Officer’s Log, Stardate 3259.2 made by officer Spock.
SYNOPSIS
Kirk, Uhura and Chekov are trapped on a planet where abducted aliens are enslaved and trained to perform as gladiators for the amusement of bored, faceless aliens.
CANON CONTEXT
The popular Star Trek catchphrase “Beam me up, Scotty” is a common misquotation, with The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations stating that the nearest equivalent is the phrase uttered in this episode: “Scotty, beam us up.”
RECAP
This one is a bit of a hot-button episode as it delves into the idea of slavery. At least, as much as they could considering the time period when television could get away with a multitude of sins.
We start with a small crew of Kirk, Uhura, and Chekhov beaming down onto a planet for observations. That is what Enterprise is all about after all. Except, they don’t exactly beam down. They are brought down there by a being that is far superior to their own.
Once on the planet they are met by a group of “misfits” I think is the best word I can come up with to describe them. They are each different with varying degrees of odd make-up jobs.
The leader of the group, suffering the worst kind of make-up out of all of them, in my estimation, is the bald-headed guy in the middle there. He explains to the crew that they are now slaves and will each be assigned one person who will take care of them and train them. One guess who gets paired with Kirk…
They are equipped with this collar that can stun them if they get out of line and, well, you know this crew by now, getting out of line is their bread and butter.
Kirk quickly “falls in love” with little miss green hair and the rest is television history as I like to think of it. I’m sure if I did some digging someone out there has cataloged the exact number of women that Kirk found interest in throughout the series. Then again, it has been, what, an entire episode since he had a femme fatale to dominate.
Getting back to the story, the crew have to figure out how to outsmart a being that believes itself to be superior. So superior, in fact, that they are bored and therefore concocted this “game” if you will, where beings from all over the galaxy are brought to this planet for their amusement. A group of men will bet on who they believe will win in random fights. Sort of like gladiators.
Kirk ends up appealing to this voice that speaks from high above and they grant him permission to meet with them to discuss how he might make a deal with them.
Hold on to your hats as you feast your eyes upon the beings that have such enormous power!
Oh, and let’s not overlook shirtless Kirk. If there is one thing we can be guaranteed to see is his nipples at least once whenever he’s got femme fatale scenes. I wonder if that was a clause in his contract? Or a stipulation by the studio that he must appear shirtless for at least half of the season.
Either way, these colorful (I realize the colors come as a result of the remaster as the show was originally in black and white) brains get outsmarted by Kirk who agrees to battle anyone of their choosing. If he’s victorious then the brains must agree to no longer have slaves but to teach them to be self-sufficient instead. If he loses, then the entire Enterprise will have to live on the planet to be slaves forever. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.
But not to worry, Kirk would never let the Enterprise go that easily. Of course he manages to win out in the end. The people on the planet are free now and the femme fatale pledges to wait for him down on the planet.
How lucky Kirk is to get all these women falling for him only to easily leave them behind. No commitments. What a life!
One last thing I want to mention a bit out of order from how the episode went, but it is important as the main topic had to do with slavery. I mentioned that Uhura was with them throughout this ordeal. There is one moment when they three of them are witness to what happens when a slave gets out of line. For some reason, Uhura is forced to whip another slave because she lashed out when her “handler” tried to get handsy with her and she fought back. Of course, the person she must whip is a black man.
She refuses to do it, of course. But the scene, however fleeting and quickly done, spoke a lot about what having to even play in that scene must’ve been like. The white guy behind her is the one who, earlier, attempted to rape her while Kirk listened to her cry out. We assume that he was not able to get his way. But still. So much crammed into this story for her as a woman and a black woman. I was disappointed that it wasn’t delved into or discussed further.
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Dr. McCoy: Hope? I always thought that was a human failing, Mr. Spock.
Spock: True, doctor. Constant exposure does result in a certain degree of – contamination.
