Star Trek: The Animated Series S1E07 – The Infinite Vulcan
Star Trek: The Animated Series ventures into truly strange territory with The Infinite Vulcan, a story written by none other than Chekov himself, Walter Koenig. Offered the chance to pen a script as a consolation for not being cast in the animated series (a cost-saving decision by the production team), Koenig delivered a tale that mixes grand ideas, campy sci-fi, and more oversized Spock than anyone could have anticipated. It’s ambitious, ridiculous, and quintessentially Star Trek in its refusal to hold back when it comes to high-concept weirdness.
The story kicks off with the Enterprise encountering a planet populated by intelligent plant-based life forms, the Phylosians, who have a bizarre plan to create peace in the galaxy: cloning and supersizing Spock to become their enforcer. Because, of course, who wouldn’t want a giant Vulcan to keep the peace? The Phylosians’ scheme, led by their towering and tragic human leader, Dr. Keniclius, is well-meaning but catastrophically misguided, creating the requisite moral dilemma for the Enterprise crew.
The episode toys with weighty themes of peace, control, and the ethics of cloning, but its execution wobbles under the weight of its ambitions. The Phylosians, while visually imaginative thanks to animation, come across as more absurd than awe-inspiring, and Keniclius’s motivations, though steeped in Trek’s ethos of striving for peace, feel underdeveloped. It’s hard not to laugh at the sheer audacity of a story that climaxes with Kirk and McCoy reasoning with a 50-foot-tall Spock clone, but that’s part of the charm.
Ironically, for an episode written by Koenig, who often lamented how Chekov and other supporting characters were sidelined in favour of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, The Infinite Vulcan still centres its story almost entirely on the main trio. While Sulu is part of the landing party and Scotty and Uhura have moments on the bridge, their contributions remain secondary to the episode’s focus on Kirk, McCoy, and especially Spock navigating the Phylosians’ plot.
The episode’s focus on Spock, and specifically the threat of losing him to a larger-than-life scheme, recalls Spock’s Brain, though The Infinite Vulcan steers clear of that episode’s infamous levels of camp absudity. While cloning and supersizing Spock isn’t much less bizarre than stealing his brain, this animated tale handles its far-fetched premise with a more earnest approach, leaning on the philosophical stakes rather than gender politics and inadvertent hilarity. It’s a wild ride, but one that feels more comfortably credible with the realm of Trek’s speculative sci-fi wheelhouse. If nothing else, it’s testament to how in-demand Spock’s abilities as an administrator are that he’s being constantly—and often literally—head-hunted.
Koenig’s script feels like it’s trying to do a lot in a very short runtime, and while it stumbles in places, it’s refreshing to see The Animated Series swinging for the fences with ideas that would have been impossible in the live-action series. The Phylosians, with their bizarre plant-based designs, and the sheer scale of the Spock clone are perfect examples of how animation allowed Star Trek to explore visual concepts that would have been impractical (or laughable) in live action at the time.
The Infinite Vulcan is a bizarre but earnest episode, blending grand ideas with an outlandish premise that makes it one of the more unique entries in The Animated Series. While its lofty ambitions don’t always land, its exploration of cloning, peace, and the ethical boundaries of science gives it a thought-provoking edge, even amidst the giant Spock and plant people.
