The 48th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek premieres on NBC. Though it will become best remembered for the furry horned creature that attacks Kirk, the episode is actually a surprisingly hawkish (for Star Trek) allegory to the Vietnam War written by Roddenberry himself. 
Stardate 4211.4: The Enterprise visits a primitive world where the Klingon Empire has armed one faction of people against another in hopes of eliminating the weaker population and allying the stronger warriors with the Klingons. Spock is seriously injured when he, Kirk and McCoy beam down, and is returned to the Enterprise for treatment as Kirk and McCoy try to make contact with the locals. Kirk is injured by an poisonous indigenous animal, but reaches, with McCoy’s help, his old friend Tyree. Tyree’s mystical wife Nona cures Kirk and then pursues him. Kirk and McCoy, in the meantime, may only be able to resolve the unfair advantage between the planet’s two factions by arming Tyree against his people’s Klingon-backed adversaries.
teleplay by Gene Roddenberry
story by Jud Crucis
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Gerald FriedCast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Nancy Kovack (Nona), Michael Witney (Tyree), Ned Romero (Krell), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Booker Bradshaw (Dr. M’Benga), Arthur Bernard (Apella), Janos Prohaska (The Gumato), Paul Baxley (Patrol Leader), Gary Pillard (Yutan)
Notes: “Jud Crucis” is a pseudonym for Gene Roddenberry’s longtime friend and fellow writer, Don Ingalls, who objected to Roddenberry’s extensive changes to the story he originally submitted. The confusion over whether the Mugato (as identified in dialogue) is called the Gumato (as in the end credits) continues in the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode Mugato, Gumato, which offers more information about the creature than anyone expected.
LogBook entry by Earl Green