Review

This episode, like the previous one, but less so, is dull and annoying. Plot-wise, it's fairly average, but some remarkable oversights drag this episode down a bit. Firstly, in an episode all about terraforming, I would have wanted to see some information about the Genesis device presented in this episode. Even though it was probably declared a failure and disregarded, for continuity's sake it would have been interesting to see it talked about. This is not necessarily a technical problem; it makes sense that the details concerning the events surrounding the testing and use of the Genesis device were probably classified and buried after the events of the original series films. More annoying is how surprised everyone was acting regarding inorganic life. Clearly the events of TOS: The Devil in the Dark are not classified. That episode should most definitely have been referenced. Beyond this, there is little to distinguish this episode. The acting of the guests was of unusually high quality and the overall idea behind the episode was interesting, if rehashed. However I tend to prefer TOS' version of this episode far more. The inorganic aliens of this episode, when they finally got a chance to play a role, weren't that interesting and I found the monotone translations of the universal translator unnecessary. Overall, this episode largely failed to live up to its potential.