Star Trek The Original Series Episode 21 Review

It might seem strange to say this, but in season one of the original series Gene Roddenberry seemed content to avoid what might be seen as entirely science-fiction stories; instead the series is happier with storylines that concentrate on emotions and dilemmas of the characters. But presumably buoyed by success, the show gets more ambitious in these respects as it progresses, and The Return Of The Archons, written by Boris Sobelman, has an almost pure science-fiction-based premise. When Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to investigate, they discover a society which is modelled on 19th century America, but with some unusual differences. The citizens are strictly controlled by the lawgivers, except during a ‘Red Hour’ where for a period of time (longer than an hour, strangely) no law exists and people go on a rampage of sex and violence. This appears to be some sort of a control mechanism, devolved from a dictator Landru who appears to use mass telepathy to control the populous. Because they don’t attend the ‘festival’ of debauchery, the crew of the Enterprise soon come to the attention of the lawgivers, and they’re captured to be asked, “Are you the Archons?”. When they realise they’re not the Archons, or ‘of the body’, they decide to ‘absorb’ them into the culture using technology that makes people mindless. Luckily for Kirk and co, there is also a subversive underground group who free the crew and allow them to unravel the truth behind Landru. There are several interesting aspects to this story; most notably, it’s the first time that the ‘Prime Directive’ is mentioned, and discussed. There’s a debate about how possibly the Enterprise should allow those on Beta III to continue their culture in whatever way it’s developed. But Kirk makes the counter-argument that this isn’t a living developing culture and as such it’s acceptable to try to make it so. The other noteworthy detail is the appearance of the brilliant Torin Thatcher as renegade priest Marplon. This British born actor often played villains, including, most memorably, as Sokurah the Magician in The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958).

title: “Star Trek The Original Series Episode 21 Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-10” author: “Joy Tucker”

It might seem strange to say this, but in season one of the original series Gene Roddenberry seemed content to avoid what might be seen as entirely science-fiction stories; instead the series is happier with storylines that concentrate on emotions and dilemmas of the characters. But presumably buoyed by success, the show gets more ambitious in these respects as it progresses, and The Return Of The Archons, written by Boris Sobelman, has an almost pure science-fiction-based premise. When Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to investigate, they discover a society which is modelled on 19th century America, but with some unusual differences. The citizens are strictly controlled by the lawgivers, except during a ‘Red Hour’ where for a period of time (longer than an hour, strangely) no law exists and people go on a rampage of sex and violence. This appears to be some sort of a control mechanism, devolved from a dictator Landru who appears to use mass telepathy to control the populous. Because they don’t attend the ‘festival’ of debauchery, the crew of the Enterprise soon come to the attention of the lawgivers, and they’re captured to be asked, “Are you the Archons?”. When they realise they’re not the Archons, or ‘of the body’, they decide to ‘absorb’ them into the culture using technology that makes people mindless. Luckily for Kirk and co, there is also a subversive underground group who free the crew and allow them to unravel the truth behind Landru. There are several interesting aspects to this story; most notably, it’s the first time that the ‘Prime Directive’ is mentioned, and discussed. There’s a debate about how possibly the Enterprise should allow those on Beta III to continue their culture in whatever way it’s developed. But Kirk makes the counter-argument that this isn’t a living developing culture and as such it’s acceptable to try to make it so. The other noteworthy detail is the appearance of the brilliant Torin Thatcher as renegade priest Marplon. This British born actor often played villains, including, most memorably, as Sokurah the Magician in The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958).