she and Kirk escape and return to the zenite mines. Once there, however, she orders Kirk seized by two other Disruptors. Vanna's friends depart, and she puts Kirk to work digging for zenite. After a short while Kirk attacks her, regains his phaser, and fires at the ceiling of the mine, causing a cave-in that traps them. He then contacts the Enterprise and orders Plasus to be beamed to his location. An indignant Plasus is beamed in, and Kirk forces him and Vanna to dig for zenite. The effects of the zenite gas become apparent as Kirk and Plasus become increasingly irritable. A brawl between them breaks out, and Vanna, finally believing Kirk's story of the gas, signals the Enterprise for help. Back in the city, the zenite consignment is prepared for transport. Plasus has grudgingly allowed the distribution of the filter masks, and Vanna declares that her people's struggle for equality will continue. Production and reception Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'C+' rating, noting that it "had enough story that it didn't drag too terribly near the end" but that "philosophy-wise, it chickened out in a way that's highly unusual for the show". The episode is noted for depicting a city in the clouds. Influence Manny Coto, showrunner of Star Trek: Enterprise, stated in an interview for StarTrek.com that he had wanted to feature the cloud city of Stratos in the fourth season of that series, saying, "There was one I really wanted to do set on Stratos, the Cloud City [from "The Cloud Minders"]. I really wanted to do a two-parter on that location, to see Stratos in its earlier stages." 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 This episode was included in TOS Season 3 remastered DVD box set, with the remastered version of this episode. References External links "The Cloud Minders" Review of the remastered version at TrekMovie.com Star Trek: The Original Series (season 3) episodes 1969 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Jud Taylor Television episodes written by Oliver Crawford Television episodes written by Margaret Armen Television episodes written by David Gerrold