antimatter bomb. With the creature about to envelop them, Kirk and Garrovick beam away and the bomb explodes, annihilating the entity. Production The writer, Art Wallace, noted that he based the story on Moby Dick and series writer D.C. Fontana observed that it had similarities with the earlier episode, "The Doomsday Machine". When director Ralph Senensky left to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, producer John Meredyth Lucas took his place for a few hours, making this his directorial debut for the series. Later Lucas directed "The Ultimate Computer", "Elaan of Troyius", and "The Enterprise Incident". "Lieutenant Lesley" played by regular Star Trek background actor Eddie Paskey is killed in this episode, however his character re-appears (and is referred to by name) in many subsequent episodes. Paskey was one of the core group of regular Star Trek extras and appeared in almost every episode, including the second pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before, until he left the show in the middle of the third season. Reception Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B" rating saying that Garrovick isn't important to the viewers because this is the only episode we see him in, and that Kirk's "obsession" is a nice flaw to see in an otherwise too-perfect character. In 2014, Gizmodo ranked "Obsession" as the 43rd best episode of Star Trek, out of the over 700 ones made by that time. They note it shows the dangers of an out-of-control captain, and that Kirk has become obsessed with getting revenge in this episode. In 2009, GameRadar+ noted this episode for the deaths of crewmen during the away mission to the planet's surface. In 2019, Nerdist included this episode on their "Best of Kirk" binge-watching guide. References External links "Obsession" Remastered Screen Shots at TrekMovie.com Star Trek: The Original Series (season 2) episodes 1967 American television episodes Television episodes about vampires Films scored by Sol Kaplan Television episodes directed by Ralph Senensky