Absolutely hilarious to watch someone named, "bunnytails" react to a TV episode which has a bunny rabbit in it. Priceless!

Luckily, none of them thought of the Staypuft Marshmallow Man. 😂 In one of his books, William Shatner claims he tried to convince Gene Rodenberry that it would be good if Kirk got to wrestle the tiger. He says they were walking as they discussed it and Rodenberry, knowing what he was doing, lead Shatner past the tiger cage during feeding time. He said, after he saw the tiger tearing into a big piece of meat, he changed his mind.

Nice that a near 60 year show can still impress with its originality.

This is the first of a handful of light hearted episodes. I love all of them.

"Don't think about dangerous things!" The Ghostbusters fully agree....

Emily Banks, one of the prettiest yeoman of the series. (Dr. McCoy certified!)

One of the best episodes of original Star Trek.

'Wabbit twacks. I'm hunting him with a phaser. Ha-ah-ah-ah-ah..."

Ruth's Theme is a melody every Star Trek fan would recognize if we heard it anywhere. This show had by far the best incidental music of any TV show, and this episode has several examples, of which Ruth's Theme is the most beautiful.

The actress playing Angela, who runs smack into the tree, is the same one who played Angela in the episode "Balance of Terror." She was the one who was going to get married but for the fact that her husband-to-be is killed in the Romulan attack. Nice to see that she got over that.

Love that many episodes of Star Trek TOS were written by sci fi writers from that golden age. Theodore Sturgeon wrote this one.

16:05 The Vasquez Rocks pop up a lot in this show as a filming location, being one of the most alien-looking landforms close to Hollywood. People still call that particular peak in the park "Kirk's Rock". It has its own TVtropes article because it has so many appearances in movies and shows.

Fun episode, fun reaction. You're right on target about Yeoman Rand, though Barrows was gorgeous.

Great reactions, as always, Bunny. And I agree about missing Yeoman Janice Rand.

Actress Barbara Baldavin who played Angela just passed away on March 31, 2024 at the age of 85.

"Follow the rabbit. I'll backtrack the girl." Typical Jim Kirk. 🤣

One of my favorite episodes. Written by one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century: Theodore Sturgeon. One of the few TOS episodes to be filmed on location, not a set. William Shatner does more running in this episode than the entire rest of the series and all the movies.

William Ware Thiess was the costume designer. He usually designed very beautiful outfits for actresses, but he enjoyed them showing a lot of skin. As Shatner pointed out very beautiful, and very chilly actresses. :)

Just so you know Janice did appear in the movies with upgrades in rank

Leonard Nimoy included the actor who played Janice in the 3 Star Trek movies he was involved in producing and directing. 3, 4 and 6. The episodes were written by well known science fiction writers. Very creative people. Due to the prejudice against women being capable of writing however you will find the name D.C. Fontana on a few of the most famous episodes particularly those focused on Spock. She was very good.

Unlike the TV show Fantasy Island that came years later, this is more like Fantasy Planet but at a faster reactive pace. Fun episode.

The fight between Kirk and Finnegan is said to have held the record for the longest two-man fight on American television for many years. The two sequences together take more than six minutes, more than ten percent of the episode.

The beautiful music score in this episode was composed by Gerald Fried, who composed music for such diverse television series such as Mission: Impossible, The Man From UNCLE, Gilligan's Island, and Roots. He also composed the music for director Stanley Kubrick's first few films. ❤️

Note that this episode was written by the SF author, Theodore Sturgeon. He would also pen the Season 2 premiere episode, Amok Time, which is one of the best and much beloved Trek stories ever written.

This two-parter won a Hugo Award, SF's finest accolade.

We saw an actor in a bunny suit. And two actresses in bunny garb. I think we should see Bunnytail in a bunny costume. For completeness, you understand.

The first use of the "he's dead, but not really" plot device.

Most of this episode was shot at the Africa USA compound on Soledad Canyon Road, a few miles from the Vasquez Rocks. There was a massive mudslide in Soledad Canyon a few years later, after which Africa USA moved out. I am amazed that they were able to produce things as quickly as they did with all the location shooting which was often involved.

Lovely reaction, as usual! This episode was written by Theodore Sturgeon, probably the best SFF short-story writer of his generation. Finnegan is, hands-down, my favorite part of this one; not only is he a memory, he is the spirit of youth, of yearning. Over and over he tells Kirk to remember his old days, not to forget who he once was. It’s beautiful and terrible.

If i had been down on that planet and someone had explained to me how it all works there would be only one thing that would just pop into my mind. ... It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

One of two OST episodes written by SF legend Theodore Sturgeon. The other was "Amok Time".

You must have been thinking of a beautiful dress,and their it was bunny 😊

Gad you liked it, certainly one of my favourites , however I had never considered what if the Yeoman Rand character had still been in place instead of Barrows for this episode. Yeoman Rand did have a certain quality and I was lucky to get a selfie with her, many years ago, long before we knew the word selfie, when she came to a Star Trek convention in England

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) was a mathematics don at Christ Church College, Oxford. He also wrote poems and stories, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll. He came up with a very strange story which he told to his young friend Alice Liddell. She begged him to write it down. "Alice's Adventures Underground" became "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", published in 1865.

Bunnytails, your dancing while Kirk chased Finnegan, made this episode wonderfully entertaining. You made this episode as magical as it should be. Thank you very much!

As a ten year old, I was around to watch Star Trek during its first run. I remember being very disappointed when Janice Rand disappeared from the show. I am glad you appreciate her as I did, Bunny (Bunnytails?) !!

Great reaction. Classic Kirk fight with Finnegan (who gets his own musical score), some awesome production camera work and flying kicks.

" a fencing weopon" priceless!

This was always a favorite of mine as a kid, probably because it had the characters running around outside and using their imaginations, which was exactly what I always did.

I have always loved this episode, especially 1) Spock's delightful manipulation of Kirk; 2) the funny banter between Kirk and McCoy; 3).Kirk's reaction, when he sees Ruth, going from capable, businesslike, competent Captain, to a 19 or 20 year old with his girl, in seconds, then, back again; 3).When McCoy returns, alive, with the 2 showgirls!!

I have been waiting, for WEEKS, for you to reach this episode…and to be confronted with your archnemesis, the bunny who was waiting to meet you! Seriously, this has always been one of my low-key faves. Glad you liked it.

I wonder if this episode inspired that scene in the 1984 Ghostbusters movie when Gozer said "Choose the form of the destructor!" and Dan Aykroyd accidentally thought of Stay Puft Marshmallow man who magically appeared

I personally love this episode, as it shows that James Kirk isn't flawless. He was a victim of bulling in the academy, and it stuck with him, haunting him even into his adulthood. This is one of those episodes that really shows us Captain Kirks character. It's excellent. Thanks for this. Cheers eh :)

What a treat! Two in a row...made my day. Really made my day when Kirk took care of Finnegan, who irritated the heck out of me. Having McCoy get impaled by the knight really added some drama to ground the episode a bit from the lighthearted goings on. Fun episode! :)

This was such a fun episode... love it. Great reaction bunny. More to come.

Loved your little chair dance. Great reaction.

The Enterprise stumbled upon this planet and didn't know it was owned/used by some other race and specially formatted in the way we saw. Love this classic episode and remember first seeing it in 1976, when my father dragged me away from it to go shopping on a Saturday morning in downtown Montreal. Had to wait years to see it again. "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play" is a classic line.

As soon as I saw the white rabbit I knew this was going to be a very special bunny tails! Lol

Good thing they didn't think of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from "Ghostbusters". 😂

I’ve never seen anyone like Bunny do the shore leave dance quite like she did before!

The actor who played Finnegan was annoyingly very energetic and a pretty good fighter. Boy,did he run-EVERYWHERE !!!! Yet still had the energy to bounce Kirk all over the place. LOL. Good job by the stunt men also. LOVED the light tone and outrageous situations the crew found themselves in.

A few comments: 1. Without spoilers... if you keep watching ALL of the series prior to 2009, you'll revisit this world again. 2. Star Trek - The Next Generation basically puts smaller and less advanced versions of this world on board, referring to them as "Holodecks." And similarly, Holodecks can go wrong and become hazardous. 3) The female crewmember who is "killed" in the aircraft strafing run is someone you've met before. She was going to get married in "Balance of Terror." Her fiance was killed in the phaser control room during the battle with the Romulans. This is the only other time we see her, but it's fun to be reminded that the crew is not "all new, every episode." Several less important characters recurr regularly throughout the series. On the other hand, several actors return to play different parts. So it's occasionally confusing, trying to figure out who is who. For example, Dr. Simon Van Gelder, from the Tantalus colony ("Dagger of the Mind"), is never seen again, but the actor who played him definitely returns as a new character. 4) Finnegan is a character I always wanted to revisit, but they never did. 5) Kirk is 34 at this point. Fifteen years earlier, he would have been 19. So, Ruth was either his high school sweethheart, or his girlfriend during his first year as an undergrad at the academy (or both). Presumably, it was after his breakup with Ruth that he met Carol Marcus, his next serious relationship. But that would have been around when he was 25 or 26. 6) It's stated here, for the second time, that as a younger man, Kirk was extremely serious and even grim. (The prior time was described by Gary Mitchell in "Where No Man Has Gobe Before," the second pilot.) This is absolutely at odds with popular conceptions of who Kirk was, including the terrible (IMHO) portrayal in the J. J. Abrams movies. There remains one "disappointing" episode in S1, though it's not "terrible." And then, throughout S1 and S2, there are no disappointments. S3 is a bit of a mixed bag, with some excellent episodes and some terrible ones. But even the terrible ones still have their high points, much of which I attribute to the actors and their wonderful chemistry.

I always enjoyed this episode growing up. So glad you're still enjoying this classic.

The other woman, Angela Martine, in the landing party was going to to get married to Robert Tomlinson before he was killed in "Balance of Terror." Yes, you could tell that first scene on the bridge was written with Rand in mind. The fight with Finnegan, on rocky terrain, was one of the most violent fights on TV to date.

I had the chance to meet Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand) in a Trek convention way back in the early 90s, and she was absolutely adorable and endearing. Totally authentic. Took a real interest in the fans and took time to visit with each. She did make a return for some later Star Trek, some small parts in some of the movies, etc. She was very open about her struggles and problems/addictions that cost her her role on the OT. At least she had the chance to make amends and build a new trust and enjoy playing parts later.

Love your little Irish dance! 😆

This is the episode i was watching when the TV picture went out and i had to LISTEN to the rest. The black and white TV went to the shop and fixed before the next episode. I never missed an episode, but it's better when you can see what's happening.

Don't know if you were aware, but you got a very nice shout-out in the latest episode of the Inglourious Treksperts podcast. It happens at the 2 hr 42 minute 11 second mark in their holiday special counting down the Top Ten Seasons of Star Trek. Of course, I wouldn't recommend listening to the entirety of the episode (or much of the rest of their content) because it will spoil huge swaths of Trek for you. But congratulations on the plug!

Yeoman Rand has a few small cameos if you pay attention. She's in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She's also in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager when Tuvok was remembering his days serving on the Excelsior with Captain Sulu and Commander Rand. -OG

If you look carefully at ‘Ruth’ when she’s first introduced, you’ll realize that her shoes exactly match the dress: a different colored shoe for each foot! •••• This was a great episode! The author, Theodore Sturgeon, is one of the more famous SF writers. The other episode that he wrote for the show, which opened the second season, is (correctly) recognized as one of the top-five shows that the series ever had (giving us an up-close-and-personal look at Vulcan society, at a moment when the stakes for our crew are through the roof!) •••• The first season went out of its way to give Sulu various hobbies. He not only has a thing for plants, he fences, and (now with this episode) is an antique gun collector. •••• I’m glad you were so tickled at McCoy’s “fantasy women” who appeared with him at the end. It was one hell of a way to die and come back to life! •••• The question sometimes arises: if the various fantasy people look exactly like ‘the real thing,’ then why did the black knight look like a mannequin? My theory is this: The process that makes the fantasy people uses a material that looks exactly like the skin, flesh, hair, etc of the real person, and the object keeps that look - for short periods. After 10-15 minutes, the special look expires, and the fantasy person deteriorates to the ‘stiff mannequin’ look (which is what the black knight did (it was several minutes before Kirk and Spock first examined him). If the ‘fantasy person’ is required to exist for a longer time period, the ‘amusement planet’ quickly makes a replacement version, and the new version takes over from the earlier ‘worn-out’ version in continuing the fantasy.

This was one of my favorite early episodes. Thanks for taking me back a few years.

Great reaction, as always! Keep up the good work! I love how much you're enjoying the series. Watching it again through your eyes I'm continuing to catch new things, even after all these years.

Great reaction! FYI, Theodore Sturgeon didn't just write "Shore Leave" and "Amok Time," he was (and remains) one of the best sci-fi/fantasy/horror writers of his generation, very thoughtful, with beautiful prose and ideas ahead of his time -- woke before wokeness (kind of the anti-Harlan Ellison... though I love a lot of his work, too). My (half-completed) Sturgeon journey began with "E Pluribus Unicorn," a great short story collection, including some of my personal favorites: "The World Well Lost," "Fluffy," "Scars," "Die, Maestro, Die!" and "The Professor's Teddy Bear."

Two Star Trek reaction in as many days? What did we do to deserve this?

Nice reaction - is this the first episode where we finally encounter a space bunny? Maybe the most famous sci fi that explores this scenario is Solaris (I mean it explores desires manifesting, not space bunnies lol) - Stanislav Lem's original novel came out in 1961, but the best-known adap is Tarkovsky's 1972 film, a response in some ways to 2001, and also cited as one of the finest sci fi films - Soderbergh did another excellent version in 2002, less well-known, w George Clooney - the work looks at the fragility of sanity in the face of wish-fulfillment - Tarkovsky's film is spiritual, looking at our disconnect from nature and its impact on our sense of reality, and Soderbergh's is emotional, looking at the powerful undertow of grief and loss on our sense of balance - in the words of Lawrence Durrell, "reason is feeble" - this Star Trek episode is fun, but it's unusual, in light of what we've seen, in its lack of concern re the philosophical underpinnings of the scenarios it sets up - my impression is that the episode itself was maybe a kind of shore leave for the show runners - they just kicked back and looked for some ways to have fun w the show and its characters - nice to see moments that show us other sides of these familiar characters, but nothing that we really see explored anywhere else - again, this pastoral entry feels most of all like some kind of palate-cleanser - especially following the unusually grim and horrific elements we encountered in the previous Menagerie outing - and I have to say I did feel relieved and grateful for this shift into levity - this variety of moods gives a cumulative richness to the series

People on a spaceship in perpetual night might enjoy a stroll in the sun 😊

Inspired by you, Bunny, I took a trip up the 14 to Vasquez Rocks this afternoon and went hiking through all the places where this episode was shot. Remarkable how little it's changed in 60 years. And as I was walking through the places where Sulu was jumped by a samurai, Kirk brawled with Finnegan, etc., I couldn't get the excellent score of this episode out of my head. By the way, I can hardly wait for you to watch "Arena!"

I live in the country. Thats not shore leave, thats my yard.

This episode was made for you. After all, the first inhabitant we see is a bunny! Also I think if you were on this planet Ruth's dress would simply appear for you.

That of Yeoman Barrows is one of my two favorite Starfleet walk-on roles in the original series and in The Next Generation, in the sense that the actor or actress made it seem like not a walk-on. Emily Banks plays her so well: it feels as if she'd always been a part of the crew, even though we've never seen her before; and she doesn't have that dated, from-another-time, mid-'60s feel that many of the women in the first season of the original series have. In TNG, there's a Commander MacDuff in one episode: the first time I saw it, thirty-odd years ago, I came in in the middle of the episode and not seeing it in the original broadcast order of the whole series, and he seemed so much like a part of the crew that I wondered how many other episodes he'd been in and how many of those I had missed.

I told you to look out for other bunnies and there he was. Thanks again Bunny for another fun and introspective review of classic Star Trek adventure. It's such a fun and imaginative story set in a real location that contrasts the last few episodes that were dealing with court martials and dangers in space. It was like we the viewers needed a break from all the tension our favorite characters were having to experience and Shore Leave came at the perfect time. Though it had mystery and potential danger, it really kept everyone guessing as to what is going on with this planet. I can't believe how fast you figure out these episodes and where they seem to be heading. This episode was definitely unique and stands alone with the others.

I have always LOVED the episodes where you'd catch Spock w/ a smile 😁

At 14:40 the plane has US markings. At 15:00 it's a Japanese Zero. I'm glad the remastering process didn't "fix" that error the way they "fixed" others. Mistakes like that are endearing and nostalgic. The big one was in this episode, because the ship was shown orbiting from east to west instead of the usual west to east, but they "fixed" that.

I told you Bones was a player. And a gentleman..... 😆

Great reaction video. I really enjoy your commentary and insights. I like this episode because it was so different from most Star Trek episodes. Thank you wonderful Bunnytails.

The girl that lost her fiancee, in balance of terror is in this and she has already moved on! 😂

Grace Lee whitney the actress who played yoman janice rand Only played in 7 episodes Originally cast as a love interest for Kirk. Said in her biography that She was written off of the show after a very awkward unwanted advance from a network executive of course.

I love hearing you pine away over the dress.

Oh nice! Glad to see these more often!

I have to agree. They should have kept Rand. She would have been great in this one.

Good episode with another yummy guest actress. One of the many things I love about Trek & Gene Roddenberry's legendary womanizing.

Yeah-us! An overall fun and imaginative episode. Love it. Trek was always good at injecting light-heartedness into the seasons. Break-up the monotony of a string of serious episodes.

finnegan's shirt is one of the most expensive star trek collectibles, since it was the only starfleet shirt of that type in the entire franchise. like 500k or something it sold for.

"I want that dress!" 😂😅

I would defiantly think about the stay puft marshmallow man

You're right about Spock beaming down to tell them they can't beam anymore. I think they forget they have shuttles half the time.

There are two ways to interpret the women with McCoy going over to Spock: 1. McCoy wanted them to because it would annoy Spock. 2. Spock (subconsciously) wanted it. Both fits the characters quite interestingly.

This is one of my favorite episodes and back in the days of broadcast TV syndication you didn't have a choice of which episode you saw...I only saw this one twice.

Kirk getting his shirt ripped was a running joke that was parodied in Galaxy Quest. Have you seen a doctor about your persistent cough? I wouldn't want your Bunny tail to end up in a sling. :)

This is one of my favorite episodes of the Original Series because of the comedy, music score, and it is a character development episode for these characters. I am just surprised we did not see McCoy or Spock think up of more things from their past that gave them pleasure. This could have been a great opportunity to see a creature from Vulcan or develop the Vulcan culture and it never happened in this episode.

Very good episode. First time I watched it, the mood changed from scared and funny so many times. That gun appearing was really menacing.

I love how Spock is supposed to be cold and emotionless, but every once in a while we get a joke and a little knowing smirk from him! :P Also, BunnyTails, you should totally cosplay some classic Star Trek ladies! There are tons of amazing options but I'd say #1 is Andrea from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"! ;) XD Also, the fight scenes from classic Star Trek always crack me up!!!! XD Just wait 'till you see the episode "Arena"!! :P

"Someone's trying to beam down from the bridge." I beg your pardon, Sulu, what?

Nice. The nature of reality portrayed wonderfully in an episode of Star Trek. The parallel, of course, is our own dream state, which is an alternate dimension, not hallucinatory. This is unlike in our waking state, where there is a time lag before something is actually created based on our own thoughts.

"We didn't get to play the tutorial." Can always count on a zinger in each of these. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You are so right about Yeoman Janice Rand. The show does many great things but really dropped the ball on that one. Love your Star Trek reactions!

This episode went into production with almost no script... Gene was writing and rewriting scenes as they were shooting. There's photos out there of Gene leaning against a big tree on location, you can see him with his typewriter and other relevant writer items. Considering how it got made, it's amazing it works at all, let alone it being one of the more popular episodes.

William Blackburn (a professional ice skater in real life), who played the White Rabbit, got the costume from Ice Capades for free. The claustrophobic Blackburn had a really painful time wearing it, especially as costume designer William Ware Theiss had originally sewn the Rabbit head to the suit. After nearly suffocating, Blackburn tore off the head, for which Theiss became very mad at him. Finally, they negotiated and Theiss put the head back with Velcro. Afterwards, Blackburn had no problem with the costume. A great funny episode. One of my favorites from season 1.

As a fan, I too was sad about Yeoman Rand leaving the show, and the reasons behind it. She later appears in some of the movies, in a few small cameos.

Consider that the crew has been on missions some lasting weeks/months with their only breaks on ship. Remember also this is before the introduction of holodeck technology, so all they have is the gymnasium and the recreation room both we have seen in other episodes. Also remember that on this ship are 430 crew of which only 43 are officers and only officers get their own rooms all other crews have to share bunk space. Just being able to stretch their legs on this planet would be welcomed. Also if their are no animals their is no danger of a crewmen getting hurt and possibly dying from an attack. Shore leave planet idea is very similar to a later tv show in the late 70's called "fantasy island" both had Ricardo Montablan. In Star Trek he played Khan but in Fantasy Island he played Mr Rourke. Fun fact it was write after Fantasy Island had been cancelled after I believe 7 seasons that he was hired to play Khan in Star Trek II. The caretaker and the amusement park were designed for aliens who had understanding of what to expect where the Entrprise crew did not and it took the caretaker until the end of the episode before he realized this. Most of the ideas are actually quite simple what makes them unique is the spin that is included to fit it in Star Trek. The writers pulled from their own experiences and remember what we today think of as amusement parks with rides and such is not the only meaning especially in the 1960's. So while we today would not think of it as an amusement park in the 1960's it fit the very concept of what one was.