Assignment: Earth

"Assignment: Earth" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast on March 29, 1968 as the last episode in the second season. It is episode #55, written by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace, and directed by Marc Daniels.

Quick Overview: Time warping back to Earth of the 1960's, the crew of the Enterprise encounters an intergalatic superspy, who tries to interfere with 20th Century events.

This episode served double duty, not only as an episode of Star Trek, but as a pilot for a proposed spin-off television series, that would have been produced by Roddenberry, under the same name, "Assignment: Earth". The show would feature actor Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, a futuristic "James Bond", as the lead character. The episode stars Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln, who would have been a co-star in the series, had it continued on its own.

It is also the only episode of Star Trek in which time travel is treated as "routine", which utilizes the solar "slingshot" time warp effect first seen in The Original Series episode Tomorrow is Yesterday and in the motion picture, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

There is no stardate given in this episode.

Using a gravitational slingshot effect around the sun, the starship USS Enterprise time warps back to Earth of the 1960's for a historical research mission. The ship orbits Earth at an extreme distance to avoid detection by the tracking devices of the time. Suddenly, the Enterprise detects a highly powerful transporter beam originating from a 1000 light years away. Captain Kirk has the transporter room intercept the beam and have whoever is traveling with it, sent directly to ship.

A being materializes on the transporter pad, who appears as a human dressed in a business suit. He carries a black cat with a diamond collar in one arm, and holds a briefcase with the other. He converses with his cat, Isis, then introduces himself to Captain Kirk as Agent Gary Seven.

Seven informs Kirk that he is an Earth human, but from another, far more advanced world. He is one of a number of agents sworn to protect Earth, who are descended from humans who were taken into space over 6000 years ago. Seven refuses to divulge the location of his home planet and warns Kirk that Earth will be destroyed by an event in the near future if he is not released immediately.

Kirk demands more proof, but Seven says no more. Kirk tries to have him taken into custody, but Seven is able to resist attempts to subdue him, even shrugging off Mr. Spock's nerve pinch. When Seven tries to beam himself down to the planet, Kirk stuns him with a phaser.

Kirk has Seven carted away and asks Spock to search the historic database for any critical events that transpire within the next few days. Spock finds that the United States will test launch a new rocket from a nuclear weapons platform at McKinley Air Force Base. The launch is scheduled to take place within a few hours and the event may be the key factor for Seven's arrival.

Meanwhile, Seven comes to, and finds himself in a holding cell. He withdraws a pen from his pocket and uses the gadget to short out the containment field and disable the guard. The escape sets off alarms, but Seven, with his cat, easily make their way to the transporter room, disable the technicians, and beam down to their destination. Kirk and Spock have no choice but to follow them.

Seven makes his way to an office where he activates a sophisticated computer mounted in a wall. The computer reports that two other agents "201" and "347", assigned to stop the missile launch, have failed to report back for three days. With only an hour remaining until the launch, Seven decides to intercept the missile himself.

Just then, a pretty young girl arrives at Seven's office and he mistakes her for one of his missing agents. He tells her his plans to detonate the rocket somewhere over Asia to frighten enemy governments who may consider producing nuclear weapons. His computer then butts in and identifies her as Roberta Lincoln, the other agents' secretary.

Seven realizes his blunder in informing Roberta about the mission, who should not have been told what was happening. Roberta has always wondered what kind of men she had been working for and Seven has accidently revealed critical information to her. Trying to fix things, Seven informs Roberta he secretly works for the government. Roberta however, just came to inform him that his men have died in a car accident.

Kirk and Spock arrive at Seven's office, dressed in mid-20th Century clothing, and Seven has Roberta stall them while he goes to his giant walk-in safe. The vault really contains a secret transporter. As Kirk tries to phaser his way through the door, Seven walks into a blue mist and arrives at the base. He uses a fake base ID to gain access to the rocket control room and "freezes" anyone who tries to stop him. He soon locates a circuit panel and begins to rewire the systems.

Kirk and Spock return to the Enterprise to try and locate Seven, meanwhile Roberta noses around Seven's office and starts to mess with the controls of the transporter. Back in space, Mr.Scott finds the location of Gary Seven, and Kirk orders him to beam them to the agent's position. At the same time, Roberta activates the transporter and beams Seven back to his office right at the moment Kirk and Spock arrive.

Seven is furious, but has no time to argue and quickly checks his computer. The computer informs him that he can still control the rocket after launch, even though he hadn't finished his work. Seven then sends a launch command to the missile which takes off as Roberta phones the police. Seven turns and destroys the phone with his gadget pen, but Roberta manages to grab it from him. She points it at him and threatens to zap him if he doesn't surrender. Seven tries to explain that he has no time for games and that the missile is headed to its target.

Meanwhile at the launch site, Kirk and Spock are caught by base security, but Scotty beams them away before they are arrested, and returns them to Seven's office. Kirk takes the gadget pen away from Roberta and confronts Seven who explains his plan to Kirk. He informs them that he can destroy the missile at a safe distance and Kirk allows him to proceed. Spock confirms this to be the correct decision as recorded in the history database.

While the three men discuss what has transpired, Roberta notices Isis has morphed into a sexy woman in a leather cat suit. Seven decides to keep the mischievous Roberta "employed" as his assistant for any future missions, which she considers working with Seven as very intriguing.

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