assignment earth (spin off pilot)

The ‘Star Trek’ Spin-Off That Never Was – ‘Assignment: Earth’

By the end of Star Trek ‘s second season, it looked as though the show would be canceled. Word spread among cast and crew in the summer of 1967, as episodes continued to be filmed. Low ratings and network disputes with show creator Gene Roddenberry over how the program should be run had given NBC reason to pull the plug.

In all likelihood, the cancellation would have happened had it not been for the work of Bjo and John Trimble, two dedicated Star Trek fans who organized a letter-writing campaign of fans around the country. The enormous volume of mail convinced NBC to give Star Trek one more season.

Before the campaign took off in earnest, however, Roddenberry was already looking for other opportunities. He cared for Star Trek , but the reality of the time did not seem to show any real future for the series. Near the end of 1967, Roddenberry began work on “Assignment: Earth,” a brand new television series. It had many sci-fi elements, but was totally unconnected to Star Trek .

“Assignment: Earth” focused on Gary Seven, a super-skilled Doctor Who-esque traveler of sorts, who went into Earth’s present day to ensure history followed its proper course. He is joined by Roberta, a secretary, who learns about his mission and follows him along on his adventures. Seven is also accompanied by a shape-shifting cat (a humorous foil to his serious-toned character), along with Beta 5, a super-advanced computer who acts as a kind of advisor. They fight against the Omegans, an evil alien race attempting to undermine Earth via time travel, just as Gary Seven would attempt to set things right. Roddenberry pitched the series as a combination of spy-adventure and science fiction.

Gary Seven actor Robert Lansing describes the character background in a 1989 interview with Starlog Magazine , quoted on an Assignment: Earth fan website , The Complete “Assignment: Earth.”

“Gene was a good friend, but I was a New York snob actor, out to Hollywood. Many folks in my self-perceived position didn’t do Star Trek because it was considered a kid’s show, or a young show at any rate. Gene said, ‘I’m writing this for you and we can play with it. It might be a series.’ He said, ‘Well, you don’t have to, but just do this one thing for me.’ So, I did. It was a damn good script and a lot of fun. “What Gene had done, was to go to futurists and scientists and ask them what advanced societies out in space might do towards more primitive societies like ours. One of the futurists said that they would probably kidnap children from various planets, take them to their superior civilization, raise them, teach and enlighten them, and then put them back as adults to lead their worlds in more peaceful ways. That was the idea behind Gary Seven.”

On its own as a script pitch, “Assignment: Earth” failed to gain any traction. Instead, Roddenberry adapted it into a Star Trek episode, aired as the Season 2 finale. It had become a backdoor pilot, an attempt by a currently running show to launch a new series. The idea of the Omegans was dropped. Gary Seven was no longer stopping aliens, and he had to save mankind from itself: war, greed, corruption, and so on.

The “Assignment: Earth” fan website has a copy of the original pitch, dated from December 1967, used to sell NBC on the idea, now revised as an episode of Star Trek . Roddenberry gives a description that emphasized the modernity of the concept.

“‘Assignment: Earth’ is the Star Trek spin-off pilot of a new show, ‘Assignment: Earth,’ a totally new today concept which can be described as ‘Science Fiction 1968!’ Laid against 1968 backgrounds and stories, but without losing the excitement and imagineering which identified futuristic Star Trek .”

The Star Trek episode “Assignment: Earth” tries to balance screentime for the regular crew against the needs of promoting the new show idea. Kirk and crew inadvertently intercept Gary Seven beaming to Earth. Seven and Kirk tussle throughout the episode, as Kirk attempts to learn of Seven’s true nature, and Seven attempts to accomplish his mission of destroying a space-orbit-bound nuclear warhead.

In a review of the episode, The A.V. Club ‘s Zach Handlen criticizes the disconnected nature of the story from a traditional Star Trek episode.

“Kirk and Spock and the rest are reduced to cameos on their own show… Maybe ‘Assignment: Earth’ could’ve been a decent series; but it’s terrible Star Trek . ” “At least we get some quality time with Teri Garr [who portrayed Roberta]… a pleasure to watch as always. She’s just kind of sweet and friendly, and while I can’t imagine wanting to tune in to her and Seven’s adventures every week, I do feel kind of bad that the show wasn’t picked up, for her sake. But hey, things turned out okay for her in the end, at least.”

If “Assignment: Earth” had been picked up as a series, it might have opened using the following narration, according to documents on the fan site.

“In the hands of this one man… could rest the future of all mankind. His name…Gary Seven… born in the year 2319 A.D. The only survivor of Earth’s attempt to send a man back through time to today. Assignment…fight an enemy who is already here, trying to destroy us. If he fails…there’ll be no tomorrow!”

In this case, there was no tomorrow. The characters of Gary Seven and Roberta have survived in Star Trek books and comics, but no TV series was ever made.

Star Trek would continue for one more season before being cancelled. Reruns, movies, and new TV shows would ensure a future for the franchise. “Assignment: Earth” is a unique footnote to that storied history.

[Featured Image by CBS]

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Assignment: Earth (episode)

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1.1 Original pilot (no Star Trek connection)
• 4.1.2 Star Trek version
• 4.2 Spinoff
• 4.3 Production
• 4.5 Continuity
• 4.6 Apocrypha
• 4.7 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest star
• 5.4 Co-starring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stand-ins
• 5.7 References
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

After Captain Kirk finishes his log entry, suddenly the Enterprise is rocked, and Spock reports that they appear to have intercepted someone's transporter beam. Kirk remarks that there were no such devices in the 20th century . Spock maintains that someone is beaming aboard. Spock discovers that the transporter beam originates more than a thousand light years away. Scott finds that difficult to believe, stating that no transporter beam could reach that far, not even in their time . Suddenly a man in a dark suit, holding a black cat , appears on the transporter pad .

Act One [ ]

The strange man asks Kirk why he was intercepted and who his interceptors are. Kirk identifies himself and tells the man that he is aboard the United Space Ship Enterprise . The man asks what planet they are from, and Kirk says they are from Earth . This the man refuses to believe, because 20th century technology would not allow for a ship like the Enterprise . But when he notices that Spock is a Vulcan , he realizes the ship is indeed from the future and asks to be beamed down to Earth. As security arrives, the man identifies himself as Gary Seven , calling himself a man from the 20th century, and gives his cat's name as Isis . Kirk states, however, that Humans of the 20th century do not go beaming around the universe. Seven explains that he has been on another planet , one much more advanced, and that he was beaming to Earth from that planet when the Enterprise intercepted him. When Kirk asks which planet it is, Seven says that the inhabitants wish their planet to be kept secret and that even in Kirk's time, it will remain unknown. Seven reiterates that he is of this time period and adds that, if Kirk does not allow him to do what he needs to do down on Earth, then Kirk will have changed history. But Kirk, unsure that Seven is telling the truth, decides to keep him aboard the ship until that can be determined. However, Seven tries to escape, overpowering the security guards, and he even shrugs off Spock's attempt at a Vulcan neck pinch . Seven is only subdued by a phaser stun from Kirk. Kirk calls Dr. McCoy and asks him to examine the mysterious man in the brig to determine if he really is Human.

In the briefing room , Spock, who is stroking Isis, mentions that he finds himself strangely drawn to the cat. Ensign Chekov reports that analyzing the direction Seven's transporter beam came from show no habitable planets in that area of the galaxy and Scott says that they will not be able to analyze the transporter beam, as it had fused their recording circuits. The beam could have brought him across tremendous distances across space, and perhaps even through time; there is, quite simply, no way to know. Spock also mentions that current crises on Earth could fill a tape bank, noting that, on this one day alone: "There will be an important assassination today, an equally dangerous government coup in Asia , and, this could be highly critical, the launching of an orbital nuclear warhead platform by the United States , countering a similar launch by other powers." Kirk and Spock briefly discuss the nuclear arms race and how that once the sky was filled with orbiting H-bombs , the slightest mistake could have brought one down, setting off a nuclear holocaust.

Seven soon escapes from the brig using a device called a " servo ," disguised as a pen, to deactivate the force field and put the guard to sleep .

Back in the briefing room, McCoy tells Kirk that Seven is indeed Human, but also that his is a totally perfect body, without a physical flaw at all within him. This raises the possibility that he could be an alien taking Human form, and Spock points out again that Seven could be telling the truth. Kirk laments that neither of them is telling him anything definite. At that point, Isis jumps out of Spock's lap and leaves the briefing room. Security then alerts them that Seven has escaped. In the transporter room, where Isis rejoins him, Seven renders Lemli and Leslie unconscious with his servo and beams down before Kirk can stop him.

Act Two [ ]

Seven materializes inside a transporter chamber , disguised as a vault concealed behind a sliding rack of drinking glasses, in what appears to be an otherwise normal office.

Seven accesses a computer behind the bookcase. Seven asks for the locations of agents 201 and 347. The computer asks Seven to identify himself and Seven tells the computer to check his voice pattern, and it will identify him as Supervisor 194 , code name Gary Seven. The computer recognizes his voice pattern but is unaware of a Gary Seven being assigned to this planet. Seven then tells the computer that he is a Class One supervisor and that the computer is to override all previous instructions and answer his questions. The computer identifies itself as a Beta 5 computer capable of analytical decision and forces Seven to prove himself by describing the mission of the two agents that were sent here. Finally Seven, after griping that he has "little love for Beta 5 snobbery," relents and tells the computer that missing agents 201 and 347 are a male and a female descendant, respectively, of Humans taken from the Earth approximately six thousand years ago ( circa 4000 BC ) and that they were specially engineered and trained for this mission. The problem is that on Earth, its science and technology have progressed faster than its political and social knowledge have. Their mission is to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it can become a peaceful society. The computer states that Seven's information, while incomplete, will suffice and tells Seven that the agents have not reported for three days. Seven tells the computer to immediately begin a search and begins describing how to do so when the computer tells him it is aware of proper search procedures.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Enterprise , Kirk, Spock, and Scott are trying to determine where Seven had beamed down. Scott says that they can get to within approximately one thousand meters of where he had gone. Spock reminds Kirk that following him down is very risky because they may end up accidentally doing something to alter history. Kirk says he knows but he must also know if Seven is being truthful with them. Kirk tells Scott to have ship's stores prepare the proper costumes and then prepare to beam them down.

In his apartment, Seven learns that the agents' mission was to disable a rocket that will launch an American orbiting nuclear platform which is a counter-move to an opposing country that has already done the same. This appalls Seven, who says that this arms race is the same kind of nonsense which almost resulted in the destruction of planet Omicron IV , which the Beta 5 computer confirms. Seven asks if the warhead has been disabled, but the computer says both that it has not been and that there are just under ninety minutes before launch. Seven says that unless the agents are immediately located, he will have to undertake their mission in their absence.

Having beamed down, Kirk surreptitiously calls Scott with his communicator and tells him to lead them to Seven. Scott gives Kirk the coordinates and Kirk and Spock proceed.

Roberta at her typewriter

The computer provides Seven with various pieces of false identification, including identification listing Seven as a colonel with the CIA , a lieutenant in the NYPD , and a colonel with the NSA . It also produces a map of McKinley Rocket Base . At that moment, a young woman walks in and asks if anyone is in. Seven steps out and demands to know where she has been. The woman sees no reason to tell him and asks who he is. Seven asks where 347 is but she neither knows nor understands, jokingly replying that perhaps he is with 348. She then threatens to call the police. After insisting that she sit down, Seven, wrongly believing her to be agent 201, tells her that he is "Supervisor 194, code name Gary Seven" and that he needs a complete report of all that she has done in the last three days. As the woman prepares to start typing, Seven flips a switch and tells her not to bother with her hands. When she wonders how she will type, the typewriter begins typing everything she says. This gets the young woman very frustrated, and after she yells at the typewriter to stop typing what she says, Seven finally switches it off and she says that she will quit. Seven then realizes that she is not acting. Using his servo, he locks the door; he then accesses the computer and has it identify the woman in the room. The Beta 5 identifies her as Roberta Lincoln and says that she is a secretary hired by Agents 347 and 201. Realizing the terrible mistake he has made, Seven asks Roberta what work her employers said they were doing and she says they were doing research for a new encyclopedia. Seven tells her she can go, though she will not be helping her country, unless of course, she does not care for her country. When Roberta protests that she does, Seven tells her that thanks to his incompetence, he has made her aware of some top secret devices vital to the security of the nation. He shows her his false CIA ID and she accepts that it is legitimate. Isis opens the door and meows at Seven. Seven explains to Roberta that Isis is a trained cat and asks Roberta not to let anyone in and she agrees to do so.

Out on the street, Kirk calls Scott again, and Scott tells Kirk that the source was about thirty meters higher than his present location. Thus, Kirk and Spock enter Seven's apartment building.

The Beta 5 tells Seven that agents 201 and 347 were killed in an automobile accident ten miles north of McKinley Rocket Base on Highway 949 . Seven laments the uselessness of dying in such a manner and asks if the facts are verified. The computer does confirm this, noting that the description of the agent's bodies is accurate.

On the floor outside Seven's apartment, Scott tells Kirk which way to go and they find the right apartment. Kirk rings the doorbell and Seven has the computer deactivated. Roberta opens the door, but when Kirk asks about Seven, she says that she has no idea who he is talking about, that this is a government office, and that they should leave immediately. But Kirk will have none of it, demanding to know where Seven is. Roberta demands that Kirk leave, but he refuses, and she finally grabs the phone and calls for the police. Kirk and Roberta briefly struggle over the phone and she asks Seven to come help her. Seven, meanwhile, has entered the transporter in his safe and disappeared. Spock discovers where Seven was, and Kirk goes in and has Spock restrain Roberta. She manages to pull Spock's cap off and is dumbstruck at the sight of Spock's pointed Vulcan ears.

Seven rematerializes inside the rocket base and observes the rocket which is armed with the warhead.

Act Three [ ]

Kirk finds Seven's map of McKinley Rocket Base. Roberta tells them she has already called the police to the office. When the police arrive, Spock tries to keep Roberta quiet, but she screams before he can. Kirk calls Scott, whom he orders to perform a wide scan, as they will be moving, and be ready to beam them up. They run into the office, but Roberta runs to the door, admits the police, and points them into the office. They run in just as Kirk orders them beamed up – and the two police officers are beamed up with Kirk and Spock, all four disappearing before Roberta's eyes. Kirk and Spock jump off the transporter platform, and Kirk immediately orders Scott to beam the policemen back down, which he does. The two policemen are returned to the office, leaving them dumbstruck at what they have seen and experienced and Roberta not knowing what to believe.

At the rocket base, there are only fifty minutes until launch. Seven is approached by a security guard as he approaches launch control. The guard, Sergeant Lipton , has Seven lower Isis to the ground and requests identification, and Seven produces his CIA ID. While the guard calls to verify, Isis distracts Lipton, allowing Seven to stun him with his servo and he then takes the phone and tells the security identification office at the other end that everything is now OK. He then sits the stunned guard down and tells him to take a nap. Seven then makes his way to the gantry elevator by hiding in the trunk of the launch director's, Cromwell 's, car. When the car arrives at the launch pad, he exits the trunk, hides in the elevator, reaches a gantry, removes an access panel with his servo and begins to rewire the rocket.

Meanwhile, Kirk, Spock, and Scott, in the transporter room, search for Seven at the launch site by reflecting their sensors off a low-orbiting weather satellite. Unable to find him, Kirk and Spock decide to beam down to the base to search for Seven the old-fashioned way. They materialize in front of the previously stunned guard as he awakens. Lipton takes them into custody and escorts them to the control room in the launch complex. They are briefly interrogated, but all attention is focused on the launch preparations. Kirk and Spock stand there unable to act.

Meanwhile, planning to quit again and telling the computer interface that she promises not to tell anyone about Seven or anything she has seen, Roberta accidentally discovers that depressing a pen holder on the desk opens the sliding glass rack. She then fiddles with the combination lock to the safe and succeeds in opening the safe/alien transporter room. At the same time, using the ship's sensors, Scott locates Seven on the rocket gantry while he is manipulating wires on the rocket. Scott calls for security and then attempts to beam Seven back aboard. Sensing the transporter beam, Seven gathers Isis into his arms. But at the same time, Lincoln's fiddling with the safe/alien transporter controls pulls him back to the NYC office.

In the launch facility, Kirk and Spock watch helplessly as the countdown progresses. The security officers inspect Kirk's and Spock's phasers and communicators. The security supervisor tells Kirk that only the slightest possible charges will be brought against them if they explain why they are here and what they are doing. Kirk can only stand silently and watch as the rocket launches up toward space.

Act Four [ ]

Spock and Kirk in custody at McKinley Rocket Base

In the office, Seven is initially angry at Roberta for interfering, but he then calms down when he realizes that what she had done likely kept him from being transported back aboard the Enterprise and again taken prisoner. He then goes over and begins to work at the Beta 5 computer. He inquires whether he had done enough to take control of the rocket, and the Beta 5 confirms that he had.

Seven uses the Beta 5 exceiver circuits to cause the third stage of the American rocket to malfunction and veer off course. He also arms the warhead and Roberta, who had become very suspicious of Seven, hits him on the head with a small jewelry box, for she now realizes that what he has been doing is beyond the CIA's abilities. She grabs Seven's servo and tells him to stay where he is. Seven begs Roberta to let him finish what he had started, otherwise when the rocket warhead detonates somewhere in six minutes, it will start World War III.

From the science station on the bridge, Chekov and Sulu see the warhead arm and call Scott in the transporter room to inform him of what has happened. Sulu tells Scott that the computers indicate an impact somewhere in the heart of the Eurasian landmass. Uhura, listening in to broadcasts from her station in multiple Earth languages, reports that she is receiving military alerts from the major powers. Scott decides that he will have to risk calling Kirk, and tells Uhura to open a channel to his communicator.

At launch control, the mission planners note the malfunction in the rocket and try to override it and get it back on course. When the warhead arms itself, the scientists are confused as to how it could have done so on its own. They prepare to send a self-destruct signal to prevent the H-bomb from otherwise detonating on an unsuspecting population somewhere.

Kirk, taking advantage of this distraction, steps over and tries to activate his communicator, but Lipton catches him and sends him back to his corner. Just then, Scott attempts to contact Kirk for instructions. When the communicator beeps and the rocket base guard picks it up and tries to talk to Scott, Spock steps over, under the guise of showing Lipton how to use it, and uses his nerve pinch to render him unconscious again. Kirk has Scott beam them directly to Seven's office. Unfortunately for the scientists, the self-destruct signal does not work. The lead flight controller picks up a red phone to make a call to the President .

Back in Seven's apartment, Seven tries to tell Roberta the truth about what has been happening and that truly advanced civilizations would neither take strange forms nor visit Earth in force, explaining that the best option is to bring Humans to their planet and train them for generations, until they are needed on Earth. Roberta tells him that she wants to believe him, for she knows that her world needs help; this explains the seemingly insane conduct of some of the people of her generation, of whom she points out, "We wonder if we're gonna be alive when we're thirty."

Just as Seven tries to run back to the computer, Kirk and Spock enter the apartment again. Kirk asks Spock if he can detonate the warhead using the computer, to which Spock replies that he can attempt it. Seven says that he wants the warhead detonated too, but that he will have to do it, and at least a hundred miles above the ground, so that it will frighten the people of Earth out of the arms race. At that moment, Scott calls Kirk, telling him that the Enterprise 's monitors show all major powers on full missile alert and a retaliatory strike is ordered upon warhead impact. Spock says that without more time, he can only estimate, and Seven angrily asks Kirk to allow him to do his job. Kirk insists that he still does not know what Seven's job is , and that for all he and Spock know, Seven may set the controls so that the warhead may not even be detonated. Then Roberta points the servo at Kirk and demands that he leave Seven alone. Seven quickly grabs it from her hand and tells her that the servo was set to kill. He deactivates it and then hands it over to Kirk. Kirk tells Spock if he cannot detonate the warhead, then they will both have to trust Seven. Spock tells Kirk that in the absence of facts, there is no logical decision and that he will have to rely on his Human intuition to guide him.

After a brief moment, Kirk tells Seven, " Go! " Seven runs over to the Beta 5 and begins working the controls, activating a visual of low Earth orbit and having the computer count down the miles by tens. Finally, at 104 miles, Seven manages to detonate the warhead.

Later in the day, Seven is dictating the last bit of his report into the typewriter. " …and in spite of the accidental interference with history by the Earth ship from the future, the mission was completed. " Spock then corrects Seven and tells him that by all appearances they did not interfere but that, rather, that the Enterprise was simply part of what was supposed to happen on this day in 1968. Kirk says that their record tapes show that while it was never generally revealed, a malfunctioning sub-orbital warhead was exploded exactly 104 miles above the Earth. Spock adds that, furthermore, it caused the nuclear powers to re-assess the risks of a nuclear orbiting platform. That everything turned out just how it was supposed to leaves Seven feeling relieved.

For a moment, Roberta looks over at Isis and sees a rather gorgeous woman. She steps over to Seven and asks if he will explain who that is. Seven says that it is simply his cat. When Roberta looks back, Isis is a cat again. Seven then asks Kirk what else their record tapes show, but Kirk says they cannot, in turn, reveal all they know. Spock does say that it would be safe to say that Seven and Roberta have some interesting experiences ahead of them and Kirk agrees with that assessment. Kirk calls to be beamed up by Scotty, Spock tells Seven to "live long and prosper," and Kirk says that the same goes for Roberta. They shimmer and vanish with Roberta looking on in awe once more, and the Enterprise leaves orbit to go back to its proper time.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Humans of the twentieth century do not go beaming around the galaxy, Mister Seven. "

" It's impossible to hide a whole planet. " " Impossible for you, not for them. "

" Mr. Spock, historical report. " " Current Earth crises would fill a tape bank, Captain. "

" Where's Three-Four-Seven? " " With Three-Four-Eight? "

" Well, how do you expect me to type? With my nose? "

" I'm telling you, you're through monkeying around with my country's rocket. "

" I know this world needs help. That's why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know? We wonder if we're gonna be alive when we're thirty. "

" Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your Human intuition. "

" That, Miss Lincoln, is simply my cat. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ], original pilot (no star trek connection) [ ].

• Story outline "Seven" by Gene Roddenberry : 20 April 1965
• Revised story outlines: 23 April 1965 , 25 April 1965
• First draft teleplay: 14 November 1966
• Revised first draft: 16 November 1966

Star Trek version [ ]

• Story outline by Roddenberry and Art Wallace : 21 October 1967
• Revised story outline by Wallace: 13 November 1967
• First draft teleplay: 21 November 1967
• Revised first draft: 11 December 1967
• Second draft teleplay: 14 December 1967
• Revised second draft: 18 December 1967
• Revised draft by Roddenberry: 20 December 1967
• Final draft teleplay by Roddenberry: 1 January 1968
• Additional page revisions: 3 January 1968 , 5 January 1968 , 9 January 1968
• Day 1 – 2 January 1968 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Engineering , Sickbay , Bridge , Transporter room
• Day 2 – 3 January 1968 , Wednesday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment , Hallway corridor
• Day 3 – 4 January 1968 , Thursday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment
• Day 4 – 5 January 1968 , Friday – Paramount Stage 5 : Int. Gary Seven's apartment
• Day 5 – 8 January 1968 , Monday – Paramount Windsor Street backlot : Ext. New York City street , Paramount officer buldings : Ext. McKinley Rocket Base
• Day 6 – 9 January 1968 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Mission control room ; Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Transporter room
• Day 7 – 10 January 1968 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge , Briefing room , Transporter room ; Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Rocket Platform
• Original airdate: 29 March 1968
• Rerun airdate: 9 August 1968
• First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 4 November 1970
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 27 February 1983
• Remastered airdate: 3 May 2008

Spinoff [ ]

• This episode was designed partly as a pilot for a new series featuring Gary Seven and his mission. Star Trek was teetering on the brink of cancellation late in its second year, and Roddenberry hoped to get a new show going for the fall season. The first draft pilot script ( 14 November 1966 ) had no mention of Star Trek or its characters. [1]
• Assignment: Earth did not enter production as a television series, but Seven and Roberta were featured in several stories and they spun-off a comic book series from IDW Publishing , Star Trek: Assignment: Earth by John Byrne .
• The plot concept of benevolent aliens secretively helping Earthlings, as opposed to the much more common "villain aliens" scenarios, was later resurrected by Roddenberry for his movie The Questor Tapes.

Production [ ]

• Stock footage of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (without clouds) is reused from " Miri ".
• A closeup of Montgomery Scott behind the transporter station is recycled from " The Enemy Within ".
• According to The Star Trek Compendium (1st ed., p. 140), the first draft script (dated 20 December 1967 ) had the Enterprise bridge crew watching an episode of Bonanza on the viewscreen.
• East 68th Street is also the street that was home to the main characters from the Desilu TV show I Love Lucy .
• The typewriter is a Royal Emperor, which could type from a cassette tape recording of the text. [2] (X)
• The Beta 5 computer contains many components from the M-5 multitronic unit in " The Ultimate Computer ". These components were recycled yet again for " All Our Yesterdays " and " Spock's Brain ".
• A new effect is used for the transporter as Seven is beamed aboard for the first time – slow motion flames can be seen behind the opaque back wall of the chamber. This may be due to the Enterprise 's unintentional interception of Seven's unusually powerful transporter beam.
• NASA shot all their footage using the anamorphic format, hence all the rocket launch stock footage in this episode is cropped from the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to television's conventional 1.33:1. [3]
• The rocket stock footage in this episode is actually of three Saturn Vs: footage of the rocket on the ground is a combination of the SA-500F Test Vehicle (the only Saturn V to feature "USA" markings on the third stage) and Apollo 6 (the only Saturn V launched with a white service module). Footage of the rocket launching is of Apollo 4 .
• This is the only episode of the second season to have Gene Roddenberry credited as "Producer" instead of "Executive Producer," the first time he had received such a credit since the first season. Roddenberry wanted to be very "hands-on" for this episode, as he hoped to turn it into a spin-off series. He rewrote Art Wallace 's script and was heavily involved in production, including sets, props, casting of actors, and even the costume of Terri Garr – he insisted on shortening her mini-skirt to be "more revealing," much to the anger of costume designer William Ware Theiss . ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ) Garr had a very unpleasant time filming this episode, perhaps stemming from Gene Roddenberry's involvement in decisions regarding her costume, specifically the length of her skirt. The hem was taken up so much it became very distorted. In interviews since, she has refused to talk about Star Trek in any way. [4]
• This is also the only episode of the second season that has no credited studio executive in charge of its production, as Herbert F. Solow had left Paramount Television by this time, and would be replaced by Douglas S. Cramer beginning with the third season.
• Robert Lansing ( Gary Seven ) is the only Star Trek: The Original Series guest star whose credit appears after the opening credits instead of during the end credits – complete with character name. The fact that the episode was to serve as the pilot for a proposed spin-off series explains the unique credits.
• William Blackburn appears as a rocket control room technician in this episode. He can also be seen walking in front of Gary Seven just after he materializes at McKinley Rocket Base.
• This episode marks the final appearance of the unknown actor who portrayed Bobby . His appearance in the corridor was "new" recycled footage that was originally shot during the filming of " The Corbomite Maneuver ".

Continuity [ ]

• This is the only episode of Star Trek in which time travel is treated as "routine." The Temporal Prime Directive does not yet appear to have been proposed, let alone taken effect.
• This is the only episode where a Federation transporter system is used to intercept and re-direct another transporter beam.
• Along with the Vians and Khan , Colonel Gary Seven is one of the few humanoids to have ever manifested insensitivity to a Vulcan nerve pinch .
• This episode was first aired on 29 March 1968 . Six days later, on 4 April 1968, there was indeed an important assassination – that of Martin Luther King, Jr. .
• However, the coincidence goes beyond this: Spock says that the same day as the assassination that the US was launching an orbital nuclear warhead platform. The King assassination was the same day as the launch of the unmanned Apollo 6 Saturn V rocket. This same Saturn V amazingly enough also suffered a serious mishap and went off course. The details of the mishap with the Saturn V on April 4th differ greatly in detail from the events of Assignment: Earth. However, Kirk comments at the end of the episode that the real events were never "generally revealed" at the time. It makes sense therefore to assume, within the context of Star Trek 's fictional history that there was a massive cover-up about the Apollo 6 mishap and that a false cover story was put out to hide the truth that they were launching a nuclear weapon into orbit. This episode uses footage of the Apollo 4 Saturn V, the only previous test of that rocket. Chronologically, the closest candidate to Spock's other "prediction" of a government coup in Asia would be the July 17th military coup in Iraq that brought Saddam Hussein to power ( 17 July Revolution ).
• This episode takes place entirely in 1968 , with no scenes in the 23rd century . Along with ENT : " Storm Front " (which takes place in 1944 ), this is one of only two Star Trek episodes based entirely in the 20th century . Furthermore, both episodes take place mostly in and around New York City.
• The events of this episode, which take place in 1968, occurred (from the point of view of the Enterprise crew) over a year after those of " Tomorrow is Yesterday ", which take place in 1969 .

Apocrypha [ ]

• In various novels and comics, the alien race that trained Gary Seven was revealed as an ancient race called the Aegis .
• Seven and Lincoln have appeared in several Star Trek novels ( Assignment: Eternity and the two-volume series, The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox ) and short stories ("The Aliens Are Coming!" by Dayton Ward in Strange New Worlds III , "Seven and Seven" by Kevin Hosey in Strange New Worlds VI and "Assignment: One" by Kevin Lauderdale in Strange New Worlds VIII ).
• Gary Seven has also appeared in several comic books , including " The Peacekeeper Part One ", " The Peacekeeper Part Two: The Conclusion ", " Split Infinities ", " Future Imperiled ", and the Star Trek: Assignment: Earth mini-series.
• The Department of Temporal Investigations novel Forgotten History explicitly places the episode on April 4, 1968.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 29 , catalog number VHR 2381, 3 September 1990
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.9, 22 August 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 28, 10 July 2001
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest star [ ]

• Robert Lansing as Mister Seven

Co-starring [ ]

• Terri Garr as Roberta Lincoln
• James Doohan as Scott
• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Walter Koenig as Chekov
• Don Keefer as Cromwell
• Lincoln Demyan as Sergeant
• Morgan Jones as Col. Nesvig
• Bruce Mars as First Policeman
• Ted Gehring as Second Policeman
• Paul Baxley as Security Chief

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• James Doohan as Mission Control announcer (voice)
• Beta 5 computer (voice)
• Isis (voice) [5]
• Rocket base technician
• Frank da Vinci as Brent
• Rudy Doucette as rocket base technician
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli
• Woman passerby
• Edwin Rochelle as Passerby #1
• Robert C. Johnson as Ground Control (voice) [6]
• Sambo and two unknown cats as Isis in cat form [7]
• April Tatro as Isis in Human form
• Esther Ying Lee as Passersby
• Monitor room personnel
• Rocket launch watchers
• Security guard 1
• Security guard 2
• Several passersby
• Two control room personnel
• People at snack van

Stand-ins [ ]

• William Blackburn as the stand-in for DeForest Kelley
• Frank da Vinci as the stand-in for Leonard Nimoy
• Jeannie Malone as the stand-in for Teri Garr
• Eddie Paskey as the stand-in for William Shatner
• Edwin Rochelle as the stand-in for Robert Lansing

References [ ]

6,000 years before ; 20th century ; 1948 ; 1968 ; 1978 ; acceleration ; accident ; agent ( government agent ); Agent 201 ; Agent 347 ; alien ; all decks alert ; altitude ; analysis ; ancestor ; animal ; apartment ; arc ; area ; arms race ; Asia ; assassination ; automobile accident ; auxiliary transmitter ; baby carriage ; badge number ; balance of power ; behavior ; Bermuda ; Beta 5 computer ; bird ; birthmark ; body ; " Bones "; briefing room ; business suit ; button ; Canary Islands ; cat ; Central Intelligence Agency (aka CIA ); century ; chance ; channel ; charge ; chronological age ; circuit ; civilization ; class 1 supervisor ; close orbit ; coat rack ; code name ; colonel ; control center ; control setting ; costume ; countdown ; country (aka nation ); coup ; course ; crisis ; custody ; date ; day ; deflector shields ; degree ; Department of Investigation ; descendant ; destruct signal ; detonation ; device ; dial ; Dodge Coronet ; doll ; door ; Earth ; Earth Cold War ; East 68th Street ; elevator ; employer ; encyclopedia ; engineering personnel ; era ; estimate ; Euro-Asian continent ; exceiver (aka exceiver circuit ); existence ; experience ; expert ; extended orbit ; fact ; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); feet ; finger ; flight control ; flight path (aka trajectory ); flight telemetry ; force shield ; Ford Falcon ; Franklin ; French language ; friend ; fur coat ; Gary Seven's homeworld ; gantry (aka rocket gantry ); gantry area ; generation ; government ; government office ; green ; groovy ; ground station ; Ground Station 3 ; Ground Station 4 ; Ground Station 11 ; guard dog ; H-bomb ; hair ; hand ; heart ; hello ; Highway 949 ; historical report ; historical research ; history ; Hobson, Albert ; Homicide Squad ; honey blonde ; hour ; Human ; Human history ; hundred ; hydrogen ; idea ; identification ; identification card ; impact ; inch ; incompetence ; information ; inspection ; instruction ; intelligence quotient ; international agreement ; intruder ; Intruder alert ; intuition ; IQ ; jealousy ; jerk ; job ; knowledge ; Johnson, Lyndon B. ; launch ; launch area (aka launch pad or launch site ); launch director ; launch site scan ; light-speed breakaway factor ; light year ; Liquid hydrogen ; location ; logic ; machine ; major power ; malfunction ; McKinley Rocket Base ; medical analysis ; meow ; meter ; mile ; military alert ; Milky Way Galaxy ; minute ; missile ; missile alert ; mission ; mistake ; mole ; name ; nap ; National Security Agency ; navigation report ; news broadcast ; New York City ; New York City Police Department ; nonsense ; no parking sign ; north ; nose ; nuclear holocaust ; nuclear warhead ; Omicron IV ; " on the double "; " on the one hand...on the other hand "; orbit ; orbital nuclear warhead platform ; oxygen ; phaser ; plan ; Plymouth Belvedere ; Plymouth Satellite ; Plymouth Savoy ; phone ; planet ; police ; pound ; Precinct 19 ; Precinct 81 ; President of the United States ; prisoner ; problem ; product ; profession ; programming ; progress ; proof ; pound ; question ; range safety ; rebel ; recording circuit ; record tape ; research ; retaliatory strike ; report ; risk ; rocket ; rocket stage ; rule ; Ryan, John ; safety group ; Saturn V ; science ; science personnel ; search ; search procedure ; second ; secretary ; security alert ; security confinement ; sensor ; sensor scan ; sergeant ; servo ; ship's store ; shoulder ; sleep ; smoking ; society ; South Africa ; " stand by "; star ; star map ; status board ; sub-orbit ; suborbital platform (aka orbital platform ); subway ; Supervisor 194 ; supervisory personnel ; tape bank ; Tau Alpha C ; technology ; telemetry control transmitter system ; telephone ; thing ; time ; time period ; time travel ; tracking station ; transporter ; transporter beam ; transporter circuit ; transporter room ; training ; truth ; typewriter ; typing ; United States of America ; USS ; verification ; visual scan ; voice pattern ; Volkswagen Beetle ; Vulcan ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; Vulcan salute ; warhead ; weapon ; weather satellite ; World War III ; worry ; year ; " your lucky day "

External links [ ]

• " Assignment: Earth " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Assignment: Earth " at Wikipedia
• " Assignment: Earth " at MissionLogPodcast.com
• "Assignment: Earth" • Gary Seven, Isis, & Roberta Lincoln at AssignmentEarth.ca – includes the series' proposal, and first script along with its first and final Star Trek scripts
• " Assignment: Earth " at the Internet Movie Database

• 1 Bell Riots
• 3 Christopher Russell

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“Assignment: Earth” Remastered Review with Video & Screenshots

| May 6, 2008 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 169 comments so far

REVIEW by Jeff Bond

Long before The Jeffersons, Rhoda and Private Practice, Star Trek got an early start on the idea of spin-off series with this peculiar but very entertaining stealth pilot for a series that would have starred Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, a human being trained by aliens to keep a secret watch over Earth during one of the most dangerous periods in its history.

The last broadcast episode of Trek ’s season two, “Assignment: Earth” takes the once shocking concept of time travel as depicted in “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” and “The City on the Edge of Forever” and makes it so commonplace that it’s merely another routine task for the Enterprise to slingshot around the sun and travel back to 1967. What’s not commonplace is Seven himself, a seemingly superpowered humanoid who appears on the Enterprise transporter pad with his cat, almost overpowers Spock and some security guards before succumbing to a phaser stun.

The opening scenes with Seven are well done, effectively establishing an urgent aura of mystery around the man and emphasizing Kirk’s anxiety at the potential disaster inherent in messing with history. Once Seven escapes the Enterprise and Kirk and Spock don civilian Earth clothing to pursue him, the episode shifts easily into comedy with Teri Garr’s scatterbrained and amusing secretary Roberta Lincoln trying to make sense of her strange new boss and the two oddball strangers who invade his office. Yet there’s still room for some interesting dramatic moments, as when Seven broods over the death of two fellow agents “in something as meaningless as an automobile accident.”

It’s interesting to wonder how this might have played out as a television series, a kind of earthbound companion piece to Star Trek (one fan went so far as to design a title sequence and record a piece of theme music for the show that “Assignment: Earth” might have been… see below for more ). Robert Lansing was always a popular and intriguing television performer in everything from Twelve O’Clock High to his role as Control on The Equalizer . At the time of “Assignment: Earth” Terri Garr had primarily found work as a dancer in Elvis Presley pictures—her Star Trek guest shot was a breakthrough role for her and demonstrated a quirky comic presence that would later be used to great effect in films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Tootsie . And Trek staple Barbara Babcock conspires with art director Matt Jefferies, Trek special effects guru Jim Rugg and the Trek sound effects editors to create a memorably bitchy computer in the Beta 5, an obvious first cousin to Richard Daystrom’s M-5 unit.

Oddly Kirk and Spock get very little comedy to play in this episode as they spend the bulk of the story in hot pursuit of Seven, But Kirk’s anguish and tension over the mystery of Seven and what kind of havoc he might wreak in Earth’s past is well played and the missile detonation countdown finale, simply staged though it is, is a nice suspense sequence.

As for CBS-D’s contribution to this episode I have only one thing to say: AGAIN with the Earth-like planets! I’ve had it up to HERE with you people—I mean show some imagination for once! Would it kill you to show a planet that wasn’t—what? Oh, this IS Earth?

Never mind.

Some nice shots here, and placing the moon into several of them really helps differentiate these not only from the original shots but also from other Remastered episodes that feature Earth. There was a lot of talk on the boards about replacing the gantry shots or other stock footage of Saturn boosters intended to stand in for nuclear missile launch platforms or whatever—I suppose some of that could have been done but I don’t remember really being bothered by the stock footage use in the original episode. The quality of the original rocket footage was good enough and the episode does a rather clever job of putting Mr. Seven into the gantry environment, so the few orbital shots done here are more than sufficient for the episode.

( higher quality version at YouTube )

SCREENSHOTS REMASTERED v ORIGINAL by Matt Wright

Bonus Video: Assignment: Earth…the series Here is a glimpse at a possible opening theme for the Trek spin-off that never was…

This was created by musician and school teacher Andy Patterson (with help from his brothers Michael and Phillip). Andy wrote the music for the theme and recorded the original music using real live musicians . There is also an alternative ‘jazzier’ version at YouTube . Visit Andy’s Gary Seven Website for more.

Seasons One and Two discounted at Amazon The Season Two box set is now available at Amazon for pre-order, discounted to $63.99 (Amazon has a low price guarantee that if they drop the price before ship date of August 5th you will get that lower price). Amazon has also discounted the Season One DVD / HD DVD combo disk is to $96.95 (retail is $194.99).

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first? hmm- always wondered what the show would be like if they had done it?

A lot of the screen stills make great desktop pics you know

i have one spanned across both my monitors at work! they are all lovely. :)

that policeman should have gotten his own show!

Justman tells a great story about Roddenberry making Teri Garr’s skirt shorter and shorter. It’s why it looks so peculiar in the episode

Star Trek started it’s run in germany with “Tomorrow is yesterday”, all three seasons were shown totally mixed up over the years. So I was quite surprised that it was no problem no more to go back in time, should star fleet command ask for it. But the funniest part about this ep was that the dubmeisters of german TV called Gary “Seven Rock”…

One of my favorite episodes.

“That, Ms. Lincoln, is only my cat.”

I could’ve use that line once or twice.

oh and re: earth type planets & cbs-d ……LMFAO.

I would have enjoyed CBS-D’s work on “Assignment: Earth” much more if they just didn’t have the Earth rotating in the WRONG DIRECTION throughout the whole episode.

The original had it right… why make that dumb change?

If the had to change something, I would have liked the Big E heading toward the sun at the fade-out.

Yip,,Good old 20th century Earth,,,

It must of been a good place,, their always going there

( I love that poster )

ReallyMan (#8),

Holy Cow! You’re right! The Earth is spinning in the wrong direction in those clips. I can’t believe it.

Actually, yes I can. In the original FX (as well as many of the remastered ones) the Enterprise always seemed to be orbiting against the rotation of the planet below it. This despite the fact that the ship was supposedly in geosynchronous orbit over some significant point on the planet’s surface.

The folks at CBS-D probably disn’t even consider the planet’s rotation when they rendered the new FX. Whoopsie!

It’s spinning in the wrong direction… because.. they, uh, went BACKWARD in time! Yeah! That’s it!

I always liked ‘Assignment Earth’, it’s groovy. Shame they didn’t find a way to fix that dreadful shot of Gary lying across a gantry near the rocket by compositing in a new background or whatever.

‘Assignment: Earth’ would make a good series today.

This was a nice episode. It gave us a break of the “starship Enterprise discovers strange new worlds in the future” routine. Also we got a powerful guest star in Gary Seven. Some of Kirk and Spock’s troubles on 20th century Earth prefaces Star Trek IV.

Actually, it was a really bad day that day.

That just happened to also the day when arch villain Lex Luthor attempted to devastate the United States, and dramatically improve the value of his otherwise worthless real estate purchases, by launching two re-programmed missiles to induce a major earthquake.

What you couldn’t see in those orbital shots was Superman speeding around in orbit, reversing the flow of time.

It was a two-fer cross-over episode. Two aliens: one Kryptonian, one of ancient human ancestry reliant on technology, working to save Earth.

1. …BE the day…

2. LL didn’t launch the missiles, but, just re-programmed them

(shakes head) time to get some coffee for myself…

13. RTC – May 6, 2008

‘Assignment: Earth’ would make a good series today.

Yes it would.

You know,…knowing this episode as well as I do,….being very aware of the rhythms and pace of this show, makes me very aware of the seconds they shave off to make it fit in today’s commercial. Kind of jarring.

Did anybody notice the sound effects still left in from I Mudd and transplaned at the beginning of this episode?

Thanks for the mention Jeff. If Darren is out there,…any chance my theme two will ever be shown at the conventions you speak at? I’d really like to get the fan reaction to it. I’m starting to like it more and more after all this time.

#13 RTC –

I always thought that the 1997 show “The Visitor” with John Corbett must have been an attempt to realize “Assignment: Earth” as a series.

The main problem I had with “Assignment: Earth” was the contrived uselessness of Spock, to make Kirk’s choice more dramatic. Spock could not destroy the platform in time, so the only logical choice was to let Gary Seven try. Spock’s lack of logical thinking was very out of character. Otherwise, I wish they would have made a series out of this. Very similar to Doctor Who in many ways. Had Roddenberry recently travelled to England and happened to watch some of their science fiction tv? Hmmm, I wonder…

Re Terri Garr and comedy, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is a better example than CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.

Also, notice that Roddenberry gets the ‘producer’ credit at the end. Did John Meredyth Lucas quit by then?

Gary Seven… always made me wonder about Gary One, Two, Three… etc.

Perhaps it’s not too late to have a series about Gary Eight, Nine or Ten…. I mean, c’mon if Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict can be scraped off the bottom of the frying pan, certainly a series “Assignment: Earth” starring Jamie Bamber as Gary Nine, Nicki Clyne as his flighty secretary Jane Henderson, and Kim Kardashian in a non-speaking role as Isis the… “cat”… could be filmed in Vancouver starting next week for the Sci Fi channel…. It could even play in the Star Trek universe as we sort of know it, and reference all sorts of things. They could be busy revising history to eliminate all incidences of Khan, the Bell Riots, WW III, you name it. The Ultimate Trek Retcon, yep.

Good call by everyone on Earth rotating the wrong way. It’s simply stupid, inexcusable, and impossible. Yes, you could make a perspective argument, but only IF the darkened limb was moving westward. It’s not… you can see the shadow creeping eastward.

Furthermore, the ending flyby should have been on a heading for the Sun. After all, the return to the 23rd century should have been hinted at, following Tomorrow is Yesterday’s effects.

This is one of my favourite TOS eps. Great acting, story, suspense, and humour.

The only problem is that it was a huge mistake to make time travel so easy (further compounded in ST:IV). It’s a hard enough leap of faith to accept warp drive, transporters, cloaking devices, etc. But at least once you accept their existence, ST does a pretty good job of using these gimmcks in logical and consistent manners.

Time travel is another story – ST is all over the map (and usually completely ILLOGICAL) in explaining the paradoxes inherent in the concept. They covered the whole spectrum from saying that there was only one “real” timeline (City on the Edge of Forever, Yesterday’s Enterprise, etc) all the way to saying that there were an infinite number of coexisting timelines (Parallels) so in fact it doesnt matter whether someone messes with the past, because all possible realities exist anyway!

They should never have opened the time travel can of worms in the first place.

Roddenberry revisited the Gary Seven idea when he did “The Questor Tapes.” Which he revisited again when he created Data.

He sure did a lot of “revisiting” of earlier ideas…

I loved this show as a kid…Gary Seven and all his gadgets, going back in time, etc. I still like it today.

I liked that they didn’t change much in this episode (the new shots of Earth were a nice touch, though).

Further to this idea – the only time travel explanation that really makes some sense is the coexisting timelines idea. This one does the best job of avoiding the embarassing paradoxes. It means that when someone goes back in time and “changes” the past, all they are really doing is jumping to a different alternate timeline. The “original” unchanged timeline still exists somewhere in the multiverse – it’s just that our heroes are now existing in a different reality.

Well, how do you expect me to type, with my nose?

Hey, wait a minute – the typewriter is typing everything I….

Again, very disappointing. CBS-D didn’t even both removing the very noticeable dirt from the (twice-shown) still close-up of the rocket. No exploding rocket shot. The earth rotating in the wrong direction?! A stock footage snore-fest.

This was supposed to be spin off , I wish this one had happened.

it’s a hopeful spin-off, that’s why ole Gene was credited as the producer… so as to beam away from unemployement if ST were to walk tha’ plank after season two…

arrrr… isn’t Terri Garrrrr so darn adorable here that ye just wanna hug tha’ stuffin’ outta her? I do… awwwww…

Gary Sieben be interesting character, James Bond meets Spock meets Doctor Doolittle meets Mr. Bic… arrrrr

CBS-D could have made Spock more able ta’ control a secretary rather than push her down inna huff and run away… playground flashback?

Kirk: There’s a man on the rocket girder… and there’s a monkey on the plane’s wing… Spock, if you didn’t like the tribbles, why are you petting the kitty cat? Get those coppers outta here!

ahhhhh, but I kid… actually better than I remembered it ta’ be… arrrrrr…

As 20 cd points out, The Gary Seven / Doctor Who parallels are utterly uncanny, right down to his attractive young female companion and sonic screwdriver. Very intriguing, and more than a little suspicious! (Come to think of it, I wonder if that had anything to do with it not becoming a series.)

I’ve always been very fond of this episode, though, just because Lansing’s so cool and Garr is so fun (and young and cute!), and it’s a delightful, unexpected departure from the Trek norm — though, yes, the overly casual use of time travel is cringe-inducing, as it begs the question… if time travel is that easy, why aren’t all warp-capable starships in Trek (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, you name it) time-traveling all the, er, time, and frakking things up? A huge can of worms.

Anyway, I hadn’t seen this episode in years — not since discovering the joy of Doctor Who, in fact — so it was a treat, as well as a completely new experience given the Who-ian lens I now view it through.

Damn shame about the Earth rotating in the wrong direction, though. They’re never gonna live that one down. ;-)

It always weirded me out that in the original version Earth was having a completely cloudless day. Now THAT’S a problem for an advanced space ship to work on.

Those of you interested in what this would’ve been like as a series, might I recommend the Eugenics Wars books? Gary Seven and company are pretty key players, and it’s weird hearing them refer to the supposed adventures they’ve had on Earth in the last few decades… like they’re some sort of Star Trek Torchwood.

Backwards rotating Earth? They must have rushed out the last episodes to save money after Toshiba backed out.

I own Gene Roddenberry’s original treatment for “Assignment Earth” courtesy of the Profiles in History Auctions a few years back. It’s quite a thing to have from the production of the original show.

It’s interesting that Bob Justman really doesn’t consider this episode as a good pilot or even just an entertaining episode. I’ve always liked this one and I wish that the Saturn V could have been replaced with something else, but that’s really wishful thinking considering the limits of this project.

Gary’s office and the Cape… Why- those are the most detailed sets that TOS ever had! Wonder why?

And Terri Garr was so darn cute with her gestures and expressions that she made Mary Tyler Moore look like a pile of puke….

Oops… mixing sentiment…

And Robert Lansing- hey, they hired actors for guest stars! Wow.

Overall- highly enjoyable and fun… starnge it’s an attempt at a pilot rather than a TOS-like ep… I mean who the hell was that Kirk guy who sort of just stood around? the villain?

arrrrr… Terri Garrrrrr be so cute…

oops I did say that alreday… I mean better than an Orion whose juzt lookin’ fur condoms and a switchblade…

I’m sorry but the Earth spinning backwards is a major problem that undermines this entire remaster project.

Very disappointed.

I’ve always dug the idea of cat being. Cool concept. Dig the gantry scene. Lansing is add-libbing dialogue with the cat that makes the whole scene.

Also….I think they cut out, to make time, the reaction shot of McCoy in the sickbay when Kirk asks for his analysis of Seven. It seems DeForest Kelly wasn’t even told what line he was reacting to. “It’s like they said “just look perturbed De”. Which he does. It’s also interesting to see so many shots of actors reacting to things that are’nt there. It’s clear that Shatner and Nimoy are’nt even in the room with Lansing and Garr in the final scene. Both sides are reacting a little off.

And do people notice Barton Larue (Guardian of Forever) and Doohan’s voices on the Mission Control floor?

The earth was spinning in the wrong direction because this episode was supposed to be a “spinn-off”.

33. Thomas Jensen — Dare I ask if you’d consider scanning and posting that “Assignment: Earth” treatment to share with the rest of the class? ;-) I’d dearly love to see/read it.

Nice write-up, Anthony. Thanks!

I also enjoyed reading everyone’s commentary, as always.

38 – LOL

AAARGH! Yet another ‘Earth-like’ planet… ;) And spinning the wrong way at that. Doesn’t surprise me at this point, as it’s been a bit of a backwards project from the start where certain factors have been concerned.

#28 Izbot – And yeah, they could at least enhanced any obvious artifacts on the stills you mentioned…

Another sub-standard effort guys, but those that are not bothered, enjoy!

I liked this episode. However, was it just my broadcast or did some of the scenes look washed out and overexposed. I noticed several scenes where the quality was pretty poor. Not the FX fault as it was likely the original film. Just wondering if anyone else noticed anything like that?

One of my favorite scene was the launch of the Saturn V. Such a beautiful rocket!

Would also love to learn more about the Aliens that took the humans 5000 years ago. That would be some cool stuff to see in a movie…

Great Effects!!!!!!!!!!!

Were any scripts written for the spin-off series? If so, are any in existence today?

There is a Star Trek novel, Assignment: Eternity, that brings Gary Seven and Roberta into the TOS time for an important mission. I read it a while back, and as I recall, there are mentions of Gary & Roberta getting involved with The Prisoner/The Village and The Avengers. And one of the Strange New Worlds books has a story about them rescuing Capt. Christopher from an obsessed Men-In-Black agent who has photos of the Enterprise from its visit to 1968 and who was present when Quark & company visited Roswell back in 1947.

I would like to ask what people have against “Earth-like” planets. DOn’t they make sense to be there with what they look like on the surface. If It has life on it, doesn’t it stand to reason that it would be earth-like?

I agree with #43 – the transfer on this ep was all over the place, with contrast and saturation changing from cut to cut in alot of the scenes. Kind of disappointing given how great many of the remastered transfers have looked.

Oh, and if I could go back in time, I’d go back twenty years and make sure TNG did a Gary Seven episode with Robert Lansing…

I t’ond kniht eht htraE gninnips sdrawkcab sah dah yna tceffe no su……

Loved this episode and loved Teri Garr as Roberta though she does not love us Trek fans!

But I won’t be harsh on her nowadays, dear lady is living with MS and I wish her the best.

Assignment: Earth series you will not find a bigger proponent than I!

Forget Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, they should have dusted off A:E and revived it as a series instead!

I always hated this episode, it is so cheesy and probably has the worse staying power of any TOS episode.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Assignment: Earth

• While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet.
• When the Enterprise is assigned to observe Earth's history in 1968, suddenly it intercepts a transporter beam which originates at least a thousand light-years from Earth, bringing aboard a humanoid alien 'agent Gary Seven' holding a black cat called Isis, who warns them to step back and let him go to accomplish his mission to save Earth; initially phaser-struck down, he manages to beam himself away, actually on a mission to prevent a nuclear rocket being launched at McKinley base because earth is socio-politically not ready for its technological progress. He assumes a classified identity to override a powerful computer, and mistakes the wrong girl, Miss Lincoln, for another agent; the computer reports both other agents he seeks are deceased in an accident. Meanwhile Kirk and Spock beam down to investigate if the alien isn't hostile, realizing the risk of changing their own past. When they get on his trail, the girl sees Spock's ears, calls the police and Seven gets away; they must first beam back aboard, then down to the base looking for Seven who overpowers security and sabotages the missile; however they get caught before Scotty locates Seven and beams him up, but he beams himself back grumbling he wasn't finished... — KGF Vissers
• While assigned to observe Earth's history in 1968, the Enterprise intercepts a transporter beam originating over a thousand light-years away, bringing aboard a seemingly trustworthy humanoid named Gary Seven and his black house cat, Isis. When it's apparent he's no ordinary human, Kirk holds him for questioning - but would doing so alter the past, or would releasing him be the wrong move? While Kirk debates, Gary escapes, beaming to Earth to accomplish his mission, the sabotage of a nuclear rocket about to be launched at McKinley Rocket Base. With Kirk and Spock on his heels, Gary must also deal with ditzy secretary Roberta Lincoln, whom he mistakes for one of two missing colleagues already on Earth, and an alien computer with a slight attitude. — statmanjeff
• The Enterprise is assigned to visit the 20th century to study critical political tensions. After arriving, they intercept a transporter beam that originates at least a thousand light-years from Earth. Who is the 20th century human who seems to command technology superior to that of the 23rd century Federation? Is he here to preserve humankind as he claims or has he arrived on this critical day to start World War III? — CommanderBalok
• Having traveled back in time to visit Earth on a historical information-gathering exercise, the Enterpise intercepts a space traveler being beamed to Earth. Gary Seven is human but clearly comes from an advanced civilization who claims to have been specially trained for a mission to save mankind from itself. Captain Kirk isn't at all sure that Seven isn't there for malicious purposes and puts him in the brig. Seven does manage to escape however and with Kirk and Spock in pursuit, tries to complete the mission that two missing agents were unable to finalize. For Kirk, the decision he has to make is very real: does he stop Seven or let him finish - a wrong decision may mean altering Earth history altogether. — garykmcd
• The ENTERPRISE, on a historical research mission to observe earth in 1968 (they traveled back in time using the light-speed breakaway factor). It intercepts a powerful transporter beam from a distant part of the galaxy (from at least a 1000 light yrs away). A human male dressed in 20th century business suit and carrying a black cat materializes on the pad. Calling himself Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) informs Capt Kirk that he is on a vital mission to help Earth survive (he claims he is from the 20th century and has been living on a hidden planet with far advanced tech, which wants to remain hidden). Kirk unsure of his identity and motives orders him to be taken to brig. Seven and his cat, Isis, attack the ENTERPRISE crew in attempt to escape and overpower Kirk and his men. Even Spocks "Vulcan Neck Pinch" is ineffective against him. Kirk finally stuns him with phaser and orders "Bones" Mccoy to examine him and determine if human. In the briefing room Kirk and Spock receive McCoy's report. Seven is human, in fact is a perfect human specimen with no scars or imperfections. Spock reports that on this day in 1968 US was to launch an orbital nuclear platform to match similar deployment by other powers. In the brig Seven removes what appears to be pen from his pocket which uses to disable the force field and stun the security officer. Heading to the transporter room is joined by Isis and beams down to an office suite in New York City. Seven attempts to access the Beta-5 computer, hidden behind a sliding bookcase, but the computer refuses to recognize him. Declarng himself to the computer as Supervisor 194 attempts to access it. He describes his mission, humans taken from earth 6,000 years in the past have been selectively bred and trained by a superior alien civilization to ensure that the fast progress is science on the planet doesn't lead to its destruction before it can mature into a peaceful society. Seven asks the computer for status of Agents 201 and 347. The computer informs that the US plans to launch orbital nuclear devices from McKinley Rocket base, in 1.5 hrs. At this time a young woman enters the office. Seven mistakes her for Agent 201 and ask where she had been for past 3 days and to write a report using voice activated typewriter When the woman reacts with confusion to Seven's request, Seven has computer to scan her. The computer reveals she is Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr), a 20 yr secretary hired by 201 & 347 to supposedly do research for an encyclopedia. Realizing his mistake has the computer scan all communications to locate the missing agents. The Beta-5 reveals that 201 and 347 were killed in a car crash near McKinley Rocket base. Their mission was to arrange for a failure in an upcoming launch of an orbital nuclear platform by the United States. Meanwhile Spock and Kirk disguised in 20th century clothing track Seven to the suite (through the location of his beam down). Rushing in they demand that Roberta tell them where Seven is. Roberta calls the police while Spock and Kirk try to break into the inner office. Seven uses a transporter device hidden in large walk-in safe to transport to McKinley Rocket base. Kirk and Spock beam back to the Enterprise after seeing plans of the McKinley Rocket base on Seven's desk. Seven in meantime has materialized at McKinley Rocket Base where he is captured by a security officer. Seven warns Isis to be careful and not get stepped on. Isis emits an cry and Seven uses the distraction to stun the security officer. He then conceals himself in the trunk of the launch director's car when he inspects the launch pad. Seven then rides up the gantry to the top of the rocket where he opens an access panel and begins to rewire the rocket's guidance system. Kirk and Spock having discovered Seven's target have the ENTERPRISE transport them to McKinley Rocket Base. Materializing outside a hanger they are captured by the security officer who has regained consciousness. Mr Scott, who has been keeping McKinley Rocket Base under observation spots Seven and attempts to beam him aboard the ENTERPRISE. But before Seven was beamed off, he managed to get into the rocket and fiddle with the control wires of its payload. Roberta has discovered Seven's secret transporter portal by moving a pen on a desk set. She then accidentally activates the transporter which beams him from the ENTERPRISE back to the office suite. The rocket blasts off, Seven asks the Beta- 5 computer if his tampering with the rocket's guidance system was sufficient to take over. The Beta-5 answers affirmative if done on manual. Roberta watches as Seven takes over control sending the rocket off course and arming the warhead, becomes concerned. She takes a metal cigarette case and strikes him on the head. She then takes his Servo device and holds him prisoner. Seven attempts to get Roberta to let him finish what he started, otherwise the warhead will detonate on impact triggering a thermo-nuclear war. Spock and Kirk have been taken to the launch control center and held at gunpoint by security. Mr Scott attempts to contact Kirk to inform him of the rocket launch and malfunction. Spock uses the Vulcan Neck Pinch to disable the security officer when he picks up Kirk's communicator in response to Mr Scott's call. Kirk and Spock are beamed to Seven's suite. Seven disarms Roberta, handing his servo to Kirk and informing her that it was set to kill. Kirk asks Spock if he can take over the rocket and detonate the warhead. Spock said he does not have sufficient time to study the Beta-5 to safely detonate the warhead. Kirk is forced to trust Seven and tells him to complete the job and detonate the warhead. Seven has the Beta-5 detonate the warhead at 104 miles above earth, sufficient to convince governments of need to ban such devices. Roberta looking at Isis on the couch sees a beautiful exotic woman instead. Questioning Seven as to who the woman is she is told by Seven that is merely his cat. Isis having transformed back to a cat. As Kirk and Spock bid Seven and Roberta farewell inform them that will have some interesting experiences in store.

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Star Trek: The Original Series

“Assignment: Earth”

Air date: 3/29/1968 Teleplay by Art Wallace Story by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace Directed by Marc Daniels

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

The Enterprise travels back in time to Earth, 1968, to witness a historic nuclear crisis unfold. But once there, they encounter the mysterious Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) beaming in from another planet, and Kirk must decide whether his presence is a proper aspect of history or an alien threat. Meanwhile, Mr. Seven escapes his holding cell and begins conducting his undercover operation on Earth, centering on the scheduled launch of a nuclear device into orbit.

The time-travel motivation is dubious (why in the world would Starfleet risk timeline contamination to research history?), but the story has some good ideas. Unfortunately, the execution is off-kilter, with so much cross-cutting and off-pacing that the show turns choppy. Also, the episode comes across like the spin-off pilot show that it was intended as; at times it's more interested in providing a backdrop to a series that would never come to be than it is in making its story the priority.

Robert Lansing is on target as Mr. Seven, but Teri Garr is too annoying and unfunny as his secretary. The plot is reasonably good, but the bottom line is that I felt more like I was watching a good marketing ploy than I was watching good science fiction.

Previous episode: Bread and Circuses Next episode: Spock's Brain

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76 comments on this post.

Yours is the first source that I have ever read (seen) that speaks of Assignment: Earth as being a Pilot for a spin-off. Where in Trekdom is this substantiated? I actually liked the episode - and Ms. Garr's quirky playing of her out-of-sorts character I thought proved effective in showing her total confusion with all the high-tech stuff that was flashing in front of her. PLUS - shes was supposedly just filling in for a friend at that job - wasn't she?

^ Re: "Assignment: Earth" as a pilot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_Earth

I remember watching Assignment:Earth when it first aired; I was 7 years old. It was all anyone could talk about in school the next day. Gary Seven seemed like the coolest guy ever. So maybe my love of the episode is tinted by some boyish nostalgia.

1. Assignment: Earth is listed as a potential pilot in David Gerrold's "The World Of Star Trek", from 1973. I'm pretty sure it's received wisdom. 2. Since we're listing 'favorite middle-tier episodes', I want to put my two cents in for "Metamorphosis". While justly not considered among the series' very best, I have always been deeply moved by 1) the Companion's indelible passion for Cochrane, 2) the analysis of love provided by Kirk/Spock/McCoy, and 3) Cochrane's surprisingly parochial response to the Companion's affection for him. Is it because he's centuries old? Regardless of the reason, it adds the perfect left-field touch to what I consider the most achingly romantic episode TOS ever did.

Personally, I thought this episode was godawful. The Enterprise just intentionally flies back in time to 1968 just to observe stuff? Seriously? They're serious with that? And best of all, it all happens off camera, before the episode even starts. Not even Voyager at its worst would do this. Stargate might. But the worst is that Kirk and Spock stand around a room waiting for permission to grab a communicator to beam over to Seven's secret base, so they can stop him, but in the end just let him do what he wants, because "it's for a good reason." Yeah I'm sure detonating a nuclear weapon over another country can only have POSITIVE consequences for history, and sure enough the episode insults the viewer enough to pretend that's indeed what happens as a result, and they all smile and wink at the camera as they drop this incredibly morally questionable act and end the second season (and almost the entire show) with it.

Simon Hawkin

I have just watched the episode for the first time. And the last time. What utter BS on all levels, from the awful acting to the pompous idiotism of the script. If the second season ended with this I am not surprised the original series was cancelled prematurely -- I am just glad it did not do the whole Star Trek in.

Oh, this episode isn't that bad. Clearly, the creators were trying to set up "Assignment: Earth" as its own show, but if you get past that conceit, this episode works OK, not great. There are FAR worse episodes of TOS. This middle-of-the=pack fair.

Absolute bottom-of-the-barrel, the nadir of TOS. It's the worst episode of the original Star Trek because it ISN'T an episode of Star Trek at all; Gary Seven is the prime mover of events from beginning to end, while Kirk and Spock are reduced to standing around like idiots who can do little more than hope everything works out. As for the real stars of this ep, Seven's a smug prick and Roberta's an insufferable airhead. And all of this happens under the "Star Trek" title because "oh hey, by the way, we time-traveled back to 1968." From this, through the idea that there were orbital nuke platforms in '68 (which would have been a surprise to everyone in the viewing audience) and that Seven's purposefully detonating one in the lower atmosphere would save the Earth rather than trigger World War III, right up to the Enterprise's history tapes spoiling the entire spin-off series before it can even get started with the revelation that everything that just happened was supposed to happen all along and Seven and Roberta are destined to succeed in all of their missions, the episode treats its audience like complete morons. The worst the third season had to offer still beats "Assignment: Earth", and the third season featured a whinny-ing Kirk being ridden around the room by a midget.

Actually, orbiting nuclear platforms were indeed a concern of the mid-1960s. Check out the beginning of the space sequence of "2001: A Space Odyssey" (released Summer 1968) - it looks like everyone has militarized space!

The episode was intended as a pilot for a spin off series (Assignment:Earth). The most interesting thing for me is that Gary Seven is like an American Doctor Who! He travels in time, has a companion, and even a sonic screwdriver! Maybe Gene Roddenberry was inspired by the famous British sci fi series. Who knows?

DutchStudent82

While in general an enjoyable episode, I HAVE to point out : -There WAS no time travel possible in kirk's era.. time travel was only possible in the 27th century, and only became mainstream in the 29th. -the technolony kirk supposingly uses to time travel, is not even remotely fitting technobabble, even in 1970's fysics had improved way beyong this kind of unfitting crap. So I may be a critic looking back on a show that was aired over a decade before I was born.. but still I am glad they became more professional (though not enough) in later star trek series.

-I THOUGHT this episode seemed like an attempt at a spinoff. Jammer mentioning it in his review made it all makes sense. Would have been a silly but probably entertaining show if it had actually gotten picked up by the network. -Roberta came to work like she'd done it many times. . . so why is she surprised to meet her boss? They didn't explain that at all. . . was she just . . . like. . .a temp showing up to work somewhere she'd never been before? Weird. -The cat clearly had a human making the "meow" sounds for it the entire episode. This made me laugh more times than it probably was meant to. When the cat attacked a red shirt in the transporter room I started cracking up. "RREEEEEEOOOOWWWWW!" Those poor redshirts always get the short end of the stick. -The time travel: It was indeed silly to have the enterprise travel back in time for historical research. That said, I must disagree with DutchStudent here: Time travel in the 23rd century was "nearly routine.The Enterprise had traveled in time before using a "slingshot around the sun" technique, back in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (season 1). And they did the same thing again in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I'd say two TOS episodes and a movie make it canon: Starfleet personnel could travel in time if they wanted to. There was some "temporal prime directive" background on this in later episodes of Deep Space 9 and Voyager.

It's that time again. Ratings for the season, where my ratings are distinct from Jammer's (with the difference in parentheses). Amok Time: 4 (+1) The Apple: 1 (-1) Catspaw: 1.5 (-1) I, Mudd: 2.5 (-.5) (a little distance made this drop a little) Journey to Babel: 3.5 (+.5) Friday's Child: 1.5 (-.5) Wolf in the Fold: 2.5 (-.5) The Gamesters of Triskelion: 1.5 (+.5) Return to Tomorrow: 3 (+.5) Patterns of Force: 2 (-.5) The Omega Glory: 0.5 (-.5) Bread and Circuses: 2 (-.5) Assignment: Earth: 2 (-.5) Season overall: Season two is definitely a step down from season one; the first season was bursting with invention, running in many directions at once, occasionally stumbling but almost always in an interesting way. There is a shagginess to this season, especially as it gets closer to the end. It's nothing compared to what season three will bring, and season two, unlike season three, has a number of remarkable highlights, breaking new ground: Amok Time, Mirror Mirror, The Doomsday Machine, Journey to Babel, and The Trouble with Tribbles are very obviously *essential* TOS, in terms of both quality and in terms of what people think of when they think of the show and in terms of laying the groundwork for these characters' histories (and the movies and spinoffs), with Obsession, A Piece of the Action, and The Ultimate Computer not far behind. There are other fine episodes, as well as some episodes with some successful elements in an overall story that doesn't gel. There is also a real sense of repetition. I actually liked both Return to Tomorrow and By Any Other Name -- but they are very similar to each other, and I feel as if combining the best episodes of each into one could have led to one classic rather than two good episodes with a lot of Venn overlaps. There was no reason to have A Piece of the Action, Patterns of Force, The Omega Glory, and Bread and Circuses so close to each other -- especially when only one of them (A Piece of the Action) was actually successful, and there successful as a lighthearted romp with serious subtext. The Deadly Years' moving moments about the nature of aging and obsolescence ultimately fail to buoy the episode from its various significant problems -- so I feel as if a little more time spent on that fear of obsolescence in The Ultimate Computer could have "covered" those themes admirably. Obsession and The Immunity Syndrome are both very good episodes, but they suffer a bit from being so close to The Doomsday Machine (for different reasons). The Ultimate Computer is a somewhat new take on the evil computer regular theme of TOS, but it's still a little familiar, and The Changeling and I, Mudd feel redundant in the wake of season one's various man vs. machine plots. There are only so many stories to tell, and I don't begrudge a certain amount of repetition of themes -- that is to be expected, and even encouraged to a degree, if the series is going to establish and reestablish a firm POV. In the case of something like Obsession, I think it's worth being glad the series returned to familiar themes and plot elements from The Doomsday Machine, since the result was so successful. But the problem comes when so many of the episodes feel halfhearted and lazily or incompetently put together, and I get the impression that the reason for this is a lack of anything new to say in these episodes. And this is to say nothing of the cynicism of "Assignment: Earth" as the season finale. I don't think it's a bad episode exactly, and as just a random episode of TOS it's...well, below average, I think, but okay. As a season finale and possible *series* finale, it's really disappointing. Roddenberry didn't particularly think that Trek would be renewed, so he used the last chance to spend with these characters to do a backdoor pilot? Classy! I wouldn't really have minded this earlier in the season, or even as second-last episode, but really. It adds to the feeling that even in season two, the creative forces were losing things to say. Which, again, makes it weird that there are so many absolute gems this season! This season seems to me like a good argument for the cable channel model of shorter seasons. It's possible that if they were given 13 eps instead of 26, they would have just produced a season of The Apple, Catspaw, Friday's Child, The Gamesters of Triskelion, The Omega Glory etc. But I prefer to think that they would have given a season of Amok Time, Mirror Mirror, The Doomsday Machine, Journey to Babel, The Trouble with Tribbles, etc. Combining the ideas from Return to Tomorrow and By Any Other Name into one mega-classic instead of two decent episodes. That type of thing. All that said, I'm very glad to have season two of TOS. It's rough and rocky, and especially toward the end there is a pervasive sameness, but its highs are very high and essential, and its middling episodes still have a lot to offer.

Along those lines, my ideal lineup for a shorter, tighter season two: 1. Amok Time 2. Mirror, Mirror 3. The Doomsday Machine 4. Metamorphosis 5. Journey to Babel 6. Obsession 7. The Trouble with Tribbles 8. A Piece of the Action 9. The Immunity Syndrome 10. A Private Little War - with heavy rewrites 11. Return to Tomorrow with some ideas from By Any Other Name 12. one other "parallel Earth society" episode -- maybe mostly based on Patterns of Force but with some heavy rewrites. The Spock/McCoy material from Bread and Circuses can go here. 13. The Ultimate Computer Obviously any season of standalone episodes can be improved by just chucking out the worst episodes, but I think the big gap between the best and the worst of season two makes it an ideal candidate for some rejiggering.

As it happens, William B, I've been pondering a similar experiment for all of ST:Voyager. Throwing out all the episodes that don't advance the overall plot, theme, or characters, the entire series can be boiled down to approx. 26 episodes of essential material (though some are two-parters), plus an equal number of runners-up. The "essential episodes" experiment could also be done for DS9, though it had a lot more ongoing threads. However, I never contemplated the "cable channel model" for TOS because of its minimal continuity. It was always an anthology, not a novel.

@Grumpy, agreed on the anthology format of TOS. With an anthology, then, the big qualities you're looking for are consistency of quality and novelty over the course of the different episodes, making sure the "important themes" the series returns to (which form the bedrock of the...I'm going to say "thematic continuity" between episodes) as well as the character development that does occur, to the extent that TOS does explore characters, particularly with the Big Three. A cable channel model for an anthology brings the advantage that the anthology can just be less meandering and more forceful in the episodes that remain. I think a similar case can be made for trimming down, say, The Twilight Zone, which I watched all the way through a few years ago whose hit to miss ratio is probably around that of TOS -- it's a true anthology series. All that said, it's hard for writers, producers, actors etc. to know which episodes are going to be hits and which misses while making them. So, it's not as if reducing the number of episodes will mean that the episodes that get tossed are going to be the bad ones. With DS9 and Voyager (and TNG), there's actually a similar problem, if you want to emphasize continuity and character/plot development: it is not obvious, on a first pass, which elements of a story are going to be important and which are going to be dropped. To take TNG as an example, if you want to be a strict adherent to continuity as the guideline, then "Lonely Among Us" can't be discarded because it's the start of Data's Sherlock Holmes fascination; this could easily have been a recurring subplot that was binned, but instead it became a pretty essential facet of Data's character. I'm not sure what point I'm making, except that it's much easier to do this type of thing with the benefit of hindsight and the whole series before us than it would have been for the writers at the time. To elaborate on my choices, I do enjoy "The Changeling," "I, Mudd," and "Wolf in the Fold" enough that I probably would keep them on if I were really limiting myself just to "episodes I think are worth rewatching," rather than picking a (somewhat arbitrary) 13, which is chosen as half of 26 (and is a standard, though by no means the only, choice for cable shows, i.e. Mad Men mostly did 13-episode seasons before the split final season). I'd be curious which episodes you peg as essential and runner-up for Voyager. Maybe on one of the Voyager pages (Endgame?).

Whatever point you're making, William B, I get it. Even anthologies can center on a theme, though obviously in the case of TOS (and Twilight Zone, which I've recently watched, as well) the theme emerged without conscious design. Roddenberry didn't set out, as far as I know, to make a show that consistently illustrated how, for instance, humans are not ready for paradise (or, in Rod Serling's case, how you can't go home again). But toss out stories that don't service that through-line, you've got a coherent package of episodes. With Voyager, though, the premise was clear from the get-go (though Elliott might still disagree about what constitutes a "premise"). Therefore, it's immediately obvious which episodes are germane and which are time-fillers, put into production because there were no other ideas for scripts that week. It's not a matter of retroactively recognizing quality or serendipity of execution, or capitalizing on unforeseen potential. Voyager (more so than DS9) had a story from the beginning, which becomes more evident when 5/7 of its episodes are stripped away. I'm tempted to post my list, but I don't know where. It would be lengthy and deserves much debate (as I am not uniquely qualified as curator). I considered "Eye of the Needle," since that's what inspired the list, but I dunno.

This episode was just awful, a preposterous and silly plot from beginning to end. The cavalier attitude towards time travel to do historical research was beyond ridiculous.

I enjoyed season two, but one thing that hurt it was that they had to many parallel earth. Not only that, but these parallel earth episodes were aired to close together. Ironically this is what Gene Roddenberry wanted to do with Trek is time parallel earth stories that mirrored problem of the present or past. I love that fact that Scotty and Uhura got a lot more to do this season. Chekov was a great addition to the cast and I'm glad he didn't turn into boy wonder the wiz kid. I feel bad for George Takei who lost out on a lot of great moment for his Sulu character due to filming the Green Beret. It's pretty obvious a lot of great moments that he could have had went to Scotty and Chekov. Takei likes to blame Shatner for his shortcoming on Trek, but he obviously lost out on a chunk of good material because of Green Beret. Top 5 episodes. Amok Time Doomsday Machine Mirror, Mirror, The Trouble With Tribbles. Journey to Babel Honorable mention goes out to Obsession.

Not sure there's much sense in criticising this episode for breaking Time Travel continuity rules, when they weren't established yet... It's not the best episode of TOS but still fun in its way, I thought.

Good episode, although Gary Seven telling his office computer in the first act that he's on a mission to prevent earth's nuclear holocaust lets the cat out of the bag (pun intended) a bit too early, robbing the episode of some tension. To give us more investment in the Enterprise crew's pursuit, it might have been better to let us keep guessing up to the end whether he was friend or foe. Nevertheless, this show is still a tightly-paced time travel yarn with contemporary overtones in classic Trek fashion, setting the tone for this type of episode on future Trek series -- I would give it 3 out of 4 stars. The young Teri Garr, a delightful actress with great comic timing, adds a sassy and fresh voice to the male-dominated cast that makes the show a bit more fun to follow than usual. Her body language even in simple scenes, as when she tries to get around a pedestrian on the sidewalk, is pretty amusing. And although she's not always integral to the main plot, her charismatic screen presence allows us a sympathetic then-contemporary viewpoint on the proceedings which makes them a bit more accessible. Robert Lansing's Gary Seven oozes 1960s cool, adding to the Cold War espionage vibe of the story, and I liked his gadgets. The cat Isis (phrasing?) is pretty cool too. Overall, lots of interesting stuff here, including the orbiting nuclear weapons plot point that still feels somewhat relevant today. Unfortunately, once Mr. Seven starts crawling around the nuclear warhead and our heroes follow him, the pace of the episode stalls out. Considering that Gary Seven might have explained his mission to Roberta (Garr) and our heroes sooner, all the double-crosses between the lot of them in the last act felt a bit frustrating, as one had the impression it might have been avoided. Having said that, the pro-disarmament plot of Mister Seven traveling back in time to destroy US warheads in the interest of preventing earth's self-destruction is a nice idea, fitting with Star Trek's idealism. The time paradox dialogue at the end doesn't really make sense, but I do appreciate the humanitarian optimism of this one. Not really sure why some people here dislike it so much; "Assignment: Earth" is not great or perfect by any means, but it's an entertaining hour with some nice ideas, and that's pretty much all I ask from an episode of Trek.

Now it makes sense to me that "Assignment: Earth" was some kind of pilot for another show - Kirk/Spock aren't close to being the main character(s) and as a TOS episode it comes across as kind of odd. I was getting a bit bored with all the footage of the rocket launch/control center. Have to also say that the plot is a bit ridiculous - like the Enterprise can just go back in time to whenever no problem. And then the final resolution, Kirk/Spock just have to trust Gary Seven that he intends to detonate the nuclear warhead at the right altitude - since they cannot in time. Not much to it. It is noteworthy for a young Teri Garr (Tootsie) - her character was sort of ok but makes sense that it's part of a pilot. I want to know: was the black cat the same as the one in "Catspaw"? Not a really strong episode but not awful as some other commenters have said. I'd give it 2 stars out of 4.

@Stubb, Wholeheartedly agree with you re. "Metamorphosis" - nobody will consider this episode one of the TOS classics or among its very best, but it is one of my favorites. It is the best sci-fi love story I've ever seen. George Duning's terrific soundtrack is perfect for making it a very moving story.

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone! @Rahul Yep, it was a pilot for another show. And what you wrote got me to thinking... I read recently that the original series never broke the top 50 in ratings, and of course we know NBC tried to cancel it after each of its first two years. Now, taking all of that into consideration, why in the world were they using it as step-stone for a new show? If they did not believe many people were watching, how was this going to help the new one get off the ground? That just seems weird to me... Have a Great Day Everyone... RT

Anyone have an idea why the lady was disguised as a cat?

When Roddenberry has big input, the result is usually a terrible script. Here he realizes that Star Trek is about to be cancelled and so turns an episode into a secret (and awful) pilot for another show. Real classy Gene. I think we can basically pretend that this is not really a Star Trek episode.

Good idea for a series. Poor storytelling. If AE had been on the air and lasted into the early 70s it could have been really good. Oh well.

Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors" had nothing on this one!

Am going to watch this episode in the coming days but must point something out: this is now the fourth episode in which the crew visit 20th Century earth (or recreation thereof), and the fifth of which the crew visit Earth's history if you count the Adonias episode, THIS SEASON. And these are the pre-Braga days! My overriding impression of TOS from my youth was the lack of creativity in the setting. They were on the edge of the Final Frontier and yet it seems like even the crew of DS9 did more exploring! The precedent for repetition was set by TOS. Brannon Braga is a one-trick pony (I heard there is no explanation of "one-trick pony" in the dictionary, it simply says "See Braga, Brannon"). But to be honest, the more I revisit TOS, the more I realise the man revered by generations, Gene Roddenberry, was like a 60s version of Braga. It's all redshirts dying, a single female character introduced who happens to be a major babe, close-ups on Shatner's face with light across his eyes and trips to old Earth. It's ironic that the ones which avoid these cliches happen to be the absolute shining stars of the series. For example, the mind-f*** episode with Scotty being possessed. Fair enough, this also borrowed straight from Earth's past, but it took the Ripper idea and brought it forward to other worlds and other species. TOS created a living, breathing universe that we rarely see in TNG, VOY or ENT, which all focus on one ship and one crew with no consequences for 99% of their actions. It's easy to see why TOS was so popular/influential. But it's also easy to see why it was canned after the shortest run of any live action Trek. If it had shown more creativity in its storylines and explored that optimistic future more, it might have run for longer.

I remember watching the rerun of this episode as a kid and I felt at the time that it was the most memorable episode of Star Trek. I watch it today and still think it is a really cool episode just from the idea of a person that they don't know is a human or an alien, the tech he uses, his cat, etc etc. Also the time travel is great. I don't see why this is not one of the best episodes of Star Trek (though I'm just throwing that out there... I'm not exactly that well versed as you guys about all the episodes).

Even if Kirk and Spock play second-fiddle to some new characters, chasing after them and generally watching what's going on, I think this episode manages some suspense, originality and fun. It's a wonky, entertaining ride. I mean, c'mon, Seven (Seven?) can speak cat and his cat is actually a very attractive woman (alien?) and some people don't find that at all fun? I revisited this one to prepare a bit for reading Assignment: Eternity.

Aside from the pilot for a spinoff series stuff, it seems pretty obvious to me that the goal of this episode was to use Apollo launch footage to profit. This was 1968. That was a big deal. I'm surprised nobody mentioned that.

Love this episode and as usual am surprised at the bad reviews, I grew up with star trek so I guess my opinion is biased by the sweet memories I have.Gary seven was so cool and Im guessing the cat was some type of bond reference.Of course there is plenty of goofs, ,seven can fight of a whole group of people and is even immune to spocks neck pinch but is knocked out by a metal cigarette case that roberta clunks him with, but then again they got somethings right, spock said there will be an important assassination and there were two, MLK and RFK.My only real complaint is the going back in time to witness something, I guess they didnt have any books or video on past events, a much better idea IMHO is that the enterprise is near earth and when they accidentally intercept gary sevens beam it drags the enterprise back in time with him.

Good episode. The story held my interest and I liked both our guest stars - their characters and performances. The cat was intriguing. One of my favorites for the series. Didn't really care for the fact that the Enterprise is shown as easily traveling through time, at will and for no compelling purpose, but it's won't be the first, and definitely not the last, time we'll see the franchise play fast and loose with this sort of thing. I especially liked that our "alien of the week" was refreshingly honest and non-hostile.

Sarjenka's Brother

M5 computer from "Ultimate Computer" is put back into use for Gary Seven. OK episode.

Goodness, I had no idea what I was getting into when I watched this. So, I agree with all the criticisms (shoehorned pilot for other show, etc., etc.) but it wasn't all bad. I think the one thing they got right was the dramatic tension for the episode. The show framed Gary Seven as the villain of the episode with an obviously nefarious agenda, although it mentioned the possibility he could be doing his assignment for the greater good. I think the direction worked in a way that made us forget he was possibly doing "the right thing" - which, in turn, made for an interesting reversal in the end. I suppose the problem with all this is, it's hard to relate to Gary Seven when you're being told by all the scripting, visual, and music cues that he's a bad guy. it would be like if they were using DS9 as a pilot for Edington and a Maquis show (who's rooting for that guy?). Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what that cat that turns into a woman was all about. It looks like a template for a Sailor Moon character. :3

Sleeper Agent

Great guest appearances, nice props and an interesting intrigue; but as many have mentioned, it drops the ball half way in and has a hard time recovering from what turns into a boring mess. On another note: from what I can remember NSA's existence wasn't officially admitted until the 80s (?), thus making this episode (one of) the first soft disclosure of the organisation? And yeah, what was that woman/cat all about? Her name being Isis certainly is interesting.

I'm a sucker for anything in the orbit of TOS. I would have been all in for a season 4 even if it was twice as bad as season 3. So it pains me to speak ill of an episode of which there are only 79. But try as I might, I can't bring myself to say anything positive about Assignment: Earth. In my mind, this should not even be viewed as a ST episode, but rather a pilot for another show that guest-starred the crew of the Enterprise. That's exactly the vibe I get whenever I watch it, which is why I can't even bring myself to review it. (Even though I kinda just did.) Shame on Gene for unofficially concluding season 2 at episode 25.

There's a website dedicated to the stillborn series: https://www.assignmentearth.ca

Hotel bastardos

Execrable pisspoor backdoor pilot. Christ, imagine if the show had gotten cancelled on that wretched note... Thank fuck that utterly charmless twat Gary seven and that pathetic dizzy bint were mercifully left stillborn in the miserable graveyard of failed pilot shows. Dangleberry should've been ashamed of himself for trying to chance it with that wet fart of a concept.... Oh, and I ain't a cat person which made matters worse...0 stars.

Assignment: Earth is the culmination of the central theme of Season 2, the exploration of late-1960’s society. Star Trek finally shows its hand, what it has been building up to all year, starting with Mirror, Mirror, and through all the alternate Earth episodes, and now this: an examination of the central pressing issue for real life 1960’s Earth. https://youtu.be/-DhkY6d9uqQ Season 1 had a more personal touch because the theme of the season was Man. Or rather man with increasing powers, up to and including the power of the gods. Whether we had gods as teenagers (Charlie X) or men and women as gods (Where no Man has Gone Before) or man & paradise (This Side of Paradise) or enhanced man (Space Seed), the point of Season 1 was to explore man, especially how man would react to being placed at all levels of power and pleasure up to and including ultimate power and total bliss. Season 2 was more impersonal by design. So many episodes were thought-experiments that put a slight spin on society - an alternate Earth almost like our own planet, but just different enough to accentuate a particular aspect of society - some aspect the show wanted to explore or highlight for the audience (like public manipulation through television in Bread and Circuses, or the cruelty of a purely intellectual elite in Triskelion). Assignment: Earth also gives us vivid insight into the mindframe of the 1960’s audience. In that way, it is a model for Star Trek: Voyager episodes like "11:59" and "Future’s End," both of which did a good job exploring the mindset of the 1990’s. Assignment: Earth's 1960’s audience was obviously a nervous lot - neurotic about all sorts of events transpiring around them. If we have Climate Change today, they had nuclear holocaust to worry about back then. And in all that upheaval, who was there to protect them? Not God. Maybe it gave the audience comfort to think that Kirk and Spock - or Gary Seven - was up there looking down at us - looking out for them, like an Angel. ROBERTA: Mister Seven, I want to believe you. I do. I know this world needs help. That's why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know. We wonder if we're going to be alive when we're thirty. What were they so worried about? SPOCK: Current Earth crises would fill a tape bank, Captain. There will be an important assassination today… 5 days after this episode aired, Martin Luther King was killed. He was 39. I wonder what the theme of Season 3 will be? https://youtu.be/8A_3jqiix0Q

A very uneven episode that is redeemed by Teri Garr’s portrayal of Roberta Lincoln, a refreshingly different female role in TOS. I agree with Jammer - not only is it questionable WHY Starfleet would be interfering with history, it’s barely explained HOW they were able to time travel. There were many good moments, most of them supplied by Miss Garr’s ability to convey naivety, kooky disbelief, and resourceful intelligence, all at the same time. The cat was also an interesting addition, especially when briefly adopting human form at the end. But the geopolitical angle of the 60s was heavy handed and obvious, and not something that escapist sci-fi should have been involved with except in a ‘parallel’ type of story, e.g. a similar scenario set on a different world, as a metaphorical parable. But I recognise that setting it on Earth was a budget-saving exercise. Not a bad way to end Series 2, entertaining to watch. But “could have done better “. I’d give it 3 stars... just about. I just wish they’d found a role for Roberta Lincoln on the Enterprise.

It's on TV right now... and it's pretty damn awful. The regular cast are reduced to guests in their own show! I suppose the story involving Gary 7 could be interesting except for the crucial fact that I DON'T CARE.

Alhough I reemember seeing it I had completely forgotten the plot. Not fantastic but thanks to the reference in Picard I gota reason. The slightly outdated potrait of a secretary was amusing and entertaining.

A couple of commentators seem to think Seven was also a time traveller but he made it very clear at the beginning of the episode when he argues that he is a Twentieth Century man and the Enterprise crew have no right to interfere with his mission. He and others, such as the couple who were supposed to have got on with destroying the rocket but died in a car crash, were descendants of human beings taken from Earth six thousand years before and specially bred and trained to carry out missions on Earth to help ensure its survival. That is all in Seven's dialogue with Roberta. To answer the point about why didn't the secretary know Seven, her employers were the couple who died. She'd never met him before. This is one of my least favourite episodes. The ditsy secretary is just irritating to me. The normal cast are reduced to hanging around, at a loss what to do or prisoners in the case of Kirk and Spock. It is fairly boring. I did wonder when I rewatched it recently if the same cat was used for Catspaw. I imagine the cat/woman mystery would have continued in the projected series and that Isis was one of the aliens despite having the name of an Ancient Egyptian goddess. Anyway for me, this really is a pilot for a show that wasn't picked up that the ST crew were unfortunate enough to be forced to appear in.

Something I forgot to mention is I think the woman provided the voice for the computer also did the Companion's voice in Metamorphosis

This particular episode was a little far out for me. Below average rating. Barbara Babcock did the voice work of the computer. She had an active role in a couple of the other shows. And, April Tatro was the cat girl at the end of the show.

This is indeed a pilot to potentially introduce another series that never blasted off (a small pun there..very small...I digress) However, it s also the most insidious idea for a Star Trek episode ever in the history of all mankind! (besides Spock's Brain)...but still the idea aside - it is still very watchable and likable. Any time travel episode is a good one when it comes to Trek. I dig it! Besides, I like the kitty... by that I mean Teri Garr, of course.

Assignment: Earth is, well, adequate. It’s inoffensive and fairly well executed, has some ok moments and some good tension. It’s also a cynical exercise in television marketing, made brutally ironic given that it follows right on the heels of Bread and Circuses, a show that lambasts such cynicism in TV. The fact that this back-door pilot also doubles as the season 2 finale really calls into question Gene Roddenberry’s creative ethics. Other than this not *really* being a Star Trek episode, its main failure is the initial setup. Time travel is already problematic enough without it being treated like a lark, engaged in for seemingly low stakes research. That premise feels so half baked that it compounds the sense that this whole outing is just a callous failure of integrity. 2/4 inexplicable, shapeshifting catwomen. As far as season 2 goes, overall it’s a pretty good grouping of episodes, although I’d say season 1 had a steadier hand. Season 2 has some dizzying highs such as Amok Time, Doomsday Machine, or Journey to Babel, but also had some ‘yikes’ moments such as The Apple, Catspaw, or The Omega Glory. It’s a bit more of a rollercoaster than season 1 in my opinion. My top 5: 1- Doomsday Machine 2- Amok Time 3- Mirror, Mirror 4- Journey to Babel 5- Obsession Bottom 5: 5- Gamesters of Treskelion 4- The Apple 3- Wolf in the Fold 2- Catspaw 1- The Omega Glory Note: in this situation Assignment: Earth is not measured as it’s not really a Star Trek episode and thus is both the worst and best episode of the unpicked up show: Assignment: Whatever. Or whatever.

Michael Miller

Fun and edge of your seat thrilling episode, but the plot was very weird and could have been better. 1st of all, what is this casual crap that the enterprise used "Light speed break away factor" to move back in time? Did they do another cold anti-matter implosion engine start from the Naked Time or something, or one of those stupid slingshot around the sun?? The 1st one was barely tested and the 2nd made no sense as if you are already going at warp speed how does the tiny bit of extra speed from whipping around a star going to slingshot you anywhere? That's not how general relativity works anyway even if the concept was remotely valid, and it isn't. 2nd, what was the purpose of the cat-woman alien? She served no purpose in the entire episode, other than attacking and distracting security guards by acting like a mean cat LOL. 3rd, The 1000 light year transport thing. Since when can transporter beams travel faster than light. If it's energy of some kind how does it exceed the speed of light? I know you're gonna say that the aliens were way more advanced, but even in normal star trek episodes they sometimes make it seem like transporters can beam people faster than light, such as a few million kilometers being in "transporter range", to keep it somewhat in normal physics range they should have kept it to 100,000 miles or half a million miles to be more believable, even if transports had to take a few more seconds to be realistic. It isn't through subspace obviously as subspace transporting was addressed and rejected in TNG. 4th, the ridiculous advanced alien technology 1920s style controls! Like why is there a steering wheel on the secret transporter room that opens automatically anyway? How the fuck is that operated by a grand total of 8 BUTTONS??? You're seriously telling me the secretary who had no clue what any of this was, just happened to exactly lock on to the guy's position and beam him back by randomly fiddling with a few dials, yeah...RIGHT. So a 9 year old could have disrupted his mission. Or the "survo" that could perform dozens of random functions by hitting 3 buttons. How does it lock a purely mechanical door btw? 5. The secretary herself. Was she an agent as well or just a random earthling hired by one of the agents? They kept bouncing back and forth on this. First it seemed like they knew each other, then she seemed clueless, then she knows how to operate the transporter but is shocked seeing people beamed in and out, which is it?? Huge plot question that was never resolved. 6. The whole thing with the guy crawling on the rocket gantry. How was he planning to get out of there in time if he wasn't accidentally beamed out? By jumping off? The launch was seconds later and he would have been incinerated or knocked clear off the thing. 7. I don't know much about nuclear physics, but wouldn't the detonation ultimately release lethal radiation over the countries it blew up over? Does the atmosphere need to transmit it, or would that not matter anyway as 104 miles is above the space line, serious question.

Truly horrendous episode. 0 stars.

I don't hate this episode at all, even though it's insultingly not the show we've been watching all this time (I always thought the backdoor pilot thing was obvious, as the device was used in a lot of shows back then). The premise was interesting. Gary Seven is cool, Isis is cool, Teri Garr was appealing. The whole thing felt more like Irwin Allen than Roddenberry. Had it gone to series, I would have watched it. It probably would have been kind of Austin Powers-ish. The most annoying thing about this episode is the ridiculous (if understandable given the era) use of a Saturn V with the full Apollo lunar payload to represent fairly modest nuclear delivery system. Even as a kid ten years later I always thought that was weird as Walter Cronkite etc had explained the whole thing to everyone by then. Use of stock footage was a poor excuse.

Proud Capitalist Pig

1968 turned out to be such an eventful and important year that there’s a whole book written about it (by Mark Kurlansky -- you should read it). We were neck-deep into the Cold War. The Space Program was in full operation. There were two different assassinations on American soil. It was one of the most significant presidential election years in history for the United States. And television, while still technically in relative infancy, was quickly becoming the loudest soapbox commentator on our cultural life (and also the opiate of the masses, but that’s another discussion). Obviously, we’re all here on this discussion board because one of those key shows was Star Trek. In “Assignment: Earth,” Spock delivers the key line, “There will be an important assassination today, an equally dangerous government coup in Asia, and, this could be highly critical, the launching of an orbital nuclear warhead platform by the United States countering a similar launch by other powers.” (That describes Star Trek’s times pretty accurately, I’d say.) Now, they know the year is 1968. But the episode conveniently (and smartly) leaves the exact date unrevealed. But here’s the thing. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, and Bobby Kennedy on June 6. The “dangerous government coup in Asia” that Spock mentions could be interpreted as the Iraqi coup on July 17. “Assignment: Earth” was broadcast on--get this--March 29. Yikes. Star Trek may have been a hammy science fiction show, but it had its finger on the zeitgeist pulse so presciently that its episode “Assignment: Earth” predicted a horrible assassination, a government overthrow, and international nuclear tensions in the very year it was written (as a matter of fact, Jesus H. God, they were off by less than a week in terms of the King assassination). I concede that if that’s not relevant television, I don’t know what is. So I’ll say this for Star Trek: It may only show us paper moons sailing over cardboard seas, and mere canvas skies hanging over muslin trees… but it created legions of fans who subscribe to that refrain, “It wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me.” This particular episode “Assignment: Earth,” a fitting close-out to a very eclectic and interesting season of television, captures the essence of what has made this allegorical space opera endure for so long. “Assignment: Earth” as an episode of Star Trek deals heavily with time travel. That’s a smart move, because such stories are tricky. We’re invested in seeing Kirk and Seven succeed in stopping an existential crisis on Earth, but there’s the added concern about just how much they’re able to do, or even supposed to, in terms of interfering in the first place. Yes, Seven could be telling the truth about being a benevolent time traveler looking out for history, but he could also be a lying charlatan. For those complaining about Kirk and Spock being “powerless” and watching things happen, I’d advise that you go back and rewatch the episode, paying attention this time. Kirk is simply *unsure* about whether or not he really should be committing any actions at all, because that’s the caveat about time travel. For a while there’s really nothing he *can* do except to watch things unfold and then step in if it turns out Seven is an interloper. I liked Robert Lansing’s portrayal as Seven very much, but Teri Garr (!) was no slouch here either. She gave Lincoln a winning sense of humor, and I fell right in love with her klutzy but patriotic foundation. Garr would have nicely matched Lansing in her own right. And plus, yeah, she looked great. Lansing and Garr can absolutely carry an episode. Speaking of which, some of you above don’t like that the Enterprise crew is “barely in” this episode. I didn’t think that at all. The balance here is actually fine. Seven appears on the Enterprise in the teaser. The stakes of what we’re about to see are explained pretty effectively in the first act. So rather than The Seven Show, it’s more of a back-and-forth between Seven’s efforts and the efforts of Our Usual Heroes. The two threads have to have an equal value of importance in this case because this episode is a backdoor pilot, granted, but since the story is so engaging and the performances are pitch-perfect, so what?! Isis the Cat was such a hoot. I too cracked up at the obviously voice-overed “meows” emanating from her (one of the meows is even designed to sound like “uh-oh!”) Sambo delivered a fine performance. But really, Star Trek--as @Rahul points out, there are other cat colors besides black (but I kid). And as a cat dad myself, I can appreciate how Seven dotes on Isis. About that “backdoor pilot” thing… One of the best such pilots was the All in the Family episode “Maude,” which Norman Lear created so that Bea Arthur could get her own series. Archie Bunker is only seen in the very beginning and then at the very end, but it’s still one of the best episodes they did because *it’s so entertaining.* Backdoor pilots can be damn engaging and turn out to be absolute gems. The Simpsons, after all, started as a backdoor pilot--so there you go. Not for nothing, but I’d watch “Assignment: Earth,” the series. It’s too bad that it wasn’t picked up, as it seems to me that they would have had a pretty engaging, versatile hit on their hands. Maybe the U.S. government stepped in and refused to let it be picked up as a series, for they feared that it hit too close to home and would end up almost revealing a lot of true dirty secrets about this country and what its leaders actually know (but I kid). "Assignment: Earth" may have been a bit of a different spin on Star Trek, but I'd say it captured the spirit of it pretty well. Speak Freely: Lincoln -- “Not even the CIA could do all this.” My Grade: A

SEASON 2 TOP FIVE: 5th Place -- The Doomsday Machine 4th Place --. The Ultimate Computer 3rd Place -- Assignment: Earth 2nd Place -- Mirror, Mirror 1st Place -- The Immunity Syndrome SEASON 2 BOTTOM FIVE: 22. Return to Tomorrow 23. The Apple 24. Friday’s Child 25. The Gamesters of Triskelion 26. The Omega Glory

I don't think anything could keep Journey to Babel from being on my top 5 list of S2, but I kinda like that you had to guts to put Assignment: Earth on yours.

@Peter G. A LOT of folks seem to hate this one, yes. But I loved it. I'm clamoring for "Assignment: Earth," The Series. Hell, it can easily be updated / rebooted for modern television. A guy from the distant future getting into all kinds of international shenanigans while trying to make sure that he both succeeds in saving the planet and protects his cover -- maybe fighting a shadowy cabal that wants to create a new timeline for their own nefarious ends (with plants in each of Earth's most powerful governments), and accompanied by a hot sidekick and shapeshifting cat? I'd watch that! "Journey to Babel" was a competent outing, but it didn't impress me. The best part of that episode, for sure, was the Spock-Sarek struggle and the corresponding Kirk-Spock friendship showcase. It also had some good dialogue. High marks for that. But Jane Wyatt's performance got in the way, the murder mystery was woefully half-baked, and too much emphasis was placed on the Convening of Funny Foreheads. It got a B- from me.

The fact that this episode's premise was appropriated for Picard Season 2 forever taints its memory. To quote Martok in similar circumstances, "it is a grave dishonor" (to the episode)

@ PCP, "A guy from the distant future getting into all kinds of international shenanigans while trying to make sure that he both succeeds in saving the planet and protects his cover" Yes, if only we had been treated to a Star Trek series involving time travel agents from the future working with people from the past, and maybe even a temporal cold war. That would have been GREAT.

Wait was Gary 7 even from the future? I didn't think so...

@Jason R Maybe I misinterpreted a line or two? He seemed to have foreknowledge that the imminent rocket launch would have apocalyptic repercussions for Earth unless he stopped it. I inferred from this that he's a time traveler.

@Peter G - "Yes, if only we had been treated to a Star Trek series involving time travel agents from the future working with people from the past, and maybe even a temporal cold war." You sure have a way with words, my friend. "Temporal Cold War." Love it! What are the chances that something like that is going on *right now*? (We, of course, wouldn't know about it).

@ PCP, At the risk of committing the sacrilege of explaining a joke, you have seen ST:ENT, right?

"Maybe I misinterpreted a line or two? He seemed to have foreknowledge that the imminent rocket launch would have apocalyptic repercussions for Earth unless he stopped it. I inferred from this that he's a time traveler." It's unclear as I recall but my impression was Gary 7 and other humans were removed from Earth by some group (maybe the cat woman's people?) and trained from childhood as "agents" to effect changes on their home planet. It may be the aliens have foreknowledge of the future (which is heavily implied I guess) but I don't think Gary 7 or the other agents are actual time travellers.

@Jason R I thought about it some more and read the episode transcript, and yes, your take is correct. It's the foreknowledge Seven has that's most beguiling about this. But for alien influences, all possibilities apply! Thanks. Still a great concept. @Peter G I am working my way through all of Star Trek by airdate order, so no, I have not seen anything past Assingment: Earth except for the flowing exceptions, which I will address more fully when each comes up in my list: STAR TREK II -- Saw bits of it as a kid, but not the complete movie. STAR TREK IV -- Same as II STAR TREK GENERATIONS -- Saw on opening night with the Trekkie girl I was dating at the time. STAR TREK FIRST CONTACT -- Saw in the theater because "lets destroy some cyborg AI zombies" spoke to my inner spirit lord. STAR TREK the 2009 reboot STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS STAR TREK BEYOND Saw in all the theater with my family 1-2 sporadic Next Generation episodes, which I will review when they come up in my list Saw a scene or two of STAR TREK DISCOVERY and/or PRODIGY when my sons were watching but left the room so as not to be spoiled. So no... I wouldn't get a STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE joke, hahaha. (If indeed that's what you mean by ST:ENT). Always good to hear from you!

Ah ok, enjoy the watchthrough!!

@Peter G. Thanks! So far I'm enjoying the journey. I wouldn't call myself a fan yet but I'm open to all possibilities, and @Jammer, I'm *already* a fan of this site and thank you so much for it! This weekend I'll be pulling the family together to watch "Spock's Brain." My sons can't wait. Apparently, it's so bad that it's a hilarious hoot. But I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

"This weekend I'll be pulling the family together to watch "Spock's Brain." My sons can't wait. Apparently, it's so bad that it's a hilarious hoot. But I'll give it the benefit of the doubt." Seriously, try to forget its reputation when you watch it. I don't think it's justified.

Just watching this episode and Gary 7 confirms he is a human from the 20th century, so he is not a time traveller. But he recognizes Spock and clearly knows something about the 23rd century so as to state that his alien benefactors are unknown even in the future. So his alien benefactors are clearly time travellers or have some kind of awareness outside of time similar to the Organians who seemed to know the future or possibly the Traveller who also claimed to be from another time (sort of).

Yesterday, Feb. 16, 2024, the New York Times reported that Russia is developing an orbital nuclear warhead that , when deployed, will be able to destroy weather and communication satellites that are currently in orbit around the Earth. It will be the first nuclear weapon in space. Talk about life imitating art! I hope there is a Gary Seven on the way to save us from ourselves.

Yeah, not that I would ever question the New York Times but https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/russia-seen-highly-unlikely-put-nuclear-warhead-space-2024-02-15/ It is somewhat self explanatory. Putting an actual nuclear warhead outside of the borders of Russian Federation is a bad idea. Putting a nuclear warhead into space would be so extremely risky because of radiation alone. How would one even hit more than a very low number of strategically important satellites? I would assume that for example the US spreads out it's vital communication satellites as to make hitting enough to limit their counterstrike capabilities near impossible. They also certainly have backup systems. Most importantly, if you want to use a nuclear weapon to destroy satellites, then Russia could just use a ballistic missile, or a regular missile. Oh and then there is this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prlIhY3e04k

@Booming: Appreciate the information you provided about space and current weapons - thank you. I was more just pointing out how amazing it is that a science fiction series in the late 1960’s could envision equipment and issues that actually materialize (no pun intended) over 50 years later. Kind of like “The Ultimate Computer” and our current AI debates. I will turn age 70 later this year. Star Trek, in all its many adaptations, has accompanied me on my life journey since I was 13 and I still enjoy its relevance.

@Lorene That sounds nice. I'm happy that it inspired you in a joyful way for so many years. :)

Eastwest101

Views very much like Roddenberry smoked a few cones and watched a bit of James Bond and Dr Who for inspiration to do a back-door pilot. As Jammer says the premise is beyond stupid, the script risible, the pacing choppy, the stock footage lazy and boring etc and yet despite all its obvious flaws this is the most cold war/disaster movie and eerily prescient attempt at addressing the issues of militarization of space & mutually assured destruction/nuclear armageddon, computerization and even some counter-culture and hippie themes thrown in. Some of the early stuff in the episode was pretty good and entertaining once I had picked myself up off the floor about the utterly stupid premise but as Jammer says - once Seven was on the gantry the entire episode derailed itself so much that all it needed was the Fonz to literally jump the shark and it would have been perfect.... Did anyone else get a giggle out of Colonel Seven's exposition dump recalcitrant and snippy computer? The line about having the planet around for us to live on was a highlight for me. Its difficult to believe that this came out the same year as Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddessey, that film immediately made Roddenberry and his crew of whacky juvenile writers pretty much demoralized, dated, stale and redundant overnight and looking like Gunsmoke with a couple of lizard suits/model spaceships and mini-skirts, they must have been so close to giving up even starting Season 3..... This had so much potential, and failed so spectacularly in logic/execution and a too convenient poorly signaled resolution, that its almost impossible to judge, I don't even know if it is an episode of Star Trek or not, but I can see why the episode has so many varied opinions. I bet this is a regular feature in many screenwriting courses as an example on what not to do.

Although I have been watching Star Trek off and on since I was 4 years old (my first experiences while sitting in my father's lap), I don't think I ever saw this episode till recently in 2024. I knew a tiny bit about it because at some point I had read that Teri Garr had a horrible experience with it as a job, having fought with the powers that be (Roddenberry, costume people) over the length of her skirt. She was not proud of the work she did and didn't include it when talking about her accomplishments. I didn't like the episode. Although I had not read that it was a pilot for a different show, that fact immediately became obvious on viewing. It's like a different TV show with different characters suddenly invade Star Trek, and the regulars we all love are demoted to bit players on the side. You find yourself asking, what is this? Well, whatever it was, I was annoyed and bored, and I think that must have been the consensus back in 1967 or whatever it was, because it looks like it didn't go anywhere. The world already had James Bond and Dr. Who. Maybe they should have tried a "Get Smart"-type episode where somebody had a phone in his shoe. I would like to add here, that though I love Star Trek (TOS), and have no problem at all with the cheesy plastic and paper mâché sets and somewhat campy acting, the extreme sexism is sometimes hard to take. The indignities some of the female actors are put through is painful. The dopey-dumb, wide-eyed characters they sometimes must portray are unlike virtually anybody I've ever known in real life. Of course, their clothes often cling to their bodies precariously, held in place by tape. (There must have been some mortifying wardrobe malfunctions on the set.) Roddenberry recognized that sex sells, but the assumption of the era was that only the men needed to be catered to, and clearly they wanted very young, very scantily clad, noticeably stupid or naive females to fantasize about, regardless of what planet they hailed from. The actress playing Janice Rand was raped by a producer, and it is not overly surprising as sexual assault is alluded to number of times over the course of the series, I guess because it was titillating. Into this comes Teri Garr, who did a poor job playing a too-cute-by-half nitwit--and she hated it. That is to her credit. Granted, Star Trek also broke ground for women simply insofar as women at times appear as officers, scientists, fellow adventurers. Nichelle Nichols alone helped raise Star Trek from exploitative dreck to something actually important. This was huge. I think though the sexists of the universe (all the little people out there is TVLand) had to be placated with a plethora of bimbos. I guess that was the trade-off. In the midst of all that, Star Trek at times soars to actual poetry. However, not in this episode.

I find it a bit ironic to blast the show for displaying women in tight clothing, when the men are also in tight clothing, and in particular they found every excuse to get the male star of the show to have his shirt torn or removed completely.

Peter: True. I am not claiming this aspect (the sexism) cannot meet a counter-argument. But I don't think the men associated with the show went through the same degree of exposure and humiliation. In that era, skin was the way to get ahead, and the show was always looking to insert some cheesecake. It was the era of the Playboy bunny. There might have been some desperation involved as the show never really did well at the time. Some of the costumes are positively absurd, especially when the alien women are supposedly warriors and they are wearing barely-there backless bikinis and high heels and the most airy expressions on their faces that they could manage. But I am constantly advising young friends to keep in mind, it was a different time, and it was actually PROGRESS at that point! Everything builds on the thing that came before, at least we hope so.

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Assignment: Earth (episode)

"Assignment: Earth" was the 55th episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , the 26th and final episode of the show's second season, first aired on 29 March 1968 . The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace MA , directed by Marc Daniels MA and novelized in Star Trek 3 by James Blish .

• 1.1.1 Episode characters
• 1.1.2 Novelization characters
• 1.2 Starships and vehicles
• 1.3 Locations
• 1.4 Races and cultures
• 1.5 States and organizations
• 1.6 Other references
• 2.1.1 Adaptations
• 3.1.1 Translations
• 3.2 External links

References [ ]

Characters [ ], episode characters [ ], novelization characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ], related media [ ].

"Assignment: Earth" was originally intended to be a back door pilot episode for a spin-off TV series from Star Trek: The Original Series . The series never made it into production but Gary Seven has subsequently been featured in numerous stories in other spin-off media. Assignment: Earth finally became a series of sorts in 2008 when IDW Publishing produced a comics miniseries inspired by the original idea of a TV series: Star Trek: Assignment: Earth , detailing the adventures of Gary Seven in the late 1960s and early 1970s .

Adaptations [ ]

Connections [ ]

Timeline [ ].

Translations [ ]

External links [ ].

• Assignment: Earth (episode) article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Assignment: Earth article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• ↑ The character of Clifford Brent was not named in the episode but the same actor, wearing an officer 's Starfleet uniform , was addressed as Brent in TOS episode : " The Naked Time ". The same actor also played the character of Vinci .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 Odyssey class
• 3 DS9 relaunch

Star Trek - Assignment: Earth #1

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In May, John Byrne will unveil his first full-blown Star Trek comic series, the five-part, time-jumping Star Trek: Assignment Earth.

The original TV episode "Assignment Earth" had been the Season Two finale for the Star Trek series. It introduced the cryptic character Gary Seven and was intended by Gene Roddenberry as the pilot for a spin-off series that never came to pass. Now, however, Byrne will bring Roddenberry’s dream to life, delivering the spin-off 40 years after it would have debuted. The series tells the tale of the interstellar time traveler and his Earth-born assistant as they covertly confront threats to the past so that they can save Star Trek’s future.

Byrne will both write and draw the series, which steps one year forward with each installment, beginning with 1968, the year that the original "Assignment Earth" episode aired.

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Detailed analysis of classic sci-fi movies and tv shows, star trek episode 55: assignment: earth.

Technical Specs

Director: Marc Daniels

Writer: Art Wallace

Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Robert Lansing, Terri Garr, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Don Keefer, Morgan Jones, Bruce Mars, Ted Gehring, and Paul Baxley

Composer: None (Stock Music)

Air Date: 3/29/1968

Stardate: Unknown

Production #: 60355

There are times when “Assignment: Earth” plays more like a comedy than a serious science fiction piece, thus undermining the somber nature of a potential nuclear holocaust.

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Assignment: Earth

I was up late last night and came across ST-TOS Assignment:Earth.

I missed the first few minutes of it and online googles have fallen short on what I want to know.

How did the Enterprise get thrown back in time to 1968? I thought the whole time travel thing was usually a mistake of some sort but it seemed totally natural that they were back in 1968 in this episode. They didn't even have a clip of how they get back to their normal time. It was like another day at the office.

What gives?!

• star-trek-tos

3 Answers 3

This was in the opening teaser for the episode (bolding mine):

"Captain's log. Using the light-speed breakaway factor , the Enterprise has moved back through time to the 20th century. We are now in extended orbit around Earth, using our ship's deflector shields to remain unobserved. Our mission – historical research . We are monitoring Earth communications to find out how our planet survived desperate problems in the year 1968."

So yes, they intentionally went back in time. In TOS 1x21, Tomorrow is Yesterday , (the episode that they discovered the light-speed breakaway version of time travel), they also figured out how to reverse it.

Presumably, they assumed that viewers would know they used the same method to return to their own time, and didn't bother putting it in the episode. Assignment Earth is episode 2x26, over a season later.

• Good thing they stayed away from those pesky Apollo flights! –  user Commented May 15, 2012 at 14:14
• They accidentally discovered the time warp in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (Season 1, Episode 19, aired 1967-01-26). "Assignment Earth was Season 2, Episode 26, last episode of the season, aired 1968-03-29. –  Keith Thompson Commented May 15, 2012 at 17:53
• @KeithThompson Yeah, I said they were different episodes, but I see it wasn't very clear. Updated the answer to include links and season/episode numbers. –  Izkata Commented May 15, 2012 at 18:06

The last episode of the second season: Assignment Earth was doing double duty as an episode of Star Trek and the pilot of another series spin off called Assignment Earth.

The show would have featured actor Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, a futuristic "James Bond," as the lead character. The episode stars Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln, who would have been a co-star in the series, had it continued on its own. -- Wikipedia

The strange part of this episode was the fact the ship was doing "historical research" by traveling back in time! They talk about it in a matter of fact fashion as if it were something they did every day.

The slingshot effect was not even SHOWN. The show opens with them in the past intercepting Gary Seven's solar system ranged transporter beam!

They also gave a shout out to the sonic screwdriver. It's how Gary 7 escapes from the brig.

• 2 Did some research and both devices were introduced within days of each other. An awesome coincidence. First appearance of the sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep - Part 1 first aired on 16 March 1968, first airing of the Assignment Earth episode: March 29, 1968. –  Thaddeus Howze Commented May 6, 2012 at 5:21

I think this is likely to get closed as general reference, since the answer is readily available on Wikipedia.

This episode was done as the lead-in to an intended spin-off series. Gary 7, his cat, and Teri Garr's character were supposed to go on to their own show, so the emphasis was on setting that up, not on Kirk/Spock/etc. having adventures.

In Kirk's log dictation, he just says something like "we used a gravitational slingshot maneuver to go back in time to investigate..." and, as you say, they didn't even bother showing them going back to their correct time.

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Star Trek: Assignment Earth IDW mini-series

#1 May 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Solicitation: IDW's Star Trek: Second Stage continues, as comics icon John Byrne unveils the first-ever Star Trek series of his decades-spanning career! The 1968 TV episode Assignment: Earth had been the Season Two finale for the original Star Trek series, and was intended by Gene Roddenberry as the pilot for a spin-off series that never came to pass. Now, Byrne delivers the series 40 years after it would have debuted, recounting the adventures of interstellar agent Gary Seven and his Earth-born assistant as they covertly confront threats to the past so that they can save Star Trek's future. Byrne will both write and draw the series, which steps one year forward with each installment, beginning with 1968, the year that the spin-off series would have appeared. Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#1 May 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Virgin cover. Retailer incentive cover. Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#2 Jun 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Solicitation: The first-ever Star Trek series from Byrne continues! Telling the story of the Assignment: Earth Trek spin-off from Gene Roddenberry that never came to pass, a time-traveling U.S.S. Enterprise intersects with Gary Seven's efforts to save the future from a 1969 crisis that only he and his assistant Roberta can avert! Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#2 Jun 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Virgin cover. Retailer incentive cover. Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#3 Jul 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Solicitation: Crisis on campus! The time: 1970. The place: Earth. The situation: Critical! Comic book legend John Byrne continues his first-ever Star Trek miniseries, featuring the enigmatic interstellar spy Gary Seven and his intrepid assistant, Roberta. Following their encounter with Kirk and the Enterprise crew, the duo must go undercover in the Halls of Ivy as students burn their draft cards and National Guard troops patrol the quad. What is the terrible truth behind rumors of an army of super-soldiers - whose purpose may be much more sinsister than fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia? Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#3 Jul 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Virgin cover. Retailer incentive cover. Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#4 Aug 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Solicitation: Mysterious alien technology. Senseless death. And a growing awareness that there may be those beyond our world who don't want to see Earth survive! Seven and Roberta face their greatest challenge yet... an invasion from the most distant regions of the Galaxy! Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

#5 Sep 2008 Star Trek: Assignment Earth Solicitation: The President of the United States is the most powerful person on the planet -- but what if the man in the office is an agent of a foreign government? Seven and Roberta journey to Beijing to make sure only Nixon returns from China! Byrne's first-ever Star Trek series concludes here! Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover artist: John Byrne

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Assignment Earth: series spin-off

• Thread starter Gary7
• Start date Feb 18, 2009

Vice Admiral

• Feb 18, 2009

Snagglepussed

Gary7 said: I remember reading somewhere that at some point, Gene Roddenberry wanted to start a series spin-off based on the Gary 7 character from "Assignment Earth". Of course, it never happened... but I wonder if there was ever a back story or script written for it, aside from the "double duty" of the Star Trek episode being used as a surrogate pilot episode. Also, was it ever determined as to who the aliens were that trained Gary 7 for the mission he was on? They were never revealed in the episode... but I'm curious to know if Gene had ever come up with an idea about it. One of these days I'll have to track down a book on the Star Trek universe that tries to tie everything together... I'm sure a few have been written. Click to expand...

Christopher

Gary7 said: I remember reading somewhere that at some point, Gene Roddenberry wanted to start a series spin-off based on the Gary 7 character from "Assignment Earth". Of course, it never happened... but I wonder if there was ever a back story or script written for it, aside from the "double duty" of the Star Trek episode being used as a surrogate pilot episode. Click to expand...

Also, was it ever determined as to who the aliens were that trained Gary 7 for the mission he was on? They were never revealed in the episode... but I'm curious to know if Gene had ever come up with an idea about it. Click to expand...

DS9Sega said: You can use the SEARCH function here to find threads and posts on the subject, but here are a couple from the past year: "Assignment Earth" might've been a cool show Operation Earth? Click to expand...

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Speaking of backdoor pilots, anyone think Assignment: Earth would still make for a cool Earth based series in the Trek Universe?

Set in the 60s, the adventures of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln.

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About the mission and delay, about the astronauts, about the return plan.

Editor’s note: This article was updated Aug. 20, 2024, to reflect the latest information from NASA’s Office of Communications.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the orbiting laboratory on June 6 aboard the Boeing Starliner after lifting off on June 5 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

During Starliner’s flight to the space station, engineers noticed some of the spacecraft’s thrusters did not perform as expected and several leaks in Starliner’s helium system also were observed. Engineering teams at NASA and Boeing have since conducted several thruster tests and in-depth data reviews to better understand the spacecraft. While engineers work to resolve technical issues before Starliner’s return to Earth, the astronaut duo have been working with the Expedition 71 crew , performing scientific research and maintenance activities.

NASA now plans to conduct two reviews – a Program Control Board and an Agency Flight Readiness Review – before deciding how it will safely return Wilmore and Williams from the station. NASA expects to decide on the path forward by the end of August.

Here are some frequently asked questions about their mission.

What is NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test?

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test launched on June 5 , and is the first flight of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station with astronauts. The flight test aims to prove the system is ready for rotational missions to the space station. NASA wants two American spacecraft, in addition to the Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft, capable of carrying astronauts to help ensure a permanent crew aboard the orbiting complex.

What are the goals of the Crew Flight Test?

This flight test aims to demonstrate Starliner’s ability to execute a six-month rotational mission to the space station. The flight test objectives were developed to support NASA’s certification process and gather the performance data needed to evaluate readiness ahead of long-duration flights.

Why is the Crew Flight Test staying longer than planned aboard the space station?

During Starliner’s flight to the space station, some of the spacecraft’s thrusters did not perform as expected and several leaks in Starliner’s helium system were observed. While the initial mission duration was planned for about a week, there is no rush to bring crew home, so NASA and Boeing are taking additional time to learn about the spacecraft. This is a lesson learned from the space shuttle Columbia accident. Our NASA and Boeing teams are poring over data from additional in-space and ground testing and analysis, providing mission managers data to make the best, safest decision on how and when to return crew home.

If there’s an emergency on the space station, how will Butch and Suni get home?

Starliner remains the primary option for Butch and Suni if an emergency occurs and they need to rapidly depart the station. There is no urgent need to bring them home, and NASA is using the extra time to understand the spacecraft’s technical issues before deciding on a return plan.

How long could Butch and Suni stay on the space station if they don’t come home on Starliner?

If NASA decides to return Starliner uncrewed, Butch and Suni would remain aboard station until late-February 2025. NASA would replan the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission by launching only two crew members instead of four in late September. Butch and Suni would then return to Earth after the regularly scheduled Crew-9 increment early next year.

Are Butch and Suni staying in space until 2025?

No decisions have been made. NASA continues to evaluate all options as it learns more about Starliner’s propulsion system. Butch and Suni may return home aboard Starliner, or they could come back as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission early next year.

Can Starliner fly without astronauts?

Yes, Starliner can undock and deorbit autonomously, if NASA decides to return the spacecraft uncrewed.

Could NASA send a SpaceX Dragon to bring Butch and Suni back?

If NASA decides to return them aboard a SpaceX Dragon, NASA will replan its SpaceX Crew-9 mission by launching only two crew members in late September instead of four. Butch and Suni would then return to Earth after the regularly scheduled Crew-9 increment early next year.

Why does NASA need two crew transportation systems?

The main goal of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program is two, unique human spaceflight systems. Should any one system encounter an issue, NASA still has the capability to launch and return crew to ensure safety and a continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station.

Are Butch and Suni stuck on the space station?

No, Butch and Suni are safe aboard the space station working alongside the Expedition 71 crew. They also have been actively involved in Starliner testing and technical meetings. Butch and Suni could return home aboard Starliner if an emergency arises. The agency also has other return options available, if needed, for both contingency and normal returning planning.

Are Suni and Butch prepared for a longer stay on the station?

Butch and Suni each have previously completed two long-duration stays aboard the station. NASA astronauts embark on missions fully aware of the various scenarios that may become reality. This mission is no different, and they understood the possibilities and unknowns of this test flight, including being aboard station longer than planned.

How long would an extended stay for Butch and Suni compare to other space station mission lengths?

A typical stay aboard the International Space Station is about six months, and NASA astronauts also have remained on the space station for longer duration missions . Previous missions have given NASA volumes of data about long-duration spaceflight and its effects on the human body, which the agency applies to any crew mission.

Do the astronauts have what they need (e.g., food, clothing, oxygen, personal items, etc.)?

Yes. The International Space Station is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing, and oxygen. Additionally, NASA and its space station partners frequently launch resupply missions to the orbiting complex carrying additional supplies and cargo.

Recently, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft carrying 8,200 pounds of food, fuel, supplies, and science and a Progress resupply spacecraft carrying three tons of cargo arrived at the station. NASA has additional SpaceX resupply missions planned through the end of 2024.

What are they doing aboard the space station?

The crew continues to monitor Starliner’s flight systems and gather performance data for system certification. NASA also is taking advantage of Butch and Suni’s extra time aboard the orbital laboratory, where they have completed various science experiments, maintenance tasks, and assisted with spacewalk preparations. Some of the science they’ve recently completed includes new ways to produce fiber optic cables and growing plants aboard the orbiting complex.

Can they talk to their family and friends?

Butch and Suni enjoy many of the same comforts we have here on Earth. They can email, call, and video conference with their family and friends when they have “free time” aboard the International Space Station.

What are the other options for bringing Butch and Suni back?

NASA has two unique American space transportation systems capable of carrying crew to and from station. Although no decisions have been made, NASA is considering several options to return Butch and Suni from the space station, including returning aboard Starliner, if cleared, or as part of agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission in February 2025.

Is it safer to bring them home aboard a SpaceX Dragon?

Crewed test flights are inherently risky, and although rotation missions may seem routine, they also are not without risk. It is NASA’s job to evaluate that risk and determine whether it is acceptable for crew ahead of each flight.

What other steps is NASA taking to bring them home?

NASA adjusted SpaceX Crew-9 launch and the agency’s SpaceX Crew-8 return, allowing more time to finalize Starliner return plans. NASA also is looking at crew assignments to ensure Butch and Suni can return with Crew-9, if needed.

For NASA’s blog and more information about the mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew