empath on star trek

• April 26, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Gets To Know The Breen In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ 505, “Mirrors”
• April 25, 2024 | Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images
• April 25, 2024 | Jonathan Frakes Sees Opportunities With Streaming Star Trek Movies, Weighs In On “Filler Episodes”
• April 25, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”
• April 24, 2024 | Coffee Table Book On The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Makeup Artistry Of Glenn Hetrick Coming In September

“The Empath” Review, Screenshots and FX Video

| July 30, 2008 | By: Jeff Bond 150 comments so far

REVIEW by Jeff Bond

“The Empath” is one of those classic Trek episodes that you appreciate more as an adult than as a kid or teen, when it’s likely to play as unbearably “mushy.” But it’s illustrative of how different Trek has always been from the other science fiction shows of the period—classic Trek was unashamedly “touchy feely,” focusing on humanity’s most noble impulses and feelings.

In “The Empath” Kirk, Spock and McCoy touch down on a planet threatened by an imminent supernova (see “All Our Yesterdays”), and find a Federation research station that’s seemingly abandoned. “Security cam” footage saved in the station’s computers shows the station’s crew mysteriously disappearing (this is one of several examples on the show of security cam footage employing arty zooms and pans) before the Enterprise officers themselves disappear and find themselves deep underground in an alien research facility. There they find an attractive female mime that McCoy dubs Gem (in a strange foreshadowing for an episode based on torture, the bed Gem is found lying on looks like a giant agonizer from “Mirror, Mirror”). Soon Gem’s captors also appear: the Vians, aliens who look a lot like the Talosians from “The Cage.” They eventually hang Kirk and McCoy from the rafters (given the show’s strange, minimal sets, just exactly what the rafters are in this case is an interesting question) and torture the bejeezus out of them as we discover that Gem is an “empath” who absorbs other’s emotions and physical pain into her own body. As in many Trek episodes, the superior Vians are running a test—but in this case the subjects aren’t the Enterprise crew and by turn humanity, but Gem and her race, with the Vians seeking to discover whether she is willing to sacrifice her life for her newfound friends Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

Like “Spectre of the Gun,” “The Empath” showcases an odd, stage bound theatricality, from Kathryn Hays’ pantomime performance as Gem to the strange minimalist sets, achieved by blacking out the stage floor, curtaining off the walls and lighting to create the effect of a pure black, featureless environment marked by “floating” set pieces including Gem’s bed and the Vians’ laboratory equipment. This was a technique often used on Lost in Space and Irwin Allen’s other sci fi TV shows of the period but rarely on Star Trek—in fact the sets, lab sound effects and even the Vians’ costumes seem much more like something out of Lost in Space than Trek. There are other stylistic touches that are out of character for Trek, notably the use of slow motion in an exterior scene involving the illusion that the landing party is about to be rescued by Scotty.

“The Empath” is all about caring, but there is some condescension in the way Gem is treated that echoes the “Mary Sue” approach of some later Trek episodes—McCoy especially seems instantly charmed by and concerned for Gem despite having little or no idea exactly who and what she is (although Spock does remind him that the sandbats of Maynart IV appear to be inanimate rock crystals before they attack…) and the doctor immediately raises the need to find a catchy name for her to Priority One. There’s a sense that this is more about her appearing to be a helpless, pretty “girl” rather than an alien and you have to wonder how Kirk, Spock and McCoy would treat Gem if she were male instead of female. On the other hand, while it’s unstated in the episode, women are often considered to be more “empathic” and nurturing then men so it’s somewhat of a natural choice to portray Gem this way.

Some of what appears to be clumsy plot development in the story winds up making perfect sense when we see what the Vians are trying to achieve—the fact that they tell the Enterprise officers how their force field works, giving them the key to their eventual escape, the fact that they label their experiments in English so Kirk and the others can read and divine what’s about to happen to them, and the fact that they allow the humans to obtain one of their “control units” all plays into their manipulation. And “The Empath” does pay off as an illustration of one of Trek’s key strengths, the unstated but effectively portrayed “love” between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Probably the warmest moment between Spock and McCoy in the entire series occurs in the aftermath of McCoy’s torture as the camera holds on a shot of Spock’s deeply concerned expression as he holds his hand to McCoy’s head, with a touched McCoy weakly responding “You’ve got a good bedside manner, Spock.” Gem herself expresses the affection between the characters with a warm and silent smile as she watches them vie to be the first to sacrifice themselves for the others earlier in the story.

Another Trek staple that works better here than in some other episodes is the way Kirk manages to change the Vians’ behavior with an imploring speech—this one makes particular sense given what the aliens want out of Gem; for them to refuse to show mercy and compassion when they value it so highly in others is a critical contradiction.

All that said, “The Empath” still registers sometimes as overly sentimental and it gilds the lily with its talky final scene on the bridge in which Kirk and McCoy have to admit that they were “awed” by Gem and Scotty unloads his “story of the merchant”—Trek often presented the moral of the story verbally but after such an effective wrap-up this coda seems like more hand-holding than an intelligent viewer really needs.

With most of the episode set underground there are few spaceship shots in “The Empath,” but in addition to their usual additions of a new planet, CBS-D puts their efforts in other directions—there’s a more realistic view of the star system’s sun with visible solar flares and most importantly, the team has worked to smooth out the transitions in the makeup effects that are used to illustrate Gem’s empathic powers. When Star Trek was originally filmed this kind of effect hadn’t changed much from the thirties and forties when films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Wolf Man showed transformations by fading between shots of different stages of theatrical makeup. While it worked for audiences of the time, the approach requires loads of suspension of disbelief. Because of the big changes in the look of the static makeups between shots, and even changes in the position of the subject and the sudden appearance or disappearance of hair, the technique has the aspect more of a magical quality than something organic. Here the impact of CBS-D’s digital “smoothing” of the effects is considerable as it actually adds quite a bit of emotional power to the growth of scars and bruises on Gem’s fragile facial features. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been employed for the healing scenes in “Miri” as well but the addition here is one of CBS-D’s more effective fixes.

SFX VIDEO by Matt Wright

SCREENSHOTS by Matt Wright

Remastered vs. Original

  Seasons One and Two discounted at Amazon US 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). The Season One DVD / HD DVD combo disk is available now for $104.99 (retail is $194.99).

Boy, this episode was always a tough one to swallow!

Eh. This one always felt phoned-in.

sound stage city

I guess I’m in the minority who liked this show, even as a kid in the 1970s. The stage-iness is part of the mood and the charm; Gem was oddly appealing in her muteness; and the Big Three had some great moments.

Sure, it’s no “Balance of Terror” or “City on the Edge…”, but it’s also far from the “Spock’s Brain” and “Children Shall Lead” end of the spectrum.

Uh oh. I always liked this one as a kid. But I was a wierd kid.

Never liked this episode. The merchant story that Scotty paraphrases is from the Gosples. Jesus used it as a parable. I like how trek writers lift material from scripture but given the show’s humanist bent would never properly give due credit. “Bread and Circuses” being a notable exception.

I love this episode. Reminds me of the last season of Batman.

so i guess its obvious that these guys are based on the talosians? i remember having an old copy of the cage i taped from BBC2, anyone remember the talosians voices changing from scene to scene> lol from high to loww and slowww

5. I still like this one, probably because it did feel theatric, more like a play than a television episode.

ive got to be in the mood for this episode. it has some really good moments but its very surreal.

I think this episode was one of four of TOS banned by the BBC here in Great Britain for many years before it was finally shown to UK audiences.

many thanks Greg UK

I loved some of the new music created for this episode.

Funny how Jeff nailed the fact that the platform looked like a giant agonizer. As many times as I’ve seen this episode over the years, I never picked up on that until I watched the remastered episode last weekend.

““The Empath” is one of those classic Trek episodes that you appreciate more as an adult than as a kid or teen,”

1. “Boy, this episode was always a tough one to swallow!”

Agreed Harry. I hated it as a kid and it really made for a lousy afternoon after school when I discovered, “Oh man!”, this was the one that was on. I just found it gory and sadistic. I couldn’t believe any race could be that way.

I do remember an ailing Deforest Kelly telling on those SciFi extras in between the commercials that this was one of his favorites because of the approach and art direction. Again, to quote Jeff Bond….I can appreciate them all on a different level these days.

Always loved this episode, when I was a kid I was very curious as to how Gem survived the pain, it looked so gruesome to me back then!

#8: The voices of The Talosians changed in pitch only during the “pieced together” version of “The Cage” that had both black and white and colour footage, this was before the “lost colour footage” was “found”. It’s been so long since I have seen the entire colour version of The Cage that i can’t remember if they kept the pitch correct throughout that one. On the original “Managerie”, their voices were re-dubbed at a lower pitch (and re-voiced), there was a post here a while back about the guy who played Commodore Mendez being one of the re-dubbed voices), and the main Talosian voice in the original “Cage” was the late Meg Wyle herself.

The story and dialog has some holes, but it’s heavy on the McCoy, so I still enjoy it. And like Paul, I liked the black box set. It manages to make me feel closed in, yet suspicious of what may be lurking in the darkness.

I think this was one of the ones the BBC dropped from showing because it was No Good

Oh boy More Mars like Planets!

No Season 2 Box-Set in UK???? What’s wrong? Season 2 only available in US-Stores next week? Why is it impossible to tell us the european release-date????

I’ll try to not ever say this again, but boy am I tired of the “realistic” planets!!

I’ll give it to them that the makeup transitions look great. Makes the episode better, even. However, whats with CBS and their hatred of over exposing shots? The new sun looks far less menacing than the old. Like a planet.

i am very impressed with the high def video clip shown above for this episode. if that’s what the remastered episodes looks like, I might change my mind and get the DVD.

I always liked this episode and still do. it made a whole lot of sense to me, even as a kid.

This may be the only original series episode that I’ve never seen all the way through. And, because I didn’t set my VCR correctly last weekend, I still only saw the last 15 minutes.

But as a kid, I’d read the James Blish adaptation, so I staged it in my head. I knew it was set in a pitch dark, nearly featureless underground cavern, so I pictured it as a dark place I knew — my grandmother’s spooky basement. Thereafter, when I’d go into that basement, I’d be expecting to see those tubes with the dead scientists in them. Yikes!

But last weekend, with the bit I did see… as Jeff ponders above, I wondered what the empath would have been like if it had been male instead of female. More to the point, I wondered, what if the Empath looked like the Vians(Talosians), and the captors torturing them were typican Trekian alien babes? Be an interesting change in the dynamic of the episode.

I miss the split-screen “comparison” videos!

The aliens in Lost in Space’s “Invaders from the Fifth Dimension” appear to be related to the Vians.

“(this is one of several examples on the show of security cam footage employing arty zooms and pans)” — I think it was mentioned in the review for “And the Children Shall Lead” that the reviewer didn’t see how the tricorder could take shots of the subject that contained the tricorder itself. Neil Stephenson makes a very believable for nanotechnology employing camera obscurae (sp?) of only a few molecules in size. Essentially, there would be no need for a fixed camera; you would get an indefinite number of tiny low powered cameras flying around.

Point is — if Trek ’09 is to use the three basic tools — phaser, communicator, tricorder — then each has to show us something that doesn’t exist in 2008. There are opportunities to do that and blow us out of our socks. I think JJ will.

re: better transitions and “It’s too bad this couldn’t have been employed for the healing scenes in “Miri” as well ” — As I’ve repeatedly said, I doubt this is the last time we’ll see a revamp of TOS. CBS-D has broken some important ground, but another complete pass would be nice to finish the job. I mean really, Paramount is making a mint off this 40+ year old property. COME ON.

Anyway, thanks Jeff. I always thought this one had a nice creepy beginning, then got sloooooow through the middle. Yes, I agree that this one is the most Lost In Space-like ep. I like Scotty’s little Gaelic storytelling at the end, but maybe that’s just me.

believable case for…

This one was one of my favorites… to the contrary of the popular opinion on it..

Yeah this was one of the ‘banned’ episodes in the UK for years. Probably until the 90s. It was released on a rental VHS along with ‘Miri’ the other banned episode in the UK. Renting the video in the 80s was the only way to see these episodes.

Oh, and the Talosians were all played by chicks. The Vians are dudes — with no dates. No wonder they’re grumpy.

10 — yes Beeb did restrict it because it thought the Kirk hanging/torture too strong. I like it’s theatrical feel. I watched for the first time the last but one episode of the Prisoner with just Pat McGoohan and Leo McKern in a very play like surreal script and theatrical set which also worked brilliantly with strong allegories to modern life and the individual fitting in to society etc (exec prod, written and directed by McGoohan too), very Trek like.

13 I can also remember reading De’s comments about this being one of his favourites with its theatrical prod design somewhere in an Starlog article I think years ago.

A big part of Trek and its appeal was is theatrical/Shakespearean feel and connections, hope this is not forgotten in the new film.

The set doesn’t just SEEM to be out of “Lost in Space,” the tubes holding Ozaba and Linke ARE from “Lost in Space.” They are, in fact, the freezing tubes from the Jupiter II, which can be identified by their crowns and pedestals. Five of these tubes are seen simultaneously in “The Empath,” six would have been available as old props from LIS.

Apparently, one year after LIS left the air, Star Trek felt it was safe to rent some of its props from 20th Century Fox.

As for the giant “agonizer”-shaped bed, it is actually the Eymorg conference table from “Spock’s Brain.” The base of the table was either cut off, or, more likely, the carpeted pedestal was built around it.

I think I have those stairs b4, which episode? Other than all the time Irwin Allen used them. The holding tubes for the crew, look like the freezing tubes from LIS.

This has to be one of the lowest budget episode of the whole series. Very few cast, no stage, and very little props. But not the worse episode by any means.

I’m pretty sure that CBS-D did touch up the healing “morph” shots in “Miri.”

I believe that a similar spiral metal staircase shows up as the way into the underground portion of Yonada in “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.”

25. CmdrR “I like Scotty’s little Gaelic storytelling at the end”

As #6 Roger points out, Scotty’s little story was actually one of Jesus’ parables.

13. Andy Patterson “I do remember an ailing Deforest Kelly telling on those SciFi extras in between the commercials that this was one of his favorites because of the approach and art direction”

“Star Trek Special Edition”! I can’t believe I forgot all about that! Strange that CBS/Paramount hasn’t included any of those interviews as extras in the DVD box sets. Same with the Patrick Stewart-narrated documentary that accompanied the “All-Color” version of “The Cage” that debuted just before the 2nd season of TNG. I always felt that little doc was far better than the lame anniversary ‘celebration’ shows that came in the years following it (the 25th anniversary show, the lame show that accompanied the TNG finale, and especially that *awful* Star Trek Honors show with Kenny G and some opera diva singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” plus that painful-to-watch Trek skit with the cast of “Frasier”).

RE: The agonizer bed

Glad to see I’m not the only one whoever noticed this! Genius bit of self-referencing (whether intentional or not).

The new close up of the sun looked even more fake than the original. It looked like a static painting. I didn’t care for it.

I love the planets the guys at CBS-D are doing.. MUCH better than the ones that they originally had. I love the realism to them.

I was watching an old episode on SPACE here in Canada… wow… you can see the choma key shadows of the enterpise as it orbits… the planets look horrible and unbelievable. But then again.. AT THE TIME, it was advanced and spectacular.

I look forward to purchasing the remastered series and watching the full episodes. Everything looks great in them!

I never cared for this episode. Call me a Philistine.

Also, it’s “gild” the lily, not “guild” the lily.

Lod Garth’s FAAAAAVorite episode

If JJ and company watched this episode and used it as a basis on how to treat the big 3. Their humanity, courage, sacrifice and hetero brotherly love for one another they will do well

WAY TOO MANY TORTURE SCENES THAT WENT NOWHERE…

…helped make “The Empath” seem as if it was being written as it went along. I never thought it was as BAD as some make it out to be… just irritatingly unfocused.

cbs does a great job with planets but they have no talent for anything else

This is not Lost In Space, it’s The Outer Limits “Nightmare”. Check the credits for both: directed by John Erman.

#31, There was also a hexagonal viewscreen (with rounded corners) on the set that was either from Land of the Giants or Lost In Space…not sure which, but definitely from one or the other.

I recognized it being in The Empath when watching my Irwin Allen DVDs recently…

#37 – I represent the Lily Pop Guild.

I always liked this episode. The low-fi production design forces you to pay attention to the acting and the dialogue, and in that way “The Empath” always reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone. Serling could get enormous mileage out of two or three sets, some well written dialogue and a handful of quality performers.

oh and the score is beautiful

STILL wish that they’d made the ‘remastered’ Enterprise a far LIGHTER shade overall, throughout the episodes…. The comparison shots here really show how much ‘whiter’ the original looked overall. And I don’t ever recall seeing ‘grey’ merchandise of the ‘E’ either….

41. I was just about to mention the similarity to “Nightmare,” which is quite a bit creepier than the “Empath.” Amazing that it’s the same director, though his style is certainly a big clue.

I also find Gem a bit like the Eloi in the 1960’s “The Time Machine.” Attractive, not very verbal, and really in need of developing an instinct for self sacrifice.

I always loved this episode! Spock’s reaction to McCoy’s hypo shot is priceless.

…the adventure continues….

ahhhh… reminds me of me boyhood boarding school…

St. Lulubell’s Co-Ed School For Misfit Boys by tha’ Isle o’ Eel… vast dark open spaces, strange blokes in robes running aboot, tha’ only women thar’ havin’ taken a vow o’ silence, showin’ strong emotion gets ya’ confined ta’ quarters, indiscriminate torture of alien life forms to (offical story) make them feel human, and a Scotsman relatin’ Bible stories…

tha’ best o’ times… tha’ worst o’ times… These days, iffi I had any, I would just send me kids ta’ bandcamp…

Arrrrrrrr…

on a more pedestrian note did anyone think the way they treated Gem was truly outrageous?

An archive of Star Trek News

You may have missed

Several S&S Trek Books On Sale For $1 This Month

• Star Trek: Lower Decks

Another Classic Trek Actor On Lower Decks This Week

Classic Trek Games Now On GOG

• Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy Opening Credits Released

Star Trek: The Original Series

Cast & Crew

Kathryn Hayes

Willard Sage

Alan Bergmann

Davis Roberts

Jason Wingreen

Information

© 2009 CBS Corp.

Accessibility

Copyright © 2024 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

Internet Service Terms Apple TV & Privacy Cookie Policy Support

Star Trek : "Wink Of An Eye"/"The Empath"

I take notes when I watch Trek episodes for recapping. I do that for every show I watch. I don't spend all that much time directly referring to those notes when I do the actual write-up, but I like having the information there if I need it. There's probably something to be said for the way jotting down plot details, character names, and dialog helps to give me a clearer sense of what each episode is about, making it easier to remember details and create a structure for the review. Whatever the exact reason, I've found that whenever I've tried to put together an essay on a movie or show without notes, I get nervous.

Related Content

I mention this as a way of apologizing for the sketchiness of my comments on "Wink Of An Eye," because, despite the fact that I know I had my laptop open and I typed repeatedly throughout the episode, my notes for it have mysteriously vanished. Maybe I deleted them when I opened the file to take notes on "The Empath." Maybe I put them in a different file. Maybe I was hallucinating, because it's been that kind of a week, and I gotta be honest with you, I'm not completely convinced that I'm writing this right now. This could all be some kind of stress dream, and in a moment or two, the letters on the keys will change into some language that cuts my fingers and my monitor will slam down on my hands and eat them. (The only benefit to this being a nightmare is that at least I could be sleeping right now.)

Anyway. "Wink of an Eye," what I remember. Of the two episodes this week, "Eye" is easily the best—not great, but at least it feels like a Trek episode, as opposed to "The Empath," which plays like one of those awful hour-long Twilight Zone s. Responding to a distress call from a planet with no recorded life forms… again… Kirk and co find a beautiful, culturally advanced city that's entirely empty of inhabitants. (The beauty aspect is apparently important, as Scotty mentions it in the supplemental Captain's Log.)(Which is odd. Why is Scotty recording a log? I was under the impression that Kirk was in charge of the Captain's Log, and that other crew members recorded entries only when Kirk wasn't available to do so. Admittedly, Kirk is on the planet when the episode begins, but he hasn't been there that long, and surely the log entry can wait till gets back. Maybe it's that officers each have their own journals, which would make sense, or there's a specific time the Log needs to be recorded each day. But I like to imagine, given James Doohan's well-known animosity towards Shatner, that Scotty is just taking the next step torwards attaining complete control of the ship. After all, it's Kirk's fault that the poor Enterprise keeps going on all these mechanically damaging adventures.)

It seems like most every episode we've seen in season 3 has had our heroes visiting planets with no discernible life forms, only to be immediately accosted by those life forms upon beaming down. At least "Eye" gives the computer an excuse for its error. The citizens of Scalos (the planet) (thanks, Wikipedia!) are really, really, really fast. So fast that it's impossible to see them in "normal" speed, so fast that when they talk it sounds like a buzzing insect—so fast that they can dodge phaser fire. The accident that Barry Allen-ed everyone also made them sterile, and now a once thriving civilization is down to its last nine members. The distress call that attracted the Enterprise is a lure to give the Scalosians a chance at some fresh meat. That's why a red-shirt named Compton disappears on Scalos, and that's why Deela, a Scalosian, drugs Kirk's coffee and winds him up to her level. She likes him. She really, really likes him.

As threats go, the Scalosians aren't bad, although their willingness to give the hero of the show a drug that will make it possible for him to defeat them is a little suspect. They manage to beam aboard the Enterprise somehow, which doesn't make a lot of sense, science-wise. If their speed makes them invisible to the computer as life-forms, how would the transporter even work? Especially since they get brought on without anyone on the ship realizing it. Their sabotage of the Enterprise 's control systems makes clever use of their undetectability (Spock's reversal of that sabotage makes for a cute episode button), and there's something, well, creepy is a stretch, but certainly unsettling about a threat whose presence can only be recognized in the aftermath. (For a better use of this idea, check out the great later series episode of Dr. Who, "Blink.") In fact, the ep might've been stronger if it had spent more time focusing on the mystery, and the danger that mystery represented, instead of dropping Kirk down the rabbit hole and spoiling the question so early on.

Once Kirk crosses over, though, the situation progresses as expected. Deela is hot for him, the leader of the Scalosians, who is also into Deela, is less fond. The actor who plays the latter, Jason Evers, was also the lead of the wacky, "My wife's a head I've got in the basement, who can I kill so I can have some sex again?" b-flick, The Brain That Wouldn't Die. ( Brain was used in a great MST3K episode, as well as source material for feminist graduate students searching for thesis topics.) Evers' performance in "Eye" can best be described as "perfunctory," and apart from Deela, none of the other Scalosians make any impression at all. We have our main danger, a machine that's screwing with the life support system, and we have our obstacles, and then it's just a matter of Kirk and eventually Spock teaming up to fix things. (We even have McCoy coming up with a magical cure for the super speed.)

But like I said, it wasn't horrible. The hook is clever, if undercooked, and I did get a kick out of Spock following in Kirk's footsteps without hesitating, and Kirk, in turn, reacting to his arrival as if it was an entirely expected turn of events. I'd label this as "functional." The triangle between Deela, Kirk, and Evers is a familiar one, and given such a rich main concept, it's a shame that there wasn't more an attempt made to take advantage of the possibilities. There are hints: Compton, the red-shirt, dies of "cellular damage," which apparently the newly turned are vulnerable to, but once this is raised, it's quickly dropped. It's not like Kirk is going to die, after all, though it's surprising the Scalosians don't get some kind of comeuppance for all the kidnapping and manslaughter they're responsible for. (They explain that when their numbers began to drop, they created the distress signal to attract new blood, but the super-speed transition tends to kill weaker, non-Kirk humanoids.)

In a stronger season, "Eye" would've been a low spot, a perfunctory by-the-numbers programmer which, while not embarrassing, wouldn't have made much of an impression. Here, it reminds us that, for a while anyway, competency was the least we could hope to expect from the series. "The Empath" is a sad reminder of Trek's slow sink into mediocrity, an ep with a lazy, random script, a set that would've made more sense on Lost In Space, and a leading lady that tests the patience of even the most loyal of the show's fans. It's not as outright embarrassing as some of the stories we've seen in the past, and it definitely has some weirdly effective moments, but it's indicative of the general trend towards sloppy, ill-formed plotting that ruined one of the series' greatest strengths. At least in the first two seasons, when stupid things were happening, they nearly always happened fast.

Another solar system, another star about to go nova, and the Enterprise on a rescue mission to contact some guys in a science observatory. These guys turn up dead, which is probably for the best, because the security camera footage of them that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy see reveals a cranky dude and a religious dude, neither of whom we'll miss. In the footage, after a two line dialog that instantly defines their stereotype, both characters vanish (there's a weird, quilted screen effect when they disappear, too, which I guess indicates a rift in time or space, but mostly makes me think somebody rammed the camera lens into the kitchen table at my grandma's). Our heroes express consternation over the disappearance, then Spock blinks out, followed by McCoy, and finally, after the expected ration of hammy-acting, Kirk.

They wake up in a big dark room that, according to Spock, is "121.32 meters below the planet's surface." Really, though, it's just a lot space and shadows and the occasional prop. "Spectre of the Gun" could get away with this minimalism because it had just enough trappings to suggest a place. The empty bits made that suggestion more sinister and eerie. Here, there's no sense of anything. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy walk around, then they find a mute woman on a platform, then they run into tall bald men with special remote controls, and then there's a lab. Why would you conduct so much science in a place where you can't see anything?

Of course, this is less "science" than a morality play—the aliens, called Vians, are running an experiment to see if the Empath has developed the proper emotional, physical, and ethical requirements to justify the survival of her race. So, again with the TZ vibe. As godlike beings, the Vians are strictly second-tier. They start off sadistic and terrifying, but we're supposed to be sympathetic towards them by the end, somehow, despite the fact that they murdered the Grumpy and Godly. Or maybe not sympathetic, but at least not actively evil. Kirk manages to psyche them out with a "You're no better than us!" speech, which somehow makes it acceptable that they killed the other men and tortured McCoy. I think.

I really didn't care for this. The story is cheesy, 3am profound junk. We've been down the road of the aliens who test other aliens for worthiness, we've had some laughs with it (Space lizard!), we don't really need to be reminded how noble everybody is. Plus, the constant return to the archetype isn't good for world-building. The universe can't be this full up of these guys, can it? Take the monolith in 2001. It's a striking, powerful image—a stark reminder of how little we know about everything, how barely we've cracked the possibilities that life and the cosmos have to offer, how rich with potential we, as a species, still are. Now, imagine that every planet we went to had a monolith. Sometimes more than one, many of them in different colors, or different shapes, and some of them told knock knock jokes. How quickly would the magic die? And how fast before you start assuming that the whole galaxy is a poorly planned MMORPG that you forgot you were playing?

What really kills "The Empath," though, is the title character. McCoy calls her Gem, which is as ridiculous as it sounds. (Truly ridiculous? Truly, truly, truly ridiculous?)(Yes.) The actress, Kathryn Hays, is, um, awful. Just—awful. She doesn't say anything, and her facial expression never really changes, but she performs these utterly bizarre and inorganic gestures to communicate that I guess are supposed to indicate her deep emotional connection to the world, but really just scream "Bad senior dance thesis." This would be lousy enough, but the script goes out of its way to praise her beauty, her worth, her quality of character. It's interminable. The episode needs Gem (snicker) to be fascinating, and when she's just a mediocre actress that (I'm guessing) Rodenberry wanted to, ahem, feel up (ha!), the already weak writing falls apart completely.

There are a couple of decent bits. The sight of Grumpy and Godly in their jars is funny/disturbing, and the torture of Kirk and McCoy is presented in such an odd fashion as to make it distinctive. This might just be the warmest we've ever seen Spock and McCoy behave towards one another; McCoy, near death, tells Spock he has "a good bedside manner" in a non-sarcastic way, and Spock even calls McCoy a "friend." Plus, the basic, baffling absurdity of the story is enough to hold your interest at least for a little while. But overall, "Empath" is a wash.

Grades: "Wink Of An Eye": B- "The Empath": C-

Stray Observations:

• I've got nada for quotes this week.
• Okay, one: "Their own imperfections killed them." See, now I'm imagining Saw 6: In Space , and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
• Next week, I will keep better track of "Elaan of Toryius" and "Whom Gods Destroy."
• Oh, and for those of you who have been asking for Star Trek: The Next Generation coverage (and even for those of you who haven't been asking, I guess), it's official: once I've finished up the third season of original Trek , I'll be digging into Next Gen , S1. I'm very excited about this, despite having already watched all of Next Gen , S1.

• Show Spoilers
• Night Vision
• Sticky Header
• Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath

Recap / Star Trek S3 E12 "The Empath"

Edit locked.

Original air date: December 6, 1968

The Power Trio beams down to a planet in the Minaran system to rescue a pair of Federation scientists before the sun goes supernova. The scientists are nowhere to be found, but an audio/visual record they left behind reveals they seem to have vanished into thin air accompanied by an earthquake and an ear splitting buzz. Soon, our heroes are experiencing the same thing.

Fade from black . Spock's reading indicates that they are either on the set of a minimalist avant-garde play, or they're several miles below the planet's crust. They find a lovely brunette with a pixie cut and a diaphanous gown taking a nap. They wake her up to find that she is mute. Bones decides to call her Gem. (No relation to a truly outrageous pop star , or a young character from To Kill a Mockingbird , or a hyper active and immature power ranger ). Soon after, they are introduced to their hosts, a pair of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens named Thann and Lal. (No relation to a certain android who learned to feel )

Doctors Ozaba and Linke are now physicians under glass. Lal and Thann maintain that they had nothing to do with their deaths . They have experiments to do, and now they have three new lab rats. They even have neatly labeled glass cases in the event that they don't survive the experiments!

The Tropath:

• Act of True Love : Each of the Power Trio attempts to sacrifice himself to protect his friends. Kirk intends to give himself up to the Vians to keep Spock and McCoy from having to go through the Cold-Blooded Torture they would inflict on them; Spock fully means to do the same once Kirk is sedated, making him the highest-ranking officer on the mission. Then McCoy sedates Spock and sacrifices himself to protect him and Kirk . He lives, thanks to outside interference, but he did not know that that would happen.
• All There in the Script : Though identified as Thann and Lal in the closing credits, the two Vians are never called by their proper names on-screen.
• In the teaser, one of the doomed scientists calls the planet a "godforsaken place" just before the earthquake hits. His colleague quotes from the Book of Psalms , and jokingly suggests that God is registering an objection.
• At the end, Scotty paraphrases the parable of the Pearl of Great Price from Matthew's Gospel .
• Blue-and-Orange Morality : The Vians must have some form of compassion if they are willing to rescue a race from a supernova sun. Yet, their test to see which one is more worthy of saving is needlessly cruel.
• Book Ends : The scientists quote a Bible passage during the teaser, while Scotty recounts the story of the Pearl of Great Value, which while not identified as such, originates as another passage at the end.
• Everything is fanservice to somebody.
• Cobweb of Disuse : The research station has dust and cobwebs everywhere note  so we know the planet has spiders — will the Vians transport them and other life forms as well? to show how long it's been since the scientists disappeared. One of the away team does the traditional pick-up-an-object-and-blow-dust-off-it to emphasize the point.
• Cold-Blooded Torture : The Vians call it an "experiment".
• Cute Mute : Gem, with her pixie cut and modest if diaphanous outfit, is more cute than sultry. Her constantly startled expression adds to her cuteness. She has no vocal cords and never utters a sound, even her weeping being silent.
• Deadpan Snarker : The values of emotion are discussed in the epilogue. Spock is told that perhaps Vulcans could learn something about the importance of emotion. "I shall give the thought all the consideration it is due." Spock replies. Bones' compliment of Spock's bedside manner could count as a deadpan snark as well.
• Description Cut : While the Enterprise waits out the solar storms, Scotty figures that Kirk and the gang are all right. Cut to Kirk getting tortured, while Spock and McCoy are next.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism : A major theme of this episode. The force field Kirk and Spock are kept behind is triggered by their emotions. Spock is able to suppress his enough to walk through it.
• The Empath : Well, duh! Look at the title! However, it is implied that the Vians may have given Gem her powers (there's a short scene where they are using their devices to somehow alter her).
• Empathic Healer : Gem, and her decision of whether to risk her life to save Dr. McCoy is a major plot point.
• Friendship Moment : Bones knocks out both Kirk and Spock in order to sacrifice himself to the Enemy of the Week.
• Healing Hands : Gem has to touch people, and let their pain flow momentarily into her, in order to heal them.
• Hell Is That Noise : The sound that attacks everyone's eardrums just before they disappear and awaken in the Vians' "lab" for want of a better word.
• Heroic Sacrifice : Kirk offers himself up to save Gem and his friends. While Kirk is sedated, Spock declares himself in charge of the mission and decides that he will give himself over to the Vians. Bones sedates Spock and offers himself up. Gem's entire race will be destroyed if she is not willing to sacrifice herself to heal Bones.
• Hey, You! : Name dropped when Bones defends his idea of calling the female alien Gem with "It's a lot better than 'Hey you'."
• Homeworld Evacuation : The star of the Minara system is about to go nova. A group of highly advanced aliens known as the Vians can save the population of only one of the planets in the system. They decide to determine which planet's population will be saved by putting a member of each population through a Secret Test .
• Hope Spot : Hey, look! Scotty and a pair of Red Shirts are here to save us! Nope, just a mirage set up by those darn Vians.
• Humans Are Special : That's what the Vians learn from their "experiments". Thankfully, this also convinces them to save Gem and the other Minarans after all, in addition to healing McCoy.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder : Bones, complaining about the underground lair they're imprisoned in, says that he's a doctor, not a coalminer. Later, when Spock tries to get him to help with a captured alien device, he adds that he's not a mechanic either, but without using the whole phrase.
• Liquid Assets : Gem can heal others, but suffers concurrent damage to herself. If she heals someone badly enough injured, she could die.
• Making the Choice for You : The Vians give Captain Kirk a Sadistic Choice: which of his officers will be subjected to torture. If Dr. McCoy is chosen there's an 87% chance he will die, but if Mr. Spock is chosen there's a 93% chance he will suffer permanent insanity. Dr. McCoy makes the decision for Kirk by injecting him with a sedative, then injects Spock with a sedative when he decides to sacrifice himself and go.
• Moral Myopia : Gem has to die to prove she's worthy of life?! Well, to prove her people are worthy of it, but still...
• More Expendable Than You : The Vians intend to use either Spock or Bones for an experiment that is highly likely to cause death or permanent insanity. Spock declares that he is volunteering; Bones overrules that decision with a sneak knockout shot.
• My Brain Is Big : The alien Vians are much more intelligent than Earthlings and have the bulging heads to prove it.
• Never My Fault : When accused of killing the two scientists, the Vians insist it was their own physical weaknesses that killed them. It was their fault for not being immortal!
• Noodle Incident : Bones mentions that the sleeping woman they find looks harmless. Spock points out that people have said the same before being attacked by rock crystals. When the Hell did that happen, Spock?
• Ontological Mystery : How did we get here? This is not our red sheeted bed. This is not our beautiful healer. These are not our specimen jars. (OK, they have our names on them....)
• Parting-from-Consciousness Words : "My decision still stands" says Spock when Bones shoots him up with a sedative, taking the decision of who will be tortured out of Spock's hands. (He was going to offer himself.) "Good bedside manner, Spock." Bones tells Spock just before he passes out from his injuries.
• Discussed in the episode. Kirk actually suggests to the Vians that Gem could heal Bones just enough to keep the injuries from being fatal, and that would be sufficient. They reply back that it's not enough to just heal him—she must be willing to sacrifice her life to do so, to reveal the depth of her (and her species') capacity for compassion. The Vians just ain't gonna be happy unless SOMEONE dies in the process... They do finally take Spock's point note  "It is complete. Gem has earned the right of survival for her planet. She offered her life." that she's already shown herself more than willing to do it, and they heal McCoy, pick her up and leave.
• Prematurely Marked Grave : The Power Trio find two scientists dead in experiment cases and three more cases with their names.
• Psychic Powers : Gem has them in the form of Healing Hands . It is unknown whether other members of her race have this ability or if she is unique.
• Reckless Gun Usage : Kirk, telling someone you're not going to hurt them would be a lot more convincing if you weren't pointing a phaser at them. He does this twice.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Lal and Thann. Seriously, Will, what's up with the glittery Hefty bags?
• Sadistic Choice : Kirk is told he must give either Spock or Bones up to be tortured as he was earlier. He decides to Take a Third Option and offers himself.
• Screw You, Elves! : Kirk gives Lal and Thann a good Him Summation when the "experiment" is finally over.
• Secret Test : The Vians can save only one planet when the sun goes supernova and wanted to see if Gem's people were worth saving, all based on her decision to save another's life.
• Shirtless Scene : Kirk's torture (but not McCoy's).
• Single Tear : Gem sheds one when she realizes what these three men are willing to go through for each other. She breaks down in tears when she finds out just how tough it will be to heal Bones' extensive injuries.
• Some Kind of Force Field : Prevents our heroes from interfering with the "experiment".
• Stock Footage : The footage of the sun Minara is re-used from " Operation: Annihilate! ".
• Tareme Eyes : Gem is a rare live-action example.
• Unwanted Rescue : McCoy uses what's left of his strength to push Gem away so that she won't sacrifice herself. McCoy: Jim, I can't destroy life, even if it's to save my own. I can't.
• The Voiceless : Gem. Justified in that she has no vocal cords.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious : After the power trio's escape to the surface, McCoy refers to the captain as "Kirk," a rare deviation from the usual.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go : Said by Kirk after he offers himself up to the Vians. Bones and Spock are, as they say, safe. For now.
• Star Trek S3 E11 "Wink of an Eye"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S3 E13 "Elaan of Troyius"

Important Links

• Action Adventure
• Commercials
• Crime & Punishment
• Professional Wrestling
• Speculative Fiction
• Sports Story
• Animation (Western)
• Music And Sound Effects
• Print Media
• Sequential Art
• Tabletop Games
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Characterization
• Characters As Device
• Narrative Devices
• British Telly
• The Contributors
• Creator Speak
• Derivative Works
• Laws And Formulas
• Show Business
• Split Personality
• Truth And Lies
• Truth In Television
• Fate And Prophecy
• Edit Reasons
• Isolated Pages
• Images List
• Recent Videos
• Crowner Activity
• Un-typed Pages
• Recent Page Type Changes
• Trope Entry
• Character Sheet
• Playing With
• Creating New Redirects
• Cross Wicking
• Tips for Editing
• Text Formatting Rules
• Handling Spoilers
• Administrivia
• Trope Repair Shop
• Image Pickin'

Advertisement:

Kathryn Hays, who portrayed The Empath on Star Trek: The Original Series, dies at 87

By rachel carrington | apr 9, 2022.

Kathryn Hays played the silent character in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Empath.” 

Kathryn Hays, who passed away on March 25th at the age of 87 as reported by Deadline , played the scheming Kim Sullivan on As The World Turns for thirty-eight years until the series was cancelled in 2010. It was the role for which she was most known…except to Trekkies.

To us, she was the silent, tortured character from the third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , “The Empath,” which has been consistently ranked as one of the best Spock-centric episodes of the third season. Hays brought the character to life beautifully even without dialogue. She conveyed the pain she absorbed through her facial expressions as well as the dilemna of restoring a dying Dr. McCoy to health by taking on his injuries herself. Thanks to her, it was a wonderfully performed episode.

Kathryn Hays only appeared in one episode of Star Trek.

Some actors can leave a lasting impression with one scene or one episode, and Mays managed to do that with her one-time appearance on Star Trek. Her performance earned her an Emmy nomination, and for the actress, who was interviewed in 2010 by We Love Soaps TV , the part came at the right time in her life.

"I had a crisis in my life.  It was a physical crisis, and had emotional turmoil.  I either had to pull it together or I don’t know what.  And that role came to me just at that time.  It was down to the wire for me to get a grip and pull it together, and it did happen."

We offer our sincerest condolences to Kathryn Mays’ family, including her daughter and son-in-law Sherri and Bob Mancusi, her three grandchildren, and her great-grandson.

dark. Next. Why the BBC refused to air these Star Trek episodes

Star Trek #312

Star Trek » Star Trek #312 - The Empath released by Paramount Pictures on December 6, 1968.

The Enterprise travels to Minara II to evacuate a research facility before the system's sun goes nova. But when they arrive they find the scientists are nowhere to be found.

Summary short summary describing this episode..

The Empath last edited by mshirley27 on 11/13/23 04:32PM View full history

The USS Enterprise goes to Minara II to retrieve the skeleton crew of a research station before the system's sun goes nova. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down while Scotty takes the helm and has the ship retreat to a safer distance from the solar flares.

They discover video that shows the crew disappearing. Then they themselves are transported to an alien research facility far underground where the discover a mute woman. The four of them learn that they are captives of an advanced race known as the Vians who killed the scientists the crew had come to retrieve.

Edit Image Title

Embed image, what size image should we insert (this will not affect the original upload), how do you want the image positioned around text, link to comic vine content.

You can search for any Comic Vine content.

Link to a page

Insert table, embed tweet.

Enter the URL for the tweet you want to embed.

User reviews Add new review

Average score of 1 user reviews

Long Boring Remake of The Menagerie 0

Star Trek #312 - The Empath by gc8 on September 14, 2016

The Empath, who evidently isn't very empathic.One of the complaints I had as a kid was that all aliens on Star Trek had big bald heads. And it's easy to see why someone would think that. It seems like every time the Enterprise crew encountered an "advanced race" they had big bald heads. From the original unaired pilot, "The Cage" to this one, "The Empath". In fact the look of the aliens, two guys with big bald heads, isn't the only similarity between "The Cage" (later aired as the two part "The ...

Pick a List

This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

Comment and Save

Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.

Thanks, we're checking your submission.

Use your keyboard!

Log in to comment

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Mar 29, 2023

The Radical Empathy of Deanna Troi

For too long women were written as overly emotional, with reactions that would devour and destroy them. Then came Deanna Troi.

StarTrek.com

Of all Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s top-notch, all-thriller, no-filler cast of characters, Deanna Troi is perhaps one of the more under-appreciated, despite appearing in all seven seasons, the TNG films, and even a few Star Trek: Voyager episodes. Though she was omnipresent through much of the series, the focus seldom fell on her. Yet, when it did, her cultivation of radical empathy towards others made for some of the most interesting episodes in Star Trek canon.

Powerful women who were able to maintain their power and remain at the forefront of genre television were few and far between in decades past. But Troi, a Betazoid empath so powerful that her range extends beyond the bounds of the ship she travels on, shows that people who are guided by their hearts actually have a bit of an edge in life. In a lot of fiction, women’s emotions devour and destroy them. And empaths and telepaths in fiction, especially, are often portrayed like Raven from the Teen Titans or Jean Grey of the X-Men, both of whom undergo extensive trauma, are incredibly unstable, and prone to losing control or murdering their teammates. That’s never the case with Troi.

Yet, it is in the episodes in which Troi struggles and shows her dark side that we begin to understand who she is and why her journey is so important among a cast of important stories. In “ The Loss ,” we see Troi losing her powers in the first few moments of the episode. Her bad side is on full display, but she’s still just fascinating despite generally acting like an unruly teenager for much of her time on-screen. This episode showed a tremendous amount of growth by targeting and suspending the thing that Deanna relies on for everything — her intuition. By inhibiting her ability to empathize, the threat of the week showed us how the generally brave and calm Deanna deals without her own supreme inner harmony. The answer is, not great , but isn’t that more relatable? Much of Deanna’s life is tied up in her level of pride in her work and feeling like her work was to be discontinued shattered her (for one episode).

Her self-loathing towards her human heritage comes into play as Riker calls her out for secretly feeling like humans were in some way less perceptive and even somehow stunted. He observes that her edge of control, or even an underlying sense of superiority, is gone without her empathetic senses. Deanna continues to push him away, and the generally brash Riker shows a deep patience and acceptance of her struggle. He’s able to look past her words and see how scared she is, and he refuses to let her go through it alone.

We see Troi’s full temper here for maybe the first time. She’s convinced everyone is condescending to her and is completely unable to deal with that emotionally. The episode demonstrates that Troi’s sense of self-awareness is so important to her that she is willing to walk away from everyone out of a refusal to become a burden for the Enterprise . She refuses to recognize her crewmates’ sympathy and instead views it as pity. The threat of dependency terrifies her, and this is where we start to understand a deep sense of personal responsibility in Troi that can easily pass the threshold of self-abuse. Though misguided and even somewhat sad, Deanna’s sense of pride and her struggle to reconcile it will stand out to a lot of people who hold themselves to a perfectionist extreme.

Troi is sharp with everyone in “The Loss.” She refuses to allow Picard to genuinely sympathize with her, instead shutting him down and accusing him of placating her. When Dr. Crusher is gentle and honest with Troi that she might not regain her empathy, Troi becomes annoyed and snaps at her. Crusher insists she doesn’t want to give Troi false hope, to which Troi sharply responds, “It’s just hope, Beverly, not false hope.” She repeatedly tells the people around her that they can’t hope to understand what she’s going through despite their active attempts to do so.

Though not always directed in the right places, Troi’s sharp sense of outrage is always lovely to see. For someone who prides herself on her ability to remain calm, she is still a flawed person. She gets mad, she loses patience, she condescends, and, maybe worst of all for a counselor, she sometimes calls people out on their feelings before they’re ready to talk about them. Yet, she’s also someone who really comes into her own as far as drawing boundaries goes. In a way, this all only makes Troi more relatable. Most intensely empathetic people struggle with boundaries throughout much of their early lives, but we always can, and often do, get better at developing those important parameters as we go along.

Troi’s often unacknowledged inner struggle is part of why her relationships with the rest of the crew are so fascinating. For instance, her relationship with Worf was one of the better parts of both of their character arcs. These are two people that, at first glance, would seem to have little in common with each other outside the Enterprise , but this is where we saw an emphasis on their substantial emotional common ground. Both are incredibly loyal, prideful, and easily angered, but both are also deeply gentle spirits that struggle with violence on a profound and often unspoken level. Though he isn’t always forthcoming, Worf is easily one of the most emotional people on the crew. Troi’s light pushing of Worf to be more open, honest, and communicative about his many feelings helped Worf. Meanwhile, his passion and sense of honor gave Troi the stable foundation she needed to express her interest in him. Though short-lived, this relationship was better than a lot of people give it credit for because it helped us see both characters through a new lens.

Even when platonic, Troi’s relationships are a shining part of TNG. Picard regularly depends on Troi and leans on her advice; throughout the series, she is one person who always challenges him. By forcing Picard to stay in touch with difficult-to-face feelings and getting him to confront things that he is instinctively prone to overlook, she is a major asset for the captain who is guided by a ceaseless inner certainty. In listening to Troi, Picard becomes a better, more compassionate commander. Meanwhile, her deeply felt interactions with the painfully intentional Crusher and her ability to meet Data and Geordi at their goofiest led to some of the best moments of the series. Troi is a character that improves the entire cast in often subtle ways.

We live in a society that views compassion as a weakness, particularly feminine compassion. The message that to care is to give up your strength is instilled through media, culture, even in the mechanics of our very language. Allowing yourself to feel the world with one or two degrees less of a protective layer around your heart takes courage, and courage takes power. Like many highly sensitive people, Deanna Troi is regularly underestimated and her importance reduced. Through her patience and understanding, Troi insists that forcing yourself to view the world with empathy makes you a stronger person, not a weaker one.

This article was originally published on September 10, 2019.

Sara Century (she/her) is an artist, writer, and filmmaker who is obsessed with most things. She is good at speaking in public, volunteering her time to various causes, working for most hours of her waking life, and saying quotable things in casual conversation. Keep up with her at www.saracentury.com and on Twitter @saracentury.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

Get Updates By Email

Kathryn Hays

• View history

Born Kay Piper , she appeared in many films and TV shows, including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour , Bonanza , The Virginian , Night Gallery ("She'll Be Company for You", with Leonard Nimoy and directed by Jerry Finnerman ), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (with Alfred Ryder ), and Naked City ("The Rydecker Case", written by Gene Roddenberry ). She is most well-known to soap opera fans as Kim from As the World Turns (1972-2010).

She filmed her scenes for "The Empath" between Thursday 25 July 1968 and Friday 2 August 1968 at Desilu Stage 10 and Paramount Stage 1 .

External links [ ]

• Kathryn Hays at the Internet Movie Database
• Kathryn Hays at Wikipedia

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Perfect Mate

• Episode aired Apr 25, 1992

Ferengi machinations unleash a diplomatic gift aboard the Enterprise - the rare, empathic perfect mate, ready to bond with any male around her. Ferengi machinations unleash a diplomatic gift aboard the Enterprise - the rare, empathic perfect mate, ready to bond with any male around her. Ferengi machinations unleash a diplomatic gift aboard the Enterprise - the rare, empathic perfect mate, ready to bond with any male around her.

• Gene Roddenberry
• Reuben Leder
• Michael Piller
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 32 User reviews
• 8 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Dr. Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi
• (credit only)

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Ambassador Briam

• (as Max Grodenchick)

• Chancellor Alrik

• Transporter Technician Hubbell

• Enterprise Computer
• Operations Division Officer
• (uncredited)
• Michael Piller (showrunner)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Famke Janssen was supposed to play Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) the following year. Janssen turned down the role to focus on her film career, and it eventually went to Terry Farrell . When initial make-up tests with the original Trill make-up from The Host (1991) were thought to be unconvincing, the staff remembered Kamala's spots and used them on DS9, which is why Kamala almost looks like a Trill with her spots.
• Goofs When Picard meets the ambassador from Valt, the star field in the window slowly moves in shots focusing on the captain but does not in shots focusing on the ambassador.

Commander William T. Riker : [aroused from his encounter with Kamala] Riker to bridge, if you need me, I'll be in holodeck 4.

• Connections Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were on Star Trek TV Shows (2017)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 32

• Nov 9, 2023
• April 25, 1992 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Screen Rant

Star trek is officially redefining what "where no one has gone before" actually means.

The phrase "where no one has gone before" has been a rallying cry for Star Trek fans for years, and now it has taken on an awesome new meaning.

• The iconic catchphrase "where no one has gone before" gets an epic new meaning in Star Trek #19, by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Megan Levens.
• Captain Sisko and his crew are heading into the Pleroma, Star Trek's newly revealed "realm of the gods," prompting Doctor Crusher to call it "where no one has gone before."
• One of Star Trek's key tenets is that humanity can evolve and transcend, and the journey to the Pleroma is the first step in this quest.

For generations of Star Trek fans, the catchphrase “where no one has gone before” has been an iconic call to adventure, but now it has taken on a whole new meaning. In Star Trek #19, the crew of the Theseus is heading to the Pleroma, a mysterious new realm that promises great adventure–and great peril. As they prepare for the hazardous journey, the franchise’s catchphrase takes on new layers.

Star Trek #19 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Megan Levens. T’Lir, the enigmatic Vulcan, has been revealed to be the last of the Organians and has charged Sisko and company with a new mission: travel to the Pleroma and help fix the damage Kahless has caused. Sisko is wary of the Pleroma, having been forbidden to travel there by the Prophets.

He discusses the impending journey with Doctor Crusher, and she refers to the Pleroma as “where no one has gone before.”

For Over 60 Years, Star Trek's Opening Monologue Has Perfectly Set the Show's Tone

It has undergone several changes over the years.

The catchphrase “where no one has gone before” is one of the most memorable in pop culture. Part of a larger opening monologue, the phrase has undergone a few alterations. When Star Trek premiered in 1966, the line read: “where no man has gone before.” When Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in 1987, it was updated to the much better and more inclusive “where no one has gone before.” This has since become, with a few exceptions, the standard across the franchise, still recited in both the Abrams Kelvin-timeline movies and Strange New Worlds.

In the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise , it was revealed Zefram Cochrane coined the phrase "where no man has gone before."

Star Trek is a story of exploration and discovery, and this catchphrase perfectly sums up this philosophy. Every week, the crews of the various Star Trek shows encounter bizarre alien life forms and awe-inspiring stellar phenomena. Ships like the Enterprise, Voyager or Discovery expanded the frontiers of knowledge while keeping the galaxy safe. Star Trek’s opening monologs set the tone perfectly for the incredible stories that follow. Now, on the eve of one of the biggest discoveries in galactic history, it is taking on a new meaning.

Star Trek Already Confirmed Its Real Final Frontier (& It's Not Space)

Star trek is about more than just exploring space--it's about exploring the human heart too, the pleroma may hold the key to humanity's evolution.

Yet, Star Trek is more than just stories of the exploration of space, but also expanding the potential of humanity . In addition to featuring a future where strife and war have been eliminated, the franchise has shown humanity has great potential, something Q alluded to in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “All Good Things.” Humanity will one day be like gods, and the Theseus’ journey to the Pleroma is the first step along the way. The Pleroma opens new possibilities in the Star Trek franchise, giving new meaning to “where no one has gone before.”

Star Trek #19 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!

Star Trek's Biggest Badass Reveals His Starship's Secret Name

From The Dark Knight to Discovery , David Ajala is a man of action.

David Ajala’s journey in the Final Frontier is coming to a close. Although Ajala only joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery in 2020, at the start of Season 3 , it certainly feels like his rugged space courier with a heart of gold — Cleveland “Book” Booker — has been on in the series longer than he really has. As Book, Ajala brought some Indiana Jones swagger to Discovery , albeit with a touch of Gene Roddenberry idealism .

The fifth episode of Discovery’s final season puts Book and Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) into a perilous and very familiar setting, one which connects back to The Original Series, Deep Space Nine , Discovery’s second season, and even Strange New Worlds.

Inverse caught up with Ajala — best known for his roles in The Dark Knight and Supergirl — to get his take on where he’s been, how Star Trek has “blessed” his life, and which franchise he wants to jump to next.

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Episode 5, “Mirrors.”

Book and Burnham fly a shuttle in a new daring mission to...the Enterprise !

While in pursuit of the latest clue to unravel the secret of the Progenitor tech , “Mirrors” leads Captain Burnham and Book into a wormhole where they find the ISS Enterprise NCC-1701, the wicked Mirror Universe version of the classic 23rd century Enterprise from The Original Series and Strange New Worlds. (ISS stands for “Imperial Star Ship.” Whereas USS means “United Star Ship.”) This evil Enterprise first appeared in the 1967 TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror.” But, for the sake of current visual continuity, it’s now clearly a redress of the USS Enterprise set from Strange New Worlds.

“We wrapped shooting before [ Strange New Worlds ] started to commence their next season,” Ajala reveals. “So, sadly, the crossover didn’t happen.” But, Ajala notes that being in the physical sets of the Enterprise sickbay and bridge was a refreshing change from some of his other work in Discovery .

“There is a lot of green screen usually, and you have to tap into your childhood imagination. You’re playing cowboys,” Ajala explains. “But, there was something very, very special about shooting that scene that made it a lot easier for me to act. Part of it was what Sonequa [Martin-Green] was doing. How she held the space in such reverence, how she really channeled into the memory of her brother [Spock]. It was really wonderfully special and the fans are just going to love it.”

When Ajala joined Discovery as Book in 2020, he was probably best known to genre fans for his role as a bounty hunter working for the Joker (Heath Ledger) in The Dark Knight . But, he’s equally recognizable as Manchester Black from CW’s Supergirl . Then again, he was also one of the “Smilers” named Peter in the 2010 Doctor Who episode “The Beast Below.” From Star Trek, and the DCEU to the Whoniverse, that’s a lot of sci-fi geek cred for one man. And now, that Discovery is winding down, Ajala doesn’t mind looking back on his pre-Star Trek work with fondness, and even, a hypothetical part of his future.

David Ajala in 2024, a man for all seasons, and dimensions.

“There was once upon a time, a possibility. There was a very strong invitation to go back into one of those worlds,” Ajala says cryptically. Does this mean he was almost in the multiverse shenanigans of The Flash ? Another CW Arrowverse show? Even a later episode of Doctor Who ? Ajala can’t say outright, so we’re just guessing. But it seems like it almost happened and could happen again. “The timing didn’t work out,” he says. “If and when that opportunity does present itself, I would gladly take that invitation again.”

Ajala is also open to the idea of tackling franchises he’s never been a part of before. And because he was born in London, his accent does make some wonder if he could be the phantom menace of future James Bond contenders .

“That is a vicious rumor!” Ajala says with a laugh. “But it’s also a massive compliment. In all honesty, it’s a wonderful thought to even entertain the idea of [playing Bond]. My main thing is to always pursue roles that excite me, that turn me on, and that challenge me. Stranger things have happened.”

It’s not hard to see why some folks might think of David Ajala as James Bond material in the 2020s. When he debuted in Discovery Season 3, as Book, he was a space pirate with a heart of gold, a guy whom we believed was poaching alien animals, but, in reality, he’s an empath, bringing space creatures to better homes. But, Book’s also a badass, who had, for two seasons, his own Star Trek version of the Millennium Falcon. Sadly, Book’s sleek scout ship — complete with its morphing tech — was destroyed in Season 4. So, pour one out for... wait. What was Book’s ship called anyway?

“It was called Electric Chocolate ,” Ajala reveals with a grin. “Not many people know that, but I’ll share it with you.” Hopefully, the Star Trek fan wiki, Memory Alpha is paying attention, since, prior to this Book’s ship is referred to, off-screen, as either “the Nautilus” or “Vessel - C.” And, let’s face it, Electric Chocolate sounds way better.

David Ajala at SXSW 2024, flashing a classic “live long and prosper” in support of Star Trek: Discovery .

Still, with or without his cool ship, Book’s story in Star Trek: Discovery will end this year. But, David Ajala’s journey with Star Trek will likely never be over. Recently, he was a part of the 2024 Star Trek Cruise, where he says he was thrilled to connect with Trek actors from the other series. “I got to hang with Michelle Hurd, Anthony Montgomery, and Todd Stashwick ! It was incredible.”

Ajala also says that he will continue to do Star Trek conventions for as long as he can, but that he will probably only select about “three conventions” a year. His reasoning for doing fewer is simply because he wants to be present for the fans when he is there.

“I'd probably choose three a year, but when I'm there, I'm fully there with very healthy energy,” Ajala says. “I think it's just been deeply humbling and special. We're not superheroes. We’re real people. So, I want to be really, really be there, when I’m there. I want to sign however many autographs I need to sign and give as many hugs as I need to.”

Star Trek: Discovery streams on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction