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Star Trek Season 3 Episode 8

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

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For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

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AIRED: 11/8/68

The Enterprise must deflect an asteroid on a collision course with an inhabited planet...but discover the asteroid is a spaceship with a population unaware of the outside world.

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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

The Enterprise discovers an asteroid is a spaceship with a population unaware of the outside world. Meanwhile, Dr. McCoy discovers he's terminally ill.

8.0

By Celedorian, Dec 18, 2010

DeForest Kelley gives his best performance of the series in a touching show that blends an interesting science fiction concept with the age old issues of life, sickness, and death. Of all the Trek actors of any incarnation, Kelley could probably be cited as having the least to do with the most talent; here's a chance for him to shine, and not just as a member of the "trio" but on his own. Kate Woodville stars as the alien girl Natira, and she's given a gorgeous costume to wear. John Lormer, who appeared in Star Trek's original pilot, has a gem of a scene as an old man who remembers touching the sky (with music from that pilot tracked in.)moreless
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Dr. McCoy confides to Captain Kirk that he is terminally ill and has a year to live. At the same time, the Enterprise crew try to stop an asteroid from colliding with an inhabited planet, only to find the asteroid is actually a spaceship. A so-so episode.moreless

7.0

By Jay-Spacedust, Dec 18, 2010

My review for this episode will be a bit shorter than most of my reviews, as I just don't have much to say about this instalment.

The story definitely belongs to Dr. McCoy, and after playing second (or should that be third?) fiddle to Kirk and Spock in so many episodes, it is good to see him get a plot based more around him for a change.

The story also has more depth to it than many of the shallow third season offerings, with McCoy's illness, and his decision whether to stay on the asteroid-come-spaceship as Yonada's mate.

However, I just couldn't really get into this one. I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for it (and the fact that my DVD was damaged, causing the episode to keep jumping, didn't help (I'm trying to get a replacement)), but I just couldn't get fully immersed in it as much as I could with episodes from the first two seasons.

Probably one of the third season's slightly better efforts, but not one of my favourites.moreless
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An alien priestess takes ten minutes to fall in love with and wants to marry one of the Enterprise landing crew. And get this, it’s not Kirk but... are you ready? Dr. McCoy! Didja ever?moreless

7.0

By hrtonslv, Dec 18, 2010

If there was a fourth season, it would have made a great "part two" of this when McCoy visited the Fabrini when it landed. I feel sorry for that guy who keeps dying in an unjust way. Didn't the old man who spoke the episode's title also die innocently in "The return of the Archons"? The poor guy was just trying to obey the will of Landru and in this one he was just trying to see what was going on with his planet... er, spaceship.moreless
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This might not be one of my favourite episodes yet it is entertaining all the same. Worth a watch(or re-watch!)

8.0

By RS_01, Dec 17, 2010

Dr McCoy finds out he is dying with only a year to live, no wonder his head is turned by a beautiful high preastess who seems to fall in love with him at first sight. This a rare episode to centre around the doctor, I particularly enjoyed Nurse Chappels emotional reaction to McCoy's illness. Another highlight must be the performance of the "old man" who delivered the "for the world is hollow" line. Luckily Spock finds a cure and the Doctor is saved at the end of the episode. (phew!)moreless
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A good one for Dr. McCoy. Kate Woodville is lovely. A haunting episode.

9.5

By headgrape, Dec 17, 2006

This probably isn\'t the best Trek episode Ever, but it\'s my personal favorite. When I first saw this episode as a child, the concept was intriguing -- a city inside of a spaceship disguised as an asteroid, whose inhabitants believed they were were living on ( or in ) a planet. Dr. McCoy gets a lot of air-time in this episode, and there weren\'t many which revolved around him, sadly, as he is my favorite ST character. He has a beautiful romance in this episode, and Patrick McNee\'s ex-wife Kate Woodville is lovely. Her gown and hair are inspired. The plot is fairly basic and some of the elements had been seen in previous episodes, but the old man\'s recount of his experience in the mountains when he utters the title phrase is haunting. This is an eerie and sensitive episode.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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William Shatner	Captain James Tiberius Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	Dr. Leonard Horatio "Bones" McCoy

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Katherine Woodville	Natira	Guest Star
Byron Morrow	Adm. Westervliet	Guest Star
James Doohan	Voice of the Oracle (uncredited)	Guest Star
James Doohan	Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott	Recurring Role
George Takei	Lt. Hikaru Sulu	Recurring Role
Walter Koenig	Ensign Pavel Chekov	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Kirk orders Sulu to match speed with the asteroid, but in the next external shot the asteroid is closing in on the ship.
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- The cylinder/elevators make an audible humming noise as they rise out of the ground, but the landing party (particularly super-sensitive hearing Spock) doesn't notice.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Spock: Your haemoglobin count is back to normal, Doctor, which indicates that the flow of oxygen to each cell of your body is back up to its abundantly energetic level.
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- Old Man: I climbed the mountains, even though it is forbidden.
  Kirk: Why is it forbidden?
  Old Man: I am not sure. But things... are not... as they teach us. For the world is hollow, and l... have touched the sky.
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- Natira: Is truth not truth for all?
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- Natira: Is not that the nature of men and women... that the pleasure is in the learning of each other?
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode has the longest title of all the Star Trek series.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Xenopolycythemia
  Polycythemia vera is a rare blood disorder characterized by excess production of blood cells (primarily red blood cells). It is usually treatable, but complications can be fatal. Xeno comes from a Greek word meaning stranger and is often used as a prefix, as in "xenology" (the study of aliens). Xenopolycythemia would simply be an alien form polycythemia vera.
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