"Assignment: Earth" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2

https://youtu.be/d4F_YSX18Vo?si=ChgIj7CSWewsVqyj Teri Garr on Conan

Timothy Bennett

Another great episode that is one of my favorites. And at the time this fist aired, this subject was very much in our thoughts. We were locked deeply in the Cold War and never knowing if this was going to be our last day alive.Roddenberry was a master at weaving current affairs into his shows and movies. Love your poster! Isn't it interesting how Uhura is the only 9ne drawn full figure? 🤪🤪 You are bi why don't you just admit it, I love it!! 😋😋😋🥰🥰🥰🥰 Teri WAS so cute and adorable here. (Don't look her up now) And Isis, so hot and beautiful! I think you should a shoot as her; give you a chance to wear your collar 🤪, Lansing played such a cool character, a show with him, Teri and Isis would have been great!

Anthony Silva

I would have loved to watch a show co-starring her!!!

bunnytails

When Kirk told them about Robert Lansing and Terry Garrs future, he was refering to the possible TV show the was hoped to spin off from ST starring Lansing and Garr. Like a lot of Pilot's it never picked up. Als, the rocket was an Apollo moon rocket, possibly footage from Apollo 7 or 8. This show was made a year before the Apollo 11 moon landing.

kenneth brown

1 season, and 4 more series to go! (...ok, maybe you can convince me to stick around for Picard, but everything after Enterprise is just dead to me.)

Carlos Stevens

Gary Seven had his long-distance travel machine, a sonic screwdriver, an exotic shape-shifting companion and a perky human companion. He *was* Doctor Who!

Lee

Maybe we'll get a photo shoot then?🤔have you ever seen 'Young Frankenstein"?

ded cowbowee

Luckily we still have a whole other season to go!

bunnytails

Aw. I woulda wanted to see the spin-off. Kind of reminded me of Doctor Who

bunnytails

Thanks for the info!

bunnytails

Ah, thanks!

bunnytails

I am glad they did a season 3!

bunnytails

It's sad to hear she didn't have a good experience. :( She was lovely, though.

bunnytails

Ohh I see. I would watch that show!

bunnytails

Thank you very much!!

bunnytails

Oh darn! Guess I have to rework my top 10! :P

bunnytails

Thank you!

bunnytails

I have a crush on her now, too!

bunnytails

Love at first sight for me <3

bunnytails

Thanks! I really wish Isis got a little more screen time in her human form! I would love to get a better look at this outfit.

bunnytails

Thank you! Season 1 and 2 have been overall amazing! I would have watched the show with Gary Seven and that cutie!

bunnytails

All the cats!

bunnytails

Awesome Bunny, it has flown by too quick,

Rupert Purcat

Bunny... one last thing... brace yourself for season 3. There were some really bad episodes in season 3. (still worth watching though)

Carlos Stevens

Yep. If they only knew what was going to happen with the syndicated reruns.

Carlos Stevens

Aw, how cute... Bunny has a crush on Terri Garr. (so did I back in the day). You might want to watch a few of the movies she was in... Young Frankenstein, Viva Las Vegas, Oh God!, etc. FYI, the comment by Spock about the "interesting adventures" was an allusion to the fact that this episode was meant to be a pilot episode for a spin-off series. Unfortunately, it never happened.

Carlos Stevens

Most of the background info has already been well covered. But, to also add — the voice of the cat “Isis” and the Computer was Barbara Babcock. She played Mea 3 in the first season episode “Taste of Armageddon” the two planets with the 500 year computer war. Also he didn’t have any dialogue but the policeman “Charlie” in the apartment was Bruce Mars, who played “Finnegan” in “Shore Leave” Teri Garr also hosted SNL in November 1983.

Dave Riley

Yes Bunny, that was actual footage of the Saturn V rocket... the one they used to launch the moon missions. At the time it was the largest rocket ever made (although I think the soviets had a larger one; it blew up on the launch pad and ended their bid for the space race. ) Since this episode was filmed before Apollo Eleven, this was pre-moon landing footing of the rocket.

Carlos Stevens

Sounds a lot like how Alison Brie and Felicia Day are seen these days.

Greg Polander

I know, right? I get the idea that Gene and company just passed around the hat to raise what funds they could to pay her. :)

Greg Polander

Alas Aerith (still sad). So the year 1968 a very tumultuous year... The year of the Democrat Convention riots... the year when Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Some say there are a lot of parallels between 1964 and 2024... just sayin'

Carlos Stevens

What footage you saw was the Saturn V rocket which was the launch vehicle for all the Apollo moon missions.

3dbadboy1

The girl who played Roberta Lincoln was Teri Garr. She was a pretty well known actress back then. She went on to play Phoebe's mother in Friends. This show was supposed to be used to launch a spin-off TV show but it didn't happen. Also, this was supposed to end Star Trek because of poor ratings. When it was announced, the fans reacted and demanded it not be taken off air so they continued out in Season 3.

3dbadboy1

I've always enjoyed this episode and wish the spin-off had happened. Thankfully, we have the novels and comic book mini-series, but a live-action show would have been much better. There's some interesting internal continuity in this episode. Actor Eddie Paskey usually played a redshirt (he was one of the security guards that died in "Obsession" -- thankfully, he got better) and first appears on the bridge seated at the Engineering station in the teaser. Next, at 6:44, he's wearing a gold shirt and walking in a corridor as Kirk's address to the crew begins. A scant eight seconds later, he's in red coveralls in Engineering with Scotty! At 9:51, he's asleep on the floor of the transporter room as Gary Seven makes good his escape. Finally, at 35:49, he's back in the transporter room as a security guard, awaiting Scotty's attempt to beam Seven off the rocket gantry. I haven't catalogued all of Mr. Paskey's previous appearances per episode, but this has to be a record for him. Once again, James Doohan provides a voice for an unseen character, this time for the Mission Control announcer. There's an interesting moment at 43:32: he speaks a few lines as that character, then voices Scotty coming over Kirk's communicator, with no break in between. Stuff like that makes my inner nerd extremely happy. Teri Garr is delightful as Roberta, as she tends to be in most of her many other roles. But she was not happy during the making of this episode. Roddenberry was hoping to get the spin-off launched and played a much more hands-on role in the episode -- it's the only time this season in which he's credited as producer. One area in which he devoted far too much attention was the length of Teri Garr's skirt, raising the hem several times and angering costume designer William Ware Theiss in the process. Garr is said to have walked off the set during one of these incidents. Perhaps as a result of Roddenberry's unwanted alterations to her costume or just the general experience of making the episode, Garr has refused to discuss Star Trek. The one exception was a December 1991 Starlog interview in which she had a rather pointed comment about the fans. TL; DR - I liked this episode, Teri Garr doesn't.

Lee

This episode was a "backdoor" pilot for a proposed series about Gary Seven and Roberta and their adventures. Hence Kirk's comment about them having interesting things in store in the future.

Mike Collins

Assignment Earth as I understand it was yet another attempt by Gene Roddenberry to launch another show. Glad you enjoyed it, and I forgot how good the kitty was acting! Terri Garr was in a million TV shows including MASH and King of the Hill. She was also in Close Encounters. Congrats on Season 2!

Trilogian

$84.51? What cheapskate nickel and dimed on that one. Why not an $85 even?!

Mark Gosine

Not one of my personal favorites. Even as a kid, the Scotty Engineer-splaining how he could even get views of the launch pad by bouncing off the current Earth satellites was unbelievable as far a Trek techno babble goes. Amazing aerial pans and close-ups: Fascinating. I just always thought the episode was a bit boring. Certainly not the worst. Too much Gary Seven and not enough Enterprise crew. Looking forward to your top ten. Oh, and you can't have Galaxy Quest in your the top ten either. Even as much as I love that movie.

Mark Gosine

The books were pretty good

timothy w moyer

great take about the aliens and local star cluster property values, lol

Skyman's Follies

Still viable as a series that comes up every so often to be rebooted. In one of the novels, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln played an important role in the defeat of Khan in the 1990s.

Mark Chrisco

William Terry

I have to say, you have me trying to picture you in Terri's outfit!😊 I saw this at about 17-18 and had a celeb crush on her for years lol! loved her in "Young Frankenstein" as well. 👍Anyway, fun watch, your costume looks great and thank you for another great reaction!🌹🌹🌹👍

ded cowbowee

Teri Garr was adorable. Probably best known for her roles in Young Frankenstein and Close Encounters, and was a favorite guest on David Letterman. So cute and quirky.

J. Scott Phillips

Yeppers this is one of my favorites. I busted a gut when you saw Isis. Yep, we all knew that was coming. Great reaction. The footage was one of the Apollo shots, I forget which one. Stock footage used in other shows also. Glad you liked this one. I will upload a couple "Cat" pics in star trek discord, LOL. She was UNCREDITED for years. Nobody knew who she was for ...ever. Till somebody tracked her down. April Tatro. Pretty? Uh YEA! 😊. I Love the story as well. Backstory on Gary Seven was really kool. Sounds like you had a good time at the Cosplay Convention as well. Nice Poster!

timothy w moyer

This was supposed to be a spin-off series :D Need more cats!

Scott Ferrier

Hey congratulations on end of Season 2 ... yet another fantastic episode, if for nothing else than the addition of Teri Garr and Robert Lansing, a great ying and yang combination of light and serious and then, yeah, throw in a mysterious black cat/woman into the mix. Several good dramatic moments, notably the opening when they intercept Seven and then that great finale with Kirk's agonizing choice. Couple cool little things: first, the doors opening just enough to let a little kitty through and then, secondly: is this the first episode to have a Captain's log in the middle of two scenes, in other words, NOT opening a scene coming back from commercial break? I think this would have been an interesting spin off series, too bad it never made it, however, there is a comic book series featuring Gary Seven and Miss Lincoln. Interestingly, Gene Roddenberry had a company called Lincoln Enterprises, if I'm not mistaken. Thanks for all the great reactions for Season 2, Bunny,...seems like you mostly had a good time watching these for the first time and hope you enjoy many moments from the upcoming and, sadly, final season 3. Cheers : )

Skyman's Follies

First off, Bunny, congrats on finishing Season 2! Your confusion at the end is understandable -- this a confusing and disjoined episode to me. The MAIN reason for that is that this was originally written as a standalone half-hour television series; when no network chose to order a pilot, the script was reworked to fit into Star Trek as a backdoor pilot for the proposed Assignment: Earth series. The spin-off series was never produced. So when Kirk is saying the two of them are going to have many more experiences, it was a reference to something that never got made. (Although many years later a five comic book series was produced to act as the sequel). I always felt this was a weird and confusing episode when I first saw it as a kid, and learning the reasons why many years later made it click in my head. The overall plot is good, and there's some really great guest acting again in this episode as always, including the cat. It ties into many serious problems of the day as you mentioned, and again with the use of stock footage and current clothes, cheap to make. (I never realized until doing this watch with you just how thin the budget for Star Trek must have been by the second half of season two, they must have spent all the money in the first half!) But since this episode was intended as a pilot for a show that never got made, the inclusion of Kirk and Spock just feel like a afterthought, and when they are present they just stand and watch and don't do anything. It's not bad as a episode, but it's very poor Star Trek due to all of that IMHO and therefore not a favorite of mine. I also love the outfit that Roberta had on -- the stockings remind me of the ones that Haru wears in Persona 5 Royal, just a different decoration on them. The overall look is VERY 60's, but she's so cute that she pulls it off very well. :) I actually just learned this about the cat when I checked the article for this episode on Wikipedia, so thanks to you even I'm learning new things: The uncredited human form of Isis was portrayed by actress, dancer, and contortionist April Tatro. Her identity was unknown until 2019, when The Trek Files podcast cited a production call sheet for extras dated 5 January 1968. Host Larry Nemecek interviewed her for confirmation. Tatro was paid US$84.51 (equivalent to $740 in 2023) for her performance. Yes, as you noticed, a lot of stock footage was used for this episode with the rocket base and the rocket. "McKinley Rocket Base" is a fictional location resembling Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, from which much of the stock footage in the episode came. NASA provided Gene Roddenberry with the footage of a Saturn V rocket, with the Apollo 4 capsule, and additional footage shot especially for the episode. Can't wait to get into Season 3 with you! I have strong feelings about that season but I won't say anything about that quite yet. :)

Greg Polander