KIRK AND CREW MEET APOLLO

Episode Title:  Who Mourns for Adonais?

Air Date: 9/22/1967

Written by Gilbert A. Ralston and Gene L. Coon

 

Directed by Marc Daniels

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          John Winston as  Lieutenant Kyle            Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Leslie Parrish as Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas         Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli                        Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov      Michael Forest as Apollo 

              

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Pollux IV

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is mapping planets in the Pollux system.  McCoy notices and points out to Kirk that Scotty is rather taken with young Lt. Carolynn Palamas.  McCoy is concerned because although Scotty is taken with her she doesn’t seem to be that taken with him.  McCoy predicts that the right man will come along and she will leave Starfleet for that hypothetical man.  That is a thought that really bothers Captain Kirk.

Scotty trying to flirt!

Then their normal survey expedition is interrupted when a giant human looking hand appears from the planet and grabs the Enterprise!  The crew reacts swiftly but they also can’t get shake the feeling of utter ridiculousness of a “hand” grabbing their ship.  Mr. Spock confirms that the “hand” is actually an energy field.   Kirk orders Lt. Sulu to try to break free but the ship can’t get loose.  Lt. Uhura reports that they are being hailed and on the view screen is the face of a human man.  The man wearing an oak leaf crown commends his “children” on their advancement.   He compares them to famous Greek heroes and wants them to come celebrate with him.  Kirk demands that he free them and even goes so far to make threats.  However the man responds by using a sonic weapon on the crew forcing Kirk to surrender.  He commands some of the crew to come down and join him but rejects Spock as one of the guests as his ears remind him of Pan.  Kirk forms an away team of himself, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Ensign Chekov, and Lt. Palamas.  Spock will assume command of the Enterprise and will lead the crew in trying to find a solution to this problem from that position.

   

Probably not what they had in mind when they went to explore strange new worlds seeking new life and new civilizations!

When the landing party arrives they find themselves in front of an Ancient Greeks style temple. Their captor appears before them and announces himself as the god Apollo.  To which Chekov then introduces himself as the Tsar of Russia.  Apollo is pleased that they have come all this way but now he wants them all to move down here and kiss his butt like the ancestors did in the good old days.  When he finds the crew unwilling he threatens to crush the Enterprise with the crew inside with his hand.  He punishes the landing party on the surface with lightning bolts from his fingertips.  The hand phasers are useless against Apollo and he destroys them easily. He also has the ability to grow large enough to make the Starfleet officers appear as if toys in front of him.

Apollo seems to get tired at times and has to disappear.  Kirk sees that as an opportunity for he clearly has a weakness.  He asks Lt. Palamas for some back ground information on Apollo and she goes on to explain the basics: that he is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, the twin brother of Artemis, and the god of light, prophecy, and truth.  Odd she neglects to mention that he is the god of the sun which is what I primarily associated him with.  Kirk then forms a theory.  Although he won’t acknowledge this man as a god, he thinks that he might actually be Apollo.  Kirk theorizes that 5,000 years ago Earth was visited by aliens who had great natural abilities and technology.  Their distant ancestors took these beings for gods.  The visitors liked this and formed a relationship with the local inhabitants.   In this relationship the humans worshiped the newcomers as gods and these newcomers helped them lay the cornerstone of Western Civilization.

This is a god sit!

Apollo develops a fascination with Lt. Palamas, and she allows him to call her Carolyn.  He transforms her uniform into a fancy dress.   Scotty doesn’t like what he is seeing and against orders tries to interfere.  Apollo pushes him aside easily enough and disappears with the Lieutenant.  Kirk is certain that Apollo must have a power source.  McCoy’s tricorder readings find that Apollo’s body can channel energy which confirms for Kirk his belief. 

On the Enterprise’s bridge, Spock also thinks there is must be a power source.  He works with Sulu and Uhura to get communications on-line and find a “hole” in the energy hand that would allow them to contact Captain Kirk and provide aid. 

Alone with Apollo, Lt. Palamas is very flattered by his attentions.  She manages to get him to answer one of the most obvious questions about himself: if he is Apollo then where are the other gods?  Apollo explains that without worshipers gods lose purpose.  The other gods expanded their forms until they completely dissipated into the air.  Hera, according to Apollo, was the first to go.  But he never gave up hope and knew that humans would come back to him.  Palamas is falling for the sun god.

Thinking about being  a god's girlfriend!

  When Apollo reappears to the rest of the away team all four men challenge him at once.   Facing demands and accusations from all sides Apollo is about to lash out and overextend his power.  However Lt. Palamas uses herself as a shield and tells Apollo that a loving parent doesn’t harm his children.  With that Apollo backs down and disappears.  This ruins Kirk’s plan. 

Kirk lets Palamas know that she had to reject Apollo that if she doesn’t he will enslave the entire crew to become his worshipers.  She is upset by this because she has seen his better side; however Palamas is convinced by the Captain that rejecting the god is what she must do.  When they are alone again, Palamas lets Apollo know that she is going to have to move on.  She was studying him as a scientist as she naturally must study all alien life forms.  This hurts and rages Apollo although he doesn’t directly harm her.

On the Enterprise the bridge crew scrambles to help those on the surface.  Uhura has fixed the communications system from Apollo’s inference allowing them to again communicate with the away team.  The rest have managed to find a weakness in the force field and Mr. Sulu has located the source of power.  That source of power is Apollo’s own temple.  Under Captain Kirk’s order they clear the area and the Enterprise fires its phasers and destroys the temple.  With that the hand completely disappears and Apollo is de-powered.

Breaking up when your boyfriend is a god

Depressed Apollo talks with Captain Kirk one last time. Kirk tells the defeated god that humanity has outgrown him.  With that Apollo grows giant once more and calls out to his former comrades to take him.  Apollo disintegrates into the air to join his fellow gods.  In reflecting on the value of Greek Civilization to humanity Kirk asks if maybe they should have gathered a few laurel leaves.

Additional thoughts: Ancient Aliens is the main reason I stopped watching the History Channel, although they may have won be back with Grant.   However as a source of science fiction it is a great concept.  How many of our other gods were in fact advanced life forms from afar?

This episode begged a lot of questions.  We did get to find out what happened to Apollo’s fellow Olympians: that they voluntarily dissipated after a long existence without worshipers.  However, if gods need worships to the point that Apollo says they do then why did they leave Earth?  Were they driven out?  Did they need to return to their power source?  Why didn’t they come back?  Also Apollo confirms the legends that he was born of normal Earth woman.  This means like, Mr. Spock who he rejected, Apollo is an alien/human hybrid.   Unlike Mr. Spock, Apollo was born upon Earth.  It was the first home he knew.  I think it would have been nice if that were explored a little more.

I don’t know why they neglected to mention that Apollo was the god of the sun and not just light.  In myth it was believed he pulled the sun up at dawn with his chariot.  Yet when he fights he shoots lightning bolts from his hand like Zeus.  Now I know he is Zeus’s son, but it would have been nice to see natural powers more associated with him. 

 

Game over for Apollo!

In the end it is James Kirk who mourns for Adonais.  That leads me to wonder: did it have to be this way?   Instead of fighting directly with Apollo could they have tried to reason with him more?  Apollo said he needed worshipers and that is why he wanted the crew of the Enterprise.   However there are tens of billions of humans who live in the Federation.   I am sure some of them wouldn’t mind to come to form a community with Apollo.  I bet historians who specialize in Greek antiquity would be tripping over themselves to get a crack at him.  There may even be people who still follow religious Hellenism, who already worship Apollo.  I think he may have pulled the plug too soon.

I think James Doohan missed an opportunity here.  When Apollo blasted his phaser with lighting hurting Mr. Scott's hand he should have held his hand up and said "Ah, my finger!" and that could have been the in continuity explanation to why Mr. Scott was missing a finger.  That way Doohan would not have had to hide his hand all the time. 

  

Take that phaser and finger!

Another thing I enjoyed about the episode is the use of the crew as a whole.  Every character had an important part to play.  Lts Sulu and Kyle developed a way to penetrate Apollo’s force field, Lt. Uhura was able to reestablish contact with the surface by rewiring her communications station, and Ensign Chekov acted as the science advisor in place of Mr. Spock who commanded the bridge.  I prefer this approach as opposed to just Kirk, Spock, and the disposable crew member of the week.

 FINAL GRADE 4 of 5