THE DEADLY YEARS 

GUEST STARS...

Charles Drake, Sarah Marshall.

PLOT SUMMARY...

The Enterprise crew contracts a virus which causes rapid aging.

QUICK SCAN...

This episode features elaborate, and sometimes funny old age makeup for various crew members. Makeup artist Fred B. Phillips has a field day, aging Kirk and company. Shatner's Kirk ages less visably than other crew members for reasons that are unclear. Charles Drake ("It Came From Outer Space") is credible as Commodore Stocker.

SYNOPSIS...

The Enterprise encounters colonists, on Gamma Hydra IV who are dying of old age. Their actual ages are quite young.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk and other members of the landing party begin to age rapidly. Chekov, however, shows no sign of the aging disease.

McCoy, racing against time before senility sets it, discovers an antidote for the virus. Kirk and the others receive injections, and their youth returns.

The Review...

Director Joseph Pevney's, "THE DEADLY YEARS," is a fun, unusual Sci-Fi yarn, that provides food for thought. Pevney directed numerous other classic Trek episodes, as well as the feature film, "The Night of the Grizzly" from 1966.

Interestingly, Kirk ages less noticeably than most of the other crew members. Could a star's ego have been behind this?

As McCoy ages, he becomes even more cranky, and develops a pronounced Southern accent. It's fun to see him as the old country doctor that we always knew he was. The effective makeup is by Fred B. Phillips.

Fans of "The Corbomite Maneuver" should dig this episode. When Kirk returns to his normal self, he once again uses the corbomite con to save his ship.

Charles Drake offers strong support as Commodore Stocker. Drakes other credits, include the feature films: "It Came From Outer Space," (1953), and "Tobor the Great" (1954).

This episode, written by David P. Harmon, ("A Piece of the Action"), deals cleverly with the subject of aging. It's shocking to see thirty-something Kirk, being grey, senile, and fighting to hang onto his Star Fleet captain's job.

"THE DEADLY YEARS" should be fairly watchable for most Sci-Fi viewers.

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