The Cloud Minders
Statos is a city based in the clouds, dedicated to the pursuit of intellect. Yet their riches are wrought at the expense of mistreated miners on the surface.
Class warfare! It was bound to come up at some point. It seems an odd situation for the Enterprise to have to deal with, but the Federation is devoted to fairness and equality. It's realistic to expect leaders on both sides to be stubborn and narrow-minded, to the point where Kirk's only solution is to trap them in a cave. Vanna is a strong character, desparate and determined but not without wisdom. Droxine is her foil, listless and content but able to see the flaws in her society, with a little help. The cloud city is a nice science fiction venue, but not visualized too well after the initial matte paintings. This is one of the more optomistic and authenticallyStar Trek episodes, since a positive solution is found (though with Kirk it's always found through extreme methods) and the characters, regular and guest, are thinking in new ways.
Spock Saves the Day: Kirk and McCoy are the heroes here; the Vulcan's thoughts are . . . otherwise engaged.
Oops: In Amok Time, Spock's most trusted friend must pry information on the pon farr out of him, while here, the Vulcan casually hands it out to a curious alien babe. Nimoy wasn't pleased.
Developments: Spock flirting?! Seems to be. No spores, diseases, or cyclical biological functions at work? Definitely weird.