The Starship Enterprises five-year mission to seek out new life forms and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before shifts into warp speed as Star Trek enters its second season. The biggest news this year is a fresh addition to the ensemble cast: Now taking his place alongside such TV immortals as William Shatner (Capt. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan) (Engineer Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Officer Uhura) and Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel) is Walter Koenig as young Russian-born ensign Pavel Chekov (a character added to attract more teenage viewers--and NOT to pacify the Soviet Union, as has often been claimed) The season begins with one of the series best efforts, Theodore Sturgeons Amok Time, in which the half-Vulcan Mr. Spock must mate or die. Spock is also the focus in D.C. Fontanas Journey to Babel, featuring Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard as Spocks parents Amanda and Sarek. Other Season Two highlights include the return of intergalactic con artist Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) in I, Mudd; Margaret Armens superb The Gamesters of Triskelon, in which the crew is forced to engaged in barbaric combat, and the thematically similar Bread and Circuses, depicting an ancient Roman society decked out with 20th-century technology; The Changeling, with Vic Perrin (best known as the Control Voice on The Outer Limits) supplying the voice of the lethally perfect computer Nomad; The Deadly Years, in which the crew is subjected to an accelerated aging process; and Robert Blochs whodunnit in space, Wolf in the Fold. And we cant forget David Gerrolds classic The Trouble with Tribbles, all about those incredibly prolific little furballs; the supremely silly but enjoyable A Piece of the Action, aka Star Trek meets The Untouchables; and the much-maligned Mirror, Mirror, wherein the crew comes face to face with their barbaric doppelgangers. The season finale, Assignment: Earth, was intended as the pilot for a spinoff series, starring Robert Lansing as altruistic time traveller Gary Seven. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide