TOS · SEASON 33×21

The Cloud Minders

NOMADIC PICK · GREAT DISCUSSION EPISODEClass war in the clouds.

FIRST SHOWN (US): 28 February 1969
ON: NBC
STARDATE: 5818.4
DIRECTED BY: Jud Taylor
PRODUCTION NO.: 74

WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Margaret Armen; story by David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford

IN BRIEF

SPOILER-FREE

Kirk needs a rare mineral to stop a plague, but on Ardana an elite lives in luxury in a city in the clouds while miners toil below, and the workers are ready to revolt.

SYNOPSIS

SPOILERS

Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS

The Enterprise comes to Ardana for zenite, a mineral needed to halt a plague destroying plant life on another world. Kirk and Spock are ambushed by miners before being rescued and taken up to Stratos, a beautiful city floating in the sky. There they find a rigid divide: the city-dwellers live a life of art and leisure, while the Troglytes do all the labour in the mines below. Spock is drawn to Droxine, daughter of the High Advisor Plasus. A rebel group, the Disruptors, led by Vanna, demands change, and Plasus has her tortured. McCoy discovers that raw zenite gives off a gas that dulls the mind and stirs up anger, which explains the miners' supposed inferiority. Plasus rejects the protective masks Kirk offers. Kirk traps himself and Vanna in a mine and has Plasus beamed down, where the gas makes both men aggressive, proving the truth to Vanna. The zenite is delivered, and masks are promised to the miners.

DID YOU KNOW?

01Based on a pitch by David Gerrold, who outlined it in his 1973 book “The World of Star Trek”. He was unhappy with the final version, which added the gas.
02The view of Ardana's surface is a photograph of southern Yemen taken by astronauts on the Gemini IV mission in 1965.
03Manny Coto, showrunner of “Star Trek: Enterprise”, said he had wanted to feature Stratos in that series' fourth season.

SOURCES WE CHECKED