The Terratin Incident

DVD, Star Trek: The Animated Series (The Terratin Incident)

It begins as a very technical story, but becomes quite fantastical - I imagine children would have been a touch bored by the first half of the episode with all its talky scenes on the ship, but then would have become interested when the crew begins to shrink, whereas the adult mind is more attuned to the discussions early on, then when it becomes a bit silly, makes it a less enticing prospect. At the same time it is somewhat entertaining to see the crew shrink and have to operate the controls with difficulty, but I would say it is one of the weaker stories. It turns out that this lost colony of humans is responsible, as the natural rays of the planet made them so small (no explanation of why they stopped shrinking), that the only way they could be saved was to transform the crew down to their size, although this doesn't make complete sense since Kirk was back to normal size when he first spoke to them on the viewscreen, so they could have simply sent a message, couldn't they?

I liked the idea of another 'Terra' colony (Terra Ten, which became Terratin), in line with 'Enterprise' and its Terra Nova, and there were some interesting 'facts' revealed about the ship itself. I imagine it was details such as these that Roddenberry disliked enough to wish the series to be considered non-canonical. For example we see that they keep sensitive lab animals in Sickbay (also in line with 'Enterprise' and Dr. Phlox' menagerie!), as Kirk wants to know how the radiation, or whatever it was, is affecting them. Then there's the news that Starfleet uniforms are made from the algae-based 'xenylon' (in contravention of 'Discovery' and its full-on replication, used to show off what effects we can do now at the expense of canon, since 'TOS'-era ships aren't supposed to have such tech then), and the Turbolift doors open thanks to an 'electric eye' which registers the presence of someone approaching, perhaps the most problematic reveal! They're set to become too small to make it work. There's even one shot of a member of a Landing Party who's seen to be wearing glasses, when surely all such ocular issues would be ironed out as easily as Sulu's broken leg with the micro-laser.

The best tech revelation comes with the Transporter being said to keep records of those that use it, so Kirk is returned to normal size when he's beamed back up to the ship after a rather foolhardy one-man mission to the planet's surface. The idea of Transporter records and restoration would become a common one in Trek, although it was probably already in mind from 'TOS' when such episodes as 'The Enemy Within' showed that people could be split and joined back together with its use (later to be so used in 'Voyager' when Neelix and Tuvok became Tuvix in the titular episode). Best line goes to Scotty who warns his Captan to be careful where he steps once he's back on the ship, as the crew's still tiny, ant-like in size! James Doohan continues to perform his multiple roles as Scotty and Arex (good views of the Navigator in this one - we see his three feet are more like paws. If only Saru on 'DSC' had been made a… well, whatever species Arex is - it would have been a great touch and they could still have invented all this lore about him since we know nothing about Arex), while also performing the voice of the colony's leader. Nichelle Nichols also gets a small extra role as 'Mess Officer Breel' speaking over the intercom.

The strange mix of technical details and wacky cartoon sci-fi doesn't really sit well. Not to say that it's bad, but they could do much better, as we've seen. Still, the beautiful animation style and shots of the ship and characters continue to make every episode at least watchable, and in this time of un-Trek-like Trek, it's a nice reminder when things made (relative) sense, and there was a devotion to continuity and internal reality that is missing from our modern era.

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