AllMovie

Spock faces the death penalty for receiving signals from planet Talos IV. With the agreement of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Fleet Captain Pike, the trial continues in closed session and the evidence -- the forbidden transmissions -- continues to be viewed by the trial board, as Kirk searches for a reason behind Spock's actions and a way to save his friend's life. They see Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his strange adventure on Talos IV some 13 years earlier, and the manner in which the Talosians, with their power to cast illusions, tried alternately to torture and seduce him to secure his cooperation, and his successful resistance to the point where he was ultimately released. They also learn why any contact with planet Talos IV is forbidden, the danger that contact poses to the human race, and why that contact may mean the salvation of the stricken Captain Pike.