The Deadly Years (Episode)
| Series | Star Trek |
| Season | 2 |
| Episode | 12 |
| Production Number | 40 |
| Release Date | 8 Dec 1967 |
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Stardate 3478.2: Accelerated aging affects the senior officers and threatens Kirk’s ability to lead.
While visiting planet Gamma Hydra IV on a routine mission, an Enterprise landing party consisting of Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Chekov, and Lieutenant Arlene Galway are exposed to a strange disease. The illness, radiation poisoning caused by exposure to a comet, causes greatly accelerated aging. Robert Johnson, age 29, and his wife Elaine, age 27, have been transformed almost overnight into aged individuals whom McCoy is powerless to save. The entire landing party, with the exception of Chekov, begins to age rapidly as McCoy desperately searches for a cure. Kirk becomes forgetful, McCoy irritable — and Lieutenant Galway, possessed of an extraordinarily high metabolic rate, dies. Dr. Janet Wallace, an old friend of Kirk's, aids the researchers. Commodore George Stocker, aboard the Enterprise en route to his new command at Starbase 10, orders Spock to convene an extraordinary competency hearing. The Vulcan does so reluctantly, and after Kirk's weaknesses are exposed, Stocker assumes command. He heads the starship toward Starbase 10 — straight into the Romulan Neutral Zone. With the Enterprise surrounded, McCoy discovers the antidote — adrenaline — in time to enable the restored Kirk to save the day with the tried-and-proven "corbomite" bluff.
Writer
David P. Harmon
Director
Joseph Pevney
Starring
William Shatner … Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy
Also Starring
James Doohan … Scott
George Takei … Sulu
Nichelle Nichols … Uhura
Walter Koenig … Chekov
Guest Starring
Majel Barrett … Nurse Christine Chapel
Felix Locher … Robert Johnson
Laura Wood … Elaine Johnson
Charles Drake … Commodore George Stocker
Sarah Marshall … Dr. Janet Wallace
Beverly Washburn … Lieutenant Arlene Galway
Carolyn Nelson … Yeoman Doris Atkins
