WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#57: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 21 "Patterns of Force"
Written by John Meredyth Lucas, directed by Vincent McEveety.
Stardate unknown (2268)
"A man who holds that much power, even with the best intentions, just can't resist the urge to play god." - Doctor McCoy
The Federation has lost contact with Professor John Gill (David Brian), a cultural observer who was studying the Ekosian people of Ekos in a system they shared with the Zeon. The Enterprise is sent to reestablish contact with him. Upon arrival in the system, they are met with a nuclear missile launched at the ship from Ekos. But Ekos isn't suppose to have technology that advanced. Captain Kirk and Commander Spock beam down to the planet in disguise and are immediately met with the sight of a Zeon man being chased and beaten by a group of Ekosians dressed exactly as Nazi officers from Earth's 20th century. Seeing a news reel of how the Ekosians have unified the entire planet under a mission of an ethnic cleansing of all Zeons on Ekos and on their own homeworld, and how John Gill himself has been elevated to the position of the Fuhrer of this version of the Nazi Party, Kirk desperately tries to find a way to make contact with Gill to find out why he violated the Prime Directive and chose to recreate one of the darkest pages in Earth's history.
Originally released: 16 February 1968
"Patterns of Force" on Memory Alpha (mirror)
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What did you think?
I don't know if this ep quite makes my top ten list, but I recall being unusually fascinated by this one as a kid. Something about those uniforms and the seductiveness of extreme authority, I hate to say. Interesting thing there is that similar power structures had been portrayed before ( Bread & Circuses , Plato's Stepchildren, etc), but my fascination didn't quite engage upon them the same way. Again, it's a bit embarrassing in retrospect.
Anyway, just a very nice episode statement about fascism, the abuse of power, racism, xenophobia, and all that. TOS delivered a lot of messages and commentary upon these and similar topics, but to my mind did an extraordinary job avoiding preachiness or long-windedness the way other TV shows sometimes did, with Shatner more than anyone else being a shining star upon addressing those things (via dialogue and acting) in a lively, naturalistic way. I don't think he particularly leaned in to that so much in this ep, but in others like Omega Glory he certainly did.
The subterfuge, brinksmanship, and narrow escapes were all nicely plotted and handled IMO, and this one never remotely felt like a farce in the Hogan's Heroes vein. Also, I enjoyed seeing Skip Homeier play two different roles in TOS, which on the surface were almost diametrically opposite, yet they both shared that obsessiveness and controlling drive (Melakon and Dr. Sevrin).