This episode is best known for Kirk talking a computer to death. Rather strangely this will not be the last time this happens. It is a good thing this doesn’t happen in real life. Imagine if every computer fed contradictory information burst into flames.
The episode opens with Sulu and Lieutenant O’Neil running for their lives. Unfortunately this O’Neil is not a wisecracking Air Force officer, he has only the one L, and probably also has no sense of humour.
O’Neil runs away but Sulu is beamed up. All is not well though as just before be is beamed aboard a hooded figure zaps him with a stick. This leaves Sulu with a mad grin on his face. He speaks of Landru and says that Kirk and the others are not ‘of the body.’
I like this teaser it is effective and sets up the forthcoming story well.
Kirk beams down with a landing party to find O’Neil. The people on the planet speak in an odd cadence. Then, suddenly, everyone starts to riot in what is called the red hour.
It is not explained what the red hour is. I have heard, and I cannot remember where from, that this rioting is supposed to be a human reaction to being controlled. The idea is humans cannot survive being totally controlled so to balance it out they have to have this ‘red hour’.
Technically speaking these people aren’t human. Budgetary restraints do not allow for Star Trek to have alien aliens. I wonder what a series might have done if money was no object.
The Enterprise is here to investigate the disappearance of the star ship Archon. They seem to investigate starship disappearances a lot. It has been a century. I have just one question. ‘What took you so long?’
The landing party is given directions to the home of a man named Reger. They burst into his home seeing shelter from the rioters. The prime directive is important this week so they say they are from the valley. (Apparently there is only one.) Very convenient that these people look human.
Reger’s daughter is outside and in danger becasiue of the riots. Reger says he can do nothing for her as it is the will of Landru.
Reger is with two other men. One of whom, Hacom, recognises that the landing party are ‘not of the body’ and that they should all be at the “Festive” the other name for the red hour.
This is where things get a little muddled. The red hour has a profound effect on the people. They start to scream and riot. It comes across like a machine set to do something at a particular time. However the dialogue suggests that the landing party is choosing not to attend. They are, of course, but it seems odd that that could be possible for a native of the world. It seems Reger and his companions are exempt because of their age.
I am watching this as I write and it would appear that the Festival and the red hour are not entirely the same thing. I am unsure where the line is drawn. Is just the first hour the red hour and then it is the Festival – which looks like a riot – or, if this was Springfield a Tuesday.
Kirk asks about Landru but Reger is frightened to answer such questions.
The landing party spend then night on the planet. The morning comes and the people stop rioting. They start to move again in that dazed state.
Reger asks if Kirk and company are Archons. The implication being whatever happened here was sparked by the starship Archon. The more I watch TOS the more I understand why the PD became so dogmatic later on. There are many episodes of TOS where Federation, or human, interference causes problems on other worlds.
The lawgivers arrive. They kill Tamar, the other of Reger’s friends, and threaten the landing party with being absorbed. Kirk defies them and the lawgivers pause for a moment – they are unprepared for outright disobedience. The confusion gives them a way to get away.
Reger takes them to a safe place. The landing party fake being of the body by acting as they do. Suddenly Landru starts to control the people. They pick up debris to use as weapons. The landing party stuns them, they find O’Neil and, much to the annoyance of Reger, bring him with them.
Reger is part of an underground that opposes Landru. Tamar was his contact. Reger doesn’t know how to contact the underground.
Kirk checks in with Scotty. The Enterprise is under attack. It is a bit of a weird that Scotty didn’t check in when the attack started – but the upshot is that there are heat beams targeted on the Enterprise – we have our ticking clock – twelve hours till the Enterprise hits atmosphere and is destroyed.
Then we get out first look at Landru – and, he is just this guy you know
Incidentally Kirk and Spock talk about the projection of Landru and how advanced it is – take that Disvovery.
Landru describes the world as one of peace – a paradise. To Kirk this is roughly akin to saying a person ended unemployment by killing the unemployed. Landru threatens the landing party with being absorbed. Who does he think he is a Borg or something.
A loud noise renders the landing party unconscious. The landing party is relocated to a maximum security facility. Kirk notices that some of their party have been taken – including McCoy.
McCoy returns with an air of serenity to him. Kirk shakes him. Apparently that is just what you do to someone in distress. This is not the only time this happens. Kirk and Spock are taken next.
The man running the conversion machine is part of the underground. He doesn’t do the conversion on Kirk and Spock – the two of them disarm the guards and take their one size fits all uniforms.
Now that they could leave if they so wished the question of what to do now is brought up. The prime directive is mentioned but Kirk dismisses it. As this is a stagnant culture he believes the PD doesn’t apply.
Kirk and Spock are brought before Landru. Here is where Kirk, with help from Spock, talks Landru to death. It boils down to a logical issue. Landru, a machine created by a man of the same name, was created to protect the people. It is now a threat to the people so it must be destroyed – so maybe Kirk just convinced a sapient machine to kill itself. I don’t want to touch that interpretation with a barge poll.
So we come to the end of the episode. Some experts from the Enterprise are left to help the people transition to a ‘human’ society and the Enterprise heads off to its next job.
I rather like this episode. It feels like a bit of a cliche, people serving a machine, but it is still an enjoyable outing.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Unstable Orbit 