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Return to Tomorrow (TOS episode)
Encyclopedia
- For the book on near-death experience see Return from TomorrowReturn from tomorrowReturn From Tomorrow is a book by Dr. George G. Ritchie describing his near-death experience in an Army hospital at the age of 20.In "Return from Tomorrow," he tells of his out-of-the-body encounter with other beings, his travel through different dimensions of time and space, and ultimately, his...
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"Return to Tomorrow" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, first broadcast February 9, 1968 and repeated August 2, 1968. It is episode #49, production #51, written by John T. Dugan, under the pen-name "John Kingsbridge", and directed by Ralph Senensky
Ralph Senensky
Ralph Senensky is an American television director and writer. He studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and worked as a stage director before directing for television....
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Overview: Telepathic aliens take control of Kirk's and Spock's bodies.
Plot
On stardateStardate
A stardate is a date in the fictional system of time measurement developed for Star Trek, commonly heard at the beginning of a voiceover log entry such as "Captain's log, stardate 41153.7...
4768.3, the starship
Starship
A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel....
USS Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
picks up a curious distress call from a distant planet that was presumed uninhabited; the supposed victim of an ancient global disaster. Upon their arrival, the crew makes contact with a telepathic being who speaks to Captain Kirk's and Mr. Spock's minds, addressing them as "my children." The being identifies himself as Sargon
Sargon
Sargon is an Assyrian name, originally Šarru-kin , which may refer to:- People :*Sargon of Akkad , also known as Sargon the Great or Sargon I, Mesopotamian king...
and requests Kirk and Spock to come down to the planet.
Spock locates a remote power source deep within the planet. Sargon indicates that is where he can be found. At first, Kirk says that only he and Dr. McCoy will beam down, leaving Spock on the ship, but Sargon shuts the ship's power down. It comes back on only when he agrees to take Spock with him. Kirk and Spock go to the transporter
Transporter (Star Trek)
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern , then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter...
room and find Dr. McCoy and Dr. Ann Mulhall, an astrobiologist, waiting for them. Mulhall tells Kirk that she "received an order" to report for landing party duty. While Mulhall is not sure who ordered her to report, she insists that she is telling the truth. Spock perceives that she received an "order," just as Kirk had received an "order" to take him along. The coordinates to which they are to be transported are determined to be underneath 100 miles of solid rock. Chief Engineer Scott and Dr. McCoy express concern about this, but Kirk assures them that if Sargon wanted to eliminate them, "they or it" would have done it without the aid of the transporter.
Kirk, Spock, Mulhall and a hesitant McCoy enter the transporter chamber accompanied by two armed security officers as Scott looks on. As the transport proceeds, the security guards are left behind, while the rest of the landing party successfully materializes in a deep subterranean vault, much to Mr. Scott's relief. The landing party finds a glowing sphere resting on a pedestal. The sphere indicates that it is Sargon. He and two other spheres hold the last of the greatest surviving minds of his ancient people. Their essences were stored here, along with other great minds who have since died, after a world war devastated the planet half a million years ago. Sargon explains that they once had physical bodies, but they now exist as beings of pure energy, contained inside the spheres like the one they see before them.
Sargon repeatedly refers to the landing party as his children. When Kirk asks why Sargon refers to them as "my children," Sargon says it is probable that human beings actually are descendants of his people. Six thousand centuries ago, they explored and colonized the galaxy just as Earth people do now; he speculates that Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
were two of their travellers. Dr. Mulhall objects that life on Earth evolved independently, but Spock says the colonist idea would explain certain enigmas in Vulcan pre-history. Either way; Sargon can't confirm either legend.
After these introductions, Sargon takes control of Kirk; transferring his mind into Kirk's body and moving Kirk's mind to the sphere. As Sargon adjusts to his new form, Dr. McCoy scans him and realizes that Kirk's body is already being negatively affected by Sargon's presence. Kirk's metabolism and temperature rise to dangerous levels, but Sargon refuses to leave the body, insisting his control will only be temporary - just long enough for him and his companions to construct artificial bodies they will later occupy. He indicates he will need Mr. Spock's and Dr. Mulhall's bodies for his remaining companions.
Sargon leads the party to another room, where the two surviving spheres are held. Only two of the spheres, amongst many, are glowing; the others are dark and cold. Sargon indicates the two active spheres hold the minds of Thalassa, his wife, and Henoch, a former enemy of his. Sargon explains that this is how they stored their minds after the war, and have been lying in wait for someone to find them. Kirk's body becomes too drained, so Sargon returns to the sphere and Kirk returns to his body. While McCoy is disturbed by the prospect of alien possession, Kirk states that during the brief exchange, he learned what Sargon is and what he wants, and he is not afraid. Sargon allows them to return to the Enterprise so that they can decide whether they will willingly allow for the transference. In an impassioned speech in the briefing room, Kirk reminds his reluctant officers that "risk is our business" and suggests amazing technological advances which Sargon and his people might be able to provide if they follow through with the plan. Finally voting yes, the team gathers the active spheres and brings them onto the Enterprise.
Kirk, Spock and Dr. Mulhall take the spheres to sickbay where Dr. McCoy closely monitors the transfer of minds. Sargon returns to Kirk's body, while Henoch enters Spock, and Thalassa enters Mulhall. The three look over their new bodies, happy to finally be able to breathe, touch and feel again. After Thalassa and Sargon are forced to leave their host bodies due to the physical drain, Henoch, with the assistance of Nurse Chapel, prepares three hypospray injectors with a serum to ease their metabolic increases. Nurse Chapel notices Sargon's injector looks different and points out that Kirk will die without the proper formula. Henoch uses mind control to force her to be oblivious to the fact.
The three aliens begin to manufacture their artificial bodies, but Sargon weakens and returns for another hypo injection. While he is away, Henoch tries to persuade Thalassa that they should keep their living bodies, since the artificial ones will be incapable of experiencing physical sensations. Thalassa is clearly tempted.
Thalassa goes to the briefing room to meet Sargon, who has just called on the doctor to meet him. As she tries to convince him to keep the bodies, Sargon collapses to the floor. Dr. McCoy arrives a moment later to find that Kirk and Sargon have died. McCoy rushes Kirk's body to sickbay, where he is able to keep the body alive, but with no way of knowing how to transfer Kirk's mind from the sphere in which it is remains trapped.
In the meantime, Henoch has completed an artificial body for Thalassa, but she refuses to transfer her consciousness into it, choosing instead to remain in Dr. Mulhall's body. She offers to heal Kirk in exchange for Dr. McCoy's complicity in her theft of Dr. Mulhall's body. McCoy refuses to sanction such an act and Thalassa briefly attacks him with her mind. As McCoy writhes in pain, Thalassa realizes that she is behaving cruelly and stops. Suddenly, Sargon's mental voice returns and speaks to Thalassa; Thalassa reports that Sargon has taken refuge within the ship itself. As Nurse Chapel enters sickbay, Thalassa tells Dr. McCoy that Sargon has a plan, and orders him to leave sickbay.
McCoy leaves, and moments later he feels the ship quake. A moment later Nurse Chapel exits sickbay in a daze. McCoy rushes in to find that that Kirk and Dr. Mulhall have reentered their bodies and that all three of the spheres have been destroyed, including Spock's. McCoy is stunned that Kirk sacrificed his "best friend," but Kirk insists that it was necessary. Kirk has McCoy prepare a lethal injection for Henoch, who is still in Spock's body, since the sphere that contained Spock's mind has now been destroyed. Meanwhile, Henoch has taken the bridge, effectively taking control of the ship.
McCoy rushes to the bridge and tries to inject Henoch with the lethal serum, but reading his thoughts, Henoch freezes McCoy in place. Henoch then orders Nurse Chapel to inject McCoy with the deadly compound. She takes the hypo and turns to Dr. McCoy as if to inject him, but then quickly turns and injects Henoch instead. Henoch laughingly claims that he will "simply transfer" to another body, but then, hearing the voice of Sargon in his mind, pleads to be allowed to transfer. A final look of panic crosses his face as Spock's body collapses, apparently dead. Thalassa and Sargon - now both occupying the ship - succeed in destroying Henoch during his flight from Spock's body.
Kirk expresses regret as he leans over Spock's lifeless body, but Sargon speaks, stating that he could not allow for the loss of someone that Kirk was close to. Both Spock and Nurse Chapel begin to glow, and as they all turn their attention to Nurse Chapel's drooping form, Spock suddenly bounds up from the floor. McCoy is shocked that Spock would have survived such a lethal injection, but Sargon reveals that the injection was not lethal. Spock affirms that the injection was designed only to cause loss of consciousness. McCoy was meant to believe it was lethal so that Henoch would also believe it as he read McCoy's mind, leading him to flee Spock's "dying" body. Kirk questions where Spock's consciousness was kept after the sphere was destroyed and Spock reveals that it was in a place where Henoch would never have suspected: within the body of Nurse Chapel, where she and Spock shared their consciousnesses.
Sargon and Thalassa decide not to go forward with their plans to live amongst humans and announce that they must "depart into oblivion." But before leaving they make a final request: to be allowed to occupy Kirk's and Mulhall's bodies one last time so they can enjoy a final moment together before they depart. As the bridge crew observes, Thalassa and Sargon share one last kiss.
40th Anniversary remastering
This episode was re-mastered in 2006 and was first aired July 7, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded two weeks earlier by the remastered version of "The Omega Glory" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "Charlie X". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:- The planet the Enterprise is summoned to has been changed to look more like a lifeless world.
- When Thallassa attacks Dr. McCoy the flames that surround him have been cleaned up.
- Other flashes of energy throughout the episode have been cleaned up digitally.