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For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (episode)

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This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
TOS, Episode 3x10
Production number: 60043-65
First aired: 8 November 1968
Remastered version aired: 27 January 2007
← 66th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 63rd of 80 released in TOS →
← 18th of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 63rd of 726 released in all →
Written By
Rik Vollaerts

Directed By
Tony Leader
5476.3 (2268)
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The Enterprise finds an asteroid that contains a generational ship on a collision course with an inhabited planet.

Contents

[edit] Summary

The USS Enterprise is attacked by primitive, chemical-fueled nuclear missiles. The crew of the Enterprise destroy the missiles and trace back to their source. Kirk orders the Enterprise to proceed to the source of the missiles at warp factor 3. Meanwhile, during a routine health check, it is discovered that Dr. McCoy has a rare illness, xenopolycythemia, that has no known cure and that he will die within a year. McCoy insists that he can remain in his post, but Kirk immediately informs Starfleet and asks for a replacement.

Arriving at the missiles' point of origin, the Enterprise finds only what appears to be an asteroid, 200 miles in diameter, that is not in any orbit but follows an independent course through the local solar system. Upon scanning, it is found that the "asteroid" is an atomic-powered spaceship. There are no living creatures detected, leading Spock to presume that the passengers are dead. More seriously, the asteroid's course, 241-mark-17, puts it on a course to collide with Daran V, a planet with a population of 3.724 billion, in 396 days. The Enterprise charts a parallel course to the asteroid/spaceship.

Kirk and Spock prepare to beam onto the asteroid/spaceship, but McCoy insists on joining them. Arriving inside the asteroid, they find a surface that appears geologically active, with a reddish sky, and are puzzled that the builders apparently wanted the inside of the ship to look like a planet. The surface is dotted by large cylinders, from which a band of primitive, sword-bearing men emerges, led by a beautiful woman. After a brief melee, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are captured, McCoy sharing a meaningful look with the woman before he is knocked unconscious.

The leader of these people is a priestess, Natira, and she reveals that the asteroid/ship is called Yonada. The three are taken below the surface, where they encounter a large population of young and apparently healthy people. Natira leads the three into a temple, where she consults a deity called Oracle. Kirk and McCoy estimate that after 10,000 years in this multi-generational ship, they no longer realize they are in a spaceship. The Oracle immediately knocks Kirk, Spock, and McCoy unconscious with an energy beam.

The three revive, although McCoy remains out longer due to his illness. Kirk informs Spock about McCoy's condition. An old man gives them an herb derivative to counteract the effects of the Oracle's attack, noting that many people on the ship have been punished in this way. When they tell him they are not from Yonada, he recalls how he once climbed the mountains, "even though it is forbidden," and found that the world of Yonada is not a planet at all. He dies immediately, apparently from a subcutaneous control device in his temple. Natira comes in, and seems to take a special interest in McCoy. Kirk recommends that McCoy use this relationship to find out more about the civilization. The Captain is faced with a triple dilemma: either risk violating the prime directive by informing the people of Yonada of their situation, destroy the asteroid with them in it, or allow it to destroy Daran V. Natira admits that she is in love with McCoy and wants him to stay on Yonada as her mate. She speaks of a final destination that is rich and green, and notes that the Oracle has promised they shall reach it soon. When McCoy tells her he has only a year to live, she tells him even a year with him will make her happy.

Spock and Kirk make their way to the Oracle's temple, and Spock recognizes the writing as that of the Fabrini, a civilization wiped out 10,000 years ago, when their star went nova. He also sees a symbolic map of the Fabrina solar system. Prior to dying out, the Fabrini had lived underground to protect themselves; they also built this spaceship Yonada and programmed the Oracle, which is actually a powerful computer, to take it to another habitable planet. The people of Yonada are their descendants. Spock manages to open the door, and the two conceal themselves in the temple as Natira enters. She asks the Oracle for permission to marry McCoy, and the Oracle grants it, so long as McCoy agrees to join the Fabrini and submit to the instrument of obedience. As she's leaving, however, the Oracle discovers Kirk and Spock and zaps them. They are arrested and sentenced to death.

McCoy agrees to stay on Yonada, but begs that Kirk and Spock be released. Natira agrees. As Kirk and Spock prepare to return, McCoy insists on staying; there is a brief conflict between the two, but Kirk agrees to leave him behind. He and Spock return to the Enterprise. In a ritual with the Oracle, McCoy has the instrument of obedience implanted in his head, and he and Natira are married. At the Oracle's command, she teaches him about an ancient book that is to be opened and read when the ship reaches the "New World of the Promise." Meanwhile, Kirk consults with Admiral Komack, who relieves him of all responsibility for the Yonada and says Starfleet will handle the situation from now on. McCoy calls the ship and tries to explain that by consulting the book Spock can change the Yonada's course. But his control device immediately sends him a shock of pain, and he passes out as Natira enters.

Kirk and Spock return to the Yonada and Spock removes the instrument of obedience, breaking Natira's heart. She tries to call for the guards, but Kirk subdues her and persuades her to give them a chance. He explains the history of the Fabrini and Yonada. She is very skeptical of the story, and the Oracle begins to torment her through her instrument. She flees, but does not turn Kirk over to the guards. Kirk and Spock have found that a faulty part of the Oracle computer has caused a change in course. Natira talks to the Oracle, which knocks her out. When Kirk, Spock, and McCoy arrive, she agrees with them and McCoy takes out the instrument. Kirk and Spock move to take the book out of the temple, but the Oracle fights them, kicking up a storm and increasing the temperature to 120 degrees. McCoy shows them how to open the safe containing the book, and Spock uses the book to disable the Oracle and reprogram the spaceship's course.

McCoy and Natira have a tearful farewell: She must stay to lead her people to the promised land, and McCoy determines to keep traveling the universe in search of a cure. After correcting the Yonada's course, Spock shows Kirk the vast database of the Fabrini, which contains medical knowledge, including the cure for xenopolycythemia. McCoy undergoes the very painful treatment for his illness, emerging cured, and Kirk promises him the Enterprise will return to the area when the Yonada reaches its correct destination.

[edit] Log Entries

  • Captain’s log, stardate 5476.3. I have just had the sad duty of informing Starfleet about Dr. McCoy's condition and have requested an immediate replacement.
  • Captain’s log, stardate 5476.4. We are on a parallel course with Yonada. It is still on a collision course with Daran V. Our failure to correct its course, and the critical nature of Dr. McCoy's illness, made the extraordinary event of contact with Starfleet Command imperative.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"I'll be most effective in the time I have left if you'd keep this to yourself."

- McCoy


"I am Natira, the high priestess of the people. Welcome to the world of Yonada."
"I can't say I think much of your welcome."
"Take them."

- Natira and Kirk


"We come in friendship."
(thunderclap) "Then learn what it means to be our enemy, before you learn what it means to be our friend."

- Kirk and Oracle


"...I guess I must be especially succeptible to its effects."
(pause) "Spock knows, Bones."

- McCoy and Kirk


"I wish you to stay here, on Yonada, as my mate."
"But we're strangers to each other."
"But is not that the nature of men and women, that the pleasure is in the learning of each other?"

- Natira and McCoy


"I have an illness for which there is no cure... I have one year to live."
"Yesterday, my heart did not speak; it sustained my life, nothing more. Now, it sings. I would be happy to have that feeling for a day, a week, a month... a year, whatever the Creators have in store for us."

- McCoy and Natira


"Many of us have felt the power of the Oracle..."

- Yonadan Man


"So they say, also. (winces in pain) Years ago, I climbed the mountains – even though it was forbidden."
"Why is it forbidden?"
"I am not sure, (pain increases) but things are not as they teach us. For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky."

- Yonadan Man and Kirk


"You felt the pain of warning?"
"I did."
"Why did you listen further?"
"They said they spoke the truth!" (winces in pain)
"Their truth."
"Is truth not truth for all?"
"The truth of Yonada is your truth; There can be no other for you. Repent your disobedience."
(pain increasing) "I must know the truth of the world!"

- Oracle and Natira

[edit] Background Information

  • The idea of a multi-generational ship or "interstellar ark" is an old one that was proposed in an unpublished paper by Robert Goddard in 1918. Goddard's fellow rocket pioneers Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and J. D. Bernal also considered the idea in the 1920s. Olaf Stapledon and Don Wilcox wrote stories about the idea in the 1940s, and Robert Heinlein originated the notion that inhabitants might forget they were on a ship in his book Orphans of the Sky. The energy, ecology, and life support needs required by such a ship would be considerable.
  • The "Book of the People" is the same as "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties" in "A Piece of the Action".
  • The metal helical staircase is recycled from "The Empath".
  • The scenes showing Yonada are reused footage of the asteroid from "The Paradise Syndrome", and the curved staircase in the control room at the end of this episode seems to be the same one used inside the Obelisk in that same episode.
  • This is the only episode after the first pilot, "The Cage", to feature three actors who appeared in that episode: Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Majel Barrett (Nurse Christine Chapel) and Jon Lormer (Old man) (not including "The Menagerie, Part I" and "The Menagerie, Part II" which features clips from the majority of "The Cage"). Barrett and Lormer played Number One and Theodore Haskins, respectively, in the earlier episode.
  • Whether by chance or design, the music that accompanies the appearance of the old man played by Jon Lormer is the same music by Alexander Courage that played during some of his lines as Dr. Theodore Haskins in "The Cage".
  • To give more depth to the planet set, the entrances to the underground civilization were built in two sizes; those seen in the distance are much smaller replicas to give viewers an illusion of distance.
  • The scene on the bridge that runs under Kirk's voice over at the start of Act One (after the first commercial break) replays the same scene from the beginning of the episode -- where Kirk enters the bridge from the turboshaft.
  • In the beginning of Act One, the 'stock footage' of Chekov at the nav station is 'altered'. If you watch closely, they looped the footage so that Chekov's usual gaze down at the console to push a few buttons is avoided so that he appears to be looking straight ahead at the viewscreen. This shows up especially well on a bigger screen.
  • In the trailer, the scene where the Oracle turns on the heat plays without the red overlay, or the heat wave distortion effect.
  • This episode has the longest title of any episode in any Star Trek series.
  • In an early story outline (2 May 1968) it was Scotty who was ill.

[edit] Remastered Information

  • The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of 29 January 2007 and featured shots of a digital version of Yonada, more closely resembling real life asteroids. The battle between the Enterprise and the missiles was also revamped digitally.

The original Enterprise and Yonada.

The remastered Enterprise and Yonada.

The next remastered episode to air was "Journey to Babel".

[edit] Production Timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also Starring

[edit] Guest Star

[edit] Uncredited Co-Star

[edit] Stunts

[edit] References

Book of the People, the; Creators; Daran V; Fabrina; Fabrini; instrument of obedience; Oracle of the People; Prime Directive; quarterly physical; Xenopolycythemia; Yonada

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"The Tholian Web" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3 		Next episode produced:
"Day of the Dove"
Previous episode aired:
"Day of the Dove" 		Next episode aired:
"The Tholian Web"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"Journey to Babel"
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