The writer of this episode, Stephen Kandel, is "Mr. Mudd"--he wrote both original series Harry Mudd episodes, as well as the Mudd episode from earlier in this series.
A long time spacefaring race has called for specialists to avert a crisis--including Kirk and Spock. There's also representatives of hawk, frog, and slug races, as well as an amazon woman. The hawk explains that they were a warlike race until a religious figure saved them. Now, an artifact from that leader has been stolen, and the hawk race is prepping for holy war--against the whole galaxy. So, the team need to find the artifact on a "mad planet" with bizarre weather and tectonics.
The amazon is an expert tracker, so they move off in a weird space car. The amazon hits on Kirk (of course), but then there's a lava flow to worry about. We get a shot of the Enterprise for no reason, and then back to the action. They hotwire the car to get around the lava. Spock falls out of the car, but Kirk saves him--so Spock berates him for doing so. Now, it's snowing, and the car is shot. The slug falls in a crevasse, but they save him.
The hawk feels the presence of the artifact. They find a temple, and the slug picks the lock. Batlike creatures attack--they are robots, and grab the hawk. They get inside the temple but are trapped. Kirk realizes one of them must be a traitor. (huh?) They scale the walls to get to the artifact--the frog stays behind. They are attacked again, this time by the hawk--he's the traitor. He gives the "yeah, I did it--and I'd do it again" speech. Gravity is turned off so they can fight him. Kirk and Spock fight the hawk hand to hand, and then retrieve the artifact.
Some things to look for:
- This seems like a slightly rewritten Herculoids episode--it makes little sense, and has lots of goofy aliens. It's like a fever dream.
- Lots of goofy ships are seen at the start of this episode
- The "long time spacefaring race" look like Kzinti with white hair
- Kirk: "We're tired, sore, hurt, and angry--but we're also just about there." Why angry?
- We’ve seen the same batlike creatures on several episodes--it's the same footage each time.
- When it's suggested that Kirk use his phaser against the hawk, he mentions the phaser banks in the temple--whaaa?? I believe Kirk is reading from a different script.
Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!