Star Trek: The Animated Series — 1x15 — The Eye of the Beholder

Aired 1974-01-05

SpaceOpera.com rating:2

Average reader rating:3.98

Synopsis

The disappearance of a scientific team lures the Enterprise to investigate near Lactra VII.

Remarkable scenes

McCoy being crushed by the giant dinosaur monster.
Scotty accidentally beaming up the young alien.

Review

Another episode demonstrating the power of illusions. Another superior alien species using the cast for their own amusement. The only redeeming feature of this episode is the unique qualities of the aliens of the week. Granted, it's extremely cliched to have yet another super superior alien species; if there are so many alien species that are vastly superior to the Federation, then why is the Federation (and the Klingon and Romulan Empires for that matter) able to dominate so much space? Finally, it seems unlikely that such an advanced species wouldn't know their pets are sentient lifeforms.

1 reader comment

You ask how can there be so many superior aliens while the Federation appears to dominate so much space. I think the superior lifeforms largely ignore us. For example, we think of ourselves as vastly superior to ants. To the ants, it may seem that they dominate everywhere. Only when the ants become an annoyance do we go out and poison them. They see our houses and may try to get some food and as long as we don't notice they are left alone. But once we see them marching across the kitchen out come the baits and the anthill gets poison poured down it. And of course our kids might burn a few ants with a magnifying glass now and then. Just like the occasional Trelayne toying with the Enterprise crew. In the meantime, there are still millions of ants living everywhere that we live. Do they dominate the space? Do we?
by TashaFan | 09/13/2008 at 6:25 pm