Star Trek The Original Series S01E04, The Naked Time

Dir. Marc Daniels, Wri. John D.F. Black

Summary: A contagion episode where the disease causes people to lose their inhibitions, which is a weird choice for the fifth episode of a show that doesn’t really even have established characters yet, but whatever.

The Good: This one starts off really well, actually–contagion stuff is always really fun if the disease is cool. The episode builds tension really well until the disease is revealed to be a little too ridiculous to take seriously. SULU! (everyone who has seen this episode knows what I mean). We see our first Vulcan neck pinch. Spock cries. Kirk tells the Enterprise “I’ll never lose you.”

The Bad: What kind of contamination and security measures does the future have that people take off protective gear immediately after reporting that some weird shit was going on? Redshirts, I guess. The entire episode is a tragically missed opportunity for interesting character moments – how do you throw away a ‘lack of inhibitions’ episode without actually revealing anything interesting about any of your characters? There’s an Irish idiot that we don’t know or care about singing for what feels like 20 damn minutes. The writers don’t go anywhere nearly dark enough with the premise. Nurse Chapel is a total creeper who has a crush on Spock for some reason. Kirk says “No beach to walk on,” while staring weirdly at Janice.

The Review: This is a perfect example of a ‘wasted potential’ episode. It’s a cool idea with poor execution. I didn’t know whether to put the fact that they learn how to time travel in the pros or cons. It’s just so tangential to the actual plot of the episode and unrelated to basically anything else that happens. It’s almost a non sequitur, but it is of course important for future time travel episodes, I guess (at least as far as anything is important in Trek continuity). Anyway, definitely a come down after its predecessor, but far from the worst the season has to offer. This one is always well-liked and well-reviewed because people only really remember the highs, like Sulu chasing a man down a hallway with an epee. While I enjoy a shirtless Sulu as much as the next red-blooded American, the silliness and fun of this episode can’t make up for its generally poor writing and nonsensical plot. For every crying Spock there is an interminable scene with a character that no one knows or cares about, and watching it you’re constantly just waiting for a good scene to come around again. 

Medical episodes are always a mixed bag for me. Done well, they have the potential to be really thrilling races against time, but they’re frequently poorly executed. They’re very often techno-babble based, and it’s often unconvincing. This is a perfect example of that tendency. The heavy water thing really makes very little sense, and the amount of time it takes them to figure out what’s going on frustrates rather than entertains. Even the eventual solution is boring. You’re really here for your favorite characters acting really weirdly, and if that’s enough for you, then you’ll have a great time with this one. You’ll even have plenty of breaks to go grab popcorn while Riley (Bruce Hyde) sings an Oirish Ballad for the second, third, or fourth time. If you don’t have the patience, you’re probably better served by watching clips of the funnier scenes on YouTube.

The Score: