marry, Miramanee rejects Salish for Kirk. Kirk falls deeper in love with Miramanee, though haunted at night by dreams of people he feels he should be with. Miramanee happily tells Kirk that she is pregnant. As the Enterprise nears the planet, Spock succeeds in partially deciphering the markings on the obelisk. It is an asteroid deflector built by the "Preservers", an ancient race that resettled various endangered humanoid populations on other planets in order to ensure their survival. Spock surmises that the deflector has malfunctioned. As the asteroid nears the planet, the sky darkens, thunder roars, and strong winds blow. The elders tell Kirk he must go into the temple to stop the storm. As Kirk pounds fruitlessly on the side of the obelisk, demanding that it open for him, the tribe turns against him. They begin stoning him and Miramanee. Spock and McCoy materialize, frightening the villagers away. Spock uses a mind meld to retrieve Kirk's memories, while McCoy tends to Miramanee's wounds. Kirk is able to open the trap door into the "temple" by speaking the correct tones to open it, and Spock activates the deflector with minutes to spare. McCoy tells Kirk that Miramanee will not survive. She dies in his arms, and he grieves. Production Paramount Television daily production reports record that this episode was filmed on Paramount’s Gower stages on June 11, 17 and 18, 1968, and at the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir, California, for the planet scenes on June 12–14, 1968. Reception Author Jon Davidson on his sci-fi tv and movie website rated this episode 7 out of 10, noting "while the presence of Native Americans on yet another parallel Earth planet is only briefly explained, The Paradise Syndrome provides a compelling romance subplot to compensate for any questionable science fiction aspects." In 2015, Wired magazine suggested this episode was skippable in their binge-watching guide for the original series. In 2017, Screen Rant rated the love story between Kirk and Miramanee as the seventh best love story in Star Trek. In 2019, Nerdist included this episode on their "Best of Kirk" binge-watching guide. Releases This episode was released in Japan on December 21, 1993 as part of the complete season 3 LaserDisc set, Star Trek: Original Series log.3. A trailer for this and the other episodes was also included, and the episode had English and Japanese audio tracks. The cover script was スター・トレック TVサードシーズン