The Man Trap was the first outing for the Enterprise crew that we all know and love: Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Sulu (George Takei). But still no sign of Scotty yet (his first appearance was in the show's second pilot 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', which was broadcast as the third episode in season one).

This one opens as Kirk, Spock and expendable crewman Darnell (not wearing a red shirt but still soon-to-be-dead) are beamed to the surface of planet M-113 to check up on the health of Professor Crater (Alfred Ryder) and his wife Nancy (Jeanne Bal), an old flame of the Doc's. On meeting Nancy, each member of the Enterprise crew sees the woman differently, although they do not realise it. Soon after, Darnell is found dead (what a shocker!), McCoy eventually discovering that the man's body has been depleted of salt.

Kirk recalls that a supply of salt was high on the Craters' list of requirements and begins to become suspicious about the couple. It eventually transpires that Nancy is in fact a salt-sucking shape-shifting alien, the last of its kind, having replaced the real Mrs. Crater, who was killed two years earlier by the creature. The professor is now protecting the beast, which has become a surrogate wife to him.

A lot more fun than the show's overly-cerebral pilot The Cage, The Man Trap is suspenseful and has the major benefit of its more familiar cast, who all interact marvelously. There's also the no-small-matter of Yeoman Janice's magnificent beehive hairdo, Sulu's amazing living plant specimen (that is clearly a man's hand), and the final appearance of the shape-shifter: a hilarious hairy monstrosity with a real ugly mush -- let's hope that the professor didn't allow the creature to replace his wife in all aspects of their relationship.

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