CAPTAIN KIRK FIGHTS ANOTHER BOY GOD THIS ONE FAR MORE POWERFUL

Episode Title:  The Squire of Gothos

Air Date: 1/12/1967

Written by Paul Schneider

Directed by Don McDougall

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant 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          Michael Barrier as  Lieutenant DeSalle            Richard Carlyle as Lieutenant Jaeger       Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent                      Venita Wolf as Yeoman Second Class Teresa Ross      William Campbell as Trelane     Barbara Babcock as Trelane's Mother      Bart La Rue as Trelane's Father

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Gothos

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the USS Enterprise traveling across a “space desert” this causes Kirk and McCoy to muse about planetary deserts to which Spock find strange. However what is even stranger is they appear to come across a random planet that should not be there.  Kirk decides to spend a moment to chart its location so they can come back after they’ve delivered the supplies to a nearby colony. All of a sudden Lt. Sulu freezes and disappears. Kirk goes over to try to see what happened to his officer and he disappears as well.  Spock then starts a search throughout the ship for the missing crewmembers.  When Scotty reports that they can’t be found anywhere they decide to consider the possibility that they may be on the planet below.  Unfortunately all their readings suggest that the plan is uninhabitable for humanoid life and if the Captain and Mr. Sulu were down there they probably were dead already. It is at this point for the Enterprise receives a strange communication with the surface.  It reads “hip hip hurrah, tally Ho.”

This was unexpected!

The good news is this means there is something at the surface and perhaps the Captain and the Chief Helmsman may be all right.  Spock sends away team lead by the navigator-of- the-week Lt. DeSalle, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Jaeger, who is a geologist. When they transport down to the planet they’re pleasantly surprised to find that the atmosphere is beautiful and Earth-like.  The downside however is they seem to of lost communication with their ship.   They look around and Lt. DeSalle discovers a giant mansion.

Kirk and Sulu on display!

They enter the mansion where they noticed that it is full of old fashions and objects on the history of Earth. To McCoy’s shock he sees on un-Earth-like thing: a salt vampire on display. It appears still, dead, and possibly stuffed.  Considering his history with those creatures it is understandable why McCoy would react in the way that he did.  In fact I felt he was rather restrained.  Then in another display they find Captain Kirk and Mr. Sulu frozen in the position that they disappeared in.  

General Trelane, retired, the Squire of Gothos

The away team then hears a harpsichord playing and they come face to face with an unusual gentleman. The gentleman unfreezes both Kirk and Sulu.  He introduces himself as General Trelane, retired, who is the Squire of Gothos.  He explains that he is quite a fan of Earth is very excited that they’ve come to visit him.  He was surprised however because in his observations he did not think they were capable of faster-than-light travel. Trelane goes on to say that he wants to hear all about their stories of conquest and war.  When Kirk objects to state their missions are peaceful, the Squire sarcastically remarks “that that always is the ‘official’ story.”  Trelane shows off his battle flags, he talks about how exciting he finds the concept of war, and then tries to speak to some of the away team by appealing to their national ancestries.  When he realizes that DeSalle is French he tries to talk with him about Napoleon in French, he tries to speak German to Yeager.  Yeager responds that he’s not a military man but a scientist to which Trelane says “we’re all military men under the skin.”

Proud of his flags!

When Kirk tries to inquire into how Trelane does all the things he could do, the Squire explains that his people—that he does not name—have perfected a process where he can change matter to energy and then back into matter again.  When Kirk makes an analogy of the transporter Trelane calls that device crude and explains that he doesn’t just transport things he can alter the matter to any shape he wants as a matter of will. 

Fun with phasers!

While this is going on back on the Enterprise, Mr. Spock and Mr. Scott have figured out a way to boost the sensors so they can detect a part of the planet this actually habitable.  They can't explain why it exists but Mr. Spock comes up with a plan to have the Chief Engineer transport whatever lifeforms the sensors pick up and hope it’s their missing crewmen.

Back on the planet the scientist Yeager, notices some holes in Trelane’s set up.  It seems that he had been observing Earth through some sort a powerful telescope but because of light speed he’s observing the Earth centuries past.   Yeager also notices that although the fire in Trelane’s fireplace burns it does not give off any heat.  DeSalle decides to attempt to take out the Squire with his phaser, as Trelane continued to play his harpsichord.  Trelane sees him in the mirror and freezes the Lieutenant in place.  He then takes the phaser from DeSalle’s hand, switches it to the highest setting and then starts randomly disintegrating things with it.  The destruction excites him for he openly wonders how many people the weapon could kill.  Kirk is angry at this alleged threat, fortunately for him Mr. Spock comes through they're able to communicate with the Enterprise again, and they to Trelane’s annoyance beam away.

As the away team returns the Enterprise, Captain Kirk heads to the bridge with every intention of getting his ship out of there and as far as way from Trelane as possible.   However as they try to leave Trelane appears on bridge.  He demands that Mr. Spock be punished for angering him for which Kirk of course refuses.  Their escape was short-lived however as Trelane easily brings them back.  In less than a moment they are in the Squire’s mansion.  He treats them to a feast with food and wine that have little to no taste.  The Squire flirts with the female crewmembers Lt. Uhura and the Janice Rand-replacement-for-the-week, Yeoman Ross.  He asks Lt. Uhura to play the harpsichord and when she insists she can’t he instantly gives her the ability and she starts to play.  With Uhura playing beautifully he then dances with the Yeoman and changes her uniform into a formal dress.

Trelane on the bridge!

Kirk and Spock notice that Trelane likes to get close to the mirror and rarely leaves it.  Kirk comes to the conclusion that the mirror is attached to a machine which the source of Trelane’s power.  Kirk begins to mock the Squire.  This at first confuses Trelane. When Kirk slaps him with the gloves that Trelane made for the Yeoman, the Squire realizes he’s being challenged to a duel.  This excites Trelane and he gathers some pistols that he tells Kirk were modeled after the firearms that killed Alexander Hamilton.  Kirk then thinks this is a great time to make an entry in the Captain’s Log.  After the Captain is done logging, their duel begins and Trelane tells Kirk that he gets to fire first as he was the one who was challenged and when Kirk tries to object he points his pistol at Spock.  Kirk agrees and Trelane fires first intentionally missing.  He then eagerly waits to see what Kirk will do and Kirk also intentionally misses, but Kirk’s shot hits the mirror and sparks start flying! The machine has been destroyed!  Trelane is outraged as the Enterprise crew makes their escape with their transporter technology one more time.

Kirk would like it for Trelane to leave his Yeoman alone!

Now back on the bridge Kirk orders the ship to turn around 180° so they can go back the way they came.  However as they begin the speed away the planet Gothos appears right in front of them again.  Every direction the Enterprise turns it sees the planet Gothos directly in its path.  The horrible truth is realized: Trelane wasn’t empowered by the machine, the Squire was powerful for real and his machine was powered by him!  Kirk decides the only thing he can do is to confront Trelane head on.  He decides to beam down but he doesn’t have to, as he enters the turbo lift he finds that he is now for the third time a prisoner of Trelane.

Judge Trelane

Trelane puts him on trial for treason, to which Kirk really should’ve responded by telling the Squire that he never swore any allegiance to him that he could betray him from.  It probably wouldn't have mattered because Trelane isn't dictated by any logic and he already had the verdict in mind.  Trelane finds Kirk guilty and sentences him to death by hanging , telling him he will hang until he is “DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!” To which Kirk missed an opportunity here to use the Billy the Kid line and say, “you can go to HELL, HELL, HELL!”

Kirk has something better in mind he challenges Trelane to be more creative. Kirk managed to convince Trelane to hunt him instead.  Trelane excitedly agrees and frees Kirk in his forest so he can chase him.  Every time the Squire confronts Kirk on seemingly even ground Kirk hands him his head, and every time it happens Trelane needs to use powers to wiggle out.  He finally grows frustrated and boxes the Captain in.  It looks like Kirk is doomed but at this moment we learn the truth about Trelane.  Despite his adult appearance the Squire is actually a child.  His parents show up in their species' true energy forms and chastise their son for being cruel to his pets.  Trelane cries and whines so much that his father tells him to shut up and if he continues to cry he won’t be allowed to make any more planets.   Trelane is taken away and his mother apologizes to Kirk.

Kirk cornered! Time for Mom and Dad to show up!

As the Enterprise resumes it's supply run Spock asks Kirk for help trying to classify Trelane.  Kirk suggests he be classified as the God of War or as a naughty schoolboy.  Spock thinks that entry will be interesting.   

Additional thoughts: One of the most entertaining episodes of the series, William Campbell’s portrayal of the powerful boy god is one of the most remembered.  The character is absolutely amazing.  You’re never quite sure what he’s going to do next.  Although he would be irritating to deal with, watching him cross the crew of the Enterprise is a lot of fun.

So let’s talk about the Captain’s Log for second.  I thought Kirk’s timing for his log entry was rather bizarre.  I understand these episodes were made before the coming of VHS much less on demand, the audience who got home late didn’t have the opportunity to go back and see the early part of the episode so the logs would help catch them up.  Now back in “The Man Trap” we had Kirk note his Captain’s Log in the past tense.  His reporting of adventures after they happen explains how he knows certain things for the log entry and is able to explain it to the audience.  The drawback to log entries made after the adventure was already over is it acts as a type spoiler: we know the Captain gets out okay.  Granted it might not be much of a spoiler since we know the star of the show isn’t going anywhere but still if you want to add drama to the episode's scenes Kirk telling the story from the future might drain that.  However, the spoiler at least makes some sense unlike the one from this episode where everything is told present tense.  Here we get the powerful Trelane pulling out his firearms modeled after the very weapons that slew Alexander Hamilton, and Kirk’s immediate response is: “Okay, I’ll take that one.  Now you stand over there why I enter my Captain’s Log then I’ll join you in our fight to the death.”

I’m sorry didn’t Yeager seem to be a little too old for a Starfleet lieutenant?  Did he join Starfleet later in life?  Or did he just choose a career path with a very slow advancement in rank?  If you want to make Captain you better be eager to join the line but if you’re the science departments, particularly in in geology, you’re going to be looking at some very slow advancement.  It’s interesting in the real life military if you don’t get a promotion after certain particular amount of time that officer is usually retired.  Starfleet seems to honor the Peter Principle allowing people to get stuck in the same job for decades.

Another element about this episode that I truly enjoyed was Captain Kirk caught in a reasonable error.  One of the traits that Kirk is often shown to have is his skill as a military tactician, he often clearly sees his enemies’ weakness and how to exploit it.  Despite his intelligence, Mr. Spock often loses at chess to Captain Kirk.  In “The Balance of Terror” Kirk quickly picks up that the Romulan Bird of Prey decloaks before it fires because it has to.  One of my favorite examples is in “Charlie X.” In that episode Kirk realizes the powerful Charlie Evans often makes people disappear when he’s angry with them, however he also notices that Charlie stops doing this when he takes over the ship.  Kirk concludes, correctly as it turns out, that Charlie’s power is limited in that if he activates all his ship’s systems he may be able to overload him.  Kirk defeats Charlie just in time for the Thasians to pick him up.  In this episode, Kirk notices Trelane’s obsession with his mirror.  Kirk correctly assumes that is connected to a machine that he built but incorrectly assumes is the source of his power.  When Kirk destroys the machine he thinks he won then Trelane reveals his true abilities.  Kirk’s logic was spot on and he acted with utmost correctness.  He didn’t make a mistake but he still lost.  This would be a theme that will be repeated later throughout the series and franchise.

Next I want talk about the obvious continuity error.  It was ingenious to create a character who is powerful enough to see Earth from his distance but failing to take light speed into consideration was viewing Earth only from the past.  The issue of course is in the episode they say that he was 900 light-years from Earth so the latest he would be able to see would be the end of the Wars of the Roses.  He should not be able to see anything about Napoleon Bonaparte or Alexander Hamilton.  There is of course an easy way to explain this discrepancy.  We saw Trelane move his planet, he may have chosen to move it hundreds of light-years at a time observing the Earth from different angles, perhaps he thought he was getting a better look at it and thus picked up later time periods.  His father also said that he wouldn’t be allowed to create more planets maybe he has is already created some it was on those worlds where he observed the Earth and he was able to see the French Emperor.

 What is Trelane? When reviewing these episodes I try to stick to the episode reviewed for my information on it.  Even if something is addressed later in the series I don’t want to mention it when discussing the initial episode, because I want to appreciate each episode in the context for which they are made.  So when I reviewed “Mudd’s Women” I didn’t make any mention of the character’s later appearance in “I, Mudd.”  Now when I get to “I, Mudd” I will mention the former episode but that’s because when the later episode was written it was done so with the earlier episode in mind.  Coincidentally when it gets time for me to review “The Trouble with Tribbles” I won’t be mentioning the little furry creatures appearances in The Animated Series, Deep Space Nine, or Discovery.  Although, I will mention the classic episode when discussing its successors.  With that said who and what Trelane is, is in itself a very interesting Question.  His parents say that their child can and has made planets leading me to Question what type of life form is capable of such a feat?  Trelane said that he and others of his kind have the ability to take matter changed into energy and then change it back to matter again in any form that they want at will.  It is good to ask Questions about what type species that could possibly be and if we may ever see them again? Questions, Questions, Questions.

(FINAL GRADE 5 of 5)