History YMMV / StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth

* SpecialEffectFailure: A rare instance of this trope applying far more to the remastered version of the episode than the original. In the transmitted version, a stock shot of the ''Enterprise'' orbiting Earth was taken from the previous season's "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E19TomorrowIsYesterday Tomorrow is Yesterday]]," and a stock Saturn V photograph was used for the rocket which Gary messes with; both were fairly typical quality for the era. In the remastered version, however, they added a new orbital shot which shows the Earth rotating ''backwards'' and didn't bother cleaning up the Saturn V photo whatsoever, meaning that it goes from looking acceptable on a 1960s TV to looking absolutely awful on a modern HDTV.

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep Fury From the Deep"]], broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s. (It's also worth mentioning that ''Doctor Who'' wasn't broadcast in the U.S. until 1972,[[note]]Not counting the parts of northern border states that received Creator/{{CBC}} broadcasts[[/note]] so it's unlikely that the ''Star Trek'' writers would have been aware of it in 1968.). Also, the concept of the Doctor acting as an agent for some TimePolice (in this case, the Time Lords) hadn't yet been conceived as that would be introduced with the Third Doctor in TheSeventies. Even the Time Lords hadn't been invented yet for the show and the Doctor was still an aimless wanderer, not yet temporarily assigned to Earth.

** Spock lists several scenarios that Gary Seven could have been sent to affect in 1968 Earth. One of them is "an important assassination." The episode aired March 29, 1968. UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr was assassinated on April 4, 1968. To twist the knife even further, Robert Kennedy's assassination occurred just two months later.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: There's a reason why Gary Seven and his entourage have been such an incredibly popular subject for both fan fiction and officially-licensed ''Franchise/StarTrek'' spin-off material. Unfortunately, the actual episode generally isn't seen as one of TOS's better ones, due to its PoorlyDisguisedPilot nature being a little too obvious, and the series regulars getting almost nothing to do.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The Enterprise crew goes back in time and Spock mentions that an unnamed important person is supposed to be assassinated on that day. Since the episode was meant as [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot a "backdoor pilot" for another show]], this was not elaborated upon. However, six days after the episode aired, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered.

* HarsherInHindsight: Spock lists several scenarios that Gary Seven could have been sent to affect in 1968 Earth. One of them is "an important assassination." The episode aired March 29, 1968. UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr was assassinated on April 4, 1968. To twist the knife even further, Robert Kennedy's assassination occurred just two months later.

* ValuesResonance: "I know this world needs help. That's why some of my generation are kind of crazy and rebels, you know. We wonder if we're gonna be alive when we're thirty." Roberta is talking about the young Baby Boomers of the 1960s, but these lines could be delivered verbatim by a Millennial or Gen Z'er in the early 21st century.

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep Fury From the Deep"]], broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s. (It's also worth mentioning that ''Doctor Who'' wasn't broadcast in the U.S. until 1972, so it's unlikely that the ''Star Trek'' writers would have been aware of it in 1968.). Also, the concept of the Doctor acting as an agent for some TimePolice (in this case, the Time Lords) hadn't yet been conceived as that would be introduced with the Third Doctor in TheSeventies. Even the Time Lords hadn't been invented yet for the show and the Doctor was still an aimless wanderer, not yet temporarily assigned to Earth.

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep Fury From the Deep"]], broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s. (It's also worth mentioning that ''Doctor Who'' wasn't broadcast in the U.S. until 1972, so it's unlikely that the ''Star Trek'' writers would have been aware of it in 1968.). Also, the concept of the Doctor acting as an agent for some TimePolice (in this case, the Time Lords) hadn't yet been conceived as that would be introduced with the ThirdDoctor in TheSeventies. Even the Time Lords hadn't been invented yet for the show and the Doctor was still an aimless wanderer, not yet temporarily assigned to Earth.

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep Fury From the Deep"]], broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s. (It's also worth mentioning that ''Doctor Who'' wasn't broadcast in the U.S. until 1972, so it's unlikely that the ''Star Trek'' writers would have been aware of it in 1968.)

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "Fury From the Deep", broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s. (It's also worth mentioning that ''Doctor Who'' wasn't broadcast in the U.S. until 1972, so it's unlikely that the ''Star Trek'' writers would have been aware of it in 1968.)

* NewerThanTheyThink: Some fans have been known to point out similarities between Gary Seven and the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (a mysterious ScienceHero with a female companion and a MagicTool). Except that the Doctor didn't actually have those characteristics at the time the episode was broadcast: the sonic screwdriver was introduced in the story "Fury From the Deep", broadcast in the same month as this episode, and the idea of the Doctor having a single female companion was not introduced until the early 1970s.

* HarsherInHindsight: Spock lists several scenarios that Gary Seven could have been sent to affect in 1968 Earth. One of them is "an important assassination." The episode aired March 28, 1968. UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr was assassinated on April 4, 1968. To twist the knife even further, Robert Kennedy's assassination occurred just two months later.

* HarsherInHindsight: Spock lists several scenarios that Gary Seven could have been sent to affect in 1968 Earth. One of them is "an important assassination". The episode aired March 28, 1968. UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr was assassinated on April 4, 1968. To twist the knife even further, Robert Kennedy's assassination occurred just two months later.
* SpecialEffectFailure: A rare instance of this trope applying far more to the remastered version of the episode than the original. In the transmitted version, a stock shot of the ''Enterprise'' orbiting Earth was taken from the previous season's "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E19TomorrowIsYesterday Tomorrow is Yesterday]]", and a stock Saturn V photograph was used for the rocket which Gary messes with; both were fairly typical quality for the era. In the remastered version however they added a new orbital shot which shows the Earth rotating ''backwards'', and didn't bother cleaning up the Saturn V photo whatsoever, meaning that it goes from looking acceptable on a 1960s TV to looking absolutely awful on a modern HDTV.

* FanficFuel: Gary Seven and his team, since their story was deliberately left open for further adventures. They've appeared in books and comics interacting with history both real and fictional (including encounters with Khan Noonien Singh during the Eugenics Wars).

* SpecialEffectFailure: A rare instance of this trope applying far more to the remastered version of the episode than the original. In the transmitted version, a stock shot of the ''Enterprise'' orbiting Earth was taken from the previous season's "Tomorrow is Yesterday," and a stock Saturn V photograph was used for the rocket which Gary messes with; both were fairly typical quality for the era. In the remastered version however they added a new orbital shot which shows the Earth rotating ''backwards'', and didn't bother cleaning up the Saturn V photo whatsoever, meaning that it goes from looking acceptable on a 1960s TV to looking absolutely awful on a modern HDTV.