The Man Trap (episode)/background information

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“The Man Trap”
Star Trek: The Original Series  Episode
The-man-trap-title-card-01.jpg
In-Universe Details
Stardate1513.1
Date15 Nov 2161  (Terran)
LocationUSS Enterprise
PlanetM-113
QuadrantAlpha
Background Information
M-113 creature.jpg
Production
Written byGeorge Clayton Johnson
Directed byMarc Daniels
Produced byGene Roddenberry
John D. F. Black (AP)
Robert H. Justman (AP)
EpisodeTOS: 1x05
Production No.6149-06
Date aired8 September 1966
Chronology
By date aired
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“Charlie X”
By date produced
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“The Enemy Within” 		   Next episode  →
“The Naked Time”
In-universe events
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“The Corbomite Maneuver” 		   Next    →
“Charlie X”
Main Article This subject has a "real world" background information article! Click here for more information In-Universe


  • "The Man Trap" was the first Star Trek episode to air, on 8 September 1966. As Robert H. Justman and Herbert F. Solow recount in their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, the decision to broadcast this entry before any other of the few completed episodes was, largely, a process of elimination. Although it had good special effects and demonstrated the series' intelligent approach to alien life forms, “The Corbomite Maneuver” was not chosen because its completion was delayed by the post-production process. Moreover, virtually all of its action took place aboard the Enterprise. The latter drawback also weighed against “Charlie X”, which was further deemed "too gentle" a tale because it dealt with the problems of an adolescent. “Mudd's Women” was out of the running because it was questionable to lead off the Star Trek franchise with a risqué story about selling women to miners in space. The second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, was considered too "expository" in terms of its background to be broadcast so early. Justman actually favored “The Naked Time” because he thought it would provide an ideal introduction to the different characters' personalities. "The Man Trap" won out because its straightforward action plot was not considered too exotic, it had the advantage of a monster to thrill the viewers, and it fulfilled the series' "strange new worlds" concept.


Script and story[edit | edit source]

  • The first draft of this episode's script was completed on 13 June 1966, and the final draft three days later. In The Star Trek Interview Book, author George Clayton Johnson recalled that story editor John D. F. Black's only major objection to his first draft was that the M-113 creature did not arrive aboard the Enterprise until the third act. Black argued that the crew had to be put in jeopardy sooner, and so Johnson revised the script accordingly.
  • An early title for this episode was "Damsel with a Dulcimer." In the original story outline, Professor Crater was, at one point, supposed to drive a futuristic tractor around the archaeological site.
  • In Johnson and Black's script version of 13 June 1966, the moral dilemma of killing 'the last of its kind' had been more pronounced, with the creature, disguised as McCoy, trying to reason with the crew. Also in that version, Professor Crater lives in the end, mourning the loss of the creature. Gene Roddenberry's rewrite for the final draft toned down the emotional aspects of the McCoy relationship in favor of a more straightforward plot: as a cornered animal, the salt creature panics and actually kills its longtime companion, Professor Crater. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)
  • Johnson's original draft lacked much of a presence of Spock; actually, it was Scotty who accompanied Kirk to catch Crater – which was also changed by Roddenberry. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)
  • Sulu's botanical collection was much more lavish in Johnson's original script, including a plant resembling the face of a Chinese dog, etc. This was eliminated for budgetary reasons, Beauregard remaining the only moving "exotic plant". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)
  • It was Roddenberry's idea to have the creature, in its illusory form, speak Swahili to Uhura. Kellam de Forest supplied him with the translation. In English, the illusory crewman says "How are you, friend? I think of you, beautiful lady. You should never know loneliness." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)
  • The episode was novelized by James Blish under the original scripted name "The Unreal McCoy" in the first Star Trek adaptation collection, released in the US by Bantam Books in January 1967.
  • Blish changed some of the names in his novelization, possibly working from an earlier script draft. The planet is called Regulus VIII, and the archaeologists are Robert and Nancy Bierce.

Credits[edit | edit source]

  • As the first episode actually telecast, the opening credits are slightly different from most other first season shows. Gene Roddenberry has "created by" credits and there is no "starring" before William Shatner's name. This version of the credits was used only once more, in “Charlie X”.
  • In this episode, Garrison True and Larry Anthony both speak several on-screen lines, yet are not listed in the closing credits.
  • In the first season, directors and writers were not credited until the very end of each episode, while they are credited right after the title of each episode beginning in season two.

Cast[edit | edit source]

  • The very first Enterprise crew members whom the television audience saw in this premiere episode were Spock, Uhura, and Leslie, sitting in the command module on the bridge (which is, in fact, a recycled shot from “The Naked Time”).
  • James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) does not appear in this episode, but he is briefly heard on Kirk's communicator in dialogue lifted from another episode.

Costumes[edit | edit source]

  • The costume of the M-113 creature was designed by Wah Chang. Chang used a modified gas mask as the creature's mouth. The costume later appeared, displayed on the wall of Trelane's castle in “The Squire of Gothos”. Later, the "creature" found a new home in Robert Justman's office, along with the two Gorn suits from “Arena” and the "frozen" mannequin from “The Naked Time”. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story)
  • The suit worn by Barnhart bears a strong resemblance to the radiation suits seen in The Outer Limits episode "The Production and Decay of Strange Particles" (guest-starring Leonard Nimoy), even down to the numbers seen on the suit. [1] There were several other alien creature costume holdovers from The Outer Limits that would appear in Star Trek, most notably creatures, created by Janos Prohaska, modified to create creatures seen in the Talos IV zoo in “The Cage” and the Horta in “The Devil in the Dark”.
  • For the first time on camera, Uhura wears a red uniform, instead of a gold one, from the earlier filmed episodes, "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Mudd's Women".
  • A female crewmember wearing pants can be seen on a corridor. "Charlie X" is the last episode featuring a crew woman wearing pants.
  • In one of the red alert scenes on an Enterprise corridor, the crewmen are wearing turtleneck uniforms. It is a recycled (originally unused) shot from “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. (It can be seen at the beginning of Act One, in the original, pre-broadcast version of the second pilot.)

Visual and sound effects[edit | edit source]

  • The visual of the planet M-113 from orbit was reused footage previously representing planet Alfa 177 in “The Enemy Within”, though this episode aired first. This planet effect was reused again many times during the original series.
  • When Nancy Crater first walks into the dig headquarters, Nichelle Nichols' singing from “Charlie X” was briefly dubbed in as Crater's voice.
  • In early episodes like this one, there are up and down indicators that light up outside the turbolifts. Although they are seen in subsequent episodes, only in the earliest ones do they actually light up to indicate direction of travel. Elevator indicator lights later show up in engineering above one of the consoles.
  • The bridge sound effects still retain sounds from the two pilots. By the time Roddenberry left as producer, those original sounds were not heard again, with the brief exceptions of being heard while on the bridges of the Exeter and the Lexington. The DVD releases, however, have overlaid these older sound effects in every episode. They are presented as "rear channel" sounds which gives the episodes a "surround sound" effect.
  • A unique phaser ricochet sound effect was used when Crater was stunned by a phaser shot, the only time this effect was ever used in the original series. Alfred Ryder's voice then slows down, representing the stun effect.
  • In a Desilu Inter-Department Communication from Bob Justman to Bernie Widin, dated 3 November 1966, it was noted that the music score cost for this episode was an exorbitant $9,029.63.

Production[edit | edit source]

File:Shooting The Man Trap.jpg
A moment from this episode's filming
  • Just prior to filming "The Man Trap", Alfred Ryder (Robert Crater) suffered a severe arm injury. Despite the pain, he performed his role without a complaint. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 90))
  • The original version of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” has a couple additional corridor shots later edited for the aired version. One of those shots is recycled for this episode when the "General Quarters 3" order is given and cuts off before Gary Mitchell enters the shot.
  • Although this episode was filmed before “The Naked Time” stock footage from that episode is used for the bridge scene at the very beginning. Kirk's run down the corridor to the sickbay is also recycled footage from "The Naked Time" as is a reaction shot of Kirk when Spock is telling him about the borgia plant on the sickbay video display interface.
  • Recycled footage from “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” with Spock seated in the captain's chair is used for the same bridge scene at the beginning.
  • The shot of the computer monitor in sickbay, then in McCoy's quarters is the same shot, is recycled from “The Corbomite Maneuver” (with the close-ups of Kirk and Spock matted in during post-production).
  • This is the only segment of Star Trek in which McCoy's quarters appear. A pan and cut along a blank wall allowed two McCoys to appear in the same room. The three cylindrical containers on the shelf in McCoy's room were previously seen on Ben Childress's table in “Mudd's Women”. These cylindrical containers later appear in the large lighted shelf display area in McCoy's lab.
  • The ship's arboretum is a redress of the sickbay set. (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 96)
  • Professor Crater's weapon is the MK. 2 version laser pistol seen in only two other episodes; "Where No Man has Gone Before" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
  • The statue near the entrance of the Crater home can later be seen in Spock's quarters in “Amok Time” and subsequent episodes.
  • The opening and closing theme music composed and arranged by Alexander Courage, utilizing an electric violin, was used for the first nine originally aired episodes. This music was actually recorded during the scoring sessions for "The Man Trap". On home video and syndication versions, note that only “Where No Man Has Gone Before” is correct and contains the original aired end credit music. The next eight, first season episodes, in sequence, video released versions of these first season episodes, incorrectly, substitute the Fred Steiner arranged "cello" end theme music. This music was recorded during "The Man Trap" as the score for “The Corbomite Maneuver”, “Balance of Terror”, and “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One).
  • During the syndication run of Star Trek, no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Preview[edit | edit source]

  • The preview contains a captain's log recorded solely for the preview: "Captain's log, stardate 1324.1. On Planet M-113 we encounter a killer from a lost world." Interestingly, the stardate is significantly different from those used in the episode.

Reception[edit | edit source]

  • Variety published a quite negative review of Star Trek on 14 September 1966 issue based on the episode "The Man Trap," stating the series "won't work." The reviewer said Star Trek is "dreary and confusing," stating that it would be "better suited to the Saturday morning kidvid bloc," and surprised the show actually made it to television; concluding the leading performers were trying to appear credible. (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 31)
  • TV Guide also printed a negative review of the series in its 10 September Fall Premiere issue, stating that "the sky's not the limit for this Trek." (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 31)
  • This was the first Star Trek episode that David Gerrold viewed. Watching it upon its first airing, Gerrold was thrilled by what he saw, later reminiscing, "I watched it eagerly. I was amazed that something this imaginative had made it to television." [2]
  • The episode also made an impression on future Star Trek: Enterprise staff writer Chris Black, who was in kindergarten at the time he saw the installment. "I remember […] seeing the M-113 creature,' the M-113 creature, and running out of the room in terror," Black recalled with a chuckle, while working as a writing staffer on Enterprise. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 143, p. 28)
  • Actress Grace Lee Whitney considers the arboretum scene of Rand and Sulu as one of her favorite scenes of the series. She recalled that shooting the scene was quite funny, and the entire cast and crew were in a lighthearted atmosphere. Some crude jokes were told in connection with Beauregard and her, and even the puppeteer below the table (Bob Baker) tried to reach for her short skirt with the puppet. Whitney later described this episode as "filled with plenty of horrific and suspenseful moments. It was a great debut episode for the series." (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 96)
  • In his book Trek: Deepspace Nine (p. 44), writer Scott Nance stated about this episode, "It was only one step away from B-grade movies."

Other information[edit | edit source]

  • In the Leonard Nimoy-hosted 1983 documentary Star Trek Memories, Nimoy mentioned the fact that NBC chose to air this episode first, since (at least to the network) it was "proper" science fiction with a "proper" alien menace. Nimoy also stated that of the episodes the cast and crew had already completed, this was their least favorite.
  • In William Shatner's 1993 memoir Star Trek Memories, he calls this episode "a dreadful show, one of our worst ever."
  • As the very first episode aired by NBC on 8 September 1966, "The Man Trap" was also the premiere for Star Trek as a whole. Yet, it was not NBC who could boast the world premiere of Star Trek, but rather the Canadian network CTV, which had actually aired "The Man Trap" two days earlier. Template:Facebook
  • The preview trailer for this episode states this stardate incorrectly as stardate 1324.1.
  • The sickbay is called the dispensary only in this episode.

Apocrypha[edit | edit source]

Production timeline[edit | edit source]

Video and DVD releases[edit | edit source]

Links and references[edit | edit source]

Starring[edit | edit source]

Co-starring[edit | edit source]

Guest star[edit | edit source]

Featuring[edit | edit source]

And

Uncredited co-stars[edit | edit source]

Stand-ins[edit | edit source]

External link[edit | edit source]

Previous episode produced:
“The Enemy Within”
Real World This article has a real-world perspective! Click here for more information Information
 
Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 0 		Next episode produced:
“The Naked Time”
Previous episode aired:
None 		Next episode aired:
“Charlie X”
Previous remastered episode aired:
“The Conscience of the King” 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
“What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
Previous event:
“The Corbomite Maneuver”
In-Universe This article has a real-world perspective! Click here for more information Information
Next event:
“Charlie X”
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