"The Naked Time" plods along as an unexcited look at a crew with their inhibitions down yet not much of interest up. Enterprise visits dying planet Psi 2000 only to find all the scientists stationed there dead in odd ways, most of them frozen and none of them naked. Spock investigates the mystery dressed in a shower curtain environmental suit (thank goodness those were replaced!) accompanied by the stupidest subordinate imaginable, so caught up with an itchy nose that he's willing to sacrifice everyone for a scratch. They beam up with an infection caused by bad water and soon the entire ship is afflicted. Mayhem ensues, peril looms, and Scott is forced to "cold start" the engines inducing a temporal loop and the justifiably maligned time travel it produces.

This episode only occasionally breaks the surface of entertaining and what matters then is not the plot so much (what plot?) but rather oft quoted dialogue perpetuated into Trek lore (like Riley's "No dance tonight" upon being stopped by the real Captain). Scotty's anguished, "I can't change the laws of physics, I've got to have thirty minutes!" is a comedic staple for the engineer, and equally remembered is the brief "I'll protect you, fair maiden!" interaction between D'Artagnan (Sulu in wild-eyed fencing mode) and Uhura's classic reply, "Sorry - neither!"

The introduction of Joe Tormolen lasts long enough to grow tired of his sniveling before being quietly dispatched in sickbay because he "doesn't want to live." (His carelessness nearly destroys the entire ship and its crew and as such we're glad he doesn't want to either.) Stewart Moss accepts a thankless task portraying Tormolen, though at least his acting skills aren't responsible for exacerbating such an unlikable character. Much more fun (when he's intoxicated) is Bruce Hyde as fan favorite "Captain" Kevin Riley, with this appearance better than his later one, not in spite of but because of his excruciatingly annoying and incessant renditions of "Kathleen" … ONE … MORE … TIME.

So Chapel pines for Spock, Spock misses his mother, and Kirk gives a wistful thought to Yeoman Rand, but beyond that we're not told much already known or figured out. Does it really take a strange alien sickness to tell us the captain of a starship has committed his life to her service? While it has its moments, particularly those featuring George, in the end it doesn't amount to much considering no one really gets naked except him and a strange shirt-ripped Shatner. Thankfully this omission was corrected for TNG!