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"The Tholian Web" is the ninth episode of the third season of the original American science fiction television series, ''Star Trek''. It is episode #64, production #64, first broadcast on November 15, 1968, and repeated August 19, 1969. It was written by Judy Burns and Chet Richards and directed by Herb Wallerstein. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Federation starship ''Enterprise''. In this episode, Captain Kirk is caught between dimensions while the crew of the ''Enterprise'' works to retrieve him. All the while, the Tholians demand that the ''Enterprise'' leave their space. ==Plot== On stardate 5693.2, the Federation starship USS ''Enterprise'' enters an uncharted region of space to search for her sister ship, the USS ''Defiant'', which disappeared three weeks previously. The ''Enterprise''s warp engines begin to slowly lose power for no apparent reason and sensors detect nearby dimensional fractures in space. They visually find the ''Defiant'', adrift and glowing eerily, despite sensors reporting the vessel is not really there. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) assembles a boarding party consisting of himself, Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Navigator Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig) in environmental suits, as the life support conditions of the ''Defiant'' are unknown. They discover the entire crew dead, having apparently killed each other. What's worse, the ship appears to be dissolving as McCoy is able to put his hand through a corpse and a table. The dematerializing of the ''Defiant'' is causing the ''Enterprise''s transporter frequencies to be blocked; only three are working and even these are dubious. Kirk orders the landing party back while he remains. The other three barely make it back, but before Kirk himself can be beamed off, the ''Defiant'' disappears altogether, taking the Captain with it. Spock determines that due to the ''Enterprise''s transporter lock, Kirk has been left in the interdimensional rift when the ''Defiant'' phased out, and they can recover him again during the next period of spatial interphase. Spock notes that the Captain has just over three hours of oxygen left in his environmental suit. Meanwhile, Chekov suddenly goes berserk and attacks the bridge personnel. McCoy surmises that the spatial interphase causes psychotic effects in the human brain, and the same murderous hostilities that affected the ''Defiant''s crew will eventually overcome the ''Enterprise'' crew. McCoy strongly suggests that they put some distance between themselves and the ''Defiant'' but Spock refuses, believing any movement from their position could disrupt the delicate fabric of space in their region and jeopardize their chances of finding the Captain. A small vessel of unknown configuration approaches the ''Enterprise''. A crystalline being initiates contact and identifies itself as Commander Loskene of the Tholian Assembly, and demands that the ''Enterprise'' leave their territory immediately. Spock apologizes for their intrusion and explains their situation to Loskene (voiced by Barbara Babcock), asking they be given time to retrieve the Captain. Loskene agrees to give the ''Enterprise'' precisely the 1 hour and 53 minutes Spock had asked for until the next spatial interphase period. The moment comes when the ''Defiant'' should phase in again, and Spock attempts to lock onto the Captain; however the ship is not where she is supposed to be. Spock believes the arrival of the Tholian vessel has somehow disturbed the ''Defiant''s position and they have apparently lost Captain Kirk for good. Before any other action can be taken, the Tholians punctually open fire on the ''Enterprise'' and refuse any attempts at communication. Spock returns fire and disables the Tholian vessel. Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan) reports that the ''Enterprise''s damage coupled with the lack of power means he cannot hold the ''Enterprise'' purely stationary and she might even drift through the rift herself. Meanwhile, another Tholian vessel arrives and begins to form a filament structure between itself and the other ship. This filament thread is spun by either ship around the ''Enterprise'' in a web-like pattern. Spock scans it and learns that it is an energy field that, if activated before the ''Enterprise'' is repaired, means they "will not see home again." After Spock conducts a memorial in the ship's chapel, he and McCoy adjourn to the Captain's quarters where McCoy plays a recording Kirk made for them just if he was ever killed on a mission. The somber recording gives the officers their final orders and some words of advice for their future missions without him; especially when he exhorts them to use their constant arguments and different points of view to support and help each other. After the message is heard, Spock orders the ''Enterprise'' to leave the area. However, in the midst of her private memorial for Kirk in her quarters, Communications Officer Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) notices a ghostly image of the Captain, still in his space suit, and floating inside the ship, speaking and making gestures. McCoy thinks Uhura is beginning to go mad and seeing things and confines her under restraint in Sickbay, but then Scott later reports catching a glimpse of Kirk in engineering. Wondering if they might be about to lose their Chief Engineer, Spock, McCoy and others see a similar apparition floating on the bridge and confirm that Uhura isn't going mad. Although Kirk is trying to tell Spock to leave him and just save the ship, Spock rushes to locate the Captain, but Kirk phases out again before he can get a lock. If indeed the Captain is still alive, his pressure suit's life support would be dangerously low and his time is running out. More reports of Kirk's "ghost" come in from around the ship and Spock tries to lock a tractor beam on him when he appears again. In the meantime, Dr. McCoy has developed a preventative/curative agent for the madness from the phasing effect by using a diluted form of the deadly Klingon nerve agent, Theragen. As the Tholian web is nearing completion, Kirk's image is spotted once more and Spock locks onto him with the tractor beam. Just before the Tholians were able to complete the web, Spock takes a gamble and activates the ship's engines. The ''Enterprise'' briefly drops into the rift, and is hurled 2.72 parsecs away, enabling it to escape the Tholian web. They manage to retrieve Captain Kirk from the rift using the transporter, barely in time, for his oxygen supply was exhausted. Kirk makes a full recovery and is keen on learning what happened aboard his ship while he was "away". He was surprised to learn McCoy and Spock worked well together, and a little disappointed when McCoy claims they didn't have time to open their Captain's "last orders" and his words of wisdom had gone unheard. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Tholian Web」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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