Operation -- Annihilate!

Season 1, Episode 29, Aired
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Episode Summary

Kirk and the Enterprise must combat parasitic aliens.
8.3
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Fan Episode Reviews (4)

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  • The Enterprise must stop an interplanetary epidemic of mass insanity.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By Celedorian, Nov 21, 2010 Report Abuse
    Certainly this episode has some good stuff: the story moves along well (with just enough twists and turns to keep the viewer engaged), Nimoy acts his butt off in a challenging episode for him, and there are some interesting sci fi concepts presented. All that said, the episode isn't one that was really made to be "enjoyed" so much as endured: it's a horror episode where a lot of bad things happen, almost all the way to the end. It's not one of the worst Star Trek episodes by any means, but it is a step down from "City on the Edge" and the last episode of the first season before the show would improve in the second.moreless

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    1 0

  • The whole landing crew goes into a knee jerk reaction type panic simply because a few globs of jello were spilled on the floor on a planet that nobody cares about.moreless

    7.6
    "Good"
    By hrtonslv, Nov 21, 2010 Report Abuse
    I was scared out of my mind seeing those parasites. Very well done, especially that evil, creepy buzzing noise they made. When Spock gets' blinded, the raw silence and tension between Kirk. Spock and McCoy is one of the series finest. This show has a number of great bloopers including the parasite hitting Spock on the behind, Gene Roddenberry being presented with one of the creatures as a gift and the landing party pretending to use their phasers as electric razors. Great writing in this episode. No holes in the script.moreless

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  • The Enterprise crew must find a way to exterminate malevolent parasites that have driven a colony insane, including the family of Kirk's brother. Things get even worse when Spock becomes the parasites' latest victim. A fair story but with awkward pacing..moreless

    7.5
    "Good"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Nov 14, 2008 Report Abuse
    This review contains spoilers.

    "Operation - Annihilate!" is the final episode of 'Star Trek's classic, groundbreaking first season.
    I don't know why, but for some reason, it feels somewhat like a 'left over' episode to me, especially being tagged on after a classic like "The City on the Edge of Forever", which would have made a perfect ending to the season. (The fact that on the DVD box set, it is on the final disk on its own (on the R2 version anyway, I don't know about elsewhere) makes it feel even more separated from the other episodes).

    I find this quite a difficult episode to sum up. It has a fair story, but I find it awkwardly told, with some bad pacing and a few things that don't completely work.

    The fact that Kirk's brother and his family have become victims of the parasites could have been good 'Trek' material, but extremely little is done with them to distinguish from standard 'victims of the week', and in the end, it just feels rather tacked on, and doesn't serve any real purpose.

    The parasites themselves are interesting creatures, and while they may look a bit cheap by nowadays' standard (I wonder what they would have looked like in CGI), they still serve the purpose and look quite eerie in their own way.

    Under the influence of the malevolent 'jelly' parasites, Leonard Nimoy gives a good performance of Spock, trying (even harder than normal) to keep himself in order.

    The later development of Spock being blinded by the test also seems rather tacked on. If this had been introduced earlier in the episode, and been given time to build, it could have been very interesting, but stuck quite near the end of the story, it seems to come out of nowhere.
    Likewise, as interesting as Spock's Vulcan body is of eradicating the blindness is, it all seems very convenient and a quick fix; almost like "Spock's blind! Oh, he's okay again".

    But for all the bad things, this episode does serve up a reasonable story. There's certainly worse, in both the first season and Original 'Trek' as a whole.

    This episode is also possibly my very earliest memory of watching 'Star Trek' as a young child. I remember watching it one evening on BBC 1 in the very early 1980s, on one of the series' many repeats by the Beeb. I can clearly remember the 'jelly bugs' swooping about and one landing on Spock's back. I must have been about four years old (which would date it around 1982).

    All-in-all, this is quite a good episode, but let down by some awkward storytelling. If it had been better constructed and more polished, I think it would have possibly been one of the greats of the first season. As it is, it stands as a fair but, ultimately, a slightly disappointing outing.

    ---first season overview---
    The first season of 'Star Trek' was ground-breaking, presenting a series of space-bound adventures that had not been seen on television before. Going beyond the 'monster of the week' tales of some other space set shows, 'Star Trek' offered up thoughtful and mostly well fleshed out stories.

    Season one may in many ways be the best of the three seasons. The bulk of it is made up of top notch episodes, that are evenly balanced between adventure and drama. And as with all good 'Trek', there is a healthy dose of comedy mixed in, used sparingly and at the right moment.

    It felt to find it's footing straight away. Second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" stands as a very good episode, and first by first regular episode produced, "The Corbomite Maneuver", the template is set in place for the series.

    Everyone has their favourites, but examples such as "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Errand of Mercy" and "The City on the Edge of Forever" stand out.moreless

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  • High horror quotient

    8.8
    "Great"
    By peck2000, Jul 23, 2006 Report Abuse
    I remember this episode as being especially disturbing when I first saw it over thirty years ago. The icky "flying blancmanges" that infect unsuspecting humans with strands of their own tissue and thus take over their host organism is creepy in the same way as the thought of being infected by some exotic African parasite like Bilharzia and reminds me of another classic sf story, "The Puppet Masters" by Robert Heinlein.

    This is another episode where the plight of Spock threatens to swamp the narrative. The idea of Spock being able to resist the pain that the parasites use to control their victims is, as the Vulcan himself might say, "fascinating" and I'm sure most fans remember this episode because of this bit of Spock-lore, but for me it'll always be about the shiver I get when I see those jellyfish things flitting about, trying to take over humanoid hosts.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Even today's scientists and doctors wait for the results of the first test before proceeding with the second. If Bones had followed this procedure with the light test then Spock would never have been blinded in the first place Edit
    • When the alien parasites fly around the room attacking Kirk and the others, the strings supporitng many of them can still be seen. Edit
    • When Spock returns to the planet alone, he is attacked by a wrench-wielding colonist. The colonist swings and hits Spock's hand, throwing his phaser way off to Spock's left (it flies off camera). After using the neck pinch, Spock then turns around and picks up the phaser, lying against the wall behind him. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • There were two plot elements that never made it onscreen. One, The Enterprise was to have sought out the parasites' planet of origin and destroyed it. Two, in a scene filmed but never used, Kirk takes his orphaned nephew Peter to the bridge and lets him sit in his chair, wearing a child-size version of his uniform. Edit
    • Captain Kirk's nephew, Peter Kirk, would reappear in the Star Trek Phase II episode "Blood and Fire, Part I" (2008), which also involved alien parasites. Edit
    • A famous blooper from this episode shows the stagehand swinging the creature that attacks Spock swatting Leonard Nimoy in the rear end with it instead of his back. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • McCoy: (whispering to Kirk) Please don't tell Spock that I said he's the best first officer in the fleet. Spock: Why thank you, Doctor. Kirk: You were so concerned about his Vulcan eyes, Doctor, you forgot about his Vulcan ears. Edit
    • Scotty: (drawing a phaser on a pain-influenced Spock trying to operate the transporter) Stop right there, Mr Spock. Or I'll put you to sleep for sure. Edit
    • Spock: Pain is a thing of the mind. The mind can be controlled. Edit

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