The Deadly Years
| "The Deadly Years" | |
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| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |
Captain Kirk suffers from rapid aging.
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 12 |
| Directed by | Joseph Pevney |
| Written by | David P. Harmon |
| Featured music |
Sol Kaplan Fred Steiner |
| Cinematography by | Jerry Finnerman |
| Production code | 040 |
| Original air date | December 8, 1967 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Deadly Years" is a second season episode of the original science fiction television series, Star Trek, first broadcast December 8, 1967, and repeated on August 16, 1968. It is episode #41, production #40, written by David P. Harmon, and directed by Joseph Pevney.
In this episode, strange radiation exposes the command crew of the Enterprise to the effects of rapid aging.
On stardate 3478.2, the Federation starship USS Enterprise, ferrying Commodore Stocker to his new command at Starbase 10, makes a stop at the planet Gamma Hydra IV, to resupply the research station there. A landing party consisting of Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy, Chief Engineer Scott, navigator Ensign Chekov, and Lieutenant Arlene Galway beams down to the facility.
Once there, they find the station completely empty, and no personnel are seen. This is bizarre since Kirk spoke to the station's leader, Robert Johnson, an hour earlier. Exploring further, Ensign Chekov discovers the body of a man who apparently has died of old age, and panics.
Suddenly Johnson appears with his wife Elaine. Both are actually in their late 20s, yet appear to have aged 50 more years.(Johnson was played by 85-year-old Felix Locher, making him the oldest actor ever to appear on Star Trek.) The landing team beams back to the Enterprise with Johnson and his wife. There are still no clues to what is going on, as the two soon die in sickbay. Dr. McCoy rules their cause of death as "extreme old age".
Commodore Stocker wants some answers. Kirk has Mr. Spock and civilian scientist Dr. Janet Wallace (an old flame of Kirk's) assist in the investigation. The only theory Spock can give at this time is a strange comet-like object passed by Gamma Hydra IV quite recently. It may have somehow caused the rapid aging effect, but how is not certain.
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