“The Paradise Syndrome” is a moving, personal, and compelling story. In many ways, it is the precursor to TNG’s “The Inner Light.” And in every way that this episode mirrors its eventual progeny it succeeds masterfully, weaving a bittersweet tale about how elusive, intense, and fleeting true happiness can be. It’s a story of living lifetime within a finite period of time, and then returning to the world of reality – wiser and sadder for the experience. If only the overall production had been able to live up to the story itself …

The premise of the episode is that the Enterprise is on a mission to stop an asteroid from colliding with a planet with the unfortunate name of Amerind – so named because it is populated by the descendents of American Indians. The whole concept of finding a parallel kind of Earth has been done before, with varying degrees of success, but this episode provides the first really plausible and compelling explanation: a race of superpowerful beings (whom Spock calls “Preservers”) finds primitive cultures on the verge of extinction and “seeds” them on suitable alien worlds throughout the galaxy. In this way, the it’s not only reasonable that the Enterprise would find Native Americans so far from Earth, but it also goes a long way to explaining why all the aliens they encounter look so much alike.

The problem, from a production standpoint, is how stereotypical the Native Americans are presented. One has to wonder if it wouldn’t have been a better idea to simply make this a race of heretofore anonymous humanoids, and drop the stereotypes altogether. There’s no reason why the happiness and balance of the society couldn’t have been duplicated without near-exploitation. The result for this episode is a severe distraction from what is, otherwise, a powerfully compelling story.

While surveying the idyllic planet, Kirk comments on how peaceful the surroundings are and he waxes philosophical about a simpler kind of life. It’s an interesting character moment, revealing a simpler, quieter personality within the normally brash captain. Unfortunately, he cannot stay and appreciate the view – duty calls, after all. But before he can return to the Enterprise, he is accidentally trapped within an alien obelisk and Spock is forced to give up the search in favor of rushing off to deflect the asteroid before it’s too late. In the meantime, Kirk loses his memory and is taken in as a god by the native people – a notion only reinforced after he resuscitates a boy who had drowned.

Following this, he is quickly accepted by the people (save for the man whose promised wife inevitably falls in love with Kirk) and he begins to learn their ways – and accept them as his own. Kirk’s performance here is quite good – with only a few laughable moments sprinkled in (like when he hugs himself). His amnesia and subsequent love for Miramanee is not only plausible, but artfully conveyed. And it sets up the final act as one of real tragedy.

Meanwhile, Spock has been doing his best to divert the asteroid with no success. At first, his efforts aggravate and infuriate the crew. But there is a nice moment between him and McCoy in which McCoy accurately deduces Spock’s guilt and admits that he (McCoy) and everyone else were wrong to question his decisions. Spock redoubles his efforts in trying to decipher the obelisk’s markings as the Enterprise races ahead of the asteroid.

Perhaps the most intriguing element to the episode is the fact that all of this takes place over the course of two months. The pacing of the episode doesn’t suffer from the decision, and in fact, the story benefits greatly. This makes Kirk’s love for Miramanee all the more plausible. And it allows them to not only fall in love, but to also be married and for Miramanee to fall pregnant.

In the end, Kirk’s status as a false god is exposed and the people begin to stone him to death. Miramanee, in an act of love, joins Kirk and is mortally wounded just before Spock and McCoy arrive to save the day (and help Kirk recover his memories). The final scene between her and Kirk is touching and compelling. Kirk’s life has been forever changed. But in the episode’s last mistake, there’s no final commentary on exactly how that change might affect Kirk. And in episodic television, where the next episode rarely acknowledges its direct predecessor, such moments are necessary to solidify such changes.

“The Paradise Syndrome” is a fantastic episode. Much like Picard lived an entire lifetime within minutes, Kirk nearly lives an entire lifetime within months. Both live lives that are quite foreign to the ones they have chosen for themselves and both will take valuable memories and wisdom with them wherever they go. Had this episode matched the production quality of “The Inner Light” it would have been just as good.

Filed under: Original Series