"Star Trek" The Squire of Gothos (1967)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Don McDougall

Writers:

Paul Schneider (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

12 January 1967 (Season 1, Episode 17)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A being that controls matter and creates planets wants to play with the Enterprise crew.

Plot Keywords:

Most Dangerous Game | Federation | Space | Starship | Computer

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
William Campbell	...	Trelane
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Richard Carlyle	...	Jaeger
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
George Takei	...	Sulu
James Doohan	...	Scott
Michael Barrier	...	DeSalle
Venita Wolf	...	Teresa

Runtime:

50 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

Trelane says to Kirk, of Uhura: "Ah, a Nubian prize. Taken on one of your raids of conquest, no doubt." During filming, William Campbell blew the line with the embarrassing blooper, "Ah, a Nubian slave!" According to Campbell, Nichelle Nichols responded, "I'll kick you in the ankle!"

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Trelane and Uhura both play the harpsichord. However, the landing party figures out from its surroundings that Trelane has learned about Earth only from what he can see ("food without taste" and "fire without heat") and about things that happened in Earth's past. Since the radio did not exist in Napoleonic times and light travels substantially faster than sound, Trelane should not have known what a harpsichord sounds like.

Quotes:

Mr. Spock: I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline; I object to power without constructive purpose.
Trelane: Oh, Mr. Spock, you do have one saving grace after all: you're ill-mannered! The Human half of you, no doubt?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Futurama: Where No Fan Has Gone Before (#4.12)" (2002)

Pretty good, though far from great

I did enjoy watching Squire Trelane jerk around the crew in this episode, though after a while the whole thing just seemed a little too long. Sure, the histrionics were kind of funny for a while, and the ending was a pretty good way to wrap the whole thing together. I think the problem was that I enjoyed seeing Trelane when he was full of bravado and fun, the fun seemed to vanish when Trelane became vindictive and nasty. Talk about a mood killer--going from the obnoxious but affable host to the guy sentencing Kirk to death! But, despite this, the episode was enjoyable and worth my time. For die-hard Trekkies, this is a must-see, for others it's just a pretty run of the mill one.