Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic
Kirk, Spock, Bones, Chekov, a hot yeoman, and some redshirts beam down to a planet with a no doubt numerical name and a red sky. They have been ordered by Star Fleet to investigate some strange readings and to contact the inhabitants there. Kirk seems outright annoyed at this mission from the start, and McCoy even notes that it's a shame to have to disturb the planet. It is rather odd that Star Fleet has instructed them to make first contact with no knowledge of the people's technological advancements there. But this is early Trek, and they play fast and loose with the Prime Directive regularly.
Immediately a redshirt dies of a flower attack. When I say immediately, I mean immediately. He falls over and almost literally before he hits the ground Bones pronounces he's dead. He doesn't even attempt to administer aid. He doesn't even hold his finger on his pulse long enough to get a reading. So we've learned that flowers kill people here, and moments later we see kirk casually pluck a flower and sniff it.
The crew wanders around a bit, and discovers that the rocks are land mines, and the poison darts are everywhere. Then, another flower attack! This time Spock bravely takes the hit to save Kirk. But of course, Spock is fine even though we just saw this exact attack kill someone else. Moments later, Kirk, again:
Shit, man! Leave the damn flowers alone already. Then, a lightning attack vaporizes a redshirt. Transporters aren't working either, because of course they're not. In fact, nothing on the Enterprise works, and it is being sucked into the planet by tractor beam. Then, Spock gets struck by the vaporizing lightning, but he's fine again. Yes, even though we also just saw this exact scenario kill another guy. Also I think "Spock" must mean "pecker" in Vaalian, because the people there think his name is hilarious. Then the Enterprise shoots the thing sending out the tractor beam, and the whole thing is over just that simply. The end.
Okay, not really. This episode is about whether or not it's ethical to inform the people of Vaal that their lives are meaningless since they're just serving a dumb machine of unknown origins. Spock points out that the arrangement seems to work just fine, but McCoy says that since they're not progressing as a society they're not really living. Chekov shows them how to make out.
In the end, Vaal forces their hand and they are forced to destroy the machine in order to save their lives. Vaal was willing to kill everyone on the ship, plus had instructed the Vaalians to kill the landing crew. In my opinion the overt religious parallels with the Garden of Eden are more distracting than they are thought provoking. Even the title makes no sense. Adam and Eve ate the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but what is "The Apple" here? It was Vaal himself, their god, that taught them to kill, even though Spock falsely blames humanity, and then later Kirk jokes that it is Spock who most resembles Satan. The crew only taught them to love, which I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve already knew about.
Because of these reasons, "The Apple" is only an Adequate episode of Trek. The end was basically a foregone conclusion, as it is stated in the opening sequence that they are there to meet the inhabitants and investigate the odd technological readings. Pretty much sums up what happens over the next hour. But still, it's entertaining, and Chekov gets laid.
Published April 25, 2021
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