Series: Star Trek (The Original Series)
Episode: 2.20 Return to Tomorrow (02-9-68)
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/20/43
Notable Guest Stars:
Diana Mulder Lt. Commander Ann Mulhall (MD). Diana Mulder will appear once more on TOS, and spend a season with us as Dr. Pulanski on TNG.
Review:
We start this adventure with…SULU! George Takei is back in his rightful seat after a few weeks away. Kirk is also back in the normal uniform shirt. I never did quite understand the wrap around – you never see another officer with that style.
But wait! We have a voice! And its being ominous! *cue intro*
Ok, so that was perhaps a bit of a sarcastic view of the opener, but it’s a bit too much like Apollo from earlier in this season. Except for the dead planet bit.
I have to wonder about the inconsistency about contact with Starfleet. If they can do video communication as they have done earlier in the show, shouldn’t subspace messages be a bit quicker than three weeks?
Also, Commander/Dr. Mulhall is the head of biology. She is wearing Red, which as far as I know is engineering and security. Shouldn’t she be wearing Blue? Or was this the only uniform they could find that could fit her. Wait, she might have said environmental biology. Perhaps she is an engineer in charge of life support systems.
This episode has the interesting idea that the race that Sargon belongs to seeded humanoid life forms. Which would basically make humanoids all the same family, if not the same species.
Overall, this episode is interesting. And its nice to see that Kirk has absolutely no interest in Dr. Mulhall. I was getting a little tired of those kind of plot lines.
Interesting Notes:
- Directed by Ralph Senensky
- Written by John T. Dugan (as John Kingsbridge)
- “Did you wish that the first Apollo mission never made it the Moon?” It wasn’t the first. It was the fifth manned one, 11th numbered one.
Pros:
- Its an interesting idea that all these species that look so much like us are all because of the same founder. We just all developed differently.
- Christine is in this episode.
Cons:
- A bit of overacting by Mr. Shatner, but I’m going to call directors on this.
- Lets face it. Lovers in other bodies is always a bit awkward.
Sokorra Lewis 