The Man Trap (episode)

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

"The Man Trap"
TOS, Episode 1x05
Production number: 6149-06
First aired: 8 September 1966
Remastered aired: 29 September 2007
←  6th of 80 produced in TOS  →
1st of 80 released in TOS  →
←  43rd of 80 released in TOS-R  →
1st of 911 released in all  →
Written by	George Clayton Johnson
Directed by	Marc Daniels
In-universe date	←  1513.1 (2266)  →

A shape-shifting, salt-craving creature terrorizes the crew of Enterprise. (Series premiere)

Summary

Teaser

Orbiting the planet

"Captain's log, Stardate 1513.1. Our position, orbiting planet M-113. On board the Enterprise, Mr. Spock temporarily in command. On the planet the ruins of an ancient and long-dead civilization. Ship's surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down to the planet's surface. Our mission, routine medical examination of archaeologist Robert Crater and his wife Nancy. Routine but for the fact that Nancy Crater is that one woman in Doctor McCoy's past."

In 2266, the USS Enterprise, in the service of Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets, arrives at the planet M-113 to provide supplies and routine medical exams to Doctor Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy, with whom their Crewman Doctor Leonard McCoy was once romantically involved. M-113 has supposedly been home to the Craters for five years, during which time they have conducted an archaeological survey of the planet's ruins. They are the only known inhabitants of the planet.

Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Darnell beam down to the planet and meet Dr. Crater and, apparently, Nancy Crater, but each of the landing party sees a different woman. McCoy, who says he is amazed at how little Nancy has changed since the last time he last saw her, sees the Nancy he knew twelve years before. Kirk sees a woman similar to the woman McCoy sees, but more appropriately aged. Darnell sees a completely different, younger blond woman who looks exactly like someone he met before on Wrigley's pleasure planet. When he mentions this, "Nancy" doesn't seem to mind, but Kirk and (especially) McCoy find this an offensive remark and ask the crewman to step outside. Minutes later, "Nancy" leaves and still looks (to Darnell) like a beautiful blonde woman, and he is lured away by this seductive version of Nancy Crater.

Act One

Dr. Crater then arrives, treating Kirk and McCoy with hostility, telling Kirk that the only thing they need are salt tablets. Otherwise, he and his wife want to be left alone. Kirk debates this, insisting they must need other supplies and that regulations require that McCoy give them physicals at a yearly interval. After Crater realizes that McCoy is the same man he heard his wife mention, his demeanor takes a turn for the better. During the physical, a woman's scream is heard from outside.

When Kirk goes to investigate, he finds Darnell dead, with "Nancy" standing over him. Darnell's face is scarred with circular marks. "Nancy", appearing very distraught, claims she saw him put a poisonous plant called a borgia in his mouth, but was unable to rescue him in time.

Uhura tries to elicit conversation from Spock

On the bridge, a bored and somewhat flirty Communications Officer Lieutenant Uhura is attempting to engage Commander Spock in conversation while he sits in the Enterprise's command chair, to no avail, due to Spock's half-Vulcan heritage causing a lack of a sense of humor. Kirk and McCoy beam back up. When the transporter room reports that one of the party is dead, Spock, who is still talking to Uhura, unemotionally responds, "Bridge acknowledging." This causes Uhura to express wonder that Spock did not even ask who among the party had died, as it could have been Captain Kirk, whom Uhura notes is the closest thing he has to a friend. Spock replies that showing concern would not change the outcome of the event and implies that therefore doing so would be meaningless.

Aboard the Enterprise, McCoy determines that Darnell was not poisoned, and in fact McCoy can find nothing wrong with him at all. When McCoy recalls that Nancy looked younger to him and notes that he could have been looking at her through a romantic haze, Kirk snaps, "How your lost love affects your vision, Doctor, doesn't interest me. I've lost a man. I want to know what killed him."

Act Two

Later, McCoy discovers that Darnell's body has been completely drained of salt.

Kirk, McCoy, and two crewmen beam back down to the planet to investigate further, and Kirk insists that Dr. Crater and his wife beam up to the Enterprise until the investigation is complete. Abruptly Dr. Crater runs off to find "Nancy". Sturgeon, one of the crewmen who beamed down with Kirk and McCoy, is found dead. The other, Green, is also killed by "Nancy" and then "Nancy" transforms into Green.

Kirk and McCoy question "Green", and then the three beam up to the Enterprise.

The being Kirk and McCoy saw as Nancy Crater, and later Green, is a shape-shifting creature, the last surviving native of M-113, and can literally appear as a different being to each person it meets. By reaching into their minds and drawing on their memories, the creature can lull potential victims into a false sense of security, and hypnotize them, before killing them. Still in the image of Green, the creature follows Yeoman Janice Rand (who is carrying a tray of food, including a salt shaker) into a botanical laboratory where Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu greets Green by name. "Green" says nothing, which Rand finds curious. Eventually, "Green" exits without harming anyone, revealing the deception, or getting any salt.

Loose aboard the Enterprise, the M-113 creature still disguised as Green, bites his knuckle nervously, an idiosyncratic gesture "Nancy" had done earlier. When Uhura appears, the creature assumes a new form, one Uhura regards with curiosity and a sense of familiarity. When "he" begins speaking in Swahili, Uhura is delighted and responds in the same language. But then her smile fades as the creature apparently causes her to "freeze", to the point which she is unable to respond to hails for her to return to the bridge. It is only the appearance of Sulu and Rand leaving the botanical laboratory that saves Uhura from being the next victim. She comes to her senses and acknowledges through an intercom panel that she is on her way to the bridge. But soon another victim, Crewman Barnhart, is found dead by Sulu and Rand on the Enterprise, with the same distinctive markings on his face. Kirk now knows that whatever killed Darnell and Sturgeon on the surface has now killed again – on board the Enterprise.

Act Three

Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet to capture Professor Crater. While Kirk tries to reason with Crater, who is armed with a laser pistol, Spock finds the real Green's body. Kirk calls up to the Enterprise with his communicator and orders general quarters condition three, and has Sulu begin the search for "Green". Crater does not want to be captured and fires his laser pistol at Kirk and Spock, hitting and partially destroying one of the ancient archeological structures. Kirk and Spock set their phasers for stun. Spock then distracts Crater and Kirk fires a red bolt from his phaser and stuns Crater. Kirk and Spock question Crater about the creature. After Kirk inquires about Nancy, Crater says that she has been dead for a year, maybe two. He also describes the M-113 creature, comparing it to the buffalo on the planet Earth: once they were so plentiful, a herd covered three states, but no longer. The problem facing the M-113 creature is the need for sodium chloride – salt. The creature will die without salt. The rest of its race died due to this shortage, and now "Nancy" is the last of its kind.

Act Four

In the Enterprise's briefing room, Kirk holds a conference with department heads and Professor Crater. The M-113 creature appears at this meeting as McCoy, whom the creature knows is asleep in his quarters. It is during this meeting that Crater reveals that he and the last surviving creature have formed a symbiotic relationship. Crater provides the M-113 creature with the needed salt and, in turn, the creature gives the professor companionship… something Crater has craved since the creature murdered his wife, the real Nancy Crater, for her salt. Crater also admits that he can recognize the creature in any guise--but does not reveal that the creature is presently sitting right next to him, in the appearance of Dr. McCoy. When Crater refuses to assist in the capture of the creature, Spock suggests a truth serum, and the captain asks "McCoy" about it. "McCoy" reluctantly agrees, and it (the creature) leaves with Crater. Spock volunteers to accompany them.

Kirk, McCoy, and the M-113 creature, posing as Nancy Crater

Finally, the creature kills Crater in sickbay and attacks Spock. Fortunately Vulcan physiology makes him an unappetizing victim for the creature (as Spock explains to the captain from sickbay). Now desperate, the creature, now once again appearing as (age-appropriate) Nancy, returns to McCoy's quarters, begging him to defend it (her) from Kirk and Spock, who have figured out the creature's secret. Kirk appears, with salt tablets in one hand and a phaser in the other, and tries to convince the doctor to stand clear: this is not the real Nancy. Even when the creature overpowers Kirk, and McCoy is standing dumbstruck at the turn of events, the doctor still cannot bring himself to shoot what appears to be the woman he once loved. Spock arrives, sees Kirk in distress, and immediately urges McCoy to shoot, but the doctor refuses. After a brief but unsuccessful struggle to take the phaser away, Spock repeatedly and violently strikes "Nancy", in an effort to convince McCoy that this is not Nancy. The creature, who is apparently not affected at all by Spock's blows, strikes the Vulcan, knocking him across the room. Then the creature reverts to its natural form, placing its hands on Kirk's face. Kirk cries out, and finally, in an emotionally painful move, McCoy kills the creature with a phaser blast, saving Kirk and the Enterprise crew. Afterwards, the Enterprise departs its orbit of M-113. Spock notices a solemn-looking Kirk in his captain's chair and asks what is wrong. Kirk solemnly replies "I was thinking about the buffalo, Mr. Spock." The Enterprise departs M-113.

Log entries

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2266

Memorable quotes

"Go away. We don't want you."
"What you want is unimportant right now. What you will get is what is required by the book."

- Crater and McCoy, on the routine medical examination required by Starfleet

"Mr. Spock, sometimes I think if I hear that word frequency once more, I'll cry."

- Uhura, starting a conversation with Spock

"Tell me how your planet Vulcan looks on a lazy evening when the moon is full."
"Vulcan has no moon, Miss Uhura."
"I'm not surprised, Mr. Spock."

- Uhura and Spock

"This man shouldn't be dead. I can't find anything wrong with him. According to all the tests, he should get up and just walk away from here."

- McCoy, on the death of Darnell

"Message, Captain. Starship Base on Corinth IV requests explanation of our delay here, sir. Base Commander Dominguez says we have supplies he urgently needs."
"Tell José he'll get his chili peppers when we get there. Tell him they're prime Mexican Reds, I hand picked them myself. But he won't die if he goes a few more days without them."

- Uhura and Kirk

"Mr. Spock, outfit a landing party. We're beaming down with some questions."

- Kirk

"But it's a mystery. And I don't like mysteries. They give me a bellyache. And I've got a beauty right now."

- Kirk, on the unexplained deaths of his crew members

"You could learn something from Mr. Spock, Doctor. Stop thinking with your glands!"

- Kirk to McCoy, on the search for Nancy

"Why don't you go chase an asteroid?"

- Rand, to "Green"

"Hey, how'd you like to have her as your own personal yeoman?"

- Crewman, admiring Yeoman Rand walk down the corridor

"May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet."

- Sulu to Rand, as she brings him a food tray

"Why do people have to call inanimate objects she?"

- Sulu, to Rand

"You been nipping Saurian brandy or something?"

- Rand, to "Green" in the botany room

"What's the matter? Can't you sleep?"
"No."
"Try taking one of those red pills you gave me last week. You'll sleep."

- Kirk and McCoy, after beaming up from Sturgeon's death, and Nancy's disappearance.

"Keep a tight fix on us. If we let out a yell, I want an armed party down there before the echo dies."

- Kirk to Uhura, just before he beams down to the planet

"This thing becomes wife, lover, best friend, wise man, fool, idol, slave. It isn't a bad life to have everyone in the universe at your beck and call! And you win all the arguments!"

- Kirk to Crater, on the M-113 creature

"Fortunately, my ancestors spawned in another ocean than yours did. My blood cells are quite different."

- Spock, on surviving the creature's attack

"We don't want you here! We're happy alone! I'll kill to stay alone! You hear that, Kirk? Or you'll have to kill me! I don't care either way!"

- Professor Crater, to Kirk and Spock

"Lord, forgive me."

- McCoy, before killing the creature

"Something wrong, Captain?"
"I was thinking about the buffalo, Mr. Spock."

- Spock and Kirk, on the death of the creature

Background information

Production timeline

• Story outline "The Man Trap" by Lee Erwin: 7 April 1966
• Revised story outline by Erwin: 15 April 1966
• First draft teleplay "Damsel with a Dulcimer" by George Clayton Johnson: 23 May 1966
• Second draft teleplay: 31 May 1966
• Revised second draft teleplay "The Man Trap": 8 June 1966
• Revised teleplay by John D.F. Black: 13 June 1966
• Final draft teleplay by Gene Roddenberry: 16 June 1966
• Additional revisions: 17 June 1966, 20 June 1966, 21 June 1966
• Filmed: 22 June 1966 – 30 June 1966
  • Day 1 – 22 June 1966, Wednesday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge
  • Day 2 – 23 June 1966, Thursday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge
  • Day 3 – 24 June 1966, Friday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Corridors, McCoy's quarters
  • Day 4 – 27 June 1966, Monday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Botany section (redress of Sickbay), Briefing room, Sickbay
  • Day 5 – 28 June 1966, Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Craters' dwelling
  • Day 6 – 29 June 1966, Wednesday – Desilu Stage 10: Ext. M-113 surface
  • Day 7 – 30 June 1966, Thursday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 10: Ext. M-113 surface
• Score recording: 19 August 1966
• Original airdate: 6 September 1966, by Canadian network CTV, and actually constitutes the worldwide premiere of Star Trek
• First US airdate: 8 September 1966
• First UK airdate (on BBC1): 4 October 1969
• First UK airdate (on ITV): 6 September 1981

Script and story

• The first draft of this episode's script was completed on 13 June 1966, and the final draft three days later. In The Star Trek Interview Book, p. 136-137, author George Clayton Johnson recalled that story editor John D.F. Black's only major objection to his first draft was that the M-113 creature did not arrive aboard the Enterprise until the third act. Black argued that the crew had to be put in jeopardy sooner, and so Johnson revised the script accordingly.
• An early title for this episode was "Damsel with a Dulcimer." In the original story outline, Professor Crater was, at one point, supposed to drive a futuristic tractor around the archaeological site.
• In Johnson and Black's script version of 13 June 1966, the moral dilemma of killing 'the last of its kind' had been more pronounced, with the creature, disguised as McCoy, trying to reason with the crew. Also in that version, Professor Crater lives in the end, mourning the loss of the creature. Gene Roddenberry's rewrite for the final draft toned down the emotional aspects of the McCoy relationship in favor of a more straightforward plot: as a cornered animal, the salt creature panics and actually kills its longtime companion, Professor Crater. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st. ed., pp. 169-170)
• Johnson's original draft lacked much of a presence of Spock; actually, it was Scotty who accompanied Kirk to catch Crater – which was also changed by Roddenberry. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed., p. 170)
• Sulu's botanical collection was much more lavish in Johnson's original script, including a plant resembling the face of a Chinese dog, etc. This was eliminated for budgetary reasons, Beauregard remaining the only moving "exotic plant". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed., p. 168)
• It was Roddenberry's idea to have the creature, in its illusory form, speak Swahili to Uhura. Kellam de Forest supplied him with the translation. In English, the illusory crewman says "How are you, friend? I think of you, beautiful lady. You should never know loneliness." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed., p. 170)
• The episode was novelized by James Blish under the original scripted name "The Unreal McCoy" in the first Star Trek adaptation collection, released in the US by Bantam Books in January 1967.
• Blish changed some of the names in his novelization, possibly working from an earlier script draft. The planet is called Regulus VIII, and the archaeologists are Robert and Nancy Bierce.
• "The Man Trap" was the first Star Trek episode to air, on 8 September 1966. As Robert H. Justman and Herbert F. Solow recount in their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (pp. 163-164), the decision to broadcast this entry before any other of the few completed episodes was, largely, a process of elimination. Although it had good special effects and demonstrated the series' intelligent approach to alien life forms, "The Corbomite Maneuver" was not chosen because its completion was delayed by the post-production process. Moreover, virtually all of its action took place aboard the Enterprise. The latter drawback also weighed against "Charlie X", which was further deemed "too gentle" a tale because it dealt with the problems of an adolescent. "Mudd's Women" was out of the running because it was questionable to lead off the Star Trek franchise with a risqué story about selling women to miners in space. The second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", was considered too "expository" in terms of its background to be broadcast so early. Justman actually favored "The Naked Time" because he thought it would provide an ideal introduction to the different characters' personalities. "The Man Trap" won out because its straightforward action plot was not considered too exotic, it had the advantage of a monster to thrill the viewers, and it fulfilled the series' "strange new worlds" concept.
• As the very first episode aired by NBC on 8 September 1966, "The Man Trap" was also the premiere for Star Trek as a whole. Yet, it was not NBC who could boast the world premiere of Star Trek, but rather the Canadian network CTV, which had actually aired "The Man Trap" two days earlier. [1][2]

Credits

• As the first episode actually telecast, the opening credits are slightly different from most other first season shows. Gene Roddenberry has "created by" credits and there is no "starring" before William Shatner's name. This version of the credits was used only once more, in "Charlie X".
• In this episode, Garrison True and Larry Anthony both speak several on-screen lines, yet are not listed in the closing credits.
• In the first season, directors and writers were not credited until the very end of each episode, while they are credited right after the title of each episode beginning in season two.

Cast

• The very first Enterprise crew members whom the television audience saw in this premiere episode were Spock, Uhura, and Leslie, sitting in the command module on the bridge (which is, in fact, a recycled shot from "The Naked Time").
• James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) does not appear in this episode, but he is briefly heard on Kirk's communicator in dialogue lifted from another episode.

Costumes

• The costume of the M-113 creature was designed by Wah Chang. Chang used a modified gas mask as the creature's mouth. The costume later appeared, displayed on the wall of Trelane's drawing room in "The Squire of Gothos". Later, the "creature" found a new home in Justman's office, along with the two Gorn suits from "Arena" and the "frozen" mannequin from "The Naked Time". (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, p. 215)
• The suit worn by Barnhart previously appeared in The Outer Limits episode "The Production and Decay of Strange Particles" (guest-starring Leonard Nimoy), even down to the numbers seen on the suit. [3] The same suit can be seen worn by an extra in the corridor scenes in "The Corbomite Maneuver". There were several other alien creature costume holdovers from The Outer Limits that would appear in Star Trek, most notably creatures, created by Janos Prohaska, modified to create creatures seen in the Talos IV zoo in "The Cage" and the Horta in "The Devil in the Dark".
• For the first time on camera, Uhura wears a red uniform, instead of a gold one, from the earlier filmed episodes, "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Mudd's Women".
• A female crewmember wearing pants can be seen on a corridor. "Charlie X" is the last episode featuring a crew woman wearing pants.
• In one of the red alert scenes on an Enterprise corridor, the crewmen are wearing turtleneck uniforms. It is a recycled (originally unused) shot from "Where No Man Has Gone Before". (It can be seen at the beginning of Act One, in the original, pre-broadcast version of the second pilot.)

Visual and sound effects

• The visual of the planet M-113 from orbit was reused footage previously representing planet Alfa 177 in "The Enemy Within", though this episode aired first. This planet effect was reused again many times during the original series.
• When Nancy Crater first walks into the dig headquarters, Nichelle Nichols' singing from "Charlie X" was briefly dubbed in as Crater's voice. ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• In early episodes like this one, there are up and down indicators that light up outside the turbolifts. Although they are seen in subsequent episodes, only in the earliest ones do they actually light up to indicate direction of travel. Elevator indicator lights later show up in engineering above one of the consoles.
• The bridge sound effects still retain sounds from the two pilots. By the time Roddenberry left as producer, those original sounds were not heard again, with the brief exceptions of being heard while on the bridges of the Exeter and the Lexington. The DVD releases, however, have overlaid these older sound effects in every episode. They are presented as "rear channel" sounds which gives the episodes a "surround sound" effect.
• A unique phaser ricochet sound effect was used when Crater was stunned by a phaser shot, the only time this effect was ever used in the original series. Alfred Ryder's voice then slows down, representing the stun effect.
• In a Desilu Inter-Department Communication from Bob Justman to Bernard A. Widin, dated 3 November 1966, it was noted that the music score cost for this episode was an exorbitant $9,029.63.

Production

A moment from this episode's filming

• Just prior to filming "The Man Trap", Alfred Ryder (Robert Crater) suffered a severe arm injury. Despite the pain, he performed his role without a complaint. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 90))
• The original version of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" has a couple additional corridor shots later edited for the aired version. One of those shots is recycled for this episode when the "General Quarters 3" order is given and cuts off before Gary Mitchell enters the shot.
• Although this episode was filmed before "The Naked Time" stock footage from that episode is used for the bridge scene at the very beginning. Kirk's run down the corridor to the sickbay is also recycled footage from "The Naked Time" as is a reaction shot of Kirk when Spock is telling him about the borgia plant on the sickbay video display interface.
• Recycled footage from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" with Spock seated in the captain's chair is used for the same bridge scene at the beginning.
• The shot of the computer monitor in sickbay, then in McCoy's quarters is the same shot, is recycled from "The Corbomite Maneuver" (with the close-ups of Kirk and Spock matted in during post-production).
• This is the only segment of Star Trek in which McCoy's quarters appear. A pan and cut along a blank wall allowed two McCoys to appear in the same room. The three cylindrical containers on the shelf in McCoy's room were previously seen on Ben Childress's table in "Mudd's Women". These cylindrical containers later appear in the large lighted shelf display area in McCoy's lab.
• The ship's arboretum is a redress of the sickbay set. (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 96)
• Professor Crater's weapon is the MK. 2 version laser pistol seen in only two other episodes; "Where No Man has Gone Before" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
• The statue near the entrance of the Crater home can later be seen in Spock's quarters in "Amok Time" and subsequent episodes.
• The opening and closing theme music composed and arranged by Alexander Courage, utilizing an electric violin, was used for the first nine originally aired episodes. This music was actually recorded during the scoring sessions for "The Man Trap". On home video and syndication versions, note that only "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is correct and contains the original aired end credit music. The next eight, first season episodes, in sequence, video released versions of these first season episodes, incorrectly, substitute the Fred Steiner arranged "cello" end theme music. This music was recorded during "The Man Trap" as the score for "The Corbomite Maneuver", "Balance of Terror", and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed, p. 175).

Continuity

• Several early episodes of Season 1, beginning with this one, have Uhura flirting with Spock. Although no relationship between them developed during the course of TOS or the "Prime universe" films, the 2009 Star Trek film, set in the Alternate reality established a relationship between them that predated Kirk's assignment to the Enterprise.
• Uhura's seeming unfamiliarity with Spock was retroactively contradicted by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds establishing they previously served together under Christopher Pike.
• In this 1966 episode, Spock states in his typical matter-of-fact delivery that Vulcan has no moon, but several stories beginning with the 1973 episode TAS: "Yesteryear" would apparently contradict this assertion by depicting a large body visible in the sky from the ground on Vulcan. Based on an idea by D.C. Fontana, a 1975 fanzine story would resolve this discrepancy by explaining Vulcan to have a sister planet, T'Khut (somewhat comparable to Pluto and Charon); this binary pair status would be picked up by several licensed novels and eventually be canonized by a computer graphic visible in the 2023 episode SNW: "Charades".

Preview

• The preview contains a captain's log recorded solely for the preview: "Captain's log, stardate 1324.1. On Planet M-113 we encounter a killer from a lost world." Interestingly, the stardate is significantly different from those used in the episode.

Broadcast

• September 8, 1966, is usually given as the first broadcast date for Star Trek. However, this episode aired in Canada on the CTV network on September 6, 1966, two days before it aired on NBC in the United States, making Canada the first place that Star Trek was ever broadcast. (See, e.g., Montreal Gazette, Sept. 6, 1966, p. 36.) At the time, Canadian stations often aired TV programs earlier than American stations did ("pre-release"); since Canadian viewers could often pick up American transmissions directly, this avoided competing with the American stations for viewers and advertising revenue. [4]^(X)
• When first screened in the United Kingdom in 1969, the BBC partially edited the episode, removing much of Spock attacking Nancy during the climax and Kirk's screaming. The cuts remained until the 1992-94 repeat run. [5]

Syndication

• During the syndication run of Star Trek, no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Reception

• Variety published a quite negative review of Star Trek on 14 September 1966 issue based on the episode "The Man Trap," stating the series "won't work." The reviewer said Star Trek is "dreary and confusing," stating that it would be "better suited to the Saturday morning kidvid bloc," and surprised the show actually made it to television; concluding the leading performers were trying to appear credible. (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 31)
• TV Guide also printed a negative review of the series in its 10 September Fall Premiere issue, stating that "the sky's not the limit for this Trek." (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 31)
• This was the first Star Trek episode that David Gerrold viewed. Watching it upon its first airing, Gerrold was thrilled by what he saw, later reminiscing, "I watched it eagerly. I was amazed that something this imaginative had made it to television." [6]
• The episode also made an impression on future Star Trek: Enterprise staff writer Chris Black, who was in kindergarten at the time he saw the installment. "I remember […] seeing the M-113 creature,' the M-113 creature, and running out of the room in terror," Black recalled with a chuckle, while working as a writing staffer on Enterprise. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 143, p. 28)
• Actress Grace Lee Whitney considers the arboretum scene of Rand and Sulu as one of her favorite scenes of the series. She recalled that shooting the scene was quite funny, and the entire cast and crew were in a lighthearted atmosphere. Some crude jokes were told in connection with Beauregard and her, and even the puppeteer below the table (Bob Baker) tried to reach for her short skirt with the puppet. Whitney later described this episode as "filled with plenty of horrific and suspenseful moments. It was a great debut episode for the series." (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 96)
• In his book Trek: Deepspace Nine (p. 44), writer Scott Nance stated about this episode, "It was only one step away from B-grade movies."
• In the Leonard Nimoy-hosted 1983 documentary Star Trek Memories, Nimoy mentioned the fact that NBC chose to air this episode first, since (at least to the network) it was "proper" science fiction with a "proper" alien menace. Nimoy also stated that of the episodes the cast and crew had already completed, this was their least favorite.
• In William Shatner's 1993 memoir Star Trek Memories, p. 189-190, he calls this episode "a dreadful show, one of our worst ever."

Apocrypha

• A cat version of "The Man Trap" was featured in Jenny Parks' 2017 book Star Trek Cats.

Video and DVD releases

• Original US Betamax/VHS release: 28 February 1985
• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 4, catalog number VHR 2247, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.2, 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
• As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Links and references

Starring

• William Shatner as Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Spock

Co-starring

• Jeanne Bal as Nancy Crater

Guest star

• Alfred Ryder as Robert Crater

Featuring

• DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy
• Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand

And

• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Bruce Watson as Green
• Michael Zaslow as Darnell
• Vince Howard as Crewman
• Francine Pyne as Nancy III

Uncredited co-stars

• Budd Albright as Barnhart
• Tom Anfinsen as Command crewman 2
• Larry Anthony as Berkley
• John Arndt as Sturgeon
• Bob Baker as Beauregard (as "Puppeteer")
• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Frank da Vinci as
  • Brent
  • Vinci
• James Doohan as Montgomery Scott (voice only; recycled audio)
• Sandra Gimpel as M-113 creature
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Jeannie Malone as Yeoman
• Walter Soo Hoo as a Command division technician
• Garrison True as an Operations division officer
• Ron Veto as Harrison
• Unknown actors as
  • Bobby
  • Bridge guard
  • Command crewman 1
  • Command crew woman 2
  • Crewman
  • Navigator lieutenant
  • Security crewman
  • Maintenance engineer (archive footage)

Stand-ins

• William Blackburn as the stand-in for DeForest Kelley
• Frank da Vinci as the stand-in for Leonard Nimoy
• Jeannie Malone as the stand-in for Grace Lee Whitney and Jeanne Bal
• Eddie Paskey as the stand-in for William Shatner

References

2254; 2256; 2261; 2265; age; affection; alien; alkaloid poison; analysis; ancestor; animal; animate; answer; apology; arch: archaeologist; archaeology; argument; artifact; asteroid; attitude; autopsy; beast; bellyache; bait; best friend; black; blood cell; body; body heat; "Bones"; borgia plant; botany section; braid; bribery; briefing room; buffalo; bully; captain's log; Carbon Group III; case; celery; chameleon; chance; chemical structure; chili pepper; class M planet; coincidence; column (record-keeping); communications console; communications officer; complaint; Constitution-class decks; conversation; coordinates; Corinth IV; Corinth IV starship base; crewman; crying; danger; day; death; deck; demonstration; digging; dispensary; doctor; Dominguez, José; door; doubt; dream; duty; earring; Earth; Earth history; Electrographic Analysis; engineering; Engineering Deck; engineering level; error; evening; explanation; eye; face; fact; fang; fear; feeding; feeling; file photo; flower; fool; foot; frequency; friend; general quarters; Gertrude; girlfriend; gland; gold; gray; great bird of the galaxy; hall; hair; hand; harassment; head; health; heat; heaven; "hello"; herd; Human; hunger; hypnotic power; hypothesis; idea; idol; inanimate object; incisor; in love; instruction; intelligence; intruder; intruder alert; job; lady; landing party; life sciences department; logic; Lord; love; lover; M-113; M-113 creatures; machine; marriage; match; MD; medic; medical department; medical examination; medical team; medical test; medical tricorder; memory; Mexican; mile; military log; mind; minute; mission; mistake; moon; mouth; muscles; mystery; name; natural ability; natural state; nickname; nightshade family; ocean; orbit; order; passenger pigeon; past tense; person; phaser; physician; pill; place; plant; "Plum"; poison; pound; prairie; professor; provisioning; quarters; question; quote; reason; red; red pill; record tape; reference; report; research personnel; risk; romantic; ruins; salt; salt depletion; salt tablet; sample; Saurian brandy; search; search radius; section; ship's surgeon (aka starship surgeon); shipment; skin mottling; slave; sleep; sodium chloride; solitude; space; Space Commander; space happy; speaker; starship base; Starfleet regulations; state; subspace log; subspace message; Supply and Maintenance; surface search equipment; surgeon; suspicion; Swahili; Swahili language; swallowing; symptom; thing; thunder; time; tonsil; tongue depressor; teeth; tranquilizer; transporter room; tray; trespasser; trick; trust; truth; truth serum; United States of America; universe; vegetation; violence; vision; Vulcan; Vulcans; water; weeper; wife; wise man; worry; Wrigley's pleasure planet; Wrigley's pleasure planet girl; year

Unused references

M'Umbha; mess call

External links

• "The Man Trap" at StarTrek.com
• "The Man Trap" at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• "The Man Trap" at Wikipedia
• ""The Man Trap"" at MissionLogPodcast.com, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast

Previous episode produced: "The Enemy Within"	Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1	Next episode produced: "The Naked Time"
Previous episode aired: None		Next episode aired: "Charlie X"
Previous remastered episode aired: "The Conscience of the King"	TOS Remastered	Next remastered episode aired: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"