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140			     THE THOLIAN WEB
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WRITER: Judy Burns and Chet Richards

GUESTS: None

AIRED:	November 15, 1968

HACK-MAN rating: .445
Usenet rating:   .632

QUOTES:
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"Space itself is breaking up." --???


			     THE THOLIAN WEB

PLOT:
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The Enterprise is sent to investigate the disappearance of  he USS Defiant,
which has been missing for three weeks.  The Defiant is found  adrift in an
unexplored quardant  of  space,  trapped  between  universes,  and her crew
murdered each other because of the rip in space.   Kirk,  Spock, McCoy, and
Chekov beam to the fading ship in space suits.  The transporter is weak, so
all but Kirk beam back, trapping Kirk in hyperspace.

Meanwhile, the  Tholians  arrive (at  velocity 0.15c)  and ask  the crew to
leave their territory.   Spock,  in command,  says they  are rescuing their
captain from a rip in space, and that they will leave in 132  minutes.  The
Tholian ship disturbed the space, however, causing Kirk not to fade back in
at the appropriate time.


The Tholians,  known  for their  punctuality (even  though they  are a race
unknown to the Federation), fire upon the Enterprise.  Spock shoots back in
self-defense (since they closed off communications).   Another Tholian ship
arrives and the two very slowly put up a web-like force  field.  Meanwhile,
the crew  of  the  Enterprise  is  becoming  murderous (due  to the strange
physical properties  of the  area surrounding  the rift),  McCoy is flaming
about Spock wanting command of the Enterprise.

Spock declares Kirk dead.  Kirk appears in Uhura's  mirror, in engineering,
then on the bridge.  Spock zooms out 2.72 parsecs (with Kirk (almost out of
oxygen) in the  transporter beam  apparently -  I'll bet  his stomach loved
that).  Spock and McCoy both LIE to Kirk and say that they didn't listen to
his last  orders.    Spock says  there are  (not "there  might be") several
universes in parallel.

FACTS:
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 - Won an Emmy for "Best Special Effects".
 - Nominated   for   "Special   Classification  of  Outstanding  Individual
   Achievement" Emmy in 68-69 (Special Photographic Effects)  (Van Der Veer
   Photo  Effects,  Howard A. Anderson Company, The Westheimer Company, and
   Cinema Research).
 - The name  of the  Tholian  commander  who first  attacks the  Enterprise
   after Kirk is lost is Commander Loskene.
 - Spock  has  personality  problems  when  in  command  (see also "Galileo
   Seven").

OPINIONS:
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The plot dragged a bit (a la Twilight Zone), but was enjoyable.