The Squire of Gothos - 1.17

This episode begins on the bridge. McCoy is enjoying himself a nice cup of space coffee, as is Kirk, and Sulu and most everyone on the bridge. Interesting detail. With cups precariously perched on important equipment, I thought for sure something disastrous was about to happen, but alas, the coffee turns out to be, well just coffee. Suddenly Sulu disappears (his space coffee sadly still sitting on the helm)! A few seconds later, so does Kirk. A strange message appears on one of the screens written in ye olde blackletter script - "Greetings and Felicitations!" This is followed by "Hip hip hoorah" and "Tallyho!" Mr Spock jumps into action, quickly taking command and assembling a landing party to beam down. McCoy, Lt. DeSalle and geophysicist Karl Jaeger arrive on the surface and find an interesting looking castle. The inside is decorated straight out of the Middle Ages, with the exception of two statues that look remarkably like Kirk and Sulu.

There they also find an inhabitant of this fine planet, a General Trelane (retired), also known as the Squire of Gothos. He has some interesting powers involving the transformation of matter into anything he wishes (eg, making the castle out of the planet's natural surroundings, modifying the atmosphere, snatching Kirk and Sulu out of space). He admits to observing Earth with great interest and says he didn't believe it's inhabitants to be capable of space travel. Kirk informs him that the planet "Gothos" is 900 light years from Earth and that Earthicans of 900 years ago were indeed not capable of such space travel. "How fallible of me!" is his response.

Mr Trelane seems quite delighted with his new companions and a bit of a game ensues. He's unwilling to let them leave, even when Spock manages to beam the landing party aboard, the squire follows, this time taking the entire bridge crew back. He at least throws them a dinner party this time, however the crew soon finds his food tasteless. Odd. Some dancing ensues, Kirk destroys a mirror he believes to be the key to Trelane's "powers." It's not entirely, but it breaks enough of his creation to allow everyone to escape back to the ship and speed away to safety.

But it's not that easy! They soon find themselves on a collision course with the planet Gothos! Every evasive maneuver is useless. Finally Kirk decides to go down to the planet himself and straighten things out. When he beams down, he finds himself in a courtroom and a trial ensues with Trelane as the judge. Perhaps an inspiration for Encounter at Farpoint (though Kirk is only on trial for his crimes, not all of humanities)? Kirk convinces the squire that simply executing him would be no fun and suggests a hunt. The captain tries to contact the Enterprise as he's being chased by the sword wielding Trelane. Unable to contact his ship and about to be slain by his opponent, things look a little desperate for Kirk. Thankfully at that moment two green clouds appear and proceed to scold the squire. Turns out, these energy clouds are his parents and Trelane, nothing but a child, given too much lee-way to create and run his own planet and abuse his toys. The "mother" cloud apologizes to Kirk and he is allowed to return to his ship, where he commands Sulu to set course for their original destination of Colony Beta VI.

This is certainly one of the sillier episodes I've seen - clearly the basis for the Futurama episode Where No Fan Has Gone Before (a favorite of mine). It's mostly a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-like message about overindulging children - "Stop that nonsense at once! Or you'll not be permitted to make any more planets!"

Overall : 5
Camp : 8