Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 22: The Return Of The Archons [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brilliant beginning. Sulu gets zombified. Kirk, Spock, and two crewmen beam down to the planet to try and set things right and are just in time for a mandatory orgy, which they manage to avoid. They get involved in a secret plot to set things right but the story slows down. An "Enterprise is losing its orbit" subplot is added, but seems phoned in.

Kirk's moralizing speech to Landru is very interesting, but rather hypocritical if you think about it very hard. (Kirk frequently chastises computers for failing their prime directive. Wouldn't that be great if one of them told him to examine his own behavior?) The "Changeling", The "Ultimate Computer", and "I, Mudd" all involve Kirk vs. a computer, and they are all superior to this particular story.

This is still a worthy episode, and should be owned by any serious Star Trek fan. With a little work, though, it could have been so much better.

'Return of the Archons' is probably my all-time favorite episode of 'Star Trek.' It has so much going for it, I don't know where to begin. Of course, it's basically a parable about the alleged evils of 'mind control' but it's quite possibly the funniest, most entertaining show ST ever had! From the robotic, mindless natives of Landru's planet, to Sulu (with dreamy gaze) waxing about 'Paradise, my friend' and 'sweetest people in the universe' to McCoy coming under the spell of Landru ("You speak strangely, friend, are you from away?" and "You speak in strange whispers.") This is the one ST episode I can watch endlessly and not get tired of.

"The Return of the Archons" offers up one of those dystopian societies that the Enterprise stumbled across from time to time. The Enterprise visits Beta III looking for the Archon, a ship that disappeared 100 years ago. The away team discovers a population where all the citizens seem drugged until that evening when they all go crazy. Seeking an explanation from the town's elders, they are told that this is the will of their leader, Landru. A long time ago the planet was ravaged by war and Landru brought an era of peace and tranquility. Before he died he programmed a super computer that has been controlling the lives of the people. Like all computers in the future, this one is doing an absolutely horrible job, apparently thinking that by letting the drugged out citizens do a little fighting and looting from time to time the society will achieve a sense of balance. I am not particularly impressed by either the society or this episode, especially since this is the first of several times that Kirk will use logic to defeat a computer (come on, Spock, the resident master of logic, never says anything helpful during these encounters or even says "Way to go, Jim" when it is all over). The situation is certain spooky enough (reminds me of the end of "6,000,000 Years to Earth"), but the truth behind the mystery is less than satisfactory. Star Trek would do the whole super computer bit better in several future episodes that the first time around in "The Return Of The Archons."

The U.S.S. Enterprise is investigating Beta III, where the U.S.S. Archon disappeared over 100 years before. When the landing party exhibits strange behavior, Kirk sends another party down to investigate. They find the culture on Beta III is quiescent, with no creative tendencies. The entire culture is controlled by a group of 'lawgivers' known as "The Body" which is, in turn, controlled by the omniscient Landru. The inhabitants change from normal, peaceful people to a violent mob at the coming of the Red Hour. This 'celebration' is the societies only outlet for the tyrannical hold that Landru has over them at all other times. Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Enterprise is being pulled from its orbit, its crew to be absorbed into the Body. This, they discover, is what happened to the U.S.S. Archon, so many years before. Archon survivors have formed an underground of sorts to fight the Body, and they help Kirk and Spock reach Landru. Landru turns out to be an incredibly complex computer built by Landru, a scientist who lived 6,000 years before, who wanted to guide his people into a peaceful, civilized progress. While Landru had affected the computer with his scientific thoughts and memories, but not his wisdom. For centuries the computer, 'Landru', has been interpreting his suggestions to the point that no one is allowed independent thought. Kirk tells the computer that instead of helping to nurture the culture of Beta III, it has harmed it. Landru destroys itself, leaving the Betans to work toward the sort of culture Landru had wanted so many centuries before. With the promise of Federation help on the way, Kirk and his crew beam back to the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Boy, I didn't think that the twenties were ever going to get good. First of all, it started off with The Alternative Factor. That is the worst episode of TOS. Then you had Tomorrow Is Yesterday, the second worst episode. TIY had the worst ending for an episode because it didn't make sense. Thankfully, we get an episode like The Return of the Archons. This is the only true episode that deals with a computer running a society. Skip The Apple because it is really bad and dumb. Besides those two horrible episodes I mentioned and This Side of Paradise (only the ending), the twenties is the range with the greatest amount of good episodes.

This episode is another of those in the original series based on a scenario of technology run amok. One hundred years ago, the starship Archon vanished in the space around Beta III. The Enterprise has been sent to investigate and when they arrive, find the population all dressed in nineteenth century Western clothing and possessing a uniform quiet and placid demeanor. However, at a certain hour when a gong sounds, the people scream "festival" and everyone engages in a wild orgy of sex and destruction. Kirk and the landing party seek shelter at a rooming house and one of the men accuses them of not being "of the body."
The man departs and returns with hooded creatures called law-givers, enforcers for an unknown power known as Landru. Somehow, Landru controls the people by forcing them into a regimented, mind-controlled society. Kirk and the landing party escape and learn that the crew of the Archon had been "pulled from the sky" by Landru.
The Enterprise landing party is captured by Landru's enforcers and placed in a cell to await absorption into the body. McCoy is absorbed, but when it is time for Kirk to be absorbed, he is rescued by a member of an underground resistance group. Kirk and Spock then come face-to-face with Landru and learn that it is a massive computer. Centuries before, it had been created and programmed by a man named Landru and has been executing the directives to maintain the society.
It an "amazing" example of logic, Kirk points out to the computer that it has failed in its' mission and sets it on a path to self-destruction. This is one of the most ridiculous moments in the entire original series. No computer with the power to self-repair itself for at least 100 years and with the software robust enough to run an entire society with such rigor would be vulnerable to such a simple trap in logic. I disliked this episode the first time I saw it and nothing has caused me to alter my opinion when I ranked it in the bottom third of all the episodes of the original series.

The well-known Landru computer episode strings together a bunch of Star Trek cliches. Kirk encounters a computer-controlled culture; Kirk judges the culture unworhty; Kirk blows up the computer. In the meantime, the evil computer is sending up "heat rays" toward the ship, so that Kirk has no choice. Spock mentions the "Non-Interference Directive" but that Directive usually makes little difference since Kirk can always rationalize his actions.

But this episode is lifted to a 4-star rating because of how it deals with the Leadership principle, much more effectively than "Patterns of Force," which just takes an easy swipe at Nazism. The point is that giving up all your autonomy to a leader is not without appeal -- it is sometimes bliss not to have to think for yourself. On the Landru planet, people LIKE being zapped and turned into happy little Moonies. Even the people in the underground resistance movement express second thoughts when offered the real chance for freedom. Kirk is disgusted at their unmanly backing down, and he forces them to be free of mind control in spite of themselves.

It is amusing how people act when they turn into Moonies... or should I say Landru-ites. Peace, joy, and tranquility. It is the gift of Landru. Send me all your money. (Oops. That last is a quote from contemporary Earth!)

Computers were often depicted as potential formidable foes in the popular science fiction of the sixties but Star Trek did it to a tee. The show's familiar theme of the super computer as a society controller/watchdog was first seen here. And though 'The Return Of The Archons' isn't as well defined as later similar episodes it still stands as one of the best early efforts of the series.

The Enterprise is in an area of space investigating the 100 year old disappearance of a Federation vessel, the Archon. When Sulu is beamed back aboard during an away team emergency he displays a disturbing but sedate state of mind. He is taken to Sick Bay and Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and a complement of others beam down to further investigate. Within moments the local residents, who behave bafflingly eccentric, break out into a collective fury, an event that is termed Festival. The away team seeks shelter at a nearby hotel where they meet three older gentlemen, two of whom welcome them (Reger and Tamar) and the other (Hacom) who is immediately suspicious of the away team. Kirk's questions about Festival make his hosts uncomfortable and they provide him only with superficial answers, requesting he wait until the morning comes. When the morning comes Hacom has returned with two odd looking fellows, known as lawgivers, who proceed to kill Tamar and demand that Kirk and his party come with them. They refuse and make their way to a safe haven with the help of Reger but eventually the all-powerful ruler Landru that Reger has been speaking of detects their presence. After Landru explains to them they will be 'absorbed' and become 'part of the body' the group is rendered unconscious and taken to a holding cell. Kirk and Spock are spared the absorption by a friend of Reger's (Marplon) who also returns their weapons and communicators to them. After affecting their escape from the holding cell Marplon shows Kirk and Spock the Hall Of Audiences where Landru is located. Discovering a computer hidden behind a wall Kirk and Spock are able to destroy it by causing a conflict within it's programming.

The first try at this type of show comes off quite well with only a couple of notable exceptions. In the hiding place Reger takes them to Landru explains to Kirk and his complement that "they have come to a world of peace and harmony, a world without conflict." That's not entirely true as we see in the first act when every one of the townspeople appears to go simultaneously stark raving mad! Also, in the beginning of the episode the landing party beams down in full view of the townspeople - who demonstrate no surprise at this. Shouldn't they have beamed down outside the city or somewhere they would be certain no one would see this unusual phenomenon? By all appearances this society has the look and feel of late 19th century or early 20th century earth.

The personification of Landru is well conceived and the effect of projecting his image in random locations at will adds an eerie and unnerving touch to the proceedings. The lawgivers are quite creepy as well, clothed in robes, their faces indiscernible, speaking in oddly echoing voices and firing harmless looking but deadly weapons. As Spock tells a frustrated Lindstrom, who feels they can overcome the lawgivers, "they apparently command powers well beyond our comprehension and are very, very dangerous." The wrap-up is satisfactory if a bit too expected. The plot device of Kirk and Spock using their own logic to defeat an all-powerful computer would be returned to several more times through the next three seasons, eventually wearing a bit thin.

Noteworthy: The landing party is attacked when the townspeople begin the Festival. Everyone is pelted by rocks or flying objects, or even in one case beaten with a wooden beam! Everyone that is except for Kirk. An attractive young lady takes a running leap onto the captain, wraps herself around him and administers a deep, passionate kiss - this guy has the most incredible streak of luck with the ladies!

The best part about this one was the "Red Hour" where the whole town went on a wild party ..to put it mildly..havoc reigned while Kirk and company watched. It's another one of those computers gone bad thing. It's about a planet that condones the mob mentality and people are drones that listen to every order from the computer. Sounds like us earth people when you look real close at this episode. Well, to make a long story short Kirk short circuts everything with his illogical statements. Spock sits and watches while the whole computer blows to kingdom come. It's fun to watch and stands up today. Because Landru might be Microsoft if the episode was produced in 2002. This could be an ad for Linux OS...."you are not of the body"..you are not Microsoft.

Really good,the acting by shatner and nimoy is excellent and the lawgivers are really spooky.the guest characters are intresting and i like the story.this is the best episode of the original series only the empath and wolf in the fold are as good.