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The Paradise Syndrome"The Paradise Syndrome" is a third season episode of , first broadcast October 4, 1968. It is episode #58, written by Margaret Armen and directed by Jud Taylor. Quick Overview: An alien device on a primitive planet, erases Captain Kirk's memory, and he begins a life as one of the natives. On stardate 4842.6, the starship USS Enterprise arrives at an Earth-like planet on the verge of a collision with an asteroid that will surely destroy it. Captain Kirk beams to the surface, along with his first officer Mr. Spock, and chief medical officer Dr. McCoy, for a 30 minute investigation. They find the planet's terrain breathtaking, with snow capped mountains, think pine forests, and a sparkling blue lake. The team then comes across an ancient obelisk of unknown origin. The structure is comprised of an mysterious metal that resists sensor scans, and is covered with strange alien runes. They also discover a group of primitive humanoids living nearby, whose customs and appearances closely resemble North American Indians. More specifically, a mix of Mohican, Navaho, and Delaware tribes. Spock believes they may have been transplanted from Earth by the ancient Preservers, who are believed to have seeded the galaxy with humans, thousands of years ago. The team returns to the obelisk, and Kirk goes to relay their findings to the ship. As soon as he flips open his communicator, he trips a trap door at the base of the structure, and falls inside. The strange machinery housed within, zaps him with a bolt of energy that knocks him unconscious and "erases" his memories. The trap door quickly seals shut, leaving Spock and McCoy unable to locate their Captain. With too little time to conduct a search, the remaining party returns to the ship, and quickly leaves orbit in an attempt to intercept the asteroid and deflect it off its deadly course. Meanwhile, Kirk recovers but has no idea who he is, or what his equipment does. He finds a way out and emerges from the obelisk, but is discovered by a group of natives who are leaving an offering at the "temple". They immediately mistake him for a god and bring him to their village, but the tribe elders are doubtful of Kirk's "divinity" and demand that he proves himself. At that moment, an unconscious boy is rushed to the village. The child, who has fallen into the lake, is not breathing, and Kirk rushes over to help. He recalls his medical skill of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and brings the boy back to life. The tribe elders look on in awe, and believe Kirk has breathed life into the dead boy, proving that he is a god. The village medicine man, Salish, had already pronounced the boy dead, and once Kirk revives him, the elders force Salish to give up his position as a healer. He angrily throws down his trinkets. The elders name Kirk, "Kirok", and makes him the new medicine man, as Salish jealously walks away. Back in space, the Enterprise arrives at the asteroid and attempts to push the huge rock off course with blasts from the ship's phasers. The beams only manage to blast chunks of it off, so Spock orders a drastic increase in power routed to the them, however the weapons burn out from the overload. Mr. Scott announces that he cannot repair the phasers without putting into a starbase. Having failed to stop the asteroid, Spock begins to blame himself. He orders the Enterprise to return to the planet, where he beams down in a rush to decipher the inscriptions on the obelisk. Meanwhile, Salish's anger for Kirk grows, especially when he learns the girl he is to marry, Miramanee, the tribal chief's daughter, now has eyes for the new medicine man. Kirk accepts Miramanee's offer to "settle" with him, and she asks him to pick the day of "joining" where they will be married. Not remembering the eminent doom of the asteroid, Kirk picks the following day for the ceremony. He spends the night with Miramanee, and in short order, she quickly becomes pregnant. Kirk tells her he'd like to stay, but that he is unable to shake off his strange dreams of a "ship that flies among the stars" and that he feels that is where he truly belongs. Suddenly, Salish bursts in and attacks Kirk, cutting him. Salish notices that Kirk can bleed, and therefore he cannot be a god. He renounces Kirk's godhood before the rest of the tribe, but the villagers still believe Kirk to be a deity. Nearby, Spock is working on the translation of the obelisk's symbols. He determines the symbols aren't "words" but musical notes, an activation code of some kind. He determines the obelisk is an "asteroid deflector", built by the Preservers to protect the planet from the frequent asteroid activity of the system. The device, however, doesn't seem to be working properly, and their only hope of saving the planet is to be able to make some sort of repair. He then returns to the Enterprise. As the asteroid approaches, the planet's sky begins to darken and the weather begins to pick up force, blasting the terrain with fierce winds. The elders tell Kirk he must go to the "temple" and stop the storm before the earth begin to tremble. Kirk makes his way to the obelisk, but doesn't remember how to get inside and stands there, not sure of what to do. The tribe becomes angry at Kirk, and with Salish's encouragement, the crowd begins to throw stones at him. Keeping her faith in Kirk, Miramanee throws herself in the line of fire to stop the attack, but she is mortally injured in the process. Just then, Spock, McCoy and Nurse Chapel beam in, which frightens the villagers away. McCoy rushes over to Kirk to treat his injuries and discover he has no recollection of who they are. Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld to restore Kirk's mind, while McCoy checks on Miramanee, announcing there little he can do for her since her species' physiology is very different from that of humans. Kirk becomes himself again, and flicks his communicator open to contact the ship. As soon as it makes a noise, the door to the obelisk is opened. Spock goes inside and repairs the deflector beam. The device quickly targets the asteroid and successfully diverts it away from the planet just moments before it would have impacted. The storms quickly subsides, but the wrath of the tribe has taken its toll, as Miramanee, and her unborn baby, have died in Kirk's arms. External Links Paradise Syndrome
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