SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 50:00 Min.
First airing on NBC-TV, on November 10, 1967, Ralph Senesky directed this episode penned by Gene L. Coon. An U.S.S. Enterprise shuttlecraft is abducted by a mysterious energy cloud, which then strands Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, and terminally ill Federation diplomat Nancy Hedford on the remote Gamma Canaris N planetoid. Effectively marooned, the shuttle’s crew are stunned to discover that their fellow inhabitant is engineer Zefram Cochrane: the legendary inventor of warp drive.
According to Earth history, an elderly Cochrane had vanished some 150 years prior, leaving an unsolved mystery. Yet, he has resided alone on this planet — somehow restored to his physical prime. It’s revealed that the ethereal ‘Companion,’ in an act of compassion, has brought the quartet there to befriend a lonely and evidently now-immortal Cochrane.
With Cochrane’s reluctant help, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy desperately try escaping The Companion’s captivity, in part to seek Hedford’s emergency medical care.
Captain James T. Kirk: William Shatner
Commander Spock: Leonard Nimoy
Dr. Leonard H. McCoy: DeForest Kelley
Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott: James Doohan
Lt. Uhura: Nichelle Nichols
Lt. Sulu: George Takei
Zefram Cochrane: Glenn Corbett
Commissioner Nancy Hedford: Elinor Donahue
The Companion (voice): Elizabeth Rogers
Lt. Leslie: Eddie Paskey
Lt. Hadley: Bill Blackburn
REVIEW:
Suffice to say, it’s Star Trek’s most underrated love story. Instead of a slam-bang Trek adventure, writer Gene L. Coon ensures that the mature romanticism powering “Metamorphosis” caters to a wider adult audience than stalwart Trekkers. Enjoying solid chemistry with guest stars Glenn Corbett and Elinor Donahue, the trio of Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley reliably carry this episode’s poignant themes to a satisfying finish.
Though Cochrane’s tale isn’t among the most re-watchable Original Series episodes that spring to mind, “Metamorphosis” remains a classy and genuinely welcome Trek-or-treat.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 8 Stars
Note: Co-written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, the 1994 Original Series/Next Generation crossover novel, Federation, serves as a direct sequel to this episode (and, to a much lesser degree, “Journey to Babel”).
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