"The Lorelei Signal" is the fourth episode of the first season of the animated American

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series '' Star Trek''. It first aired in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Saturday morning lineup on September 29, 1973, and was written by

Margaret Armen Margaret Alberta Armen (September 9, 1921 – November 10, 2003) was an American screenwriter and author. Biography She was born Margaret Alberta Sampsell in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Commander Thomas Lloyd Sampsell and Florence Neilso ...

,This story was expanded into a novelette by science-fiction author

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghost ...

as part of the collection,
Star Trek Log Two
' (1974) (). author of three ''

Original Series Original programming (also called originals or original programs, and subcategorized as "original series", "original movies", "original documentaries" and "original specials") is a term used for in-house television, film or web series productions ...

'' episodes.Armen wrote ''The Original Series'' episodes " The Gamesters of Triskelion", "

The Paradise Syndrome "The Paradise Syndrome" is the third episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek''. Written by Margaret Armen and directed by Jud Taylor, it was first broadcast October 4, 1968. In the episode, an ...

" and "

The Cloud Minders "The Cloud Minders" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Margaret Armen (based on a story by David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford) and directed by Jud Taylor, i ...

" (teleplay only). Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (voiced by

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

) and the crew of the

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

starship ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

''. In this episode,

Lt. Uhura Nyota Uhura () is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. In the original television series, the character was portrayed by Nichelle Nichols, who reprised the role for the first six ''Star Trek'' feature films. A younger Uhura is ...

(voiced by

Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols (, born Grace Dell Nichols; December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in ''Star Trek'' and its film sequels. Nichols' portrayal of Uhura was g ...

), Nurse Chapel (voiced by

Majel Barrett Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (; born Majel Leigh Hudec;
, ''

starship ''

'' investigates a sector of space where starships have been disappearing every 27.346 years. A compelling musical signal lures the ''Enterprise'' to a remote planet in the Taurean system. The music works on the men of the ''Enterprise'', affecting their judgement and causing them to experience euphoric hallucinations.

Captain Kirk James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the '' Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in '' Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as captain. Kirk lea ...

, First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy, and Lieutenant Carver beam down to the source of the signals. The inhabitants are a race of beautiful women who want to celebrate their arrival. As they indulge in the entertainments the women offer, they find themselves in a lethargic state and rapidly aging. Headbands locked around their foreheads transmit their life-force to the women, who are growing in strength. On board the ''Enterprise'', Communications Officer

talks with Nurse Chapel about the men's condition and concludes that she must take command due to the euphoric state of Chief Engineer Scott. Kirk and his party gather enough strength to escape to a spacious garden and hide inside a tall urn. They realize the pace of their loss of strength correlates with the proximity of the women. Spock, who has not aged as much due to longer Vulcan longevity, agrees to go back to retrieve their communicators; he tells Uhura to send an all-female rescue party. Uhura beams down with Chapel and a female security force. When the native women try to force them to leave, they stun them with their phasers. When Uhura threatens to destroy their temple, the Taurean women explain how they came to be in their current situation; when their people settled on the planet, the planet weakened them, and the women could only survive by draining the men's remaining energy, causing their deaths. The women are now immortal and unaging, but cannot reproduce, and every 27 years must lure males and drain their life forces to stay alive. At Uhura's urging, the Taurean women help them locate the male landing party, who are drowning in the urn due to a rainstorm. The female landing party frees them using their phasers. The aging process is stopped with the removal of the headbands, but they cannot find a treatment to restore their original age. Spock comes up with the idea of using their original transporter patterns from when they first beamed down. Uhura returns to the planet, and witnesses the Taurean leader, Theela, destroying the device that had been luring starships, stating that Uhura should tell Kirk she kept her side of the bargain. Uhura informs them that a ship of women will return to bring them to a habitable world and that the women's bodies should return to normal in a few months. Theela is pleased, preferring a life fully lived to a static immortality.

Production

In addition to her normal role as Nurse Chapel,

Majel Barrett Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (; born Majel Leigh Hudec;
, ''

supplies the voice of security officer Lt. Davison in addition to that of

and

James Doohan James Montgomery Doohan (; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor, author and soldier, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series '' Star Trek''. Doohan's characterization of the Scottis ...

adds the voice of Lt. Carver to his usual role of Chief Engineer Scott. (Doohan also sings part of an old Welsh folk song, "Yr Hufen Melyn" ("The Yellow Cream") as the ''Enterprise'' is seen drifting by the planet, in a segment that lasts over half a minute.) Co-producer

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

recounted that during the

table read The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...

for the episode, "Nichelle icholsyelled happily, 'What you're kidding? I actually get to run the ''Enterprise''? Really?' It broke the whole room up." This is one of three times a woman commands the ''Enterprise'', the other two being in "The Cage" by

Number One Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

, and " Turnabout Intruder" by Dr. Janice Lester.

Reception

In 2015,

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...

listed "The Lorelei Signal" as one of the top 25 episodes from a grouping of ''TOS'' and ''TAS'' together. In 2016, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' rated "The Lorelei Signal" the 91st best episode of all ''Star Trek'' episodes, prior to '' Star Trek: Discovery''. In 2016, SyFy noted this episode as having her third best scene in ''Star Trek'' for Uhura. A 2018 ''Star Trek''

binge-watching Binge-watching (also called binge-viewing) is the practice of watching entertainment or informational content for a prolonged time span, usually a single television show. Statistics Binge-watching overlaps with marathon viewing which places mo ...

guide by ''

'' recommended this episode as part of the "foundations of ''Star Trek''" group.

Notes

References

External links

* * *
"The Lorelei Signal"
a

"The Lorelei Signal"
Full episode for viewing at StarTrek.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorelei Signal, The 1973 American television episodes Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes Single-gender worlds Television episodes directed by Hal Sutherland Television episodes written by Margaret Armen

Production

Reception

See also

Notes

References

External links