The Return of the Archons
The Enterprise confronts a planet controlled by a computer-like ruler.
The twenty-first episode of Star Trek's first season, "The Return of the Archons," first aired on NBC on February 9, 1967. Directed by Joseph Pevney from a story by Gene Roddenberry adapted by Boris Sobelman, it features the Enterprise crew encountering a planet where inhabitants are controlled by an unseen ruler and erupt into violence during "Festival." This episode marks the series' first mention of the Prime Directive.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- Season
- 1
- Episode
- 21
- Air date
- 9 February 1967
- Teleplay
- Boris Sobelman
- Story
- Gene Roddenberry
- Director
- Joseph Pevney
- Photographer
- Jerry Finnerman
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The USS Enterprise NCC-1701, under Captain Kirk, reaches Beta III in the C-111 system, where the USS Archon was lost nearly a century earlier. Only Lt. Sulu returns from the surface, euphoric and speaking of "Archons" and those "not of the Body." Kirk leads a landing party and finds a 19th-century Earth-style society ruled by cloaked Lawgivers and a dictator named Landru. Soon the "Festival" begins, a period of violence and sexual aggression.
The landing party takes shelter at a boarding house run by Reger. A friend of Reger's suspects the visitors are "not of the Body" and summons Lawgivers, who become immobile when the party refuses to comply. Reger leads them to a hiding place, but a telepathic command causes townspeople to attack; the party stuns them and finds Lt. O'Neil among them. Reger reveals Landru "pulled the Archons down from the skies."
The Enterprise reports heat beams attacking the ship; its orbit is deteriorating and it will crash in 12 hours unless the beams stop. A projection of Landru renders Kirk's team unconscious with hypersonic waves, and they are imprisoned. Dr. McCoy is "absorbed into the Body" under Landru's control, but Marplon, a member of an underground resistance, rescues Kirk and Spock. Reger and Marplon explain that Landru saved their society from war 6,000 years ago and reduced technology to a simpler level.
Production
Actor Charles Macaulay made his first Star Trek appearance in this episode; he later played Jaris in "Wolf in the Fold." Jon Lormer appeared for the second time, having previously played Dr. Theodore Haskins in "The Menagerie" and later appearing as an unnamed old man in "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." David L. Ross made his third Star Trek appearance here, after roles as a security guard in "Miri" and a transporter chief in "The Galileo Seven"; he received his first speaking role as Lieutenant Johnson in "The Trouble with Tribbles" and later spoke as Lt. Galloway in "The Omega Glory."
Sid Haig played one of the hooded Lawgivers who confront the landing party at Reger's boarding house. The episode introduces the Federation's Prime Directive, but an immediate modification occurs: Kirk argues the directive does not bar interference with a "living and growing" culture. Scholar Eric Greene sees this as reflecting the "frontier myth" of Star Trek and American foreign policy, where a superior culture imposes its understanding of freedom.
M. Keith Booker notes that leaving a sociological team to restore the planet's culture to a "more human form" means restoring it to one that suits Federation values. The Prime Directive would only be truly honored in the series in the episode "Bread and Circuses."
Reception
Eric Greene observes that "Return of the Archons" is the first Star Trek episode to address issues of war and peace raised by the Vietnam War, establishing a template used in later episodes such as "A Taste of Armageddon," "This Side of Paradise," and "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." The Federation's moral superiority is shown through its emphasis on individual freedom and self-defense, while Betan society is criticized for state control and stagnation.
Greene argues these episodes prefigure the Borg Collective. M. Keith Booker notes the episode presents Kirk "at his most American," valuing struggle and denouncing the Betan utopia as dehumanizing. Scholars Michael A. Burstein and John Kenneth Muir note the plot—Kirk destroying a god-like being with human illogic—became a cliché. Burstein criticizes the episode for attacking organized religion as suppressing freedom.
Religious scholar Michael Anthony Corey praises it for recognizing that eliminating moral evils can cause the loss of free will, and suggests it draws on Leibniz's "Principle of Radical Optimism." Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B," describing it as having a "loose, unpolished feeling" but praising its ambition. The episode is a favorite of actor Ben Stiller; "Red Hour," the time the Festival begins, is the name of his production company. It was noted as an episode without a traditional villain, with a computer gone wrong as the antagonist.
More in Episodes, Films & Arcs
Elsewhere in Star Trek
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced