In "Obsession", Kirk encounters a deadly gaseous cloud from his past that he believes is an intelligence lifeform. His previous encounter with it occurred when he was a young officer aboard the USS Farragut. A mistake by Kirk caused dozens of lives to be lost and he's never forgotten it. Smelling it on the planet he is surveying, all the sensations come flooding back to him as a pair of his crewman perish at its behalf, getting the blood sucked out of them. The son of Kirk's old commanding officer who was killed by this cloud is now a member of Enterprise's security detail. Him and Kirk pursue the cloud but Garrovick freezes in the moment, costing more lives to be lost. A skeptical Spock and Bones want the Enterprise to get back on track and rendezvous with the USS Yorktown to deliver medical supplies to an ailing planet. Instead, Kirk pursues the cloud as it heads off into space.
The cloud attacks the Enterprise, getting into the ship and slipping into the ventilation. A frustrated Garrovick leaves a vent open accidentally and the cloud attacks Spock but is uninterested in his green blood. The Enterprise heads back to where it all began, the planet where Kirk first met it. He feels a connection to the cloud and for some reason knows that this is its home. Kirk plants a powerful antimatter bomb on the surface with the help of Garrovick. They lure it into a trap and transport back to the ship just in time, seemingly killing the cloud. Another day, another adventure!
Ralph Senesky directed this episode. I find this interesting because he also directed the episode "Metamorphosis", another cloud-centric episode. He only directed 6 episodes in total so I think it's odd that 33% of his Star Trek work is about clouds attacking members of the crew.
Anyways... This episode plays out a bit like a horror show (as other reviews have noted). The monster is this unidentifiable, spirit-like being that slowly comes at the Enterprise, impervious to all weaponry. It's one of the spookier images you'll get from this show. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with a cloud as your enemy so script ideas are a bit limited. ("I don't know? We blow it up? Sure!) The episode falls apart a bit towards the conclusion.
My favorite aspect of this episode is the parallels between Kirk and young Garrovick: both are strong-headed, trying to always play the hero, hard on themselves, and have serious beef with this cloud. It would have been cool to see him featured a bit more on the show as Kirk's young protégé.
While not the greatest TOS has to offer, this episode's a fine example of a standard Season 2 episode of the show.
The cloud attacks the Enterprise, getting into the ship and slipping into the ventilation. A frustrated Garrovick leaves a vent open accidentally and the cloud attacks Spock but is uninterested in his green blood. The Enterprise heads back to where it all began, the planet where Kirk first met it. He feels a connection to the cloud and for some reason knows that this is its home. Kirk plants a powerful antimatter bomb on the surface with the help of Garrovick. They lure it into a trap and transport back to the ship just in time, seemingly killing the cloud. Another day, another adventure!
Ralph Senesky directed this episode. I find this interesting because he also directed the episode "Metamorphosis", another cloud-centric episode. He only directed 6 episodes in total so I think it's odd that 33% of his Star Trek work is about clouds attacking members of the crew.
Anyways... This episode plays out a bit like a horror show (as other reviews have noted). The monster is this unidentifiable, spirit-like being that slowly comes at the Enterprise, impervious to all weaponry. It's one of the spookier images you'll get from this show. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with a cloud as your enemy so script ideas are a bit limited. ("I don't know? We blow it up? Sure!) The episode falls apart a bit towards the conclusion.
My favorite aspect of this episode is the parallels between Kirk and young Garrovick: both are strong-headed, trying to always play the hero, hard on themselves, and have serious beef with this cloud. It would have been cool to see him featured a bit more on the show as Kirk's young protégé.
While not the greatest TOS has to offer, this episode's a fine example of a standard Season 2 episode of the show.