7 – What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Grade: B

Summary

Captain Kirk and Nurse Chapel beam down to a planet to search for her missing former fiancee, Roger Korby. They also find a couple of androids on the planet, and Roger has a plan to construct more of them for assisting humanity.

Commentary

After watching this again recently, I was actually a little more impressed with it than I remembered. This particular episode isn’t as cheesy as many of the other episodes in this series, though there are a few silly scenes. I actually thought it was the second-best episode of the first season so far.

I won’t reveal the twist at the end of the episode, just in case you haven’t seen it yet. But I will say that I wonder why the Next Generation didn’t take more advantage of referring to this episode when establishing the character of Data. There were also some episodes of Enterprise that could have referred to this episode, but that’s the way it goes.

I sometimes get this episode mixed up with I, Mudd, since they have similar premises.

Of Note

The android Ruk was played by 6-foot, 9-inch Ted Cassidy, who also played Lurch on the 1960s TV show, The Addams Family. Before his acting career, he worked in radio, because of his very deep voice. In 1963, he reported for WFAA radio in Dallas, Texas, and was among the first reporters to interview witnesses when President John F. Kennedy was shot.

Here’s something about this episode – it’s the first time Captain Kirk has a kissing scene with a guest star.