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The Lights of Zetar (episode)edit

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"The Lights of Zetar"
TOS, Episode 3x18
Production number: 60043-73
First aired: 31 January 1969
Remastered version aired: 7 June 2008
← 74th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 73rd of 80 released in TOS →
← 72nd of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 73rd of 727 released in all →
Written By
Jeremy Tarcher and Shari Lewis

Directed By
Herb Kenwith
5725.3 (2269)
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At planetoid Memory Alpha, an Enterprise crew member's body is taken over by mysterious energy life-forms.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Scott and Romaine

The Enterprise has been assigned to ferry Lieutenant Mira Romaine to Memory Alpha, a planetoid that serves as central library of the Federation. Romaine's task is to transfer new equipment to the facility. During the voyage, Scotty and Mira spend a good deal of time together and become romantically involved.

During the journey, the Enterprise detects a strange energy storm on a course to the planetoid. Spock concludes that, given the storm's speed, it cannot be a natural phenomenon. The Enterprise intercepts the storm which bypasses the shields and through hull. The exposure to the storm affects the nervous systems of the crew, and Lieutenant Romaine faints from the effect.

Zetarian victim

The storm continues to head for Memory Alpha, and engulfs the planetoid. Beaming down to investigate the damage, the Enterprise crew discovers all the Memory Alpha staff have been killed, except for one woman who is lying on the floor unconscious, her skin is covered with a mysterious energy. She does not last long, suffering from a brain hemorrhage as the energy begins to drain from her.

Returning to the ship, the crew discover that as a result of the storm, Romaine has been transformed. She now has a bizarre connection to the storm's energy, and is able to predict where it will strike next. She senses the Enterprise will next feel the storm's effects. Despite evasive maneuvers by the Enterprise, the storm enters the vessel. Once inside, the storm appears to the crew as a group of bright flashing multi-colored lights.

Zetarians being exorcised from Romaine in the pressure chamber.

The lights swarm on Mira and enter her body, and Doctor Leonard McCoy determines that there is no way to force the lights out without killing her. Checking through Romaine's personnel file, Spock discovers the Lieutenant has a high susceptibility to empathic transmissions, which makes her an ideal home for the lights. The lights reveal, speaking through Mira, that they are in fact non-corporeal energy beings from the dead planet, Zetar. They insist that they have the right to inhabit Romaine's body, but Montgomery Scott refuses. He places Mira in the ship's pressurization chamber and activates it. Once the Zetar are exposed to several atmospheres of pressure they expire, having become accustomed to the vacuum of space.

Lieutenant Romaine is now free from the alien influence and can return to Memory Alpha to help restore the library.

[edit] Log Entries

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"When a man of Scotty's years falls in love, the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed. His heart once throbbed to the sound of the ship's engines; now, all he can see is the woman."

- Kirk's log, on Scott and Mira


"I didn't think Mister Scott would go for the brainy type."
"I don't think he's even noticed she has a brain."

- Chekov and Sulu, on Scott and Mira


"Scott here."
"Scotty, where have you been? Where are you?"
"In the Sickbay."
"Are you sick?"
"Oh, no. I was just checking on the lass. She's going to be fine now. There's nothing wrong with her."
"Well, I'm relieved to hear your prognosis, Mister Scott. Is the doctor there with you, or will I find him in Engineering?"

- Scott and Kirk, on Scott's dereliction of duty


"They control me! Oh, Scotty. Scotty, I'd rather die than hurt you! I'd rather die!"
"All right, now. What's all this talk of dying? They've called a turn on us 3 out of 4 times. Well, that's a better average than anyone deserves. It's our turn, now. We'll fight them. So let's not hear anything more about dying."

- Romaine and Scott


"Jim, you realize that the pressure needed to kill the Zetars might kill the girl, too."

- McCoy


"Lower the pressure gradually, Mr. Spock."
"I'm afraid we may tax Mr. Scott's patience."

- McCoy and Spock


"Well, this is an Enterprise first. Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock and Engineer Scott are all in complete agreement. Can I stand the strain?"

- Kirk

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Script and production

  • The co-writer of this episode was the Shari Lewis of "Lambchop" fame. She was a huge fan of Star Trek and fulfilled a dream by co-writing this episode with her husband. She also wanted to play Mira Romaine, but was not cast. [1]
  • In a story outline dated 12 September 1968, Mira was Scotty's new engineering assistant and shared his fascination for machinery. Final draft script 28 October 1968, filmed early November.
  • The overhead zoom shot of the bridge in the teaser was not shot for this episode. It apparently was filmed for (but not used in) "The Galileo Seven". Bill Blackburn, rather than Walter Koenig, is at the Navigator station in the shot. It is noticable that he is wearing Lieutenant stripes in the shot. The crew is also noticably wearing the satin velour uniforms seen in season 1 and 2, not the nylon variety that replaced them in season 3.

[edit] Sets and props

[edit] Continuity

  • This was John Winston's only appearance during Star Trek's final season.
  • Additionally, this is the final episode in which we will see a Tellarite and an Andorian in TOS.
  • The Human-looking female Memory Alpha technician was originally scripted as being a member of a species known as the "Reidonians". [2]

[edit] Remastered information

Okuda's Memory Alpha emblem

"The Lights of Zetar" was the seventy-second episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication on the weekend of 7 June 2008 and aside from the standard CGI replacement footage of the Enterprise, this episode most notably featured new effects shots of the Zetarians and Memory Alpha, which included the appearance of the library complex, where none had appeared before.

According to Michael Okuda: "Based on the size and spacing of the windows, I'd estimate that each of the domes must be similar to the Superdome." Also, "if you look very closely at the far left dome, you might notice a small blue patch on the top of the dome. That's the Memory Alpha emblem." [3]

The original Zetar attack...

...and the remastered counterpart.

The original Zetar effect...

...and the remastered counterpart.

The original Memory Alpha approach...

...and the remastered counterpart.

The original Zetarian/Enterprise standoff...

...and the remastered counterpart.

The next remastered episode to air was "The Way to Eden".

[edit] Apocrypha

  • The third book in Wallace Moore's "Balzan of the Cat People" pulp SF series, 1975's "The Lights of Zetar," was apparently an homage to this episode.
  • Star Trek Novel #42, Memory Prime by Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens, continues the story of Mira on Memory Prime, the successor to Memory Alpha. Other than her romance with Scotty and a very brief mention of the Zetarians, no other story elements are carried over from the episode.
  • The short story "Ancient History" in the Strange New Worlds VI anthology portrayed Scotty and Captain Morgan Bateson, both catapulted into the future by their respective mishaps, meeting and hashing out, physically and verbally, old rivalries, one of which was based on the fact that Mira Romaine married Bateson after her relationship with Scotty had ended.

[edit] Production Timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also Starring

And:

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

Andorian; anti-grav test unit; autonomic nervous system; atmosphere (unit); biography; brain; brain circuitry pattern (B.C.P.); brain hemorrhage; brain wave pattern; briefing room; central brain; common cold; condition yellow; emergency manual monitor; empathy; Federation; fingerprints; general quarters; generator; hyperencephalogram; intruder alert; library; love; Martian Colony 3; medical lab; Memory Alpha; memory core; neural system; pathology; phaser; phaser tracking controls; planetoid; precognition; pressure chamber; psychological profile; psychosomatic illness; researcher; Romaine, Jacques; Romaine, Lydia; scholar; scientist; security condition three; space sickness; specialist; speed of light; starbase; Starfleet preliminary examinations; Steinman analysis; telepathy; Tellarite; universal translator; voice analysis; Zetar; Zetarians

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"The Mark of Gideon" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3 		Next episode produced:
"The Cloud Minders"
Previous episode aired:
"That Which Survives" 		Next episode aired:
"Requiem for Methuselah"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Mark of Gideon" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Way to Eden"
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