Five days later, McCoy and Scotty find the two missing officers in shallow waters, but their bodies have been mutated to water-breathing, fishlike forms. For two days, McCoy tries to find the antidote and fails. Kirk and Spock transport down to the planet (wearing water-breather gear for beam-down) and explore Argo's ocean, searching for whatever or whoever mutated them. They find the Aquans, a race of water-breathing people that are fearful of air-breathers. They capture the two officers and bring them before their Tribunes (the leaders), who reveal that Aquan scientists saved their lives by mutation via "sergo-op;" the same way the Aquans voluntarily became water-breathers. While they are away, Scotty and McCoy learn that a sea quake is due in four hours. When Scotty tries to find Captain Kirk, the Aquans see it as betrayal and banish the Starfleet officers to a small island, tied down in a net. Reila, a young Aquan Tribune, finds Scotty and leads him to his commanding officers.
Once freed, Kirk and Spock convince Reila to take them to find the Ancient Records, which will give them the key to reverse mutation. They discover that the antitoxin is made from the venom of the Argo sur-snake, and Kirk and Spock must once again get Reila and her friends to help them. They capture a sur-snake and take a sample of its venom, and then beam up to the Enterprise. McCoy finds the formula, but he doesn't know the exact dosage, so Kirk tells him to guess and consents to being first. Kirk comes perilously close to death by over-mutation, but he survives and is reverted back to human form. Spock is transformed, and then they both report to the bridge and divert the upcoming sea quake, saving the Aquans. The sea quake, concentrated at an unpopulated area of the planet, caused the land to rise up again. Some young Aquans decide to go back to being air-breathers and rebuild the cities of the Surface-Builders. Kirk and Spock leave Argo behind, as well as a race that has finally come to terms with itself.
Also, in most of the pictures, there is a little logo in the bottom right corner. I can't get rid of it, but that's what I get for taking screenshots off a TV channel for little kids. (Why the TV people thought this was a kid's show is beyond me...)
Okay, that was unnecessarily long...but anyhow, that's not the point. After watching this episode (5 times, might I add), I decided to get some screenshots from relevant parts of the episode. The result was 100 pictures EXACTLY, making sort of a "picture novel" of The Ambergris Element. After consideration, I have put these 100 pictures up on this site for your viewing pleasure, in chronological order. WARNING: Some of these pictures will be blurred. This is NOT my fault. During some underwater scenes, the images would wave around and blur, as if they were really underwater. I got the clearest shot from each scene in which this happens, but even so I could not get rid of all the blurring. Please don't blame it on me.












![I will be of little use to the ship if I am confined to a tank in Sickbay. I must accompany the Captain [to Argo].](026.gif)




































