The script for The Joy Machine, by Theodore Sturgeon (who wrote many excellent short stories, and two mediocre Star Trek episodes; Amok Time, and Shore Leave), was never used as a Star Trek episode (the script of  The Joy Machine was novelized by James Gunn).

In The Joy Machine, the Enterprise is dispatched to a leisure planet that has cut communication with the Federation. Several Federation agents were sent to the planet, but they all disappeared without a trace. Also missing is one of Captain Kirk’s many ‘old flames’.

It turns out that the planet’s inhabitants are now blissfully controlled by a computer. Sounds original…

Sturgeon’s Revelation (often referred to as Sturgeon’s Law) is a maxim attributed to a Theodore Sturgeon quote: “Ninety percent of everything is crap;” therefore, the abundance of low-quality works in science fiction is similar to any other artistic endeavour.