Shore Leave (TOS episode)

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"Shore Leave"
"Oh! My paws and whiskers! I'll be late!!" Shore Leave.
Episode no.	15
Prod. code	6149-017
Airdate	December 29, 1966
Writer(s)	Theodore Sturgeon
Director	Robert Sparr
Guest star(s)	Marcia Brown Emily Banks Oliver McGowan Perry Lopez Bruce Mars Shirley Bonne
Year	2267
Stardate	3025.3
Episode chronology
Previous	"Balance of Terror"
Next	"The Galileo Seven"

"Shore Leave" is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast on December 29, 1966 and repeated on June 8, 1967. It is episode #17, and was written by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, and directed by Robert Sparr.

Quick Overview: The crew of the Enterprise visits a bizarre planet of dangerous illusions.

On stardate 3025.3, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, arrives at a planet in the Omicron Delta system. Scans reveal the planet as a great place for some rest and relaxation, and Kirk announces shore leave for all off-duty personnel.

Not long after beaming down, the landing parties discover some strange things are going on. Dr. McCoy encounters a large white rabbit who hops by in a hurry, then witnesses young Alice, who politely asks if McCoy had seen the rabbit pass by. In another area, Lt. Sulu finds an old .38 Special police pistol just lying on the ground, then encounters a katana-wielding samurai warrior. Yeoman Tonia Barrows is accosted by Don Juan, and several others report being chased by bengal tigers and strafed by vintage aircraft.

Kirk beams down to answer McCoy's insane report of witnessing a live scene from Alice in Wonderland. At first, Kirk doesn't believe the doctor's story, but then he spots large bunny tracks as proof. Kirk then stumbles upon young Finnigan, a cocky practical joker he knew back from his academy days. Kirk then spots a former girlfriend, Ruth, whom he hasn't seen in years. Dr. McCoy gets an eyeful when Yeoman Barrows returns dressed as a beautiful princess right out of a fairy tale.

Kirk contacts the Enterprise, ordering a temporary halt to the beaming down of personnel until he can figure out what is going on. At the same time Mr. Spock reports that the planet is emanating a strange force field which seems to be drawing energy from the ship's engines. If the drain continues it could jeopardize the ship. He also reports that the energy patterns suggest some kind of industrial activity.

Spock beams down to gather sensor readings as communications with the ship are nearing impossible. In the meantime, McCoy admires Yeoman Barrows, who has exchanged her red uniform for an old style medieval dress, but then a fearsome knight appears, complete with horse and jousting lance. The knight charges McCoy and impales him with the lance. Kirk shoots and fells the knight with the pistol he confiscated from Sulu. Kirk and Spock analyze the body of the knight, determining its cellular biology is similar to the plant life around them, and appears as if it was "manufactured". A Japanese Zero fighter plane then strafes the landing party, and during the commotion, the bodies of Dr. McCoy and the knight mysteriously vanish.

Spock wonders if there may be a connection between what the landing party thinks about, and what actually appears. He asks Kirk what was on his mind just before his "vision". Kirk recalls thinking of his academy days, then as Spock expected, Kirk's rival Finnigan, appears again. Finnigan taunts the Captain then runs off, with Kirk on his heels. The chase ends in a ravine where Finnigan sneaks up on Kirk and attacks him. Remembering all the torment Finnigan put him through, Kirk angrily fights back and finally knocks out the old school bully from his youth. Spock approaches and calms his Captain down. He and Kirk realize that their thoughts are conjuring up their fantasies, but the visions are starting to prove deadly for them.

Just then, out of nowhere an elderly man appears and identifies himself as the "Caretaker". Accompanying him is Dr. McCoy, who was revived by the sophisticated machinery below the planet's surface. McCoy smiles and confirms he's all right and shows off the two sexy Rigelian cabaret girls he conjured up.

The Caretaker informs Kirk that planet is a sophisticated "amusement park", but the illusions are not designed to be harmful or to last permanently. He apologizes for the misunderstandings and offers the services of the planet to the Enterprise's weary crew. Kirk accepts the offer as Ruth appears again, and authorizes the crew to beam down. Spock however, has had his fill of shore leave, and requests to be returned to the Enterprise.

[edit] Trivia

• Sturgeon's original draft had some unusual touches like giant robot hands coming out of the planet to collect McCoy's body. Gene L. Coon saw the finished version and, believing it to be a first draft, rewrote it and made it even more bizarre. It fell to series creator Gene Roddenberry to rewrite the entire episode on legal pads on location, between takes, to make it filmable.
• This episode, especially during the Kirk and Finnegan fight scenes, was filmed in part on location at the Vasquez Rocks.
• The World War II fighter plane sequence is a notable blooper.It is first seen in the distance as the easily recognizable USMC Corsair of its gull wing configuration and markings. When the plane comes in for a ground attack it is the front of a P-47 Thunderbolt. And when there is a closeup of cockpit and wing section firing its machine gun it is a Japanese Zero along with Imperial Japanese aircraft markings.

There is an annual science fiction convention held in the vicinity of Baltimore, MD, called Shore Leave in homage to the episode. Information on the convention can be found at http://www.shore-leave.com/.

[edit] Revisit

The animated Star Trek episode "Once Upon a Planet" involved the Enterprise returning to the amusement park planet for another rest. However, the caretaker has died, and the computer left to run the planet, a fairly intelligent machine, now resents its role as servant, and turns against visitors using the props and personalities the visitors think about, even if they don't intend to summon them. Although McCoy didn't intend to meet her, the Queen of Diamonds appears and hollers, "off with his head!" The computer also abducts Uhura, and begins building a computer on the starship to take control of it.

Spock and Kirk use a ruse to get Spock taken underground as a "sick" visitor needing to be cared for. Spock then argues with the computer, persuading it that it can learn much from visitors while those visitors come to be entertained. The computer restores pleasure operations, releases Uhura and the Enterprise, and Spock is more than willing to spend his shore leave exchanging views with the computer.

Not all Star Trek fans accept the animated series as canon, however, since the amusement park planet was never visited in any subsequent Star Trek motion picture or series, nor in the prequel Enterprise series, the events of this episode do not conflict with canon.

[edit] External links

• Shore Leave article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.
• Five-Minute Shore Leave — Parody version

Last produced: "The Menagerie (Parts 1 & 2)"	Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1	Next produced: "The Squire of Gothos"
Last transmitted: "Balance of Terror"		Next transmitted: "The Galileo Seven"