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Star Trek Season 2 Episode 13

Obsession

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7.9

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AIRED: 12/15/67

The Enterprise must deal with a creature from Kirk's past that feeds on human blood.

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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

The Enterprise battles another strange alien creature

7.5

By peck2000, Dec 01, 2010

This is a kind of interesting episode - in this we discover that Kirk is haunted by an incident from twelve years earlier, when a strange gaseous creature, that was causing strange vampire-style deaths aboard the U.S.S. Farragut. Kirk, serving as a junior officer on the ship, had the creature in his phaser sights but hesitated to fire and has blamed himself for the deaths ever since.

When a junior crewman from the Enterprise similarly hesitates to fire upon the creature when the Enterprise comes across it again, Kirk is unnecessarily harsh. But as the Enterprise crew battle the creature, it becomes apparent that Kirk's hesitation years earlier would have made no difference to the outcome at all.

Interestingly, Spock's blood is revealed to be based on copper rather than human iron, which gives the gaseous creature bad indigestion and allows Spock to come into contact with the creature without danger. Though one minor niggle is that the creature is able to gain access to a presumably airtight starship from outside in space.

Finally, Kirk and the junior crewman face the creature alone and destroy it with a dose of ant-matter. And they all lived happily ever after ...

Overall, quite a tense episode that may not mine new dramatic material, but is nonetheless effective as a thriller.moreless
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The writers go crazy and have a field day knocking off red shirts faster than you can say “Di-kronium”

7.1

By hrtonslv, Dec 01, 2010

I found it too much of a coincidence that both Kirk and the son of the U.S.S. Farragut just happen to be on board as a member of the U.S.S. Enterprise and be fighting that gaseous creature from 11 years ago. Furthermore, Garrovick just happens to be assigned to duty on the planet surface. And isn't it kind of silly that Kirk didn't even know that his x-captain's son was assigned to his ship? After getting by that, the rest of the episode is quite good. The scene where McCoy comes into Kirk's quarters with Spock hiding outside is done quite well. Kirk's reaction is terrific as is the dialog of the three for that scene.moreless
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Kirk appears to become obsessed when he encounters a gaseous creature taht feeds on human blood cells.

7.0

By Celedorian, Dec 01, 2010

This is a solid, if forgettable, Star Trek offering: it leads you into believing it's another "Moby Dick" homage, like "The Doomsday Machine" but then becomes something more. I particular like how it explores the emotions involved with making a costly mistake – especially for a perfectionist like Captain Kirk. The episode does have some silliness: a number of redshirts die, and no one seems too shaken up; possibly because at least one of them will be back at his post in a future episode. And Spock, most illogically, attempts to stop the gaseous creature from entering a room by trying to cover a grate with his hands. Let's just say it's a "WTF" moment, and I'm not referring to the Wisconsin Tourism Foundation.moreless
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Attack of the Blood-Sucking Smog!

8.0

By ac4aq, Jul 31, 2010

One of the Star Trek's better "Monsters Attack" episodes is Obsession. Lays some pipe for Capt. Kirk and explains the origin of his nervous disorders. Introduces us to some new elements on the periodic table, including a substance even harder than the armor used for Outpost IV (Balance of Terror).

Plotline: Capt. Kirk's latent PTSD is awakened when one is killed, another critically injured by a fantastic hemoglobin-absorbing gaseous creature. We then get our backstory, chase the cloud across deep space, Enterprise attacks without result then fends off the cloud creature's counterattack. Cloud is repulsed with nuclear waste and flees. By intuition, Kirk sets course for the creature's nest. Then we resolve the conflict by destroying the cloud with the universal solution, an anti-matter bomb. Tension enhanced in the final scene with insubordination and battery on a superior officer by Ens. Garrovick.

It is apparent to all who have studied the rise of motor vehicles in the 20th century that any killer cloud story must have had its origin in Southern California of the late 1960s, in the days before the Clean Air Act and California Air Resources Board. Technology, such as the catalytic converter, would eventually dispel the real-life lethal smogs of nitrogen oxide and partially-combusted hydrocarbons that writer Art Wallace breathed on a regular basis.

Overall, a fairly good story, slightly above-average performance by the late Stephen Brooks as Ens. Garrovick. Incidental music recycled from previous Season 2 episodes. Original opticals only fair, almost cartoon-like, CGI a big improvement. Worth a look, but don't pay to see it. I rank it around number 32 of the 79 original Star Trek episodes.

jHhmoreless
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When a landing party is killed by a cloud-like creature, Kirk recognises it from a past encounter where it committed mass murder, and becomes hell-bent on destroying the creature. Some fair moments, but not one of the best...moreless

7.0

By Jay-Spacedust, Nov 26, 2008

This episode doesn't really rank as one of my favourites.

The story, loosely based on 'Moby Dick', sees Kirk becoming obsessed with killing a murderous creature from his past. This makes way for a few decent moments, but also makes for some weak ones, as well as a few unintentionally amusing moments.

William Shatner is good as the obsessed Kirk, but I did feel that his cranky, "don't question me" mood felt very much the same as we had just seen in "The Deadly Years", and would probably have fared slightly better placed after another episode.

The episode marks a huge count of redshirt deaths and injuries. And as per usual, no one really seems all that upset, not for very long.

There is also the notable 'death' of Lt. Leslie, who would go on to reappear in a later episode. This can actually be explained away, as he could be said to be one of the injured crewmembers who managed to survive (no names to the survivor(s) was given). But even so, it is still sloppy from a series that is usually so sharp in the continuity department.

I also agree with a fellow reviewer that it was far too convenient that the son of the commander of the U.S.S. Farragut, who was killed by the cloud, just happened to be assigned to the Enterprise, at that very point in time.

Also, I found it a bit too convenient that Mr. Spock was affected differently by the 'cloud'. It seems as if whenever the writers got stuck on how to get around a certain situation, they'd decide that the way out was to have Spock react in a different way to humans!

One of the few genuinely good moments comes at the climax to the story, with Kirk and Garrovick beaming up away from the 'evil cloud' just in time, and the transporter desperately trying to lock on to them.

All-in-all, not one of the series' best outings. At some points it almost feels like a filler episode.

"What's that sweet, sickly smell?" "It's Obsession for men"moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Stephen Brooks	Ensign Garrovick	Guest Star
Jerry Ayres	Ensign Rizzo	Guest Star
Nichelle Nichols	Lt. Nyota Uhura	Recurring Role
Majel Barrett	Nurse Christine Chapel	Recurring Role
Walter Koenig	Ensign Pavel Chekov	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (6)
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- When Kirk and Garrovick are fighting, Kirk throws the ensign up against a heavy rock wall. The wall noticeably moves from the impact.
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- Lt. Leslie, one of the security guards who appears in a number of episodes, is seen lying on the ground having been attacked by the creature - yet he comes back later, in "The Ultimate Computer," for one. It's not totally impossible, maybe he was one of the ones in "critical condition" and managed to pull through, but it seems awfully callous that he'd be one of those "killed off."
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- Ensign Garrovick describes a gaseous creature as being "several cubic meters" in size, but his distance as "about twenty feet away". These discrepancies continue through all the Star Trek series and movies.
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- Why is Spock trying to prevent the entry of the gaseous creature using his bare hands - this doesn't seem very logical.
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- When Spock opens a channel for Kirk to talk to the bridge at the end, the activation light on the intercom doesn't go on.
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- Dr. McCoy's medical tunic had an engineering patch on it instead of the sciences patch is should have.
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QUOTES (11)
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- Spock: I hope I'm not disturbing you, Doctor.
  McCoy: Interrupting another autopsy report is no disturbance; it's a relief.
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- Spock: I need your advice.
  McCoy: Then I need a drink.
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- Scotty: Captain! Thank heaven!
  Spock: Mr. Scott, there was no deity involved, it was my cross circuiting to B that recovered them.
  McCoy: Well, then, thank pitchforks and pointed ears!
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- Garrovick: Less than one ounce of anti-matter here is more powerful than ten thousand cobalt bombs.
  Kirk: Let's hope it's as powerful as man will ever get.
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- Kirk: Intuition, however illogical, is recognized as a command prerogative.
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- Spock: There are many aspects of human irrationality I do not yet comprehend. Obsession, for one. The persistent single-minded fixation on one idea.
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- Spock: ...hesitation ... is an hereditary trait of your species, and suddenly faced by the unknown, or imminent danger, a human will invariably experience a split second of indecision. He hesitates.
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- McCoy: Monsters come in many forms. And do you know the greatest monster of them all? Guilt.
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- McCoy: Crazy way to travel. Spreading a man's molecules all over the universe.
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- McCoy: The semi-conscious mind is a tricky thing. A man never knows just how much is real or how much is imagination.
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- McCoy: Spock's green blood left a bad taste in the creature's mouth.
  Spock: Colloquially expressed, but essentially correct.
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NOTES (4)
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- This episode holds the all-time record for Enterprise crew casualties and a number of bit players and stuntmen were brought in to play the extra red-shirted victims.
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- This episode originally aired the same night as the collapse of the Silver Bridge (connecting Gallipolis, OH and Point Pleasant, WV). NBC delayed the broadcast of Star Trek because of a special report, but showed it in its entirety.
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- This episode establishes that Vulcan blood is copper based, not iron as it is with humans.
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- Desilu No: 5149-47.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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