This one will always be known as spotlighting one of the shuttlecrafts that the starship has at its disposal. The downside of exploration is showcased in this episode, a case study of survival techniques and examining the group dynamics among several crew members stuck on a hostile planet. Rare for a first season episode, this focuses on Spock rather than Kirk, who remained on the Enterprise this time around. Spock's in command of the 7-member landing party of the shuttlecraft, though this landing was unplanned. Besides needing to figure out a way to lift off without fuel, they're besieged by some 10-foot-tall natives who like to throw huge spears at starfleet officers. Some of these scenes were actually pretty scary to me as an 8-year-old viewer; all that planetary fog or mist and those lumbering beast-men made me re-think my plans to become an astronaut. Kirk, meanwhile, fends off an annoying bureaucrat, a 'high commissioner,' on his bridge while attempting to locate his missing crew members without the usual instrumentation (ion storms, you know).<br /><br />Spock takes logic to faulty extremes during this crisis - all problems are addressed like a simple mathematical equation and this doesn't work with huge, hairy, unpredictable savages. Nor does his robotic attitude sit well with human beings who sometimes need words of encouragement and re-assurance in such times of great stress. He comes across as downright callous in some scenes - you'd think he'd know by now that you should at least give the appearance of giving a damn about a fallen comrade. I believe he overcompensates during this mission; despite his usual statements of not using emotion, he obviously feels the pressures of this command and his way of dealing with it is to go out of his way in alienating the rest of the party. Mostly, he sends the message that he's the smartest and half of them are expendable - not the best way to provide a positive spin on a mission gone wrong. McCoy & Scotty, along for this joyride, will back up Spock in the end even as they disagree with his methods, but a couple of the other crew members are pretty much insubordinate here. I'd be surprised if Spock didn't bring up charges back on the Enterprise - after he explained his lapse into illogic towards the end of the mission (cue: bridge crew laughing away all the built-up tension during this episode; above all, Starfleet needs happy bridge crews). McCoy does seem to win this round in his and Spock's ever-growing debate on the emotion over pure logic question.