To say that “The Man Trap” is a dubious outing for the first ever aired episode of Star Trek, is entirely valid. The fact is, the story is pedestrian, slow to develop, and though the final moments are suspenseful, the episode is ultimately unsatisfying. There are some strengths, however. The performances of the triumvirate of Captain James T. Kirk, Doctor Leonard (Bones) McCoy, and Spock are very solid, and hint at a camaraderie that will develop soon after. Additionally, the overall introductions of the crew are handled quite well.

The episode begins with Kirk and McCoy conducting a routine medical examination for a pair of archaeologists on a remote planet. To add to the tension a bit, the archaeologist’s wife, Nancy, happens to be an old flame of McCoy. There’s nothing inherently dramatic about the setup and Kirk even jokes with Bones, handing over a handful of weeds as a potential bouquet.

Once they meet Nancy, however, things begin to get a bit strange. Bones sees the woman just as she was years ago. Kirk sees her as a still lovely, but graying woman. And the other member of the team, Darnell, sees her as a tempting, young blonde. Clearly there is more to Nancy than meets the eye and the mystery becomes central to the episode. Along the way, both Nancy, and her husband Dr. Crater, ask for salt tablets. And when Darnell is found dead, deprived of all salt from his body, suspicion immediately falls on Nancy and Dr. Crater.

The whole opening is narrated by Kirk, almost in a quasi-film noir mode. But it’s distracting, and even redundant. Worse yet, however, the ploy isn’t consistently used throughout the episode.

Eventually, we learn that Nancy is, in fact, a creature who is a shapeshifter, able to take the form of other beings at will. The real Nancy has been dead for years, and this creature has been, with Dr. Crater’s full knowledge, been masquerading as Nancy ever since. This leads to a series of long, drawn out scenes in which the creature disguises itself as various members of the Enterprise crew – including, eventually Dr. McCoy himself.

The episode ends with the creature attacking Kirk. Bones must choose between his memory of his former love and the life of his current commander. It’s an effective scene primarily because of the performance from Bones. He quite convincingly conveys the anguish that he feels.

As for the rest of the episode, I greatly enjoyed the humor and the humanity of the characters. Much of modern storytelling seems to eschew humor and joviality as though they are, somehow, not authentic to human drama. But the truth is, as a future Trek character would someday say about humor and laughter, that, “there is nothing that is more uniquely human.” To ignore this side of humanity is a great mistake. Fortunately, Trek revels in its humor – usually (though not always) to great effect.

The characters themselves seemed pretty comfortable within themselves – probably a result of this not being the very first episode filmed. But even so, there are some errors. Kirk, who quite compellingly has a great concern for his crew, exploded at Bones for being introspective about Nancy – moments after Kirk had made a joke about it. It’s a small inconsistency, but it was certainly notable. The other performances from Bones and Spock were very plausible. But some of the supporting crew, including Sulu, didn’t carry the same impact

While there were no critical mistakes in “The Man Trap,” the episode didn’t elevate itself. The overly lethargic pace is the primary culprit. But even so, the story itself wasn’t especially compelling. And some of the performances didn’t ring true. Plus, there was little else to the episode, thematically speaking. On the flipside, the camaraderie, especially between Kirk, Bones and Spock, was very enjoyable. Visually, the episode was very strong. And the combination of humor and drama helped the episode traverse its often glacial passages.

Filed under: Original Series