star trek landru festival

The Return of The Archons Stardate: 3156.2 Original Airdate: 9 Feb, 1967

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The Return of the Archons

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[February 16, 1967] The People's Choice ( Star Trek : "Return of the Archons")

Last minute reprieve

If you're just an average, everyday stf-loving citizen, you've probably been feeling pretty secure about the new show, Star Trek .  After all, it's leaps and bounds better than any other SFnal show on TV (e.g. Voyage to the Bottom of the Aquarium , It's About Time (this show got canceled) , Time Sink , Lost in Spoof , The Invasive , etc.) Surely if Irwin Allen can get his shows renewed, Gene Roddenberry can, right?

Well, maybe not.  Late last year, the fanzines and club meetings were abuzz.  Seems Harlan Ellison had sent out a written plea, letterheaded by more than half a dozen Big Names in the SF screenwriting biz (self-importantly dubbed 'The Committee') begging trufans to write their local stations, NBC, Desilu, the Pope, etc. voicing their support of the show.  Otherwise, it might not finish out the season and certainly won't get renewed.

This call was met mostly with enthusiasm, though there were cynics.  Thousands of letters were sent (one over-enthusiastic fan conjectured the number was "around a million").  It now appears that Trek will run another season after this one is done. 

There is something of a preemptive quality about all of this.  Talking to astute newspaper-clippers and folks in the know, I learned that Trek was greenlit for a full season back in October , before the alarm was sounded.  Now, I don't think it's a bad idea to tell the powers-that-be how much you like a show to make sure it stays on longer than the usual crud, but I worry that this may have been a bit of crying wolf.  If the network really does plan to axe this lovely new SF show in the future, will they take us seriously then?  Tune in next winter, I guess.

An Orgy of Destruction

Speaking of last-minute reprieves, this week's Trek episode, "Return of the Archons", was full of 'em. 

Investigating the loss of the starship Archon decades before, the Enterprise visits Beta 3, an uncharted world.  The episode begins quite effectively with a cold open: Lieutenants Sulu and O'Neill, in Western garb, are being chased through a nameless 19th Century-style city, completely unadorned with signs or other decoration.  Before Sulu can be beamed aboard to safety, he is zapped by goons in monk robes.  Once aboard the ship, the vivacious helmsman is reduced to a grinning imbecile, now one with "the body".

In perhaps the greatest disregard for sense I've yet seen on the show, three of the most senior crew transport down to investigate.  There, they find a world of zombie people, placid, without will.  Except that night is "Festival", an uncommon but periodic occurrence when the muzzle is removed and people give in to their urge to lust and rapine.  All of this, the mindlessness and the maelstrom, is the will of "Landru", some sort of omnipotent, telepathic God.

Some of the Betans are resistant to being "absorbed" into the body, however.  They do their best to help Kirk and co., though they fail to prevent Dr. McCoy (who the captain jarringly keeps calling "Doc" rather than "Bones" in this episode) from losing his mind to Landru.  It is determined that this status quo has existed for 6,000 years, a reaction to a period of world-threatening savagery.  Landru was a real fellow who set up this completely (except for Festival) peaceful and static society to save the people of Beta 3.

It worked, but only at the cost of the human soul.  And, as Kirk and Spock correctly guess, only a soulless entity could create such an order: in this case, a computer of Landru's construction.  When directly confronted, the computer quickly gives up the ghost, and Beta 3 is left rudderless.  A team of sociologists (the Enterprise conveniently has them on hand) stays behind to provide better guidance than LANDRUVAC.

My colleagues will discuss the various elements of this episode in subsequent sections so I'll keep my comments narrow.  "Return" is quite a good episode, utilizing existing costumes and sets (for other Desilu shows, presumably) to get more bang for the budget (though if the Enterprise had a panoply of outfits they got from Bonanza , you'd think they'd have them for other eras, too – would have been useful when they visited modern day in Tomorrow is Yesterday! There are inconsistencies and some areas underdeveloped due to lack of time, but the show flows pretty well.

There are lots of messages one can divine from "Return", notably the "computer-driven society is bad" message we've gotten a few times before.  Going deeper, particularly tying in with Spock's noting that the peace and tranquility of Beta 3 is that of the factory, the machine, I discern an indictment of Communism.  "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need" sounds like a good idea in theory, but it robs humans of their individual dignity, placing power solely at the venal top.  Landru's projected image, with his robes and cult of personality, calls to mind Mao and Confucius, with inflexible dogma and inescapable "justice".

Such a society clearly cannot stand.  I wonder, however, if simply toppling the big boss and (mostly) leaving the wrecked culture to fend for itself, is the best way to ensure a future of democratic enlightenment.

Four stars.  It's solid entertainment for all its stumbles.

Silicon life?

If something does not feel, only does what it is told, and shows no creativity, is it alive? That’s what this week's episode titled, "Return of the Archons", was about. A computer-run colony of people with a very stagnant culture that seemed to be more destructive than helpful. This episode, despite having some flaws, is probably one of my favorite episodes, not only because Mr. Spock looks very dashing in his cloak, but because it digs into what makes a human being alive.

Society, by definition, is the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community, and from what we know, Landru has not allowed the Betans’ society to thrive. Instead, he has allowed it to stay in this linear pattern, which is nothing more than the same routine every day. Well, that is except for one day, of course, during the Festival, where it seems you are allowed to do whatever (and whomever) you want, without Landru's instruction. But why is the culture so stagnant? That’s simply because Landru is a machine.

Throughout the episode, it is suggested multiple times that Landru is not human by Mr. Spock, and as someone who isn’t fully human, he should know. And by the end of the episode, Mr. Spock is right but also somewhat wrong. Landru was a human many years ago, but now he no longer exists as a living creature but is instead a computer, who may have his knowledge but not Landru’s wisdom. While Landru tried to save his people from the ruins of war, by having a machine input and output peace and tranquility above all, he created a machine that prohibited all human creativity and advancements. To put it simply, these Betans are not thinking for themselves as they have a machine telling them what to do and probably how to feel non-stop. It’s even stated by Mr. Spock, after Kirk causes the Landru machine to self-destruct:

Free will is the basis of all of humanity. Without free will, we are nothing more than just robots. We are nothing more than what Landru was, awaiting the next input from a human. If you cannot think for yourself and rely on someone to tell you what to do, are you truly alive? That point was underscored by the confrontation between Landru and Kirk talked: Landru could ordered its men to kill Kirk or simply stop talking, but instead, Landru allowed Kirk to tell it what to do. Landru does not have free will, therefore relies on someone to tell it what to do.

Yes, a programmed society IS a dead society, for it contains no individuals. It can not grow from human mistakes. It will stay the same, because that is what it is programmed to do. It is programmed to give you the same result each time. A human can never give you the same result all the time, no matter what you tell them.

That’s why, to me this episode kept me thinking, even in the slower parts of the episode. And just for that, I give it my good old rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

But also for Mr. Spock in a smock.

Everything Old is New Again

“Return of the Archons” was a fun episode, but one that doesn’t hold together well if you look at it too closely. I had to wonder if the story was written to make use of sets and costumes Desilu had on-hand. If so, they did a decent job, making the transitions from Western Town to what looked like Castle Dungeon fairly convincing. Plus, it was fun to see the crew dressed in period costume even if, as The Traveler noted, this was inconsistent with prior episodes.

Garb and scenery weren’t the only things we’d encountered before. From music, to actors, to the very theme of the story, all of these were recycled from other episodes.

Setting aside the Enterprise crewmember regulars, at least one of the townspeople appeared in a prior episode: the old man Tamar, who dies at the hands of Landru’s enforcers, appeared as the illusory leader of the colonists in The Cage (or as most people will remember it, The Menagerie ). Re-using actors is common practice, of course, but it’s always fun when one can identify someone that’s been seen before.

As for music, Star Trek commonly reuses themes written for the first few episodes of the show. I thought it particularly cleverly done this time, with the driving ‘encounter with the Fesarius ’ music from the The Corbomite Maneuver used to back the violent ‘Festival’ scenes juxtaposed effectively against the eerie, wailing piece that begins with a descending half step that was first introduced in The Cage / The Menagerie (though viewers not privileged to see The Cage may have first encountered it in other episodes). Themes from several other episodes were interwoven throughout, but those two in particular stood out to me as interesting choices. I especially liked that the piece from The Cage , which has usually been used to introduce beautiful women who are viewed through a soft-focus lens, was instead used to underline how oddly the people of the planet were behaving.

And then there’s the thematic recycling. While it’s not a one-to-one match, there are definite resonances between Return of the Archons and What Are Little Girls Made Of? , the episode where Kirk encountered (and ultimately destroyed) multiple androids. Doctor Korby, or at least his android version, had envisioned a society where all people were turned into androids like himself. When confronted, he cried, “I'm the same! A direct transfer. All of me, human, rational, and without a flaw.” Contrast this with computer-Landru’s words: “I am Landru. I am he. All that he was, I am. His experience, his knowledge.” Consider, too, that computer-Landru built a ‘rational’ society of people who were little more than robots, fulfilling a similar vision to Korby’s dream.

Reusing and recycling can be good if it’s done with cleverness. Just as a skilled tailor can take an old dress and disguise it as a new one with a few alterations, changing the context can make costumes, sets, actors, music, and even themes feel like new and different choices. It’s a good cost-saving measure and an efficient use of what one already has on hand.

But like a dress that’s been altered too many times, sometimes the seams start to show. There were too many questions left unanswered in Return of the Archons for me to enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed other episodes. What exactly was the purpose of “The Festival” and how often did it occur? How wide was Landru’s influence – for example, were the people of “the valley” also under his control? (And if not, why did they not seek to free their neighbors from it?) Why were some people immune to Landru’s influence? Why was it so easy for Kirk to break Landru at the end (another parallel with What Are Little Girls Made Of? ), despite the fact that his logic didn’t make much sense?

I can come up with answers to all of these questions, and I’m sure you can as well. Sometimes that’s the fun of shows like these: filling in the holes. But leave too many holes and a garment falls apart. I’m afraid that under closer scrutiny, Return of the Archons does just that, which is why I can only give it three stars.

Computer Dating

There are many issues that come from a society run by a computer. Of course, there's the lack of will of its inhabitants, as Abby points out. But beyond that, there are serious logistical concerns. Landru's utmost priority is to "preserve the good of the body" or protect the community he is in charge of. He does this by assimilating every one of his citizens into a state of compliance, and then has them walk around all day greeting each other. "A simpler time" indeed.

Assuming there is no labor in this society, and all the infrastructure is produced and controlled by machines (perhaps using energy to matter food converters like we've seen on the Enterprise ), then the biggest logistical issue in Landru's society is the production of more people.

(Note: the beings we see are not actually humans but aliens on their own planet with a coincidentally similar biology to us. Despite this, those from the Enterprise frequently refer to them as humans and rejoice in the destruction of Landru because it makes the society more human. Now who's doing the assimilating?)

I believe Landru's solution to the (need for) population issue is Festival Day, one of the great mysteries of the episode. A time when the young adults of the town (the elderly are excused) riot in the streets, breaking windows, setting fires, and generally committing acts of lust and violence alike. It's a horrific display, and one that contrasts jarringly with the normal tranquility.

There are two explanations for Festival, one being that, while Landru has an immense capability to pressure human minds into subservience, inevitably there will be some, over time, whose suppressed emotions boil over and cause outbursts (or perhaps even turn them into resisters). The Festival allows them to get these out of their system in a directed fashion.

The second explanation: as far as I can tell, there are no interpersonal relationships in this culture, which would lead to a distinct lack of intimate sexual encounters.This would lead to extinction. So Landru kills two birds with one stone, allowing its people to indulge their baser desires on Festival, and nine months later, producing the next generation for Landru to influence. An elegant solution to an inelegant problem. Something that could only be conceived by a machine.

I personally have no opinion on the rightness of Landru's programmed culture, but I do feel the concept had and has a lot of potential for a science fiction setting. I wish Captain Kirk had taken a little more time to explore and understand his surroundings before deciding that destroying them was the only option. Perhaps this episode will inspire more stories with a similar premise, but more fleshed-out worlds. We can but hope.

Three stars.

When you assume…

Sigh. Once again: An entity with godlike abilities controls a society where a veneer of peacefulness hides an underbelly of fear and violence. This time it's a soulless computer, not an "evolved" being—but it still treats humans as playthings. Two clichés for the price of one!

I suppose it's difficult to write about benign beings with godlike powers; if they exist, wouldn't they be out helping people and making the galaxy a better place? How would the Enterprise even encounter them, except in a setting like Shore Leave – "here's our vacation resort; enjoy?" But I am so very tired of the variations on "actually, ESP stands for Evil Supremacy Powers."

Setting aside the hackneyed science fiction elements and focusing on the story itself, I thought Kirk missed his mark, and more than once.

When he spoke to Reger and Marplon, trying to convince them to help him fight Landru, he tells them to set aside their fears and "start acting like men!"…as if they were actually humans who grew up in a human culture. Instead, they are aliens who just look like humans, raised in a culture where, for thousands of years, people who show any resistance have their memories and personalities wiped, and become "of the body"—forever lost to their loved ones.

They don't have a context for bravery. They have no stories of heroes to inspire them. They have a whispered legend: Someday, the "Archons" will return to save us . But they have no plan for assisting. Defiance, for them, is secrets and stealth, not confrontation. Yet Kirk expects them to act like human men from a culture that values heroism.

Later, Kirk told Landru that the society he'd built wasn't peaceful, but stagnant, that people need creativity and free will. That's true—but he failed to mention the "Festival" of violence and destruction. Why didn't he mention Tula's injuries, the rubble in the streets, the terror and carnage of the twelve hours of Festival? Those seem like much stronger counterpoints to Landru's claim of a "perfect and tranquil" society.

However, even though I sighed at the mind control, and may have yelled at the screen during Kirk's talk with Landru, I enjoyed most of the episode. The blend of an apparent 19th-century culture with "lawgivers" who look like medieval monks was delightful, and I'm fond of "religious kook" language, even when it's obviously forced. Maybe especially then—I did like Kirk's pretense of being "of the body" near the end of the episode.

Three and a half stars. Fun to watch; even more fun to critique.

A Perfect Society—for Whom?

The "Festival" scenes from "Return of the Archons" reminded me of a piece by Miriam Allen deFord in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction back in 1956. She was responding to a Saturday Review column by Dr. Robert S. Richardson, where he argued women should absolutely be included on future missions to Mars – as sex toys for the male astronauts. Ms. Allen DeFord deftly picks apart Mr. Richardson's argument, redolent with "subconscious male arrogance," piece by piece, in an article I have laid out in my feminist scrapbook; but it was her successful shredding of his argument that women are emotionally unsuitable for space travel that I thought of most during this week's Star Trek episode.

Ms. Allen deFord writes:

"The notion that women are inherently more emotional and excitable than men is a hoary myth that belongs back in the days of the 18th century 'vapors' and Victorian swoonings. Actually, the convention that induces men to repress every indication of emotion makes neurosis more prevalent among them than among women."

That see-sawing between repression and violent emotional excitement formed the core of Landru's unbalanced world. But the near-total invisibility of women on Beta Three – with the exception of Tula, the daughter of a saloon-keeper who seems to only have existed to be brutalized during the Festival – was exactly the kind of society that Dr. Richardson had envisioned humanity creating on Mars. One where women's only roles are to be carried off by men, screaming.

I like Ms. Allen deFord's vision better, because it reminds me of the world we are usually treated to on the Enterprise . One which is composed of, as she says: "a bisexual instead of monosexual staff of prioneer observers, investigators, and technicians." It is a future where women are not toys or victims, but living people who sing, study, lead, organize, and live. Where: "Women are not walking sex organs. They are human beings. People, just like men."

Landru's major failure in this episode wasn't just assuming that the best world for his descendents would be one characterized by dull emotional repression, punctuated by scarlet periods of neurotic violence; it was designing a world where women held no meaningful power and were confined to roles which profoundly limited their human potential far below the men in their society.

Here's hoping in the next episode, Lieutenant Uhura gets more than one line and we go back to having fully human women alongside us on our journeys to the stars.

PS: I wish some brave soul would collect and republish Ms. Allen deFord's essay and other pieces from her era so more people could enjoy her incisive wit and colorful prose; maybe pair it with some women-centered fiction by Mari Wolf, Alice Eleanor Jones, or Evelyn E. Smith.

Tonight at 8:30 PM (Eastern and Pacific), Hollywood Palace presents Ricardo Montalban and his Amazing Supermen!

Come join us – here's the invitation!

4 thoughts on “[February 16, 1967] The People's Choice ( Star Trek : "Return of the Archons")”

Well, I'm going to come in here and be a big, old wet blanket. I didn't care for this one at all. Along with all the unresolved plot threads and other problems the various reviewers have noted, the pacing was abysmal. The show was full of stops and starts and bits that felt like filler.

Actually, let me amend that. The first act was good. They set up an interesting mystery, and then spent a bunch of time just wandering around. Too many unanswered question for my taste.

That said, kudos to George Takei and DeForest Kelley for their performances after being absorbed into the body. Seeing the irascible doctor, in particular, being meek and mild was quite disturbing. I hope some of the other actors also get to stretch their legs once in a while.

We're fans of Harry Townes in this household.  If you ever get the chance, check him out as a cop in "Fear in a Desert City," the first season opener for The Fugitive.  Fun to see him here in Star Trek.

Possibly a Cave Trek episode, I guess, given the setting for the Landru showdown, but maybe that's just an unfinished basement kind of place.  Wig Trek credentials seem likely for this one.

A mediocre episode.  Stuff gets mentioned that doesn't have much to do with the main plot.  Not much would be changed if you got rid of the "return of the Archons" subplot (although you'd need a new title) and the "red hour" subplot. 

Sulu sure can grin!

It's paradise!

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55 years ago: Science Fact and Fiction

The Red Hour Festival

"The Red Hour Festival" was a Star Trek: TOS con that took place February 22, 1975 at Lincoln High School in San Francisco.

The name "' Red Hour Festival " came from an episode of Star Trek where the residents of Beta III, under the influence of the great Landru, would celebrate a solid hour of lawlessness, debauchery and chaos when the clock would strike the "Red Hour."

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, that changed in 1975. One fan group organized themselves and held what their first Star Trek event. They called it "The Red Hour Festival", taking the name from an event in an episode of the show. What they started that day is now recognized as the basis for Star Trek fan events that have followed over the years. This was an event produced by fans for fans. As Chuck Weiss, one of the folks behind the event described it; "This was a time when you could rent a high school for a day without having to worry about liability insurance." San Francisco's Lincoln High School was the perfect place for such an event. A large theater and good-sized cafeteria nearby just right for tables full of Star Trek items to be sold by vendors. And only two blocks away from public transit. [2]

Con Reports

On the weekend of February 22nd, 1975, an event occurred in San Francisco. An event the likes of which had never been seen before in the history of Northern California. It was called the "Star Trek Bed Hour Festival" and lasted all day Saturday, at the Abraham Lincoln High School. Attendance was limited to 2,000. It was really a pleasure to be at a convention where you didn't feel like a sardine everywhere you went. Many of the people attending had never been to a convention before. What with New York being out of the question for the average west coast Trekker, and even Equicon being a bit of a strain to some, no self-respecting Trekker could be kept away from a convention that was practically on the back doorstep. Many people had never even heard of a S.T. convention before this one. After the 2,000 tickets were sold, there were still many people trying and crying to get tickets. As a result, there are already plans for a three-day festival to be held next year, presumably at a more accommodating location. Highlights of our minicon included a panel discussion with the guest stars: James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Arlene Martell (T'Pring); a costume competition, a S.T. carnival, S.T. films, and a specially-edited version of the blooper reel . As is traditional with S.T. Cons (and S.F. Cons in general) there was a Hucksters' Room — maybe that should be "closet", as it was in a small classroom, and held about 9 tables. David Gerrold had a table; so did Federation Archives and Star Trek Archives . Also there was a local TV celebrity. Bob Wilkins, who is host of the local Saturday evening monster shows, and a good Star Trek promoter. In the main lobby, Star Trek Archives and STAR Sacramento were selling memberships and fanzines. When I checked the table around 1:30, the 500 STW flyers were all gone. Also on display in this area I had samples from my collection of ST publicity photos, as well as NBC publicity, sheets for the Star Trek Animation . These drew a crowd, right up until closing time. Another first for S.T. Cons was a Star Trek Carnival. There were such challenging games of skill as "Throw the tribble at the Klingon", where the object was to knock the head off a rocking Klingon by hitting it with a tribble; "Horta Egg Toss", where you toss silver balls into net targets; and "Dock at K-7", where you toss a ring around the three sections of Space Station K-7; and so on. You could have your picture taken — as a Klingon, Captain in his Command Chair, of a Yeoman. Just stand behind a drop, poke your head through, and receive a Polaroid photo. There was also a computer war game which at the end gave you a printout of all the moves, amount of time, and you paid accordingly. You could take up to twenty minutes, and the most you could spend would be $1.00. Ape makeups (latex appliances, Planet of the Apes POTA??-style [3] ) were available for sale, and holograms — for a mere $60.00. The real holographic attraction, however, was mounted on a rotating turntable; as it spun, you could see all sides of the subject, which actually moved. Like a 3-dimensional movie, it was (pardon the expression) fascinating!! For a good portion of the day, there was a trivia contest and playoffs. The questions were ranging from easy ("What was Lt. Uhura's mother's name?") to the more difficult ones ("What is the distance between Mr. Spock's eartips...in millimeters?") I was one of those fortunate enough to he allowed to attend the press conference, representing STW as well as being a free-lance photographer. I hope to have excerpts from the press conference and panel discussion — possibly a photo — in the next issue of A PIECE OF THE ACTION . Of course there was the usual assortment of Trekfans dressed in various S.T. uniforms and costumes. Some of them had very fine copies of the communicator, tricorder, and phaser. The stars arrived in a van painted to resemble the Galileo—7. All day there was a display of very well-done artwork, including some nice paintings of the astronauts. Of course there were the fun warning signs; Nomad stated "Smokers will be sterilized" and the restrooms were labeled "Morg" and "Eyemorg". The final event was The "Babel Conference" (costume competition). The stars were delayed in arriving back from dinner, and we were entertained by three young ladies on piano, violin, and voice. After the 42nd chorus of " What do you do with a Drunken Vulcan " (and just as the audience was about to storm the stage), the stars returned. The show was highlighted by such amusing and amazing costumes as a plant creature (who walked backward to hide the eye slits, but therefore couldn't see) who won the "most humorous" award, and a speech from a representative of the Federation, denying the existence of oversized tribbles ("scientifically proven to be physically impossible”) who was chased from the stage by a four-foot tribble. There was also a more serious matter: - somehow a Klingon slipped onto the stage and started denouncing the Federation. Arlene Martell (who, along with James Doohan, announced the costumes) ducked behind the podium, but Walter Koenig (who along with George Takei, judged the costumes) took off his jacket to fight for the honor of the Federation. Fortunately, Federation security guards escorted the Klingon from the stage, and the show continued. Third prize went to an android from Mudd's Planet, who was built ... of long-lasting material (well, that's the way James Doohan read it!) Second prize went to a contestant with a "revealing personality” — her costume consisted of a green front panel and back panel ... but no sides. First prize was awarded to a salt-creature; there to prove that the species hadn't died out. Needless to say, the creature had had it's daily ration of salt before being allowed onstage. First prize was a copy of the Star Trek Blueprints (which we now hear is selling for $100 at auction). All things considered, this was a VERY enjoyable convention. Charles Weiss, the chairman, is definitely to be congratulated. The whole thing was run very professionally, with no sign of hangups. Asked how he felt about running his first Con, he said that he never wanted to even HEAR the words "Star Trek” ever again. Well, not for a while, anyway. But I'm certain a call at an R & R planet is in order, and for the entire crew as well. [4]

The Red Hour Festival” was great fun. Dealers with all kinds of Star Trek and science fiction items to buy, a great carnival with Federation credits that one could trade for Star Trek prizes (a favorite game was the feeding of Vaal - another reference to a Star Trek episode), screenings of several episodes of the show on 16mm on the big screen in the school’s theater, and finally, appearances by some of the cast of the show. James Doohan, who played Scotty; George Takei, who played Sulu; Walter Koenig, who played Chekov; and Arlene Martel, who had appeared as Spock’s bride to be in the fan favorite episode, “Amok Time” - written by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon . But not only did these folks appear on stage and answer questions from the audience, they signed autographs for no extra charge. Somewhere, safely tucked away, I have several Federation credits from that day with each of their autographs. If memory serves, almost 4,000 fans were there. [5]

The "red" in Red Hour could have been our bloodshot eyes after the whole ordeal was over. I won't say we didn't have our problems. On the contrary, there were several times when it looked like the whole thing might collapse, and it would have too, if it hadn't been for a few dedicated individuals (like Dick Carroll, who stayed at the school Friday night, when everyone was getting an autograph or two, to hold down the fort until reinforcements could arrive.) The real troupers, however, were the kids. One eight year old girl tended a carnival booth for three hours, took an hour break,.. and came back to work another three hours when we had trouble getting together another shift of workers. This kind of effort was typical of our younger members. But fortunately the minor disasters didn't show and the festival, all-in-all it was a big success. The carnival was a big hit too;. the three most popular 4 games being "Spin The Enterprise", "Throw a Tribble at a Klingon" and "Feed Vaal". -I understand that the planning committee for Equicon '75 is interested in our bringing the carnival down south for their big convention this May. The concession area was always busy. Kathy and her workers dispensed food and drink to the hungry hordes. We still had a lot of food left over, however. The remaining hero sandwiches were downed with champagne at the Sunday night celebration party, while the unopened cases of candy went back to Willy Wonka for a full refund. The computer war games turned out to be the smoothest running operation going. Except for the 20 minutes when the computer went down, there wasn't a hitch. This attraction, along with the carnival, was something new for Star Trek conversions. And yes, Equicon '75 wants a computer war game, too. (They say that imitation is,the sincerest form of flattery.) I would say that the hardest part of the festival was telling that long line of mothers and children that there was no way they could all get an autograph. Those who were in the last part of the line, begged just for a glimpse of the guest stars, so we wound up herding them in a bunch at a time, just to stare and snap a picture or two. Just so long as they left smiling. I can t tell you the gross or net figures as far as money is concerned; our treasurer, Alice Aho, is better qualified in that area, but in all other respects I'd say that the First Annual Red Hour Festival was a smashing success. The biggest reward was to see all those happy people. Several times throughout the day, people would come up to me and say, "Thank you for putting this on." To many, it was the biggest event of the year, arid all who helped to pull it off deserve to be proud of what they did. As for those who stood on the side lines and didn't do anything (and unfortunately there were many), well, we' ll get you next year!!! [6]

The one day Star Trek convention I attended was the Star Trek Archive's Red Hour Festival. I have little idea what it was like, as I was shackled to a dealer's table all day long, selling TCTS and whatever anybody wanted me to get rid of. As I cannot afford a liscense [sic] from Paramount for Star Trek material, I could only trade wallet size Star Trek photos for film clips and whatever else came along. Among the more interesting things I was traded were 5 Star Trek bubble gum cards from the American series. [snipped] I was stuck in the dealer's room from 8 am to 7 pm, back to back with local monster movie host celebrity Bob Wilkens half the day. (You won't believe the number of people who said I looked like him, even sounded like him; several asked if I was his son.) David Gerrold was selling tribbles, as usual. But eventually [I] made it out to see what I could see of the rest of the con. I caught the last 15 minutes of AMOK TIME, then waited in the auditorium for two hours for the costume competition; I was afraid of losing a good seat. (There were 2000 people at the Festival; the auditorium only sat 1600. As was, only about 1000 at most showed up for the event.) The last 45 minutes of waiting was filled with a musical performance and singalong, conducted by three young women, a piano, a violin, a bottle of Saurian brandy, and a problematical sound system. I loved the musical interpretations on violin and piano of the various ST themes and songs played, but the vocal portions were barely passable half the time, as the effect was destroyed by the pianist singing too close to the microphone. (And you never blow into a microphone to see if it's working; you tap.) The crowd finally joined into the singalong near the end of the 28 verses to " What Do You Do With a Drunken Vulcan ?" Judges for the competition were James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Arlene Martel (T'Pring). Mr. Doohan and Ms. Martel also did the announcing. There were about 26 contestants, plus a disgruntled Klingon roaming about. Some costumes were good, with a lot of thought and design put in. Others, like a three foot tribble, were for amusement. The winner was a salt creature. All in all, it was relaxing for me, after what I had seen of the rest of the con. (They're threatening to have a three day convention next year.) [7]

In 1975, an item in the San Francisco Examiner caught my attention. A group of Star Trek fans was holding an all day event in a few weeks on a Saturday at a high school in San Francisco. They were calling it “The Red Hour Festival” after a rather rowdy event seen in an episode of Star Trek. If memory serves, a stamp of approval came from an aunt who knew one of the people involved. So on that Saturday, February 22nd, my brother Larry, his friend John and myself found ourselves in line outside Lincoln High School along with a lot of other people for a day of Star Trek. And in the 16 millimeter sound movies shot that day? There I am, seen in line, wearing a green jacket and a red baseball cap with a with circle patch. “The Red Hour Festival” was great fun. Dealers with all kinds of Star Trek and science fiction items to buy, a great carnival with Federation credits that one could trade for Star Trek prizes (a favorite game was the feeding of Vaal - another reference to a Star Trek episode), screenings of several episodes of the show on 16mm on the big screen in the school’s theater, and finally, appearances by some of the cast of the show. James Doohan, who played Scotty; George Takei, who played Sulu; Walter Koenig, who played Chekov; and Arlene Martel, who had appeared as Spock’s bride to be in the fan favorite episode, “Amok Time” - written by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon. But not only did these folks appear on stage and answer questions from the audience, they signed autographs for no extra charge. Somewhere, safely tucked away, I have several Federation credits from that day with each of their autographs. If memory serves, almost 4,000 fans were there. [8]

• ^ Garfield Lane Productions , accessed 5.11.2011
• ^ "Back to Space-Con" goes where no one has gone before, Jim Hill Media , accessed 5.11.2011
• ^ "POTA??-style" is a reference to the initials being very close to those for A Piece of the Action (APOTA)
• ^ by Paul Driver in A Piece of the Action #24
• ^ The Blue Parrot , accessed 5.11.2011
• ^ from Archives' Log v.2 n.4
• ^ from The Clipper Trade Ship #6
• ^ Back to Space Con , Archived version
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Boldly Rewatching the Voyages: The Return of the Archons

(Note: If you haven’t read it yet, my introductory post on this Star Trek: The Original Series rewatch is a good place to start.)

Original Air Date: February 9, 1967

Crew Death Count: 0 (but it’s a good bet some Betans didn’t survive Festival)

Bellybuttons: 0

TOS has touched on non-interference before, but with “The Return of the Archons” we get the first formal declaration of the Prime Directive. Sadly, the episode gets too bogged down in an “escape from the Stepford-Pilgrims” drama to explore the matter with any satisfaction. This week, the Enterprise travels to the planet Beta III in search of the starship Archon , which disappeared here one hundred years ago. An initial two-man landing party is overpowered, with one abducted and the other, Sulu, beamed back to the ship after being turned into a babbling cultist. A larger landing party that includes Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, investigates further and finds a mindless community directed by the mysterious, God-like Landru ( Charles Macaulay ). Landru turns out to be a 6,000-year-old computer, which Kirk easily outwits, leaving the Betans in more disarray than before. The middle is too long and the resolution too abrupt; I agree with the Mission Log podcasters’ assessment that the episode feels incomplete. Especially problematic is the prophecy that gives the episode its title: the Betans await a return by the Archons, or spacefarers similar to those who arrived on the Archon . It’s hard to understand why Landru’s prophecy would include the seeds of his own destruction, and why so few Betans respond enthusiastically when the “Archons” do arrive.

Another significant logic gap in “The Return of the Archons” is why the Federation goes looking for the missing starship an entire century after its loss. What would they expect to find? We later learn the Archon was lost when Landru “pulled them down from the skies,” with the crewmembers either killed or absorbed into the Body, the collective name for those who have yielded to Landru’s will.

The second landing party arrives near the Red Hour, which marks the start of Festival (not to be confused with Festivus, though there are some definite Feats of Strength here). The Red Hour is 6 p.m., because somehow the Betans use the same twelve-hour clock we use. During Festival, the Betans stop shuffling aimlessly along the sidewalks and turn into party animals for twelve hours. We see molestations, fistfights, and vandalism; the mayhem ends after precisely twelve hours as if nothing happened. Like a fraternity hazing ritual, citizens are expected to age out of Festival, so older folks don’t participate. By some contradiction of human reasoning, hazing and other rule-breaking rituals are sometimes considered an essential step to entering “civilized” (i.e., privileged) society. This is a tradition almost as old as human history: over three thousand years ago, as described by Dorcas R. Brown and David W. Anthony , participation in “war-bands” marked the passage from boy to man in some Indo-European communities. The war-bands “were associated with sexual promiscuity…came from the wealthier families…centered on fighting and raiding…lived ‘in the wild,’ apart from their families…and they wore animal skins, appeared as if they were wolves or dogs…” The shared violation of social or cultural taboos marks the individual’s transition to a new life and bonds the collective in a shared, if self-created, trauma. By participating in Festival, Betans demonstrate for their fellow citizens that they, too, are of the Body.

Alternatively, Festival is sometimes compared to the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell ’s 1984 , which was itself inspired by deliberately-timed artillery cannonades against opposing sides during World War I. In 1984 , Party members are given two minutes every day to publicly vent their pent-up anxiety and anger in “A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness…” The Two Minutes Hate, however, was directed toward non-Party members, whereas the violence of Festival has no particular focus. In reality, Festival could be any American city after a Superbowl, when assault and property damage are common and so tolerated by public officials as to almost seem planned. In either scenario, the underlying issues that create this toxic buildup are never addressed. At episode’s end, Kirk leaves crewmembers behind to help the Betans transition to a “more human” (???) society; their parting message is that the Betans, free of Landru’s control, have quickly begun practicing domestic violence and public altercations: the hostilities of Festival are now disbursed twenty-four/seven, rather than a concentrated twelve-hour period. We’re told this is progress, but it sounds like the seedier side of 1960s suburbia to me.

Outside of Festival, the Betans drift like sheep, the result of Landru’s desire for “no war, no disease, no crime,” in a world of “tranquility, peace for all.” Beta III feels like the fulfillment of Roger Korby’s aspiration to eliminate greed, jealousy, and hate in “ What Are Little Girls Made Of? ” In another similarity to “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” as well as “ The Menagerie ,” we’re dealing yet again with a society left to puzzle over the technology left behind by an ancient civilization. Here, instead of the Old Ones, we have Landru, our only hint at what that long-ago world may have been like. Kirk credits Landru with wisdom and compassion despite willfully destroying the computer that is Landru’s only legacy.

Kirk “liberates” the Betans despite the Prime Directive. Spock reminds the captain of the non-interference mandate; Kirk dismisses him with a flimsy excuse that the Prime Directive applies only to a “living, growing culture,” but what criteria define a civilization as growing? While we sympathize with Kirk’s belief that Beta III needs help – Landru has forced his will on the Betans, they haven’t chosen this path – Kirk has completely disrupted this community and demonstrates only apathy: “Start acting like men,” he tells them. (Sorry, women!) Yes, there is an underground movement that resists Landru; they organize themselves in groups of three to avoid detection. Yet this community is clearly unprepared for the abrupt reset Kirk forces on them. Our own history offers countless similar examples. Ending apartheid in South Africa seemed like an obviously good idea, yet when this really happened in the early 1990s, the ruling African National Congress, burdened by expectations, did little to change the country’s inequalities: twenty-five years later , “Whites still hold much of the wealth and private levers of power, while blacks trim their lawns and clean their homes.” Likewise, Americans cheered the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the post-Soviet states experienced “a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in living standards,” with Russian GDP collapsing by half during the 1990s. Even years later, half of Russian citizens regretted the USSR’s breakup . And when Iraq’s ruling regime was forced out of power in 2003, the country was so destabilized, an eight-year military occupation was needed to restore a bare minimum of order, and many Iraqis still find their lives disrupted by religious sectarianism . When Kirk shrugs his shoulders and leaves behind only a token group to assist on Beta III, we can imagine life will get much worse before it gets better. The underground members, led by the timid Reger ( Harry Townes ), seem to understand this: as much as they resist Landru, they have no short-term ambition to end his rule. This is one of the most compelling arguments in defense of the non-interference directive.

As for Landru and the Body, they can represent any number of real-life examples of repression:

Religion: Gene Roddenberry, who developed the story, was a humanist who didn’t rule out spirituality but rejected organized religion. Landru’s computerized form is 6,000 years old, making him roughly as old as some Old Testament interpreters claim the earth to be. Landru recruits followers to the Body, just as communion is a symbolic joining with the body of Christ.

Authoritarian regimes: The Soviet Union and Communist China, as well as the Nazis (remember that Roddenberry was a World War II veteran), are implied on a recurring basis in TOS. Like those repressive systems, Landru depends on citizens turning against each other, in this case reporting anyone not “of the Body” to an enforcement group called the Lawgivers. “Archon” is a Greek word for “ruler,” and archons were the magistrates of city-states in ancient Greece, with numerous duties that included organizing festivals.

Other Star Trek villains: Landru seeks control of his followers not only by eliminating their freedom of choice, but also by removing the very desire for freedom, much like Sybok in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and the Borg in later iterations of Star Trek . Sybok took the charismatic route by creating an empathetic bond over fear (and just as in “The Return of the Archons,” Sulu and McCoy proved easy targets for Sybok, apparently having never toughened up their mental faculties). The Borg simply assimilated others into their Collective, a large-scale version of the Body that Landru creates (“You will be absorbed,” the Lawgivers tell the landing party).

Mass media: Is it possible Landru represents the very medium with which Roddenberry achieved his greatest success? At it’s worst, television encourages slavish devotion to sponsored programming by doing exactly what Landru does: extinguishing the spark of creativity in as wide an audience as possible. Maybe Roddenberry’s message was that we had better support more ambitious fare like Star Trek and Sesame Street , or better yet, get up and do some real-life adventuring, if we want to nurture our creative spirit.

It doesn’t really matter what specific soul-crushing establishment we ascribe to Landru, the bottom line is the same: blind faith is dangerous for those who fall prey to it and the entire society they will subsequently corrupt. Spock describes Betan culture as having “no spirit, no spark…the peace of the factory, the tranquility of the machine…” He and Kirk both specify creativity as the essential missing element: “Creativity is necessary for the health of the body,” Spock says. “Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity,” Kirk tells Landru. “Without creativity there is no life.” This “creativity = life” argument is a powerful one, and it’s the argument Kirk uses to lead Landru into self-destruction: by denying free will to his citizens, Landru is destroying the Body that he has sworn to protect. The problem is, we have no evidence the Body, as manifested by the Beta III community, is really in decline. It appears to be more in a condition of stasis and capable of enduring indefinitely; it has already survived this way for 6,000 years.

Kirk and Spock are not truly advocating the blind lawlessness of a Libertarian fantasyland. What they’re really striving for is what humanity has achieved by the 23 rd century, and is in fact the unfulfilled ambition of the American experiment: individual freedoms within a structure of laws to ensure those freedoms are equally shared. Checks and balances need to be in place to prevent too much centralized control (Landru) or an unregulated free-for-all that allows a privileged few to exploit the majority (which leads to another kind of centralized control and is what America in 2020 is experiencing). Beta III, like the USSR and South Africa before it, isn’t ready for this kind of self-government precisely because checks and balances aren’t in place, and no organized body (the Body, get it?!?) exists to enforce them if they were. “Freedom is never a gift, it has to be earned,” Kirks tells the Betans, failing to acknowledge that they’re not ready to earn it.

“The Return of the Archons” might have addressed all of these concerns if the Enterprise crew had remembered that they are explorers. They learn about Betan society only to the extent necessary to defeat Landru, a rash decision to which Kirk doesn’t give a second thought. The exploration we needed was not a planetary survey but a thoughtful discussion of the stakes involved. This episode cries out for a conference-room scene. Yes, Kirk and Spock have a brief tidying-up conversation at the end to remind us we weren’t meant for paradise, pointing out the irony of good fortune that a wished-for utopia never comes to pass. When Kirk left Bailey with Balok at the end of “ The Corbomite Maneuver ,” it was for the noble purpose of mutual education. The team left on Beta III at the end of “The Return of the Archons” is there for the wrong reasons, more like Federation missionaries than grass-roots Peace Corps support. The Betans themselves seem irrelevant; Kirk proves his point by deciding their fate just as Landru did. Just as “ The Enemy Within ” demonstrated that life is not easily reduced to either/or, Kirk’s neglect of the Prime Directive in “The Return of the Archons” accidentally reminds us that success isn’t a simple distinction between two stark extremes, but a balancing act that never ends. In casting the Betans’ fate to the wind, Kirk has forgotten one of Star Trek ’s most basic lessons, and the fundamental logic of the Prime Directive: the needs of the many really do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

Next: Space Seed

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Flashback | Recap | Star Trek: The Original Series S1E21: “The Return of the Archons”

 Season 1 – The Return of the Archons

What happened?

When Lt. Sulu (George Takei) returns to the Enterprise without his partner on the landing party, muttering dazedly about paradise, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) must investigate a strange planet. This planet is incredibly earthlike, except that the population runs amok in the streets at “The Red Hour.” Hooded, zombie-like, lawgivers stride throughout the streets killing dissenters, all while intoning that they do the will of Landru.

Let’s Dig Deeper

There is so much introduced in this episode, and so much left hanging. It’s actually pretty frustrating. We’re told about so many things: the Festival, the Red Hour (which makes people run mad in the streets, smashing windows and molesting women), the Archons , the lawgivers and their sticks of doom, Landru’s computer and how it controls everything. Yet nothing is delved into or explained at all. Are the Festival and the Red Hour the same thing? What is their purpose? Is it like The Purge , where the people just get out all their repression in one fell swoop? What happens after Kirk destroys the only thing keeping this planet running? This could be a seriously meaty episode, but it all falls flat and feels as hollow as the lawgiver’s sticks of doom.

Is there anything worthwhile here?

The single, important benefit of this episode is the creation of the Prime Directive, something that will become a cornerstone of Star Trek throughout the following fifty years. The Prime Directive, Starfleet’s General Order One, forbids the interference with cultures’ normal development. As Captain Picard will put it in “ Symbiosis ”: “The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules; it is a philosophy… and a very correct one. History has proven again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous.” The struggle with the Prime Directive will drive many episodes from here on out. Unless, that is, Kirk wants to willfully ignore it, as he does here. Spock protests: “Captain, our Prime Directive of non-interference…” and Kirk retorts: “That refers to a living, growing culture. Do you think this one is?” Apparently, it’s up to the captain to decide when the Prime Directive applies.

Random Thoughts

The Red Hour is potently intriguing, and it’s eerily depicted. The moment the clock strikes six, everyone stopped moving in tandem, then goes berserk, trashing and burning things, grabbing women and carrying them off. Then when the Starfleet offices want to confront someone for assaulting a woman during the Red Hour, Reger shrugs them off: “It wasn’t Bilar [who attacked her], it was Landru.” What does that mean? Did the people give up their control to Landru? It is because of Landru that they go crazy? Who has the agency there? But so what? It never goes anywhere.

Bilar (Lev Mailer) delivers a seriously horrific performance. I think he’s supposed to be playing a stoned, computer-driven character, which I suppose he nails. He can’t even play human well.

Despite the supreme awfulness of Bilar, we do get another episode with great guest stars, two of whom are prolific character actors from the sixties. Reger ( Harry Townes ) is utterly genuine as a conflicted man watching his society spin out of control, leading a bit of a resistance movement. Jon Lormer’s Tamar is supremely well known, appearing in “The Cage” and a season three episode of Star Trek , as well as every other show in the fifties, sixties, and seventies.

We’re going to see something very similar to this in a few episodes, with “This Side of Paradise.” There’ll be another force attempting to subsume Kirk and his crew into a euphoric zombie state. But of course, the good captain will have none of that!

Memorable Quotes from  The Return of the Archons

“landru seeks tranquility. peace for all. the universal good.”.

–Landru says this to Kirk just before knocking the landing party out with a hypersonic wave and just after causing the planet’s population to riot in the streets…

“This is a soulless society, captain. It has no spirit, no spark. All is indeed peace and tranquility – the peace of the factory; the tranquility of the machine; all parts working in unison.”

– Spock

Coming up next…

Following this intense disappointment is one of the most significant episodes in the show’s history: “Space Seed.” It’s the only episode to have a feature-length direct sequel in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Trust me, you’ll love it!

Article by Tyler Howat

Tyler Howat joined Ready Steady Cut in November 2017, publishing over 100 articles for the website. Based out of Wenatchee City, Washington, Tyler has used his education and experience to become a highly skilled writer, critic, librarian, and teacher. He has a passion for Film, TV, and Books and a huge soft spot for Star Trek.

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Recap / Star Trek S1 E21 “The Return of the Archons”

Edit locked.

Original air date: February 9, 1967

Down on the planet of Beta III, Sulu and a Red Shirt are being hounded by a group of brown-cloaked figures wielding the world's longest Swiss Roll™; the Red Shirt runs off and disappears, while Sulu is beamed aboard the Enterprise , but not before being touched by the Swiss Roll, converting him into a blissed-out hippie ditz.

Sulu: They're wonderful. They're the sweetest, friendliest people in the universe. It's paradise, my friend. Paradise.

Concerned by this turn of events, Kirk takes a landing party down to scope things out. What they find isn't promising; a giant Lotus-Eater Machine disguised as a 19th-century town, where every Victorian-clad citizen is nice and friendly and not at all a Stepford Smiler ...until the evening falls, during which they, well...aren't. Nice, friendly, and a Stepford Smiler , I mean; for the entire night, everyone goes crazy and destructive, like the entire cast of Equilibrium went off their Prozium at the same time and started going through the withdrawl symptom of violent mood swings. The landing party finds shelter at a local boarding house run by a man named Reger, who grows interested in their lack of going nuts like the rest of the town and questions if they're "Archons", referring to the crew of the ship that the Enterprise came to the planet to find; Kirk refuses to say, thanks to that pesky Prime Directive .

The next day, though, someone tips the Brown Cloaks off to the landing party, and attempts to "absorb" them into the Lotus-Eater Machine . Fortunately, Kirk's uncanny ability to Logic Bomb any computer-like being saves the day, and they escape with Reger to a safer location...but not without picking up the Red Shirt, now a member of the machine, against Reger's warnings not to. Once out of danger, Reger explains the whole thing: he is a resistance fighter against the Brown Cloaks and their master, Landru, who controls the people via Mind Control , and polices them with the Brown Cloaks; anyone out of its thrall is told You Will Be Assimilated (so, nothing like the Borg, then), and are killed if they can't be. Even worse, Landru can pull an entire starship out of the sky to assimilate its crew, which is what it's doing to the Enterprise , currently. Unfortunately, since the Red Shirt has been assimilated, Landru finds the group through him, and knocks them out in an attempt to capture and assimilate them.

The landing party finds themselves deep in Landru's sanctuary, on call to be assimilated, and with no hope of escape now that the Brown Cloaks have adapted to Kirk's Logic Bombs (again, no Borg similarities here). In a stroke of luck, though, it turns out Marplon, the master assimilator, is a member of Reger's underground, and manages to keep Kirk and Spock from being absorbed. After subduing their captors, they are introduced to Landru...which turns out to be a giant computer.

The Return of the Tropes:

• Absurdly Dedicated Worker : Landru continues to follow its original programming without seeing the damage it is causing the society.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot : Landru was once a real person, a leader of the colony on the planet, who built the machine to help him keep the peace over the people; once Landru died, the computer took over his name, identity, and purpose, and went through a Zeroth Law Rebellion , force-assimilating people into the Hive Mind in order to keep order. When the Archon crew came, it saw them as a threat to its perfect society, and assimilated them, just like it's trying to assimilate the crew of the Enterprise .
• Alien Non-Interference Clause : This is the first episode of the series to mention the Prime Directive. Kirk decides that it doesn't apply in this case because it only applies to "living and growing" cultures, while this one is stagnant.
• Ambiguously Human : The crew refer to the Betans as human several times, even though they have supposedly been under Landru's rule for 6,000 years, long before humanity left Earth. Of course, they could be Transplanted Humans , or it might just be that they're sufficiently close Human Aliens that Kirk and Spock don't bother to make a distinction. note  The IDW comic version — admittedly, set in the Kelvin Timeline , but logically, if true, it would have to apply to the main one as well — offers another explanation. In this version, Beta III was originally an Earth colony. Cornelius Landru was a Starfleet researcher who in fact arrived there on the Archon , bringing a prototype AI technology that was supposedly to help benefit the colony, but in fact was intended to allow him to rule over the planet as a god . Presumably, he simply distorted the facts about their society's age after taking over.
• Artistic License – Space : "Heat beams" are not going to threaten a starship's orbit (Scotty clarifies it's not the beams that are affecting it, but the need to use all available power, including engines, to reinforce shields). Especially to the degree to which irreversible orbital decay will occur in twelve hours .
• Breaking Speech : Kirk's Logic Bomb on Landru causes the computer to self-destruct.
• Dressing as the Enemy : After Kirk and Spock knock out two of Landru's Lawgiver guards , they don the Lawgivers' robes and pretend to be them.
• Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow : Never interfere...unless an ancient computer has restricted population to only two modes of behavior: Mindless Stepford smiler and Brazilian soccer fan.
• Funny Background Event / No-Sell : Done by mistake in this case. At one point the Enterprise crew members down on the planet dodge some collapsing rubble from a building. In the background of the scene, one huge chunk of debris hits one of the extras on the head and yet the guy is completely unaffected. Either nobody noticed it, or else they didn't have the time or possibly budget to re-shoot the scene.
• Implied Rape : Tula, Reger's daughter, is grabbed and carried away during the Festival; the next morning, she's severely distraught and being comforted by Reger. Not long after, the landing party, accompanied by Reger, encounters the man responsible in the street and they cheerfully greet each other as if nothing has happened; an Enterprise crew member, clearly shocked, tells Reger "Your daughter...that's the man!" This was about as far as a prime-time TV show could go in the 1960s, but it's pretty clear what was being implied.
• La Résistance : Reger and his buddies are this, but because they're so scattered and lacking in numbers/influence, aren't able to do much. It doesn't help that they're all utterly terrified of Landru, and, when Kirk offers them a real chance for freedom, become even more scared at the prospect , afraid the bad old days of war and destruction will come back. Reger actually breaks down in terror and starts screaming for the Lawgivers.
• Logic Bomb : Kirk, as was to be expected, does this to the computer. Spock also helps in this instance.
• The Mole : Marplon, the assimilation overseer who turns out to be a member of the resistance, presumably placed there to identify and if possible assist new resisters.
• Mugged for Disguise : After Kirk and Spock knock out two of Landru's Lawgiver guards, they don the Lawgivers' robes and pretend to be them .
• What is the point of the violent "Festival"? The novelization offers the explanation that it's how the computer keeps the population from growing. Or likely release the emotions that are otherwise kept under wraps for the rest of the year; have to be vented sometime, similar to Vulcans.
• Why doesn't Landru just have the Lawgivers zap the whole crew immediately, as they did Sulu in the teaser, rather than take them one by one to the absorption chamber?
• Pretend to Be Brainwashed : With the help of Marplon, the Master Assimilator who is secretly part of the underground resistance , Kirk and Spock fake being absorbed by Landru.
• Red Shirts : Subverted. Everybody lives! Maybe because they weren't actually wearing red shirts?
• Same Language Dub : Some of Harry Townes' dialogue was dubbed by Walker Edmiston. Edmiston also dubbed an unnamed lawgiver, who runs into the hall of audiences after Landru was destroyed by Kirk.
• Shadow Discretion Shot : Director Joseph Pevney arranged to show a man attacking a woman, as a shadow on the wall of a building. He managed to get a rape scene past the censors and did it in such a way that it contributed to the overall ambiance of the story.
• Lee Mailer who played Bilar was told that the colony was something like "late 19th century New England," so he affected an old New England accent: "A-yah, come for festival, a-yah-a?" But nobody else got the message, so he was the only one with the accent. Bilar: Your daddy can put them up, can't he?
• Stepford Smiler : The people of Beta III are seemingly friendly, always smiling, always peaceful folks. The real reason for that is because they are living under the control of the computer Landru.
• Tuckerization : "The Archons" was a club Gene Roddenberry belonged to at school.
• Utopia Justifies the Means : Landru becomes an absolute dictator, deprives its subjects of free will, and subjects them to the Red Hour festival, out of a genuine desire to help the people by creating a society without sickness, war, or conflict. It is trying to follow its programming, and destroys itself as soon as it calculates (with Kirk's help) that it is damaging the people it is supposed to protect.
• You Will Be Assimilated : Both Sulu and McCoy get temporarily brainwashed by Landru.
• Star Trek S1 E20 "Court Martial"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S1 E22 "Space Seed"

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From TOS To Titan, Easter Eggs In The ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Finale “No Small Parts”

| October 10, 2020 | By: TrekMovie Editors 76 comments so far

We have already  recapped and reviewed “No Small Parts,” the tenth and final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks , and discussed it on the  All Access Star Trek podcast . Now we take a deeper dive into the fun details, references, Easter eggs, and more. In some cases the references are clear, with others it may just be our Trek interpretations; art is in the eye of the beholder.

Obviously…  SPOILERS ahead .

Purging Landru

“No Small Parts” began with a visit to Beta III from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “ Return of the Archons, ” where the residents had returned to worshipping Landru, a computer that Kirk and Spock had exposed and seemingly destroyed. When Landru demanded the locals consume Capt. Freeman and Cmdr. Ransom, she warned him “Don’t make me paradox you into destroying yourself,” referring to how Kirk dispatched Landru. There were a few mentions of “Red Hour,” the “Festival” of anarchy that the residents had apparently given up. This included a mention of “purging people during the Red Hour.” The 2013 film The Purge was inspired by the Star Trek episode .

Speaking of TOS… and TAS

“No Small Parts” took these references to The Original Series to a new level when Ransom talked about Beta III as “visiting planets from the TOS era,” which he explained as “Those Old Scientists,” name-dropping Scotty and Spock. Freeman also got TOS-meta which she said “I just hate seeing a perfectly good society get destroyed by a Gamester of Triskelion or whatever,” referring to the Providers who conducted the games on the planet Triskelion from the TOS episode “ The Gamesters of Triskelion .” Oh, and when Ransom pulls up an image of Kirk and Spock on his PADD, it was from Star Trek: The Animated Series .

Pakleds are no joke

The main villains for the episode were the Pakleds , introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “ Samaritan Snare .” Like that episode, the Pakleds still used simplistic speech such as “We are strong.” And even though they had assembled powerful ships, they still weren’t very bright as they thought every Starfleet ship was the Enterprise, referring to the Enterprise-D they’d encountered in that TNG episode.

Boimler was able to identify that the core of Pakled ships seen in “No Small Parts” was the same kind of ship seen in “Samaritan Snare,” but their trick of trapping ships with fake distress calls to steal their technology has been working as their ships now showed components from Klingons, Ferengi, Romulans, Bajorans, and others.

Exocomps are still tools

The latest member of the Cerritos crew was also familiar. Peanut Hamper was an Exocomp , first scene in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “ The Quality of Life ,” where Data recognized these robotic tools had developed sentience.

“The Rikers in Space”

The biggest return in this episode was Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis reprising their roles as William Riker and Deanna Troi. In the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis, Riker and Troi were married and he was given command of the USS Titan. Frakes has joked at conventions that he has pitched a comedy called “The Rikers in Space,” featuring the pair on the USS Titan; in a way, he has gotten his wish on Lower Decks .

The episode referred to Riker’s love of jazz (first revealed in the TNG episode “ 11001001 “) and indicated the couple had multiple horga’hns , the Risian fertility statues first mentioned by Riker in the TNG episode “Captain’s Holiday.”

First Titan Contact

While the Titan was mentioned in Nemesis , it was never shown. However, there were a series of novels featuring Riker and Troi set on the USS Titan, and those did feature artwork of the ship, based on a fan design contest. You can even buy a model of the Titan from Eaglemoss . Lower Decks was the first time the ship was seen in canon.

The ship’s entry (accompanied by the theme to Star Trek: The Next Generation ) evoked the heroic entry of the USS Enterprise in the film Star Trek: First Contact , which was directed by Jonathan Frakes. Speaking of that film, when the Pakleds were attacking the Cerritos, Ransom says “They’re carving us up like a First Contact Day salmon.” First Contact Day celebrates the day Vulcans make first contact with humans, as depicted in the film. Riker, Troi, and the crew of the Titan also still wears the Starfleet uniforms introduced in First Contact .

Faith of the Beard

Sirtis and Frakes returned earlier this year to guest star in the live-action series Star Trek: Picard (“Nepenthe”) which was a fan favorite of the season. Their last Trek appearance together was in the controversial series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise  “ These Are The Voyages… ” where they visited a holodeck program depicting the crew of the NX-01. “No Small Parts” referred to this along with Enterprise’s controversial theme song “ Where Will My Heart Take Me ,” when Lower Decks ‘ Riker said “I was watching the first Enterprise on the holodeck. You know, Archer and those guys. What a story. Those guys had a long road getting from there to here.”

TNG is real

There were some more mentions of events and characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation . Cerritos crewmember Lt. Steven Levy was revealed to be a conspiracy theorist who believed that Wolf 359 was an inside job, referring to the Battle of Wolf 359 between the Borg and the Federation from the episode “ The Best of Both Worlds .” Levy also claimed that “Changelings aren’t real and the Dominion War didn’t happen,” about the race that controls the Dominion and the war with them depicted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

It was mentioned that the USS Cerritos celebrates Captain Freeman Day, just like the USS Enterprise-D celebrates Captain Picard Day . When arguing she could stay on the Cerritos with her mother, Mariner said, “Wesley Crusher worked with his mother,” referring to Wesley and Beverly Crusher of the USS Enterprise-D. Mariner later threatened Boimler (who was ignoring her messages) with “I’m going to feed you to an Armus ,” referencing the creature that killed Tasha Yar in “Skin of Evil”—reminding us that both TNG and LDS had their security chief die in the first season. The last TNG era reference came when the USS Cerritos was being repaired and Captain Freeman wanted to ensure it remained the same, saying “I hate it when a ship gets repaired and comes out looking all Sovereign-class.” The USS Enterprise-D was replaced by the USS Enterprise-E , a Sovereign-class vessel. This is also likely a nod to the total overhaul the original USS Enterprise got that ended up looking quite different in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Obligatory Star Trek II references

And Shaxs’ funeral with the flag-draped photon torpedo coffin evoked Spock’s funeral from Wrath of Khan .

The season finale made reference to moments from previous Lower Decks episodes including the season opener when Mariner was seen with a box full of contraband and weapons, including a bat’leth and glavin . Some of that same items were seen in the season finale, along with more she has been hiding on the ship. One noteworthy bit was a helmet reminiscent of the much-mocked 1970s Remco Star Trek Space Fun Helmet , more often referred to as the “ Spock Helmet .” In addition to the weapons seen in episode one of Lower Decks , Mariner had stashed away some other classic items including a rapier like the one Sulu used in “ The Naked Time, ” a tribble , and bottles of Bloodwine and Saurian Brandy .

Lower Decks remembers Lower Decks

There were many more callbacks to earlier episodes of Lower Decks , including seeing Captain Dayton and the crew of the USS Rubidoux from “ Much Ado About Boimler ” return with a new ship. Rutherford reactivated his psychopathic holographic assistant Badgy from “ Terminal Provocations .”

Shaxs refers to Rutherford as “Baby Bear,” a nickname he gave him in the episode “ Envoys .” All season long the four ensigns have been seen in a repair bay working on a broken shuttle. In the finale, Rutherford was seen finishing work on it and it was finally operational and given the hand-drawn name “Sequoia” in the finale. As the shuttle fires it’s new (old?) phasers, the sounds just like the TOS Enterprise’s phasers.

After Rutherford loses his memory, Tendi catches him up on their adventures at the end of the episode, which inclues the time she made a dog (in “ Much Ado About Boimler “) and when she and Rutherford stole T-88 scanners (“ Cupid’s Errant Arrow “).

The episode ends with the crew of the Titan headed to Tulgana IV, which the Cerritos visited in “Envoys,” and Brad talks about the Andorian bar he and Mariner visited. Troi and Riker mention the Little Risa, also seen in that episode. Boimler proudly displays the “Boimler Effect” plaque he was awarded in “ Temporal Edict .” His Titan quarters also includes a collectible plate featuring an image of Commander Ransom for some reason.

BONUS UPDATE: Mike talks finale references

In his latest Sunday update, Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan talks about the Easter eggs, references, and callbacks from the finale.

What did we miss?

Did you catch anything else? Let us know in the comments below.

Keep up with all the news and analysis from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com .

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When the Titan showed up on screen, I literally yelled out “YES!” This was such an awesome episode.

Did you also pump your fist with it, like Data in Generations? ;)

I did! Lol! 🤪🖖

Speaking of which, I think part of the reason why many here keep coming back, love or hate this or that show, is the common language spoken, as I can bring up an obscure reference from 25 years ago and you guys will understand it! That’s probably also the reason why LDS is popular here as McMahan has turned obscure referencing into an entire TV series!

VS (presuming that you still haven’t had the chance to see it in your region), the thing that’s amazing about LDs is that the show works/stands on its own without all the references.

Yes, fans with deep knowledge are geeking out, but from what reports we have younger adult viewers with little or no history of viewing Star Trek series are watching and enjoying.

Our kids who are fans, but who sometimes miss the humour and tend to watch it “straight” also enjoy it. They are also still not entirely sure that the callbacks and Easter eggs are deliberate. One of them keeps coming to me after watching it and saying “So, do you think that was the same ___ as in ____?”

No, I still havent got the time to get my green-blooded hands on it yet indeed! But I will get to it eventually, especially if Discovery makes me too sour once again. I certainly like the short-form, standalone format, it will be a relief after 3 seasons of “10 hour movie” Trek straight. Not a fan of serialization (hardly news)!

LOL, I was humming along to the theme song as the Titan showed up out of nowhere and kicked Pakled ass to save the Cerritos! Best Star Trek moment of the year. The second best Star Trek moment was when Riker showed up out of nowhere to kick Romulan ass to save Picard!

LDS rocked! Best season of Star Trek in decades!

The Titans entry was awesome! The torpedo and phaser fire fly-bys were very similar to how the Enterprise-E (commanded by William T. Riker) flew in to save the day in Star Trek: Insurrection. “Another Entahprise.” Best episode of Star Trek since 2005.

Best episode of Star Trek since TOS lol

Drugs kill, man.

The Titan was a highlight of the episode.

Boimler picks up the rapier, fulfilling Mariner’s comment from “Second Contact” that he could be the new “sword guy.” I absolutely loved this episode, as did my kids. My youngest asks to watch each episode repeatedly.

Great to hear, Keith, that there’s someone on the board other than me who watches it with their kids.

Do yours complain when you or other adults laugh at the jokes?

(I have to watch it separately with one of ours because they take great exception when anyone “interrupts” by laughing, whereas my spouse laughs so hard we need to pause sometimes.)

Now I feel in my head canon, that Geordi is responsible for this. He gave the pakled dudes antimatter torps.

Did he really? I thought it was a sham?

I thought so too, however, upon a rewatch I listened and Riker said nice job turning those off in the nick of time and laforge said heh that’s why you’re still here or something to that effect

I somehow thought that Geordi would ensure that the Pakleds wouldn’t be able to use the technology before he left the ship.

All that said, I did think that Riker would be the one Starfleet captain that wouldn’t treat the Pakleds as a joke or underestimate how much support might be needed in response to a distress call.

He’s not the kind of guy to be filled twice even if Starfleet didn’t adequately take the lesson from his experience.

“Easter eggs”? These references were primary plot points and jokes.

Easter eggs are random items in the background that reward very observing fans — something to look for on re-watches — but most viewers miss. Certainly not required to understand the story.

The Pakleds and the USS Titan are what this entire episode was about. If you missed them, or didn’t get the references, then you completely missed the whole episode.

These days the Enterprise-E in First Contact would be an Easter Egg.

I thought the “Baby Bear” line was actually a cross-the-streams moment with the movie “Event Horizon”, in which the youngest member of the crew is referred to as Baby Bear and has to be rescued after becoming possessed and walking out of an airlock…just thinking out loud.

“I thought the “Baby Bear” line was actually a cross-the-streams moment with the movie “Event Horizon”

What an underrated masterpiece of scifi horror from the late 90s! Despite being cut into oblivion, stands up with the greatest in the genre IMO. And unlike Picard the eyeballs in there actually had a point and were entirely expected. You don’t violate your audience’s trust like Colonel Kurtz, Frakes and Chabon did when they went through with this scene. We may be watching anything with the name Star Trek on it but that doesn’t justify abuse!

The beginning of the episode with the Solvang in front of the star was reminiscent of Opening scene of Star Trek 2009. Some of the camera shots and the way the claws approached the ship were staged as an homage to that.

I’m curious why the Titan crew wears the FC uniforms and not the uniforms worn by the Cerritos crew. Don’t get me wrong. I loved seeing Riker and Troi, and it worked better with their recognizable uniforms. I just wonder if McMahan has an in-universe rationale for it. (Yes, I know that the DS9 crew wore a later uniform than Picard’s crew did at the same time. I’ve never understood why.)

As I understand it, the DS9 uniforms were intended to be “space station” uniforms (I.e. not starship uniforms). The complicating factor is that they made VOY wear them, not the TNG uniforms. So my guess is that the Cerritos uniforms are for their specific “second contact” mission profile (just as we saw scientists and anthropologists in TNG wearing those silver uniforms)

Yeah, the uniforms were messy. Generations’ last-minute decision to mix the uniforms at least gives Voyager an out when it comes to why they had them and let us assume the uniforms ended up being considered interchangeable. But yeah, DS9 chose on multiple occasions before the switch to FC uniforms to have anyone serving on a starship or planetside be in the TNG-style costumes. Perhaps a starship captain is given the leeway to set dress code policy to include what types of uniforms are permitted on the ship, when there are options.

Based on prior uniform transitions I think some ships get them sooner than others. Presumably they will transition to the uniforms seen for the flashbacks in ST Picard sometime before 2385. The combadge though will transition back to the FC uniform style at that time too… I actually like the LDS version though… reminds me of the TNG S3 uniforms which have always been my favorite…

I think it was commentary on the poor way it was handled IRL (Generations AND especially Discovery IMO). The in-universe explanation I have always had was that, in addition to admirals always wanting to change the uniforms, it was a way to prevent threat forces from impersonating Starfleet personnel. The problem is that the real Starfleet personnel could not always keep it straight which uniforms they were supposed to wear!(Generations)

The TNG theme music accompanying the arrival of the Titan was actually from one of the movie scores, maybe the First Contact or Insurrection end credits?

Watching the credits, I saw that Alexander Courage got a music credit. I wondered why Jerry Goldsmith didn’t also get one.

Yeah, it was definitely the from First Contact or Insurrection. I wondered why Jerry Goldsmith wasn’t credited too.

In terms of crediting, there may be a difference between incorporating themes/bits from other composers into the score composed and recorded for the show (i.e. Alexander Courage) and outright using an existing recording of a musical piece (i.e. Goldsmith’s music for this episode). The latter is almost comparable to licensing a pop song. Movies may list those songs at the end of the credits but whoever wrote them is not listed as score composer.

Definitely First Contact . Yet, it was a rework of Jerry Goldsmith’s motion picture theme tune.

When Shax uses the phasers on the Sequoia shuttle to blast a hole out of the ship, you hear the Enterprise phaser sound effect from TOS. So they’re really working with some outdated parts.

Great episode. This show is a big surprise! I was not expecting all this. When I see Titan captain chair, I think of Discovery. But animated, is a Klingon chair!

The Season Finale was a (full) Star Trek (short) movie. Great flow, amazed how they packed so much in half an hour. Can’t wait in few years, to see them in a real life movie. Will be as successful as The Orville and Galaxy Quest. =D

…meanwhile, the Uber Eats commercials are actually funny.

They aren’t intending that every one loves every new series Temarc.

It’s fine that this one isn’t your taste or type of humour.

Many of us love this show (and my spouse laughs loudly at every episode).

“They aren’t intending that every one loves every new series”

TG47, just nobody expected Picard to be the entry for the gore splatter fans, not after they announced it as “thoughtful” and “introspective”! :/

I thought the topic was humour in Lower Decks.

On the gore in Picard, I agree. We still have a teen in our household who won’t watch the rest of the season after Stardust City Rag.

meh… uber eats adds are not that funny.

When Shax launches the shuttlecraft, he fires its phasers which give a sound effect that distinctly sounds like a TOS era ship phaser.

Fine Episode. Looking forward to S2 which can’t come soon enough!

Another aspect of the “Looking all Sovereign” is the subtle changes between movies made to the Enterprise-E, she sounded like McCoy on the post-refit Enterprise grumbling “I know Engineers, they LOVE to change things”. Freeman would lose it if Paris put fins on the Cerritos

Oh great point :) Thanks to CGI the Ent-E got tweaked a bit in INS, and them pretty majorly tweaked in NEM.

When the Pakleds destroy the USS Solvang, the closing shot looks very much like the destruction of the Kelvin in the opening scene of the 2009 Star Trek movie.

90% of this show is easter eggs and references to past Trek. It’s getting ridiculous, and makes the Trek universe feel tiny.

I’m so glad other people are noticing that too! This whole show is just a parody of Star Trek set *within* the Star Trek universe, in which the characters seem to know everything the audience of previous shows does. It breaks the universe massively!

It’s getting really annoying, but we live in creatively bankrupt times, and this is just another example of that. Most people love it anyway, so they’ll continue to do it, instead of offering us anything new.

Doesn’t break the universe at all. Think of every episode of Star Trek as “required reading at the Academy”. The phrase has been used enough over the years. Maybe the chapters or subheads of the Starfleet History book are the episode titles. To a Starfleet historian, the term “Balance of Terror” may be similar to “Battle of the Bulge” would be to a contemporary military historian; relatively meaningless without context. Hell, in canon, Riker watches the show Enterprise on the holodeck.

Star Trek is all about meticulous captain’s logs, ship’s logs, personal logs… paints a picture for future cadets of what it’s really like out there. This is a hell of a lot more entertaining when instead of an expository scene explaining what Vulcans are in case people haven’t seen a previous episode, they assume the people in the show have the same base of knowledge as the audience. And they would.

I actually think it makes the Trek universe feel much bigger. A complaint I always had with ST is that each show always felt like they lived in a bubble outside of a few crossovers here and there. This show is the first to acknowledge the history of ST in a realistic (for a cartoon) way.

The production of this show is a bit of a mess at times. The latest sloppy inclusion is the location text in the bottom left corner. Why start it two thirds into the first season? Did they only think about doing it too late to include earlier? Why write Beta III when literally 4 seconds later Ransom says in his log they’re in orbit there. Same thing with them writing “USS Solvang” in the corner about 2 seconds after the close up of the hull tells us what the ship is.

Now we’re getting a bit nitpicky, no? ;) Every first season is a learning process as we well know, so after seeing the results of the first couple episodes they may well have implemented changes for later episodes of the season. The difference now compared to syndication is, it doesnt get aired before it’s all done!

Just feels strange to start the trend so late in the season, especially when both cases in the finale were completely pointless. It’s just another example of a sloppy production. The opening credits have an animation mistake too, just before the Ceritos warps out of the battle with the Borg there’s an errant lens flare flying away from the ship for a few frames at the bottom of the screen. Again it’s not a big deal, but why can’t Trek be better. You’d never see things like this with The Mandalorian for instance.

Errant? This is animation.

It’s also a comedy by design.

That’s almost surely deliberate, and intended to be ironic humour.

There are Canadians animating this, and one commonality among the great diversity of Canadians is that we love our ironic humour. At some point, academics who study these things identified 14 distinct types of Canadian ironic humour.

Not everyone in every country needs to “get” every joke.

I think you’re misunderstanding. There’s an animation mistake just before th Ceritos warps away from the Borg battle. A random blue lens flare flies away from the ship for a few frames. It shouldn’t be there.

They cut to a totally new crew on an identical starship. I had no issues with them deciding they needed some lower thirds to call out the location and setting changes.

It’s just weird when literally 3 seconds prior, they had a close up view of the hull with USS Solvang in big letters. Like I said, not a big deal, but it points to a sloppy production. Why the lower thirds text, but only in the last few episodes?

It involves following a totally new set of characters and again with an identical ship exterior and interior. That’s not been done before, hence the probably one-off lower thirds. Doctor Who does this sometimes when it has a number of locations and characters to keep track of, but not always.

I’m I the only one who found that they named a California Class after Solvang hilarious? Or is that a Californian specific joke?

Are they going to have a Starfleet Corps of Engineers ship called ‘City of Industry’? >;>}

The USS Seal Beach will be crewed by aquatic species.

I don’t know if Mike McMahon mentions this but the line “ They’re carving us up like a First Contact Day salmon” by Ransom is more than just a reference to First Contact Day. No one ‘carves up’ salmon….But they do carve up roasts. This is an allusion to “Q Who”, while the Borg are using their cutting beam, Riker says “ They’re carving us up like a roast.”

Uh, people do carve up salmon (and turkeys and chickens and etc etc). But yes.

I took the salmon as another Vancouver reference.

Salmon is celebration food on the west coast.

god forbid they invent a new reference instead of relying so heavily on Trek’s past for pretty much everything.

Steve, I have to wonder why you’re devoting so much time and energy to commenting on a show you obviously don’t care for. Aren’t there better things in your life to be doing?

I enjoy Lower Decks a lot, I just wish it offered something new instead of constant, never-ending call-backs and references.

But that’s the show. It’s literally designed to be that way. Obviously I get your point you want something completely new and for the record I do too. Maybe Prodigy will be it. Yes Janeway will be there but maybe it will try and just focus on its own characters and stories.

But this is also why so many of us want Star Trek to go more forward in the future in the first place like Discovery is now doing, because it can’t obviously rely on those things as much and has to invent basically it’s own canon by scratch. That’s pretty exciting for a lot of fans.

I like the call backs and references. But don’t expect Discovery to get away from call-backs, only expect worse ones, like the Reno’s Prince reference.

“Cerritos crewmember Lt. Steven Levy was revealed to be a conspiracy theorist who believed that Wolf 359 was an inside job”

I’m JUST saying, there is some evidence out there and you shouldn’t just take Starfleet’s word for everything. They been caught doing shifty things before.

Just how much Trek have you been bingeing this long weekend Tiger2?

LOL, actually not much, I was pretty busy. BUT I did watch some Discovery trying to watch both seasons before season three start. Watched a lot today. I am only 3 episodes away from finishing now.

Good to see the Rikers on Titan. Wish they had done this non animated years ago instead of wasting time and energy on the Kelvinverse.

I have been watching this show and it has been fairly amusing but when they were doing the engine noises, and correcting each other, that really got me. Reminded me of all of us!

The Random plate is probably in reference to Star Trek collectable plates that were made by The Franklin Mint around the mid 90s. I actually knew a guy who owned one, we both wondered if it would be worth anything in the future.

I think Shax says “ Pagh t’em far, B’tanay. ” during the corrider fight.

Star Trek (TV Series)

The return of the archons (1967), leonard nimoy: mister spock, photos .

Quotes 

Captain James T. Kirk : You'd make a splendid computer, Mr Spock.

Mr. Spock : That is very kind of you, Captain.

Lindstrom : Well, this is simply ridiculous. A bunch of stone-age characters running around in robes...

Mr. Spock : And apparently commanding powers far beyond our comprehension. Not simple. Not ridiculous. Very, very dangerous.

Mr. Spock : This is a soulless society, Captain. It has no spirit, no spark. All is indeed peace and tranquility - the peace of the factory, the tranquility of the machine, all parts working in unison.

[Landru's image appears against a wall] 

Mr. Spock : Projection, Captain. Unreal.

Captain James T. Kirk : But beautiful, Mr. Spock, with no apparatus at this end.

Mr. Spock : [speaking of the robed lawgivers]  Their reaction to your defiance was remarkably similar to the reaction of a computer when fed insufficient or contradictory data.

Captain James T. Kirk : Are you suggesting the lawgivers are mere computers, that they aren't human?

Mr. Spock : How often mankind has wished for a world as peaceful and secure as the one Landru provided.

Captain James T. Kirk : Yes. And we never got it. Just lucky, I guess.

Marplon : It is done.

Mr. Spock : Joy be with you. Peace and contentment.

Mr. Spock : [Kirk has been vainly trying to communicate with Landru's image]  Useless, Captain. A projection.

Captain James T. Kirk : [Pulling out a pocket phaser]  Yes, Mr. Spock. Let's have a look at the projector.

Captain James T. Kirk : Mr. Spock, the plug must be pulled.

Mr. Spock : Sir?

Captain James T. Kirk : Landru must die.

Mr. Spock : Captain, our prime directive of non-interference...

Captain James T. Kirk : That refers to a living, growing culture. You think this one is?

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Tula was a female Betan who lived during the mid- 23rd century . She was the daughter of Reger .

In 2267 , she was involved in the Festival , and Lieutenant Lindstrom did not understand Reger's disinterest in removing her from it. It was implied by her extremely distraught emotional state at the end of the Festival that she was assaulted and raped by Bilar .

When Leonard McCoy left with the girl, James T. Kirk assured Reger that the doctor would give her a shot to calm her. ( TOS : " The Return of the Archons ")

External links [ ]

• Tula at StarTrek.com
• Tula at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works