Who Mourns for Adonais?: TOS Episode 31 Production 33 Original Air Date 9/22/1967 Stardate 3468.1

Who Mourns for Adonais? - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 33 Episode # 31
Air Date: 9/22/1967
Stardate: 3468.1

As the U.S.S. Enterprise nears the planet Pollux IV, a huge, green hand made of energy materializes in space, catching the U.S.S. Enterprise and holding it captive. Kirk and a landing party are transported to the planet's surface where they find a being who claims to be Apollo, the last of the Greek gods who dwelled on ancient Earth's Mount Olympus. All the other gods, Apollo tells Kirk, died of loneliness when they left their home of Mount Olympus. Apollo's plan for the U.S.S. Enterprise crew is that they settle on Pollux IV and worship their god, Apollo.

Sensors show that Apollo's god-like abilities come from an organic ability to use energy from sources outside himself. His apparent powers include storms, thunderbolts and an ability to grow into a giant, towering above the Enterprise landing party.

Attempts to foil Apollo's plans are hampered by Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, who has fallen in love with the god and whom Apollo decides will be his bride. Scotty, who has beamed down with the party, had harbored hopes of romance with the young lieutenant and objects to Apollo's attentions. Apollo's response is to hurtle the engineer through the air by way of a thunderbolt.

Spock determines that the god's powers come from his temple. When Kirk tells Lt. Palamas to reject Apollo, which she reluctantly does, the captain uses the U.S.S. Enterprise's weapons to destroy Apollo's temple. Apollo, rejected by a mortal woman and bereft of his powers, spreads himself upon the winds to join his fellow gods.

"Who Mourns for Adonais?"

A nifty idea: the Greek god Apollo turns out to be quite real, a powerful extraterrestrial (Michael Forest) waiting some 5,000 years for the human race to develop enough to meet him out in the cosmos. Catching sight of the Enterprise, he immobilizes the ship and demands that the members of a landing party--Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and antiquities specialist Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish)--bow before him and prepare to spend the rest of their lives being cherished through his insistent love. A doubting Kirk recruits his people to secretly find the mechanical source of Apollo's power to throw lightning bolts, become a giant, and punish his naughty Enterprise children by tossing them around like rag dolls. The stern god gives Kirk a sword, so to speak, by falling for Lt. Palamas, setting the stage for some stormy drama late in the game. Written by television veteran and Greek myth aficionado Gilbert Ralston (with a polish by producer Gene L. Coon that enhanced the story's relationships), and directed by Marc Daniels, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is one of those classic Trek episodes that lingers in the memory for the creative incongruity of its story line (starships and Olympians) and principal set (an Athenian temple with a few trees, shrubs, and confused Starfleet personnel). Wonderful stuff. A subplot involving Scotty's big-time crush on Palamas provides a rare glimpse into the emotional life of one of the supporting players--even if his gallant efforts to save her from Apollo's wooing result in a concussion or two. --Tom Keogh

"Amok Time"
Easily one of the best episodes from the original Star Trek series, "Amok Time" was written by the novelist Theodore Sturgeon, who came up with a story about a Vulcan mating cycle that occurs every seven years and drives the normally stolid, logical, pointy-eared humanoids wild. When Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is suddenly caught in the grip of pon farr, a crazy-making urge to mate, he sets a course for his home planet despite orders to the contrary from Captain Kirk (William Shatner). Kirk comes around, however, and accompanies Spock and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to Vulcan, where Spock is to wed T'Pring (Arlene Martel) in an arranged marriage. But T'Pring formally rejects Spock, forcing a duel in which the captain must participate or let Spock die. There's high drama galore in this one, beginning with Spock's feverish savagery and extending to the fascinating complexity of Vulcan rituals, set against the eerie emptiness of the planet's landscape. For good measure, there's also the startling sight of Kirk and Spock fighting it out to the death. Supporting performances are terrific, including that of Celia Lovsky (the real-life wife of Peter Lorre) as the matriarch T'Pau. This is also the episode that gave birth to the split-fingered Vulcan salute (inspired by Nimoy's memories of the kohanin blessing at Jewish temples) and the phrase "live long and prosper." One of Trek's more highly charged episodes, you can feel a certain spontaneous energy here--indeed, some of the more inspired actors even made up their own lines. --Tom Keogh