‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘Miri’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

I think one of the reasons that people are attracted to and enjoy the original Star Trek so much, is the sheer fact that so many episodes provided us with a new and exotic location to visit, complete with a story that challenged the audience. And because we have so many individual and unique stories present in the opening chapter of this storied franchise, any kind of two-part event or continuation of a story or an idea was quite the big deal since it was so rare in its own right. But sometimes, overlap is an inevitability since some stories feature a common theme whether you like it or not and it just so happens that a theme from the last episode, found its way into the next one.
​
For ‘Miri’ found a way to deal with the concept of death and our fear of it once again and it accomplished such a feat by having the crew of the Enterprise arrive on a planet ruled by children since the adults had all perished and how they met their end, is how these thematic concepts tied together. Because the away team was able to discover that the adults here, wanted to cheat death and achieve immortality, and they created a virus that was able to keep aging at bay, with a catch of course. In essence, only children would respond positively to the virus and age at a woefully slow rate, but the instant they hit puberty and started their path toward adulthood, they too would perish.

But while the science of this episode was fascinating in its own right, I have to admit, that the implications of an entire scientific community working to cheat death is what truly caught my eye in this episode. Because clearly, this world was full of panic when it comes to death, and it would have taken a monumental and collective effort to make this discovery and clearly it was rushed and untested since it ended in disaster, and that’s just powerful stuff to see injected into a science fiction story. As was the away team’s response to catching said virus since they worked overtime to find a vaccine, and the bold move by McCoy to test it without the help of the Enterprise, speak volumes to their own fears of seeing their lives end earlier than expected.

Yet, while it was incredible to see the story flat out speak to the fact that mankind fears death and when given the opportunity, will fight to prolong its life regardless of the risks, there was oddly, more present in this story for the audience to chew upon. Because the entire plot point of having a world full of children spoke volumes to the need for parents to be there and to properly teach their children about life and the world, and while I’m not exactly sure what motivated the writers’ room to add this particular lesson, or commentary, it was still fascinating to find here and we can’t talk about this element without offering praise to the acting in this segment of the story. For every young actor here really sold the ‘feral’ child notion through and through and one has to wonder if this story helped to inspire Stephen King when he sat down to write Children of the Corn.

In the end however, this really was quite the fascinating episode when all is said and done since it posed a great deal of ideas and questions, since it explores a childhood dream we all share at some point or another, which is being in a world free of adults, and it really does go full bore into our fears of death and well, I loved every single second of it. Because the race against time aspect added a sense of tension to the story, as did the feral nature of the children, since you never quite knew if they were truly going to turn on the crew or if they could reason with Kirk and company after all, and I think really, the best part of this particular tale, is its outright uniqueness storytelling wise. For this really was a vastly different style of episode for the series, and a risk in its own right, but it works and it’s engaging and it’s lovely to see the show take chances this early on in its existence and well, my excitement for this journey through Star Trek is only growing and well, I need more. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m needed on the bridge. Until next time.  

---