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Assignment: Earth

• Episode aired Mar 29, 1968

While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet. While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet. While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet.

• Marc Daniels
• Gene Roddenberry
• Art Wallace
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 39 User reviews
• 14 Critic reviews

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

• Mister Spock

• Mister Seven

• Roberta Lincoln
• (as Terri Garr)

• Col. Nesvig
• First Policeman

• Second Policeman
• Security Chief

• Beta 5 Computer
• (uncredited)
• Lieutenant Hadley
• Lt. Clifford Brent
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia While at the launch base and showing his ID to the security person, Mr. Seven shows a National Security Agency credential card. The NSA was one of the worst kept government secrets, but was not publicly acknowledged until nearly 25 years after this episode originally aired.
• Goofs When Spock is trying to subdue Roberta, he apparently forgets the Vulcan neck pinch.

Roberta Lincoln : [indicating Isis] Would you mind telling me who that is?

Mister Seven : That, Miss Lincoln, is simply my cat.

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
• Connections Featured in The Best TV Shows That Never Were (2004)
• Soundtracks Theme Music credited to Alexander Courage Sung by Loulie Jean Norman

User reviews 39

• Jan 16, 2021
• March 29, 1968 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA (Stock Footage)
• Paramount Television
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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Assignment: Earth (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1.1 Original pilot (no Star Trek connection)
• 4.1.2 Star Trek version
• 4.2 Spinoff
• 4.3 Production
• 4.5 Continuity
• 4.6 Apocrypha
• 4.7 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest star
• 5.4 Co-starring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stand-ins
• 5.7 References
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

After Captain Kirk finishes his log entry, suddenly the Enterprise is rocked, and Spock reports that they appear to have intercepted someone's transporter beam. Kirk remarks that there were no such devices in the 20th century . Spock maintains that someone is beaming aboard. Spock discovers that the transporter beam originates more than a thousand light years away. Scott finds that difficult to believe, stating that no transporter beam could reach that far, not even in their time . Suddenly a man in a dark suit, holding a black cat , appears on the transporter pad .

Act One [ ]

The strange man asks Kirk why he was intercepted and who his interceptors are. Kirk identifies himself and tells the man that he is aboard the United Space Ship Enterprise . The man asks what planet they are from, and Kirk says they are from Earth . This the man refuses to believe, because 20th century technology would not allow for a ship like the Enterprise . But when he notices that Spock is a Vulcan , he realizes the ship is indeed from the future and asks to be beamed down to Earth. As security arrives, the man identifies himself as Gary Seven , calling himself a man from the 20th century, and gives his cat's name as Isis . Kirk states, however, that Humans of the 20th century do not go beaming around the universe. Seven explains that he has been on another planet , one much more advanced, and that he was beaming to Earth from that planet when the Enterprise intercepted him. When Kirk asks which planet it is, Seven says that the inhabitants wish their planet to be kept secret and that even in Kirk's time, it will remain unknown. Seven reiterates that he is of this time period and adds that, if Kirk does not allow him to do what he needs to do down on Earth, then Kirk will have changed history. But Kirk, unsure that Seven is telling the truth, decides to keep him aboard the ship until that can be determined. However, Seven tries to escape, overpowering the security guards, and he even shrugs off Spock's attempt at a Vulcan neck pinch . Seven is only subdued by a phaser stun from Kirk. Kirk calls Dr. McCoy and asks him to examine the mysterious man in the brig to determine if he really is Human.

In the briefing room , Spock, who is stroking Isis, mentions that he finds himself strangely drawn to the cat. Ensign Chekov reports that analyzing the direction Seven's transporter beam came from show no habitable planets in that area of the galaxy and Scott says that they will not be able to analyze the transporter beam, as it had fused their recording circuits. The beam could have brought him across tremendous distances across space, and perhaps even through time; there is, quite simply, no way to know. Spock also mentions that current crises on Earth could fill a tape bank, noting that, on this one day alone: "There will be an important assassination today, an equally dangerous government coup in Asia , and, this could be highly critical, the launching of an orbital nuclear warhead platform by the United States , countering a similar launch by other powers." Kirk and Spock briefly discuss the nuclear arms race and how that once the sky was filled with orbiting H-bombs , the slightest mistake could have brought one down, setting off a nuclear holocaust.

Seven soon escapes from the brig using a device called a " servo ," disguised as a pen, to deactivate the force field and put the guard to sleep .

Back in the briefing room, McCoy tells Kirk that Seven is indeed Human, but also that his is a totally perfect body, without a physical flaw at all within him. This raises the possibility that he could be an alien taking Human form, and Spock points out again that Seven could be telling the truth. Kirk laments that neither of them is telling him anything definite. At that point, Isis jumps out of Spock's lap and leaves the briefing room. Security then alerts them that Seven has escaped. In the transporter room, where Isis rejoins him, Seven renders Lemli and Leslie unconscious with his servo and beams down before Kirk can stop him.

Act Two [ ]

Seven materializes inside a transporter chamber , disguised as a vault concealed behind a sliding rack of drinking glasses, in what appears to be an otherwise normal office.

Seven accesses a computer behind the bookcase. Seven asks for the locations of agents 201 and 347. The computer asks Seven to identify himself and Seven tells the computer to check his voice pattern, and it will identify him as Supervisor 194 , code name Gary Seven. The computer recognizes his voice pattern but is unaware of a Gary Seven being assigned to this planet. Seven then tells the computer that he is a Class One supervisor and that the computer is to override all previous instructions and answer his questions. The computer identifies itself as a Beta 5 computer capable of analytical decision and forces Seven to prove himself by describing the mission of the two agents that were sent here. Finally Seven, after griping that he has "little love for Beta 5 snobbery," relents and tells the computer that missing agents 201 and 347 are a male and a female descendant, respectively, of Humans taken from the Earth approximately six thousand years ago ( circa 4000 BC ) and that they were specially engineered and trained for this mission. The problem is that on Earth, its science and technology have progressed faster than its political and social knowledge have. Their mission is to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it can become a peaceful society. The computer states that Seven's information, while incomplete, will suffice and tells Seven that the agents have not reported for three days. Seven tells the computer to immediately begin a search and begins describing how to do so when the computer tells him it is aware of proper search procedures.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Enterprise , Kirk, Spock, and Scott are trying to determine where Seven had beamed down. Scott says that they can get to within approximately one thousand meters of where he had gone. Spock reminds Kirk that following him down is very risky because they may end up accidentally doing something to alter history. Kirk says he knows but he must also know if Seven is being truthful with them. Kirk tells Scott to have ship's stores prepare the proper costumes and then prepare to beam them down.

In his apartment, Seven learns that the agents' mission was to disable a rocket that will launch an American orbiting nuclear platform which is a counter-move to an opposing country that has already done the same. This appalls Seven, who says that this arms race is the same kind of nonsense which almost resulted in the destruction of planet Omicron IV , which the Beta 5 computer confirms. Seven asks if the warhead has been disabled, but the computer says both that it has not been and that there are just under ninety minutes before launch. Seven says that unless the agents are immediately located, he will have to undertake their mission in their absence.

Having beamed down, Kirk surreptitiously calls Scott with his communicator and tells him to lead them to Seven. Scott gives Kirk the coordinates and Kirk and Spock proceed.

Roberta at her typewriter

The computer provides Seven with various pieces of false identification, including identification listing Seven as a colonel with the CIA , a lieutenant in the NYPD , and a colonel with the NSA . It also produces a map of McKinley Rocket Base . At that moment, a young woman walks in and asks if anyone is in. Seven steps out and demands to know where she has been. The woman sees no reason to tell him and asks who he is. Seven asks where 347 is but she neither knows nor understands, jokingly replying that perhaps he is with 348. She then threatens to call the police. After insisting that she sit down, Seven, wrongly believing her to be agent 201, tells her that he is "Supervisor 194, code name Gary Seven" and that he needs a complete report of all that she has done in the last three days. As the woman prepares to start typing, Seven flips a switch and tells her not to bother with her hands. When she wonders how she will type, the typewriter begins typing everything she says. This gets the young woman very frustrated, and after she yells at the typewriter to stop typing what she says, Seven finally switches it off and she says that she will quit. Seven then realizes that she is not acting. Using his servo, he locks the door; he then accesses the computer and has it identify the woman in the room. The Beta 5 identifies her as Roberta Lincoln and says that she is a secretary hired by Agents 347 and 201. Realizing the terrible mistake he has made, Seven asks Roberta what work her employers said they were doing and she says they were doing research for a new encyclopedia. Seven tells her she can go, though she will not be helping her country, unless of course, she does not care for her country. When Roberta protests that she does, Seven tells her that thanks to his incompetence, he has made her aware of some top secret devices vital to the security of the nation. He shows her his false CIA ID and she accepts that it is legitimate. Isis opens the door and meows at Seven. Seven explains to Roberta that Isis is a trained cat and asks Roberta not to let anyone in and she agrees to do so.

Out on the street, Kirk calls Scott again, and Scott tells Kirk that the source was about thirty meters higher than his present location. Thus, Kirk and Spock enter Seven's apartment building.

The Beta 5 tells Seven that agents 201 and 347 were killed in an automobile accident ten miles north of McKinley Rocket Base on Highway 949 . Seven laments the uselessness of dying in such a manner and asks if the facts are verified. The computer does confirm this, noting that the description of the agent's bodies is accurate.

On the floor outside Seven's apartment, Scott tells Kirk which way to go and they find the right apartment. Kirk rings the doorbell and Seven has the computer deactivated. Roberta opens the door, but when Kirk asks about Seven, she says that she has no idea who he is talking about, that this is a government office, and that they should leave immediately. But Kirk will have none of it, demanding to know where Seven is. Roberta demands that Kirk leave, but he refuses, and she finally grabs the phone and calls for the police. Kirk and Roberta briefly struggle over the phone and she asks Seven to come help her. Seven, meanwhile, has entered the transporter in his safe and disappeared. Spock discovers where Seven was, and Kirk goes in and has Spock restrain Roberta. She manages to pull Spock's cap off and is dumbstruck at the sight of Spock's pointed Vulcan ears.

Seven rematerializes inside the rocket base and observes the rocket which is armed with the warhead.

Act Three [ ]

Kirk finds Seven's map of McKinley Rocket Base. Roberta tells them she has already called the police to the office. When the police arrive, Spock tries to keep Roberta quiet, but she screams before he can. Kirk calls Scott, whom he orders to perform a wide scan, as they will be moving, and be ready to beam them up. They run into the office, but Roberta runs to the door, admits the police, and points them into the office. They run in just as Kirk orders them beamed up – and the two police officers are beamed up with Kirk and Spock, all four disappearing before Roberta's eyes. Kirk and Spock jump off the transporter platform, and Kirk immediately orders Scott to beam the policemen back down, which he does. The two policemen are returned to the office, leaving them dumbstruck at what they have seen and experienced and Roberta not knowing what to believe.

At the rocket base, there are only fifty minutes until launch. Seven is approached by a security guard as he approaches launch control. The guard, Sergeant Lipton , has Seven lower Isis to the ground and requests identification, and Seven produces his CIA ID. While the guard calls to verify, Isis distracts Lipton, allowing Seven to stun him with his servo and he then takes the phone and tells the security identification office at the other end that everything is now OK. He then sits the stunned guard down and tells him to take a nap. Seven then makes his way to the gantry elevator by hiding in the trunk of the launch director's, Cromwell 's, car. When the car arrives at the launch pad, he exits the trunk, hides in the elevator, reaches a gantry, removes an access panel with his servo and begins to rewire the rocket.

Meanwhile, Kirk, Spock, and Scott, in the transporter room, search for Seven at the launch site by reflecting their sensors off a low-orbiting weather satellite. Unable to find him, Kirk and Spock decide to beam down to the base to search for Seven the old-fashioned way. They materialize in front of the previously stunned guard as he awakens. Lipton takes them into custody and escorts them to the control room in the launch complex. They are briefly interrogated, but all attention is focused on the launch preparations. Kirk and Spock stand there unable to act.

Meanwhile, planning to quit again and telling the computer interface that she promises not to tell anyone about Seven or anything she has seen, Roberta accidentally discovers that depressing a pen holder on the desk opens the sliding glass rack. She then fiddles with the combination lock to the safe and succeeds in opening the safe/alien transporter room. At the same time, using the ship's sensors, Scott locates Seven on the rocket gantry while he is manipulating wires on the rocket. Scott calls for security and then attempts to beam Seven back aboard. Sensing the transporter beam, Seven gathers Isis into his arms. But at the same time, Lincoln's fiddling with the safe/alien transporter controls pulls him back to the NYC office.

In the launch facility, Kirk and Spock watch helplessly as the countdown progresses. The security officers inspect Kirk's and Spock's phasers and communicators. The security supervisor tells Kirk that only the slightest possible charges will be brought against them if they explain why they are here and what they are doing. Kirk can only stand silently and watch as the rocket launches up toward space.

Act Four [ ]

Spock and Kirk in custody at McKinley Rocket Base

In the office, Seven is initially angry at Roberta for interfering, but he then calms down when he realizes that what she had done likely kept him from being transported back aboard the Enterprise and again taken prisoner. He then goes over and begins to work at the Beta 5 computer. He inquires whether he had done enough to take control of the rocket, and the Beta 5 confirms that he had.

Seven uses the Beta 5 exceiver circuits to cause the third stage of the American rocket to malfunction and veer off course. He also arms the warhead and Roberta, who had become very suspicious of Seven, hits him on the head with a small jewelry box, for she now realizes that what he has been doing is beyond the CIA's abilities. She grabs Seven's servo and tells him to stay where he is. Seven begs Roberta to let him finish what he had started, otherwise when the rocket warhead detonates somewhere in six minutes, it will start World War III.

From the science station on the bridge, Chekov and Sulu see the warhead arm and call Scott in the transporter room to inform him of what has happened. Sulu tells Scott that the computers indicate an impact somewhere in the heart of the Eurasian landmass. Uhura, listening in to broadcasts from her station in multiple Earth languages, reports that she is receiving military alerts from the major powers. Scott decides that he will have to risk calling Kirk, and tells Uhura to open a channel to his communicator.

At launch control, the mission planners note the malfunction in the rocket and try to override it and get it back on course. When the warhead arms itself, the scientists are confused as to how it could have done so on its own. They prepare to send a self-destruct signal to prevent the H-bomb from otherwise detonating on an unsuspecting population somewhere.

Kirk, taking advantage of this distraction, steps over and tries to activate his communicator, but Lipton catches him and sends him back to his corner. Just then, Scott attempts to contact Kirk for instructions. When the communicator beeps and the rocket base guard picks it up and tries to talk to Scott, Spock steps over, under the guise of showing Lipton how to use it, and uses his nerve pinch to render him unconscious again. Kirk has Scott beam them directly to Seven's office. Unfortunately for the scientists, the self-destruct signal does not work. The lead flight controller picks up a red phone to make a call to the President .

Back in Seven's apartment, Seven tries to tell Roberta the truth about what has been happening and that truly advanced civilizations would neither take strange forms nor visit Earth in force, explaining that the best option is to bring Humans to their planet and train them for generations, until they are needed on Earth. Roberta tells him that she wants to believe him, for she knows that her world needs help; this explains the seemingly insane conduct of some of the people of her generation, of whom she points out, "We wonder if we're gonna be alive when we're thirty."

Just as Seven tries to run back to the computer, Kirk and Spock enter the apartment again. Kirk asks Spock if he can detonate the warhead using the computer, to which Spock replies that he can attempt it. Seven says that he wants the warhead detonated too, but that he will have to do it, and at least a hundred miles above the ground, so that it will frighten the people of Earth out of the arms race. At that moment, Scott calls Kirk, telling him that the Enterprise 's monitors show all major powers on full missile alert and a retaliatory strike is ordered upon warhead impact. Spock says that without more time, he can only estimate, and Seven angrily asks Kirk to allow him to do his job. Kirk insists that he still does not know what Seven's job is , and that for all he and Spock know, Seven may set the controls so that the warhead may not even be detonated. Then Roberta points the servo at Kirk and demands that he leave Seven alone. Seven quickly grabs it from her hand and tells her that the servo was set to kill. He deactivates it and then hands it over to Kirk. Kirk tells Spock if he cannot detonate the warhead, then they will both have to trust Seven. Spock tells Kirk that in the absence of facts, there is no logical decision and that he will have to rely on his Human intuition to guide him.

After a brief moment, Kirk tells Seven, " Go! " Seven runs over to the Beta 5 and begins working the controls, activating a visual of low Earth orbit and having the computer count down the miles by tens. Finally, at 104 miles, Seven manages to detonate the warhead.

Later in the day, Seven is dictating the last bit of his report into the typewriter. " …and in spite of the accidental interference with history by the Earth ship from the future, the mission was completed. " Spock then corrects Seven and tells him that by all appearances they did not interfere but that, rather, that the Enterprise was simply part of what was supposed to happen on this day in 1968. Kirk says that their record tapes show that while it was never generally revealed, a malfunctioning sub-orbital warhead was exploded exactly 104 miles above the Earth. Spock adds that, furthermore, it caused the nuclear powers to re-assess the risks of a nuclear orbiting platform. That everything turned out just how it was supposed to leaves Seven feeling relieved.

For a moment, Roberta looks over at Isis and sees a rather gorgeous woman. She steps over to Seven and asks if he will explain who that is. Seven says that it is simply his cat. When Roberta looks back, Isis is a cat again. Seven then asks Kirk what else their record tapes show, but Kirk says they cannot, in turn, reveal all they know. Spock does say that it would be safe to say that Seven and Roberta have some interesting experiences ahead of them and Kirk agrees with that assessment. Kirk calls to be beamed up by Scotty, Spock tells Seven to "live long and prosper," and Kirk says that the same goes for Roberta. They shimmer and vanish with Roberta looking on in awe once more, and the Enterprise leaves orbit to go back to its proper time.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Humans of the twentieth century do not go beaming around the galaxy, Mister Seven. "

" It's impossible to hide a whole planet. " " Impossible for you, not for them. "

" Mr. Spock, historical report. " " Current Earth crises would fill a tape bank, Captain. "

" Where's Three-Four-Seven? " " With Three-Four-Eight? "

" Well, how do you expect me to type? With my nose? "

" I'm telling you, you're through monkeying around with my country's rocket. "

" I know this world needs help. That's why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know? We wonder if we're gonna be alive when we're thirty. "

" Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your Human intuition. "

" That, Miss Lincoln, is simply my cat. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ], original pilot (no star trek connection) [ ].

• Story outline "Seven" by Gene Roddenberry : 20 April 1965
• Revised story outlines: 23 April 1965 , 25 April 1965
• First draft teleplay: 14 November 1966
• Revised first draft: 16 November 1966

Star Trek version [ ]

• Story outline by Roddenberry and Art Wallace : 21 October 1967
• Revised story outline by Wallace: 13 November 1967
• First draft teleplay: 21 November 1967
• Revised first draft: 11 December 1967
• Second draft teleplay: 14 December 1967
• Revised second draft: 18 December 1967
• Revised draft by Roddenberry: 20 December 1967
• Final draft teleplay by Roddenberry: 1 January 1968
• Additional page revisions: 3 January 1968 , 5 January 1968 , 9 January 1968
• Day 1 – 2 January 1968 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Engineering , Sickbay , Bridge , Transporter room
• Day 2 – 3 January 1968 , Wednesday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment , Hallway corridor
• Day 3 – 4 January 1968 , Thursday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment
• Day 4 – 5 January 1968 , Friday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment
• Day 5 – 8 January 1968 , Monday – Paramount Windsor Street backlot : Ext. New York City street , Paramount officer buldings : Ext. McKinley Rocket Base
• Day 6 – 9 January 1968 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Mission control room ; Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Transporter room
• Day 7 – 10 January 1968 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge , Briefing room , Transporter room ; Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Rocket Platform
• Original airdate: 29 March 1968
• Rerun airdate: 9 August 1968
• First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 4 November 1970
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 27 February 1983
• Remastered airdate: 3 May 2008

Spinoff [ ]

• This episode was designed partly as a pilot for a new series featuring Gary Seven and his mission. Star Trek was teetering on the brink of cancellation late in its second year, and Roddenberry hoped to get a new show going for the fall season. The first draft pilot script ( 14 November 1966 ) had no mention of Star Trek or its characters. [1]
• Assignment: Earth did not enter production as a television series, but Seven and Roberta were featured in several stories and they spun-off a comic book series from IDW Publishing , Star Trek: Assignment: Earth by John Byrne .
• The plot concept of benevolent aliens secretively helping Earthlings, as opposed to the much more common "villain aliens" scenarios, was later resurrected by Roddenberry for his movie The Questor Tapes.

Production [ ]

• Stock footage of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (without clouds) is reused from " Miri ".
• A closeup of Montgomery Scott behind the transporter station is recycled from " The Enemy Within ".
• According to The Star Trek Compendium (1st ed., p. 140), the first draft script (dated 20 December 1967 ) had the Enterprise bridge crew watching an episode of Bonanza on the viewscreen.
• East 68th Street is also the street that was home to the main characters from the Desilu TV show I Love Lucy .
• The typewriter is a Royal Emperor, which could type from a cassette tape recording of the text. [2] (X)
• The Beta 5 computer contains many components from the M-5 multitronic unit in " The Ultimate Computer ". These components were recycled yet again for " All Our Yesterdays " and " Spock's Brain ".
• A new effect is used for the transporter as Seven is beamed aboard for the first time – slow motion flames can be seen behind the opaque back wall of the chamber. This may be due to the Enterprise 's unintentional interception of Seven's unusually powerful transporter beam.
• NASA shot all their footage using the anamorphic format, hence all the rocket launch stock footage in this episode is cropped from the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to television's conventional 1.33:1. [3]
• The rocket stock footage in this episode is actually of three Saturn Vs: footage of the rocket on the ground is a combination of the SA-500F Test Vehicle (the only Saturn V to feature "USA" markings on the third stage) and Apollo 6 (the only Saturn V launched with a white service module). Footage of the rocket launching is of Apollo 4 .
• This is the only episode of the second season to have Gene Roddenberry credited as "Producer" instead of "Executive Producer," the first time he had received such a credit since the first season. Roddenberry wanted to be very "hands-on" for this episode, as he hoped to turn it into a spin-off series. He rewrote Art Wallace 's script and was heavily involved in production, including sets, props, casting of actors, and even the costume of Terri Garr – he insisted on shortening her mini-skirt to be "more revealing," much to the anger of costume designer William Ware Theiss . ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ) Garr had a very unpleasant time filming this episode, perhaps stemming from Gene Roddenberry's involvement in decisions regarding her costume, specifically the length of her skirt. The hem was taken up so much it became very distorted. In interviews since, she has refused to talk about Star Trek in any way. [4]
• This is also the only episode of the second season that has no credited studio executive in charge of its production, as Herbert F. Solow had left Paramount Television by this time, and would be replaced by Douglas S. Cramer beginning with the third season.
• Robert Lansing ( Gary Seven ) is the only Star Trek: The Original Series guest star whose credit appears after the opening credits instead of during the end credits – complete with character name. The fact that the episode was to serve as the pilot for a proposed spin-off series explains the unique credits.
• William Blackburn appears as a rocket control room technician in this episode. He can also be seen walking in front of Gary Seven just after he materializes at McKinley Rocket Base.
• This episode marks the final appearance of the unknown actor who portrayed Bobby . His appearance in the corridor was "new" recycled footage that was originally shot during the filming of " The Corbomite Maneuver ".

Continuity [ ]

• This is the only episode of Star Trek in which time travel is treated as "routine." The Temporal Prime Directive does not yet appear to have been proposed, let alone taken effect.
• This is the only episode where a Federation transporter system is used to intercept and re-direct another transporter beam.
• Along with the Vians and Khan , Colonel Gary Seven is one of the few humanoids to have ever manifested insensitivity to a Vulcan nerve pinch .
• This episode was first aired on 29 March 1968 . Six days later, on 4 April 1968, there was indeed an important assassination – that of Martin Luther King, Jr. .
• However, the coincidence goes beyond this: Spock says that the same day as the assassination that the US was launching an orbital nuclear warhead platform. The King assassination was the same day as the launch of the unmanned Apollo 6 Saturn V rocket. This same Saturn V amazingly enough also suffered a serious mishap and went off course. The details of the mishap with the Saturn V on April 4th differ greatly in detail from the events of Assignment: Earth. However, Kirk comments at the end of the episode that the real events were never "generally revealed" at the time. It makes sense therefore to assume, within the context of Star Trek 's fictional history that there was a massive cover-up about the Apollo 6 mishap and that a false cover story was put out to hide the truth that they were launching a nuclear weapon into orbit. This episode uses footage of the Apollo 4 Saturn V, the only previous test of that rocket. Chronologically, the closest candidate to Spock's other "prediction" of a government coup in Asia would be the July 17th military coup in Iraq that brought Saddam Hussein to power ( 17 July Revolution ).
• This episode takes place entirely in 1968 , with no scenes in the 23rd century . Along with ENT : " Storm Front " (which takes place in 1944 ), this is one of only two Star Trek episodes based entirely in the 20th century . Furthermore, both episodes take place mostly in and around New York City.
• The events of this episode, which take place in 1968, occurred (from the point of view of the Enterprise crew) over a year after those of " Tomorrow is Yesterday ", which take place in 1969 .

Apocrypha [ ]

• In various novels and comics, the alien race that trained Gary Seven was revealed as an ancient race called the Aegis .
• Seven and Lincoln have appeared in several Star Trek novels ( Assignment: Eternity and the two-volume series, The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox ) and short stories ("The Aliens Are Coming!" by Dayton Ward in Strange New Worlds III , "Seven and Seven" by Kevin Hosey in Strange New Worlds VI and "Assignment: One" by Kevin Lauderdale in Strange New Worlds VIII ).
• Gary Seven has also appeared in several comic books , including " The Peacekeeper Part One ", " The Peacekeeper Part Two: The Conclusion ", " Split Infinities ", " Future Imperiled ", and the Star Trek: Assignment: Earth mini-series.
• The Department of Temporal Investigations novel Forgotten History explicitly places the episode on April 4, 1968.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 29 , catalog number VHR 2381, 3 September 1990
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.9, 22 August 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 28, 10 July 2001
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest star [ ]

• Robert Lansing as Mister Seven

Co-starring [ ]

• Terri Garr as Roberta Lincoln
• James Doohan as Scott
• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Walter Koenig as Chekov
• Don Keefer as Cromwell
• Lincoln Demyan as Sergeant
• Morgan Jones as Col. Nesvig
• Bruce Mars as First Policeman
• Ted Gehring as Second Policeman
• Paul Baxley as Security Chief

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• James Doohan as Mission Control announcer (voice)
• Beta 5 computer (voice)
• Isis (voice) [5]
• Rocket base technician
• Frank da Vinci as Brent
• Rudy Doucette as rocket base technician
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli
• Woman passerby
• Edwin Rochelle as Passerby #1
• Robert C. Johnson as Ground Control (voice) [6]
• Sambo and two unknown cats as Isis in cat form [7]
• April Tatro as Isis in Human form
• Esther Ying Lee as Passersby
• Monitor room personnel
• Rocket launch watchers
• Security guard 1
• Security guard 2
• Several passersby
• Two control room personnel
• People at snack van

Stand-ins [ ]

• William Blackburn as the stand-in for DeForest Kelley
• Frank da Vinci as the stand-in for Leonard Nimoy
• Jeannie Malone as the stand-in for Teri Garr
• Eddie Paskey as the stand-in for William Shatner
• Edwin Rochelle as the stand-in for Robert Lansing

References [ ]

6,000 years before ; 20th century ; 1948 ; 1968 ; 1978 ; acceleration ; accident ; agent ( government agent ); Agent 201 ; Agent 347 ; alien ; all decks alert ; altitude ; analysis ; ancestor ; animal ; apartment ; arc ; area ; arms race ; Asia ; assassination ; automobile accident ; auxiliary transmitter ; baby carriage ; badge number ; balance of power ; behavior ; Bermuda ; Beta 5 computer ; bird ; birthmark ; body ; " Bones "; briefing room ; business suit ; button ; Canary Islands ; cat ; Central Intelligence Agency (aka CIA ); century ; chance ; channel ; charge ; chronological age ; circuit ; civilization ; class 1 supervisor ; close orbit ; coat rack ; code name ; colonel ; control center ; control setting ; costume ; countdown ; country (aka nation ); coup ; course ; crisis ; custody ; date ; day ; deflector shields ; degree ; Department of Investigation ; descendant ; destruct signal ; detonation ; device ; dial ; Dodge Coronet ; doll ; door ; Earth ; Earth Cold War ; East 68th Street ; elevator ; employer ; encyclopedia ; engineering personnel ; era ; estimate ; Euro-Asian continent ; exceiver (aka exceiver circuit ); existence ; experience ; expert ; extended orbit ; fact ; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); feet ; finger ; flight control ; flight path (aka trajectory ); flight telemetry ; force shield ; Ford Falcon ; Franklin ; French language ; friend ; fur coat ; Gary Seven's homeworld ; gantry (aka rocket gantry ); gantry area ; generation ; government ; government office ; green ; groovy ; ground station ; Ground Station 3 ; Ground Station 4 ; Ground Station 11 ; guard dog ; H-bomb ; hair ; hand ; heart ; hello ; Highway 949 ; historical report ; historical research ; history ; Hobson, Albert ; Homicide Squad ; honey blonde ; hour ; Human ; Human history ; hundred ; hydrogen ; idea ; identification ; identification card ; impact ; inch ; incompetence ; information ; inspection ; instruction ; intelligence quotient ; international agreement ; intruder ; Intruder alert ; intuition ; IQ ; jealousy ; jerk ; job ; knowledge ; Johnson, Lyndon B. ; launch ; launch area (aka launch pad or launch site ); launch director ; launch site scan ; light-speed breakaway factor ; light year ; Liquid hydrogen ; location ; logic ; machine ; major power ; malfunction ; McKinley Rocket Base ; medical analysis ; meow ; meter ; mile ; military alert ; Milky Way Galaxy ; minute ; missile ; missile alert ; mission ; mistake ; mole ; name ; nap ; National Security Agency ; navigation report ; news broadcast ; New York City ; New York City Police Department ; nonsense ; no parking sign ; north ; nose ; nuclear holocaust ; nuclear warhead ; Omicron IV ; " on the double "; " on the one hand...on the other hand "; orbit ; orbital nuclear warhead platform ; oxygen ; phaser ; plan ; Plymouth Belvedere ; Plymouth Satellite ; Plymouth Savoy ; phone ; planet ; police ; pound ; Precinct 19 ; Precinct 81 ; President of the United States ; prisoner ; problem ; product ; profession ; programming ; progress ; proof ; pound ; question ; range safety ; rebel ; recording circuit ; record tape ; research ; retaliatory strike ; report ; risk ; rocket ; rocket stage ; rule ; Ryan, John ; safety group ; Saturn V ; science ; science personnel ; search ; search procedure ; second ; secretary ; security alert ; security confinement ; sensor ; sensor scan ; sergeant ; servo ; ship's store ; shoulder ; sleep ; smoking ; society ; South Africa ; " stand by "; star ; star map ; status board ; sub-orbit ; suborbital platform (aka orbital platform ); subway ; Supervisor 194 ; supervisory personnel ; tape bank ; Tau Alpha C ; technology ; telemetry control transmitter system ; telephone ; thing ; time ; time period ; time travel ; tracking station ; transporter ; transporter beam ; transporter circuit ; transporter room ; training ; truth ; typewriter ; typing ; United States of America ; USS ; verification ; visual scan ; voice pattern ; Volkswagen Beetle ; Vulcan ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; Vulcan salute ; warhead ; weapon ; weather satellite ; World War III ; worry ; year ; " your lucky day "

External links [ ]

• "Assignment: Earth" at StarTrek.com
• " Assignment: Earth " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Assignment: Earth " at Wikipedia
• " "Assignment: Earth" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Assignment: Earth" • Gary Seven, Isis, & Roberta Lincoln at AssignmentEarth.ca – includes the series' proposal, and first script along with its first and final Star Trek scripts
• " Assignment: Earth " at the Internet Movie Database

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Star Trek Re-Watch: “Assignment: Earth”

“Assignment: Earth” Written by Art Wallace (story by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace) Directed by Marc Daniels

Season 2, Episode 26 Production episode: 2×26 Original air date: March 29, 1968 Star date: 1968

Mission summary

While on a frivolous time travel mission to research Earth’s history, circa 1968, Enterprise accidentally intercepts a transporter signal from an unknown source over a thousand light years away. A well-dressed man holding a black cat beams onto their transporter pad and looks at them dramatically.

The mysterious man in the sharp suit asks why they’ve intercepted him and demands they identify themselves. Kirk calls security to the transporter room before complying. The man is astonished to find a starship in the 20th century and when he notices Spock’s pointy ears he realizes Enterprise is from the future. He calls himself Mister Seven, claiming to be a contemporary Earth man sent by a secretive alien race to protect the planet. That’s a flimsy premise, especially from a guy who has conversations with his pet cat. Seven tries to convince them to beam him down immediately.

SEVEN: Captain Kirk, I am of this time period. You are not. You interfere with me, with what I have to do there, and you’ll change history. You’ll destroy the Earth and probably yourselves, too. SPOCK: If what he says is true, Captain, every second we delay him could be dangerous. KIRK: And if he’s lying? SEVEN: This is the most critical period in Earth’s history. The planet I’m from wants to help Earth survive. KIRK: What if it turns out you’re an invading alien from the future? SPOCK: A most difficult decision, Captain.

Kirk has a tough call to make, so he puts it off until he can gather more information about their fashionable passenger and his ominous feline companion, Isis. He orders confinement for Seven, but the man and his cat overpower the incompetent security officers. He shrugs off Spock’s patented neck pinch and works the transporter controls until Kirk stuns him with a phaser.

As Dr. McCoy examines the stylish stranger, Kirk calls a ship-wide briefing with all science, engineering, and supervisory personnel through the comm system. They don’t know much more than they did before, but Spock takes a break from cuddling Seven’s cat to highlight the historical significance of the 1960s:

SPOCK: There will be an important assassination today, an equally dangerous government coup in Asia, and, this could be highly critical, the launching of an orbital nuclear warhead platform by the United States countering a similar launch by other powers. KIRK: Weren’t orbital nuclear devices one of this era’s greatest problems? SPOCK: Most definitely. Once the sky was full of orbiting H-bombs, the slightest mistake could have brought one down by accident, setting off a nuclear holocaust.

In the brig, Seven tests the forcefield of his cell before shorting it out with his sonic screwdriver pen then using the device to hypnotize a red shirt into a dead sleep. He escapes to the transporter room while McCoy tells Kirk and Spock what a great body he has: “Human readings, yes, but not a single physical flaw. Totally perfect body.” Clean living or proof of alien origin?

Isis darts out of the room just before security reports Seven’s escape. She joins her master in the transporter room and they beam down before Kirk can stop him…

In a New York City office, a secret wall slides open to expose a hidden safe. The dials on the steel vault spin by themselves until the massive door swings aside to reveal a swirling blue energy field. Seven and his cat emerge from the transporter effect and calmly walk into the room as the vault and wall close behind them. He strides to the window and looks at the people below, marveling at how primitive it all is.

He calls out “Computer on.” A bookcase rotates and a large computer appears, a cross between Batman’s Batcomputer and Daystrom’s ill-fated M15. The Beta 5 analytical computer requests he identify himself by exposition:

SEVEN: All right. Agents are male and female, descendants of human ancestors taken from Earth approximately six thousand years ago. They’re the product of generations of training for this mission. Problem: Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge. Purpose of mission: to prevent Earth’s civilization from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society.

It may sound like a bad pitch for a television show, but it satisfies Beta 5 and she accepts him as Supervisor 194, Gary Seven. She reports that agents 201 and 347 have been missing for three days and begins searching news feeds and government communications to locate them in time to complete their operation: to sabotage a rocket carrying a U.S. suborbital nuclear warhead, which launches in less than ninety minutes. Seven might have to get his own hands dirty on this one.

Meanwhile, back on Star Trek : Kirk and Spock beam down in period-appropriate business suits, with a cap covering Spock’s ears. They begin tracking Seven’s position with Scotty’s guidance from Enterprise .

A blonde woman enters Seven’s outer office while Beta 5 produces false IDs and a map of McKinley Rocket Base for him. Seven, still dressed to the nines in a new suit, mistakes her for agent 201, but after the psychic typewriter freaks her out by auto-magically typing everything she says, it becomes evident that she’s hired help who knew nothing of their identities—until Seven inadvertently made her aware of their advanced technology. She quits but he uses his sonic pen to lock her in and consults Beta 5 via a green cube on the desk.

SEVEN: Scan unidentified female present. COMPUTER: Roberta Lincoln. Human. Profession: secretary. Employed by 347 and 201. Description: age twenty, five feet seven inches, 120 pounds, hair presently tinted honey blonde. Although behavior appears erratic, possesses high IQ. Birthmarks— ROBERTA: Hey. COMPUTER: Small mole on left shoulder. Somewhat larger star-shaped mark on her— ROBERTA: Hey, watch it! Okay, I’ll bite. What is it? SEVEN: Miss Lincoln. Miss Lincoln, What kind of work did your employers say they were doing here? ROBERTA: Research for a new encyclopedia? No? No.

He shows her his fabricated CIA papers to convince her he’s a government agent. “Very groovy,” she says, suddenly trusting him. Seven decides to keep her around, because why not, and asks not to be disturbed while he consults his cat. But Kirk and Spock are closing in on his coordinates.

They arrive at his front door just as Beta 5 reports that agents 201 and 347 were killed in an automobile accident on their way to McKinley. He sneaks out through his secret transportal as Roberta runs interference on the Starfleet officers. They struggle and she uses her defensive training to pull Spock’s cap off, which admittedly does force him to let her go so she can get a better look at his Vulcan features, with the requisite shocked reaction. Kirk shoots the locked office door with his phaser and bursts in—too late, again. Seven walks safely out of a hangar at McKinley.

Cops arrive at the apartment in response to Roberta’s panicked call for help. The captain and science officer beam out with the startled policemen then return them as soon as they’ve had an eyeful of Enterprise ’s transporter room—giving Roberta another demonstration of advanced technology. So much for keeping a low profile. Seven isn’t much better at evading security personnel at the base. He’s stopped by a sergeant, who he allows to make a phone call before he zaps him asleep with his pen.

Meanwhile, on Star Trek , Scotty uses a weather satellite to get Google-like close-up images of the launch pad, performing a tedious visual scan for the stylish business man and his black cat. He misses Seven emerging from the trunk of the launch director’s car and his trip in the elevator to the top of the rocket, only thirty-five minutes before blastoff. Kirk and Spock beam down to the pad just as Seven’s sleepy sergeant wakes up to capture them. They really have the worst luck sneaking around 20th century military bases.

Kirk and Spock remain tight-lipped about their identities and the communicators and phasers the military confiscate from them. But Scotty’s finally found the needle in his haystack: he zooms in on Seven and Isis perched on the gantry crane, messing around in an open panel on the rocket. He attempts to beam them up, but Roberta inadvertently presses all the right buttons while playing with Seven’s toys and intercepts the transporter beam, bringing him back to his office before he can finish whatever he was trying to do.

Kirk’s “never felt so helpless” standing around watching the rocket take off. In Seven’s apartment, Roberta begins to get suspicious when her employer uses Beta 5 to sabotage the rocket. She tries to call for help but he cuts the phone cord with his pen. He takes the rocket off its flight path and arms the warhead, which alarms the military brass at the base, and most international governments. Seven has control of the rocket’s horizontal and vertical, and he sets it on a trajectory for Eurasia where it’s certain to ruin everyone’s day.

While the officers are distracted by their failed attempts to re-establish contact and activate the rocket’s destruct signal, Kirk and Spock nab a communicator and have Scotty transport them to Seven’s apartment. They find that Roberta has beaned Seven with a cigar box and taken his pen. He tries to convince Roberta that he’s trying to prevent World War III:

SEVEN: Roberta, you’ve got to believe me. Look, a truly advanced planet wouldn’t use force. They wouldn’t come here in strange alien forms. The best of all possible methods would be to take human beings to their world, train them for generations until they’re needed here. ROBERTA: Mr. Seven, I want to believe you. I do. I know this world needs help. That’s why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know. We wonder if we’re going to be alive when we’re thirty.

Okay… Kirk and Spock bust into the office and the Vulcan immediately tries to figure out Beta 5’s controls so he can detonate the warhead. Seven insists he has the same goal: to destroy the rocket before it drops below 100 miles over the Earth, “just barely in time to frighten them out of this arms race.” Roberta points the pen at Kirk threateningly, but Seven takes it from her—it was set to kill. He hands the weapon to the captain and offers his help.

Kirk is indecisive, but Spock may not be able to master the controls in time. “Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your human intuition,” he advises. With the rocket thirty seconds from impact, he makes up his mind. “Go,” he tells Seven.

Seven takes over the controls and after a tense countdown, he succeeds in destroying the rocket at an altitude of 104 miles. Later, he dictates his report to his typewriter, calling the mission a success despite Enterprise ’s accidental interference. The captain and Spock maintain that of course everything happened the way it was supposed to—they’ve just noticed that their historical tapes had a record that “a malfunctioning suborbital warhead was exploded exactly one hundred and four miles above the Earth” (how did Spock miss that?) and resulted in better international control of nuclear weapons. Oh, time travel.

Roberta is distressed when she sees Isis briefly turn into a Playboy Playmate, but Seven is coy about his cat’s true nature. He asks Kirk and Spock for some hints about the future, but they hold out on him.

KIRK: I’m afraid we can’t reveal everything we know, Mr. Seven. SPOCK: Captain, we could say that Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln have some interesting experiences in store for them. KIRK: Yes, I think we could say that. Two to beam up, Scotty. SPOCK: Live long and prosper, Mr. Seven. KIRK: And the same to you, Miss Lincoln. Energize.

Analysis Seven, 104, 347, 1968… the numbers just don’t add up on this one. Most fans are aware that “Assignment: Earth” was intended as a backdoor pilot for a show starring Gary Seven, his quirky receptionist, a sexy shapeshifting cat, and a contrary computer. As such, it makes for a peculiar episode of Star Trek , and a dissatisfying season finale, relegating the crew to following Seven around trying to figure out what he’s up to. The conceit that time travel is so simple Starfleet can lead observational missions into Earth’s past was rightfully dropped after this anomalous plot, as was the planned TV series.

I don’t know if I ever watched this episode without the knowledge that it was an odd blend of two shows, but I think it left a better impression on me when I was younger. This time around the setup comes off as too farfetched, and the story structure is a mess. Too much focus is placed on Seven to the detriment of our regular cast, and aside from the scene where he meets Roberta, the script is uninspired. Add in the fact that we’ve seen a lot of this before, including a black cat who’s really a woman, and it doesn’t deliver much excitement.

But the show isn’t without its good points. I was curious about Seven’s true identity and mission right up to the end, having forgotten his purpose (or simply confused by his motives and unreliable explanations). The NASA stock footage is breathtaking even now, seamlessly integrated into the episode and making this episode look like it had an effects budget to rival a Hollywood film. I suppose in 1968 much of the public would have been familiar with those striking images, but I hadn’t seen them often enough to be a distraction. The shots of 1968’s streets, sets, and fashions are as much a window into the past as Star Trek itself often represents that tdecade’s culture and politics.

Seven calls that decade the “most critical period in Earth’s history,” and I’m not sure I would necessarily dispute the claim, even now. The episode tackles contemporary issues of the sixties more directly than usual, commenting and warning against the raging nuclear arms race with all the subtlety of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and about the same level of success. (Hint: none at all.) It’s interesting to see a 1960s interpretation of the 1960s, including Roberta’s explanation of her generation’s hippy culture. Most of all, I was intrigued that both Seven and Kirk are the good guys—they want the same thing, but they find it difficult to trust each other and the stakes are too high to risk making the wrong call, as good an analogy for the Cold War as any.

The biggest surprise in this episode: Kirk’s ship-wide briefing, which is unusual in any Star Trek series. I also noticed Scotty’s comment, “It’s impossible to hide a whole planet,” because in the TNG episode “When the Bough Breaks,” the planet Aldea manages it just fine with a cloaking device. Maybe the engineer hasn’t heard the legends about it.

Hey, do you think anyone went back for the communicator and phasers they left at McKinley Base?

Eugene’s Rating: Warp 3 (on a scale of 1-6)

Torie Atkinson: Did we get our wires crossed with some other re-watch?

The best that can be said about “Assignment: Earth” is that it was barely a Star Trek episode. The worst that can be said is that I probably should have painted my apartment before popping the disc in so I could’ve had something more interesting to watch. Its greatest sin wasn’t the hopeless plot, the uninspired dialogue, the heavy-handed moral messages, or even the lack of screentime for our heroes: it’s that it was about as exciting as watching someone’s vacation photo slideshow. If they had gone on vacation to the Get Smart studio set. That they made in their living room. To act out their spy thriller fan fiction. (Hints of Bashir’s holodeck program, anyone?)

First of all, the “we were just on the usual Tuesday time travel route” set-up was pathetic and lame, even compared to some of the handwaving we’ve put up with before. I never though I’d look back at “ A Piece of the Action ” and think it was clever, but there you have it. Can they not even try to come up with something plausible? It can be half-hearted! I’ll take it! Worse was the excruciating overuse of stock footage. Now I’m a space geek through and through and I yawned audibly at least three times during each of the ponderously long rocket check-me-out sequences. Rockets are cool! I get it! You know what’s not cool after watching this episode? Rockets! They made rockets boring. True fact.

Okay, so the computer was kind of cool when she gave Seven lip, and Spock with a kitty is SO CUTE (and random…) and I am surprised I haven’t seen that in the various clipshow YouTube videos that people always send me. But oh Teri Garr, what are you wearing and why would you agree to be so annoying? There’s one line I really liked, though, that I felt was quintessentially Star Trek . Kirk says that it’s impossible to hide a whole planet, and Seven responds: “Impossible for you. Not for them.” It seemed to imply both that technology can do more than we think it can, and that limitations (perceived or real) are ours alone, not necessarily universal. A nice touch.

I guess I should talk about the science-fictional “idea” behind this episode, such as it is. Aliens interfering with Earth history: could be interesting, is not here. Spy thrillers involved with this: also could be interesting I guess but probably not combined with camp. The idea of technology moving more quickly than social progress: plausible! Ding! But those ideas aren’t really worthy of this episode. The real question I was left with at the end wasn’t “Oh what will become of humanity?” but “Why do 1960s aliens have an orgasm raygun?”

But maybe I am just not evolved enough to understand.

Torie’s Rating: Warp 2

Best Line: ROBERTA: “Research for a new encyclopedia? No? No.”

Syndication Edits: Kirk tells McCoy to hurry with his report and bring it to the briefing room; Kirk and Spock approach Seven’s building; Seven’s reaction to the news that his agents are dead; after Roberta calls the cops, Seven opens his vault, Spock holds Roberta, and Kirk blasts open the door; Kirk sees the plans for McKinley Rocket Base; Seven prepares to hide in the director’s car; three segments of Scotty scanning the viewscreen; Seven’s line, “Meow? You are nervous, aren’t you, doll?”

Trivia: The first draft of a half-hour pilot script for a series titled “Assignment: Earth” was dated November 14, 1966, which pitted Gary Seven against a race of alien time travelers trying to sabotage Earth’s development. He was assisted by Roberta Hornblower against two Omegan operatives named Harth and Isis and a time-altering computer. The pilot didn’t sell and it was reworked as a Star Trek episode, with that first draft dated December 20, 1967, in which the Enterprise crew watches Bonanza on the Bridge viewscreen. Seven appeals to McCoy to “think like a doctor, not a mechanic” while imprisoned, and his female aide was now called Roberta London. Roddenberry revisited the concept in another failed television movie/series, The Questor Tapes in 1974.

The episode uses NASA stock footage of launched from Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) , cropped from the anamorphic 2.35 : 1 aspect ratio.

Roddenberry was credited as “Producer” instead of “Executive Producer” for this episode, the first he was listed as such since the first season.

The character Gary Seven returned only in a number of novels and comics, including John Byrne’s comic mini-series sequel to the episode, Star Trek: Assignment: Earth, which featured a story that also ties back to the episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday.”

Other notes: Coincidentally, there were two important assassinations in 1968: Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4 (six days after the episode was broadcast) and Robert F. Kennedy on June 6. The Apollo 6 rocket was also launched on April 4.

Robert Lansing (Gary Seven) received a unique guest star credit for this episode, which included his character’s name. Fans might recognize him from films The 4-D Man and Empire of the Ants , as well as starring and guest roles on television, including Twilight Zone (“The Long Morrow”).

Teri Garr (Roberta Lincoln) was reportedly upset over Roddenberry’s shortening of her skirt and has refused to talk about Star Trek . Genre fans would remember her from Young Frankenstein and Close Encounters of the Third Kind .

James Doohan voices a radio voice at the rocket base.

Previous Episode: Season 2, Episode 25 – “ Bread and Circuses .”

Next Episode: Season 3, Episode 1 – “ Spock’s Brain .” (Oh, boy.) US residents can watch it for free at the CBS website .

This post originally appeared on Tor.com .

About Eugene Myers & Torie Atkinson

Another problems with this episodes, besides the ones you’ve outlined, is that it’s completely – er – illogical for Kirk to take Spock with him when he beams down. Surely Scotty would be a better choice – he could handle the technological side of things just as well as Spock, and he doesn’t have any pointed ears to hide. But hey, where would be the fun in that?

Mr. Seven’s Computer is the M-5 all dressed up with a female voice substituted for the male voice in the Ultimate Computer.

It’s also Mr. Atoz’s Atovachron.

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‘Star Trek’ Mystery Solved – Isis Actress From “Assignment: Earth” Identified

| March 12, 2019 | By: Anthony Pascale 50 comments so far

Once again our friends at Roddenberry Entertainment have unearthed a piece of Star Trek history. Today’s episode of Larry Nemecek’s The Trek Files solves a casting mystery that dates back to Star Trek: The Original Series .

A Star Trek mystery

One of the memorable performers from the second season finale of  Star Trek: The Original series had no lines and shared billing with a cat, but is still enduring to this day. That season finale, titled “Assignment: Earth,” was a sort of backdoor pilot from Gene Roddenberry as a backup plan in case  Star Trek didn’t get a third season. It was a time travel show, with the Enterprise traveling back to 1968, the year the second season was on the air. The focus of the episode was on the mysterious character Gary Seven, trained by aliens to save the Earth from itself. Gary’s constant companion was a shapeshifting pet cat named Isis. While Isis seemed to speak telepathically with Gary Seven, the actress who played Isis in her human form never spoke. As such, she was one of many extras who was never credited, leaving her identity a bit of a mystery.

Kirk, Gary Seven and his cat Isis in “Assignment: Earth”

For years Playboy pinup and actress Victoria Vetri was associated with the role, even garnering her a page on Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki. TrekMovie even did an article about Vetri back in 2010 when she ran into some legal trouble. However, in 2018 the actress and model revealed she was never part of Star Trek , and her credit was subsequently  removed from Memory Alpha , leaving the identity of the performer as “unknown.”  Star Trek history knew the name of one of the cats who played Isis (Sambo), but the name of the human actress remained a mystery. Until today.

Isis in her human form in “Assignment: Earth”

Isis Identified

Combing through Gene Roddenberry’s archive of documents from  Star Trek: The Original Series , the team from The Trek Files  came upon documents for “Assignment: Earth.” These documents regarding production details for the episode could finally solve this mystery of the Isis actress. The standard actors call sheet for  January 5th – the one day Isis was on set in her human form – includes a listing for a performer to be on set 10:00 AM, but only lists that performer as “1 Female (New)” under “Atmosphere and Standins.”

Actor call sheet for “Assignment: Earth” doesn’t give the name for the “new” actress due on set at 10:00 am

However, the “Extra Talent Call Sheet” for that day was the key. Along with other familiar “Standing” background extra actors such as Eddie Paskey , there is a listing for “1 Cat Girl” to be on set at 10:00 AM. Importantly, it includes the performer’s name as April Tatro. Tatro herself was contacted by The Trek Files and confirmed she played Isis in human form for “Assignment: Earth.” According to the sheet, Tatro was budgeted to be paid the standard rate for all the extras of $29.15 for the day, plus the cost for time for being fitted with her costume and body makeup. An additional production report unearthed by The Trek Files  shows her adjusted rate of $84.51.

Extra Call Sheet for “Assignment Earth” identifies actress who played Isis as April Tatro

April Tatro worked mostly as a contortionist , performing on stage and on television. Just months after her work on Star Trek she appeared again on NBC, on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson . Tatro also appeared on Laugh-In,   Fernwood Tonight and The Gong Show . Her career on television ran through to 2001, appearing again as a contortionist on an episode of  Malcolm in the Middle. 

April Tatro in a 1997 episode of the sitcom Ellen

Isis actress April Tatro interviewed by Trek Files

Larry Nemecek had a chance to speak to April Tatro about her time working on Star Trek’s  “Assignment: Earth” on the episode of The Trek Files released today. Nemecek tells TrekMovie: “This week’s episode is one of those  that makes the whole concept of The Trek Files worthwhile. We’re going to be solving a Star Trek mystery.”

Larry Nemecek with April Tatro (The Trek Files)

On the podcast, Tatro talked about her fitting for her rather skimpy costume, saying, “I’d never had so much attention in all my life.” Speaking of attention, Tatro also reveals that Star Trek star William Shatner asked her out. Even though she was engaged to be married in just two weeks, she accepted the offer and went out to lunch with Shatner.

Get all the details by listening to the podcast available on iTunes , or you can warp on over to podcasts.roddenberry.com .

You can download the “Assignment: Earth” production documents on Google Drive . For more on April Tatro in “Assignment: Earth” and other Trek Files head on over to the program’s hub on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/TheTrekFiles/posts/1160454300795482?__xts__[0]=68.ARCOlXil2QMrfyaDUduPfK_bOIGeEgtr2uOMjEkRnVUQGdNKOeJLJ4uJAEI274s9z-Id1wIHUG_QjP3q_koO392RjThcoBezZT3cXLSgbQo9Q9zzStM69KXlQFSNxN4KR6dtBPRsGjptIp9k5nKAiEEtBEX7qIVlgvuLTDCTXdcTVYgiBVFq1voodX47e9nM10_xXSyZbog3Xc1SeLxpN6SO3LgY-xyRGi6H90aA2yk_KerqmivkQo6f6ohIWfR_tHMavxCrGNRozXUksDRU6pQMLT5WZ6lSIKdHYv2SrUvS_xeYZTpUqf6M2xWZbLI7ikfUEcUkYOS9oS8cPTsfe7og5GdwaOebB6yW8-_4N2YVHA4TUQg4zeeYIGwfn6asii1EgHWU8dXVG2ELDn5gW1s2EkyUOYyOrrMLSjSny_H5EI0hPrqf53gx9wiXo392QXI66vYFIJgt_IXNn2dA&__tn__=-R

Keep up with all our coverage of Star Trek history at TrekMovie.com .

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“Tatro also reveals that Star Trek star William Shatner asked her out. Even though she was engaged to be married in just two weeks, she accepted the offer and went out to lunch with Shatner.”

Of course, Shatner was married as well. But lunch seems innocent.

His marriage was already over at that point; papers may not have been yet been signed, but it was done.

WOW WOW WOW! What an incredible find. Larry Nemecek is truly the Jeffrey Burton Russell of Trekdom.

That is really good.

Very neat trivia. Shatner, you Rascal! :)

Oh, cool! It’s so amazing that we’re still learning new things about TOS after all the time. I mean, it’s not as if there haven’t been innumerable books and articles published about the show already. :-)

Corylea TOS has a gold mine of information we don’t know yet.

That is a incredibly cool trivia! What a neat find! It’s stuff like this that makes me proud to be a Trek fan, that we love the show so much and want to know every possible bit of information about it. I should start to listen to Larry’s podcast!

What a cool bit of trivia. Good work Detective Nemecek.

So odd that this has taken this long to come out. For years I fought the notion that it was Victoria Vetri. I never understood that. Didn’t look like her to me.

Again, a really cool bit of trivia to know here.

And now that I’ve seen her contortionist video it seems they cast well….an actress as, or more, flexible than a cat.

What ever happened to starships time traveling to the past all willy nilly for “historical research” anyway?

So there was some inner Kirk in Shatner himself :))

He did this for a lot of the women. The bellydancer from Wolf in the Fold has an account in her book of her being shocked when he came to pick her up without his toupee. He was married as well.

What a great find. Great story!

Oh. Pondering if the aliens who sent Gary Seven could be the Red Angels in Discovery? Or if there’s some connection between those aliens and the ones behind the Red Angels.

Maybe Gary Seven is the Red Angel!

spock said the red angel was human and female

Larry, thanks for this Trek Files episode that reveals the true identity of Isis. I see the article mentions that in 2018 Victoria Vetri denied being Isis. I would like to point out that way back in 2012, I revealed that Vetri was not Isis in my self-published comic, 3-D Pete’s Star Babe Invasion Comics, issue 3. I corresponded with her while she was in prison! I tried to let the Trek world know, but no one would listen! Anyway, thanks for the scoop! Mike Fisher Instagram: galacticfishproductions

What a great discovery, especially since “Assignment: Earth” is one of my favorite episodes! Listening to the podcast, Miss Tatro sounds like such a kind person. :}

Any relation to the late Richard Tatro, who played Norman in “I, Mudd?”

The same question occurred to me. Can somebody call her back and ask her?

Or composer Duane Tatro, who scored episodes of Quinn Martin’s superb ’60s TV series, THE INVADERS?

This is a strange synchronicity. I was just thinking about Gary Seven yesterday. I had an image of the British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor playing him on the new Philippa georgiou section 31 series. Interesting coincidence.

His semblance to Robert Lansing is indeed quite uncanny. :P

This is amazing — what a find!

You know there are whole pages dedicated to the watch Gary Seven wore (evidently was a Rolex – I’d never even noticed or thought about it) http://www.rolexmagazine.com/2008/11/start-trek-rolex-gmt-master-at-nasa.html https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=83222 http://rolexdiamond.blogspot.com/2011/07/ https://forums.watchuseek.com/f2/watches-star-trek-4674575-2.html

There’s even a crazy guy who wrote and recorded music and put together opening credits for what an Assignment: Earth show might have been like…. http://supervisor194.com/

All forms of minutia the internet and fandom feed into and off of, but I’m still very surprised this bit of information never came out.

Fascinating!

All those wasted years she could have been on the convention circuit! She’s a legit Star Trek legend!

I was thinking that. Hopefully she’ll get a lot of bookings now.

Did she not realize what a big deal this is? Who knows, maybe not. She has to have known what Star Trek became.

What a neat story. She looks good today.

Shatner took her to lunch? I wonder if that worked out to be an entry for his captain’s log!

What, nobody has a comment for my double entendre??

oooooh, nasty, man! How much you wanna bet he buttered her muffin at lunch?

Very cool. Nice detective work, Roddenberry Entertainment.

She really was perfect for that role…such supernatural feline grace ! Old Cat-Man .

You call that a skimpy outfit? Even with the stricter rules of the times, there were women on Star Trek who wore more revealing costumes than that.

What a great story! She looks wonderful today and as many said here, it’s nice to learn new things about TOS all these years later. The question that was never answered: Is she a woman, is she a cat, ot a shapeshifter? GREAT article, thanks :)

Interesting bit of Trek hisstory. I wonder why there was so much pussy-footing around this casting issue for years. Though, it was classy of Tatro not to pounce on the false attribution.

I see what you did there :)

Oh come on., She’s didn’t want to come off like a clawed.

Gary Seven is one of the intriguing corners of TOS that has never been explored on screen beyond the one episode. I wonder if the Discovery team is sniffing around story possibilities for ol’ Gary and Isis.

I hope not.

I would have felt that way too until I saw how elegantly they revisited The Cage. Probably they won’t touch Gary Seven as he would not have shown up in the Discovery timeline yet.

TOS, Fernwood tonight AND the Gong Show!

sorry that english not my first language.

my feeling are, as usual, mr shatner was a very naughty rascal!

Now identified, instant elevation to iconic role.

Yep….

https://www.vidoevo.com/video/MXlwbDVWcWuRpWVhlZEU/april-tatro-show My friend, Jim found this video on YouTube of April Tatro performing on the Gong Show. And as Chuck Barris notes, she’s from my home town of Astoria, Oregon.

dang she missed out on so many star trek conventions…

I’m surprised that Marc Cushman missed that detail when he researched his very thorough and complete ‘These Are The Voyages’ volumes.

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Star Trek – Assignment: Earth (Review)

The first Star Trek pilot, The Cage , was produced in 1964. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, this December we are reviewing the second season of the original Star Trek show. You can check out our first season reviews here . Check back daily for the latest review.

Assignment: Earth was almost the last episode of Star Trek ever produced.

It was also possibly (although nowhere near “almost” ) the pilot for a spin-off television show.

Seventh heaven?

At the last minute, following a very high-profile fan campaign, Star Trek was renewed for a third season.

Fans would have to wait decades to see an actual Star Trek finalé that reduced the main cast to guest stars.

“Wait, who just hijacked my show?”

On one level, Assignment: Earth feels like something of an insult to the cast and the crew who worked on the series, as well as the fans who had campaigned so hard to save the show. It was Gene Roddenberry very clearly and transparently fashioning a parachute for himself. This was an attempt by Roddenberry to line up his next job, to produce a piece of television that would secure him gainful employment for the next couple of years. It is a very cynical piece of television.

Despite the fact that Roddenberry would become inexorably linked with Star Trek for the rest of his career, there is some indication that the television producer had been plotting an escape for some time. Roddenberry’s attention had been focused away from  Star Trek for considerable stretches of the second season, affording producer Gene L. Coon more freedom than he might otherwise have enjoyed. During that time away, Roddenberry returned to the police procedural genre. Police Story was written as a pilot for a television show, but aired as a stand-alone movie on NBC in September 1967.

Hey! The opening credits of Enterprise!

Indeed, Assignment: Earth seems very consciously and very clearly designed as a showcase for Roddenberry and his proposed television show. The sets were built on the budget for Star Trek , and look surprisingly lavish. Might this money have been better spent on an adventure featuring the Enterprise? There is some suggestion that Assignment: Earth was the most expensive episode of Star Trek ever produced , and it feels very much like it is only a Star Trek episode as a matter of convenience, because that way it can be folded under the parent show’s expenses.

According to documentation that Marc Cushman dug up for These Are the Voyages , Roddenberry also fought viciously for the final “producer” credit on the episode, replacing John Meredyth Lucas. This possessive streak would later find expression in the mythology that Roddenberry would build up around himself, fanned by supporters like Richard Arnold. Over the years, Roddenberry would come to downplay the involvement of other people in defining Star Trek , dismissing and diminishing contributions by figures like Gene L. Coon or D.C. Fontana, who had overseen the series during his own absences.

In need of a lift…

It seems like Roddenberry had firmly taken control of Star Trek towards the end of its second season, despite his considerable absences during the middle stretch of the season. He seemed to be bringing Star Trek consciously backwards, even further than John Meredyth Lucas had done. The penultimate episode produced was The Omega Glory , a rejected pilot for series. With Assignment: Earth , Roddenberry pushed even further back; not only did he take Kirk and the Enterprise back to 1968, but he put them in a pilot for somebody else’s show.

To be entirely fair, this was not unheard of. Using pre-existing television shows to launch new television shows is a logical and sustainable business model. It helps with budgeting; it also provides audience-members with a gateway into this new world. The technique is still in common use, with shows like CSI frequently teasing spin-offs in the parent show before launching the new series itself. Even the Star Trek spin-offs would makes some effort to help launch the next iteration of the franchise, whether setting up the Cardassian withdrawal of the Maquis conflict.

Gary on, nothing to see here…

In fact, the idea of using the final episodes of an existing series to launch a potential spin-off was common enough. The Killin’ Cousin , the last episode of Barnaby Jones produced, was intended to spawn a new television series. The last episode of Quincy, M.E. , The Cutting Edge, was similarly conceived as a launchpad for a new television show. The final season of Happy Days spin-off Charles in Charles features no less than three would-be pilots that never took off – Fair Exchange , Almost Family , Lost Resort . So Assignment: Earth is not a freak occurrence.

Assignment: Earth began life as a half-hour television pilot without any reference to the Enterprise . The pitch was obviously heavily influenced by James Bond. Tall, dark and handsome, actor Robert Lansing makes a convincing stand-in for Sean Connery. The name “Gary Seven” seems designed to evoke the iconic “Double-Oh-Seven.” The servo resembles a device that Bond might receive from the Q Department – although it should be noted that Bond would not receive his first gimmick pen until Moonraker , a decade after Assignment: Earth aired.

A cool cat…

Nevertheless, the influence of the Bond films can be keenly felt on Assignment: Earth . Gary Seven is a secret agent in a sharp suit, paired with a beautiful young secretary. In particular, it seems like Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace watched You Only Live Twice before plotting the episode. Not only does Assignment: Earth featured Gary Seven involving himself in the space race, it also gives him a cute cat that he can stroke as a way of suggesting moral ambiguity around the character.

In fact, watching Assignment: Earth , Gary Seven feels like a cross between James Bond and a James Bond villain. He is a sauve secret agent capable of infiltrating any secure location on the planet, but he also hijacks a rocket carrying nuclear missiles in order to send a message to the world’s governments. Steering the rocket through a fancy console in an otherwise fashionable office, Gary Seven seems like he might be ready to make some sort of ransom demand or calculated threat.

It’s not rocket science…

Assignment: Earth was a collaboration between Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace. Wallace is perhaps best known for his work on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows , but he also contributed the script for Obsession . According to Captain’s Logs , Wallace had pitched a similar idea independent of Roddenberry:

“Assignment: Earth is interesting in a sense,” Wallace points out, “because I had gone to Paramount and pitched a series idea to them. They had said that Gene Roddenberry had come up with a very similar idea. So I saw Gene and we decided to pool the idea, which was about a man from tomorrow who takes care of the present on Earth. That was intended to be the pilot, although it was never made into a series. It was a good pilot and it’s a shame, because I think if they had done it as a series with just Gary Seven, it would have been a very successful show.”

Ultimately, Assignment: Earth never did manage to launch that spin-off show, but it has remained a focal point of fan interest over the years. Gary Seven still holds no small amount of interest for fans and writers alike, popping in various tie-in and spin-off media over the years.

“Nobody steals my show and gets away with it!”

However, the appeal of Gary Seven seems rather strange. Assignment: Earth is a very clunky piece of work. It feels like a half-hour pilot that has been padded out with the addition of the Enterprise. Kirk and Spock spend most of the episode’s runtime following Gary Seven around like lost puppies while he drives the plot; when he is not outwitting Kirk and Spock in order to show how clever he is. Inevitably, Assignment: Earth ends with Kirk and Spock endorsing Gary Seven – trusting him to save the day, rather than saving it themselves.

The viewer might be forgiven for wondering what exactly the Enterprise is doing in 1968 in the first place. “Using the lightspeed breakaway factor, the Enterprise has moved back through time to the twentieth century,” Kirk explains. “We are now in extended orbit around Earth, using our ship’s deflector shields to remain unobserved. Our mission, historical research. We are monitoring Earth communications to find out how our planet survived desperate problems in the year 1968.” That is all the explanation we receive.

And he’s toyetic, too!

Given how dangerous the temporal excursions in Tomorrow is Yesterday or The City on the Edge of Forever had been, it is strange to see Kirk and his crew behave so flippantly about time travel. Writing for the semi-official Inside Star Trek newsletter, Ruth Berman struggled to explain this story element as…

An experiment in duplicating the accidental time travel in Tomorrow is Yesterday — the experiment apparently worked, since the Enterprise made it to the 20th century and back to their own time. But, presumably, further experiments in time travel will only be made with great caution because of the danger of changing history.

It is not at all convincing, and Assignment: Earth stands out as the most nonchalant use of time travel in the history of the franchise. Of course, it was written at a point where Roddenberry likely suspected there would be no more Star Trek , so it probably did not seem to be too big a problem at the time.

“Captain, I believe he gets HBO…”

Looking at Assignment: Earth as an episode of Star Trek seems to miss the point. The Enterprise crew are really just spectators, existing to introduce the audience to the team of Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln and Isis. Assignment: Earth is a stealth pilot with the budget and the cast from a cult science-fiction show to pass the torch. However, Assignment: Earth never went to series. Instead, the series was stillborn – becoming a quirky footnote in the history of Star Trek rather than the beginning of something more significant.

To be fair, it is easy to see why Assignment: Earth didn’t get picked up for series. Although the teleplay is credited to Art Wallace, it is packed with the sort of awkward exposition and stilted moralising that one expects from Gene Roddenberry. Pondering what Gary Seven might be doing, Kirk observes, “Weren’t orbital nuclear devices one of this era’s greatest problems?” Spock replies, “Most definitely. Once the sky was full of orbiting H-bombs, the slightest mistake could have brought one down by accident, setting off a nuclear holocaust.” The episode is not subtle.

Blowing a fuse…

There is something just a little bit uncomfortable about the basic premise of Assignment: Earth . A bunch of anonymous aliens have abducted children from Earth, and raised them to become covert “operatives” on the planet surface. These operatives then work – using advanced technology and no accountability – to “protect” mankind. The implication is that operatives like Gary Seven have been guiding mankind from the shadows for decades, at least – all at the behest of secretive alien taskmasters.

This is a rather problematic set up. After all, The Omega Glory featured Kirk getting very upset at Captain Ronald Tracey for violating the Prime Directive on Omega IV. Then again, Kirk had gone on to nudge the planet’s civilisations towards traditional American values. The original Star Trek was never entirely consistent in its attitude towards the Prime Directive. In effect, this the philosophy of The Apple reflected back upon twentieth-century America, with a more advanced culture imposing their own norms upon a civilisation they deem “primitive.”

“Oh, sorry, I seem to have arrived on the wrong sets.”

However, Assignment: Earth never seems too bothered by this. Indeed, it is interesting that these issues have never really been explored in many of the tie-in materials surrounding Gary Seven and his mission on Earth. It is a pretty sizable issue with the episode, and while the pilot might have been setting the idea up to subvert it later, Assignment: Earth seems to have inherited the worst imperialist tendencies of Star Trek . Kirk (and Starfleet) may have made some questionable decisions, but they have a general philosophy of non-interference. Gary Seven’s philosophy is explicitly one of interference.

This aspect of Assignment: Earth also seems at odds with Roddenberry’s own moral philosophy. Roddenberry was a vocal opponent of the popular ancient astronauts theory, arguing that aliens did not build the pyramids. Roddenberry’s argument – one grounded in the humanism that defines Star Trek – is that humanity did not need mystical alien creatures to help them accomplish wonders . However, Assignment: Earth is the story about how mankind does need alien guidance because they are not capable of assuring their own continued existence.

Cat attack!

Sure, Gary Seven is human. However, he is merely the puppet of an anonymous extraterrestrial power. Gary Seven is a cog in a well-oiled machine; he is a replacement part. The “operatives” are so interchangeable that Gary Seven can just step right into the shoes of his predecessors. As such, Assignment: Earth represents quite the departure from the humanism and optimism associated with Star Trek . The best we can hope for is that an alien race decides to meddle in human affairs to make things better.

Even aside from the troublesome subtext of the episode’s basic premise,  Assignment: Earth serves to illustrate that perhaps Star Trek (and Gene Roddenberry) were not quite as consistent in their philosophy as hindsight would suggest. Roddenberry did a great deal of myth-making in the years after Star Trek went off the air, and a lot of it has lodged in the popular consciousness. As any rewatch of the series will demonstrate, Star Trek was not always as progressive and utopian as many fans like to believe.

Beta testing…

Even aside from the problems with the premise of the show, Art Wallace’s script is decidedly clunky. To be fair, it has a lot of heavy-lifting to do as it integrates the Enterprise, but it has no real focus or levity. Instead, Assignment: Earth is stuffed with awkward exposition. When Gary Seven tries to convince the Beta V of his identity, it does not ask for a pass code or a DNA sample. Instead, it demands a plot dump. “Please confirm identity as supervisor by describing nature of agents and mission here.”

Of course, this seems like a rather arbitrary way of proving Gary Seven’s identity. After all, one assumes that any of his enemies would likely have a working knowledge of who he is and what he is doing. Certainly, if his adversaries know about the existence of the Beta V computer and can fake his voice pattern, it seems unlikely that a broad question about the nature of his assignment will slow them down. The question exists primarily to enable a long and cumbersome television show pitch from Gary Seven.

“Ay, I tried to pitch them ‘The Young Scotty Chronicles’, laddy, but they were having none of it.”

“Agents are male and female, descendants of human ancestors taken from Earth approximately six thousand years ago,” Gary Seven explains. “They’re the product of generations of training for this mission. Problem: Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge. Purpose of mission: To prevent Earth’s civilisation from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society.” As pitches go, it is hardly “space, the final frontier…”

The rest of the episode is similarly clunky, with none of the central characters seeming particularly well-formed. Although clearly influenced by James Bond, Gary Seven has none of the wit and charm of the playboy spy. Instead, Gary Seven plays like a watered-down version of Spock. However, Lansing is not quite as comfortable with dry and emotionless as Leonard Nimoy, and Gary Seven comes off as rather stilted and awkward. To be fair, given that Gary Seven was raised without human contact, this makes some degree of sense. However, he lacks the sort of charisma needed from a series lead.

One of these days, Gary… right to the moon!

In an interview with Starlog , Robert Lansing confessed that he was originally reluctant to do genre television:

“At the time,” he confides, “Gene was a good friend, but I was a New York snob actor, come out to Hollywood. Many folks in my self-perceived position didn’t do Star Trek because it was considered a kid’s show, or a young show at any rate. Gene said, ‘I’m writing this for you and we can play with it. It might be a series.’ He said, ‘Well, you don’t have to, but just do this one thing for me.’ So, I did. It was a damn good script and a lot of fun.”

Although he seems to have softened in the years following the episode, it is interesting that Roddenberry would recruit a lead actor so disinterested.

Card-carrying secret agent…

Terri Garr does a better job with Roberta Lincoln. Garr seems a lot more comfortable with the comedic banter than Lansing, and makes the most of some truly terrible lines. Indeed, Assignment: Earth is downright painful when it tries to be funny, putting awful gags into the mouths of its lead characters. “Where’s three four seven?” Gary Seven demands on Roberta’s arrival. “With three four eight?” Roberta quips, which is painful enough. However,  Assignment: Earth goes for the low-hanging fruit and has Gary Seven misunderstand. “Two oh one, code responses are not necessary.”

There is a similarly cringe-inducing scene with a dictation machine, which Assignment: Earth presents as the height of modernity. It is hilariously quaint. More awkward is the script’s patronising attitude towards sixties counter-culture. Asked if she wants to save the world, Roberta explains, “I know this world needs help. That’s why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know. We wonder if we’re going to be alive when we’re thirty.” It is horribly condescending, suggesting that counter-culture just needs an older and more authoritative hand to guide it.

Computer says, “Exposit!”

However, like Lansing, there is a sense that Terri Garr was not entirely ready to commit to a television series. In her own interview with Starlog , Garr confessed that she did not like to talk about her time on Star Trek , and was almost relieved that Assignment: Earth never went to series:

Teri Garr appeared in Assignment: Earth. However, Garr responds, “I have nothing to say about it. I did that years ago and I mostly denied I ever did it.” She does admit that she would have been in the TV series that the episode was a pilot for, but it didn’t sell. “Thank god,” she says with genuine relief. “Otherwise, all I would get would be Star Trek questions for the rest of my natural life – and probably my unnatural life. You ever see those people who are Star Trek fans? The same people who go to swap meets.” How about Marc Daniels, who directed that episode? “He’s dead. I liked Gene Roddenberry, but I don’t remember those people. I really don’t want to talk about Star Trek. That’s what I told them about this interview. If it’s a science fiction magazine, they’re going to ask me about this stuff I don’t – ” She breaks off abruptly. So much for that line of inquiry.

Based on these conversations, it seems rather unlikely that Assignment: Earth would have been particularly happy behind the scenes. There is a sense that Roddenberry and Wallace really had no idea of what they would do with the show if it did get picked up.

It’s all rather forced…

Assignment: Earth was almost the last episode of Star Trek . It is interesting how many episodes of the second season came close to being the last episode of the series. None of those episodes were particularly good – none of them seemed to encapsulate the essence of what made Star Trek great; none of them seemed to speak to the heart of the show. Assignment: Earth is a woefully cynical piece of television; more than that, it is also a very poorly-constructed episode of television. As with The Omega Glory before it, it suggests that Roddenberry was a better inspirational figure than he was a storyteller.

Still, Star Trek managed to limp on into a (deeply troubled) third season. Gary Seven and his supporting cast faded into history, abandoned forever in 1968. Maybe there is a happy ending, after all.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the second season of the classic Star Trek :

• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #1 – The Planet of No Return!
• Supplemental: (Marvel Comics, 1980) #4-5 – The Haunting of Thallus!/The Haunting of the Enterprise!
• Metamorphosis
• Friday’s Child
• Who Mourns for Adonais?
• Supplemental: Spock’s World by Diane Duane
• Supplemental: New Visions #3 – Cry Vengeance
• Wolf in the Fold
• The Changeling
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #43-45 – The Return of the Serpent!
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #13 – The Red Shirt’s Tale
• Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – Crossover
• Supplemental: New Visions #1 – The Mirror, Cracked
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #9-16 – New Frontiers (The Mirror Universe Saga)
• Supplemental: Mirror Images
• Supplemental: Mirror Universe – The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #15-16 – Mirrored
• The Deadly Years
• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #61 – Operation Con Game
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #39-40 – The Return of Mudd
• Supplemental: The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold
• Supplemental: Alien Spotlight – Tribbles
• Bread and Circuses
• Journey to Babel
• A Private Little War
• The Gamesters of Triskelion
• The Immunity Syndrome
• A Piece of the Action
• By Any Other Name
• Return to Tomorrow
• Patterns of Force
• The Ultimate Computer
• The Omega Glory
• Supplemental: Assignment: Eternity by Greg Cox
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #49-50 – The Peacekeepers
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2008) Assignment: Earth

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: art wallace , assignment , assignment: earth , cancellation , Gary Seven , gene roddenberry , NBC , robert lansing , sixties , spin-off , star trek , Television , terri garr , the original series , time travel , tos |

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“Based on these conversations, it seems rather unlikely that Assignment: Earth would have been particularly happy behind the scenes. There is a sense that Roddenberry and Wallace really had no idea of what they would do with the show if it did get picked up.”

I’ve never understood what they were planning to do with the series. Make it about Gary Seven attacking the problems of society, like he did with the arms race in A:E? That would be far more direct – and “preachy” than Star Trek’s “show us a future where these problems have been overcome.” I wouldn’t necessarily have minded, but I think the audiences and censors of the sixties would’ve been less than pleased.

Make it about Gary Seven fighting supervillains, like he does in Eugenics Wars and like most spies in the TV shows of the era did? That would just be boring, and a complete waste of the “alien operative with a socially conscious mission” hook.

A cool story might have been to have Gary Seven discover operatives from another alien power also on Earth, but for less benign missions, so the main plot would be about them struggling over control of the planet and their different visions for it – but that would take the kind of serialization and world building that they’d never have tried in the sixties, if it even occurred to them.

I just don’t see how the show would’ve worked.

(On the other hand – and now for something completely different – I DEMAND that someone, somewhere, write a Gary Seven/Men In Black crossover someday).

Yep. It is weird to imagine how the show would have worked without devolving into an inferior imitation of shows like I, Spy or Mission: Impossible.

Even I am wary of the preachy stuff, because there’s no telling what the writing staff might have looked like. I’m not sure I’d want twenty-odd weeks of Roddenberry preachiness, but from Gene L. Coon or D.C. Fontana, maybe.

Although, as Ben mentions below, John Byrne’s five-issue Assignment: Earth offers an example of how that writer would have handled it – a series of five done-in-one episodic adventures that feature cameos, crossovers, social commentary and world building. Vietnam, Cold War, Nixon. I like the idea, but the execution is so-so. However, Byrne’s style does feel quite like what a later sixties or early seventies television show might look like.

I remember thinking during the last MIB movie that Assignment: Earth could be done still. Would have to have been in this time period.

My take on what it might have looked like our homemade credits and homegrown theme music for the show that might have been….

and,…

I cannot help wondering how an Assignment: Earth ongoing television series might have worked out, if only because Robert Lansing was such a great actor. Also, there is a certain potential to the premise. But as you observe, given a closer examination, the set-up may not have been especially well thought out. It’s really difficult to tell how it could have turned out based solely on a backdoor pilot.

Even if Assignment: Earth had gotten the green light as an ongoing series I honestly could not imagine it lasting more than a couple of years at the most. There really was not much of a market for science fiction television back in the late 1960s. Star Trek’s difficulty in barely managing to last for three years is proof of that.

I did think that the Assignment: Earth miniseries that John Byrne did a few years ago was pretty decent, although it had it’s flaws. But I still see that potential to the concept, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it revisited again.

Yep. It is hard to judge from an episode of another show. Nevertheless, it’s always fun to speculate based on what we know! (And even what we don’t!)

Actually, there’s a review of that Byrne series a-comin’. Tomorrow morning I think. Gary Seven appeared in a lot of spin-off material!

Yeesh! Teri Garr is the greatest, but I’ve read her book and she strikes me as an Midwestern housewife who can never be pleased. (My aunt’s from Ohio, I know the sort.)

And what’s wrong with swap meets? 🙂

I did like of the image of a man in period dress neutralizing the Enterprise crew. That’s a moment that makes you sit up and take notice. Good thing they recycled it for Encounter At Farpoint.

Very nice observation.

I think Gary Seven is a cool idea, at least in theory. I’m less convinced that the version that appeared in the episode is workable. But, you’re right, the imagery is fun and striking in a way that the rest of the episode… isn’t.

Just occurred to me – if you do want to see how Robert Lansing would have done with his own spy show, he played Control in The Equalizer (TV show, not movie). Not the main character, but one of his oldest friends who remains in CIA and often appears when the CIA wants something from McCall, or vice-versa, or when their interests are clashing.

No science fiction element, but worth a look all the same.

Ah, cheers!

I hope you’ll go on to review the third season someday!

The plan is provisionally to review the third season the month that Star Trek III comes out – so May 2016?

In the meantime, 2015 has a lot of Star Trek reviews, if you are interested in the franchise outside of TOS? Planning do all of ENT as a “prequel” to the show’s fiftieth anniversary (January, April, August, December). Also hoping to do the fourth season of DS9 and the second season of VOY (across September and October). And then hoping to get through a significant portion of the rest of the franchise in 2016, if everything goes to plan.

I was a TOS fan from 1969 – 1986, then I moved into a TV-free household and lived with a man who thought that television was the root of all evil. So when TNG came out in 1987, I not only didn’t own a television, I didn’t even know it was on.

I have a lot of problems with what they’re doing in the reboot movies, but seeing them did remind me of how much I’d adored TOS as a child and a teen, and the first thing I did was to re-watch all 79 episodes of TOS, then insist that Mr. TV-Is-Bad watch them with me. 🙂

Then I started on the other Star Trek shows. I watched the first couple of episodes of TNG and persevered through an unexpectedly racist episode, an episode that tried to redo “The Naked Time” and failed miserably, and a couple of other bad episodes, but I balked at “Lonely Among Us.”

In “Lonely Among Us,” Picard ADMITS to the ship’s doctor that he’s been TAKEN OVER BY AN ALIEN CREATURE. The first officer and doctor try to do something about this, but Picard tells them to go away and stop bothering him, and they run away with their tails between their legs.

Say WHAT? If Kirk had admitted to Spock and McCoy that he was possessed by an alien creature, first they’d have tried to talk to it. But if that didn’t work, Spock would have neck-pinched him or McCoy would have hypoed him unconscious. I couldn’t believe that Riker and Crusher just kinda shrugged and told each other that there was nothing they could do. How the hell are these people going to SURVIVE in a dangerous galaxy?

Where’s my confident, in-charge captain? Where’s my knows-everything, ready-for-anything Vulcan? Where’s my crusty, fearless doctor? *sigh*

Friends tell me that TNG is going to get MUCH better. I’m amazed it survived long enough to do so. I really WAS trying not to expect the new guys to be like the old ones. But when the new ones are stupid and ineffectual, it’s a lot harder to maintain that position.

I’ll go back to TNG eventually, since people tell me that it eventually becomes wonderful, but I’ve stopped watching it and started working my way through Voyager. Hmm, a dynamic, take-charge captain, a Vulcan (even if he’s not as cool as Spock), and a snarky doctor … yeah, this show is a much easier transition for the TOS fan. 🙂 And watching a female captain geek out with a female chief engineer in one of the early episodes … be still my heart! I have waited for a moment like this for SO long!

Friends tell me that Voyager is eventually going to become awful, just as they tell me that TNG is eventually going to become wonderful. But for the first seasons of each, at least, I’m finding Voyager a lot easier to swallow.

Still, no matter which other Star Treks I end up liking, I don’t think anything will ever dislodge TOS from the place it has in my heart. I first saw it at the age of eleven, when I simply took it all in uncritically, and although my middle-aged self now sees the sexism, the heavy-handedness of the messages, the wrong-headeness of Kirk’s cultural imperialism, and all of that, some part of me is still that eleven-year-old who loved TOS unreservedly … and always will.

TNG starts hitting it out of the park in its third season. I think the third season of TNG is one of the best seasons of television every produced. (The first two are pretty terrible, with the occasional highlight. If you want to skip ahead to the good stuff in the first two seasons, I’d recommend “Home Soil”, “Heart of Glory”, “Conspiracy”, “Elementary, Dear Data”, “A Matter of Honour”, “Q Who?” and “The Emissary.”)

Voyager is much maligned among fans. Probably my least favourite Star Trek, even though I don’t think it is as bad as people make it out. It is very episodic – quite like TOS in that way. It has some highlights, but a lot of it is formulaic. But when it does hit it out of the park, it ranks up there with the best of the franchise. I remember being quite fond of the third through fifth seasons, and finding quite a few underrated gems in there.

However, given that it is largely using the formula defined from the third season of TNG onwards, I’m kinda curious what your reaction might be watching VOY first. Is it just over-familiarity that prompted fandom’s backlash to Voyager? Let me know your opinion if you do jump back to TNG after VOY, if it seems like TNG is perhaps more repetitive, if that makes sense?

I do notice you didn’t mention DS9. That is probably, from the fourth season onwards, my favourite Star Trek hands down. (Although it is interesting for the entirety of the run.) It is perhaps a little quirkier than the other spin-offs, but I think it has probably aged a little better than some of the nineties Star Trek.

This was one of my favorite Star Trek episodes. Lansing was brilloant. In my opinion, which counts for nothing, this review is garbage.

Well, you’re entitled to your opinion.

Would you care to elaborate upon it? Explain to me why it’s garbage? What precisely you disagreed with? What you like about Assignment: Earth and what I’ve missed about it?

I once thought it might be interesting to circle back to the “Gary Seven” types and their mysterious benefactors (not the novels we saw, but the TV shows). Their apparent benevolence could be a subtle source of conflict.

It might be interesting to see the Federation deal with the manipulation of Earth’s history by high-minded and mysterious extraterrestrial benefactors acting through almost-human agents (though I doubt we’d see the original, awkward eugenics angle reappear). There are a few themes that could be used to explore, a prominent one being the struggle between choice and fate, since Seven seemed to pinpoint the Enterprise in history as soon as he saw Vulcans and humans together, and he knew the “right” outcome of his own actions on Earth.

Nowadays, though, I wouldn’t really trust the franchise to handle that well. The two latest series have gotten a little too eager with their use of shades-of-gray secret societies as plot engines.

It’s a theme that Roddenberry would spin again in another attempt at piloting the series in “The Questor Tapes” which is mostly memorable for future “BJ” Robert Farell playing sidekick to an incompletely programmed Android who’s the last of his ancient line apparently sent here to influence the Human Race since prehistory.

This wasn’t the last seen of Agent 194. The now Senior Supervisor would make returns in several novels and comics, most notably the one that echoes the spirit of the intended series. Star Trek: Assignment Earth put out by IDW.

As I recall, the android was an inspiration for Data on The Next Generation .

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Assignment: Earth

The Enterprise has used the "light speed breakaway" technique to travel to Earth in the year 1968, to study how humans survived the desperate problems of that era. Then, they intercept a man beaming back to Earth from at least a thousand light years away, a technical feat beyond even Federation science! Who is Gary Seven, how did he get access to such advanced technology, and why has he come to Earth? He has a story, but Kirk has trouble believing it. Worse, he has trouble knowing whether he should allow Seven to pursue his agenda, or try to stop him. One of those choices is certain to destroy the future... but which?

James Doohan

Nichelle Nichols

George Takei

Walter Koenig

Robert Lansing

Ted Gehring

Morgan Jones

Paul Baxley

Cast appearances.

William Shatner

Leonard Nimoy

DeForest Kelley

Episode discussion.

This episode was a "backdoor pilot" for a Roddenberry concept about interventionist aliens whose goal is to ensure the survival of less advanced races, including humans. The network passed.

Ep 26. Assignment: Earth

• March 29, 1968
• 7.5   (3,560)

In the season 2 finale of the classic science fiction series Star Trek, entitled "Assignment: Earth," the crew of the starship Enterprise is sent back in time to Earth during the tumultuous year of 1968. Instead of investigating a strange new world, they are tasked with observing and assisting a human named Gary Seven and his alluring companion, Roberta Lincoln, as they attempt to stop a group of renegade beings from altering the course of history and thereby changing the future of the Federation.

Initially skeptical of the pair's mysterious origins and futuristic technology, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock must navigate the uncharted territory of Cold War espionage, political assassination plots, and even a feline sidekick named Isis. Along the way, they encounter a cast of characters both familiar and new, including a harried secretary, a suspicious agent, and an enigmatic entity known only as The Guardians.

As the clock ticks down towards a critical moment in humanity's destiny, Gary and Roberta must undertake a daring mission to sabotage a rocket launch while Kirk and Spock face off against a powerful foe intent on unleashing chaos and destruction. With the fate of not only Earth but the entire galaxy at stake, our heroes must rely on their wits, their training, and above all, their faith in the power of reason and compassion to triumph over evil and protect the future of civilization.

Featuring all the hallmarks of the classic Star Trek franchise - including highly advanced technology, nail-biting action sequences, and thought-provoking allegories - "Assignment: Earth" is a thrilling and satisfying conclusion to the show's second season. With its blend of science fiction, espionage, and time travel, this episode remains a beloved classic among fans and a testament to the enduring legacy of a show that explored the final frontier of both space and human potential.

• Genres Science Fiction Action & Adventure
• Cast William Shatner Leonard Nimoy DeForest Kelley Barbara Babcock Majel Barrett
• Channel NBC
• First Aired March 29, 1968
• Content Rating TV-PG
• Runtime 50 min
• Language English
• IMDB Rating 7.5   (3,560)

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8 Best "O'Brien Must Suffer" Star Trek: DS9 Episodes

• O'Brien's suffering in "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes allows the audience to connect with his character on a deeper level.
• Episodes like "Whispers" and "Hard Time" showcase O'Brien's resilience in the face of intense mental and emotional challenges.
• The dynamic between O'Brien and his family, especially with his wife Keiko, adds a human element to the sci-fi drama of Star Trek: DS9.

"O'Brien Must Suffer" is a unique subgenre of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, but which one is best for the audience and worst for Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney)? Originating in Star Trek: The Next Generation , Chief O'Brien became a regular member of the Star Trek: DS9 cast because the producers wanted to give Colm Meaney a bigger role. Promoting the show a month before it aired in the Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine #1 , Meaney said that O'Brien was the same as he was in TNG , but just had " to deal with many more problems " .

Colm Meaney's words turned out to be eerily prophetic, as it was soon decided that once or twice a season the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers would put Chief O'Brien through the wringer. These episodes later became known as "O'Brien Must Suffer" stories, and many of them make up the canon of Chief O'Brien's best Star Trek episodes . Writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe explained why it was so important to the DS9 writers to "torture" O'Brien once or twice a season in the DVD special feature, Crew Dossier: Miles O'Brien on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5 boxed set. Read Hewitt Wolfe's quote below:

" If O'Brien went through something torturous and horrible, the audience was going to feel that, in a way they wouldn't feel it with any of the other characters. Because all the other characters were sort of, I wouldn't say larger than life, but nobler than life, but O'Brien was just a guy, trying to live his life and so if you tortured him that was a story. "

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Season 6, Episode 15, "Honor Among Thieves"

O'brien goes undercover, betrays a friend, and sends a man to his death..

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 15, "Honor Among Thieves" is something of an oddity, playing out more like a cop show than an episode of Star Trek . However, it ticks the box of making O'Brien suffer by placing him inside the Orion Syndicate to expose a Starfleet mole. Over the course of his investigation, O'Brien also discovers that the Dominion are using the Orion Syndicate as trigger men for an assassination attempt against a Klingon ambassador .

"Honor Among Thieves" started life as a gangster comedy in which Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) would befriend the Orion Syndicate and quickly get in over his head.

O'Brien's information is passed from Starfleet Intelligence to the Klingon Empire, who will execute the would-be assassins. If that wasn't morally dubious enough, O'Brien has become close to one of the men, Bilby, whom he'll be sending to his death. To save his friend's life, O'Brien is forced to admit his betrayal, but it's not enough to convince Bilby not to walk into a Klingon ambush . The final scene in which O'Brien cares for Bilby's cat is brutal, showing how traumatized Miles is by the whole ordeal.

Season 3, Episode 17, "Visionary"

O'brien gets radiation sickness, jumps through time, sees ds9 get destroyed, and dies..

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 7, "Visionary", O'Brien contracts a rare form of radiation sickness that allows him to travel through time. These time jumps allow O'Brien to unmask a Romulan conspiracy to destroy both DS9 and the Bajoran Wormhole to prevent the Dominion from entering the Alpha Quadrant. To foil the Romulans' plot, O'Brien has to keep shifting into the future, which increases the fatal effects of the radiation sickness.

"Visionary" is notable for being the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to introduce the legendary O'Brien dart board, later memorialized in Star Trek: Lower Decks .

As in "Whispers", Chief O'Brien again has to watch himself die, as the time traveling version encounters the corpse of his future self, the victim of sabotage. In the climax of the episode, the time traveling version of O'Brien finally succumbs to his radiation sickness, and sends his future self back in time to replace him. It's a mind-boggling paradox that must have made life quite difficult for O'Brien in the immediate aftermath of the events of "Visionary".

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Season 2, Episode 13, "Armageddon Game"

O'brien is infected by a deadly bioweapon, targeted for execution, and on the run with bashir..

"Armageddon Game" is the episode that bonds Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's two best friends, Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) for life. Having been targeted for execution by the Kellerun, Bashir and O'Brien have to go on the run, hoping that eventually their crewmates will come to their rescue. The only problem is that everyone on DS9 believes the lies that O'Brien and Bashir perished in a tragic accident. It's only due to Miles' wife, Keiko O'Brien (Rosalind Chao), that Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) realizes that he's been lied to.

The Kellerun have finally expanded upon in Star Trek: Discovery , with the addition of a Kellerun Starfleet officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) in season 5.

While not officially the start of the "O'Brien Must Suffer" trend, the Chief does suffer a great deal during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 14, "Armageddon Game". Not only is he forced to spend time with the youthful and arrogant Dr. Bashir in close quarters, O'Brien gets infected by the very bioweapon that he and Julian were sent to destroy. A cure is eventually found, and the Chief's life is saved, but it's fair to say that he's been through hell and back, made worse by the fact that Dr. Bashir thinks he and O'Brien are bonded for life.

Season 2, Episode 14, "Whispers"

O'brien gets kidnapped, duplicated, and has to watch himself die..

The first proper example of an "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode, "Whispers" follows an increasingly paranoid Chief O'Brien as he comes to believe that the entire crew of Deep Space Nine have been replaced by impostors. In reality, the audience is actually following a replica of O'Brien, who is a sleeper agent programmed to assassinate a visiting dignitary. However, O'Brien's strength of character is so great that his replicant sets out to solve the mystery rather than succumb to his programming.

To better get across the paranoid atmosphere of "Whispers", Colm Meaney played the role of the O'Brien replicant as if he were the real one, never deviating from this throughout the episode.

Technically, the real Chief O'Brien is unconscious for almost the entire runtime of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 14, "Whispers". So it's DS9 's O'Brien replicant that truly suffers, experiencing paranoia, alienation, isolation, and ultimately death. Still, the existential horror of the real Chief O'Brien looking into the dying eyes of his replicant is more than enough to categorize "Whispers" as the first true example of the "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

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Season 5, Episode 5, "The Assignment"

Keiko o'brien is possessed by a pah-wraith who forces miles to do their bidding..

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, episode 5, "The Assignment", Keiko returns from Bajor to reveal that she's the victim of demonic possession. During a visit to the Bajoran Fire Caves, Keiko is possessed by a Pah-wraith, essentially the demons of Bajor's religion. In "The Assignment", the Pah-wraith embodying Keiko threatens to kill her unless Chief O'Brien assists it in destroying the Celestial Temple of the Bajoran Prophets. Family is everything to Chief O'Brien, so there's a particular type of pain for him witnessing his wife being inhabited by a malevolent force.

The Bajoran Fire Caves was the location for the final confrontation between Captain Sisko, Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) and Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher).

O'Brien is stringing the Pah-wraith along so that he can eventually save Keiko and avert the destruction of the Wormhole. However, O'Brien still has to shoot his wife with a chroniton beam to remove the Pah-wraith from Keiko's body. O'Brien and Keiko were Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's emotional core, the everyday family put under the extraordinary pressure of living in the Star Trek universe. It's for that reason that "The Assignment" feels particularly gruelling as this down-to-earth husband and wife are placed right in the center of a conflict between angels and demons .

Season 6, Episode 24, "Time's Orphan"

O'brien and keiko lose their daughter in a temporal anomaly..

The O'Brien family are tested once again in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 24, "Time's Orphan". When Molly O'Brien (Hana Hatae) falls into a time portal, she returns as a teenager, who has gone primal after spending so many years alone. It's a unique parenting challenge for both Miles and Keiko, who struggle to cope with their young adult daughter. Events reach a head when Molly tears up Quark's Bar and stabs a patron with a broken bottle. This crime forces the Federation to order that Molly be sent to a special facility, something that Miles and Keiko oppose.

Joe Menosky originally pitched "Time's Orphan" for Star Trek: The Next Generation , because he had become sick and tired of Worf's son Alexander.

With no other options, the O'Brien's break Molly out of prison, with help from Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) . Returning to the planet where they lost Molly, the O'Briens were fully prepared to never see their daughter again by destroying the portal and leaving her to live in her own time. Thankfully, this outcome is averted when the older Molly finds her younger counterpart and reunites her with her parents. It's a brutal episode for both Miles and Keiko as they're forced to consider some huge moral issues as parents .

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Season 2, Episode 25, "Tribunal"

O'brien is framed for arms dealing, imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death..

It's well known from Star Trek: The Next Generation that Chief O'Brien hates Cardassians, due to his experiences in the Federation-Cardassian War . This fact is used against him in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 25, "Tribunal", when he's framed as a Maquis traitor. DS9 reveals that the Cardassian legal system is utterly brutal, as it's based on a presumption of guilt. This means that Chief O'Brien's verdict has been sealed long before he goes on trial. Sentenced to execution, O'Brien is forced to live out a miserable life in a brutal Cardassian prison until his sentence is carried out.

A line from "The Maquis, Part II", in which Gul Dukat said " On Cardassia, the verdict is always known before the trial begins " inspired the conception of "Tribunal".

As if O'Brien being sentenced to execution and brutal prison treatment isn't enough, "Tribunal" also reveals that one of his old friends, Raymond Boone (John Beck) had been killed and replaced by a Cardassian spy. Worse still, O'Brien's life is being used as a political bargaining chip, with his trial designed to discredit the Federation during the ongoing Maquis crisis. There's some small consolation that, by being at the heart of a conspiracy, O'Brien is like Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , but Miles truly suffers in "Tribunal".

Season 4, Episode 19, "Hard Time"

O'brien spends twenty years inside a psychic prison, struggles to readjust..

The most brutal, and therefore the "best" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes is "Hard Time". Once again, Chief O'Brien is on the receiving end of alien justice, as he's wrongfully accused of a crime, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Normally, this would allow plenty of time for Captain Sisko and the crew to prove O'Brien's innocence and get him out of jail. That's not the case in "Hard Time", however, as the Argrathi punish their criminals by instantly implanting twenty years of prison memories, meaning that O'Brien serves his full sentence before Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) gets him back to DS9.

The wife of writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who was a trained psychotherapist acted as an unofficial consultant on the script's treatment of O'Brien's PTSD.

It's heartbreaking to watch O'Brien struggle to readjust to life aboard Deep Space Nine, experiencing hallucinations of the cellmate that he "killed" as his mental health rapidly deteriorates. O'Brien even considers suicide in one of the most devastating scenes in the whole episode. It's thanks to the love of his family, the support of his crew, and his friendship with Dr. Bashir that O'Brien ultimately pulls through one of the harshest ordeals in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, Ren Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

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