The Naked Time (episode)

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"The Naked Time"
TOS, Episode 1x06 Production number: 6149-07 First aired: 29 September 1966 Remastered version aired: 30 September 2006
←	7th of 80 produced in TOS	→
←	4th of 80 released in TOS	→
←	4th of 80 released in TOS Remastered	→
←	4th of 726 released in all	→
Written By John D.F. Black Directed By Marc Daniels
1704.2 (2266)
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This is about the TOS episode. You may be looking for the Next Generation episode, "The Naked Now".

The Enterprise crew is intoxicated by an inhibition-stripping contagion.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Log Entries 3 Memorable Quotes 4 Background 4.1 Story and Script 4.2 Sets and Props 4.3 Effects 4.4 Cast and Characters 4.5 Reception 4.6 Other Information 4.7 Production Timeline 4.8 Remastered information 4.9 Video and DVD releases 5 Links and References 5.1 Starring 5.2 Co-Starring 5.3 Featuring 5.4 Uncredited 5.5 References 5.6 External link

[edit] Summary

The Enterprise orbits the planet Psi 2000, a world that was much like Earth in its distant past, tasked to observe the planet's impending disintegration. Commander Spock and Lieutenant Junior Grade Joe Tormolen beam down in environmental suits to a frozen surface laboratory and investigate the horrific deaths of the lab's scientists. Carelessly, Tormolen removes a glove of his suit to better scratch his nose, unknowingly exposing himself to a liquid substance leaping to his exposed hand.

The landing party returns to decontamination on the transporter pad, and further examination and clearance by Doctor McCoy. Tormolen's sudden anguish over the surface death scenes, something that didn't faze him previously, is brushed off with an order for him to rest.

Captain Kirk and his senior officers discuss the possible causes of the madness displayed on the surface. Concerned about the planet's break-up and the crew efficiency needed to main a tricky orbit for their observations, Kirk asks if the surface tragedy could happen aboard the Enterprise. Spock admits to limitations in their scanning technology, but Scotty is confident in his engines, as long as the bridge crew stays sane. Early stages of the planet's destruction begin.

Tormolen, aggravated by his hand and sweating, sits in the mess. Entering in a jovial mood, Lieutenant Sulu tries to sell Lieutenant Kevin Riley on the virtues of fencing. An effort to bring Tormolen into the conversation triggers a hysterical response. Tormolen brandishes his table knife and rants about the futility of life in space. His mood quickly turns to despair and he turns the knife on himself. Sulu and Riley try to wrestle it away unsuccessfully, as Joe falls and impales himself. McCoy and Nurse Chapel fail to save Tormolen's life, leaving a confounded McCoy to speculate his patient had simply lost his will to live.

Psi 2000's breakup accelerates, and the crew follows. Sulu and Riley, now at their conn stations and showing signs of infection, are slow in making a necessary orbital correction. Sulu abandons the helm in favor of some exercise. Riley becomes flamboyantly insubordinate to Spock, sporting an exaggerated Irish brogue. Reporting briefly to sickbay as ordered, Riley proceeds to flirt with Nurse Chapel, infecting her. Sulu, now fantasizing himself a musketeer, stalks the decks with a foil and frightens off two crewmen. Deeper in delusion, he returns to the bridge and takes Uhura, declaring her a "fair maiden" (despite her protest that she was neither), under his 'protection' before Spock subdues him with a Vulcan nerve pinch.

The planet convulses, but the helm is unable to respond. A call to engineering is answered by 'Captain' Kevin Thomas Riley, who has expelled Scotty and crew and begun the ship-wide broadcast of a one-man musical/comedy show. Without power, the Enterprise is twenty minutes from destruction, and the affliction continues to spread throughout the crew.

Spock tours the ship, urging Scotty to hurry in re-taking engineering, observing the madness of crewmen, and checking on McCoy's progress. Chapel is emboldened, confessing her love for Spock and infecting him with the touch of her hand, affecting him quickly. After the insistent blurt, "I am in control of my emotions", he expresses sincere regret for not returning the affection from Chapel. Ignoring repeated hails, Spock begins losing composure in the corridors, and secludes himself in the briefing room before a complete loss of his emotional control.

Engineering is recaptured, but Scotty discovers Riley has shut the engines down completely, a normal restart requiring at least thirty minutes. The Enterprise, now scraping Psi 2000's upper atmosphere, only has eight to spare. A cold-restart with a controlled matter-antimatter implosion in balanced engines is possible, but requires Spock's attention. Meanwhile, McCoy has discovered a cure for the affliction.

Kirk finds his first officer in anguished reflection, regretting his inability to express love even for his mother. Kirk slaps him, and Spock admits to feeling shame over his friendship with the captain. Struck again, he responds in kind, sending Kirk backwards over a table, infecting him.

Kirk haltingly advises Spock that he's better off without love, and rhapsodizes over his great affair, the Enterprise, and the price she exacts. Self-awareness returns to Spock, who proceeds to help Scotty with the restart. Kirk finds the strength to return to the bridge with quiet words to his ship, "Never lose you... never."

Taking the center seat, Kirk's orders are muddled, but a cured Sulu is able to plot the escape from orbit. With a hesitating reach, Kirk longs for his beautiful Yeoman Rand, standing next to him, whom he can't touch but for duty. Spock and Scotty finish preparations, and the restart is engaged. The implosion is successful with an unexpected result, sending the Enterprise three days back in time. Perhaps deciding not to return to Psi 2000, Kirk orders a course ahead, warp factor 1.

[edit] Log Entries

• "Captain's log. Our position, orbiting Psi 2000. An ancient world, now a frozen wasteland about to rip apart in its death throes. Our mission: pick up a scientific party below; observe the disintegration of the planet."

• "Captain's log, stardate 1704.2. The science party we were to have picked up has been found dead. Life support systems had been turned off; station personnel frozen to death. Conditions highly unusual, meanwhile we remain in orbit to complete our mission: close scientific measurement of the break-up of this planet."

• "Captain's log, supplemental. Our orbit tightening, our need for efficiency critical, but unknown to us, a totally new and unusual disease has been brought aboard."

• "Captain's log, stardate 1704.4. Ship out of control, spiraling down towards planet Psi 2000; we have 19 minutes of life left, without engine power or helm control."

• "Captain's log, supplemental. The Enterprise spiraling down out of control, ship's outer skin heating rapidly due to friction with planet atmosphere."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Uh, Lieutenant Uhura: you've interrupted my song... I'm sorry, but there'll be no ice cream for you tonight."

- "Captain" Riley

"There will be a formal dance in the... bowling alley at 1900 hours... In the future, all female personnel are to wear their hair loosely about their shoulders. And use restraint in wearing makeup; women – women should not look 'made-up'."

- Some of "Captain" Riley's orders.

"No dance tonight."

- "Captain" Riley, relieved of command.

"I'll protect you, fair maiden!"
"Sorry – neither!"

- Sulu and Uhura

"I'd like you to teach me that sometime."
"Take D’Artagnan here to sickbay."

- Kirk and Spock, after the latter uses "the pinch" to subdue Sulu

"Get off me! You don't rank me and you don't have pointed ears, so just get off my neck!"

- Joe Tormolen

"Captain – he's turned the engines off. They're completely cold. It'll take thirty minutes to regenerate them!"
(over intercom) "Entering upper atmosphere, captain. Skin temperature now 2,170 degrees."
"Scotty!"
"I can't change the laws of physics; I've got to have thirty minutes!"

- Kirk, Uhura, and Scott

"We've got to risk implosion – it's our only chance!"
"It's never been done."
"Don't tell me that again, science officer; it's a theory, it's possible! We may go up in the biggest ball of fire since the last sun in these parts exploded, but we've got to take that one-in-ten-thousand chance!"

- Kirk and Spock

"I'll never lose you. Never."

- Kirk, to the Enterprise

"I have a beautiful yeoman! Have you ever noticed her Mr. Spock! You're allowed to notice her! Captain's not permitted...!"

- Kirk, to Spock

"Captain, there is an intermix formula... it's never been tested; it's a theoretical relationship between time and anti-matter."

- Spock

"Check elapsed time, Mr. Sulu."
" My chronometer's running... backwards, sir..."
"A time warp... we're going backward in time!"

- Kirk and Sulu

"We have regressed in time 71 hours, captain; it is now three days ago. We have... three days to live over again."
"Not those last three days."
"This does raise some intriguing possibilities, captain. Since the formula worked, we can go back in time; to any planet, any era."
"We may risk it someday, Mr. Spock."

- Spock and Kirk, reflecting on the intermix formula's success.

[edit] Background

[edit] Story and Script

• The first draft of this episode's script was completed on 23 June 1966. The final draft was completed on 28 June, with revised pages dated 1 July and 5 July. The actual episode was filmed during early July. According to at least one source, this episode was to have been the first part of a two-part story that would have concluded with "Tomorrow is Yesterday". [1]
• When Sulu invades the bridge bare chested with his sword, Sulu is glistening with sweat and grabs Uhura who struggles against him. Sulu is then wrestled down by Kirk and nerve pinched by Spock. Later it is revealed that the Psi 2000 virus passes from person to person by perspiration. It is unknown to what degree of physical contact is needed to contract the disease, or the exact circumstance for its transfer which might explain why Kirk, Spock, and Uhura did not contract the disease from Sulu.
• This episode features the first reference to bulkheads in Star Trek.
• McCoy tears the sleeve on Kirk's uniform to inject him with the hypo, but this seems to have been done for dramatic effect only. In subsequent episodes, a hypo shot is delivered through clothing, most notably through a space suit in "The Tholian Web".
• During the rec room scene, Joe Tormolen tells Sulu "You don't rank me and you don't have pointed ears." Sulu does, in fact, "rank him". He and Riley hold the rank of lieutenant, while Tormolen is a lieutenant junior grade. Tormolen's tunic with the single broken line of braid on the sleeve is the only example of the lieutenant junior grade rank in the original series.
• According to Shatner's memoirs, the scene where Spock breaks down into tears was originally supposed to have been a simple sight gag of a crewman painting a mustache on Spock. Nimoy desired a deeper scene for Spock and created the poignant interplay been Spock's alien halves himself. As the production day was winding down, there was time for only a single take, which Nimoy did unscripted.

[edit] Sets and Props

• The hand-held device used by Spock to figure the time before impact is actually an E6B flight computer, which pilots still use today. Given that Roddenberry was an accomplished aviator, and the tight budget, it is possible that this was Gene's personal E6B.
• The environmental suits Spock and Tormolen wore down on the planet's surface were, in real life, made of shower curtains.
• The sensor device Spock carries was seen previously in "The Enemy Within" as Scotty checked out the ore on Fisher's uniform. It is actually a repainted and slightly modified Nuclear-Chicago Model 2586 Radiation Survey Meter from the late 1950s. In "Obsession", it can be seen being held by a crewman as he prepares to scan Garrovick's quarters following the infiltration of the cloud creature. A photograph of a similar meter can be found here.
• The dead woman's body on Psi 2000 was a mannequin.
• In this episode and "Charlie X", the Jefferies tube is located in a spur hallway. In the second season, the set piece had been moved to a main corridor.
• The lighted panels in sickbay and engineering did not contain lights that moved in patterns; rather, stage hands manipulated objects behind the panels to make it look as if the lights were shifting about. In "The Naked Time" and other episodes, you can see this money-saving trick in action, especially in close-ups or in rooms on the sets that are well-lit.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}

[edit] Effects

• In a few sequences of the original episode, the planet disappears from the view screen and the screen is black.
• The phaser does not produce a beam as Scott uses it to cut through the bulkhead to engineering, but blue sparks fly out of the wall to show the cutting action. The absence of a phaser beam is probably due to a need to save money on production costs. But it is also possible that because Scotty is engaged in such a delicate operation, the phaser is on an extremely tight setting, and the energy beam is so narrow as to be invisible. A similar effect (or lack thereof) was used in the third season in "The Way to Eden".
• This is the only episode in which the appearance of a meal from a food synthesizer is accompanied by a puff of steam.

[edit] Cast and Characters

• When Eddie Paskey takes over the helm from the absent Sulu, Leonard Nimoy says, "Take over here, Rand." The name of the character was supposed to be "Ryan" according to the studio cast list. Nimoy appears to be referring to Grace Lee Whitney's character name by mistake. Paskey's character would not a receive a name (Leslie) until "The Conscience of the King".
• This is the first episode in which Eddie Paskey has dialog. Originally, his character was to have said more lines. Not having any other acting job than being an extra, he was so nervous that a few of his lines had to be said by Spock instead.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• This is also the only episode in which Frank da Vinci (Brent) has on-screen dialog (four words).
• Nurse Chapel appears to be watching a slide show of some sort when Riley surprises her. This episode was Majel Barrett's debut in the regular series (as Nurse Chapel), and establishes her love for Spock.
• The studio cast list contains "Crewman #1 and Crewman #2." This may refer to the two hapless men that Sulu chases with his sword, which would mean the extra who appears as "Bobby" in a number of first-season episodes is either Woody Talbert or Christian Ducheau.
• George Takei had great fun acting in this episode, and took his fencing very seriously, avidly practicing his technique on the set and working out to define his chest muscles for his memorable scene in the corridor.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• This is the only TOS episode in which Uhura, Chapel and Rand appear together. The characters will not appear together again until Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

[edit] Reception

• This episode was always a favorite when shown at conventions. Fans would chant, "Have no fear, O'Riley's here" when Bruce Hyde spoke the line, sing along with his rendering of "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen," cheer when William Shatner told the Enterprise that he would never lose her, and even hiss to imitate the sound effect of the disease as it was passed from one crew member to another.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• In his autobiography To the Stars, George Takei says this was his favorite episode.
• This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1967 as "Best Dramatic Presentation".

[edit] Other Information

• From an aside to his assistant, we learn that Scott has his own office somewhere on the ship. Ten years later, Franz Joseph would offer a schematic of it in the Star Fleet Technical Manual. Similarly, at one point Riley mentions the Enterprise bowling alley. Joseph sketched that room, too, in his Star Trek Blueprints.

[edit] Production Timeline

• "Preliminary Draft": 14 June 1966
• Draft script: 20 June 1966
• Revised pages: 1 July 1966, 5 July 1966, and 11 August 1966.

[edit] Remastered information

• "The Naked Time" was the fourth episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication on the weekend of 30 September 2006 and most notably featured new effects shots of the planet from space as well as a shot of the science station on the surface. New computer-generated shots of the hyper-velocity time warp and Sulu's chronometer (now featuring a stardate clock and military time) were also added. Cited by Michael Okuda as an example of the mistakes to be corrected by the remastered episodes, Scotty's notoriously missing phaser beam was finally inserted into the episode.

The original shot of the surface of Psi 2000	The new CGI science station and surface terrain	Sulu's "new" chronometer	The CG Psi 2000 from orbit
The New Digital Enterprise enters orbit of the remastered Psi 2000

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• Original US Betamax release: 1985.
• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 4, catalogue number VHR 2247, release date unknown.
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994.
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.3, 8 July 1996.
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 3, 19 October 1999.
• As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection.
• As part of the TOS Season 1 HD-DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

• William Shatner as Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Spock

[edit] Co-Starring

• Stewart Moss as Tormolen
• Majel Barrett as Christine

and

• Bruce Hyde as Riley

[edit] Featuring

• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
• Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand

And

• George Takei as Sulu
• James Doohan as Scott
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• William Knight as Moody (credited as "amorous crewman")
• John Bellah as a laughing crewman

[edit] Uncredited

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Frank da Vinci as Brent
• Christian Ducheau as Crewman #1
• Eddie Paskey as Ryan
• Woody Talbert as Crewman #2
• Unknown actor as Bobby
• Ron Veto as Harrison

[edit] References

18th century; Alert B-2; antimatter; biopsy lab; botany; bowling alley; briefing room 2; bulkhead; chronometer; checkers; cold start; cycling station; D'Artagnan; environmental suit; fencing; France; Grayson, Amanda; ice cream; intermix chamber; jumpers; magnetic field; polywater; polywater intoxication; Psi 2000; respirator; Richelieu; serum; shish kebab; spectrography; stratosphere; strawberry; time travel; Vulcan

[edit] External link

• The Naked Time at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

Previous episode produced: "The Man Trap"	Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1	Next episode produced: "Charlie X"
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Previous remastered episode aired: "The Devil in the Dark"	TOS Remastered	Next remastered episode aired: "The City on the Edge of Forever"