...and we're back, with "The Lorelei Signal". The Enterprise checks out a mysterious area where ships keep disappearing. A signal turns out to be singing. It's the old "sirens" bit--all the men are enthralled, and start seeing what they want to see. They beam down to the planet, where a race of Barbies take them prisoner--but what a prison! Headbands drain the men of their life-energy. Uhura is forced to take over the ship, since the women are unaffected.
The now feeble men try to escape the planet. A team of female crewman/models beam down. They find an ancient Spock, and the other men are trapped in a huge vase with rain about to drown them (don't ask). Spock tells Chapel how to stop the Sirens, and Uhura gets the Siren leader to tell them the backstory. Uhura and the girls save the men. The transporter is used to replace the men's bodies with a backup copy in the transporter memory. (This brings up a real issue--if someone dies, can't they just whip up a new body via the transporter?)
Uhura does a great job as temporary captain. Of course, she ruins it with "You're more handsome than ever" when seeing Kirk saved via transporter.
Some things to look for:
- Two crewman in a hallway unconcerned about a Yellow Alert. Perhaps it happens so often the crew ignores them, like when the the fire alarm goes off when popcorn is burnt in the office microwave?
- Goofy smiles on the enthralled men--even on Spock
- A lot of the same faces on the sirens--must have been easy for the animators to copy and paste
- The Siren's entertainment involves diamond juggling
- The use of only two female voice actors on the show becomes really apparent here
- A musical performance by Scotty
- The architecture of the Siren's planet reminds me of the later He-Man series from Filmation. The studio reused animation as much as they could, so it's not out of the question.
Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!