The Galileo Seven - 1.16

The Enterprise is en route to Makus III to deliver medical supplies, a mission overseen by High Commissioner Ferris. On their route is a quasar-like formation Murasaki 312, which Kirk feels compelled to investigate despite the time sensitive nature of their mission. Ferris disapproves of this diversion, but Kirk insists that they are obliged to check things out and have plenty of time before the rendezvous on Makus III. He sends Mr Spock, Scotty, Dr. McCoy, Lieutenants Latimer, Gaetano, and Boma, and Yeoman Mears on the shuttle Galileo to investigate the formation. Unsurprisingly, things start to go wrong and the shuttle is pulled into Murasaki 312 and crash lands on a thankfully class M planet without radio communication and an inoperable shuttle. Even better, the planet is populated by giant furry creatures that like to spear things.

This is Spock's first command situation, as Bones points out and he proceeds logically, of course. Logical command, as Spock soon learns, is not always the best kind of command. At least when dealing with non-logical beings. Two crew-men end up killed by the creatures and the rest of the crew get more and more frustrated with Spock's logic. In such a desperate situation, his cool-headed rationality inflames them even more. Mr Scott eventually rigs up a fix to the shuttle using the power from their phasers that will get them into orbit where hopefully the Enterprise will see them and where they will be out of most of the ion interference. However, by this time, Ferris has forced Kirk to give up the search so they can make it to Markus III in time.

Things look pretty bleak for the shuttle crew and it seems clear that logic has failed. In a move that seems somewhat spontaneous, Spock jettisons the rest of the shuttle's fuel and ignites it. This ensures them that their orbit will decay rapidly and they will burn up in less than 10 minutes. The idea is that the burning fuel was to act as a flare, but Spock knows that the Enterprise has since abandoned them and will likely not see their signal. Lucky for them, they do and the crew gets beamed aboard at the last minute.

Back on the bridge, Kirk asks Spock about his decision. To him, it seems like a decision driven by desperation... a very emotional response to the situation. Spock insists that he arrived at this "desperate" act by logical means. The episode ends with the whole bridge crew laughing at Spock's stubbornness.

On the whole, "The Galileo Seven" proves to be an interesting commentary on the balance between emotion and logic in command.

Overall : 7
Camp : 4 (for the silly furry monsters alone)