Stardate 3219.4: Taking Federation Commissioner Hedford back to the Enterprise’s sick bay so McCoy can treat her for a potentially dangerous but curable ailment, the shuttlecraft containing Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Hedford is diverted by a strange energy field to a barren planet, inhabited only by Cochrane, who invented the basis for current warp engine technology decades ago and should be dead by now. Cochrane reveals, however, that an energy creature called the Companion has halted his aging process. The Companion is also concerned about Cochrane’s psychological well-being, and Kirk and the others have been brought to keep Cochrane company – possibly for the rest of their lives.
written by Gene L. Coon
directed by Ralph Serensky
music by George DuningCast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Glenn Corbett (Zefram Cochrane), Elinor Donahue (Nancy Hedford)
Notes: Zefram Cochrane’s origins are explored further in Star Trek: First Contact, where it is discovered that he also encountered the crew of a later starship Enterprise. Somewhat inexplicably, though perhaps it can be attributed to the Companion’s regenerative effects, that version of Cochrane is played by James Cromwell, who reprises the role in the premiere episode of the Star Trek prequel, Enterprise.
LogBook entry by Earl Green