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Star Trek - The Conscience of the King
episode 1.13
Raumschiff Enterprise - Kodos der Henker
USA 1966
produced by Gene Roddenberry for Desilu, Norway Corporation/NBC
directed by Gerd Oswald
starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Arnold Moss, Barbara Anderson, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, Grace Lee Whitney, William Sargent, Natalie Norwick, David Troy, Karl Buck, Marc Grady Adams, Bruce Hyde, Eddie Paskey
written by Bary Trivers, created by Gene Roddenberry, music by Joseph Mullendore, theme by Alexander Courage
TV-series Star Trek, Classic Star Trek, Star Trek (original crew)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) friend Leighton (William Sargent)
believes that the actor Karidian (Arnold Moss) is actually Kodos the
Executioner, a man who at one time during a famine in his colony
slaughtered half the populace to save the other half from extinction - an
action that proved to be futile when provisions arrived the very next day
... which is when he faked his own death.
Kirk, who was among the eye-witnesses of the massacre, does not believe
Leighton, but on the very next day, Leighton turns up murdered, and Kirk
decides to give Karidian - with whose daughter Lenore (Barbara Anderson)
he has become quite friendly - and his theatre troupe a lift on his
Starship Enterprise.
To Spock ILeonard Nimoy), his first officer, Kirk's actions seem more
and more unreasonable, so he does some investigating on his own ... and
gathers more and more evidence that Karidian just might be Kodos, and that
most of the eye-witnesses of the massacre were killed, invariably when
Karidian's troupe was nearby, and the only two eye-witnesses still alive
are Kirk himself, and Riley (Bruce Hyde), a low-grade technician aboard
the Enterprise.
Sure enough, attempts are soon made on both Kirk's and Riley's life -
but even Riley survives despite wearing a red sweater. Ultimately though,
Riley learns who Karidian really is, and since Kodos has killed his
family, Riley wants to revenge and wants to shoot him right during a
performance of Hamlet Karidian and his troupe have set up for the
ship's crew. Kirk can only stop him just in time. Then though, Lenore
makes a confession to her father - that it was her who killed almost all
the eye-witnesses of the massacre so her father could live on in peace -
much to the shock of her father, who only ever killed to save others (at
least that's what he thinks). When she now wants to gun down Kirk
as well, Karidian jumps in betwen them and catches Kirk's bullet, finally
redeeming himself for his sins ...
Not without its campy moments, and Arnold Moss as the villain loves to
ham it up, obviously (on the other hand, he plays a stage-actor, so that's
quite acceptable), this episode is on the other hand well-told (if not
terribly original) and features a fw surprise twists ... and then there is
of course a song by Lt Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) smuggled into the
proceedings - which all results in not exactly great science fiction but
an ok episode of Star Trek.
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