@Benton12 said:

Too many viewers thought that the creature was very smart (upon assuming human form) and could easily have merely asked for salt. But there is more and its important in understanding this legendary series. The salt need/desire drove the creature to highly irrational proportions like it was on drugs. Also, the creature had already murdered a person (Nancy Crater) and was wanted no matter what. Its survival made it murder more.

The performances in this ep are around the best in the whole series. DeForest Kelley turns in his most bizarre performance as the Salt Vampire disguised as McCoy. Guest-star Alfred Ryder is excellent as Prof. Crater. Moments of intelligence and tough attitude successfully fused together in one. But his is not the best performance in the ep. That belongs to his fellow beautiful co-star Jeanne Bal who turned in the most amazing performance in this or about any ST ep as Nancy. Vulnerable, in pain, dangerous, ruthless, soft, hard. She ran the gamut of emotions and was powerful in all of them. She definitely should have won an award for this brilliant tour-de-force of acting.

The "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" was first presented in 1975. If it had been around when she was "vamping" up the screen on "Star Trek"...who knows?

Probably, Formerly, she would have won had the award existed sooner. Would have deserved to --what woman on TV did a bigger tour-de-force than her that year?

by Benton 12 :

Too many viewers thought that the creature was very smart ( upon assuming human form )

He had the ability to manipulate people’s minds and make them see Nancy , crew members , Bones..............This was helpful ,

He could easily have merely asked for salt.

Like you pointed out he had already killed Nancy and soon after the first redshirt.

But in all honesty, I don’t think he actually stopped and considered he had killed people.. he acted like he did, merely to survive like you pointed out.

The salt need/desire drove the creature to highly irrational proportions like it was on drugs

Your explanation is convincing but I have another.

Being able to use its mind to trick people was handy but it came at a price: it left him weak / vulnerable and in immediate need to feed so to replenish its strength/ energy.

I believe the whole mental procedure cost a great amount of energy to do ..that would explain why he acted so quickly.

When the landing crew arrived , it had to use its mind to appear like Nancy and the other sexy chick ..then drained, minutes later ,it lured the redshirt and killed him.

Having been already most probably on salt rations with Crater before the Enterprise arrived , it was desperate to feed after manipulating the minds of the landing crew.

That would explain also why he was desperate ,frantic once on the Enterprise.

Also towards the end after Spock had attacked/punched it , it ceased the mind manipulation and proceeded to attack Kirk a second time despite McCoy was armed.

It needed to feed to restore its energy because it risked dying otherwise of overexertion.

This is my theory ...

The first crew-member killed by the Salt Vampire was wearing I think a blue shirt. Later when Salty killed crewman Green(e?) the Vampire laughed a little how he fooled the Enterprise party. He knew Green was dead and would not come back and suddenly present a conflict over which was the real crewman. Did the creature have ability to briefly pretty much really become what it imitated? How did it transport up and still maintain the illusion of another form?

by benton :

He knew Green was dead and would not come back and suddenly present a conflict over which was the real crewman. Did the creature have the ability to briefly pretty much really become what it imitated? How did it transport up and still maintain the illusion of another form?

To the three landing members , it appear differently for all three...so obviously, it was using some mind ability to make them see what he wanted them to see.

It's possible it was able to cover great distances with its mind illusions like the Talosians , for example. So he used his mental abilities to trick who was working at the transporter console .......the weird readings at the console read normal to him and he beamed the creature up.

The other option is like you said ..... it was actually capable to shapeshift into any form it needed to... it became a facsimile.

PS: I was wondering why it appeared differently to all three members of the landing crew.. it would have been easier just to appear as Nancy aged for all three of them.

I think it was spying on them after they beamed down and was already coming up with a plan on how to kill one and feed on him....he read their minds and knew if he appeared like the sexy chick the crewman had met on Risa(?), if given the opportunity , it could use her to lure him away and kill him . The vampire was definitely a predator from the start.

As for the crewman, he was definitely not thinking .. he should have been suspicious seeing "her " there .......instead he followed "her" like a puppy dog... easy catch for the creature.

Sunshine, you can have your own opinion but you cannot have your own facts. Did you watch it on a B+W TV and presume the first murdered man had a red shirt? As for the monster not knowing it was killing suggestion-- after the way it reacted after bumping off Green and the fact that the real Nancy Crater never showed up walking around after it killed her showed the creature knew indeed it was killing and knew what it was. Your interpretation leaves little possibility to be anything but your opinion.

Prof. Crater's dealing with the creature for like what a year supports my more fact-based interpretation. He was giving it a lot of salt and it was temporarily harmless but he was running out.

Ciao Benton,

In regards to the red shirt :

I learnt on the Star Trek IMDb board that the crew members that wear the red shirt are those that die in the episode…. personally , I had never noticed that.

In this particular case when I wrote “redshirt “ I simply was referring to the unknown crewman that got killed in the beginning of the episode.. I didn’t even register what colour shirt he was wearing.

As for the salt vampire : I definitely think the creature is intelligent , it planned how to lure and kill the first crewman … the creature had no qualms in killing…it didn’t feel guilty it killed.

I thought we were on the same page here??

As for Crater , the creature didn’t kill him because he supplied it with the salt it needed.

Plus the ruins on the planet would suggest that despite their feeding habits the Salt Vampires reached a high level of civilization

Sunshine, a little God-given sympathy for you. We all like what we want to like. We all usually believe what we wish (though occasionally proven truth destroys our beliefs). Two analogies for you soon.

First analogy. The Twilight Zone ep 'The Four of Us are Dying'. There was a beef to the story as how Arch Hammer managed to change his look and also successfully imitate the voices and mannerisms of men he never met. One TZ viewer came up with the idea that Hammer somehow knew the people he was dealing with from years before. Try that theory on. He just happened to know two guys from years before who were both recently murdered? That is unlikely but possible in this story. The boxer Hammer imitated instantly after seeing the wall poster-photo is less likely to have been anyone he knew. The theory furthermore is supported by no hint in the story but maybe it is possible as it is not outright contradicted (Hammer never outright claimed never to have seen these people before.) Your theory for 'Man Trap' does have contradiction in fake Green's malicious laugh. Truth. But your theory resembles this viewer's in having no support.

(The poster knew his theory would gather no support whatsoever. He admitted it and that it was all very unlikely to be the truth about the character of Hammer.)

Next analogy. Some I think lady professor at a college believes that some Native American tribe is directly descended from a Middle Eastern tribe that came to the Americas in the like 500's BC era. Her interpretation. She is totally contradicted by DNA studies showing that the Native American much more like comes from Siberian nomads crossing the Bering Straight around 10,000 BC. Nonetheless, she clings isolated and heavily to her theory despite an immense contradiction to it and no support for it from anywhere. Sound familiar?

@sunshine62 said:

by benton :

He knew Green was dead and would not come back and suddenly present a conflict over which was the real crewman. Did the creature have the ability to briefly pretty much really become what it imitated? How did it transport up and still maintain the illusion of another form?

To the three landing members , it appear differently for all three...so obviously, it was using some mind ability to make them see what he wanted them to see.

It's possible it was able to cover great distances with its mind illusions like the Talosians , for example. So he used his mental abilities to trick who was working at the transporter console .......the weird readings at the console read normal to him and he beamed the creature up.

The other option is like you said ..... it was actually capable to shapeshift into any form it needed to... it became a facsimile.

PS: I was wondering why it appeared differently to all three members of the landing crew.. it would have been easier just to appear as Nancy aged for all three of them.

I think it was spying on them after they beamed down and was already coming up with a plan on how to kill one and feed on him....he read their minds and knew if he appeared like the sexy chick the crewman had met on Risa(?), if given the opportunity , it could use her to lure him away and kill him . The vampire was definitely a predator from the start.

As for the crewman, he was definitely not thinking .. he should have been suspicious seeing "her " there .......instead he followed "her" like a puppy dog... easy catch for the creature.

I thought it was pretty clear that the creature also needed - somehow "fed off" - the emotions of others. Which explains why it appeared to be more "appealing" to each person.

by benton :

Sunshine, a little God-given sympathy for you. We all like what we want to like. We all usually believe what we wish (though occasionally proven truth destroys our beliefs). Two analogies for you soon

Ciao!

I read the two analogies.....so you are telling me that my conclusion ( the salt vampire is intelligent) is not only wrong but there are no facts in the episode to support my point of view?

Is that what you are saying, Benton?

So what is your take on the creature, then ?

by Knix:

I thought it was pretty clear that the creature also needed - somehow "fed off" - the emotions of others. Which explains why it appeared to be more "appealing" to each person.

So according to you , the salt vampire figured that appearing as a grey and aged Nancy would be more appealing to Kirk than seeing the younger version Bones got to see ?

I guess not "appealing" in that way, but "expected." If she had appeared obviously as too-young as she did to McCoy, that would have aroused his suspicions even earlier.

Crater said it needs love, but that was his perspective in his situation, it may derive something from less-intense emotions too. Or more intense emotions, or memories, not necessarily love.

CRATER: Not because of tricks. It doesn't trick me. It needs love as much as it needs salt. When it killed Nancy, I almost destroyed it but, it isn't just a beast. It is intelligent and the last of its kind.

NANCY: I'm so happy to see you, Leonard. The others, they, I, I don't relate to them as much as you. You have such strong memories of me.

MCCOY: Well.

NANCY: You do care, don't you, Leonard? It makes me feel so, so safe.

MCCOY: Nancy, er

NANCY: My husband? I like your feelings better. Much stronger. But you're tired, You need to rest.