Star Trek Volume 32
featuring the episodes The Empath and The Tholian Web
One of the only must-own volumes from Star Trek’s third season, this disc is a one-two punch of some of the most influential Trek storytelling there is. The Empath, in which Kirk, Spock and McCoy find a woman in alien captivity who can sense others’ emotions, pains and pleasures, was later cited by Gene Roddenberry as his inspiration for putting an empath on the bridge of his next starship Enterprise. The production values are nothing elaborate, and the whole story hinges on the performance of Kathryn Hays, who spends the whole hour telling her tale without a single word.
The Tholian Web sees the introduction of one of the Trek universe’s most mysterious races (indeed, only recently have any of the Berman-era spinoffs shown the Tholians instead of just mentioning them, though I’m not sure how I feel about having them co-opted as combatants in the temporal cold war). It also gives us another taste of the regular-crew-member-dies-but-not-really gag, as Kirk is sucked into an “interphase” where his crew can’t reach him, and he can only briefly make visual contact. The real fireworks take place with the crew itself, however, as they try to cope with his loss - actually some of the most effective, in-character exploration of the regular cast that the show did in the third year.
As usual, no extras, but bravo for a pair of the third year’s best.