The Man Trap (episode)

The deadly M-113 creature
Series:	TOS
Episode:	1x05 (#6)
Original Airdate:	8 September 1966
Production Number:	6
Broadcast Number:	1
Year:	2266
Stardate:	1513.1
Written by:	George Clayton Johnson
Directed by:	Marc Daniels

A mysterious creature stalks the Enterprise, murdering crew members.

Summary

The Enterprise arrives at planet M-113 to provide supplies and routine medical exams to Doctor Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy, whom Dr. Leonard McCoy was once romantically involved with. M-113 has been home to the Craters for five years, during which time they have conducted an archeological survey of the planet's ruins. They are the only known inhabitants of the planet.

Kirk, McCoy, and crewman Darnell beam down to the planet and meet Dr. Crater and, apparently, Nancy Crater. However, each of the landing party sees a different woman. McCoy, who says he is amazed at how little Nancy has changed since he last saw her, sees Nancy as he knew her 12 years ago. Darnell sees a completely different, younger blonde woman who looks exactly like someone he met before. Kirk sees a woman similar to the woman McCoy sees, but more appropriately aged. At the end of the first scene, crewman Darnell is lured away by the seductive version of Nancy Crater that he sees.

Dr. Crater then arrives. Crater tells Kirk that the only thing they need are salt tablets. Otherwise, they want to be left alone. Kirk debates this, insisting they must need other supplies and must at least allow McCoy to give them physicals. During the physical, a woman's scream is heard from outside.

When Kirk goes to investigate, he finds Darnell dead, with Nancy standing over him. His body scarred with suction-cup-shaped marks. Nancy claims she saw him put a poisonous plant in his mouth.

Kirk and McCoy and the dead crewman beam back up. When the transporter room reports that one of the party is dead, Spock, who is in command, merely responds, "Acknowledged," causing Uhura to express wonder that Spock did not even ask who among the party had died.

Aboard the Enterprise, McCoy and Spock determine that Darnell was not poisoned, and in fact nothing is wrong with him at all. Later, McCoy discovers that Darnell's body has been drained of salt.

Kirk, McCoy and two crewmen beam back down to the planet to investigate further, and Kirk insists that Dr. Crater and his wife beam up to the Enterprise until the investigation is complete. Abruptly Dr. Crater runs off to find Nancy. One of the crewmen who beamed down with Kirk and McCoy, Sturgeon, is found dead. The other, Green, is also killed by Nancy and then we see Nancy transform into Green.

Kirk and McCoy question Nancy/Green, and then the three beam up to the Enterprise.

The woman Kirk and McCoy saw as Nancy Crater, and later Green, is a shape-shifting creature, the last survivor of M-113, and can literally appear as a different being to each person "she" meets. By reaching into their minds and drawing on their memories, the creature can lull her potential victims into a false sense of security, and apparently hypnotize them, before killing them.

The problem facing the M-113 creature is the need for sodium chloride -- salt. Its home planet is running out of salt, and without it, the creature will die. But it just so happens that the Enterprise crew has a supply of it: Themselves. The rest of its race died due to this shortage, and this final survivor formed a symbiotic relationship with Professor Crater. Crater provided the M-113 creature with the needed salt and, in turn, the creature igave the professor companionship... something Crater craved since the creature murdered his wife, the real Nancy Crater, for her salt.

Loose aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, the M-113 creature begins killing members of the crew, first by posing as someone they know and trust, and then draining their bodies of salt. Finally, the creature kills Crater and changes into Nancy Crater, nearly killing McCoy. Kirk and Spock, who have figured out the creature's secret, rush to the doctor's quarters and convince him that this is not the real Nancy. In an emotionally painful move, McCoy kills the creature, saving himself and the U.S.S. Enterprise crew.

Log Entries

• Captain's log, stardate 1513.1. Our position, orbiting planet M-113. Onboard the Enterprise, Mr. Spock, temporarily in command. On the planet, the ruins of an ancient and long dead civilization. Ship's surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down to the planet's surface. Our mission, routine medical examination of archaeologist Robert Crater, and his wife, Nancy. Routine, but for the fact that Nancy Crater is that one woman in Dr. McCoy's past.

• Captain's log, additional entry. Since our mission was routine, we had beamed down to the planet without suspicion. We were totally unaware that each member of the landing party was seeing a different woman, a different Nancy Crater.

• Captain's log, stardate 1513.4. In orbit around planet M-113. One crewman, member of the landing party, dead by violence... cause unknown. We are certain the cause of death was not poison.

• Captain's log, stardate 1513.8. I am now certain that the violent death of my crewman was caused by some strange life-form.

• Captain's log, additional. Armed and able-bodied crewmen are not attacked and slaughtered this easily. Apparently, the killer can immobilize them as it approaches, perhaps with some hypnotic or paralyzing power. The answer lies with Professor Crater.

• Captain's log, continuing. The Enterprise has been invaded by a creature capable of assuming any form and with the capacity to paralyze and draw the life from any one of us.

Memorable Quotes

• "How your lost love affects your vision is not my concern, doctor -- I've just lost a man!"
  -- Kirk

• "It's a mystery -- and I don't like mysteries. They give me a belly ache, and I've got a beauty right now."
  -- Kirk

• "You bleed too much, Crater; you're too pure and noble. Is this compassion, or is this 'Crater's private heaven'? This thing can become wife, friend, lover... It's not a bad life, having everyone in the universe at your beck and call -- and you win all the arguments!"
  -- Kirk

• "The creature leading you a merry chase, Mr. Sulu? Perhaps I can help; fill me in..."
  -- Salt Creature/McCoy

• "She's not Nancy, doctor -- if she were, could she take this?"
  -- Spock, striking the Salt Creature/Nancy

• "Leonard -- no... Leonard, please..."
  "Lord, forgive me!"
  -- McCoy, firing on the Salt Creature/Nancy

Background

• "The Man Trap" was the first Star Trek episode to air, on September 8, 1966. It was novelized by James Blish under the original scripted name, "The Unreal McCoy," in the first Star Trek adaptation collection, released in the US by Bantam Books in 1967.
• As the first episode actually telecast, the opening credits are slightly different from the other first season shows. Gene Roddenberry has "created by" credits and there is no "starring" before William Shatner's name.
• The first draft of this episode's script was completed on 13 June 1966, with the final draft being completed three days later.
• Alexander Courage composed the bizarre and spooky musical score during this episode that would be extensively re-utilized in other first season episodes for many memorable moments.
• Crewman Darnell is the first fatality in the non-pilot episodes, not counting the dog creature from Alpha 177 in the previous segment.
• One aspect of the first season episodes is that the crew are not just walking in the corridors- they are often engaged in maintenance work, checking out equipment in the corridors and so on. This is evident in "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X", especially. Minor crew members also carried on casual conversations and a feeling of the ship as a real community was created, as when Uhura asks Bobby to fix her rattling door or when two crewmen admire Janice Rand. These nice details about everyday life on a starship largely faded away as the series progressed.
• Another interesting feature of the earliest episodes is that the bridge sound effects still retain sounds from the two pilots. By the time Roddenberry left as producer, those original sounds were not heard again.
• Yet another feature of the earliest episodes was the lack of credit given to actors who spoke dialogue-- in this segment, Garrison True and Larry Anthony both speak several on-screen lines, yet are not listed in the closing credits. In the first season, directors and writers were not even credited until the very end of each episode, whilst they are credited right after the title of each episode beginning in season two.
• The suit worn by Barnhart bears a strong resemblence to the radiation suits seen in "The Outer Limits" episode "The Production and Decay of Strange Particles" (guest-starring Leonard Nimoy), even down to the numbers seen on the suit. There were several other holdovers from "The Outer Limits" in "Star Trek", notably creatures created by Janos Prohaska that were modified to create creatures seen in the Talos zoo in "The Cage" and, of course, the Horta in "The Devil in the Dark."
• Some actors in this episode were selected based on their resemblence to each other. The transformation between Jeanne Bal and Bruce Watson is eerily effective because of this.
• When Nancy Crater first walks into the dig headquarters, Nichelle Nichols' singing from "Charlie X" is briefly dubbed in.
• William Shatner has severe problems to this day with persistent ringing in his ears, a condition known as tinnitis. He says it was caused by explosions going off near him during his television work. In both this episode and "Arena", explosions occur very close to Shatner.
• A ricochet sound effect is used when Crater is stunned by the Phaser shot. Then, Alfred Ryder's voice is slowed down to simulate the stun effect.
• In early episodes like this one, there are up and down indicators that light up outside the turbo lifts. Although they will be seen in subsequent episodes, only in the earliest ones do they actually light up to indicate direction of travel. Elevator indicator lights will later show up in Engineering above one of the consoles.
• This is the only segment of 'Star Trek' in which we see McCoy's quarters. A clever pan and jump cut along a blank wall allowed two McCoys to appear in the same room. The three cylindrical containers on the shelf in McCoy's room were previously seen on Ben Childress's table in "Mudd's Women." They will later appear in the large lighted panel in McCoy's lab. McCoy has a safe in his room, but there are no combination buttons below it.
• Crewmen in the hallway can be seen wearing shirts from the second pilot, complete with the smaller insignia. A crewwoman wearing pants can be seen in the corridors; "Charlie X" will be the last time we see this.
• In one of the red alert scenes on an Enterprise corridor the crewmen are wearing turtleneck uniforms. It is a recycled (originally unused) scene from "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
• Although this episode was filmed before "The Naked Time", stock footage from that episode is used for the bridge scene at the very beginning. Kirk's run down the corridor to the sickbay is also pulled from "The Naked Time" as is a reaction shot of Shatner when Spock is telling him about the borgia plant on the sickbay viewscreen.
• This is the only time in the series when the camera view of a phaser is from the top instead of from the side.
• James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode but is heard briefly on the intercom in dialogue lifted from another episode.
• The visual of the planet M-113 from orbit is reused footage previously representing Alfa 177 in "The Enemy Within" (although that segment ended up airing after this one). This planet effect would be reused again as The iron-silica planet in "The Alternative Factor", Argus X in "Obsession" and Ardana in "The Cloud Minders".
• An early title for this episode was "Damsel with a Dulcimer". Professor Crater was supposed to drive a tractor around the archeological site in the original story outline.

Links and References

VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213102

Main Cast

• William Shatner as Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Spock
• DeForest Kelley as McCoy
• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Grace Lee Whitney as Rand

Guest Stars

• Jeanne Bal as Nancy Crater
• Alfred Ryder as Robert Crater
• Michael Zaslow as Darnell
• Bruce Watson as Green (Crewman)
• John Arndt as Sturgeon
• Larry Anthony as Berkeley
• Vince Howard as a Uhura's Crewman
• Francine Pyne as Nancy III
• Sharon Gimpel as M-113 creature (salt vampire)
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie and Connors (uncredited)
• William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited)
• Frank da Vinci as Brent and Vinci (uncredited)
• Garrison True as Security Guard #1
• Bob Baker as Beauregard Puppeteer (uncredited)
• Budd Albright as Barnhart (uncredited)
• Jeannie Shepard as Yeoman (uncredited)
• Unknown actor as Bobby (uncredited)

References

Borgia plant; buffalo; Corinth IV; Dominguez, José; general quarters; Gertrude; Great Bird of the Galaxy; M-113; medical tricorder; passenger pigeon; "Plum"; salt; Saurian brandy; tonsil; Vulcan; Weeper; Wrigley's Pleasure Planet

Previous episode produced: The Enemy Within	Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1	Next episode produced: The Naked Time
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Previous remastered episode aired: None	TOS Remastered	Next remastered episode aired: None