The Eye of the Beholder story
The disappearance of a scientific team lures the USS Enterprise to investigate near Lactra VII. The starship Ariel is located there, abandoned, with its captain having transported to the planet's surface. The Enterprise crew beams down to discover a series of unusual environments. On the planet the crew meets the Lactrans, a group of twenty foot slugs with intelligent capacities far beyond their own. The team is captured by the Lactrans to be made part of a zoo collection.
11 total · 4 choice · 3 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| incompatible modes of communication | choice | humans and slug aliens |
| transcendental being | choice | Lactran :: slug aliens |
| transcendental point of view | choice | The Enterprise crew members were but as zoo specimens to an advanced race of telepathic slug-like aliens. |
| what if I was a specimen animal in a zoo | choice | Kirk, Spock, McCoy :: landing party |
| facing life in captivity | major | Kirk, Spock, McCoy :: landing party in lactran zoo |
| human vs. captivity | major | Kirk, Spock, McCoy :: landing party held captive in zoo |
| slug-like being | major | Lactran :: Kirk and company were abducted by slug-like aliens and exhibited in a zoo. |
| risk taking vs. playing it safe | minor | Kirk :: beam down or not |
| speculative terraforming | minor | The Lactrans terraformed their planet to have varied habitats. |
| telepathic being | minor | Lactran :: slug aliens |