intent of an on-going series on present day Earth, probably as a combo superspy/alien visitors storyline, complete with futuristic gadgets and self-aware computers. There was a whole new modern mythology waiting to be launched with the premise presented here and I still sometimes visualize an alternate universe where we were treated to a season or two worth of adventures concerning agent Gary-7 and his daffy secretary, Ms. Lincoln. Oh, yes, Ms. Lincoln - this was an early role for the unusual actress Teri Garr, who brings her now well-known pert spunk to the part - she was deliriously eccentric and quite beguiling right from the start. I really would have liked to have seen the further interaction between her and the black cat, as well as Gary-7, a possibly odd menage-a-trois, to say the least. By the way, check out Kirk's swift beam out of the two cops from the Enterprise; seems he did learn one thing from his misadventures in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" - beam 'em out pronto!