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Star Trek - The Mark of Gideon
episode 3.16
Raumschiff Enterprise - Fast Unsterblich
USA 1969
produced by
Fred Freiberger, Gene Roddenberry (executive) for Norway Corporation, Paramount/NBC
directed by Jud Taylor
starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Sharon Acker, David Hurst, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Gene Dynarski, Richard Derr
screenplay by George F. Slavin, Stanley Adams, created by Gene Roddenberry, music by Fred Steiner
TV series
Star Trek, Classic Star Trek, Star Trek (original crew)
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is beamed down to planet Gideon,
allegedly a new garden Eden, for diplomatic negotiations - but thing is,
he never arrives there but is apparently beamed back to starship
Enterprise - but an Enterprise with no crew, no soul on board. And as much
as he tries to use the ship's communication system to catch anyone on ship
or even Starfleet command, he just fails. Then he stumbles upon lovely
Odona (Sharon Acker), who has apparently beamed onto ship from somewhere
else - but she claims she doesn't know from where and insists it hasn't
been Gideon. Eventually, Kirk gets quite friendly with the girl - in his
trademark way. But while he's in slight panic mode, what with having just
lost his crew, she enjoys the loneliness, claiming her planet is so
overpopulated there are people literally everywhere. Meanwhile, back on
the Enterprise - or maybe on another level of reality -, Spock (Leonard
Nimoy) wonders where Kirk has gotten to, as does Hodin (David Hurst),
leader of Gideon. But when Spock wants to beam down to find Kirk, his
request is denied by Hodin. Spock calls both the Federation and Starfleet
Command for assistance, but neither offers any support, the former for
diplomatic, the latter for bureaucratic reasons. On the other
Enterprise, Odona falls gravely ill, and suddenly Hodin shows up with a
couple of guards. Apparently, Kirk has been beamed to a perfect replica of
the Enterprise, to meet with Odona - incidently Hodin's daughter - and for
her to inject some of his blood to die from meningitis, something he has
recovered from years ago but the virus is still in his system. And why
that? Because Gideon knows no illness and no dead and is therefore gravely
overpopulated, so much so that they need Kirk's blood to infect enough
people for population control. Eventually, Spock breaks all Starfleet
and Federation regulations and beams onto the empty Enterprise replica to
not only save Kirk but also help convince Hodin that to spread meningitis
it's not necessary to kill Odona or drain Kirk's blood, as if she
survives, her blood will have the exact same effect. Now the
concept of a planet so over-pupulated they need to re-introduce illness is
an interesting one for sure, but unfortunately it's not really explored
and instead more of an emphasis is put on the mystery aspect of the story
- the solution of which is somehow less than satisfying. Some good scenes
come out of Spock's struggle (and ultimate failure) to secure permission
to help Kirk through diplomatic and bureaucratic channels, with
crewmembers in the background already losing it and even his patience
tested - and these are the scenes that make the episode fun to watch. One
question though is never answered, how did the isolationalist Gedeonians
manage to build a perfect lifesize replica of the interiors of starship
Enterprise?
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find Star Trek - The Mark of Gideon at adultvideouniverse.com
