"Operation-- Annihilate!"

The story begins with the Enterprise witnessing a Denevan colonist's suicide as he flies his vessel into the Denevan sun, crying in his last moments "I'm finally free!" The Enterprise moves to Deneva to investigate, and we learn that Kirk's brother George and his wife and son also live on Deneva. The landing party arrives to Deneva and is greeted by three men, armed with clubs, who attempt to warn them off the planet. The landing party stuns the men, then investigates further. Kirk finds his brother George dead and his wife and son affected by the same ailment that affected the men who confronted the Enterprise crew when they beamed down. The area of the galaxy where Deneva is located is directly in the path of an epidemic of mass insanity, which Spock believes is caused by creatures found in a Denevan building. Kirk's sister-in-law Areelan dies, leaving Kirk's nephew Peter in his uncle's care. One of the creatures attacks Spock, briefly taking over his body and forcing him into attempting to commandeer the Enterprise. Spock is subdued and reveals that the creatures are giant single-celled organisms, part of a larger group mind. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy race to find a way to destroy the creatures, eventually discovering that their only weakness is ultraviolet light. The Enterprise bombards Deneva with light, freeing the millions of colonists, and leaves for its next mission.

Story

"Operation: Annilate!" is an extremely well-written episode, with tight plotting and an engaging story. It remains one of the best in any season of any Trek series.

Action

There's plenty of action to go around in "Operation: Annihilate!," which is to be expected with such a cool title. There's the blasting of the creatures and Spock's "possession" by one of the creatures, leading to a great battle between Spock and the bridge crew for control of the Enterprise.

Performances

Everyone in the episode give great performances, especially Leonard Nimoy, showing the physical pain of the creature's influence, and William Shatner's depiction of Kirk's feelings of pain and loss over the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law.


Trektastic Moments

We have some great banter between McCoy and Spock in this episode, and the humorous scene at the end when McCoy comments under his breath that it's no surprise that Spock would manage to have an extra set of eyelids to protect himself from blindness.

Overall

"Operation: Annihilate!" is a great episode filled with pathos, action, drama, and suspense. Another classic Trek episode from the first season of the show. A+

The episode's title card.

The body of James Kirk's brother, George, also played in this scene by William Shatner.


Spock attacked by one of the organisms.