"The Naked Time" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast September 29, 1966, and repeated on April 27, 1967. It is a first season episode, #7, and was written by John D.F. Black and directed by Marc Daniels. It was later used as a prequel for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Naked Now".
Quick Overview: A strange affliction infects the crew of the Enterprise, destroying their inhibitions.
On stardate 1704.2, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, beams a landing team down to a research station on the planet Psi 2000, which is a world in the midst of breaking up. The team finds all six of the scientists manning the station dead. The circumstances of their deaths are not apparent; however, the life support systems had been found shut down and all control systems frozen solid.
One of the Enterprise crewmen, Joe Tormolen, carelessly removes his gloves and is contaminated by a strange red liquid. When Tormolen and Mr. Spock return to the ship they are given a clean bill of health by Dr. McCoy. Later however, Tormolen notices a strange itch and begins to act irrationally. He threatens Lt. Sulu with a knife, then attempts to turn it on himself. Tormolen is stopped and escorted to the sickbay where he later dies apparently from the superficial wounds he caused himself during the incident. Dr. McCoy is left bewildered.
Soon Tormolen's bizarre affliction begins to effect other crew members and quickly spreads through the ship. They each begin to display both comical and horrific exaggerations of character as the disease takes over their minds. McCoy finds nothing like it in Starfleet records.
As the virus spreads, Mr. Sulu abandons his post on the bridge and runs around the ship shirtless, brandishing a sword, and challenging everyone to a duel. Nurse Chapel confesses her deepest desires for Mr. Spock. Spock himself, shows troubled emotion and begins weeping uncontrollably for no reason.
Even Captain Kirk is affected, first becoming overly romantic toward the crew, then exhibiting paranoia, breaking down for fear that he is losing his ability to command.
Ship's navigator Lt. Kevin Reilly then declares himself the new Captain of the Enterprise and rushes down to engineering where he takes over control of the ship. He demands "free ice cream" for everyone, then begins flipping random switches and fouling up ship systems. The Enterprise starts to drift out of control and slowly falls out of orbit, pulled down by the erratic gravity of Psi 2000.
McCoy manages to avoid the effects of the virus. McCoy finds that in the gravity distortions of Psi 2000, polywater - strings of complex water molecules had formed. His research leads McCoy to find that the molecules cause a form of intoxication when they interact with humanoid brains similar to extreme alcohol intoxication. McCoy is forced to concoct an antidote on his own when the lab personnel all become intoxicated. McCoy runs around the ship injecting everyone. The antidote works incredibly fast, as crew begin to regain their sanity. Eventually Reilly is stopped and the crew regain control of the ship. Because of this the ship avoids a deadly crash into Psi 2000. However, Reilly has shut down the warp engines, requiring the crew to perform a "controlled implosion" – a theoretical procedure which sends the Enterprise backward in time, 71 hours.
Spock says that the crew of the Enterprise have three days to live over, to which Captain Kirk replies, "Not those three days."
Trivia
- The episode marks the first and only appearance of a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the entire Original Series. The rank was held in the episode by the character of Joe Tormolen with an insignia consisting of a broken "hash mark" rank braid on each sleeve.
- This was originally intended to be a two-part episode, with part one ending with a cliffhanger (with the Enterprise going back in time). The ending was revised so that the episode would become a stand-alone episode. What would have been part two eventually became another stand-alone episode, Tomorrow is Yesterday.
- In this episode Kirk confesses his love for the only woman in his life – The Enterprise.
- This is the only episode in which all three female regulars, Yeoman Rand, Lt. Uhura, and Nurse Chapel, appeared.
- In this episode Lieutenant Sulu was originally going to use the Japanese Katana in his famous fencing scene, but the weapon was changed to the European foil in order to avoid racial stereotypes.
- The events of this episode are repeated in a Star Trek: TNG episode,"The Naked Now". Riker even references something similar happening to a previous Enterprise crew.
Famous quotations
On the bridge, shortly after Sulu arrives, wielding a sword:
- Sulu: (to Uhura) I'll protect you, fair maiden!
- Uhura:(struggling to get out of Sulu's grip) Sorry, neither!
Shortly after giving Sulu a nerve pinch:
- Spock: "Take d'Artagnan here to sickbay."
External links
- The Naked Time at Memory Alpha
- Five-Minute The Naked Time — Parody version