'The Galileo Seven', like most in the first season, is an above-average episode that shows Star Trek's creators coming up with imaginative and clever twists in the show's format almost every week. And, like most episodes, the budgetary restraints of the series prevent some ideas from being fully realized. But there are some problems with the script as well, particularly in the crew's interaction with one another. This is the first episode to 'star' one of the shuttlecraft (though one figured prominently in ''The Menagerie'). These smaller craft are nifty little show elements that came in handy from time to time. 'The Galileo Seven' amounts to an early starring role as well for Mr. Spock, as commander of the shuttlecraft. The Enterprise is in route to deliver emergency medical supplies to a plague-decimated planet and passes near a quasar-like planetary system. Since the starship cannot stop to investigate, Kirk sends Spock and six others in the shuttlecraft Galileo to do so. Soon after, the small ship is pulled off course and forced to land on a rocky, barren world inhabited by giant, aggressive humanoids. The rest of the episode concerns the shuttle crew's attempts to survive and repair the ship's ability to lift off, and the Enterprise's search for them. 'Interference,' as always, prevents sensors and communicators from functioning. Mr. Spock is given merciless hell by the others any time he makes a decision, particularly from Dr. McCoy and a specialist, Lt. Boma. A certain degree of tension is understandable, given their situation, but 'The Galileo Seven' really goes overboard with it, to the point where a de facto mutiny takes place and Spock is forced to reverse a decision. At another point, it appears they might leave Spock behind on the planet. Nearly all of this stems from Spock's lack of emotions, which one would think the rest of the crew would have accepted and gotten used to by now. In the end, the Galileo is able to lift off, just barely, but the Enterprise has been ordered to give up the search. As one last (desperate?) attempt at attracting the starship's attention, Spock ignites and dumps what remaining fuel they have, the effect being, as Scotty says, of sending up a flare. It seems pointless, and hopeless, but the Enterprise does indeed detect it and beams the Galileo's crew safely aboard.