A group of astronauts looking to find minerals land on a beautiful planet. The planet seems to grant their wishes. It turns the lakes into wine and allows them to fly. One of them is greedy and inconsiderate of the living planet and gains none of the benefits. After the planet is presented to us, the decision becomes whether it offers enough for the astronauts to stay behind. They are torn between their duty and the possibility of an endless supply of pleasure. What would we do? This plot has been a part of many episodes of Star Trek and other such shows, where a planet or stellar creation is a living, thinking being. It always involves a rethinking of the human relationship with something so alien.
2 Reviews
"I've never yet met a planet that didn't bite and scratch."
classicsoncall3 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It's not Mars this time, but an Earth-like planet that a group of astronauts land on, the expedition financed by a guy named Chatterton (Peter Elliott), whose company expects to benefit when its mineral wealth can be exploited. As the story progresses, it becomes fairly obvious that somehow, the spoken desires of the crew members are suddenly enabled. Driscoll (Timothy Bottoms) begins to fly, although erratically, and when Koestler (Lorae Parry) makes her preference for wine known, the water she scoops up from the river tastes exactly like it. Meanwhile, Chatterton sets a drilling machine in motion to explore for mineral deposits, which is quickly disabled when the planet strikes back with a roll of thunder and a lightning strike. These events get Driscoll thinking about whether he wants to return to Earth or not, since all of their wishes come to life, and he tries to convince the rest of the crew to stay behind as well. As a ground quake threatens (can't be an earthquake since they're not on Earth), the crew takes off leaving Driscoll stranded when he runs away. However he won't be alone, since the planet responds by showing him the reflection of a lovely young woman in the nearby stream.
Fans of the original Star Trek of the late Sixties will certainly recognize the plot to this story. Season One of that series offered the story 'Shore Leave", in which the crew of the Enterprise enjoyed some time off from their interplanetary journeys on a Class-M planet. It was done in a whimsical vein and to this day remains as one of my favorite ST episodes.
Fans of the original Star Trek of the late Sixties will certainly recognize the plot to this story. Season One of that series offered the story 'Shore Leave", in which the crew of the Enterprise enjoyed some time off from their interplanetary journeys on a Class-M planet. It was done in a whimsical vein and to this day remains as one of my favorite ST episodes.
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