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Shore Leave (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
"Shore Leave"
TOS, Episode 1x17
Production number: 6149-17
First aired: 29 December 1966
Remastered version aired: 26 May 2007
← 18th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 15th of 80 released in TOS →
← 32nd of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 15th of 726 released in all →
Written By
Theodore Sturgeon

Directed By
Robert Sparr
3025.3 (2267)
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You may be looking for the concept of Shore leave.

The Enterprise crew take shore leave on a planet where their imaginations become reality.

Contents

[edit] Summary

The USS Enterprise has been through a grueling three months, when they discover a lush planet in the Omicron Delta region that promises the kind of shore leave they desperately need. McCoy and Sulu are part of a landing party there to investigate it – when McCoy sees... a giant white rabbit, and following it, a little girl.

Soon enough, others are seeing strange apparitions: Sulu finds a pistol lying on the ground; Kirk sees Finnegan, the upperclassman who tormented him at the Academy; the legendary Don Juan appears to Yeoman Tonia Barrows. These are not figments; they are real objects. And then Kirk meets Ruth, an old flame, exactly as she was fifteen years ago.

Spock calls from the ship. He has detected an energy field on the surface of the planet – one that is draining the Enterprise's power. The patterns are consistent with industrial activity, perhaps subterranean. Communications are fuzzy and intermittent, and more dangerous things begin appearing: a tiger, a samurai warrior, and an ancient fighter plane. Spock manages to beam down after communications fail completely; and he's the last; the transporter is also inoperative. The planetary field soaks up energy at the source.

Kirk instructs the landing party to rendezvous at the beam down point; there, McCoy encounters a black knight. Convinced it cannot harm him, he stands his ground – and takes a lance through the chest, dying instantly. The artifacts are exactly like what they imitate: just as pleasant... or just as deadly.

When Finnegan reappears, Kirk goes after him personally. One knock-down-drag-out later, he's no closer to the answers he wants, although Finnegan's comment – "I'm bein' exactly what'ya expect me t'be, Jimmie-boy" might be a clue. But beating Finnegan makes up for a lot of past miseries, a fact that Spock finds enlightening. He and Kirk realize the truth: all of the artifacts are representations of someone's wish fulfillment fantasy. Gathering the landing party, he instructs them to remain at attention, not to think of anything.

An elderly man appears; this caretaker confirms the guess; his people constructed this planet as a playground. Anything one can think of can be manufactured – and none of it is permanent. McCoy, taken below, has been completely healed, and as a bonus has a chorus girl from Rigel II on each arm. The caretaker offers the use of the Shore Leave Planet to the crew while cautioning them to take care what they summon. He will not comment on his species or their home planet, saying enigmatically that he believes the Enterprise crew are not yet ready to understand his people. Kirk plans to beam down shore parties, and beam himself back to the ship... and then Ruth reappears, changing his mind.

[edit] Log Entries

  • "Captain’s log, stardate 3025... uh, .3. We are orbiting an uninhabited planet in the Omicron Delta region, a planet remarkably like Earth or how we remember Earth to be: park-like, beautiful, green, flowers, trees, green lawn, quiet and restful. Almost too good to be true."
  • "Captain’s log, stardate 3025.8. Investigation of this increasingly unusual planet continues, and we are seeing things that cannot possibly exist, yet they are undeniably real."
  • "Captain’s log, supplemental. All contact with the Enterprise has been lost. We're trapped here. Our ship's surgeon, my personal friend, is dead. We're certain now that whatever we're facing is terribly real."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"My dear girl, I'm a doctor. When I peek, it is in the line of duty."

- Leonard McCoy


"A princess shouldn't be afraid – not with a brave knight to protect her."

- Leonard McCoy


"They act exactly like the real thing. Just as pleasant. Or just as deadly."

- Spock


"The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play."

- Kirk


"He's becoming irritable and quarrelsome, but he refuses to take rest or rehabilitation. Now, he has that right, but we've found..."
"That crewman's right ends where the safety of the ship begins. Now, that man will go ashore on my orders. What's his name?"
"James Kirk. Enjoy yourself, Captain."

- Spock and Kirk


"I never answer questions from plebes, Jimmy boy."
"I'm not a plebe. This is today, fifteen years later."

- Finnegan and Kirk


"Did you enjoy that, captain?"
"Yes I did. I did enjoy it! After all these years, all I wanted to do was beat the tar out of Finnegan."

- Spock, after Kirk finishes off "Finnegan"


"You stupid underclassman. I've got the edge. I'm still twenty years old. Look at you. You're an old man."

- Finnegan

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode's story outline was turned in on 5 May 1966, with a revised outline coming in on 13 May 1966. The first draft of the script was completed on 3 October 1966 with the final draft dated on 14 October (further revised pages 18, 19, and 21 October).
  • A great deal of new music was written for this episode, including the jig that plays whenever Finnegan appears. The flute and string piece that is played when Kirk meets Ruth is heard again in TOS: "This Side of Paradise", and a slightly different orchestration crops up in TOS: "The Apple".
  • Although Kirk appears to address the "Angela" character as "Teller" early in the episode, she is played by Barbara Baldavin, who played Angela "Martine" in "Balance of Terror" (her fiancé, Robert Tomlinson, died in the episode). The script name for her character was "Mary Teller" and was changed to Angela Martine on the set when somebody noticed Barbara Baldavin already appeared as a named character. In the closing credits, she is identified as "Angela".
  • Spock conjures up the tiger when he mentions that Rodriguez had thought of it, yet Rodriguez's communicator wasn't working, so no one else knew he had seen the tiger. This incongruity appears because the scene in the script where Rodriguez, dazed, rejoins Spock, Sulu and Tonia (after Kirk runs after Finnegan for their fight) was edited out of the aired episode. Though the script does not have a scene where Rodriguez reports all he knows and has seen to Spock, it does not take a great leap to imagine that he would do so. Thus, Spock would know of his run-in with the tiger.
  • That continuity blooper and others in this episode (such as Barrows' uniform being ripped in different places) are likely due to the fact that the show was literally being rewritten as it was being shot. Cast members recalled executive producer Roddenberry sitting under a tree, frantically reworking the script to keep it both under budget and within the realms of believability.
  • Editor Fabien Tordjmann came up with the idea of having Finnegan continue to pop out of nowhere as Kirk pursues him. This gave the impression that there was more than one Finnegan or, at least, that he was not quite human.
  • It is easy to miss, but Angela is also "repaired" by the Caretaker's underground repair area. Rodriguez can be seen looking into the distance in amazement near the end of the show, and in the next scene, he's got his arm around her.
  • This is the first of two episodes in which the ship is shown orbiting right to left. It is actually just printed backwards, as the numbers on the nacelles are reversed. The second instance, and only in the teaser, is "Mirror, Mirror".
  • Also unique to this episode, the handles of the phaser pistols are painted black.
  • Another offbeat application of paint is seen on some of the rocks and trees, which have been doctored with streaks of red spray paint, presumably to make them look more exotic. This technique can also be seen in "A Private Little War".
  • The World War II fighter plane sequence is notable. When it is first seen in the distance it appears to be a USMC Corsair with its gull wing configuration and markings. When the plane comes in closer for a ground attack it appears to be the front of a P-47 Thunderbolt. A second plane flying in formation can be seen in that shot. Finally, for the closeups of cockpit and wing section, it appears to be a Japanese Zero along with Imperial Japanese aircraft markings.
  • Most of this show was filmed at "Africa, USA." It can be seen in many television series of the sixties.
  • The "wind chime" planet sound effect heard here is unique to this episode.
  • The scenes with Ruth, the samurai and Spock's beam-down were all filmed at Vasquez Rocks near the Antelope Valley.
  • William Shatner originally hoped to wrestle the tiger, but was convinced it would not be a wise decision.
    (citation needed • edit)
  • Sulu the hobbyist is seen to have a great interest in ancient firearms in this episode. He later tells the space hippies in "The Way to Eden" that his key interests are botany and weapons.
  • Sulu fires the six-shot revolver four times and Kirk fires it three, for a total of seven shots.
  • Normally, the series' closing credits featured a random assortment of screen grabs from a variety of episodes. But the closing credits of "Shore Leave" include a record five scenes from the episode: 1) The Enterprise orbiting the shore leave planet, 2) Finnegan shouting from atop Vazquez Rocks, 3) Kirk pursuing him, 4) the glade, and 5) the Black Knight.
  • The preview of this episode shows Yeoman Barrows being accosted by Don Juan while wearing her princess costume. This scene was not used in the final cut.
  • Assuming that Kirk is 33 years old in this episode (he says his age is 34 in "The Deadly Years"), Ruth must have been quite a bit older than he when he met her. He says she "hasn't aged" and that it has been "fifteen years" since he's seen her.
  • As in "Arena", the shore leave planet is an Earth globe printed backwards with exotic colors added. Trying to disguise this might be the reason the ship orbits in the opposite direction.
  • The use of Paul Baxley (a frequent Shatner stunt double) during the fight with Finnegan at Vasquez Rocks is noticeable, although Vince Deadrick is a dead ringer for Bruce Mars.
Shatner and Baxley somehow managed to keep a phaser pistol securely fastened to their belts throughout the fight. With all the rolling and tumbling, however, the prop couldn't be one the actors normally use. It was probably made of something soft, since Shatner and Baxley kept falling on it.
  • James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode.
  • The chain around the tiger's neck used to control the animal between takes can be seen in its two appearances. Though the tiger never directly interacts with any of the performers, they brought in a real animal rather than using stock footage.
  • There were plans for an elephant [1]to appear in this episode, as well as a pterodactyl
    (citation needed • edit)
    , but they never materialized.
  • The author of the episode, Theodore Sturgeon, submitted a story outline for "Shore Leave II" in April 1968 but it was not produced. It is unknown whether any of the concepts were later worked into TAS: "Once Upon a Planet".
  • According to Justman and Solow's book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, the cast disliked working with director Robert Sparr, which resulted in this episode being his only Trek assignment.
  • According to a recent interview with him, extra Bill Blackburn not only voiced the White Rabbit, but also did the announcements heard in Act One dismissing different sections of the ship for shore leave in alphabetical order. There are likely some other voice-overs that could be identified with Blackburn, such as the transporter officer heard on the speaker in "Court Martial".
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000 paid tribute to the episode in their episode "The Thing That Couldn't Die." In the third host segment, the Observers thought they were bringing people from Mike Nelson's past to visit him, but the first person they brought back was Finnegan. Accompanied by a version of his music, Finnegan tormented and beat up Mike.

[edit] Remastered information

The now Earth-like Shore Leave Planet

The remastered version of "Shore Leave" aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 26 May 2007. While the episode required very few new effects, the Shore Leave Planet was given a CGI-makeover, now a more Earth-like planet resembling its appearance in TAS: "Once Upon a Planet", rather than the nearly amorphous green blob of the original episode. [2]

[edit] Production Timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Co-Starring

And

[edit] Featuring

And

[edit] Uncredited Cast

[edit] References

2232; 2252; .38 police special; Alice in Wonderland; amusement park; associational rating; Bengal tiger; Carroll, Lewis; Don Juan; multicellular casting; Omicron Delta region; Rigel II: shore leave; Shore Leave Planet; white rabbit

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"The Menagerie, Part II" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 1 		Next episode produced:
"The Squire of Gothos"
Previous episode aired:
"Balance of Terror" 		Next episode aired:
"The Galileo Seven"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"Patterns of Force" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"Bread and Circuses"
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