The Return of the Archons
| "The Return of the Archons" | |
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| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |
The landing party arrives on Beta III.
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 21 |
| Directed by | Joseph Pevney |
| Teleplay by | Boris Sobelman |
| Story by | Gene Roddenberry |
| Featured music | Alexander Courage |
| Cinematography by | Jerry Finnerman |
| Production code | 022 |
| Original air date | February 9, 1967 |
| Running time | 50 minutes (runtime) |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Return of the Archons" is a first season episode of the original American science fiction television series Star Trek. It is episode #21 and was first aired February 9, 1967. It was repeated by NBC on July 27, 1967. The screenplay was written by Boris Sobelman, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry, and directed by Joseph Pevney. This episode contains Star Trek's first reference to the Prime Directive.
On stardate 3156.2, the Federation starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), arrives at the planet Beta III in the C-111 system where the USS Archon was reported lost nearly 100 years earlier.Lt. Sulu (George Takei) is the only member of the landing party who beams up from the planet's surface, and exhibits strange behavior. Kirk beams down with another party to investigate. They find the inhabitants living in a static, 19th-century Earth-style culture, with little or no individual expression or creativity. The entire culture is ruled over by cloaked and cowled "Lawgivers", controlled by a reclusive dictator known as Landru (Charles Macaulay). The landing party has arrived at the start of "Festival", a period of violence, destruction, and sexual aggressiveness which apparently is the only time Landru does not exercise control over the Betan populace.
Kirk's landing party seeks shelter from the mob at a boarding house owned by Reger (Harry Townes), A friend of Reger's suspects that the visitors are "not of the Body" (the whole of Betan society), and summons Lawgivers. The Lawgivers kill Reger's friend, Tamar (Jon Lormer), for resisting the "will of Landru". When the landing party refuses to do as the Lawgivers say, the Lawgivers become immobile and Reger leads the Enterprise landing team to a hiding place. Reger reveals that Landru "pulled the Archons down from the skies". Contacting the ship, Kirk learns that heat beams from the planet are attacking the Enterprise, which must use all its power for its shields. Its orbit is deteriorating and it will crash in 12 hours unless the beams are turned off.
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