How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
| "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Animated Series episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Bill Reed |
| Written by |
Russell Bates David Wise |
| Production code | 22022 |
| Original air date | October 5, 1974 |
"How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek, the 21st episode overall. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on October 5, 1974, and was written by Russell Bates and David Wise.
The title comes from Act 1, Scene 4 of William Shakespeare's King Lear: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!"
In this episode, the Enterprise must contend with alien entity that demands it be worshiped as a god.
The animated series won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Series for this episode.
On stardate 6063.4, following a signal from a mysterious probe, the Federation starship Enterprise is immobilized by an alien whose ship resembles a winged serpent. The alien claims to be Kukulkan, god of the ancient Maya and Aztec peoples of Earth. He says that he is actually a very long-lived, benevolent entity who wants the humans to worship him, as the Mayas and Aztecs did. Upon resistance by the crew, he proclaims them "thankless".
Kukulkan transports Captain Kirk, Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy, Chief Engineer Scott and Ensign Walking Bear to his ship. By using technology similar to a holodeck, Kukulkan makes them believe they are standing in the middle of an ancient city. Kukulkan warns them that he will only appear before them once they've solved the riddle of the city.
...
Wikipedia