Okay, it kind of means what you think it means, but this episode definitely does not detail the crew's exploration of the pleasure planet Fellatiopo VI. However, it *does* detail something, as Spock rather dramatically puts it, that the crew has "never dealt with before." Pretty much meansing that this episode could be about anything except telepathy.
Unsurprisingly this episode goes for the obvious next topic: space virus; and once the crew picks up the virus from a disintegrating planet, things start to get pretty wacky on the old Starship.
Now bear with me here; what this virus does is jump from crewman to crewman through physical contact (Okay, makes sense so far), and then causes crewmen to sweat and stare at their hands as if they were new (getting weirder). Next thing you know they are running around the ship laughing hysterically, taking off their clothes and pretending to be musketeers, and scribbling messages about free love on the walls.
My God.
The Enterprise has been infected by the hippie drug virus.
Okay, let's try to put things into perspective. This episode first aired in September 1966; the same year as the release of Blonde on Blonde and of Revolver, and it was a few months before the Summer of Love. Hippies were in, and so was that wacky, terrifying drug stuff all the damn kids are using. And now we find ourselves in the year 2266, an era where substance abuse doesn't seem to exist, only to discover a once straight laced crew losing their inhibitions and pow-wowing around like a bunch of Goddamn useless homosexual slackers.
Based on the rather square attitude that permeates throughout the episode, it's unsurprising that upon examining the credits for this episode closely you would find that the writing credit for this episode belongs to a Radar Bowlegtry, a rather poorly constructed anagram for 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater*.
An obvious paranoia of drug use and culture shock runs through this entire episode. The affects of the virus seem to be designed just to show just what would happen to society if we all shed our inhibitions and acted out all of our hearts' deepest desires. And according to the episode society as a whole would crash right the Hell into a disintegrating ice planet. Of course, this also means something special for the viewer: over-the-top performances and flamboyant showboatsmanship on the part of every cast member!
Each crewman has different reactions to the virus, and most of them feel eerily similar to people that you might meet at your local frat party. Let's take this at a case by case basis.
Victim 1: Crewman Joe Tormolen
Crewman Tormolen is the first person infected by the mysterious hippie drug virus. As the virus takes hold of him, Tormolen draws into himself , and tries to punch anyone that tries to talk to him. He then stumbles around and tries to kill himself with a butterknife. Seriously.
Victim 2: Lieutenant Kevin Reilly
Begins loudly bragging about his Irish heritiage seemingly just because he has an Irish last name. Also probably a Boston Red Sox fan since the team broke the legendary Curse of Covelli "Coco" Crisp and won the franchise's first World Series in 259 years.
Victim 3: Lieutenant Sulu
Takes off his shirt and shows off how in shape he is, and also becomes uncomfortably touchy.
Victim 4: Nurse Chapel
Starts trying to make out with anyone that moves, even the weird looking one.
Victim 5: Mr. Spock
Cries in a room by himself. Begins babbling about his mother.
Victim 6: Captain Kirk
Starts hitting his friends and then talks about how lonely he feels while professessing his love for an inanimate object.
Yep, sounds like 4 am at the Sig Ep house. Hm, maybe this episode isn't as square and off base as I initially thought...
Just to end on a nerdy note, I feel that I should mention one really cool aspect of this episode. In order to break free of their freefall towards the planet's surface, Kirk and Scotty attempt a theorettical restart of the Enterprises engines. Once it works and the ship gets flung out their fall, the ship is hurled back 72 hours in time; so this episode features the first instance of time travel in the Star Trek universe. The sad part is that this happens at the very end of the episode and is basically treated as an everyday occurance that might be useful later. Then the episode ends.
Great.
This is Star Trek
SPACE CHECKERS
Spock discovers hippie evidence.
WHhHHooAAAaeeee
He's Dead Jim:
Death Toll: 7
6 researchers on the planet
Crewman Joe Tormolen stabs himself (with butter knife)
Total Star Trek death toll: 55
On the next episode...
Sulu gets a pet!*Barry Goldwater didn't really write this episode.
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