From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: jphalt@gmail.com   
   Subject: The Terratin Incident (TAS): my review   
      
   THE TERRATIN INCIDENT: PLOT   
   The Enterprise receives an outdated radio signal with only one decipherable   
   word: "Terratin." They follow the message to its origin source - a planet with   
   substantial volcanic activity, whose surface is dotted with crystals and   
   satellite dishes. No sooner have they entered the planet's orbit than the ship   
   is hit by a strange beam that affects all organic matter. The crew is now   
   shrinking steadily - and if something isn't done soon, they will soon become   
   too small to retain control of the Enterprise!   
   CHARACTERS   
   Not much of interest here, though it's worth noting that the crew largely   
   sympathizes with the Terratin people once they learn why they affected the   
   Enterprise. Kirk gets a nicely ruthless bit in which he locks the ship's   
   phasers on the Terratin city and threatens to destroy them if they don't   
   respond. Otherwise, the characters are just pushing the plot through its   
   somewhat labored paces.   
   THOUGHTS   
   More Idiot Plotting in this installment. Kirk discovers that using the   
   transporter returns him to normal size. So he immediately orders all crew   
   members to go to the transporter room... No, wait. He tromps around the ship   
   for several minutes, threatens the Terratins (who have somehow kidnapped his   
   bridge crew in the meantime), reaches an agreement with them, and then bothers   
   returning his crew to normal size. On top of all that, before Kirk beams down,   
   it's mentioned that since the transporter stores their biological information   
   as it should be, then it might restore Kirk to normal size. Um, great - So why   
   wasn't that tried a bit earlier?   
   In fact, nothing is actually attempted in terms of solving the shrinking   
   problem. They stand around and debate the situation, with Spock giving them a   
   running countdown until they'll be unable to use the ship's controls. Then   
   there's a bit of forced suspense with Nurse Chapel falling into a fish   
   tank(!), before Kirk finally beams down. The characters never even seem   
   terribly concerned about their predicament.   
   A pointless predicament, by the way. The ending reveals that the shrink ray   
   was the Terratins' way of shrinking the Enterprise crew down to size so that   
   they could communicate with them. We discover this when... a normal-sized Kirk   
   hails the Terratin city and gets a response, allowing Kirk and the Terratins   
   directly communicate with each other. I guess just contacting the Enterprise   
   in the first place - something they're clearly capable of doing - would have   
   been too much trouble.   
   Alternately padded and rushed, with so much Idiot Plotting that Cletus could   
   probably write a better script, The Terratin Incident is another stinker in a   
   series that has had a few too many of these already. It's clear that when the   
   animated series is good, it's very good... but that a disappointingly large   
   portion of its scripts were dashed off in a hurry to boldly fill airtime where   
   no airtime had been filled before.   
   Rating: 2/10.    
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