

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

An actor traveling aboard the Enterprise may be a former governor who ordered a mass murder twenty years earlier.

Contents show]

Summary

Teaser

The USS Enterprise is diverted three light years off of its scheduled course to Planet Q, lured by word of a new synthetic food which promises to ease chronic shortages on Cygnia Minor. But what Doctor Thomas Leighton actually wants to show his childhood friend Kirk is merely a traveling Shakespearean actor, Anton Karidian. Leighton believes Karidian to actually be Kodos the Executioner.

Act One

Kodos is notorious because he seized control of the doomed Earth Colony Tarsus IV in 2246 and ordered the execution of half its population of 8,000. Of the 4,000 survivors, only nine, including the young Kirk and Leighton, ever saw the face of the revolutionary governor.

Though convinced Kodos is long dead, Kirk does enough research to pique his curiosity about Leighton's claim. He returns to the planet in hopes of meeting Karidian in person. At a cocktail party held at the Leightons' home, Kirk meets Karidian's attractive daughter Lenore, and the two hit it off. They leave the party to stroll in Planet Q's desert, and come upon the body of their host Thomas Leighton.

Leighton's death makes Kirk take his dead friend's suspicions more seriously. After promising Leighton's distraught wife Martha that he will find out why her husband was killed, Kirk calls in a favor: he asks Jon Daily, commanding officer of the Astral Queen, to leave Planet Q orbit ahead of schedule and without notice. This strands the Karidian Players, who now have no choice but to ask for passage aboard the Enterprise.

Act Two

Researching, Kirk reviews the list of the nine eyewitnesses, and discovers that Lieutenant Kevin Riley, a member of the Enterprise crew, is one of them. Despite the fact that Riley recently was promoted from engineering to communications, Kirk orders Spock to send Riley back down to engineering with the apparent intention of protecting him. When Spock asks why, pointing out that such action may be regarded by Riley as a demotion, Kirk refuses to explain.

Spock becomes concerned about the captain's behavior and confides in Dr. McCoy, while Kirk proceeds to get more involved with Lenore. Spock does his own research and learns enough to raise his own suspicions, including the disturbing fact that of the nine eyewitnesses who could positively identify Kodos, seven are now dead. And whenever one died, the Karidian Players were somewhere nearby. Only Kirk and Lieutenant Riley remain alive.

With a tray of food at his side Riley broods while alone in engineering and calls up the rec room pleading for company. Lieutenant Larry Matson turns over the intercom to Uhura, who serenades him by playing a Vulcan harp and singing "Beyond Antares". While Riley is distracted by her performance, someone sneaks into the room and emerges from the shadows to squirt something into his glass of milk. His spirits brightened, Riley reaches for his drink and takes a long gulp. Uhura finishes her song and Riley begins choking. Fortunately, Uhura's party realizes the situation and sends help in time to save him.

As Riley lies in critical condition on a bio-bed, Spock realizes that if he dies, Kirk will be the next target.

Act Three

In McCoy's lab report on Riley's condition, he finds that the lieutenant had an appreciable amount of tetra-lubisol in his system, a milky lubricant used aboard the Enterprise. Spock is now certain that Riley was poisoned and with a reluctant McCoy confront Kirk in his quarters. Spock is now certain Karidian and Kodos are the same man, but Kirk remains unsure and has to make certain of it. McCoy asks Kirk what he will do if Kodos and Karidian are one and the same, inquiring if he will carry his head through the ship's corridors in triumph, noting that will not bring back any of the dead colonists. Kirk agrees but notes that "they may rest easier." Later, a similar discussion Kirk and Spock have is interrupted by the hum of an overloading phaser. Somewhere in Kirk's quarters is a potential explosive that can take out the entire deck. While Spock orders ship's personnel to clear the area, Kirk finds the overloading phaser in his quarters' red alert indicator and disposes of it seconds before it explodes.

Kirk is finally driven to confront Karidian, asking him point blank whether he is Kodos. Karidian gives him evasive answers, and after twenty years of playing parts that, of all things, he is tired. He does perform a short speech for the purposes of voice comparison with a piece of voice film in the Enterprise's database. This was apparently the speech made by Kodos condemning thousands of innocent people to death. Kirk mentions how Karidian barely looked at the text, hinting that it was already familiar to the actor, but Karidian simply states that he learns his parts quickly. Meanwhile, in sickbay, the recovering Lieutenant Riley overhears McCoy's log entry, learning that Karidian is suspected of being Kodos, the man who murdered Riley's family.

Act Four

The voiceprint comparison is close, very close, but Kirk argues that when a man's life is at stake, very close isn't good enough.

The Karidian Players begin a presentation of Hamlet. Riley, with a stolen phaser, sneaks backstage. Kirk manages to talk him out of killing Karidian, who overhears their sotto voce conversation. Riley, with great reluctance, heads back to sickbay.

Kirk is still backstage when Karidian and his daughter Lenore discuss what he overheard during an act break. Trying to shield her from his past, Karidian attempts to pass off his distress as hearing the "voice of a part that he played long ago". But he is horrified when Lenore lovingly reveals that she knows all about his past deeds, and has already killed seven of the nine people who could identify him. Lenore goes on to tell him, innocently, that she will dispose of the remaining two after the performance.

Karidian is horrified that there is still more blood on "his" hands, but she proclaims that "they had to be silenced", and says, all with a smile on her face, that she buried those ghosts for him, and she has "saved" him. Karidian is devastated that all his attempts to prevent his past crimes from tainting his daughter have failed, and left him with nothing but a long legacy of murder.

Kirk appears from his hiding place to confront them. Lenore rebukes Kirk for interrupting her father before his appearance on stage. Kirk says she has killed seven innocent people, and she declares to Kirk that those people weren't innocent, they were "dangerous", and that she would have killed a world to protect her father.

Kirk summons security to take them into custody; Lenore snatches security officer Harrison's weapon and runs on stage. Her eyes show she's quite insane (reminiscent of Lady Macbeth and/or Ophelia). Karidian/Kodos, desperate there should be no more blood on his hands, steps between her and Kirk as she fires; the shot is fatal. Twenty years after earning the name, Kodos the Executioner is dead.

The death of her beloved father at her own hands sends Lenore over the edge. By the time Kirk leads her away, her tears have given way to laughter. Sometime later, after the performers have been dropped off at Benecia, McCoy promises Lenore will get the best of care, and that the last report of her is that she believes her father is still alive… performing to cheering audiences. McCoy suggests that Kirk did care for Lenore, which Kirk does not respond to, instead giving the order for Lieutenant Leslie to break orbit and go to warp. He does give McCoy a knowing look, which is all the answer the doctor needs.

Log entries

" Captain's log, stardate 2817.6. Starship Enterprise diverted from scheduled course, purpose: to confirm discovery by Dr. Thomas Leighton of an extraordinary new synthetic food which would totally end the threat of famine on Cygnia Minor, a nearby Earth colony. "

Enterprise " " Captain's log, stardate 2818.9. There are many questions in my mind, too many perhaps about the actor Karidian and his daughter. For personal reasons, I'm almost afraid to learn the answers. "

" " Captain's log, stardate 2819.1. Ship's officer Riley's condition worsening, Dr. McCoy making lab analysis to determine cause and antidote. Entire crew deeply concerned. "

" " Medical log. Lieutenant Riley sufficiently recovered to be discharged, but the captain has ordered him restricted to sickbay to prevent contact with passenger who calls himself Karidian, and who's suspected of being Kodos the Executioner, and of murdering the lieutenant's family. "

" "Captain's log, stardate 2819.8. Suspect under surveillance, strategic areas under double guard, performance of the Karidian Players taking place as scheduled."

Memorable quotes

"The chain of command is often a noose."

- McCoy to Spock, in sickbay



"My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol."

"Now I know why they were conquered."

- Spock and McCoy, as Spock declines McCoy's drink



"And this ship. All this power. Surging and throbbing, yet under control. Are you like that, captain?"

- Lenore, flirting with Kirk in the observation deck



"Worlds may change, galaxies disintegrate, but a woman always remains a woman."

- Kirk, flirting with Lenore



"The Caesar of the stars and the Cleopatra to worship him."

- Lenore, before kissing Kirk



"Even in this corner of the galaxy, Captain, two plus two equals four. Almost certainly an attempt will be made to kill you. Why do you invite death?"

- Spock, in Kirk's quarters



"Do you play God? Carry his head through the corridors in triumph? That won't bring back the dead, Jim!"

"No. But they may rest easier."

- McCoy and Kirk, on what to do if Karidian is Kodos



"What were you twenty years ago?"

"Younger, Captain. Much younger."

- Kirk and Karidian, in Karidian's quarters



"I find your use of the word mercy strangely inappropriate, Captain. Here you stand, the perfect symbol of our technical society. Mechanized, electronicized, and not very Human. You've done away with Humanity, the striving of man to achieve greatness through his own resources."

"We've armed man with tools. The striving for greatness continues."



- Karidian and Kirk



"Blood thins. The body fails. One is finally grateful for a failing memory."

- Karidian, to Kirk



"There's a stain of cruelty on your shining armor, captain."

- Lenore, confronting Kirk



"You are like your ship – powerful, and not Human. There is no mercy in you."

"If he is Kodos… then I've shown him more mercy than he deserves."

- Lenore and Kirk



"Who are YOU to say what harm was done?"

"Who do I have to be?"

- Lenore and Kirk, before he leaves Karidian's quarters



"In the long history of medicine, no doctor has ever caught the first few minutes of a play."

- McCoy, before realizing that Riley is missing



"All the ghosts are dead. I've buried them. There's no more blood on your hands."

"Oh, my child – my child…"

(voice becomes an anguished sob)

"You've left me NOTHING!!!"

- Lenore and Karidian, after she admits killing seven of the last nine witnesses



"The play is over. It's been over for twenty years."

- Kirk, to Lenore



"Caesar, beware the Ides of March."

- Lenore, pointing the phaser at Kirk



"The curtain rises! It rises! There's no time to sleep!"

- Lenore, weeping over her father's corpse

Background information

Production timeline

Story and script

The title is a reference to the line from Hamlet : " The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. " (Act 2; Scene 2) This episode shares many plot elements with the play: A leader's troubled conscience, his crimes being exposed during a play, and a daughter going insane (or more so, in Lenore's case) after the accidental killing of her father. Lenore recites the lines leading up to and including these over her father's body.

: " " (Act 2; Scene 2) This episode shares many plot elements with the play: A leader's troubled conscience, his crimes being exposed during a play, and a daughter going insane (or more so, in Lenore's case) after the accidental killing of her father. Lenore recites the lines leading up to and including these over her father's body. The most overt reference is in the teaser. The Karidian Company is performing a scene from Macbeth , where the title character (played by Karidian) murders King Duncan and utters the line, " Will all Neptune's great ocean wash this blood clean from my hands? "

, where the title character (played by Karidian) murders King Duncan and utters the line, " " In the script, the teaser started with a view of the city on Planet Q, with a poster advertising the Karidian Company of Players superimposed over it, then dissolving into the performance of Macbeth . It was probably director Gerd Oswald who decided to start the episode in medias res instead, with the shot of the dagger, which seemed to be more effective on screen. [1]

. It was probably director Gerd Oswald who decided to start the episode instead, with the shot of the dagger, which seemed to be more effective on screen. A line scripted, but cut from the episode established that Kirk was a midshipman, fresh out of the Academy when he was stationed on Tarsus IV and witnessed the massacre. Since it happened twenty years before the events of this episode, this would have indicated that Kirk is somewhat older than what was later established in " The Deadly Years ". [2]

". The phaser overload emergency is the only known instance when a double red alert is declared. However, in James Blish's adaptation of " Court Martial " in Star Trek 2 , he has Kirk ordering a red alert and then a double red alert during the ion storm – as opposed to the yellow alert and red alert that were depicted on screen. "Red alert" and "double red alert" were used in the final draft of that episode's script but were changed on-set before filming.

" in , he has Kirk ordering a red alert and then a double red alert during the ion storm – as opposed to the yellow alert and red alert that were depicted on screen. "Red alert" and "double red alert" were used in the final draft of that episode's script but were changed on-set before filming. A scene of crewmen watching the performance of Hamlet on the bridge was filmed, but cut from the episode. [3]

on the bridge was filmed, but cut from the episode. Another scene which was cut showed Lenore resting in sickbay after her mental breakdown. [4]

This episode contains Star Trek 's first direct reference to eugenics, although there is an oblique reference in " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ". Spock declares Kodos' martial rule of Tarsus IV to have been an experiment in eugenics, causing McCoy to note that his wasn't the first such experiment.

's first direct reference to eugenics, although there is an oblique reference in " ". Spock declares Kodos' martial rule of Tarsus IV to have been an experiment in eugenics, causing McCoy to note that his wasn't the first such experiment. Kirk refers to Riley as a lieutenant in the "Star Service" – another early name for Starfleet.

This is the only episode to depict nighttime on the Enterprise (Kirk says that conditions of night and day are approximated as closely as possible aboard ship.) However, in both " Is There in Truth No Beauty? " and " Requiem for Methuselah ", various crewmembers bid each other goodnight.

(Kirk says that conditions of night and day are approximated as closely as possible aboard ship.) However, in both " " and " ", various crewmembers bid each other goodnight. This is the only episode to depict the observation deck.

Cast and characters

Music

Sets, props, and costumes

Kirk's quarters are labeled as "3F 121".

Guest star Barbara Anderson (Lenore Karidian) shares the record (with Ricardo Montalban and Joan Collins) for the most costumes worn in a single Trek episode by a guest star (six). She wears a maroon-colored dress for her Lady Macbeth costume, a blue dress with a veil at the party thrown by the Leightons, a fur mini-skirt dress when arriving on the Enterprise , a greenish multicolored mantle on the observation deck, a black and red evening dress when Kirk visits the Karidians in their quarters, and, finally, her yellow and lavender Ophelia costume. It could even be argued that the veil she wears while walking with Kirk just before discovering Tom Leighton's body could be considered a seventh costume.

episode by a guest star (six). She wears a maroon-colored dress for her Lady Macbeth costume, a blue dress with a veil at the party thrown by the Leightons, a fur mini-skirt dress when arriving on the , a greenish multicolored mantle on the observation deck, a black and red evening dress when Kirk visits the Karidians in their quarters, and, finally, her yellow and lavender Ophelia costume. It could even be argued that the veil she wears while walking with Kirk just before discovering Tom Leighton's body could be considered a seventh costume. In the original series, this is the only appearance of the observation deck. It overlooks the shuttlebay, called here the "Flight Deck".

McCoy's cabinet has two skulls in it for the first time in this episode.

The pressure vent disposal drawer, into which Kirk places the overloading phaser, was later used by Lazarus to cause a fire in " The Alternative Factor ". The small drawer was filled with circuits for that scene.

". The small drawer was filled with circuits for that scene. In the scene where security guards are searching for Kevin Riley in the corridors, rectangular seams are visible in the floor. This is where the grates visible in " Charlie X " and other early episodes were eliminated and filled in with the corridor floor material.

" and other early episodes were eliminated and filled in with the corridor floor material. The equipment-filled alcove that McCoy and Spock pass in the corridor as they discuss Kodos the Executioner is labeled "Engineering Circuit Bay G-121". This sign was later placed next to the Jefferies tube in season two.

The city in the background out Tom Leighton's window is the same one used as Mojave in " The Cage ". The window itself was used in the Delta Vega lithium cracking station set in " Where No Man Has Gone Before ".

". The window itself was used in the Delta Vega lithium cracking station set in " ". Unlike most of the doors seen in the original series, the one to Leighton' house is operated manually and swings open and shut. Similar examples are seen in the courtroom in Court Martial and in Captain Pike's ward in The Menagerie, Part 1.

The chair in which Leighton sits just before he rises to reveal his black facial patch was later seen with its mate in Chief Vanderburg's office in " The Devil in the Dark ".

". The face covering Tom Leighton wore to hide his injuries is almost identical to one worn by a character in "The Duplicate Man", a 1964 episode of The Outer Limits which was also directed by Gerd Oswald. ( citation needed • edit)

which was also directed by Gerd Oswald. The ship's theater is a redress of the engineering set. Pieces of the ship's gymnasium are hanging on the walls, and the ceiling can be seen of this set in one of three glimpses in the first season.

The observation deck is a redress of the Romulan bridge set from " Balance of Terror ". ( citation needed • edit)

Preview

The preview contains a Captain's Log recorded solely for the preview: " Captain's log, stardate 2817.2. Suspicion that a famous actor is, in reality, Kodos the mass executioner places the Enterprise and her crew in grave danger. "

Enterprise " The preview for this episode features an alternate edit of Kirk searching for the overloaded phaser in his quarters. It was unused because the plywood under the mattress of his bunk was visible. ( citation needed • edit)

Reception and legacy

Syndication

During the syndication run of Star Trek, no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Also starring

Guest star

Also starring

Featuring

And

Uncredited co-stars

References

2246; 2247; 2257; accident; accusation; act; actor (aka player); alcohol; "all right"; alternative; ambition; amount; analysis; answer; Antares; antidote; Arcturian; area; armor; Astral Queen; audience; authority; background check; "back into a corner"; bargain; Benecia; Benecia Colony, "Beyond Antares"; blade; blood; body; book; Caesar; Caesar, Julius; cargo; case; chain; chain of command; chance; children; Cleopatra; cocktail party; colony; communications section; conscience; channel; communicator; contact; corridor; couch; course; crowd; cruelty; curtain; Cygnia Minor; data; day; death; deck; director; disciplinary action; doctor; dossier; double red alert; Duncan; Eames, D.; Earth; Earth Forces; empirical research scientist; empiricism; engineering; engineering deck; engineering room; eugenics; execution; existence; experience; explanation; explosion; eye; eyewitness; face; famine; family; fire; flight deck; flower; food concentrate / synthetic food; food supply; fungus; Galactic Cultural Exchange Project; galaxy; ghost; Ghost; God; Good Samaritan; governor; greatness; green; Hamlet; Hamlet; hand; harm; head; heart; hero; history; history file; hostess; Human; idea; Ides of March; identification; identification record; information; innocence; job; Juliet; justice; Karidian Company of Players; king; Kodos; lab report; Lady Macbeth; Leighton home; library banks; library computer; light; light year; list; logic; love; love song; lubricant; lunar flower; Macbeth; Macbeth; machine; madness; martial law; massacre; medical log; medical report; medicine; memory; mercy; metaphor; milk; Milky Way Galaxy; minute; mistake; Molson, E.; murder; music; Neptune; night; noose; observation deck; ocean; "of course"; officer; Ophelia; orbit; orbit station; overload; pain; paper; parent; party; passenger; patio; patrol; performance; permission; personnel file (aka personnel dossier); phaser; philosophy; photograph; planet (aka world); Planet Q; Planet Q town; play; power; prince; prison house; privacy; quadrant; quarters; question; rec room; resource; revenge (vengeance); revolution; Riley's parents; room; rule; Sarek; Saurian brandy; schedule; scientist; second-in-command; Section C4; Section C5; security two alert; Shakespeare, William; ship's captain; shuttlecraft; society; soldier; song; soul; space; space regulations; sponsor; spray bottle; stage; stain; "stand by"; star; "Star Light, Star Bright"; Star Service; stubbornness; subject; suicide; sulphurous; surveillance; survivor; supply ship (Federation supply ship); suspect; symbol; Tarsus IV; tetra-lubisol; "thank you"; theater; theory; thing; thousand; threat; tomb; tool; tradition; tray; universe; voice; voice film; voice test; volatility; volume; Vulcan; Vulcan lute; wall; weapons locker; week; welcoming committee; word; worship; year

Unreferenced materials

the Academy; Horatio; Kirk's father; Marcellus; midshipman; nightmares; perfume; plastic; rebellion; sandwiches; snow; star-video; trump card; Venusian; voice track; Wiegand, R.



