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#33: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 1, episode 24 "This Side of Paradise"
Written by D.C. Fontana & Nathan Butler, directed by Ralph Senensky.
Stardates 3417.3 through 3417.7 (December 2267)
"We've done nothing here. No accomplishments. No progress. Three years wasted." - Elias Sandoval
The Enterprise reluctantly arrives at Omicron Ceti III with the expectation to find all the colonists dead after it's found that the colony planet is being bombarded by Berthold rays - radiation that is deadly to humans and many other forms of life after only a week's exposure. Captain Kirk and a landing party beam down to assess the situation. To their bewilderment, they find all the colonists alive and in perfect health running their township without any technology or mechanical equipment. But the more they examine this little slice of paradise, in addition to not being able to figure out why everyone is still alive after three years, the more things don't add up.
Originally released: 2 March 1967
"This Side of Paradise" on Memory Alpha
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What did you think?
Chronologically, this is the last episode of the first season.
A lot of good stuff here, Leonard Nimoy getting to be goofy being the best part. But his somber performance at the end is just as good. Realizing he had never been (and probably never would again be) happy and acknowledging he has a second name.
The most eye-rolly part of this is how negative human emotions, once again, save the galaxy from a parasitic force. Lucky the galaxy has technologically-advanced apes running around shaking up the status quo.