"The Empath" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Joyce Muskat and directed by John Erman, it was first broadcast on December 6, 1968. In the episode, while visiting a doomed planet, the landing party is subjected to torturous experiments by powerful aliens. This episode is one of a handful not screened in the United Kingdom by the BBC for many years, owing to its disturbing content (torture). It was not broadcast by the BBC until January 1994. Plot The starship USS Enterprise arrives at Minara II to recover research personnel as its star is about to go supernova. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Science Officer Spock beam to the surface but find the research station deserted. Chief Engineer Scott moves Enterprise to a safe distance to protect it from being bombarded by a solar flare. The landing party is suddenly transported into an underground chamber and discover that they are trapped along with a beautiful mute woman, whom McCoy names "Gem". The landing party is attacked by two aliens, Lal and Thann, from a race of humanoid beings known as Vians, who proceed to injure Kirk. Gem proves she is an empath by absorbing Kirk's injuries, briefly taking them on herself before they are healed. They search the nearby chambers and find machinery and computer systems, along with transparent cylinders, some containing the missing research personnel in grotesque poses, and three empty ones labeled with the landing party's names. Lal arrives, but Spock subdues him with a Vulcan nerve pinch and allows the group to escape to the surface. They are surprised to see Scott and a landing party waiting for them, but soon discover they are only a mirage. The Vians arrive and transport Gem and Kirk back into the underground complex, where they begin torturing Kirk with Gem only able to watch. During this, the aliens explain that they had tested the research personnel (Linke and Ozaba) similarly, but both men died from their fears. Gem and a badly injured Kirk are transported back to where McCoy and Spock are held, and Gem heals Kirk's wounds, but only after McCoy urges her to do so. The Vians demand another test subject, and McCoy sedates both Kirk and Spock to make the Vians choose him. When Kirk and Spock awaken, they understand from Gem what McCoy