STAR TREK: Return of the Archons

Cafe Society
1

Sorry for the late post … Been sick.

So We begin last weeks episode Return of the Archons
Same rules as always:
Treat this as the first time the episode has aired, No mention of later episodes (unless using [2005] [/2005]. You may make 1960s references tying into the episode. We are going in Production order (for a list see the following List ) blah blah blah…
Synopsis: While doing a survey of Beta III, a planet where the USS Archon disappeared 100 years previous, The landing party is attacked. Sulu is beamed aboard just after he zapped by “The Lawgivers” When beamed aboard he is one with a being called Landru and is opposed to his crew who he decries as “Not of the body”

Kirk and a landing party go to the planet to investigate. They arrive just prior to a local tradition known as Festival, where the inhabitants engage in wanton destruction and debauchery. They bring suspicion upon themselves by hiding out in a hotel room during Festival. It seems it is a mandatory activity. Once over, the inhabitants return to their peaceful almost zombie like ways.

It seems that the entire population is under the control of Landru who has suppressed their development and “negative emotions” in what it refers to as absorption into the body. A few people decedents of the Archons have been unaffected and formed an underground movement.
On top of this The Enterprise comes under attack by Landru and is being pulled to the planet much as the Archon had 100 years before.

With the help of some of the unabsorbed people Kirk and crew soon learn the real secret behind Landru. With Kirk’s logic they defeat it and save his crew and the people of Beta III from its influence.
Thoughts:
I really liked this episode. The idea of Peace and order being enforced at the cost of freedom and growth is a very interesting one. Kirk and crew have to try harder to blend in though. There were enough hints that they should have been out at festival rather than hiding in their room all night. (I’m not saying they should have been participating, just finding a more hidden spot)

Is it wise for the bridge officers to go planet side? You have the Helmsman, the Captain, First officer and Chief Medical officer put in harms way. There is another Bridge officer there too I’ve seen in a number of previous episodes. He doesn’t have any lines but has a very hard head (A rock bounces off of it when they are attacked by the body and he doesn’t even flinch)

I liked how Kirk defeated Landru using its own logic and the underlying compassion that the real Landru had originally wanted instilled into it.

Nice touch with the Law givers becoming confused when the crew refused to go with them and on their next encounter threatened them “They learn very quickly”

I also liked how McCoy became a threat to their group once absorbed.

I understand that being suppressed is wrong…. But really, aside from the threat to the Enterprise, did they really need to interfere as much as they did? They seem happy that the crew left behind were talking about fist fights and domestic disputes amongst the population.

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Boy, this epsiode could spark some serious philisophical debate.

Freedom is important, law and order is important, all laws restrict freedom. So where is the proper balance?

I enjoyed this episode on many levels. I want to run throught the streets shouting “Festival! Festival!”

As for your comment on sending the bridge crew. It might not make logical sense, but it does make good story telling. You have to grant a little artistic license.

3

I liked this episode, though it has all the sublety of a sledgehammer. Hope Roddenberry doesn’t get this “on the nose” again about things like freedom, peace and other worship words.

Boy, that fellow Lindstrom is one tough cookie. A rock the size of William Shatner’s ego beans him on the noggin and he doesn’t bat a lash, just keeps running.

Sir Rhosis

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[2005]Oops, I read right over the OP’s mention of the rock. A lot of people misremember Mr. Leslie as the guy who gets hit and keeps running. It wasn’t Leslie (Eddie Paskey), rather it was the actor playing Lindstrom the sociologist.[/2005].

Sir Rhosis

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I heard that Gene Roddenberry (or however you spell that guy’s name) used to be a cop. Wonder how he felt about the premise of this episode.

6

This episode features Torin Thatcher as Marplon in a much too small and underdeveloped role. Thatcher was a Shakespearean actor who could play great villains in kid’s films (He was wonderful as Sokurah the Magician in seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Pendragon in Jack the Giant Killer) and in adult movies (He was the prosecutor in Witness for the Prosecution and the Reverend (in Sturbridge Village!) in Hawaii). He a,lso played a Spirit in 1936’s The Man Who Could Work Miracles, in which he has hair!)

Woulda like to have seen more of him. He had real presence.

7

Well I dug this episode. I loved the idea of the well-intentioned imposition of order, and how that can actually be ultimately harmful.

Spock, the Vulcanian, mentioned a ‘prime directive of non-interference’. Is this the first we’ve heard about it? What does it mean? That they’re not allowed to interfere in other cultures? That seems like a pretty difficult rule to keep to, given that their mission is to go out and actually meet these other cultures. What constitutes interference?

My two pet peeves don’t show up here. The crew is actually exploring, not serving as a big space-taxi or delivery van. And there’s no real instance of SCS (Stupid Crew Syndrome). McCoy and Sulu seemed to get absorbed pretty darn quickly, but I guess that’s not really their fault.

And no blonde yeoman! I miss ensign Smith (or was it Jones?)

thwartme

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Man, I hope one day we have computers that don’t crash as easily as that. Yeesh.

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Yeah, I hate to be nitpicky, but the idea that Kirk or anyone else can take a computer powerful enough to run an entire society for 6,000 years and turn it into rubble with a single contradiction is a bit of a stretch.

Suppose the computer had just thought for a second and said, “You are correct. This is a paradox. I will adjust my programming accordingly”?

10

Actually, we know what Roddenberry thought of this idea. He got credited with the story.

I wonder exactly what point he’s trying to make, tho. Is it a big government vs free will struggle? Or something else?

In this story, he seems to be telling us that a system of rigid control leads to both mindlessness and violence. In the Red Hour sequence, when control over the populace is lifted, they go into a frenzy of destructive and immoral acts. Vandalism, assault, even implied rape!

But, being an ex cop (also was a combat and later commercial pilot during and right after the War), Gene knows that some control is neccessary. We all learned in our schooling that in the laissez faire theory of government, problems were rife. Putting one small group of people in a position of power leads to corruption. But, giving everybody equal power is impractical. Maybe having thinking machines thrown into the mix is a good alternative. But then he highlights what has to be seen as a loss of humanity and morality in letting machines govern.

So, his message is confusing. Either that or it’s so deep I don’t see it.
The episode was enjoyable over all. I don’t approve of the dues ex machina used at the end, but they had to end it somehow, the show was out of time! :wink: The guest stars were great. Hopefully, we’ll see an better mix of guests and regulars in future eps.