Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Michael Forest, Leslie Parrish
• Directors: Marc Daniels
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Gilbert Ralston
• Producers: Gene L. Coon, Gene Roddenberry, Robert H. Justman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213374
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,079 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A nifty idea: the Greek god Apollo turns out to be quite real, a powerful extraterrestrial (Michael Forest) waiting some 5,000 years for the human race to develop enough to meet him out in the cosmos. Catching sight of the Enterprise, he immobilizes the ship and demands that the members of a landing party--Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and antiquities specialist Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish)--bow before him and prepare to spend the rest of their lives being cherished through his insistent love. A doubting Kirk recruits his people to secretly find the mechanical source of Apollo's power to throw lightning bolts, become a giant, and punish his naughty Enterprise children by tossing them around like rag dolls. The stern god gives Kirk a sword, so to speak, by falling for Lt. Palamas, setting the stage for some stormy drama late in the game. Written by television veteran and Greek myth aficionado Gilbert Ralston (with a polish by producer Gene L. Coon that enhanced the story's relationships), and directed by Marc Daniels, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is one of those classic Trek episodes that lingers in the memory for the creative incongruity of its story line (starships and Olympians) and principal set (an Athenian temple with a few trees, shrubs, and confused Starfleet personnel). Wonderful stuff. A subplot involving Scotty's big-time crush on Palamas provides a rare glimpse into the emotional life of one of the supporting players--even if his gallant efforts to save her from Apollo's wooing result in a concussion or two. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover

The Enterprise crew encounter a giant hand in space and come under the domination of an alien who claims to be the Greek god Apollo.

TREK TRIVIA
Leslie Parrish (Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas) is married to popular author Richard Bach, writer of the best-selling Jonathan Livingston Seagull. In this episode's original script, Lieutenant Palamas was to have been impregnated by Apollo, but the network censors wouldn't allow it.
Before Michael Forest as cast in the role of Apollo, costumer William Ware Theiss recommended a relatively unknown young actor he'd seen on the New York stage - John Voight.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars but who built the temple?, November 3, 2004

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 33: Who Mourns For Adonais? [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Most historic myths, no matter how whacky to modern minds, often have a basis in some fact. As the Enterprise warps through space, the ship is captured by a green glowing hand that holds it like a toy, hanging in the void. The ship is immobilized.

Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Chekov and Lt. Caroyln Palamas beam down to the nearby planet to try to find out what is behind the crippling of their ship. They encounter a small Greek-style temple and a man wearing a toga and a wreath on his head claims to be the ancient Greek god, Apollo. He commands the landing party to bow and worship him, but the refuse. With just a point of his finger, Apollo can change Lt. Palamas' clothing, fuse the phasers and toss the crew about.

He quickly woos Lt. Palamas, telling her that her beauty rivals that of Aphrodite. Yeah, right - that's the pickup line of the universe! They fade off into la-la-land and begin to kiss and embrace. The sudden attention of a god, who calls her wise and promises her the world, aids in helping this young blonde throw her brain out the window. She is head-over-heels and is willing to live her life as a goddess with her new beau.

Spock supervises repairs on Enterprise and works with Sulu to punch holes in the force field that is preventing the ship from moving, beaming up the landing party, or even communicating with them.

Chekov observes that whenever they rouse Apollo's anger and he uses his powers, he gets wiped out and fades away, only to come back some time later, refreshed. They incur his wrath again to try to measure what he is doing and discover that it's the temple itself that helps him to harness his powers.

Temples were built by the Greeks, and later the Romans, to serve as a place to worship their gods - but on this desolate planet, who built Apollo's temple? He claims that his planet was once host to all the Greek immortals, but with no one to worship them, they opted to phase out into space and become one with the Universe. Apollo alone believed that mankind would once reach the stars and has been waiting 5,000 years for mankind to reach him so that once again he could be worshipped.

If this planet was the home for the other Greek gods in the past, where are their temples? If the crew is able to destroy or at least disable Apollo's source of power, will he die? What good is immortality if you must spend eternity alone on a planet with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs?

An interesting concept concerning the ancient world's perception of technology vs. diety, but you have to roll your eyes when the plot holes reveal themselves.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This episode gets a C+ grade and is ranked 49th out of 80, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 33: Who Mourns For Adonais? [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As the U.S.S. Enterprise nears the planet Pollux IV, a huge, green hand made of energy materializes in space, catching the U.S.S. Enterprise and holding it captive. Kirk and a landing party are transported to the planet's surface were find a being who claims to be Apollo, the last of the Greek gods who dwelled on ancient Earth's Mount Olympus. All the other gods, Apollo tells Kirk, died of loneliness when they left their home of Mount Olympus. Apollo's plan for the U.S.S. Enterprise crew is that they settle on Pollux IV and worship their god, Apollo. Sensors show that Apollo's god-like abilities come from an organic ability to use energy from sources outside himself. His apparent powers include storms, thunderbolts and an ability to grow into a giant, towering above the U.S.S. Enterprise landing party. Attempts to foil Apollo's plans are hampered by Lt. Carolyn Palamas, who has fallen in love with the god and whom Apollo decides will be his bride. Scotty, who has beamed down with the party, had harbored hopes of romance with the young lieutenant and objects to Apollo's attentions. Apollo's response is to hurtle the engineer through the air by way of a thunderbolt. Spock determines that the god's powers come from his temple. When Kirk tells Lt. Palamas to reject Apollo, which she reluctantly does, the captain uses the U.S.S. Enterprise's weapons to destroy Apollo's temple. Apollo, rejected by a mortal woman and bereft of his powers, spreads himself upon the winds to join his fellow Gods.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The missing element in later "Trek" incarnations!, August 11, 2002

By 

Reginald D. Garrard "the G-man" (Camilla, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 33: Who Mourns For Adonais? [VHS] (VHS Tape)

""Adonis" ranks as having the sexiest guest stars ever to appear in the Roddenberry classic. Michael Forrest, as the god Apollo, and Leslie Parrish, as the object of his affections, exudes some vicious heat in their respective roles.

While the episode may not be an overwhelming "classic" to many, it still entertains and the cast seems comfortable in the rather outlandish premise.

And the sexual tensions bouncing all over the place make this episode a standout. The subsequent series, while technologically more advanced and possessing better acting and writing, failed to "ignite" the basic sensuality of the original.

Boy, did the original cast know how to "have fun"!