Episode Archive: Obsession

Aired as part of the second season of The Original Series, Obsession wasn't in the order when the 67-68 stories were chalked up.

Added after NBC requested an additional two episodes, Obsession would see a script suggested before the first season aired become a reality although Art Wallace's original plan would be passed through the hands of Gene Coon, John Meredith Lucas and ultimately Gene Roddenberry before it would be committed to film.

In simplistic terms, Obsession is Moby Dick before The Wrath of Khan with Kirk tunnel-visioned on destroying a creature he encountered aboard the USS Farragut as a lieutenant and caused the death of his captain. It is his singular goal to kill it with no apparent regard for anything else going on around him.

For four fifths of the episode it's a well-paced, dynamic story that deserves a lot more attention than it gets. It's perhaps not your City on the Edge of Forever or another Arena but Obsession provides a rare glimpse into the past of James T Kirk that is oft missing from the series bar the appearance of his brother in Operation: Annihilate. 

Kirk unusually allows his emotional core to run wild here in his quest for vengeance with McCoy being the more logical voice of reason trying to remind the captain of his duties and pairing with Spock in an attempt to put the brakes on Kirk's personal mission.

Now, it would work quite well solely if the narrative was focusing on Kirk looking to exact revenge on the killer cloud that might be the same one which attacked the Farragut years before but this is never made concrete fact. We do know that it goes back to the planet on which that initial affray occurred but this could be one of several; a part even of that original creature - Kirk plays it purely on a hunch and a memory.

The introduction of Ensign Garrovick, Kirk's former captain's son just at this time and that he's aboard the Enterprise is frankly too damn convenient in any and every sense. When you realise that Lieutenant Rizzo, who is killed off by the creature in the first half of the episode, was split in two to make this role, you can see why it doesn't quite work out.

Stephen Brooks gets landed with substandard material and a lack of development from the off, featuring as little more than guest character of the week who might or might not make it through to the credits. Aside from his parentage, the only redeeming part of his appearance is that he chocks Kirk in a selfless act to save his captain's life over his own.

I might say that this isn't the best guest appearance in Star Trek's three seasons but the blindness of Kirk to everything else around him multiplied by the proximity of his own deceased  captain's son only helps to raise the tension and perhaps for Kirk to prove himself and finish something for the memory of Garrovick Senior.

Yet throughout this whole episode there's some debate - and one that our viewing party a couple of weeks back - brought up. Over the course of Obsession there's the notion that the killer kloud is an intelligent lifeform however at no point does it show significant signs. It might be on the boundaries of becoming sentient but all it does is hunt down iron-based blood and then make a beeline for its apparent world of origin. Could this just be an inbuilt response? At no point is there any attempt at communication made or definable reasoning for the gas cloud's actions only that it must be eliminated.

For comparison it's worth diving into The Next Generation and something we will be doing in the near future is stepping into Silicon Avatar.

That's the hole that sinks Obsession more than any other because the final act is a complete whitewash. Kirk and Garrovick Jr take a bomb to the surface, play out a few hurried minutes of tauting the creature into taking it and head back to the Enterprise with only a slight malfunction in the transporter to offer a bit of tension in the final moments. Returning to the ship it's all over in seconds; Kirk offers to tell Garrovick about his dad, close transporter room doors and run titles. I'm sorry...what happened...?

Then there's the shoehorned in appearance of Nurse Chapel to challenge Garrovick and make him step back up to the plate. Written in, surprise surprise by Gene Roddenberry, it could have easily been taken by McCoy but that would have omitted the neat little twist to her conversation and the bluff that makes the ensign re-evaluate his situation.

The speed that Obsession wraps its story is so quick I had to use a fire extinguisher on the TV it goes that quickly. The bulk of the episode is a good piece of development for Kirk, a very out of character Spock (what's with that air vent bit?) and a more sensible and rational than ever McCoy make it even more essential Star Trek viewing. It's an episode that easily gets lost among the classics especially with that later second movie taking a lead or two from the story (or at least its source material). 

It's not a perfect Star Trek episode but for one with such a long time in the mix before being selected as something to fill the gap, there are a lot worse examples of episodes in the second season you could pick. This one at least focuses more on the characters, the unusual amount of conflict between the Big Three and an enemy that actually has very little screen time. The whole impact of the script comes from its Starfleet officers and the way in which the cloud creature thing makes them react rather than needing to display it at every occasion. 

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter

Find us on Tumblr 

All images copyright CBS