Original air date: March 1, 1968
SYNOPSIS
Responding to a distress signal, Kirk finds Captain Tracey of the U.S.S. Exeter violating the prime directive and interfering with a war between the Yangs and the Kohms to find the secret of their longevity.
CANON CONTEXT
The title is taken from a line spoken by Juliet in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet: “that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet”, a line quoted by Captain Kirk during the episode.
RECAP
NOTE: I watched this episode and wrote this review back in August. But at the time I was in the middle of moving and if you’ve ever sold one house to purchase another, then you know just how long and daunting and extremely stressful that can be. Suffice it to say, I am BACK to watch Star Trek regularly and finally move on to the next series before the New Year.
Never bet against Star Trek. That is what I keep telling myself after watching this episode. Sure, it’s the same as every other episode I’ve seen thus far in the last two seasons. Except, I don’t know, this one hit…different? It was a combination of absolutely ridiculous and genius. The Star Trek formula?
I want to jump to the last 15min of this episode because, the first 35min, in my opinion, are just fluff and filler. Thinking back on it, as I have been for a couple days, I can honestly say I wish there was more of “the truth” of what this episode was intended to represent and be than what was presented to us to “string us along” because it really is quite confusing.
Let me see if I can quickly summarize the first 35min so I can move on to the more interesting bits:
The Enterprise is meant to rendezvous with another starship. Said starship is there but no sign of life on board. Crew on board starship have been turned to salt? Kirk, Bones, and Spock beam down to planet nearby to find out what has happened. They find captain of starship alive but very much crazy. He believes he’s found a version of the fountain of youth on the planet which only works as long as he remains on the planet with the people. In hindsight he should’ve realized why that is but we’ll get to that later. He’s made himself the leader of one of the groups there who are at war with the Yangs.
Now, this is where it starts to get “different” as I mentioned earlier. Yes, there is a femme fatale. But not how we expect her to be in a usual Star Trek episode up to this point. She is far from helpless even if she is being held behind bars by her enemy.
As you can see, she’s got all the protection she needs for a man who seems, by all accounts, to be quite a neanderthal. Turns out he is far from it. But let’s fast forward to the very end. Where it all begins to “make sense” if you call some garbled language that clearly sounds familiar to any “American” watching and listening.
Turns out that our history and our way of existing as one nation and all that will survive even thousands of years from now. Even if “man” were to regress back to caveman ways, they will still understand and learn and incorporate the same ideals. Even down to the pledge of allegiance…
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Cloud William: Ay plegli ianectu flaggen, tupep like for stahn…
Captain James T. Kirk: And to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.
