Star Trek: This Side of Paradise

Episode: "This Side of Paradise"
Series: Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 1, Episode 24
Original Air Date: March 2, 1967

via Memory Alpha

One criticism of Star Trek's original series, particularly from Trekkies who prefer The Next Generation, is that characters are not as well developed as in later series.  Few of the episodes provide insight into our heroes' back stories or deeper motivations.  However, from time to time, the unusual circumstances of a given narrative pull the players out of their usual elements and reveal well-guarded truths about their basic natures.  "This Side of Paradise" is such a story.

The Enterprise visits the planet Omicron Seti III, site of a recently established Federation colony.  Unbeknownst to the original settlers, the planet is flooded with deadly Perthoid rays.  As such, it is assumed that the colonists had all perished but the landing party discovers survivors - and darn happy ones at that!  Apparently, they are living under the controlling influence of plants which also protect them from the rays.  I expect the story was a less than subtle dig at the counterculture/flower power demographic of the era.

One by one, crew members are sprayed by the flowers and submit to their influence.  When Spock is sprayed, we see the First Officer smile for the first time since the pilot.  As an added bonus, one of the settlers happens to be an ex-girlfriend (!!!) of Spock's, played by Jill Ireland.  Our half-Vulcan friend proves to be quite the romantic at heart.

Before the power of the plants is fully understood, a few specimens are naively transported back to the Enterprise, where they infect the crew.  All but Kirk abandon ship in favor of a blissful existence on the planet's surface.  The episode's most poignant scene finds the captain alone on the bridge, coming to terms with his dire situation.  He sounds almost like an empty nester when he says "I'm beginning to realize just how big this ship really is."

*****

via Memory Alpha

Jill Ireland was born April 24, 1936 in London.  For better or worse, most of her high-profile work came starring opposite her husbands.  She married David McCallum in 1957.  The two appeared together in several episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  In 1967, the couple divorced.  The following year, Ireland married Charles Bronson, with whom she appeared in several films.

Ireland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984 and became a strong public advocate for the American Cancer Society.  She published two books about her struggle and testified before Congress.  The disease claimed her life in 1990.