Post by magicmuggle01 on Feb 1, 2019 12:50:57 GMT
The Enterprise finds archaeologist Dr. Roger Korby, who has been missing for five years, living underground on a deserted ice planet with a group of sophisticated androids.
Summary
View of the surface from the
underground ruins on Exo III
The USS Enterprise approaches the planet Exo III to learn the fate of Dr. Roger Korby, a prominent scientist whose last message was sent over five years earlier. Two previous expeditions have failed to uncover any trace of the Korby expedition.
Despite the odds, Korby and at least part of his expedition have survived by taking refuge in underground ruins left by the former inhabitants of the planet. Lieutenant Uhura picks up a transmission from Korby on the planet's surface, surprising the Enterprise crew.
Act One
Korby requests that Captain Kirk beam down alone, explaining that he has made discoveries that may require an extraordinary decision on Kirk's part. But when he learns Christine Chapel, his former fiancée, is aboard, he readily agrees for her to also beam down.
Korby and nurse Chapel reunited
Kirk and Chapel beam down but are met by no one so Kirk has two security officers beam down as well. Security officer Rayburn is instructed to remain at the beam down location while Kirk, Chapel, and the other security officer, Mathews, explore the ancient ruins, searching for Korby. Shortly after they meet Dr. Brown, Dr. Korby's assistant, Mathews falls into a "bottomless" cavern, leaving Kirk and Chapel alone. Dr. Brown seems somewhat detached and aloof, barely reacting to Mathews' tragic fall. He also seems slow to recognize Chapel. Making their way through the winding cavern, Dr. Brown explains that the previous civilization that inhabited Exo III moved underground when their sun went dark. He elaborates that the inhabitants replaced freedom with a mechanistic culture and claims that once Dr. Korby is freed from the cavernous environment they are currently in, the discoveries he has made will revolutionize the universe. The group then enters a room. Inside, they also meet Andrea, a beautiful woman.
"Drop it!"
Kirk meets Korby, who seems friendly enough. But he insists there be no communication with the ship. This is not acceptable to Kirk, especially since in addition to the death of one crewman, he has also lost contact with another, Rayburn, whom he left at the cave's entrance. When Brown threatens Kirk with a laser pistol, there is a brief struggle during which Brown is shot – and it is revealed that he is not Human, but a complex android. Meanwhile, the massive android Ruk immobilizes Kirk by picking him up and lifting him against a wall, preventing his escape.
Act Two
In another room, Korby has Ruk, in a near perfect imitation of Kirk's voice, send a message to the Enterprise through Kirk's communicator, where Spock had been concerned that Kirk's routine check-in time had past. Korby warns Kirk that if he moves or cries out to Spock, Ruk will have no choice but to harm him. "Kirk" informs Spock that everything is fine and to maintain routine contact and signs off. Korby informs Kirk that Ruk had been tending the machinery in the ruins for longer than even he could remember. With his help and with the records Korby found, they built Brown. When directly asked by Kirk the fate of his second security officer Rayburn, Korby informs Kirk that Ruk killed both Rayburn and Matthews, but Korby claims it was expressly against his orders. Korby has Ruk imitate other voices, but grows angry when Ruk imitates Chapel. He orders Ruk never to mock or harm Chapel, and at Kirk's prompting, adds that he is to obey all of Chapel's commands. Kirk attempts to once again escape but Ruk is too fast for him. The hulking android picks him up and throws him across the room like a doll.
Androids behind the controls of
the android duplicator
Korby returns to the main dining room to join Chapel and Andrea. Kirk is being held securely by Ruk as Korby begins to reveal more of his plans to Kirk and Chapel. Korby then reveals to them that Andrea, too, is an android and tries to convince a jealous Chapel that there is no romantic feelings between him and Andrea. Korby explains that Andrea simply obeys his orders, nothing more. To prove his point Korby orders Andrea to kiss Kirk, which she does, then to slap him across the face. But Kirk still demands answers: if these 'mechanical things' as Kirk dubs the androids, say and do only as Korby programmed, then why did Brown tried to shoot him earlier and why did Ruk murder Kirk's two security officers. Kirk says that there are many things he still doesn't understand regarding everything that has happened up until then. Korby tells the captain that he will answer all of Kirk's questions now. A short time later, Korby leads Chapel to his laboratory where the android duplicator, with a human-shaped blank that Ruk just locked down, mid-torso, on the side facing her, catches her attention. Korby informs her that this is how an android is made, then orders Andrea to slightly turn the platform and Chapel is shocked to see Kirk, locked down by Ruk in a similar manner as the blank, naked and unconscious, on the other side.
Act Three
Kirk is then spun around to be made a copy of while a shocked Chapel looks on in confusion. Soon the physical process is completed. Korby says the android is an exact physical replica of the real Kirk. He then explains that he will transfer all of Kirk's memories into the android to make the duplication complete. But Kirk overhears this, and while Korby readies the machine, Kirk murmurs to himself, "Mind your own business, Mr. Spock, I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?" He repeats this as the memories are copied. Korby then presents his new android to Chapel. "How do you do, Miss Chapel?"'
"Kirk" and Kirk at lunch
After the experiment, "Kirk" joins Chapel for lunch, and asks her if she would obey if he gave her an order to betray Roger Korby. Chapel says, "Please don't ask me to make that choice." The tone of the conversation causes her to lose her appetite, but she encourages "Kirk" to eat. With a smile, he informs her that "Androids don't eat, Miss Chapel." She had been unknowingly talking to the android Kirk all along. Korby, Ruk, and the real Kirk, wearing a jumpsuit similar to Korby's, enter and even Kirk is impressed. He quizzes his duplicate on details of his life and family, but the android answers every question perfectly. The duplicate Kirk is sent to the Enterprise to secure the command packet from Kirk's quarters containing the ship's itinerary; Korby's plan is to select a colony where he can begin carefully manufacturing android replacements. He believes he can secretly create a superior android civilization, and he plans to prove it.
"Christine, is that you?"
Kirk makes a third attempt to escape by choking Korby with a rope and running off. As Ruk pursues him, Chapel yells after him, "I order you not to harm him!" Ruk imitates Chapel's voice in an attempt to lure Kirk out of hiding, but Kirk sees through the ruse and attacks Ruk with a broken-off stalactite. In the struggle, Kirk falls and hangs dangerously from the edge of another deep hole.
Act Four
But after Ruk stares at Kirk for a moment as he dangles off the precipice, the giant android pulls Kirk to safety, perhaps in obedience to Chapel's order not to harm the captain.
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Spock is surprised by Kirk's unannounced return, as he casually strolls past him in a corridor. When Spock enters Kirk's quarters and tries to inquire about Dr. Korby, Kirk snaps at him, "Mind your own business, Mr. Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?" Immediately after this uncharacteristic outburst, Kirk is pleasant again; he returns to the planet, leaving a very bewildered Spock behind. Realizing that something is wrong, he forms a security team to prepare to beam down after "Kirk" has left the ship.
Back on the planet, the real Kirk asks Andrea to kiss him. She gives him the same type of kiss she gave him earlier -a brief gentle kiss on the lips. After the brief kiss, she half raises her left arm ready to slap him -another occurrence from the previous kiss. Kirk then stops her from slapping him, grabs Andrea, and gives her a much longer, passionate French kiss. This confuses her, since she was not programmed to respond to him. Deep down she enjoyed it, but her circuitry protested. Kirk is then confronted by Ruk and discusses the Old Ones with him. Kirk learns more about the ancient civilization: they built their machines too well, became fearful of them, and started shutting them off. Survival outweighed programming; the androids murdered their creators. Goaded by Kirk, Ruk grows angry and realizes that Korby is doing exactly the same thing. He starts to threaten Korby, who is forced to destroy Ruk with a phaser. Meanwhile, Andrea comes across the android Kirk and tries to repeat the romantic advances, thinking he is the real Kirk. When the android Kirk refuses, citing it as "illogical," Andrea vaporizes him with a phaser.
In a scuffle between Kirk and Korby, a section of skin is torn from the back of Korby's hand, revealing wires and circuits. Korby is revealed to be an android as well, to Chapel's horror.
Korby's hand exposed
Korby tries to explain to a shocked Chapel that while critically injured, he built a perfect body and decanted himself into it. He claims that he's still the real Roger Korby, but is unable to demonstrate any uniquely "Human" qualities.
The breakdown of this small segment of android civilization reveals the pitfalls of Korby's utopian vision. Soon enough, even he realizes this, and hands over his phaser in defeat and despair. But Andrea will not relinquish hers, and she confusedly tries to profess her love for Korby. As she kisses him, Korby pulls the trigger of the laser pistol in her hand, killing them both.
Spock and his security team arrive and come upon Kirk and Chapel. When Spock inquired about Korby's whereabouts, Kirk replies to his first officer, "Dr. Korby… was never here."
Back on the ship, Chapel decides to stay on the Enterprise. Spock then tells Kirk of his dismay over his use of the term "half-breed". Kirk replies, "I'll remember that, Mr. Spock… the next time I find myself in a similar situation."
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 2712.4. A signal from planet Exo III, Doctor Roger Korby has been located. He and part of his expedition remaining alive due to the discovery of underground ruins left by the former inhabitants of this world."
Memorable quotes
"Dr. Korby has discovered that as their sun dimmed, the inhabitants of this planet moved underground, from an open environment to this dark world. When you were a student of his, Christine, you must have often heard Dr. Korby remark how freedom of movement and choice produced the Human spirit. The culture of Exo III proved his theory. When they moved from light to darkness, they replaced freedom with a mechanistic culture."
- Dr. Brown, describing the cultural changes which took place on Exo III to Kirk and Chapel
"You think I could love a machine?"
"Did you?"
- Korby and Chapel, on Andrea
"A thing is not a woman."
- Korby, to Chapel
"This is how you make an android."
- Korby
"Andrea, kiss Captain Kirk." [Andrea kisses him] "Now, strike him." [Andrea strikes him]
- Roger Korby
"Choose, Christine. Which is your captain?"
"I don't know. They're exact. I honestly don't know."
- Korby and Chapel, when Kirk is duplicated as an android
"Mind your own business, Mister Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference! Do you hear?"
- Kirk, implanting a mental suggestion into his android duplicate
"Eating is a pleasure, sir. Unfortunately, one you will never know."
"Perhaps. But I will never starve, sir."
- Kirk and his duplicate
"In android form, a Human being can have practical immortality. Can you see what I'm offering mankind?"
"Programming – different word, but the same old promises made by Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Hitler…"
"Can you imagine how life could be improved if we could do away with jealousy, greed, hate?"
"It can also be improved by eliminating love, tenderness, sentiment. The other side of the coin, doctor."
- Korby and Kirk
"Oh, no…No…Not programmed for you."
- Andrea, confused after a long passionate kiss from Kirk
"That was the equation! Existence! Survival must cancel out programming!"
- Ruk, before Korby destroys him
"Aren't you doing exactly what you hate most in Humans: killing with no more concern than when you turn off a light?"
"I am not a computer. Test me. Ask me to solve any… Equate… Transmit… Christine! Christine, let me prove myself!…"
"Don't you see Roger? Everything you've done has proved it isn't you."
"I AM Roger Korby!"
- Kirk, Korby, and Chapel, after Korby's true identity is revealed
"Doctor Korby… was never here."
- Kirk, to Spock
"Frankly, I was rather dismayed by your use of the term 'half-breed', captain. You must admit it is an unsophisticated expression."
"I'll remember that Mr. Spock… the next time I find myself in a similar situation."
- Spock and Kirk
Summary
View of the surface from the
underground ruins on Exo III
The USS Enterprise approaches the planet Exo III to learn the fate of Dr. Roger Korby, a prominent scientist whose last message was sent over five years earlier. Two previous expeditions have failed to uncover any trace of the Korby expedition.
Despite the odds, Korby and at least part of his expedition have survived by taking refuge in underground ruins left by the former inhabitants of the planet. Lieutenant Uhura picks up a transmission from Korby on the planet's surface, surprising the Enterprise crew.
Act One
Korby requests that Captain Kirk beam down alone, explaining that he has made discoveries that may require an extraordinary decision on Kirk's part. But when he learns Christine Chapel, his former fiancée, is aboard, he readily agrees for her to also beam down.
Korby and nurse Chapel reunited
Kirk and Chapel beam down but are met by no one so Kirk has two security officers beam down as well. Security officer Rayburn is instructed to remain at the beam down location while Kirk, Chapel, and the other security officer, Mathews, explore the ancient ruins, searching for Korby. Shortly after they meet Dr. Brown, Dr. Korby's assistant, Mathews falls into a "bottomless" cavern, leaving Kirk and Chapel alone. Dr. Brown seems somewhat detached and aloof, barely reacting to Mathews' tragic fall. He also seems slow to recognize Chapel. Making their way through the winding cavern, Dr. Brown explains that the previous civilization that inhabited Exo III moved underground when their sun went dark. He elaborates that the inhabitants replaced freedom with a mechanistic culture and claims that once Dr. Korby is freed from the cavernous environment they are currently in, the discoveries he has made will revolutionize the universe. The group then enters a room. Inside, they also meet Andrea, a beautiful woman.
"Drop it!"
Kirk meets Korby, who seems friendly enough. But he insists there be no communication with the ship. This is not acceptable to Kirk, especially since in addition to the death of one crewman, he has also lost contact with another, Rayburn, whom he left at the cave's entrance. When Brown threatens Kirk with a laser pistol, there is a brief struggle during which Brown is shot – and it is revealed that he is not Human, but a complex android. Meanwhile, the massive android Ruk immobilizes Kirk by picking him up and lifting him against a wall, preventing his escape.
Act Two
In another room, Korby has Ruk, in a near perfect imitation of Kirk's voice, send a message to the Enterprise through Kirk's communicator, where Spock had been concerned that Kirk's routine check-in time had past. Korby warns Kirk that if he moves or cries out to Spock, Ruk will have no choice but to harm him. "Kirk" informs Spock that everything is fine and to maintain routine contact and signs off. Korby informs Kirk that Ruk had been tending the machinery in the ruins for longer than even he could remember. With his help and with the records Korby found, they built Brown. When directly asked by Kirk the fate of his second security officer Rayburn, Korby informs Kirk that Ruk killed both Rayburn and Matthews, but Korby claims it was expressly against his orders. Korby has Ruk imitate other voices, but grows angry when Ruk imitates Chapel. He orders Ruk never to mock or harm Chapel, and at Kirk's prompting, adds that he is to obey all of Chapel's commands. Kirk attempts to once again escape but Ruk is too fast for him. The hulking android picks him up and throws him across the room like a doll.
Androids behind the controls of
the android duplicator
Korby returns to the main dining room to join Chapel and Andrea. Kirk is being held securely by Ruk as Korby begins to reveal more of his plans to Kirk and Chapel. Korby then reveals to them that Andrea, too, is an android and tries to convince a jealous Chapel that there is no romantic feelings between him and Andrea. Korby explains that Andrea simply obeys his orders, nothing more. To prove his point Korby orders Andrea to kiss Kirk, which she does, then to slap him across the face. But Kirk still demands answers: if these 'mechanical things' as Kirk dubs the androids, say and do only as Korby programmed, then why did Brown tried to shoot him earlier and why did Ruk murder Kirk's two security officers. Kirk says that there are many things he still doesn't understand regarding everything that has happened up until then. Korby tells the captain that he will answer all of Kirk's questions now. A short time later, Korby leads Chapel to his laboratory where the android duplicator, with a human-shaped blank that Ruk just locked down, mid-torso, on the side facing her, catches her attention. Korby informs her that this is how an android is made, then orders Andrea to slightly turn the platform and Chapel is shocked to see Kirk, locked down by Ruk in a similar manner as the blank, naked and unconscious, on the other side.
Act Three
Kirk is then spun around to be made a copy of while a shocked Chapel looks on in confusion. Soon the physical process is completed. Korby says the android is an exact physical replica of the real Kirk. He then explains that he will transfer all of Kirk's memories into the android to make the duplication complete. But Kirk overhears this, and while Korby readies the machine, Kirk murmurs to himself, "Mind your own business, Mr. Spock, I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?" He repeats this as the memories are copied. Korby then presents his new android to Chapel. "How do you do, Miss Chapel?"'
"Kirk" and Kirk at lunch
After the experiment, "Kirk" joins Chapel for lunch, and asks her if she would obey if he gave her an order to betray Roger Korby. Chapel says, "Please don't ask me to make that choice." The tone of the conversation causes her to lose her appetite, but she encourages "Kirk" to eat. With a smile, he informs her that "Androids don't eat, Miss Chapel." She had been unknowingly talking to the android Kirk all along. Korby, Ruk, and the real Kirk, wearing a jumpsuit similar to Korby's, enter and even Kirk is impressed. He quizzes his duplicate on details of his life and family, but the android answers every question perfectly. The duplicate Kirk is sent to the Enterprise to secure the command packet from Kirk's quarters containing the ship's itinerary; Korby's plan is to select a colony where he can begin carefully manufacturing android replacements. He believes he can secretly create a superior android civilization, and he plans to prove it.
"Christine, is that you?"
Kirk makes a third attempt to escape by choking Korby with a rope and running off. As Ruk pursues him, Chapel yells after him, "I order you not to harm him!" Ruk imitates Chapel's voice in an attempt to lure Kirk out of hiding, but Kirk sees through the ruse and attacks Ruk with a broken-off stalactite. In the struggle, Kirk falls and hangs dangerously from the edge of another deep hole.
Act Four
But after Ruk stares at Kirk for a moment as he dangles off the precipice, the giant android pulls Kirk to safety, perhaps in obedience to Chapel's order not to harm the captain.
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Spock is surprised by Kirk's unannounced return, as he casually strolls past him in a corridor. When Spock enters Kirk's quarters and tries to inquire about Dr. Korby, Kirk snaps at him, "Mind your own business, Mr. Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?" Immediately after this uncharacteristic outburst, Kirk is pleasant again; he returns to the planet, leaving a very bewildered Spock behind. Realizing that something is wrong, he forms a security team to prepare to beam down after "Kirk" has left the ship.
Back on the planet, the real Kirk asks Andrea to kiss him. She gives him the same type of kiss she gave him earlier -a brief gentle kiss on the lips. After the brief kiss, she half raises her left arm ready to slap him -another occurrence from the previous kiss. Kirk then stops her from slapping him, grabs Andrea, and gives her a much longer, passionate French kiss. This confuses her, since she was not programmed to respond to him. Deep down she enjoyed it, but her circuitry protested. Kirk is then confronted by Ruk and discusses the Old Ones with him. Kirk learns more about the ancient civilization: they built their machines too well, became fearful of them, and started shutting them off. Survival outweighed programming; the androids murdered their creators. Goaded by Kirk, Ruk grows angry and realizes that Korby is doing exactly the same thing. He starts to threaten Korby, who is forced to destroy Ruk with a phaser. Meanwhile, Andrea comes across the android Kirk and tries to repeat the romantic advances, thinking he is the real Kirk. When the android Kirk refuses, citing it as "illogical," Andrea vaporizes him with a phaser.
In a scuffle between Kirk and Korby, a section of skin is torn from the back of Korby's hand, revealing wires and circuits. Korby is revealed to be an android as well, to Chapel's horror.
Korby's hand exposed
Korby tries to explain to a shocked Chapel that while critically injured, he built a perfect body and decanted himself into it. He claims that he's still the real Roger Korby, but is unable to demonstrate any uniquely "Human" qualities.
The breakdown of this small segment of android civilization reveals the pitfalls of Korby's utopian vision. Soon enough, even he realizes this, and hands over his phaser in defeat and despair. But Andrea will not relinquish hers, and she confusedly tries to profess her love for Korby. As she kisses him, Korby pulls the trigger of the laser pistol in her hand, killing them both.
Spock and his security team arrive and come upon Kirk and Chapel. When Spock inquired about Korby's whereabouts, Kirk replies to his first officer, "Dr. Korby… was never here."
Back on the ship, Chapel decides to stay on the Enterprise. Spock then tells Kirk of his dismay over his use of the term "half-breed". Kirk replies, "I'll remember that, Mr. Spock… the next time I find myself in a similar situation."
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 2712.4. A signal from planet Exo III, Doctor Roger Korby has been located. He and part of his expedition remaining alive due to the discovery of underground ruins left by the former inhabitants of this world."
Memorable quotes
"Dr. Korby has discovered that as their sun dimmed, the inhabitants of this planet moved underground, from an open environment to this dark world. When you were a student of his, Christine, you must have often heard Dr. Korby remark how freedom of movement and choice produced the Human spirit. The culture of Exo III proved his theory. When they moved from light to darkness, they replaced freedom with a mechanistic culture."
- Dr. Brown, describing the cultural changes which took place on Exo III to Kirk and Chapel
"You think I could love a machine?"
"Did you?"
- Korby and Chapel, on Andrea
"A thing is not a woman."
- Korby, to Chapel
"This is how you make an android."
- Korby
"Andrea, kiss Captain Kirk." [Andrea kisses him] "Now, strike him." [Andrea strikes him]
- Roger Korby
"Choose, Christine. Which is your captain?"
"I don't know. They're exact. I honestly don't know."
- Korby and Chapel, when Kirk is duplicated as an android
"Mind your own business, Mister Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference! Do you hear?"
- Kirk, implanting a mental suggestion into his android duplicate
"Eating is a pleasure, sir. Unfortunately, one you will never know."
"Perhaps. But I will never starve, sir."
- Kirk and his duplicate
"In android form, a Human being can have practical immortality. Can you see what I'm offering mankind?"
"Programming – different word, but the same old promises made by Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Hitler…"
"Can you imagine how life could be improved if we could do away with jealousy, greed, hate?"
"It can also be improved by eliminating love, tenderness, sentiment. The other side of the coin, doctor."
- Korby and Kirk
"Oh, no…No…Not programmed for you."
- Andrea, confused after a long passionate kiss from Kirk
"That was the equation! Existence! Survival must cancel out programming!"
- Ruk, before Korby destroys him
"Aren't you doing exactly what you hate most in Humans: killing with no more concern than when you turn off a light?"
"I am not a computer. Test me. Ask me to solve any… Equate… Transmit… Christine! Christine, let me prove myself!…"
"Don't you see Roger? Everything you've done has proved it isn't you."
"I AM Roger Korby!"
- Kirk, Korby, and Chapel, after Korby's true identity is revealed
"Doctor Korby… was never here."
- Kirk, to Spock
"Frankly, I was rather dismayed by your use of the term 'half-breed', captain. You must admit it is an unsophisticated expression."
"I'll remember that Mr. Spock… the next time I find myself in a similar situation."
- Spock and Kirk
