History Recap / StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth

* DistantSequel: The events of this episode go completely unremarked in canon for the next fifty-four real-life years (and fifty-six years in universe) before the presence of Supervisors on late-20th/early-21st century Earth becomes a major plot point in season two of ''Series/StarTrekPicard.'' [[ArcWelding Furthermore, the Supervisors are revealed to be associates of the Traveler's unnamed species.]]

* DistantSequel: The events of this episode go completely unremarked in canon for the next fifty-four real-life years (and fifty-six years in universe) before the presence of Supervisors on late-20th/early-21st century Earth becomes a major plot point in season two of ''Series/StarTrekPicard.''

The ''Enterprise'' goes back in time to visit the year 1968 to observe and report. Amazingly, they discover a transporter beam signal, something that didn't exist in 20th Century Earth. They intercept and beam aboard a humanoid called Gary Seven and his black cat, Isis. Mr. Seven soon escapes, sending a few {{Redshirts}} to la-la land. (No one dies in this ep. In fact, they all have blissful smiles on their faces as they're incapacitated.) As he beams down to Earth, Kirk and Spock follow to make sure he doesn't pollute the time stream since his excuse of being from a planet they never heard of and being there as an agent of protection seems far fetched.

** Gary Seven regularly holds and pets his cat Isis. He is on Earth to save it from nuclear war and saves Captain Kirk from being killed by Roberta.

** Gary Seven.
** Spock is shown petting Isis who seems to adore the attention. Spock has an even harder time hiding his affection for her than he did with the Tribbles!

* CurseCutShort: Roberta stops a computer before it can say where her star shaped mark is located. (Granted, the computer probably would've used medically acceptable terminology for whatever part of the anatomy her mark was on.)

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: This was meant to be a half hour show conceptualized by Roddenberry. It was written way back when ''Star Trek'''s first season was still in production. It never got off the ground, but why waste a good story? It's actually pretty obvious they barely rewrote an existing script to feature the Enterprise crew, since they have no effect on events whatsoever.

!!Tropes for this episode include:

** A closeup of Scotty behind the transporter station is recycled from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin The Enemy Within]]".
** Stock footage of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (without clouds) is reused from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri Miri]]".
** The Saturn V stock footage is of the SA 500f dummy and of Apollos 4 and 6.

* ShaggySearchTechnique: How Roberta discovers the secret alcove containing Gary Seven's teleporter.

* ShoutOut: East 68th Street is also the street that was home to the main characters from ''Series/ILoveLucy''.

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: The U.S. is putting a nuclear warhead into orbit in response to a similar act of aggression by another power. Which power is never specified, but we all know who they're talking about, don't we? Later on, the malfunctioning warhead is headed for "the heart of the Euro-Asian continent." Gee, I wonder what country is there.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: Kirk and Spock refer to interesting experiences Roberta and Gary will have once NBC green lights their series.

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: The U.S. is putting a nuclear warhead into orbit in response to a similar act of aggression by another power. Which power is never specified, but we all know who they're talking about. Later on, the malfunctioning warhead is headed for "the heart of the Euro-Asian continent." Gee, I wonder what country is there.

** The establishing shot of downtown Manhattan used to open act 2 is also seen in numerous episodes of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' throughout that series.

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Gary creates a batch of fake ID cards with various police and intelligence credentials. When he realizes that he's let Roberta Lincoln see more than she should, he covers himself by claiming to be a CIA agent.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: ''Assignment: Earth'' was meant to be a half hour show conceptualized by Roddenberry. It was written way back when ''Star Trek'''s first season was still in production. It never got off the ground, but why waste a good story? It's actually pretty obvious they barely rewrote an existing script to feature the Enterprise crew, since they have no effect on events whatsoever.

** A closeup of Scotty behind the transporter station is recycled from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheEnemyWithin The Enemy Within]]".
** Stock footage of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (without clouds) is reused from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E11Miri Miri]]".

* StockFootage: Courtesy of NASA.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Is Isis a cat who can turn into a woman or a woman who can turn into a cat?