Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to an unexplored planet to find out what has become of the crew of a ship that wrecked near there six years ago. They are taken hostage by the planet's leader, a despot determined to make sure the Enterprise crew never gets back home to tell anybody about the existence of this society. This society is like a cross between Ancient Rome and 20th century American in that it has televised gladiator fights, and slaves and cars existing side by side. While the despot threatens Kirk and Company's lives, there stands on the sidelines the captain of the crew they had come to find. He sides with the despot. Or does he? This is a perfectly adequate action episode that simply suffers from the sheer goofiness of its premise: the planet that just happens to have a lot of stylistic similarities to Ancient Rome.
It has a lot going for it: three very interesting guest characters: the sleazy, xenophobic despot who extols ideals of violence and domination, the cowardly ex-captain who has allowed himself to become the despot's dog, and the escaped slave-gladiator who insists he is now a peace-loving sun worshipper but is forced back into the arena. And the episode features some of the best interaction between Spock and McCoy of the whole series. And watch the scene were Kirk, Claudius, and Merrick engage in a subtle battle of wits and world views while McCoy and Spock are fighting.
But the characters, especially the slave-gladiator, do not get enough coverage to be completely meaningful, and the battle of world views between Kirk and his two foes could have been developed a little more to make a really satisfying, thought-provoking episode. And again, that whole Ancient Rome premise is just too far-fetched and distracting to be overlooked. Couldn't they have just done this episode as being about a fight-loving, TV-hooked society and cut out the Ancient Rome thing altogether? So yes, it's good. But it's imperfect.
It has a lot going for it: three very interesting guest characters: the sleazy, xenophobic despot who extols ideals of violence and domination, the cowardly ex-captain who has allowed himself to become the despot's dog, and the escaped slave-gladiator who insists he is now a peace-loving sun worshipper but is forced back into the arena. And the episode features some of the best interaction between Spock and McCoy of the whole series. And watch the scene were Kirk, Claudius, and Merrick engage in a subtle battle of wits and world views while McCoy and Spock are fighting.
But the characters, especially the slave-gladiator, do not get enough coverage to be completely meaningful, and the battle of world views between Kirk and his two foes could have been developed a little more to make a really satisfying, thought-provoking episode. And again, that whole Ancient Rome premise is just too far-fetched and distracting to be overlooked. Couldn't they have just done this episode as being about a fight-loving, TV-hooked society and cut out the Ancient Rome thing altogether? So yes, it's good. But it's imperfect.