"Star Trek" Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Gilbert Ralston (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

22 September 1967 (Season 2, Episode 2)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A powerful being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo appears and demands that the crew of the Enterprise disembark onto his planet to worship him.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Michael Forest	...	Apollo
Leslie Parrish	...	Carolyn
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
John Winston	...	Lt. Kyle

Runtime:

USA:60 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

This is the very first episode of "Star Trek" (1966) to feature all seven members of the original cast--including Walter Koenig who was the last to join the cast at the very beginning of Season 2.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Dr. McCoy: I wish we hadn't had to do this.
Capt. Kirk: So do I. They gave us so much - the Greek civilization, much of our culture and philosophy came from the worship of those beings. In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Star Trek: New Voyages: To Serve All My Days (#1.2)" (2006)

Did they really have to destroy Apollo?

Having just seen this episode again after having first seen it when I was a teenager my first impression is still the same today (4 August 2006) as it was back in the early seventies when ST (TOS) first reached the UK. I was really upset that they had to resort to destroying Apollo. I note that Dr McCoy was of the same opinion.

My version of the story would have had Kirk, instead of antagonising Apollo at every step, trying to befriend him somewhat and trying to dissuade Apollo (or perhaps re-educate would be a better word in the context of the episode). This may have worked after quite a lot of effort after all being in the position of thinking of oneself as a god is quite a height to be let down from. Eventually, of course, the storyline may have evolved so that re-education may not have worked for some reason, thus the course of action as followed in the ST episode could have been played out as seen.

On the other hand, perhaps the extra story I'm thinking of may have made the episode too long and would have had to have been excised to fit the time slot. Who knows?

I note that the actor who played Lt. Kyle in this episode also played Commander Kyle in The Wrath of Kahn.

Finally, When I saw this episode again tonight, I too noticed the line where Kirk says to Apollo "Mankind has no need for gods". However, if I were the writer, I would simply have left it at that. Enough said.