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When surveying a planet for some rare metal, Kirk (William Shatner)
smells something that reminds him of a mission that ended in many deaths
when he was still a young cadet - and indeed, a few moments later, a
couple of redshirts are taken out by a cloud, drained of all their blood.
Kirk insists to investigate, even though the Enterprise has a mission
lined up to deliver urgently needed and quickly expiring medicine to
elsewhere. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) start to
question their captain's state of mind, especially since he insists the
cloud that killed the men is a lifeform, but Kirk just moves ahead, and
heads another survey team to the planet, among them Ensign Garrovick
(Stephen Brooks), son of the captain of the ship from above-mentioned
mission. More redshirts die, and Kirk relieves Garrovick of duty since he
failed to shoot the killer cloud fast enough. Then the cloud leaves the
planet, and the Enterprise takes up pursuit - but somehow the cloud gets
into the system, and it's only thanks to the fact that Spock's blood is
copper rather than iron based that it can be flushed out. Ultimately, the
Enterprise follows the cloud to its home planet, and in a mission that
could have meant their deaths, Kirk and re-instated Garrovick blow it up
... And yes, of course in the end everyone agrees Kirk was right to
fight the cloud rather than deliver badly needed medicine, as it could
have destroyed the galaxy. One of the lesser episodes of the
series, as it takes itself way too seriously while just falling from one
cliché into the next. As a result, all the plotpoints feel generic, while
the central threat of the episode, a cloud, is just a bit too silly on one
hand, too vague on the other to hold the episode together in any
meaningful way. That said, not a horrible episode mind you, just one of
the lesser, more forgettable ones.
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