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Recap / Star Trek S2 E20 "Return to Tomorrow"

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Original air date: February 9, 1968

The Enterprise's mission leads them to uncharted territory, hundreds of light years beyond the territories explored by any Earth ship, pursuing a mysterious signal that turns out to originate from a world dead half a million years, sent by an alien that calls itself "Sargon" and begs the Enterprise for assistance.

It turns out that Sargon is one of only three aliens who survived the cataclysmic war that destroyed the planet millennia ago, and only at the cost of secluding their mental energies inside of orbs and forsaking their physical forms. Sargon begs with the Enterprise to allow the three of them to temporarily borrow the bodies of three of the Enterprise's crew, that they can have bodies long enough to employ their hyper-advanced technology and create robot bodies to inhabit instead.

After much deliberation, Kirk, Spock and Dr. Mulhall agree to become the hosts for the three aliens. Unfortunately, Henoch, the alien who chooses Spock's body, decides he would rather keep an existence of stolen flesh and blood, and makes plans to sabotage Sargon's plan by indirectly killing Sargon and persuading Sargon's wife, Thalassa, to side with him.

Gargoyles fans will recognize this plot as the one re-used for that series' episode "Possession."

Return to Tropes:

• Agony Beam : Thalassa and Henoch both use their mental abilities to inflict pain. Thalassa grows a conscience and stops. Henoch, on the other hand....
• Atmosphere Abuse : The Enterprise finds a planet whose atmosphere was ripped away by a cataclysm half a million years earlier.
• Cessation of Existence : Sargon says "Thalassa and I must now also depart into oblivion" before he dies, implying a disbelief in any sort of life after death. The idea is muddled a bit by his suggestion that him and Thalassa will be together forever after their deaths, which sort of requires them to still exist after death. note  The inconsistency is a result of the original draft by John Dugan saying they would still exist "into eternity" — just as disembodied spirits. Roddenberry changed it to match his atheistic philosophy, which upset the devoutly Catholic Dugan.
• Cradling Your Kill : In the James Blish novelization of the episode, Kirk, nearly breaking down in tears, does this with Spock's 'dead' body after Henoch has been forced to flee. Kirk didn't give the lethal injection himself, but it was done on his orders.

• Energy Beings : Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch qualify.
• Foreshadowing : Henoch's comment about wondering that the Vulcans had not conquered Earth could be an early sign that he's the bad guy.
• Gilligan Cut : "You're going to WHAT?"
• A God Am I : Apparently, Sargon's people developed this attitude as a result of their minds becoming so powerful , which led to the war that destroyed their world. Thalassa has a moment of this when McCoy tells her he won't trade Mulhall's body for Kirk's life ("You dare defy one you should be on your knees worshipping? I could destroy you with a single thought!") and uses her powers to torture him, but quickly becomes horrified with herself .
• Grand Theft Me : Henoch, unbeknownst to the others, has permanent designs on Spock's body, and convinces Thalassa to attempt the same.
• Green-Eyed Monster : Henoch has more than a little of this.
• Kill the Host Body : Kirk resorts to injecting Spock's body with lethal poison to destroy Henoch. Subverted when it turns out that Sargon arranged for them to think that the hypo was deadly so that Henoch would flee and render himself vulnerable, and that Spock's consciousness was hidden within Nurse Chapel.
• Kissing Under the Influence : Sargon and Thalassa are a very Happily Married couple who smooch no less than 3 times while borrowing Kirk and Mulhall's bodies.
• When Sargon is in Kirk's body, the hamminess is up to eleven. Yes, even by Shatner's standards.
• Nimoy is clearly having a ball getting to play someone completely different from Spock.
• Our Ghosts Are Different : The G word is never used, but this is essentially what Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch are.
• Possession Burnout : Possessed bodies have their metabolic and heart rates shoot up to dangerous levels (presumably native to the aliens' original forms) ; Spock's Vulcan physiology can tolerate it for several hours, but the humans can only take it for a few minutes before risking death.
• Power Echoes : When the aliens possess humans they gain echoing voices.
• Psychotic Smirk : Henoch gives a few in Spock's body.
• Readings Are Off the Scale : Dr. Mulhall announces this while she and Dr. McCoy are scanning Sargon's underground sanctuary.
• Red Shirts : Two of them are ready to beam down with the landing party, and no doubt breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't beam down after all.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons : McCoy naturally has his doubts about letting Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch borrow bodies. His concern proves well founded, but not for the reasons he expected as the danger comes from Henoch refusing to leave Spock's body and plotting to kill Kirk's body to ensure Sargon's death.
• Sense Freak : All of the aliens enjoy the sensations of life again after taking human bodies, and Henoch does use the fact that their robot bodies will not have this sensory ability to try and persuade Thalassa to side with him.
• There's a brief moment where McCoy sees Chapel leaving sickbay and yells "Nurse Chapel, what in the devil?!" — right after Spock's consciousness was stored in Chapel's body. That's him. Majel Barrett actually got to play Spock for those few seconds.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien : Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch, aliens who survived the destruction of his world half a million years ago by becoming Energy Beings of pure thought.
• Telepathy : Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch are capable of this. Henoch abuses the power to brain wipe Chapel.
• Together in Death : Sargon and Thalassa ultimately choose this, deciding that they do not fear oblivion so long as they are together.
• Willing Channeler : Essentially what they're all doing, although Roddenberry and Gene Coon insisted on removing anything that seemed the least bit "spiritual", to the point that author John Dugan, a devout Catholic, used his pseudonym Kingsbridge on this. Roddenberry had rewritten the final scene to say that the Arretians departed into "oblivion" rather than just deciding to go on existing without bodies in "eternity" or "infinity" as Dugan had wanted it. He was a university professor and all his students and colleagues knew his beliefs.
• Your Mind Makes It Real : Sargon used his abilities to make McCoy believe he loaded a hypo full of poison so that Henoch would believe it as well and flee Spock's body after Chapel injected him with it.
• Star Trek S2 E19 "A Private Little War"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S2 E21 "Patterns of Force"

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Return to Tomorrow (Episode)

Stardate 4768.3 : Telepathic aliens take over Kirk and Spock's bodies.

Answering a mysterious distress call from Arret [1] —a planet thought long dead— Kirk , McCoy , and Dr. Ann Mulhall are transported underground to confront the last three survivors of that world's civilization. Sargon , Thalassa , and Henoch have preserved their conscious minds within spherical containers, and have remained in this state for centuries. They now wish to "borrow" the bodies of Kirk, Spock , and Dr. Mulhall so that they can construct android bodies to house their minds on a permanent basis. Sargon assures Kirk that his people will be safe, their minds encased for a short time within the same containers his people now occupy. McCoy is concerned about the high metabolic rate necessary for "possession." The real danger, however, is Henoch, who appropriates Spock's body without any intention of returning it. Henoch telepathically forces Nurse Chapel to poison Sargon (in Kirk's body) and then destroys the globe that houses Spock's mind. Fortunately, Spock's consciousness had already left the globe, hidden within the mind of Nurse Chapel. Henoch is tricked into leaving Spock's body, and is destroyed. Sargon and Thalassa vacate the bodies of Kirk and Dr. Mulhall voluntarily, announcing (after one last kiss) that they will be happy to roam throughout the universe together in their noncorporeal state.

• 1 Image Gallery
• 2 Related Data
• 4 Notes and References

Image Gallery

Command officer

electronics

telekinesis

Related Data

Created by Gene Roddenberry

Starring William Shatner

Also Starring Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Written by John Kingsbridge

Directed by Ralph Senensky

Produced by John Meredyth Lucas

Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry

Associate Producer Robert H. Justman

Guest Star Diana Muldaur as Ann Mulhall

James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura George Takei … Sulu Cindy Lou … Nurse and Majel Barrett … Christine Chapel

Uncredited James Doohan … Sargon (Voice)

Script Consultant D.C. Fontana

Assistant to the Producer Edward K. Milkis

Theme Music by Alexander Courage

Music Composed and Conducted by George Duning

Director of Photography Jerry Finnerman

Art Director Walter M. Jefferies

Film Editor … Donald R. Rode Unit Production Manager … Gregg Peters Assistant Director … Phil Rawlins Set Decorator … John M. Dwyer Costumes Created by … William Ware Theiss Photographic Effects … Vanderveer Photo Effects Sound Effects Editor … Douglas H. Grindstaff Music Editor … Jim Henrikson Re-Recording Mixer … Elden E. Ruberg , C.A.S. Production Mixer … Carl W. Daniels Script Supervisor … George A. Rutter Casting … Joseph D'Agosta Sound … Glen Glenn Sound Co. Makeup Artist … Fred B. Phillips , S.M.A. Hair Styles … Pat Westmore Gaffer … George H. Merhoff Head Grip … George Rader Property Master … Irving A. Feinberg Special Effects … Jim Rugg Key Costumer … Ken Harvey

A Paramount Production In Association With Norway Corporation

Executive in Charge of Production Herbert F. Solow

Notes and References

• ↑ The name of the planet was not given in the final episode, but was taken from an earlier draft of the script.
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Star Trek – Return to Tomorrow (Review)

The first Star Trek pilot, The Cage , was produced in 1964. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, this December we are reviewing the second season of the original Star Trek show. You can check out our first season reviews here . Check back daily for the latest review.

Return to Tomorrow is similar to By Any Other Name in a number of ways.

Most superficially, it’s an episode about aliens in human bodies, who find themselves learning (or, in this case, remembering) how to appreciate all that mankind has to offer. The plot similarity is rather broad, but it seems strange that By Any Other Name and Return to Tomorrow would be produced right after one another, and that no significant effort would be made to space them apart on initial broadcast. (Both aired in February of 1968.)

Leonard Nimoy only gets to smile once a year, so the show makes the most of it…

However, there are more fundamental and underlying similarities between Return to Tomorrow and By Any Other Name . Both are episodes that are very much engaged with the underlying philosophy of the franchise, particularly concerning humanity’s place in the universe. Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that Return to Tomorrow and By Any Other Name both work much better as statements of philosophical intent than they do as stories in their own right.

Co-written by Gene Roddenberry, Return to Tomorrow is a rather generic piece of television, but one that feels like a considered statement of the franchise’s central themes.

“Things are going to be a little different around here…”

The biggest problem with  Return to Tomorrow is the pacing. The episode is almost halfway to the end before the actual plot of the episode kicks in – before Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch have  “borrowed” their human bodies. As with the capture-and-escape sequences at the start of By Any Other Name , the exposition sequences that open Return to Tomorrow slow down and hamper the plot significantly. There’s a sense that Return to Tomorrow takes far too long to get going.

While the first half feels over-extended, the second half feels a little rushed. Henoch turns evil too quickly, while Thalassa flip-flops on whether she wants to keep the body, and Sargon appears to be killed off before we really get a chance to know him. And then there’s the rushed last act, where Return to Tomorrow desperately tries to wring drama from its set up, but nothing has any room to breath, leaving a rather unsatisfying conclusion.

“Jim’s dead, Jim…”

The final few minutes of Return to Tomorrow hinge on the fact that Kirk and McCoy think that they have to murder Spock in order to stop Henoch. It’s one of those great dramatic hooks – would you kill your best friend to save the universe? – but the scripts bungles it because there’s no room to explore the implications of this decision. The entire plot point plays out over about three minutes of screen time.

Most obviously, Kirk and McCoy settle on the fact that they have to kill Spock in four lines of dialogue in the scene right before they attempt to do it. “Jim, the receptacles!” McCoy protests. “Spock’s consciousness was in one of them!” Kirk replies, “It was necessary.” McCoy demands, “What are you talking about? There is no Spock to return to his body. You’ve killed a loyal officer, your best friend.” Kirk is all business. “Bones, prepare a hypo. The fastest, deadliest poison to Vulcans. Spock’s consciousness is gone. We must kill his body, the thing in it.”

“Let’s get the ball rolling, shall we?”

That’s not a plot thread or a character arc. It’s barely even a conversation. It is two actors trying to invest some emotional charge in exposition. It is a bullet-point summary of the climax of Return to Tomorrow , one that explains to the audience what is happening, but doesn’t have any real room to explore the implications of this plot development. This is to say nothing of the actual ending, where it is revealed that Sargon simply tricked McCoy into thinking he’d poisoned Spock when he had just tranquilised him, in order to trick Henoch into leaving Spock’s body.

It’s a gloriously convoluted final act, one that might have worked a bit better if Return to Tomorrow had managed to get through the first half of the story a little quicker – leaving a bit more room for the drama in the second half of the story. As it stands, Return to Tomorrow is a mess of an episode, one packed with interesting ideas and hampered by mediocre execution. It is an episode that fades into the background of the second half of the second season.

“That’s no moon…”

Even those involved in the production of the episode have acknowledged that Return to Tomorrow is not especially memorable. Diana Muldaur, making her first Star Trek appearance here, has joked that she has never actually watched the episode and can’t remember too much about it :

I actually have a VHS tape of the episode. I don’t have a DVD of it. And I have to look at it. The episode is still bound. It still has the plastic wrap on it. But I do remember an incredible crew. I remember a brilliant costume man. I remember meeting all the people. Shatner was one of the best young actors out of Canada. He wasn’t young by me; he’s older than I, but he was a very good actor who’d done some very wonderful performances in things before Star Trek. All of them were very interesting, very good people. I remember incredible lighting. They could make you incredibly gorgeous in a second.

Although Muldaur is polite and good-natured about the show and her co-stars, she doesn’t seem to remember Return to Tomorrow as vividly as Is There In Truth No Beauty? or her stint on Star Trek: The Next Generation . She does good work here, but it is hard to blame her.

“Sargon lives!”

Muldaur is not alone. Return to Tomorrow is the last episode of the second season directed by Star Trek veteran Ralph Senensky. Senensky has very thoroughly (and entertainingly) documented his experiences working on Star Trek via his wonderful blog, but he conceded that he was quite reluctant to talk about Return to Tomorrow :

Eighteen months ago today I posted the Prolog, my first entry, on this website. In the following weeks, for reasons I explained in that Prolog, I started this cinema journey by writing of my adventures on Star Trek, but I only covered six of the seven treks I had made. I omitted Return to Tomorrow with the lame excuse, “Return to Tomorrow, about which the less said the better.”

Senensky did eventually cover his work on Return to Tomorrow , which is well worth a read. However, there is a general sense that the episode is just sort of there in the final stretch of episodes of the second season. It comes at a point where the entire production team is exhausted, and after a major change in ownership with all sorts of resultant pressure and constraints.

“Well, this is a sexual harassment case waiting to happen…”

Senensky has talked about the production constraints facing those working on Star Trek after the change in ownership . Leonard Nimoy offers another example in his interview with The Archive of American Television . Asked what was important for a Star Trek director, Nimoy explained:

Get it done fast. How to get it done fast. It was constantly schedule, schedule, schedule. You had to try to get something interesting happening within the time and money allotted, but schedule was primary. You had to get it done on schedule. In fact, it got so bad second/third season that at 6:30pm, if a person was working on the show – if a crew member was on the stage – they were on over time. It got so tight that it was absolutely not allowed. And the plan was that at 6:18pm, you quit work, which gave the staff twelve minutes to put away their stuff for the next morning and get off the lot. Either or. I remember, we’d be in the middle of a scene at 6:18pm, and a voice would yell, “That’s a wrap!” And the lights would go out. And you were through.

Senensky’s version of events is slightly different – he suggests the lights went out at twelve minutes past six, leaving eighteen minutes for tidying up. Nevertheless, it gives a sense of the kind of pressure under which Star Trek was working.

“We could be immortal. We could even appear on The Next Generation, albeit separately…”

And yet, despite the fact that the actual plotting and storytelling of Return to Tomorrow is bland and generic, there is a sense that is an episode that is fundamentally about Star Trek. It is an enunciation of some of the franchise’s core themes. Return to Tomorrow is an episode about exploration, in multiple senses. The most obvious is the literal sense. We are told that the Enterprise is “hundreds of light years past where any Earth ship has ever explored” and that it will take Kirk’s logs “over three weeks” to reach Starfleet “at this distance.”

More than that, it is an episode about exploring in a figurative and philosophical sense. Sargon tempts Kirk down to the planet with something of a grave threat. “And I am as dead as my planet. Does that frighten you, James Kirk? For if it does, if you let what is left of me perish, then all of you, my children, all of mankind must perish, too.” It’s a nice sting for the end of the teaser, even if the show makes it clear quite quickly that Sargon is not a villain. He seems to be talking in the abstract – as if humanity’s worth is measured in its curiosity and spirit of adventure.

Kirk’s willing to play ball…

After all, Return to Tomorrow features Kirk’s famous “risk is our business” speech about the value of exploration and adventuring. It’s a key (and popular) part of the franchise’s outlook and philosophy , an optimistic and impassioned way of looking at the universe:

They used to say if man could fly, he’d have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the moon, or that we hadn’t gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That’s like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I’m in command. I could order this. But I’m not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk. Risk is our business. That’s what the starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her.

It’s a beautiful moment, delivered well by Shatner and framed wonderfully by Senensky, with the camera slowly tightening on Kirk’s face as he explains just what he perceives to be the Enterprise’s core mission.

“Yes, I’m sure having our two most senior officers controlled by god-like aliens we just met is a good idea… why wouldn’t it be?”

It fulfills the plot-necessary function of explaining why Kirk would give over his body to a random alien – even if it would still seem safer to nominate two less senior officers – but it also very clearly articulates some ideas at the heart of the franchise. The script for Return to Tomorrow was heavily re-written by Gene Roddenberry, and it feels like something of a prelude for Roddenberry’s more evangelical approach to writing Star Trek from Star Trek: The Motion Picture onwards.

Much like By Any Other Name , Return to Tomorrow is predicated on the idea that humans are inherently and irreducibly special. As with By Any Other Name , a bunch aliens forced to take human form as part of a larger plan find themselves enamored with the pleasures of the human experience. “Lungs filled with air again,”   Sargon! Kirk proclaims. “To see again. Heart pumping, arteries surging with blood again. A half a million years. To be again. Your captain has an excellent body, Doctor McCoy. I compliment you both on the condition in which you maintained it.”

“One is a twenty-third century starship captain. The other is a god-like consciousness trapped inside a glowing ball. Together, they fight crime…” Goodness, I’d love a Kirk/Sargon buddy comedy…

The episode is not credited to Roddenberry, but to John Kingsbridge. Kingsbridge was a pseudonym of writer John T. Dugan, who had been forced to fight Roddenberry for credit. The matter went to the Writers’ Guild of America for arbitration, and they decided in Dugan’s favour. ( Alan Dean Foster had to fight Roddenberry for credit on The Motion Picture .) However, Dugan took exception to some of the creative decisions made during the re-writes, and asked that the finished episode by credited to  “John Kingsbridge.”

However, the writing credit on  Return to Tomorrow would become a matter of no small controversy. The credits for the episode would become confused and mixed up for the next few decades. James Blish’s prose adaptations of the  Star Trek episodes would credit Dugan under his real name. The VHS cover of the Return to Tomorrow cassette credited Gene Roddenberry. Dugan took the matter up with Paramount, earning a settlement and corrections across all associated media.

“A god am I…”

Much like Roddenberry’s attempts to strong-arm Harlan Ellison, this is not one of the show’s prouder moments when it comes to dealing with writers. Dugan voiced his frustrations in an interview with Starlog :

“I mean, to be an original Star Trek writer is quite a thing. Then, to have your credit stolen by the god of Star Trek is a cheap shot. I put the tape in and saw that the credit is fine on the show itself, but what pissed me off was that it’s not correct on the jacket, for anyone casually looking at it.”

Roddenberry had heavily re-written episodes like Shore Leave without seeking to “jump” credit, but perhaps he felt Dugan was an easier target because he was not as established a science-fiction writer as Theodore Sturgeon.

“Oh my, it looks like Sargon’s just come into possession of William Shatner’s acting powers…”

The disagreement between Dugan and Roddenberry of the script concerned the final act. At the end of Return to Tomorrow , Sargon and Thalissa decide to drift off into “oblivion” together, abandoning the universe to mankind and other similar species. According to the aforementioned Starlog interview, Dugan objected on philosophical grounds to this ending:

“That line totally went against my philosophy and cosmology,” he says. “It was  only one line, but I didn’t want to be associated with it. This oblivion idea is  Roddenberry’s philosophy, not mine. My philosophy was that these entities would exist as spirits for eternity, but they wouldn’t  have their bodies. That might be a small  thing, but I have a reputation and a philosophy, and everybody who knows me knows  what I stand for; I certainly don’t stand for oblivion in the afterlife, so I used my pseudonym. When you write a script, you don’t expect to have your world view  changed by a producer. The rest of Roddenberry’s changes were all trivial, as I  said in my letter to the arbiters; the big thing was that change in the episode’s philosophy. Other people might think I’m crazy, but that’s the way I live.”

However, as much as Dugan’s central cosmology and philosophy would reject the idea of Sargon and Thalissa fading away into nothingness, Roddenberry’s central cosmology and philosophy all but demanded it.

An impressive body of work…

At its core, Return to Tomorrow is a story about how the universe does not need its gods any more. It is a tale about how mankind has moved beyond the need for an all-powerful father-figure to tell them what to do and what not to do. This is as much a story about Gene Roddenberry’s atheism as The Apple or most of Who Mourns for Adonais? (Which, of course, sets it at odds with the conclusion to Bread and Circuses .)

Sargon and his people are cast in a very religious light. It is no wonder that Henoch, the evil character, ends up in the most satanic body. Sargon confesses to Kirk, “One day our minds became so powerful, we dared think of ourselves as gods.” It seems that Sargon hasn’t ever moved past that. He refers to Kirk as “my son” and to humanity as “my children.” He describes space as “the heavens.” He speaks in a disembodied voice with absolute power.

Spock hated to burst Henoch’s bubble…

Return to Tomorrow draws rather heavily from The Book of Genesis , with Sargon even doing some biblical name-dropping. He takes credit for creating life on Earth… maybe. “As you now leave your own seed on distant planets, so we left our seed behind us,” he boasts. “Perhaps your own legends of an Adam and an Eve were two of our travellers.” When Mulhall questions his suggestion, Spock suggests Sargon’s people may have “seeded” Vulcan. Sargon promptly changes the subject. “In either case, I do not know. It was so long ago.” It’s hard to keep track.

This isn’t the only parallel. The climax of the episode owes a debt to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, when God directs the man to sacrifice his only son. However, it is revealed to be a test of faith at the last possible moment, with God sparing Isaac. At the end of Return to Tomorrow , Sargon asks Kirk to sacrifice Spock. Kirk does so willingly, only for Sargon to spare Spock at the last minute. “I could not allow your sacrifice of one so close to you.”

Taking the opportunity to chew the scenery is only logical…

Return to Tomorrow makes several references to the theory of “ancient astronauts” – the idea that Earth was visited by pre-historic space explorers who either created or curated life on the planet. Sargon seems to suggest that his people created mankind specifically so that Kirk would find this planet all these years later. “We knew the seed that we had planted on other planets would take root, that one day you would build vessels as we did, and one day you would come here,” Sargon! Kirk boasts.

The Star Trek franchise is quite fond of the idea of ancient astronauts – the idea of aliens who have shepherded evolution across the cosmos, possibly including Earth. The Preservers fulfil a similar function in The Paradise Syndrome , while  Who Mourns for Adonais? ,  Requiem for Methuselah and  Plato’s Stepchildren hit on similar ideas. On The Next Generation , The Chase reveals that all the alien races on Star Trek look so alike because they were all seeded by the same race.

“Yes, Bones, purple alert is now totally a thing…”

It is worth noting that Roddenberry himself firmly rejected the idea of ancient astronauts, interpreting the idea as an insult to humanity’s own power of self-determination and autonomy . Mankind was perfectly capable of building the pyramids on their own terms, without any assistance from extraterrestrials. It is a powerful statement of Roddenberry’s atheist humanism, and one that informs a lot of what of the writer saw in Star Trek .

So the franchise’s fixation on the concept is interesting, because it runs so contrary to Roddenberry’s worldview, and that of the entire franchise. Then again, Star Trek has never been entirely internally consistent, especially on matters of faith. However, there are a number of possible reasons why the franchise may have returned so frequently to this subject. Most obviously, because the concept of ancient astronauts allowed the franchise to engage with religion in an indirect way.

Enlightenment…

After all, religion is a pretty controversial subject. Actually questioning and exploring Christianity would have been impossible in the late sixties on American network television. However, as Ryan Britt has noted , creating aliens who satisfy many of the expectations of deities gets around a potentially thorny issue:

The idea that aliens could be our ancestors (instead of gods or supernatural deities) opens up new avenues of faith for skeptics with a science-based worldview. Instead of being made from mud, or springing from the head of Zeus, we can look up to the stars and say, “well, it probably was on one of those things, where everything else came from.”

It’s not wonder that the idea is as old and archetypal as it is, with Chariots of the Gods? tracing a rich line of speculative fiction dating back through Dawn of the Magicians to H.P. Lovecraft and beyond.

Let Sargons be bygones…

On the twelfth anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s passing, James F. McGrath reflected on how Star Trek used these sorts of pulpy science-fiction ideas :

It is interesting that so many stories on Star Trek and other science fiction shows explore the scenario that advanced aliens are mistaken for gods and advanced technology for magic or miracle. It allows the exploration of longstanding traditions of storytelling to continue in the framework of our modern scientific worldview. But it also allows the gods to be challenged, rejected, taken on, beaten, and brought down to size. And so if, on one level, doing that posits that such beings as Apollo really exist, on another it allows human beings to outgrow them and treat them as beings like us, and not infallible sources of truth worthy of worship.

With all this in mind, Gene Roddenberry’s script for Return to Tomorrow could only have ended one way.

Kirk can handle this situation…

Sargon and Thalissa’s decision to retreat into “oblivion” implies that they are handing over the universe to their successors. It is a way of making explicit the ideas implied by the early first season and late second season episodes that portrayed the universe as a mostly-empty graveyard haunted by the ghosts of once-powerful civilisations. Humanity has inherited the universe; this is their opportunity to define themselves against it.

That said, it wouldn’t be a Gene Roddenberry script if there weren’t a few moments when Return to Tomorrow gets a little heavy-handed with its morals. Explaining how he and his people ended up in their protective bubbles, Sargon recalls “the cataclysm which [they] loosened upon [themselves]” , “a struggle for such goals and the unleashing of such power that you could not comprehend.” Kirk makes the immediate implied connection with the atomic age. “We faced a similar crisis in our early nuclear age. We found the wisdom not to destroy ourselves.”

“… And that’s why, when I’m trying to maintain a mortal body, I use Doctor McCoy’s patented Homebrew Immortality Serum. Available from all good deep space outlets.”

To be fair to Roddenberry, Sargon does suggest that atomic horror is not the only potential calamity awaiting a rapidly-advancing society. “We survived our primitive nuclear era, my son,” Sargon tells Kirk. “But there comes to all races an ultimate crisis which you have yet to face.” That ultimate crisis is existential and philosophical in nature – much like Sargon’s threat to Kirk at the end of the teaser. Sargon’s society was destroyed by its own arrogance and hubris, having survived its atomic age.

It is a little weird to hear that line in the wake of Roddenberry’s writing on The Motion Picture and The Next Generation , where it frequently seemed like mankind had elevated themselves to the status of the divine – deciding when and when not to intervene, taking great pride in lording their superiority over those they deemed less advanced. It seems like episodes like The Last Outpost and Lonely Among Usfthe gam might have learned from Sargon’s wisdom.

“See, Bones, THIS is why we have purple alert!”

There’s also some of the troubling background radiation sexism we’ve come to expect from Star Trek . To be fair, Mulhall is a much more developed and competent female guest star than usually appears – Diana Muldaur holds her own quite well against the rest of the ensemble, giving Mulhall some of the same bite that she would bring to Pulaski on The Next Generation . However, it’s telling that – much like Kelinda in By Any Other Name – Thalassa is the alien most skilfully and casually manipulated.

It is Thalassa who is corrupted (albeit briefly) by Henoch’s promise of immortality. Henoch and Sargon are defined as moral absolutes. Sargon is never tempted to abuse his power, while Henoch starts plotting to hang on to his new body almost the moment he wakes up. Thalassa, on the other hand, seems prone to change her mind depending on whom she spoke to last. Even when they decide to keep their bodies, Henoch schemes in the background until his plan is complete, while Thalassa lashes out at Doctor McCoy in a rather transparent and petulant manner.

Strange new world…

Still, there is something quite pointed in Thalassa’s plea to keep Mulhall’s body. After all, the audience knows that Kirk has to be Kirk and Spock has to be Spock by the end of Return to Tomorrow . Mulhall is a guest star, and so she is disposable; she is even wearing a red uniform. Thalassa tries to bargain with McCoy. “It happens to belong to a young woman,” McCoy insists. Mulhall cuts across him, “Who you hardly know. Almost a stranger to you.”

There’s something quite pointed in that remark. It almost seems like Thalassa is drawing attention to how casual and callous Star Trek can be about lives outside those of the primary cast. Mulhall has never been seen before, she has never been seen again. How is she different from the dozens of Enterprise crew members who appear in episodes like this so that they may be killed off to provide cheap drama. Is Mulhall any more or less important than Yeoman Thompson, forgotten at the end of By Any Other Name ?

“Sargon, you will discover that mankind has pioneered many revolutionary dance moves since your last visit…”

Return to Tomorrow never answers that challenge. Mulhall never appears again, despite Muldaur’s performance and the appeal of a no-nonsense hyper-competent female staff member other than the still-nebulously-defined Uhura. However, the fact that the episode dares to raise the question is interesting. It might be too much to describe Return to Tomorrow as self-aware, but there are faint glimmers to be found buried in the messy script.

The production on Return to Tomorrow is quite impressive. The design of Sargon is very cost-effective, but it is also iconic. The idea of an entire civilisation preserved in simple white spheres is incredibly memorable – the design recalls the “head museum” in Futurama , and it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. Like the Gamesters from  The Gamesters of Triskelion , Sargon is the kind of eccentric realised-on-a-tiny-budget alien that people think about when they think of  Star Trek .

Welcome back, Sulu…

It’s also nice to have George Takei back, after his ten-episode absence from the middle of the season. Takei was filming The Green Berets , a production that ran significantly over-schedule. Takei regrets that unfortunate scheduling mismatch, because the second season had promised a larger role for Sulu :

During the first season I lobbied Gene Roddenberry and the directors and the writing staff to beef up the role — well, everybody was doing that, and when you have seven regulars it gets to be very difficult. Gene said, “This is the first season and we really have to strengthen the two leads.” But he promised me that in the second season he’d devote more attention to the other characters. He did keep his promise and develop wonderful roles for Sulu. But I got cast during the hiatus in The Green Berets, the John Wayne movie. We ran way over schedule and I couldn’t be back in time for the beginning of the second season. Walter Koenig was brought in to essentially say the words that were written for me. I had already memorized them because I was so excited.

Perhaps the most notable example of Chekov stepping into a Sulu-sized gap is The Trouble With Tribbles . Sulu doesn’t do anything particularly noteworthy or important over the course of Return to Tomorrow , but the show opens on a nice a close-up of George Takei to assure viewers that the character has returned.

“Let’s see what’s out there…”

Return to Tomorrow is also notable for allowing Leonard Nimoy a chance to step outside the role of Spock, if only for twenty minutes. Nimoy relishes the opportunity to play a more manipulative and scenery-chewing role than that of the half-Vulcan first officer, accepting that Henoch is never going to be a multi-faceted antagonist for the show. There is something strangely charming about seeing Nimoy grin and smirk and plot in his familiar Spock make-up.

By Any Other Name and Return to Tomorrow may not feature the best writing on the show, but they are packed with visuals and ideas deeply associated with Star Trek .

You might be interested in our other reviews from the second season of the classic Star Trek :

• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #1 – The Planet of No Return!
• Supplemental: (Marvel Comics, 1980) #4-5 – The Haunting of Thallus!/The Haunting of the Enterprise!
• Metamorphosis
• Friday’s Child
• Who Mourns for Adonais?
• Supplemental: Spock’s World by Diane Duane
• Supplemental: New Visions #3 – Cry Vengeance
• Wolf in the Fold
• The Changeling
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #43-45 – The Return of the Serpent!
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #13 – The Red Shirt’s Tale
• Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – Crossover
• Supplemental: New Visions #1 – The Mirror, Cracked
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #9-16 – New Frontiers (The Mirror Universe Saga)
• Supplemental: Mirror Images
• Supplemental: Mirror Universe – The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #15-16 – Mirrored
• The Deadly Years
• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #61 – Operation Con Game
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #39-40 – The Return of Mudd
• Supplemental: The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold
• Supplemental: Alien Spotlight – Tribbles
• Bread and Circuses
• Journey to Babel
• A Private Little War
• The Gamesters of Triskelion
• The Immunity Syndrome
• A Piece of the Action
• By Any Other Name
• Return to Tomorrow
• Patterns of Force
• The Ultimate Computer
• The Omega Glory
• Supplemental: Assignment: Eternity by Greg Cox
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #49-50 – The Peacekeepers
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2008) Assignment: Earth

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: ancient astronauts , androids , chariots of the gods , credit , credit jumping , Diana Muldaur , Federation , gene roddenberry , James Doohan , john kingsbridge , john t. dugan , religion , return to tomorrow , risk is our business , sargon , sargon's people , star trek , star trek: the original series , the original series , themes , tos , writing |

2 Responses

I love this blog. You go deeper into these Star Trek episodes than, perhaps, the writers and producers. It will take me months to digest all of your ideas.

I remember watching this episode immediately after deciding not to undergo hip replacement surgery. The heads of my femurs were made of dead bone and were crumbling.

I emphasized with Henoch and Thalassa. What is life if I can’t feel? Could I live a life of near-eternity inside of an unfeeling android body? I could at least think, couldn’t I? But what would it be like to think without feeling? What could anchor my thoughts?

So I lived with the pain for awhile, but it got worse, and I was unable to think at all because “feeling” became such a dominant sensation. I gave up and eventually did get my hip replacement surgery. I can still feel. I am still human.

Anyway…. thanks again for this blog.

Thanks for the kind words John.

And thank you for sharing your story. I have had several relatives go through joint replacement surgery, and while they described the process (and subsequent rehab) as incredibly tough, none of them regret the decision.

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Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 51: Return To Tomorrow [VHS]

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Editorial Reviews

Buttoned-down Spock shows a whole new lust for life when the "life essence" of an egotistical alien takes up residence in his body and decides not to leave. The Enterprise is practically hijacked by a being of pure will, one of three ancient survivors of an extinct race (kept alive in a funky day-glo bubble) who makes a modest request of the human crew: lend us your bodies. It's only supposed to be temporary, just long enough to build a set of android substitutes to house their energy, but the devious character who lucks into Spock's Vulcan vessel likes his new flesh and blood and decides not to leave. It's bland drama but great fun as a character piece: Nimoy smirks and flirts as the cocky, swaggering kidnapper and Kirk still gets the girl, even with an alien pulling the strings. Diana Muldaur, who went on to play Dr. Pulaski during the second season of The Next Generation , makes her first of two original-series appearances in this episode (she appears as a different character in episode 62, "Is There No Truth in Beauty"). --Sean Axmaker

Product details

• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.32 x 4.19 x 1.12 inches; 6.13 ounces
• Release date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 1994
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 9, 2007
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Star Trek Original Series
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Paramount
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 6300213552

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Ann Mulhall

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Doctor Ann Mulhall was a 23rd century Starfleet lieutenant commander who served as an astrobiologist aboard the USS Enterprise .

In 2268 , Mulhall was ordered to accompany a landing party to Arret , though she did not know who issued the order. While there, she witnessed Captain Kirk become inhabited by one of the planet's non-corporeal natives. She became alarmed when Kirk's vital signs became dangerously elevated.

Initially skeptical about the idea of being inhabited herself, Mulhall accused the non-corporeal beings of wanting to steal their bodies. She also suggested that Kirk's easy acceptance of the possibility might have been due to false euphoria , rather than actual interest. She did find the idea intriguing from a scientific perspective.

Mulhall ultimately allowed the energy being Thalassa to occupy her body while Thalassa's husband , Sargon , and their former enemy, Henoch , occupied the bodies of Kirk and Spock , respectively. This was done in order to construct androids in which her consciousness and those of the other entities could be housed permanently. During this process, Thalassa almost refused to give Mulhall's body back, but ultimately did so. ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ")

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Ann Mulhall was played by Diana Muldaur . Her name was spelled in the final draft of the script (dated 15 November 1967 ) as "Anne Mulhall", but the "e" was dropped in the episode's end credits. According to the same script, "Anne is an attractive woman, about thirty, an astro-biologist."

The character has the distinction of being the highest- ranking female Starfleet character shown in TOS. Though her doctorate was presumably in a science department , Mulhall wore the red uniform of the operations division .

Mulhall was also presumably a relatively new transfer aboard the Enterprise , judging from Kirk's comment to her when she appeared in the transporter room , " Who are you? "

External link [ ]

• Ann Mulhall at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

This Was Anton Yelchin's Favorite Episode From Star Trek: The Original Series

J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" feature film wasn't so much an adaptation of the 1966 TV series as it was a film version of how non-Trekkies view the franchise. To explain: on the TV series, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is typically depicted as being judicious, stern, and decisive. Because of the few times Kirk solved problems with his fists, however, he has gained a (perhaps unfair) reputation for being a reckless cowboy, an insufferable lothario, and a flippant charmer. Abrams' version of Kirk (Chris Pine) rolled with those misconceptions, making a "high-octane" version of the character. Indeed, all the characters are now broader, more passionate versions of themselves. This is in addition to each of them being secret super-geniuses, deeply expert in at least one field of science, language, medicine, or engineering.

Case in point, Chekov (Anton Yelchin) knows how to operate a transporter in such a way that he can snatch crewmates right out of the air as they plummet through a planet's atmosphere below. Everything in the 2009 "Star Trek" is shifted into overdrive, with whirling cameras, shouting, fighting, and desperate last-minute escapes. Abrams turned "Star Trek" into an action movie. 

That said, many of the new cast members did their "Star Trek" homework, watching old episodes of the original series and using their forebears as models for the latest versions of their characters. Yelchin in particular closely emulated Walter Koenig, and was even careful to imitate Koenig's unique Russian accent, even if it wasn't wholly accurate. 

In 2009, TrekMovie interviewed the late Yelchin about playing Chekov, asking the actor — perhaps naturally — what his favorite episode of the original series was. Surprisingly, Yelchin was very fond of "Who Mourns for Adonais?," the episode wherein the Enterprise crew faces off against the Greek god Apollo.

Yelchin thought that 'Who Mourns for Adonais?' was 'fascinating'

"Who Mourns for Adonais?" (September 22, 1967) begins with the Enterprise being grabbed in space by a giant green human hand. Kirk and company beam down to a nearby planet to find Apollo (Michael Forest) living there. This appears to be the actual god Apollo of Greek myth, and he demands that the Enterprise crew worship him, just like he used to be worshiped back on Earth. Kirk, Chekov, and the others surmise that Apollo is actually an ancient alien that once visited Earth thousands of years ago, and the locals assumed he was a god. Kirk explains to Apollo that humans have outgrown the need for gods, and Apollo is sad. After Apollo ascends to join the other "gods," Kirk admits that even without the benefit of divinity, modern civilization still owes a lot to ancient Greek culture. The title is a reference to an 1821 Percy Shelley elegy about John Keats.

Yelchin probably liked "Adonais" because Chekov has a lot to contribute. He was part of the episode's landing party, and he was active and contributive. In Yelchin's words: 

"Probably the one with Apollo. I think is such an intelligent episode. It is an episode where the basic point is that humanity ... looking at it in terms of the '60s when men are their own gods, and look at where they brought their universe to. It was such a fascinating, touching, weird thing to have an episode. Where men come to a planet where a god wants to be a god again." 

No such heady concepts were included in the 2009 film, as it was, as mentioned, an action picture. But It's nice to see that Yelchin found some of the original Trek concepts to be interesting. 

'Amok Time' - a.k.a. the pon farr episode

Yelchin also liked "Amok Time," saying, "I also love the episode where Spock is PMSing and where Kirk has to fight Spock."

That's an indelicate way of describing pon farr, a Vulcan phenomenon where their bodies sexually activate once every seven years. While undergoing pon farr, Vulcans become unbearably horny, but also very angry and animalistic. They are moved to mate. In "Amok Time" (September 15, 1967) , Spock (Leonard Nimoy) undergoes pon farr and returns to Vulcan to marry his betrothed T'Pring (Arlene Martel). T'Pring finds that Kirk is a more appealing mate, however, and Kirk and Spock have to fight in a Vulcan gladiatorial arena for her hand. It's a notable episode of "Star Trek" because of the amount of Vulcan lore it introduced into the franchise, but many — like Yelchin — seem attached to the episode's silly, horny violence. 

Yelchin also admitted that he did more research than some of his co-stars. He read "The Star Trek Encyclopedia" by Mike and Denise Okuda, and watched every episode of the show. Chris Pine, it seems, began watching the series, but stopped partway through the first season. "I kept going. I loved it," Yelchin said. "I even watched the episodes that Chekov wasn't in. The ones that he was in I found interesting, like when they go to a bar in 'The Troubles With Tribbles' and they have a drink, I liked that." 

Yelchin also played Chekov in "Star Trek Into Darkness" in 2013 and in "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016, released posthumously .

Screen Rant

Star trek confirms an original series genius is so smart, even the gods respect him.

In Star Trek #19, fans learn a beloved crew member of the Original Series is so respected, that even the gods come to him for advice.

• In Star Trek #19, by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Megan Levens, fans learn even the gods respect Scotty's intelligence and experiecne.
• The Organian/Vulcan T'Lir comes to Scotty, seeking advice on how to handle a crewmate.
• Scotty is taken back to be giving advice to a god, but T'Lir takes what Scotty says to heart.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #19!

Throughout Star Trek history, Scotty distinguished himself as one of Starfleet’s best engineers, and his reputation is so sterling that even the gods come to him for advice. A Star Trek icon, Scotty has joined Captain Sisko and the Theseus on a mission to save reality itself. As the crew prepares for the mission ahead, one god-like being comes to Scotty seeking advice in Star Trek #19 .

Star Trek #19 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Megan Levens. After T’Lir has a falling out with Ensign Sato, they go to Scotty, seeking advice on how to handle mortal friendships. Scotty was a little taken back that a god-like Organian would come to him for advice. T’Lir persists in their request, and Scotty gives them solid advice, citing his own familial experiences as well as his time with Kirk and Spock.

Scotty advises T’Lir to cherish everyone close to them, god-like or not.

Scotty Earned His Reputation as "the Miracle Worker."

Scotty lived to the 24th century thanks to his ingenuity.

Montgomery Scott, known as “Scotty,” set the template for all other engineers in the Star Trek franchise. After years of bouncing around on freighters and other ships, Scotty came to the Enterprise. While Strange New Worlds established that Scotty knew Captain Pike, it would be under Captain James Kirk’s tenure that his reputation as the “miracle worker” grew. Scotty would retire in the early 24th century, but fate had other plans for him. Crash-landing on a Dyson Sphere, Scotty kept himself alive for decades in a jury-rigged transporter.

Scotty has been played by three different actors: James Doohan in the Original Series, Simon Pegg in the Kelvin-timeline films and Martin Quinn on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Rather than mope and brood about his situation, Scotty returns to duty in Starfleet. In some non-canonical sources, he helped design the Sovereign class starships, of which the Enterprise NCC-1701-E was one. When Kahless embarked on his genocidal quest against the gods, Scotty joined up with Sisko to help. He offered Sisko use of the Theseus , an older starship that Scotty refitted to be the best ship in Starfleet. The Theseus is an impressive feat of engineering, one of the most advanced ships in the fleet, and is a testbed for new technologies, some of which Scotty designed.

"It's Been 70 Years Since My Feet Touched the Ground": Scotty Reveals the Bittersweet Final Fate of Star Trek's Original Heroes

Scotty's genius is respected even by the gods, now scotty is going to meet the god-like beings of the star trek universe.

Scotty has been front and center in IDW’s flagship Star Trek comic. His service to the Theseus and the Federation as a whole has been a great reminder to fans why Scotty is a Star Trek icon in the first place. T’Lir remembers meeting Scotty as a child on Organia, and they recognize his genius. A century’s worth of experience on board starships counts for something, and T’Lir knows this. This god-like being sees Scotty as the true Star Trek genius he is, both as an engineer and as a human being.

Star Trek #19 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

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DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

FlickSphere

21 Things About Star Trek That Fans Hesitate to Acknowledge

Posted: April 27, 2024 | Last updated: April 27, 2024

Star Trek Reused the Same Sets Often

There were some sexist vibes.

Star Trek Was Forced to Move With the Times

We’ve All Fancied an Alien on Star Trek at Some Point in Our Lives

Drama in Deep Space Nine’

Star Trek Voyager Criticized for Having a Female Captain

The Story Lines Weren’t Always Great

Some of the Costumes Were Not Good

We Want Captain Picard Back

Most Fans Preferred the TV Series to the Movies

We Have all Tried to Speak Klingon

Sometimes, Star Trek Was Scary

The Theme Tune Was Awesome

Star Trek’s Original First Officer Was a Woman

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Published Apr 19, 2024

Remembering John G. Trimble

StarTrek.com honors the luminary whose contributions saved the Star Trek universe.

Mark Davis/StarTrek.com

StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of John G. Trimble, who passed away the morning of April 19, 2024, as confirmed by his daughter Lora Boem in a post .

Star Trek and fandom as we know it all stems from the efforts and passion of John and his wife Bjo Trimble , the couple who launched a grassroots letter writing campaign to Save Star Trek following NBC’s cancellation of the Original Series, resulting in a third season. With enough episodes then, Star Trek was able to enter syndication, propelling it into a phenomenon that warranted an animated series in 1973 and big-budget feature in 1979.

John and Bjo Trimble, in 2016, were brought on stage at Star Trek Las Vegas in celebration of the 50th anniversary, and the Star Trek franchise team surprised and honored them with a painted portrait of them by artist JK Woodward.

StarTrek.com

Recalling their efforts after a visit to the Original Series set , following the 50th anniversary honor, John Trimble told StarTrek.com, "When we saw the change in the cast and crew during the filming of 'The Deadly Years' from what it had been before, we knew something was going on. It had been a very up cast and crew, and now it was very down, the mood. We found out by going to craft services, the underground gossip source, that they were probably going to cancel the show after the second season. We had to leave and go back to Oakland, where we lived at the time, and on the way, we were talking about what a change it had been in the cast. I turned to Bjo and I said, 'There ought to be something we can do about that,' knowing full well that that was throwing down the challenge."

The couple immediately sprang into action. John Trimble added, "We spent the rest of the trip going up the Central Valley, before Interstate 5, back to Oakland, discussing how to do it and putting together the Save Star Trek campaign."

Bjo Trimble credited John for building out the framework of their grassroots campaign, "We knew, of course, we were going to have to both mail letters. John went down to the post office, learned all about mail rules, and brand new was the zip code system. They told us, flat out, that if material wasn't zip coded it wouldn't go out as bulk mail, that it would just sit in the post office. John got all the books in those days, and it was stacks of them, and learned about the zip code rules. And we came home and put those into effect when we mailed out letters. John was downstairs with a hand-cranked mimeograph machine, turning out the letters, which we still have a copy or two. We folded them, labeled them and stamped them, and put them in bulk mail. He was doing a whole bunch of the physical work, the grunt work. I was more getting people over to help us. It was actually wonderful. We would work the volunteers hard all weekend. John was everywhere; he was the one who ran the errands. He's the one who lifted, toted, and basically it simply was not possible for me to do it alone. This is why we're a pair."

The decades following their legendary writing campaign, John and Bjo Trimble remained ambassadors for science fiction, the space program, and the Society of Creative Anachronism. The pair continued to attend Star Trek premiere and events, meeting fellow fans and sharing their enthusiasm for each new iteration of Star Trek and generation of fandom, including last year’s Star Trek: Picard Season 3 red carpet premiere in Hollywood, CA.

The entire Star Trek family sends their condolences to Trimble’s family, friends, and loved ones around the world.

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Episode list

S1.E0 ∙ The Cage

S1.E1 ∙ The Man Trap

S1.E2 ∙ Charlie X

S1.E3 ∙ Where No Man Has Gone Before

S1.E4 ∙ The Naked Time

S1.E5 ∙ The Enemy Within

S1.E6 ∙ Mudd's Women

S1.E7 ∙ What Are Little Girls Made Of?

S1.E8 ∙ Miri

S1.E9 ∙ Dagger of the Mind

S1.E10 ∙ The Corbomite Maneuver

S1.E11 ∙ The Menagerie: Part I

S1.E12 ∙ The Menagerie: Part II

S1.E13 ∙ The Conscience of the King

S1.E14 ∙ Balance of Terror

S1.E15 ∙ Shore Leave

S1.E16 ∙ The Galileo Seven

S1.E17 ∙ The Squire of Gothos

S1.E18 ∙ Arena

S1.E19 ∙ Tomorrow Is Yesterday

S1.E20 ∙ Court Martial

S1.E21 ∙ The Return of the Archons

S1.E22 ∙ Space Seed

S1.E23 ∙ A Taste of Armageddon

S1.E24 ∙ This Side of Paradise

S1.E25 ∙ The Devil in the Dark

S1.E26 ∙ Errand of Mercy

S1.E27 ∙ The Alternative Factor

S1.E28 ∙ The City on the Edge of Forever

S1.E29 ∙ Operation -- Annihilate!

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