written by Max Ehrlich
STORY OUTLINE, dated May 4, 1967
report & analysis by David Eversole

The plot of this paradise lost tale changed very little from the outline to scripting stage.

Some differences:

· The Teaser has the Enterprise encountering a forcefield protecting the planet Delta Milo 6 at 6,000 miles from the planet’s surface. Kirk orders the ship out to a distance of 10,000 miles, and the forcefield disappears. The landing party (Sulu is included with the others) then beams down to what they think is an uninhabited planet.

· There are no poison dart plants, exploding rocks or even Security officers present in the outline.

· Scotty calls the landing party, tells them that the forcefield has reappeared at 10,000 miles out. Kirk has him attempt to beam Yeoman Landon up, to no avail.

· The Enterprise is not being pulled into the planet’s atmosphere.

· Sulu finds a humanoid footprint, and soon thereafter Akuta meets the landing party willingly.

· Vaal is a large square building. The Polynesian-like natives enter a door which opens daily to oil the machinery, throw certain switches, etc., in order to keep the machine functioning smoothly.

· Kirk and crew, using their phasers, cut down trees and construct a holding pen to imprison the natives so they cannot enter and oil Vaal. Vaal shrieks to a halt, is destroyed.

MAX EHRLICH (1909-1983): Novelist and television writer, perhaps best known for his 1975 novel The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and its subsequent script which was produced in 1975 as a theatrical movie starring Michael Sarrazin). Other novels include The Big Eye (1949) and Reincarnation in Venice (1979). He wrote for television from 1950 until 1975. Series he contributed scripts to include The Untouchables, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Wild Wild West. "The Apple" was his only sale to Star Trek.

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