Execution failure on that one, I'd say. Decent idea, and a very Star Treky idea at that (like much of the rest of the season), but just didn't work. It's the on

Execution failure on that one, I'd say. Decent idea, and a very Star Treky idea at that (like much of the rest of the season), but just didn't work. It's the only episode from S1 I'd skip on a re-watch. [EDIT] On reflection, I think the easiest paths to a fix would have been to either go campier with it, until near the end (as TNG or TOS probably would have done) or to go with a distinct, somewhat artsier film-sci-fi-drama tone in the storytelling and cinematography. Its tone is too similar to the rest of the season to work for that particular episode. Fine for the rest, but not quite a fit for that story.