Bem (episode)

Ari bn Bem, an erratic observer from the planet Pandro, secretly watches the crew of the USS Enterprise to determine whether the Federation is ready to open diplomatic relations with his advanced species.
== Summary ==
:"Captain's log, stardate 7403.6. The is on a series of exploratory and contact missions. Traveling with us as an independent observer is a member of a recently contacted alien species. Honorary Commander Ari bn Bem is from the planet Pandro in the Garo VII system. We have taken up orbit around Delta Theta III, a newly-discovered class M planet. A previous scouting mission has reported possible aboriginal lifeforms here and the Enterprise is to investigate and report."
In a briefing room, Captain Kirk says to Spock, Montgomery Scott, and Hikaru Sulu, "Sensors report several groupings of aborigines. They may be dangerous so I want all of us to avoid any unnecessary risks. But these monitoring devices have to be planted. Lieutenant Uhura will be tracking us throughout."
Kirk then instructs the landing party, "Now, if there is any trouble of any kind, beam up immediately. Don't try to be a hero." Everyone agrees. Though he has not joined the crew on previous six missions, Bem is now adamant that he be allowed to accompany the landing party. In the transporter room, Kirk is angry that he picked this dangerous mission to tag along, but he allows it. Bem (probably intentionally) sets the transporter controls to beam Kirk and Spock above a body of water on the planet below, so that they fall directly into the water upon materialization. Then, Bem secretly replaces their phasers and communicators with non-functioning fakes. 
On the bridge of the Enterprise, Uhura reports some peculiar activity on the planet. They have been tracking a non-network sensory stasis that is an anomaly resembling a sensor field, but without a scanning grid or other point of reference. Spock thinks something else is on the planet, perhaps something intelligent. Kirk orders continued observation, the ship be put on yellow alert, and to be notified if there is any change.
While walking through the dense terrain, the crew scans for life signs emanating from the forest and Bem immediately runs toward them against direct orders. Kirk orders Scott and Sulu to remain with the equipment while he and Spock take off after Bem. The alien passes through the thick rain forest by splitting into several body parts and floating through the cracks. They later discover that he has been captured by a group of angry food-gathering aborigines, and the food seems to be Bem. 
The Enterprise discovers a force field developing around the small village, but they cannot contact Kirk or Spock. Uhura wants to beam Scott and Sulu back. Scott wants to track the captain and Spock, but Uhura insists that it is not proper procedure and Scott reluctantly agrees to beam back with Sulu. At night, Kirk and Spock attempt to rescue Bem from the natives. Bem tells them that they are interfering with his observation but Kirk doesn't think Starfleet would approve of Bem's methods. Kirk and Spock are also quickly captured. Kirk protests that they always end up in these situations and out of curiosity asks Spock why. Spock tells him, "Fate." Kirk tells Bem that he won't be able to rescue him. Bem says Starfleet told him that Kirk was their best captain but his actions to date belie this. Kirk claims if he had his phasers and communicators they wouldn't be in this situation. Bem explains that he took Starfleet equipment because he dislikes casual violence to accomplish one's goals and wanted to see how the captain could react without such devices. 
Bem escapes by making smaller pieces of his body and returns the devices to Kirk and Spock. Spock remarks, "Fascinating, a colony creature." Kirk puts Bem under arrest for trying to test them. The duo escapes only to be paralyzed by a supernatural force surrounding the area. The entity asks them what gives them the right to interfere with her 'children.' The people of this world are not for their observation. Their weapons will be "nullified" (destroyed). Kirk and Spock are again captured and Kirk says, "There are times, Mr. Spock, when I think I should have been a librarian." Spock observes "The job of librarian would be no less challenging, captain, but it would undoubtedly be a lot less dangerous." Bem tells Kirk he has mishandled the situation again and he judges him not to be an intelligent commander. He has failed everything he has attempted. He wishes Kirk "Luck," and leaves. 
Kirk combines his and Spock's communicators to boost their gain and is able to contact the entity. Kirk apologizes, and tells it they will leave their planet immediately after they locate Bem. The entity will allow them to contact their ship and demands they go now. Kirk calls for a search party to beam down with a Starfleet tricorder to find the reckless Pandronian. Bem is found and he realizes that he has failed in his judgment. Having been found "wanting" or "defective," Bem says that he must now "disassemble" (i.e. die). The entity tells him he will not be killed because people must learn from their errors in order to not repeat them. The crew returns to the ship and Kirk orders a Federation quarantine of the planet. Spock ponders the existence of such a God-like entity and how they are all really children, in relation to the universe. Bem thinks he is still an eggling. The entity contacts the crew of the Enterprise and urges them to go in peace.
== Log entries ==
* Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2270
== Memorable quotes ==
"This one has already set controls, Mr. Scotty."
: - Bem, after handling the transporter console
"Lieutenant Uhura, I'm reading increased activity on the surface of the planet. The sensory anomaly appears to be expanding."
: - Arex 
"How come we always end up like this?"
: - Kirk, after he and Spock have been captured by the natives
"Lieutenant Arex, have you found them yet?"
"No, sir. It is a big planet."
: - Scott and Arex, looking for Kirk, Spock, and Bem
"Is Mr. Spock with the captain?"
"Aye, they both went after Commander Bem."
"Lieutenant Arex, start a sensor scan for Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Landing party, prepare to beam up."
"Lieutenant Uhura, we could track the captain down."
"I'm sorry Mr. Scott, that's not procedure. We can't take chances!"
"We're talking about the captain."
"I know it, but we have to follow his orders. Stand by to beam up."
"Standing by."
: - Uhura and Scott
"Maybe we can beam him out of there. Kirk to Enterprise. Kirk to Enterprise. Kirk to Enterprise. This isn't my communicator!"
"These are not Enterprise communicators."
: - Kirk and Spock, after finding out that Bem switched their communicators with phonies
"Classify?! What gives you the right to intrude here? This planet is not for your use! My children are not for your tests! Your weapons will be nullified."
: - Delta Theta III entity
"Take us out of orbit, Mr. Sulu. Let's go home."
: - Kirk
== Background information ==
=== Title ===
* The title of this episode, "Bem", is an old science fiction term meaning "Bug Eyed Monster." This episode's author, David Gerrold, selected the acronym – during production of – for use as both the title of this episode and an alien featured herein, simply because he believed it would be fun to have an actual Bem in Star Trek, though that wish was not fulfilled for the original series and the character of Bem was never intended to be true to his namesake. (TAS DVD audio commentary)
=== Story and script ===
* As well as writing this episode, David Gerrold also wrote , , and the original premise for . In common with "More Tribbles, More Troubles", "Bem" was originally pitched as for the third season of TOS but was discarded for that series. (TAS DVD audio commentary, et al.)
* The Star Trek offices received an undated story outline on 14 March 1968 for "BEM" from David Gerrold for Star Treks third season. The treatment begins with a four page premise pitching the story as how the Enterprise crew deals with a truly alien non-humanoid crewmember, concluding: "On Earth today, prejudice is an emotional reaction – and we try to defeat it by showing that it is illogical (as well as immoral.) But what if Spock were able to show a logical reason for being prejudiced – what then would be the answer? Emotion?" The next sixteen pages sketch out a thin story concerning how "specialist in sub-space mechanics and astro-technology" Bem comes around the Enterprise to assist on a mission to observe the star Zeta Omicron, which is about to go nova. Bem himself is described as being "of the race of Schlossers", creatures who have developed symbiotic relationships with other creatures, so much so that their graspers (hands) and walkers (feet) can detach for periods of time and act independently. The teaser ends with Bem shaking hands with Kirk, and playing a joke by detaching the grasper so that Kirk is left holding the hand, establishing the alien is a practical joker. The rest of the story concerns itself with Bem impeding the mission through his practical jokes, particularly targeted at Spock, only to save the Vulcan at the climax. In the end it is revealed that Spock and Bem have come to an understanding, Spock revealing, "on the planet Schloss, the only way to stop a practical joker is to out-joke him", whereupon Bem cries, "He gave me a hot-foot!" to which Spock replies, "It seemed the logical thing to do."
* On 3 April 1968, Roddenberry issued a memo in which he proposed "an alternative to Bob's [Justman] suggestion about cutting off the story after a rewrite," that it might be worth considering putting Gerrold together "with a good practical TV writer and letting the two of them author the script." He further suggested Freiberger review Gerrold's first draft of and "assess for yourself whether or not you think he could handle the assignment alone, or in tandem, going either way."
* On 15 April 1968, the Star Trek offices received a "second try" outline from Gerrold dated April 4th. In this version only the Bem character – whose name is given as Hari Bem – and his personality and physical makeup remain the same. His speech is rather Yoda-like, with dialog like, "stand please and beam you down I will." The story is entirely changed and concerns Bem tricking the Enterprise crew into believing Kirk and Spock to be dead so that the starship leaves the planet they are visiting. Bem taunts Kirk and Spock into following him, and the two officers are eventually captured by the "cave-men" they were supposedly there to study. Kirk teaches the cave-men to cooperate to make tools to get food, but then is horrified when some of them brandish the tools as weapons. Eventually, Kirk and Spock manage to ambush and capture both of Bem's detached "grabbers", forcing him to surrender just as the Enterprise returns after figuring out they’ve been deceived. Bem explains that he is a psycho-sociologist conducting a two-fold test to a) see how much it will take to strip the veneer of civilization of an Earthman and reveal the savage underneath and b) study the natives on the planet in order to understand the dividing line between civilization and savagery. The Enterprise departs, with Kirk musing if they've left the natives with tools or a weapon. The treatment ends with the suggestion that a final scene might show the cave-men cooperating and using the tool Kirk showed them in order to get food.
* Gene Roddenberry issued a memo on 17 April 1968 to Fred Freiberger in which he indicated he liked the broad strokes of the story, but added that "What the story lacks is jeopardy, suspense, action, built-in climax, and so on," and went on to detail elements that require fleshing out before concluding, "Recommend we ask Arthur Singer to rewrite this into a professional action-adventure outline, hopefully finding a theme or premise for it." The story appears to have been cut off after this point.
* The episode underwent further development during the first season of , when associate producer and story editor Dorothy "D.C." Fontana worked on the narrative with David Gerrold. (TAS DVD audio commentary) This was immediately after Gerrold finished working on the script for the animated version of "More Tribbles, More Troubles". ("More Tribbles, More Troubles" audio commentary) He later commented, "I had the 'Bem' outline, and Dorothy Fontana [...] said, 'What else have you got?' And I said, 'Well, I've got this one, "Bem"." (TAS DVD audio commentary) Fontana herself remarked, "He came back and said, 'We could do it in animation now.' And that was true." () In collaboration, Gerrold and Fontana proceeded to develop both the story outline and the script for the episode. (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* One day at the Filmation offices, Dorothy Fontana and David Gerrold were having a meeting about the episode when Fontana asked Gerrold to meet with a group of fans who were visiting the halls at Filmation. Though he did so, Gerrold's thoughts were fixed on this outing. "I was just really a little bit distracted because I wanted to get home and get to work on the script we had just had the meeting on," he reminisced. ("More Tribbles, More Troubles" audio commentary)
* Gene Roddenberry made several additions to this episode as, on each of many occasions when he had a meeting with David Gerrold, he made numerous suggestions about the story, to the point where the episode's writer kept wondering how to make the ideas work. (TAS DVD audio commentary; ) Gerrold explained, "Gene kept saying, 'Change this, change this, change this." () The narrative's writer also recalled of Roddenberry, "His notes on 'BEM' were very confusing and he added elements that I felt pulled the story way off its original premise." 
* One of these elements was the God-like entity that features in this version of the episode. (TAS DVD audio commentary; ) After Gene Roddenberry suggested the finding of God on the episode's planet, David Gerrold inwardly groaned, having a gut level reaction that the same plot element had been used by Roddenberry countless times before. (; TAS DVD audio commentary) Recalled Gerrold, "My gut level was, 'Haven't we done that one enough?' But Gene liked it, and I said, 'Well, let me see what I can do with it." (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* Essentially stuck with the character concept of a god-like entity, David Gerrold tried to make it fit naturally into the plot. "Once I decided I was going to do it, once I took it on, I chose to make it a logical part of the story," he reflected. The addition of the deity meant that the main characters had to solve their predicament with their wits rather than violence, a theme that Gerrold had already been wanting to use. (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* Generally, David Gerrold delighted in laboring over the teleplay. "I worked my butt off on the script," he said. "I didn't have a big problem with it." () Additionally, Gerrold related that the episode was "a lot of fun" to work on and that he enjoyed writing the scenes with Kirk and Spock as well as the interactions between them and Bem, appreciating the opportunity to write little humorous lines for those characters. One of the jokes that Gerrold wrote was Spock's line, "Captain, I'm only a Vulcan," which Gerrold based on the clichéd expression, "I'm only Human." He was also aware of the episode presenting an opportunity to give the main characters some more humility for subsequent episodes. (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* The TAS script of "Bem", which David Gerrold submitted to D.C. Fontana, contained about thirty pages. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three, "Waiting for the Ax") The first draft script for "Bem" included twenty-nine pages, and was dated . As had happened with the story during the original series, however, the episode was again rejected. (; TAS DVD audio commentary) Gerrold explained, "It turned out to be an extra script. They didn't need it." Dorothy Fontana had bought the teleplay as the seventeenth script of the series, although the first season had only sixteen installments, so this episode was not produced at that time. (TAS DVD audio commentary) Gerrold expressed that another reason why the episode was postponed was "because Dorothy wasn't that fond of the script, and neither was I." Gerrold's dissatisfaction with the plot was precisely due to Gene Roddenberry's frequent alterations to the story. The episode's writer explained, "I agreed with [Fontana] to some degree that 'Bem' really was not a strong episode because we had been pulled so far off the original conception of it." ()
* Although discarded for the first season, this episode was ultimately picked up by Filmation (along with other Season 1 rejects) for the second season, after Dorothy Fontana left the series. Concluded Gerrold, "They grabbed this one, 'cause it was already paid for. And so that's how it ended up second season." (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* David Gerrold analyzed the plot threads in this installment and the questions that the episode asks: "There are two stories in this episode. One, of course, is Bem, who's testing Kirk and Spock, and the second is the action down on the planet – these lizard-people and the God, the alien intelligence who is protecting them – and that's the action story [...] Bem represents the philosophical dilemma. Are our characters going to behave like the good guys? And the lizard people who've captured them represent the action dilemma. And how does our behavior relate to our core beliefs that we are the good guys and we are not gonna interfere with primitive peoples?" (TAS DVD audio commentary)
=== Cast ===
* Since Nichelle Nichols had always been eager to perform more than her usual actions as Uhura and because she was very popular with Star Trek fans, David Gerrold (who likewise had a long-held fondness for the actress) felt that she should play the character of the deity in this episode. Gerrold related, "After all these years of doing these Star Trek conventions – we'd done two or three separate conventions – and seeing her in front of the audience and seeing how much the audience loved her and knowing that the audience just wanted to see more of her, I said, 'Look, let's have Nichelle do the voice of the god-creature here' [....] I was very excited to see her do the voice of the alien intelligence." (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* Ultimately, David Gerrold was very pleased with Nichelle Nichols' performances in this outing, feeling that she was the episode's "saving grace". () "She was perfect because, if you listen to her, what she brings is such a marvelous quality [....] Where she's doing Uhura, she has this strength that we hardly ever got to see in the live action show. And then, as this god character she has this command over everything," Gerrold raved. "And I think this script demonstrates Nichelle's range, that she can do a lot of different things that she never got to do on the live action show." (TAS DVD audio commentary) The writer additionally observed, "She shows her range. She gets to show Uhura being a very strong voice on the bridge, but then she does the voice of the alien intelligence and there she's a whole different character. And the range there is spectacular." ("Drawn to the Final Frontier - The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series", TAS DVD)
* Nichelle Nichols was not the only cast member whose vocal work on this episode impressed David Gerrold, he enthusing, "Leonard [Nimoy] and Bill [Shatner] did a great job." ()
=== Production ===
* Bem's vaguely humanoid appearance as realized by Filmation differs completely from his description as suggested in the two story outlines submitted in 1968. In the first outline Gerrold included several pages of sketches to suggest how a Bem costume might look and be constructed. This Bem is distinctly non-humanoid, with comically large hands and feet, no head, perhaps a single eye, a "stalk" featuring a top-knot atop his plump body which is covered by large floppy scales or something feather-like.
* David Gerrold suspected that, if this episode had been done for the original Star Trek series, its production would have been difficult. "The effects for 'Bem' probably would have been tricky," he speculated. He was also of the opinion that one of the potentially problematic aspects, the design for the multi-part character of Bem, was made easier with animation. "[In] The Animated Series, we didn't have to worry about building a costume or finding the actors," related Gerrold. "The animators just had Bem split apart into as many different pieces as they needed." ("Drawn to the Final Frontier - The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series", TAS DVD) D.C. Fontana likewise noted about the episode, "It was easy [to produce] with animation." (Star Trek Vault: 40 Years From The Archives, p. 32)
* The appearance of the deity was another facet of the episode that was relatively easy to produce, as David Gerrold explained. "It was also an easy way to animate. It was just... Do an overlay." (TAS DVD audio commentary)
* David Gerrold reckoned that, although doubtful, the security officers in the landing party that appears towards the end of this episode may have been based on the look of behind-the-scenes personnel. "I don't think any of these crew members were designed to look like anybody in specific," he said of the security team, "but they could have been designed to look like animators or even folks at Filmation." (TAS DVD audio commentary)
=== Continuity ===
* This was the first episode that revealed Kirk's middle name, Tiberius. During TOS, it was not revealed what his middle initial, "T," stood for, however, the full name of the main character in Gene Roddenberry's 1964 series The Lieutenant was William Tiberius Rice, and the name likely originated there. David Gerrold later claimed to have devised Kirk's middle name, recollecting, "I got the name from a book I'd read about the history of torture." The name's inclusion in this installment was prompted by an incident that occurred at a 1973 Star Trek convention that he and Dorothy Fontana attended. "Somebody asked 'What does the T in James T. Kirk stand for?" recounted Gerrold. "And without really thinking, I said 'Tiberius." At the time, he said the name as a joke, influenced by the fact that I, Claudius had recently aired on PBS. (The veracity of this claim is questionable, however, as the first episode of "I, Claudius" was not broadcast until 20 September 1976.) Decades later, he remarked, "It got a big laugh and it became a running gag." When Gerrold was developing this episode for the animated series' first season, he made the decision to write the name into the episode and Fontana passed it by Gene Roddenberry. Gerrold later remembered how Roddenberry had responded; "He said, 'Sure, let's go ahead." The name stuck and was mentioned again not only in Roddenberry's introduction to his novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture but in (thus making it "canon").
* The type 1 phasers are shown to have a thumb trigger in a closeup shot, but this is inconsistent with their function in other appearances.
* This is the second episode where Lt. Uhura takes command of the Enterprise, following the events of .
* This is also the first of two consecutive episodes that feature the concept of a practical joker aboard the Enterprise; the same concept appears in the next installment, .
* As David Gerrold notes in this episode's audio commentary, this installment's conclusion is thematically similar to .
=== Reception ===
* David Gerrold was ultimately highly satisfied with this installment. "It's not a bad script [....] The mechanics of this show, structurally the plot, beat for beat, the mechanics of the storytelling, work very nicely for me," Gerrold enthused. "It's just a, 'Here's your beginning, here's how you complicate the issue, and here's how you resolve it.' So, it's a very straightforward bit of storytelling [....] In a sense, I like this one more than 'More Tribbles, More Troubles' because it was a chance to do a Star Trek episode where we get to go out, meet new life forms, meet new civilizations, meet new people and make friends with them. And to me, that's always the best Star Trek story, is what they say at the beginning, 'To seek out new life and new civilizations." Additionally, Gerrold particularly liked the line of dialogue wherein Spock admits to being "only" a Vulcan, referring to it as "one of my favorite little jokes." Not only was Gerrold appreciative of Nichelle Nichols' work on this episode but he also liked the general effect of the godly entity, commenting that he found it "a very nice way to represent a deity." (TAS DVD audio commentary) In a interview, Gerrold remarked on the fact that his enthusiasm for the episode had withstood the changes that Gene Roddenberry had made to the script, stating, "When all is said and done, I looked at the episode again recently and thought, 'Well, it turned out better than I thought.' So I don't have a lot of complaints." One complaint that Gerrold did have was about some of the animation. "The thing I disliked most was that they had the two parts of Bem's body floating around," the writer stated. ()
* D.C. Fontana has repeatedly cited this as one of her favorite installments of the animated Star Trek (along with , , , and ). (; ) In a video interview for StarTrek.com, Fontana also remarked that she believed this outing, in common with "More Tribbles, More Troubles", "very much got across the Star Trek feeling and mode." 
* According to Russell Bates, David Gerrold warned him, at one point, that this episode would be the series finale for Star Trek: The Animated Series, ending the series before – an installment that Bates co-wrote – had a chance to be broadcast. "David Gerrold upset me and my co-writer by saying [that]," Bates stated. 
* The editors of Trek magazine collectively scored this episode 2 out of 5 stars (a rating that they termed "fair"). (The Best of Trek #1, p. 111)
* In The Star Trek Files magazine, John Peel critiqued, "Whilst there were far worse stories in this season, it's hard to find one that is handled in a more dumb fashion than this." Peel went on to express considerable puzzlement as to how Bem was intended to be able to function as an intelligent lifeform, capable of such actions as speaking and eating. "The whole plot is obscured by the impracticality of the main character. It's a novel idea, but just thrashily handled. The rest of the tale is nothing new. Intelligent cloud is raising natives, and throws Humans off its world. It's like everything else the live-action series did with mind-bogglingly powerful disincarnate entities and primitive societies. There's nothing fresh here, except Nichelle Nichols voicing the part instead of James Doohan or Vic Perrin. Though the episode isn't as appalling as some, it finally remains just a whole waste of time." (The Star Trek Files: The Animated Voyages End, pp. 37-39)
* In the unofficial reference book Trek Navigator: The Ultimate Guide to the Entire Trek Saga (p. 19), co-writers Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross both individually rate this episode 3 out of 4 stars (defined as "good").
* In the "Ultimate Guide" in , this episode was rated 1 out of 5 Starfleet arrowhead insignia.
=== Video and DVD releases ===
* UK VHS release (CIC Video): Volume 6, catalog number VHR 2540, 
* As part of the The Animated Series DVD collection
* As part of the The Animated Series Blu-ray collection
== Links and references ==
=== Starring the voices of===
* William Shatner as Capt. Kirk
* Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
;And
* DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy (credit only)
=== Also starring the voices of===
* Nichelle Nichols as
** Uhura
** Alien entity
* James Doohan as
** Scott
** Ari bn Bem
** Arex
=== Background characters ===
* Sulu
* Kyle
* M'Ress
* Six members of a Delta Theta III aborigine food-gathering party
* Twelve Delta Theta III aborigines
* Three Enterprise security squad members
** Security lieutenant
** Security crewman 1
** Security crewman 2
=== References ===
ability; aborigine (native); affection; age; alien entity; alien intelligence; anger; answer; arrest; attention; attitude; audio; belt; bribe; Brownian movement; case; chance; channel; children; class M; colony creature; concept; communicator; contact mission; contact team; cooperation; coordinates; curiosity; detection device; Delta Theta III; Delta Theta III aborigine; Delta Theta III star; Delta Theta III system; Delta Theta III village; diplomatic relations; district; Earth; eggling; electrical storm; embarrassment; ; experimental animal; exploratory mission; fake (forgery or phony); fate; Federation; Federation scout vessel; fleet; food; food-gathering party; Garo VII system; geology; goal; god; heavy duty tricorder; hero; home; honorary commander; identification; "in comparison"; independent observer; inferior species; intelligence; intention; interference; job; joyride; ; kilometer; laboratory; landing party; landing site; language; learning; librarian; life (lifeform); Loch Ness monster; logic; luck; message; mission; "Mister Scotty"; model prisoner; monitoring device; mores; non-network sensory stasis; northern continent; observation; observer; orbit; order; Pandro; Pandronian; paralysis; patience; peace; phaser; phaser rifle; phenomenon; place; pleasure excursion; point of reference; Prime Directive; problem; protective custody; protection; punishment; quarantine; quarters; rain forest; representative; rescue; responder; result; revenge; rhetorical question; right; risk; scanning grid; scouting mission; security squad; sensor; sensor scan; sensor field; sensory anomaly; shame; social structure; species; squad; Starfleet; stasis field; suicide; surface; term; "that tears it"; thing; thousand; tradition; transporter; transporter crew; value; violence; Vulcan; Vulcan nerve pinch; weapon; ; wisdom; word; yellow alert
=== External links ===
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de:Gefährliche Prüfung
es:Bem
fr:Bem (épisode)
it:Il comandante Bem (episodio)
nl:Bem
Category:TAS episodes