As the episode begins, a big container of drugs is loaded onto the transporter. Or is it a normal-sized container of big drugs? If so, let’s hope they’re not suppositories. After lowering the Enterprise shields, the drugs are beamed to the prison planet below in exchange for a mysterious box large enough to hide a man in!
It turns out that the man-sized box contains… a man. Specifically, a man who looks like a total nut job. This is further evidenced when he attacks a crew member …insanely.
After pointing a phaser at the Captain and demanding asylum, the nut job is restrained and taken to sickbay. After a display of acting that could best be described as extreme, we learn that the nut job, is none other than Dr Van Nutjob, a scientist and employee of the prison planet. A message from his colleague, Dr Adams, on the prison planet, reveals that Dr Nutjob had experimented on himself and damaged his brain. Bones is suspicious and requests that Kirk investigates.
Kirk asks McCoy to recommend a psychologist from his crew to beam down to the planet with him. Bones picks Dr Helen Noel, a very attractive space girl. In a brilliant move by the writer, we learn that something had happened between Kirk and Noel at a Christmas party. Kirk is clearly embarrassed.
On the planet, Noel believes everything that Dr Adams tells them, but Kirk becomes sceptical after meeting a prisoner who acts almost robotically. The colony has been curing prisoners by making them bury their memories via a device called a neural neutraliser. Catchy. Kirk decides that he and Noel should spend the night on the colony. Frankly, I’m not surprised.
Through the night, they explore the neural neutraliser. Kirk decides the best way to test if it will turn a brain into robotic mush is to strap himself into the device and let Noel plant suggestions in his mind. At first she plants the idea that Kirk is hungry, and it does indeed make him hungry. Kirk then asks her to come up with an unusual suggestion. She suggests that he runs around with his trousers on his head. It’s all very funny. That is, until Dr Adams takes over the controls and starts planting suggestions that Kirk is madly in love with Noel and that it will cause him pain not being with her.
Released to their rooms, Kirk comes up with a plan. He loads Noel into an air vent (the kind large enough to take a human being, as seen in every television show ever, and rarely seen in real life). It leads to Noel crawling around on all fours, showing off her blue knickers. Apparently, in the future, girls will wear their underwear over their tights. Ever noticed how they always match their uniforms. It’s Star Trek law. I digress.
Helen shuts down the power, allowing Kirk to escape from the brain treatment room and Spock to beam down. Immediately, he restores power, reactivating the machine and wiping Dr Adams’ mind. It all works out nicely. Except for Dr Adams who is left with the mental capacity of a baked bean.
Dagger of the Mind is a nicely written story, with many nice touches. The inclusion of Helen Noel is a work of genius, and the hinted-at back-story with Kirk adds a lot of depth, suggesting that a lot happens on the Enterprise between episodes. Yes, Dagger of the Mind is an episode you won’t want to forget.
Cast:
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Guest Cast:
James Gregory as Dr. Tristan Adams
Morgan Woodward as Dr. Simon Van Gelder
Marianna Hill as Dr. Helen Noel
Creative Staff:
Director: Vincent McEveety
Written By: S. Bar-David
