Today we have another episode that I've seen but can barely remember. This episode asks the question that has pondered men for centuries, what if the Roman gladiators had live television? I don't who asked that either.
Plot:Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are captured on a planet that resembles the Roman Empire but with 20th Century technology.
Guest Stars:Logan Ramsey as Claudius, Ian Wolfe as Septimus, William Smithers as Merik
Nitpick:In the opening the whole Bridge crew are listening as Spock explains the debris they have found. It always seems awkward, everyone sitting and watching Spock on his scanner.
Summary:
Teaser-The Enterprise discovers the wreckage of the U.S.S.Beagle commanded by Captain Merik, an old friends of Kirk's. The ship orbits a planet (which of course is exactly like Earth in many ways) to investigate if any survivors ended p there and receives old fashioned TV broadcast showing Gladiator match in which a gladiator kills a "barbarian". When Spock recognizes that the person killed was a crewman on the Beagle, Kirk decides they need to investigate.
Act 1-Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down in the outskirts of the city and are quickly captured by the "children of the sun", runaway slaves hiding in caves to avoid recapture. They take them to a cave (which I swear I've in a certain other 1960's TV show) and one former gladiator says that the three should be killed. Kirk calls the ship to prove to them their good intentions. It works and the crew are welcomed by the former slaves. They explain that they are believers in the sun and persecuted for those beliefs. Kirk and Spock are amazed at how the planet Ancient Rome just in the 20th Century. They deduce that Merik is now Merikus, the first citizen. Since it seems that he violated the prime directive, they need to find him. They are led into the city, and quickly captured.
Act 2-The police take the three to the city where Kirk forces a meeting with Merikus. Slaves were united until they started to believe in the message of the sun, opposing the leadership. Kirk tries a trick to get past the guards but it goes nowhere when they find it is Merik after all. Claudius, the pro counsel, suggests putting them into the arena. Merick explains his ship has meteor damage, and when they went to planet they met Claudius. Merick decided to stay om the planet and the rest of the crew were beamed down and either assimilated into the culture or put in the area. Kirk is appalled he would violate the prime directive like that. Claudius gives Kirk his communicator and tells him to order his crew down to fight in the arena. Kirk is about to order a beam up, when guards appear. So instead, he tells Scotty to order a code green. Alerting Scotty that the landing party is in trouble but do not beam down anyone. Claudius has them prepared for the games.
Act 3-Scotty needs to decide what to do next, and tells Chelov to locate power source on the planet that maybe they can mess with to scare them. Meanwhile on the planet Spock and McCoy are preparing for the games (televised like a modern day sporting event with a recorded audience and an announcer calling the action). Spock and McCoy fight two other slaves, and McCoy has trouble and nearly dies. Kirk calmly refuses to beam down anymore officers. Spock ends up using a nerve pinch, which violates the rules. The two are spared from death so that Claudius can keep bargaining with Kirk.
Act 4-Kirk enters Claudius's quarters where a slave girl She pours him wine and says she is his slave for the night. Because of course we have to a pointless female scene in the episode. Kirk refuses saying it wont work. In their cell, Spock is trying to escape and McCoy begins psychoanalyzing him. Saying that he is never afraid of dying because he never really lives. Spock seems to be apologetic, but McCoy changes the subject to worrying about Kirk. It's a weird scene I do not like it as much as others do. Kirk and the girl continue, and why is this here? Maybe they needed to kill time, but this is one of the more flagrant and pointless female excursions the show will take with Kirk. Later he wakes up alone, and Claudius appears saying eventually the crew will beam down. Claudius says Kirk is to be executed, thus the night with the slave girl. On the Enterprise Scotty is preparing to disrupt the power sources on the planet. Kirk is saved from exception and grabs a weapon, as the power goes out. Kirk races and frees Kirk and Spock from their cell. The guards then catch up to them, but Merick has a change of heart and pulls out a communicator. Just as Claudius stabs him, Merick tosses the communicator to Kirk and the three are safely beamed up. Safely back on the Enterprise, Scotty is given a commendation for acting but still obeying rules. When Spock and McCoy wonder how son worship could have developed, it's Uhura who clears it up. They don't worship the "sun", they worship the son of god. Ceasar and Christ, they had them both. The philosophy will replace their imperial Rome, in the 20th century.
Final Thoughts:I'm gonna be honest, a lot of this episode goes over my head. I don't know enough about religion and Ancient Rome to get a lot of the subtext and symbolism. Does that mean I hate the episode? Not hate, but it sure isn't a favorite I'll put on when I want to watch an episode on a random day. That being said, it isn't bad. There's plenty of action and strong character moments (one between McCoy and Spock is often called the best of the series). And I love that Uhura gets that last word explaining what the children of the sun really are. The ending feels a little rushed, but it's not incredibly stupid or unwatchable. The big flaw for me is the forced romantic stuff. I’m not as hard on kirks womanizing as others because usually it’s for story reasons and generally doesn’t go to far. Here the woman vanishes from the episode and it does nothing for the story but help fill the run time.
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