Star Trek

The Return of the Archons

Season 1, Episode 21, Aired 2/9/67

Episode Summary

The Enterprise encounters a seemingly peaceful civilization run by a "benevolent" being named Landru...who intends for them to join his people.

7.6

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Cast & Crew

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Leonard Nimoy

Mr. Spock
William Shatner

Captain James Tiberius Kirk
David L. Ross

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Fan Episode Reviews (6)

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Kirk visits a planet run by a mysterious character named Landru.

8.0

"Great"

By Celedorian, Nov 20, 2010 Report Abuse

This is a good, basic episode of Star Trek. Kirk, Spock and company beam down to a planet to solve a mystery and step by step think their way past the obstacles put in their path. Kirk, Spock, and Bones all get some interesting things to do, the special effects are nifty, and the music is gorgeous (though it's music borrowed from previous episodes). The episode even has a sense of humor at times; Kirk gets off a particularly great one liner at the end. There are a few plot holes, probably because like most of the latter first season episodes, things were rushed, but all in all it's a good effort for the series.moreless

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Kirk and a landing party investigate a world, with parallels to 1900s Earth that seems to be a peaceful civilisation but is being controlled by the unseen 'Landru'. I have to say, I'm the opposite of most reviews I love this one!...moreless

10

"Perfect"

By Jay-Spacedust, Nov 20, 2010 Report Abuse

This review contains spoilers.

I was surprised to find that this episode was held in such low regard by other reviewers, as personally I really like this one. (But I suppose that's part of 'Star Trek's appeal there are different stories that appeal to different people; something for everybody).

Much of what I love about this episode is it's quirky nature; the people living as if they were from the 1900s, with strange speech patterns and, of course, 'The Festival'. Such quirkiness could just as easily come from classic British 1960s series such as 'The Prisoner' or 'The Avengers'.
In particular, the scene where everybody is acting pleasantly, the suddenly the clock strikes twelve and everybody starts going crazy, could easily have been an opening teaser for 'The Avengers'.

The Festival itself is never fully explained; partly that's a shame, but partly it adds to its weirdness. I suppose it can ultimately be put down to the misguided rule of Landru.

The episode also has elements of other things I like a cult (Landru's followers), and even zombies (as the 'hypnotised' civilians slowly march towards Kirk and co., in one of my favourite 'Star Trek' scenes).

The concept of beings being governed by a misguided computer would be used a number of times again in 'Star Trek' and it's later various spin-offs; there are even vague traces of it in 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' (1979). (If that film had had more of the intrigue of this episode, I think it would have fared much better.)

If there is anything wrong with this episode, it is that the later stages are a bit too talky and dragged out; the last act or so could have easily been slimmed down.

But all-in-all, unlike many, I really like this episode. It has quirkiness and mystery too it, and is a great tale in my opinion. Others will disagree.moreless

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Kirk pulls the plug on a planet’s orderly culture because he couldn’t score during one of their festivals

4.4

"Poor"

By hrtonslv, Nov 20, 2010 Report Abuse

There is no way this episode get a better than average rating folks. I can accept the love affair fans have with "Shore Leave" even though I strongly disagree, but this one is terribly draggy with this absorption issue terribly not making sense. I'm so tired of all the episodes where Kirk out thinks a computer. "The Changeling" was reaching a bit, but this one was downright awful. The only thing I got out of it was at some loud parties that I go to, I'll scream out "Festival, festival, festival!" Of course no one knows the reference, but who cares.moreless

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3 4
The balance of good and evil and free will - both on an alien world and in a 1960s TV episode. The teleplay is generally weak.

4.2

"Poor"

By Mac-Ale, Nov 20, 2010 Report Abuse

The Enterprise investigates a weird world of people who are controlled by a computer's idea of an idyllic society.

I suppose it's best to attack "Return of the Archons" on its good points and bad, so on the positive side: I actually like the weird combination of turn-of-the-century clothing, torchlit dungeons and western movie sets that represent the planet, it's kind of creepy. There is also a fairly risque concept here also, one of "festival" that seems to represent the idea that even brainwashed humans need some sort of outlet for their "animal" desires, so this is the way it's handled by Landru.

What is fairly painful is the execution of the concept when it comes to the script. One of the fearsome robed "lawgivers" relinquishes his post to another with the phrase, "happy communing", the endless "peace and tranquility" references are repetitive and almost laughable. And sadly, the reasoning that Kirk uses to make the computer freeze its programming makes little sense as he provides no examples of how the "body" is hurt by lack of "creativity". And WHY the director let Kirk's flip line to the planet's residents at the climax, "well, you're on your own - hope you're up to it" stand is pretty unbelievable.

So while there is some potential here, "The Ultimate Computer" and even "The Changeling" represent better examples of contradicting an overbearing electronic over-lord. The very good episode "Taste of Armageddon" remains the standout as a paradigm of the perils of computer decisions.moreless

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If I were you, I'd look for another job, Roddenberry.

4.0

"Poor"

By amazingwebhead, Nov 20, 2010 Report Abuse

Roddenberry strikes again, somehow the person we have to thank for this entire franchise manages time after time to riddle his inputs to the show with American Propaganda Nonsense and 'Return of the Archons' is amongst the biggest of such examples.

So let me get what I enjoyed about the episode out of the way. Firstly I appreciated the main cast's performances, specifically from Kelley who actually manages to make these zombie hippie-commies seem interesting. Indeed one of the episode's few redeeming scenes comes mid-way when McCoy is left to sit in the background like an oblivious child until he suspects Kirk and Spock's whispering. I also thought Roddenberry's dialogue was good enough throughout, it's just a shame that they are constantly blabbering on about how a different society is unacceptable.

So naturally now I'm going to go on about what I disliked about 'Return of the Archons'. Firstly the whole 'festival' thing, although a very feasible concept, I felt was very poorly produced. The end result ends up coming off as completely absurd, wacky and unconvincing. It's dramatic and pleasing to watch just for the sheer insanity of it all, but when you take it in context of how seriously the script seems to take itself, you have to realise how poor it is implemented here. Half way through the episode however I found myself craving some more of this anarchy in place of the extremely dull and repetitive plot which moves along frustratingly slowly, heading for a conclusion that doesn't pay off at all.

The final scenes involving Kirk defeating and outsmarting the computer lacks conviction, focus and is simply unconvincing. Never does Kirk or Spock justify how lack of creativity destroys the 'body'. In fact I could come up with a thousand reasons as to justify the exact opposite. Don't you think if creativity was necessary to keeping the 'body' alive that Landrau would have programmed such rules for the computer to enforce? Essentially the whole episode boils down to a message that any society different from that of 1960's America is unacceptable- how could anything be better than the great Democracy? Specifically however, this is a blatant attack on Communism, stinking of cold-war propaganda that I am actually ashamed Trek and Roddenberry actually thought was intelligent or justified; the sheer ignorant and biased nature of the scripts political and philosophical themes is totally unnecessary and unpleasant; this is something that I never could or would associate with any respectable production of Star Trek.

Furthermore the society that is presented here is ridiculous in itself, with little grey to be seen between the black and white. Instead of real characters posing a threat to the Enterprise crew, what we get is a bunch of chess pieces and nothing more; mere placeholders for personal ideals and ideas about another society that the writer clearly has no grasp of. According to 'Return of the Archons', people who serve the 'body' are nothing more than zombies, walking around speaking about peace all day. So who then made the houses, harvests the food and maintains the cities on this planet? Indeed if there is no creativity in such a society, who came up with the idea for the festival? Who designed the roads, the buildings, and the clothing which seems to be an apparent fashion rather than a uniform? So in this respect, if this is indeed a warning against the great evil of communism, then it's clearly nothing more than biased capitalist propaganda at best. Never does it discuss the pros and cons of both societies. Instead the Enterprise crew is portrayed as ignorant fools, rushing in to meld things the way they want it.

Sure there is oppression present, and sure creativity should be allowed if not encouraged, but the problem with the script is that it forces such ideals down your throat and uses them unjustly- to condemn a form of society that is unified and spiritual. The problem with Landau's society isn't that it's a strong community and the problem doesn't lie in the people's nature- it lies in the obvious dictatorship of Landau, something similar to Communist Russia of the time, I admit, but not something inherent to a society that serves a 'body'.

The end of the episode comes to a frustrating halt with the final discussion between Kirk and Spock on the bridge. Kirk is actually pleased that domestic quarrels have begun arising in the city and laughs it off, dismissing Spock's only intelligent line of dialogue in the episode. Oh yes, quarrelling is human alright, but so is discrimination, war, injustice, corruption and greed. Where will Kirk be when such circumstances arise? Well it's doubtful he'll be there to clean up what he naively encouraged.

When it comes down to it, 'Return of the Archons' has definite potential, but it lacks the detail and discussion that such heavy topics require. So instead of being a coherent and solid piece of thoughtful science fiction, we end up with simple misguided writing with little to no intelligent discussion to justify its claims. As a piece of TV it fails also thanks to it's sluggish pace, dodgy acting from supporting cast and a distinct lack of any significance to main character development or Trek lore. There are some exciting moments here and there and a few good performances that help redeem some points but when it comes down to whether the episode works or not, 'Return of the Archons' just doesn't cut it; A real low-point for Trek.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The U.S.S. Archon must have been launched right around the time Star Trek: Enterprise takes place--around the 2150s, in order to have been lost "more than 100 years ago" at the time of this episode in 2266. Strange that Star Fleet waited so long to investigate... Edit
- Kirk says halfway through the episode that Scotty is now in command. He would have been in command before then. Edit
- Trivia: This is the first time we hear of the Prime Directive Edit
Notes
ADD NOTES
- The concept of "Festival" was never explained within the show. It's certainly not necessary to explain everything, and in fact one of Star Trek's strengths was its often tacit assumption that the viewers could figure some things out for themselves. However, one wonders how "Festival" advanced the plot -- why include it at all? There was certainly ample evidence that something unusual was going on prior to this. In his adaptation of the episode, James Blish did provide an explanation. His explanation: Landru's idyllic society lacked population control, so Festival was conceived as an answer, the sort of solution a machine without soul or wisdom might create. Edit
- The U.S.S. Archon was of the Daedalus class. Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Landru Computer: I am Landru. I am he. All that he was I am, his experience, his knowledge. Kirk: But not his wisdom. He may have programmed you, but he could not have given you a soul. You are a machine. Landru: Your statement is irrelevant. Edit
- (to the Lawgivers) Kirk: You can get rid of those robes. If I were you, I'd look for another job. Edit
- Spock: Predictably metaphysical. I prefer the concrete, the graspable, the provable. Kirk: You would make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock. Spock: That is very kind of you, Captain. Edit
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