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"The Man Trap" is the first aired regular season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series; "The Cage" was the pilot episode of the series. It is episode #6, first broadcast on September 8, 1966. It was written by George Clayton Johnson, and directed by Marc Daniels.
The stardate of "Man Trap" is 1513.1, however, episode #3 "Where No Man Has Gone Before" has a stardate of 1312.4, which makes that episode supposedly take place earlier. Some Trek fans consider "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to be the first episode, regardless of the air date, referring to the stardate instead.
Quick Overview: A shape shifting, salt hungry creature, terrorizes the crew of the Enterprise.
On stardate 1513.1, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, arrives at the planet M113 and sends down a landing party down to check up on scientist Dr. Bob Crater, and his wife Nancy Crater, who have been living alone on the planet for five years.
Without realizing it, each member of the landing party sees Nancy Crater differently. In fact, each sees her as their vision of the "perfect woman". Crewman Darnell sees a voluptuous blonde, (like the kind he met on Ripley's Pleasure Planet), while Dr. McCoy sees an attractive woman of 25, and Captain Kirk sees an older woman with more mature qualities.
The couple appears to be in good health, however Dr. Crater wants to cut the visit short, and appears to rush things along to get rid of the landing party as soon as possible. He also requests, before their departure, that they give him additional supplies of salt from the ship's stores.
Soon thereafter, Crewman Darnell wanders off to speak with Nancy alone, however, when he fails to report back the landing party searches for him, discovering his lifeless body nearby. Darnell's skin is a pale white, and his face is covered with a strange mottling. Dr. McCoy discovers a plant-like substance in his mouth and determines it to be a plant similar to deadly nightshade containing an alkaloid poison. When Nancy is confronted about what happened, she says she saw Darnell eating the plant and tried to stop him, but it was too late. However, Darnell's body doesn't show any sign of such poisoning, and McCoy discovers the body is devoid of salt.
Kirk orders additional security come down to the planet and an investigation begun. Crewmen Sturgeon and Green are beamed down, but are soon killed off. Sturgeon's body is discovered, drained of salt, however the creature that kills him assumes to form of Crewman Green, hiding the body, and resumes his duties. Disguised as Green, the creature transports aboard the Enterprise with Kirk and Bones, who are really the only remaining survivors of the landing party.
Once aboard, "Green" makes his rounds, first wandering into Lt. Sulu's quarters after observing a lunch tray with a salt shaker being brought in. The creature becomes startled and runs away when Sulu's pet plant begins shrieking at him. Green then transforms into a handsome Swahili man and attempts to seduce Lt. Uhura. Fortunately for Uhura, the man's advances are interrupted by passing crew members.
Later, while scanning the M113 planet, Mr. Spock reveals that there is only one lifeform on the planet, that being Dr. Crater. It is believed Nancy must have somehow beamed aboard the Enterprise and Kirk orders a search for her. While the search begins, the creature manages to kill another crew member, then pays a visit to Dr. McCoy, morphing back into Nancy Crater. She charms McCoy and then puts him to sleep using his own sleeping pills. After McCoy is out, Nancy takes on his appearance.
Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet to question Dr. Crater, and discover Crewman Green's body. They drill Crater about what is going on, and Crater confesses that his real wife had been killed by the last indigenous creature of the planet. The being has shapeshifting capabilities, and an incredible hunger for salt, killing anything to get it.
Kirk beams back up to the Enterprise along with Dr. Crater, who immediately sees the shapeshifted McCoy for what he really is. Crater doesn't reveal this however, and the creature repays Crater's loyalty by killing him. The creature then attacks Mr. Spock, but due to Spock's unique Vulcan physiology, he manages to survive the attack with minimal injury.
McCoy reawakens and finds the creature has retaken Nancy's form while everyone else sees it for what it really is, a large horrific monstrous humanoid, with green flakey skin, and a large round mouth. Still seeing her as Nancy, McCoy prevents Captain Kirk from trying to kill the creature and watches idly while it begins to suck the salt from Kirk's body. Spock returns and frees Kirk from the creature and tries to convince McCoy that Nancy is not what she seems. Spock punches the creature solidly but it picks him up and throws him across the room. As the being tries to kill Kirk again, its true form is revealed to McCoy, who kills it with a phaser.
See also
M113 Creature
External Links
"The Man Trap (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/The_Man_Trap)" article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
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