Dagger of The Mind

DVD, Star Trek S1 (Dagger of The Mind)

Something's not right, here, and it's nothing to do with a so-called lunatic loose on the Enterprise: Kirk beams down with a blueshirt crew-woman to meet a mad professor who's requested that as few people as possible visit, on a planet where they must travel underground, become captives and Spock comes down at the end to help. Haven't we seen this one before somewhere? Oh yes, the previous episode, 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' had an almost exactly identical plot, except this time there's no Ruk to provide the menace - that comes from something much more innocuous and commonplace: a simple light in the ceiling. Dr. Adams is more monstrous than the great android creation because he seems such a genial host, fully cooperative of the potentially embarrassing investigation Kirk is apparently duty-bound to mount, open, courteous, ready to please and smooth over any awkwardness (like leaving the room so Kirk can speak in confidence with Spock), accepting of the need for regulations, but not enforcing them when it's his turn (allowing Kirk to keep his Phaser), indulgent to the social faux-pas that any good host would be, especially one with his reputation for benevolence and social improvement that he's implemented across the penal system, which Kirk describes to a sceptical McCoy as being more resort than prison. The crooked heart of Adams is only revealed at his choosing, taking advantage of Kirk's arguably foolhardy testing of the neural neutraliser on himself, without any backup except for his accomplice, Dr. Noel.

It could be suggested that he was like Dr. Korby, who had ambitious plans for a new society free from disease and death, but wasn't afraid to deal with any opponents to that dream, only Adams' goal appears to be less benevolent even than that. I'm not entirely sure what his ultimate purpose was, whether he simply enjoyed experimenting on his patients and testing his unethical theories of brainwashing, or if he had a wider plan, a threat to wider galactic society. He seemed perfectly happy to be left alone in his own private asylum where everyone was at his mercy, a kind of personal kingdom where his word was not only law, but became every other person's desire, too, as shown by the vacant inmates and staff. An insidious individual, full of the charm that would facilitate his work to continue without interruption from the outside. But how long would he have been satisfied with this walled garden before wanting to use his device in a wider context against society's ills? It shows that this future society, unlike the far more utopian 24th Century, still has its feet firmly in the past, even if attitudes have moved on significantly from the time it was made: McCoy represents this point of view best, uncomfortable at the incarceration of humans at all, apparently regardless of their crimes. It is his care of the 'mad' Dr. Simon Van Gelder which puts enough doubt in Kirk's mind that he brings it upon himself to carry out an investigation, even though Adams has such a good reputation, Kirk has visited other similar facilities before, and the Doctor urges him to come down, if only for the sake of a social contact which he rarely receives.

I can't imagine McCoy being sidelined for the girl of the week in the way he is, later in the series, nor Spock for that matter, who are both left aboard while Kirk goes down with one of McCoy's colleagues, a bit of a setup by the Doc, since Dr. Helen Noel and he shared a friendly moment at a Science Lab Christmas party, which momentarily shakes the usually stalwart Captain, not wanting additional complications in a situation that is far from clear at the outset. At least, I think it was a setup in response to and perhaps to make up for their friction earlier, but we never get a conclusion to Noel's story - once she's carried out her task of crawling though air conditioning ducts (something you wouldn't usually associate with Trek, except in the more manageable Jefferies Tubes of starships), where Kirk sends her on the off chance it might lead to the power supply, and shutting down the colony's shield, we don't see her again, nor is she even mentioned. Was that done with the purpose of leaving Kirk's (at least partially), artificial attachment to her unresolved so she could be brought back? We're still at a stage in the series where the main cast were undefined, with no Chapel or Rand, or even Scotty and Sulu, appearing in this episode. I get the impression that if Uhura hadn't had such a visually prominent role on the Bridge, she'd be in a lot less episodes, too. So it seems that any Tom, Dick or Helen can be created to serve the story if need be, and it certainly gives the episode more depth than if it had been someone we already knew, as it puts Kirk under a different kind of pressure than we've seen before.

Of course, ordinarily he can handle it, being the professional he is: he's the type of Captain who will show up in any department, whether that's the Science Lab Christmas party, or the Transporter Room during a routine cargo transfer procedure (you'd think a Chief would know to contact a penal colony before trying to beam something in, so they can let their shield down, but this may illustrate how rare it is in this society to encounter such institutions). And you can see his crew respect him more for such care and attention - they don't see it as the boss coming down from on high to interfere with their jobs, but as a respected leader offering his presence, validation or assistance, another side of his greatness as a Captain that is a delight to see. But you also see this episode has an effect on him, unspoken, but as in a few episodes recently, Kirk is left to close out the episode with his own facial expression, which I could describe as resolved, but troubled, and you could take from it that his unbecoming conduct to Dr. Noel under the influence of Adams' suggestion, haunts him - not to any degree that would affect his decision-making or ability to lead, but it would have been fascinating to see how he dealt with her in future encounters, had she returned. For such a disciplined man you sense a certain shame would be appropriate, that a man like Adams was able to best him, and despite the man's death, has left an imprint upon his subconscious that can't be erased: in other words, though he didn't necessarily love Noel, he's been made to think he does. And perhaps there was something there anyway, so it's a personal truth forced to the surface in an uncomfortable way. This is all a reading of the episode, not something in dialogue, but it comes from the acting and the way it finishes out.

Dr. Noel wasn't a bad character, although she does promote some friction, perhaps allowing her feminine pride to be affected by Kirk's aloof command professionalism, so she's pretty argumentative with him, in support of Adams' work and methods, Kirk hitting back when she gets angsty about him not taking her advice, by saying jovially that one of the privileges of a starship Captain is to be able to ask advice and not take it. Adams enjoys the discourse of sparring conversation as if it's much-missed social banter rather than the concerns of official investigators of his facility, so it proves a very interesting few scenes between the three that shows some quality writing skill. Adams is a great character, especially when you know he's the villain, but the episode does take a turn into more simple climes after he's been unmasked as the evil genius type that he is, forcing Kirk to endure his neural neutraliser on a higher, far more painful setting than the Captain had bargained for and implanting love for Noel into his mind. It might have been a more complex episode if this had had an effect on Kirk that forced him to try harder to save them for Noel's sake, perhaps if his life had been almost forfeited for hers because of this false belief of his adoration for her. Instead, it's just an inconvenience they both have to help him fight, mainly served by splitting up to effect an escape plan separately, and as I noted, not having a resolution: if she could have come to the Bridge and Kirk had been fully professional with her (as he would be with Marlena Moreau in 'Mirror, Mirror'), rather than simply ignoring it, it would have given some closure.

When Kirk visits her quarters at the facility, during their stay there, she seems to assume he's there with amorous intentions, that his concerns are a pretext for a nightly visit, but in fact he genuinely wants her input while she comes across as quick to judge and much less of a professional. She still has her moments, clearly a knowledgeable young lady, and capable of acting in physical situations, getting in some action when she's sneaking into the power supply area, moving like a trained espionage agent and not above fighting back when the security forces arrive, even kicking her assailant onto the high voltage machinery, electrocuting the unfortunate. While this more visceral action side to the episode adds some pace and direct danger to proceedings, I much preferred the implied sinisterness of the place, the tension losing much of its intensity when things become more straightforward. The neutraliser made a big impression on me when I first saw this as a child, though, and I remember thinking that looking at that spinning light too much might actually affect me, giving the episode an even darker hue, if seeing the heroic Captain being tortured in a chair wasn't enough. We even had a couple of light fittings in the ceiling of the dining room that seemed similar to me! Adams' death is suitably, poetically just, punched by Kirk he's left in the neutraliser booth - when the power gets turned back on he's forced to endure the mind emptying, alone until death, without even a torturer for company, as Kirk puts it, which sounds like just about the worst death imaginable!

Something else that made the episode stand out to my child's mind was Dr. Van Gelder, whose wild eyes and out of control physicality, straining at every sinew to be able to tell them who he was and what was happening at the colony, was an incredible performance, and remains a standout feature of the episode, Morgan Woodward so powerful, especially as he's wracked with pain, his mind crushing the thoughts he's been forbidden from expressing. Contrasted by the worried McCoy and the calm, curious Spock, his episodes have even greater intensity. When he first surreptitiously emerges from the crate, dressed in the blue, kimono-like utility suit we later see is standard uniform at the colony, he looks like a mad martial artist, an impression only heightened by his karate chops to the unsuspecting Transporter technician who made the elementary mistake of turning his back on an unopened, recently transported container, a real no-no, and the suspecting, but dozy redshirt who joins the Bridge (making Kirk and McCoy jump), only to turn his back on the Turbolift door, the only means of entry for an escaped mental patient roaming wild across the ship! Even before Van Gelder took him out I was thinking how ineffective such a stance would be on a potential threat, but lest we assume all members of the crew are as unobservant, one guy sees Van Gelder and alerts the Bridge because he's now wearing the red technician uniform of Engineering staff, as if we never see anyone like that in the corridors! What if he was just a Transporter tech on his way to his quarters?

Overzealousness and dereliction of duty aside, the episode throws up some, shall we say, fascinating skills for one particular crewmember: Mr. Spock gets the chance to showcase both a Nerve Pinch and a Mind Meld in the course of his interactions with Dr. Van Gelder. The nerve pinch had been previously established, but is well used on the Bridge to take down the Doctor who demands asylum at 'gunpoint' (as Kirk puts it, though Phaserpoint would be more accurate), threatening to destroy the ship's 'control panel' if he's refused. As if the ship had only one control panel! I assume he meant the Helm and Navigation stations since he was aiming in that general direction, towards Kirk, but nevertheless it was a good double team between Captain and First Officer, Spock a distraction, Kirk getting a high kick in to the Phaser-toting hand, and Spock smoothly completing the manoeuvre - Spock's certainly the ideal man 'in a pinch'! The meld isn't just one hand slapped on a face, but an intricate movement with both hands all around the prone Van Gelder's face, and Spock doesn't speak for the man, channeling his patient's thoughts, but frees up his chained thoughts, allowing him to speak without the surges of pain that wrecked every attempt to communicate the danger Kirk was walking into.

I guess the melds humans witnessed or experienced in 'Enterprise' were the exception and were never discussed, since McCoy's unaware of the procedure and Spock says it is a personal custom of the Vulcan people (a bit like the Klingons' head ridge history, which, according to Worf, they don't discuss with outsiders!). It made sense in that series that mind melds were frowned upon and considered something only a fringe element would perform, although even that was changed by the fourth season where it began to be accepted again - considering the length of a Vulcan generation, it's believable that it would have remained a private and little used practice, as we're still in a time period where Vulcans from that era are alive (as witnessed in 'Amok Time' where the ancient T'Pau is carried in, the young version of which we met in 'Enterprise'). One thing I didn't buy, was Spock's explanation for his people not needing penal colonies, nor committing violence, because they disposed of emotion, and where there is no emotion there's no motive for such acts. He says it almost with a touch of pride to McCoy, which might explain the slight exaggeration, in that Vulcans haven't disposed of emotion, but merely hold it tightly in check within themselves, and sometimes violence could be deemed a logical act (as the unbalanced Chu'lak of 'Field of Fire' put into practice - although, perhaps not the most logical example), so motive would indeed remain. I chalk this up to Spock's feeling of superiority for Vulcan culture, and the need to reassert it at every opportunity, especially in the face of McCoy!

I was surprised they cut away from the meld rather than focusing heavily on it and trying to enhance the feel of mysticism and strangeness, but I do love the two-handed effort, and the posturing and movement around the face of Van Gelder, while he looks much more relaxed and lucid for the first time in the episode. Viewers must have wondered if there was any end to the wonders of Mr. Spock, and one of the great things about having an unknown, unexplained alien as part of a TV series is just that: exploring the unique qualities and alien culture, both mental and physical of someone quite different to the majority of those around him, an angle that would be played on every succeeding TV series (and one of the things about the Kelvin Timeline that sets it apart from everything else, among other things, is that their version of Spock mostly rejects his heritage, and becomes a lot more human, and thus, a lot less interesting than the ever compelling real Mr. Spock). The danger is that every week a new 'power' could be revealed, only for it to be forgotten in subsequent episodes, but they kept a fairly tight rein on the character (once they'd established it, with Nimoy's input), that he would be almost completely unemotional (though even in this episode he displays a half-smile at Kirk at the end), and they didn't continually make up cool stuff for him to perform, partly for the danger of him becoming a comic book superhero with the resulting disconnect with reality, and also, most likely, so that star William Shatner didn't lose all the limelight to the emerging star of Leonard Nimoy - that they worked as a team here was a big step in that direction.

One of the things Kirk became famous for was his womanising ways, and I suspect it began with early episodes like these, where we actually see him carrying Helen back to his quarters in his arms, and kissing her several times. In reality this was at first a mental picture of Helen's imagining, her preferred outcome of the Christmas party, and then secondly, an implanted behaviour in Kirk's mind by Dr. Adams, and in fact, all other times he was a perfect gentleman, intent only on solving the mystery, uncovering anything untoward and getting back to the ship. It's unfair that his true reputation of being such an exceptional Captain has been overridden by other, less accurate concerns, though it's as much to do with the film series' embracing of this stereotype of Kirk, than the impression of viewers before them, further solidified by the Kelvin Timeline version of the Captain as even more of a Jack-the-Lad, and (like the interpretation of Spock), only harming the integrity of the character. One thing that is reassuring about the episode is that Christmas is still celebrated, a nice touch in what would become an increasingly secular humanist worldview for Trek - we'd already had Thanksgiving celebrated in 'Charlie X,' so it's good to have a bit of festival continuity on the series (even if they're actually talking about a past Christmas, whether that means recent or a previous year is unclear).

The episode's design deserves mention, as everything has a detail and quality, from the planet with more detail than usual, to a matte painting off the colony's surface (apparently a reuse of the cracking station from 'Where No Man Has Gone Before,' but I can forgive that as it was a cracking painting!), where we see Kirk and Noel beam down to, and the spare, but artistic decoration of Adams' rooms, and especially the bold uniform patch, much more illustrative than we've seen on other designations, aside from the Enterprise's own, with its white hand holding a dove between thumb and forefinger, a golden sun behind. It adds immeasurably to the colony's reality and atmosphere. Maybe not everything deserves credit, as the cargo containers beamed down to the colony featured rather rudimentary hand drawn labels! Something that was interesting about the crate containing Van Gelder is that it has a destination of Eurasia, NE written on it, and we hear of the Central Bureau of Penology, Stockholm, a very rare reference to Earth on 'TOS' - Noel even states that the beam neutralising has been experimented with on Earth. Other novelties are having Spock and Uhura both using earpieces at the same time and in the same shot (I'd assumed they shared the same one, although that might not have been hygienic); Kirk recording his log direct to a Tricorder while sitting in the Captain's Chair; and of course, not so much a novelty, but Mr. Leslie is faithfully at his station on the Bridge again (which has started to get creakier as the wood's settled!).

It was also quite novel for McCoy to cause some friction with the Captain - granted, it wouldn't be in the future, but the Doc's not really got under anyone's skin consistently yet, so to have him say he's required to record any doubts in his Medical Log, which will require Kirk to respond in his, was quite a moment. There are lots of these unsettling times for Kirk in the episode, whether it be that, or the redshirt popping up on the Bridge, seeing Noel in the Transporter Room, or the sudden drop of the Turbolift at the Tantalus colony, he's often off-balance, but as usual, deals admirably with it all, even when pushed to greater extremes by the neutraliser. It was definitely a case of him having a bad day! So when he puts a brave face on it all at the end, for the benefit of his friends, Spock and McCoy, you see the whole experience affected him deeply. Ironically, this is one episode where a lighthearted joke at the end would have been beneficial, since it does conclude on an uncertain, slightly sombre note. At least the team worked, Spock and McCoy (not yet at the height of their antagonistic interchanges), unlocking the details from Van Gelder, while Kirk walks into the danger below. Perhaps Kirk and Noel didn't make the greatest team, despite her ultimately performing well, but you know that while his closest friends work for his benefit he won't be in danger for too long.

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