My Thoughts - Star Trek: Dagger of the Mind (1966)

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Synopsis: While delivering supplies to a penal colony, Enterprise ends up with an escapee onboard. At first, Kirk (William Shatner) believes it is a prisoner, but when he learns it is instead one of the staff members, Dr. Simon van Gelder (Morgan Woodward), it puts him at odds with McCoy (DeForest Kelley) who wants him to investigate despite Kirk's admiration for the man overseeing the colony, Dr. Tristan Adams (James Gregory).


My Thoughts - 

This episode forces you to not overthink transporter technology. My first question was "why didn't the transporter detect a prisoner inside the box they brought on board?" My immediate answer was "the box is marked classified so maybe there's some sort of protection to keep the transporter from seeing inside." Then I asked, "but if that's the case, how is the transporter supposed to correctly transport what is inside?" I stopped when I realized I'd get a headache if I thought about it too much longer.

What was supposed to be inside the box? The episode doesn't really explain that. Was it a planned shipment or was it just a ruse to help van Gelder escape?

Kirk's unwavering opinion of Adams seemed out of character. I get being impressed with the other man's work but even he had to admit there was something odd going on. Yet, it took a threat from McCoy for Kirk to even consider an investigation.

I get this show is from the 1960s, with different views of female characters but couldn't it at least have made Helen Noel (Marianna Hill) a bit less porn-like? I swear that first meeting between her and Kirk made me think she was going to do a strip tease for him and did nothing to convince me she was even remotely competent. I know they had a history, but she was a member of Star Fleet and a psychiatrist.

Kirk testing Adams' mind-altering machine was effective but also kind of dumb. I personally would have quit after the suggestion of being hungry worked rather than risk anybody, including Noel, getting a chance to completely manipulate me. 

I'm not sure what Adams' plan was though. He could have easily used the machine to manipulate Kirk and then Helen into confirming his side of the story and have things be over. Instead, he took elaborate steps that were certain to result in a full Star Fleet investigation even if Kirk hadn't escaped.

Why didn't Spock (Leonard Nimoy) already have a security team ready to beam down? He knew something was wrong and had plenty of time to prepare while the prison forcefield was still in place but yet waited until he was beaming down to alone to even suggest it. For a character who prides himself on his logic, it certainly seemed illogical.

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Here are my thoughts from other television episodes:

My Thoughts - Star Trek: Arena (1967)

My Thoughts - Night Court: All You Need is Love (1984)

My Thoughts From Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: Spoiler: Gary Dies (7/23/2026)

My Thoughts - America's Next Top Model, Seasons 1-3 (2003-2004)

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