Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 36, Episodes 71 & 72: Whom Gods Destroy/ The Mark of Gideon
Nov/095
Description
Whom Gods Destroy, Ep. 71 – After Kirk and his crew deliver wonder drugs to a group of criminally insane beings on Elba II, they meet the colony’s director, only to learn that he is one of the inmates, with the power to assume any form.
The Mark of Gideon, Ep. 72 – Kirk beams down to Gideon, only to find himself aboard a deserted U.S.S. Enterprise. The only being he encounters is a mysterious and beautiful woman named Odona, who claims to know nothing. Amazon.com
“Whom Gods Destroy”
It’s the supporting players who provide the most watchable performances in the 1969 “Whom Gods Destroy,” one of the best episodes from Star Trek’s final season on NBC. Running an errand to the planet Elba II, an inhospitable place housing a remote hospital for the hopelessly insane, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) discover that a longtime patient and Starfleet icon, Captain Garth (Steve Ihnat), has overtaken the facility. Suffering delusions of absolute power, Garth declares himself master of the universe, though his mastery fails to lure the rest of the Enterprise crew into a trap. With Kirk and Spock subdued prisoners of the brutal Garth, the story opens to Ihnat’s flamboyant yet sympathetic performance. You can see behind the character’s crazy veneer to the bold starship commander whose exploits fired Kirk’s imagination as a cadet. Equally good is Yvonne Craig as Garth’s would-be queen, the very sexy Marta, a compulsive killer whose seductive dances, wayward intelligence, and exotic, green skin make her one of the most striking females from the original series. Newbie Trekkers will be happy to know that the story by Lee Erwin and Jerry Sohl clarifies a couple of biographical points about Kirk and Spock, including the captain’s own reference to his Starfleet career track before becoming an explorer. –Tom Keogh
“The Mark of Gideon”
Every now and then, the meager budget for Star Trek was helped along by stories set almost entirely on the Enterprise, which required shooting within established sets. “The Mark of Gideon” was a clever way to mitigate the visual monotony of such episodes. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) beams himself down to the planet Gideon, but instead finds himself alone in a mock-up of his own starship. (Translation: it’s Shatner on the Enterprise set without the rest of the cast.) Almost alone, that is: Kirk finds himself accompanied by the beautiful Odona (Sharon Acker), an inhabitant of Gideon selected for infection by an outsider, in hopes that a plague of some sort will help the planet’s overpopulation problem. Despite, or even because of, the set-bound nature of the story, “The Mark of Gideon” is actually one of the boldest and freshest ideas in the series, and like “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” took on a hot topic of controversy (population control) in the issue-driven 1960s. The script, incidentally, was cowritten by Stanley Adams, who played Cyrano Jones in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” –Tom Keogh
Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 36, Episodes 71 & 72: Whom Gods Destroy/ The Mark of Gideon
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8:07 am on November 22nd, 2009
Whom Gods Destroy is another visit to an insane asylum, no better that the 1st season show ‘Dagger Of The Mind’. At least Dagger introduced the ‘Vulcan Mind-Meld”. Even the actors looked either ‘nut’s’ or heavily medicated. Note Kirk & Spock slouching in the “table room” scene with more than mild disinterest in their faces (even for a Vulcan!)
The Mark Of Gideon screams for an obvious message. Duh! Birth Control. Anyway, why would a supposedly intelligent race free of disease allow its’ population to run amok! Do I see Soylent Green?
Rating: 1 / 5
8:22 am on November 22nd, 2009
…as Captain Kirk discovers, in these two pretty good episodes.
“Mark of Gideon” isn’t terribly plausible, but it is fun, and actually kind of creepy. Captain Kirk beams down to an isolated planet on a diplomatic visit – but never arrives there. Instead, he finds himself still on board the Enterprise, but all alone. Yet the Enterprise can’t find him aboard, despite the insistence of the planet’s inhabitants that Kirk never materialized among them. Eventually, Kirk encounters a beautiful alien girl (is there any other kind, where he’s concerned?) named Odona, who falls in love with him (come on, you knew that, right?). It’s all part of a nefarious plot by the planet’s inhabitants to thin out their overpopulation – but as to how, you can find that out yourself. The early scenes, with Kirk haunting an empty Enterprise like his own ghost, are rather eerie, and Sharon Acker is delightfully appealing as the childlike Odona.
“Whom Gods Destroy” is just plain fun, no matter how you slice it. The inmates have taken over the asylum on an isolated prison planet, but Kirk doesn’t find out until he’s beamed into the situation and found himself held prisoner. The man who freed his fellow inmates is a fellow Starfleet captain gone mad named Garth (Steve Ihnat), who learned the unique talent of being able to rearrange his molecular structure to appear like anyone he chooses, and intends to impersonate Kirk and commandeer the Enterprise. Spock smells something wrong, but can’t get into the facility to arrange a rescue attempt. While he works that little problem out, Kirk has an assortment of adventures with the mad Captain Garth and his erstwhile concubine, the equally mad green alien dancer girl, Marta (Yvonne Craig).
Ihnat was a lesser-known character actor of the time, whose premature death unfortunately deprived us all of seeing more of him – he’s quite good here, as he was in everything he did – and anything with Yvonne “Batgirl” Craig is always a delight.
Rating: 4 / 5
8:59 am on November 22nd, 2009
In an unfortunate 3rd and final season strewn with horrible episodes, it comes as a relief here to have 2 episodes that rank among the very best of all 3 seasons in this volume. In the first episode, “Whom Gods Destroy”, we get a mental asylum story which surpasses the “Dagger of the Mind” episode from season one by dint of the better acting and storyline as well.
In the second episode, “The Mark of Gideon”, we get a story which explores the issue of population control and the Malthusian hypothesis and the part these play in civilisation. Another issue that is explored is that of self-sacrifice for the common good which is represented by Odona.
Overall, after a long litany of poor episodes, we get here 2 episodes which remind us briefly of some of the good things that we knew and loved from the prior seasons. This volume falls under the “good to have but not essential” category if you are picking which volumes to keep.
Rating: 4 / 5
11:38 am on November 22nd, 2009
Whom Gods Destroy
Delivering a revolutionary new medicine reportedly able to cure insanity – to the asylum on Elba II, Kirk and Spock meet with Governor Donald Cory the head of the facility. The Elba II facility treats the few remaining incorrigible, criminally insane of the galaxy and has taken on a new inmate, Garth of Izar a former starship fleet captain. While on Elba II Kirk and Spock find out that all isn’t as it seems, Cory is trapped in Garth’s cell and the man that looks like Cory changes into the form of Captain Garth much to Kirk and Spock’s surprise. Kirk and Spock are taken captive by the madman Garth and the other inmates who have taken control of the asylum after Garth escaped his cell and led the uprising. Garth has mastered the ability of cellular metamorphosis taught to him by the people of Antos IV to repair the destroyed parts of his body following a horrible accident. Using the ability to change into any form he was able to trick a guard making him think that Cory was trapped in Garth’s cell.
Garth’s plan was a simple one: take control of the Enterprise and use the starship to punish the members of his crew who had mutinied against him; resulting in his being incarcerated on Elba II. Garth had condemned the entire Antos race to destruction after recovering from his injuries. The people of Antos IV had healed Garth and in his gratitude the deranged star captain offered them the galaxy, an offer that the Antosians refused. Unable to deal with the stresses of the horrific ordeal he had survived, Garth went mad and saw the Antos Race as a threat to the Federation and ordered them to be annihilated. His crew refused the unjustified and unlawful order and then took control of the ship.
Assuming the form of Captain Kirk, Garth attempted to be beamed aboard the Enterprise, but requiring the correct response to a chess problem that Garth didn’t know Scotty refused the imposter access to the Enterprise. Thwarted, an enraged Garth vowed to take the Enterprise at all costs. “Lord” Garth and his followers attempt to acquire the chess problem’s solution from Captain Kirk by using every means at his disposal. From his companion Marta, the seductive yet deadly green Orion woman to attempting to trick and torturing Kirk even torturing Cory, still Garth fails to extract the information due to Kirk’s discipline and training, which are put to the test. Garth who had proclaimed himself “Master of The Universe” even executed Marta right in front of Kirk by detonating an explosive on the gaseous and poisonous surface of Elba II, hidden in a necklace the madman had given her. The explosion registered on the Enterprise’s sensors, prompting a worried and frustrated Scotty to take action by trying to penetrate the planet’s security shield using the ship’s powerful phaser banks. The shield which protects the asylum dome from attack or prevents beaming when in operation easily stand up to the starship’s onslaught.
Attempting one final gambit, Garth allows Spock to escape his cell and make it to the asylum’s control room armed with a phaser thus putting Spock in the role of King Solomon. Garth took the form of Kirk and Spock is confronted with having to choose between two Captain Kirks, one who is actually the captain and the other who is Garth in the form of his captain. A fight ensues between the two Kirks, but Spock is able to tell the difference between them and stuns the impostor. With Governor Cory released and the asylum finally back in the proper authority, the Enterprise is able to complete her mission and send down more medicine to replace the supply destroyed by Garth and his followers. With the help of McCoy, Cory is able to administer the medicine to the inmates starting them on the road to recovery.
This episode was a gem of the third season. Steve Ihnat was great in the role of Garth of Izar!
Rating: 5 / 5
12:29 pm on November 22nd, 2009
Two more great episodes from TOS in which Kirk gets AN ORION SLAVE GIRL in “Whom Gods Destroy”. He dukes it out with an insane Starship Captain as well who can morph into anyone he chooses.
In “Mark of Gideon”, TOS tackles the problem of overpopulation & birth control…and Kirk gets the girl AGAIN!
Rating: 5 / 5