Synopsis: The Enterprise is sent back in time on a mission of historical research to Earth in the year 1968, and discover Gary Seven.
This, the last episode of the second season, could have been the season finale if not for a letter writing campaign from fans to save Star Trek. If itseems to be most focused the character of Gary Seven, his cat, Isis, and his assistant Roberta Lincoln, played by Teri Garr, that is because it was actually a pilot for a television show featuring those characters, (Okuda et al, 1994). However, even though there is not a lot of screen time for the crew of the Enterprise, there are a few depth psychological themes running through “Assignment: Earth.”
The first is the need for Captain James T. Kirk to trust his instincts in the absence of facts in order to make a decision. Not once, but twice in the episode, Mr. Spock tells him to trust his instincts. This is very unusual for Spock, in that generally he is the one supplying facts to Kirk, or if he can’t advise Kirk with what they are dealing he can at least tell him what they are not dealing with, but he doesn’t do that here. Of course, in the future, i.e., in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Unification, Part II,” Spock will admit to Captain Jean Luc Picard that he has learned that his human half, and its ability to feel emotions, has become an asset to him.
We learn through dialogue that Seven is a descendant of humans who were taken to a planet over 1,000 light years away, and then bred and trained for generations so that at some point in time when needed, they could return to Earth to prevent the human race from destroying itself and the planet. Apparently, this advanced civilization does not have a non-interference policy as in Starfleet’s Prime Directive. Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy tells Kirk that Seven is a perfect human specimen. Seven does have more advanced technology at his disposal, and of course he can understand his cat, Isis. Perhaps this is indicative of his being in touch with his feminine animal nature, something that is seldom prized in Starfleet. The black cat that turns into an alluring woman we have seen before in the episode “Catspaw.” As in the earlier episode the black cat seems to embody feminine, animal knowledge, something in opposition to the masculine, rational knowledge so prized by Starfleet. This will not be the first time the feminine is put in the position of antagonist to the crew of the Enterprise.
Reference:
Okuda, M., Okuda, D., & Mirek, D. (1994). The Star Trek encyclopedia: A reference guide to the future. Pocket Books.
Original post created 6 March 2021
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