Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 71: Whom Gods Destroy [VHS]

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Elba II, a planet with a poisonous atmosphere, also has a facility beneath its surface for the incurably, criminally insane. The U.S.S. Enterprise is bringing a new medicine with which they hope to eliminate mental illness forever. When Kirk and Spock beam down to the facility of 15 inmates, they find that the asylum has been taken over by Garth, who was once a famous starship captain. He was driven insane by the terrible injuries he received while rescuing others. Garth convinces them that he is the head of the facility, in an attempt to gain control of the U.S.S. Enterprise and conquer the galaxy. He crowns himself, "Master of the Universe," and, when the officers won't be tricked into beaming him aboard the starship, he tortures Elba II's governor and then Kirk. He then sends his Orion mistress, Marta, out to the deadly surface above, only to "mercifully" spare her by blowing her to bits. Spock, who had become separated from Kirk, returns to help the captain but finds two James Kirks. Garth learned the power of shape-shifting from a gentle race of beings that were unaware of his madness. When one of the Kirks offers to sacrifice himself to stop Garth, Spock realizes that this is the real Captain Kirk and subdues Garth. Garth is given the healing medication brought by the Enterprise men and begins the long road to recovery.

This is another episode that's generally weak but has a few scenes so strong they redeem the whole show. The plot is simple. Kirk and Spock visit an asylum for the criminally insane and discover that one of the inmates has taken over: Garth, a once-legendary starship captain. (In the original series, nearly every starship captain we saw, other than Pike and Kirk, either betrayed the Federation or went insane.) Despite his insanity, Garth learned how to become a shapeshifter from some well-meaning aliens. Now he plans to impersonate Kirk and take over the Enterprise, using it to conquer the galaxy.

The idealism of 1960's style liberalism is exceptionally strong in evidence. Garth, played by Steve Ihnat slicing the ham even thicker than Shatner, carries on about outdoing Alexander the Great and Napoleon. The implication is that all warmongers are suffering from a kind of sickness, as are criminals generally. But all such people, the episode suggests, can be rehabilitated. Garth is cured in the end by being given the right drug. How political attitudes have changed in America since then!

The episode shines during a scene in which Kirk almost talks Garth back to sanity. Garth becomes quiet and thoughtful as he starts to remember who he was and all the good he once did. The effect is stirring, and very much on point to the episode's theme of rehabilitation. Also memorable is Kirk's statement that he and Spock are brothers. Spock's comment: "Captain Kirk speaks somewhat metaphorically and with undue emotion. Nevertheless, I share the sentiment." Finally there is Garth's "consort," Marta, the first green Orion slave girl since "The Menagerie"...and this one not only dances but talks. They are a sassy lot. Marta is played by Batgirl portrayer Yvonne Craig. She's sent by Garth to seduce and then attack Kirk. "He's my lover and I have to kill him!" Words to live by.

Trivia notes: the rightful warden is played by Keye Luke, best known as Caine's favorite master in Kung Fu -- the blind one who was always calling him Grasshopper. Also, anyone up on their Bible lit will recognize the climactic scene (in which Spock must choose between the real Kirk and the fake Kirk) as retelling the famous story of King Solomon's judgement. This doesn't stand up to logical analysis; surely a mind as brilliant as Spock's could think of a better device (such as "Captain, tell me what you had for dinner last night"). But this is one of those cases where the episode plays better if you don't overly analyze it.

Though true Star Trek fans are appaled at this episode, and I admit in many ways it is just plain dreadful, it is a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously.

It has a sexy green girl, a crazed mad man, a Tellerite and Andorian...I mean admit it! It's gotta be fun!

It is not intelligent, poetic Trek for what made the show famous, but it is entertaining!

If you watch the shows for deep meaning, you will not enjoy this episode, b ut I don't feel it deserves all the critisism it gets. It is certainly one of the "darker" episodes and one of the <sadly> last.

Buy at your own risk but it is certainly fun and the ending is a neat little twist.

After Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, it looked like Season Three would get back on course and out of the Season Three slump. Unfortunately, this did not happen and Whom Gods Destroy was filmed. Although this episode is dreadful, it is highly entertaining because it is a camp classic.

Whom Gods Destroy has many far-fetched elements. The idea that Garth could change his cellular structure is just one example. Also, couldn't have Spock figured out who was really Captain Kirk by asking a simple question that only the two of them knew? But think about this. Think about all the times in Star Trek Kirk got hurt. Would it really have hurt Kirk if he got shot one more time with a phaser on stun? Spock should have just zapped both of them. You could tell that they needed to fill up time by making a 2 minute dance scene!

But this episode is CAMP CLASSIC! The writing, mind you not the story, was pretty good. It's funny how there was good dialogue for such a horrible episode. The two things going for this episode was the fact that Kirk and Spock said they were brothers and history of the Federation was mentioned.

As I mentioned earlier, this episode is highly watchable.

The storyline here is a very thin and old one, based on the premise of an insane, but supposedly brilliant man who has grandiose visions of achieving absolute power. In this case, the man (Garth) is a former starship captain who is locked in an insane asylum on a planet with a poisonous atmosphere. The Enterprise arrives at the asylum bearing a medication that supposedly will cure the inmates, a small group who are the only incurably insane people in Federation space. Given that the group also includes a Tellerite, Andorian and a green-skinned woman, that space is indeed large.
Garth has somehow been transformed into a shape-shifter (one of many far-fetched components of the plot), and takes the place of the governor, so when Kirk and Spock beam down, they are easily captured. After several extremely campy scenes, they of course escape and Garth is medicated, apparently on the road to recovery.
Nearly everything about the episode is an attempt to fill the allotted time. While the dance done by the green-skinned woman is very good, it is much longer than it had to be. Spock and Kirk's dialogue is much wordier than usual and the climactic scene where Spock is trying to decide which of the two "Captains" is the real Kirk, goes on much too long, and naturally involves Kirk fighting hand-to-hand. Spock is of course an expert in logic, so all he had to do is come up with a simple question that only the real Kirk would know. Even human students of logic could do that in a matter of seconds.
Garth has also invented an incredibly powerful explosive, so powerful that a single vial could destroy the planet. This would make it more powerful than anti-matter, making it an absurdity. When watching the episode, I wondered why this feature is even included. It is unnecessary, so my belief is that it was included just to fill the time.
Unlike some of the other stinkers of the original series, there is no underlying philosophical theme that makes it more palatable. At least "The Alternative Factor" dealt with the idea of noble acts leading to eternity in purgatory, "The Mark Of Gideon" dealt with overpopulation and "The Empath" had Kirk, Spock and McCoy each willing to die for the others. This one has nothing of that caliber, so it is very close to the worst episode in the original series.

By the third season, Star Trek had pretty much exhausted the main story lines associated with the basic premise of the show which is how mankind copes with the challenge of meeting the unknown in exploring the universe beyond. This problem manifested itself in poor scripts and a general demoralization among the actors, writers and producers of the show. This episode comes from this period of decline, but it noteworthy for the excellent performance by guest star Steven Ihnat who plays the mad Capt Garth of Isar who developes a megalomaniacal obsession with "conquering the galaxy". The associated story line is sometimes ludicrous, but Ihnat keeps the viewers attention with his constantly changing moods, going in moment from devious subtlety to explosive rage. Ihnat was one of the premier guest stars on action/adventure series of the 1960's in which he played both "good guys" and "bad guys" so he was well suited for playing a role like this one. In my opinion, even someone who is not a diehard fan of S T can enjoy this episode.
This episode also contains one of my favorite lines from the series which is said by Garth: "Don't beg Marta, it's degrading!"

In "Whom Gods Destroy," Captain Kirk and Spock meet a legendary man named Garth who has turned evil since being in prison. Garth is very evil-minded and has the ability to turn himself into a replica of another person. Garth wants to hold Kirk and Spock captive. The duo from the Enterprise have to find a way to get away from Garth and get back to the Enterprise where their galactic jobs await them.

"Whom Gods Destroy" had the ability to be a good episode, but the elements just aren't there for it. It has a bad guy who can act (Garth) and it involves Kirk and Spock being in deep trouble, but it's not quite interesting enough and it doesn't have any great redeeming qualities.

I wouldn't recommend getting "Whom Gods Destroy" unless you're a major hardcore fan of Star Trek The Original Series because it's far from being one of the best episodes.