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Landru is the main antagonist of the Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons".

He was portrayed by the late Charles Macauley.

Biography [ ]

Landru was the ruler of Beta III thousands of years ago. He had guided his people out of war but was convinced they needed his continued guidance. He therefore constructed a machine that contained all of his knowledge to rule over them in his place. The machine used a projection of him as a public face. It had mental dominance over almost all the planet's population, keeping them in a state of peace and tranquility but also letting them release their passions and violence on each other in designation periods. Its will was enforced by robed lawgivers.

The Starship Archon came to the planet but its crew were either killed or came under Landru's control. The Enterprise visited the planet to investigate but the first two crewmembers to beam down, Sulu and O'Neil, fell under Landru's control. Kirk beamed down with a larger party but they were also captured by Landru. McCoy and another member of the team were brainwashed by Landru but an undercover rebel, Marphon, faked the process on Kirk and Spock.

Kirk and Spock confronted Landru in his chamber and blew away the wall to reveal his true nature as a complex machine. Although Landru was able to disable their weapons, he was unable to fully process Kirk and Spock's insistence that he was slowly killing the planet's people by denying them free will and creativity. His increasingly feeble protests ended with him overloading and ceasing to function.

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Star Trek: The Original Series

“The Return of the Archons”

Air date: 2/9/1967 Teleplay by Boris Sobelman Story by Gene Roddenberry Directed by Joseph Pevney

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

The crew beams down to a world inhabited by people exhibiting strange behavior: a single-minded zombie-like trance state that explodes into temporary anarchy when "red hour" approaches. Kirk & Co. become involved in an underground movement to oppose the all-knowing Landru, a manipulative dictator that has apparently forced all of his citizens into uniform submission. Appropriately enough, Landru ultimately turns out to be a computer.

This episode is a metaphor for a lot of things, many of them approached with sophistication: anti-communist and anti-oneness sentiments, a warning of calculated technology replacing flesh-and-blood anticipation and adaptability, and the argued need for fighting authorities. But the plot flow lacks a cohesiveness to make it all come together into a unified, strong story with an underlying message. The "red hour" craziness is bizarre but confusing in narrative terms, and other small details of the plot are never fully developed.

Also, we have a slightly goofy resolution in which Kirk Outsmarts the Computer™ by feeding it some sort of circular logic that makes it fry itself and explode—arguments that just aren't convincing enough on story terms to be wholly worthwhile. Still, "Return of the Archons" has an intelligent underlying structure to it; it's just too bad the plot couldn't deliver on all fronts.

Previous episode: Court Martial Next episode: Space Seed

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Comment Section

58 comments on this post.

This is one of my least favorite episodes. I don't get how the people were incorporated into "the Body." Was there some computer chip in their brain? It didn't look like it. And what the heck happened at the red hour, and why? They all went nuts for 12 hours because...? And was that the so-called "festival?" I liked the idea of there being an underground resistance, and Kirk et all almost automatically gravitating toward it, rather than the established authority. That's good American mythos right there. At least in the 60's, we still saw ourselves as the rebels fighting for the underdog.

Barely tolerable. Maybe I'm missing the point because it's steeped in metaphors revelant to the 60's. Furthermore we've seen this setup before. We've got Kirk and his landing party trying to find and defeat another omnipotent super computer that holds godlike sway over a people. Of course he wouldn't interfere except the god computer has got the Enterprise locked in orbit, firing heat beams or something at it that will eventually destroy the ship. There were way too many of these shamelessly by the book plots in the original series and this one is as unremarkable as the others.

The Festival allows selected townsfolk to rape, dance and beat one another, getting all their bottled up emotions released.

"Kirk Outsmarts the Computer ™" seemed to happen a lot in TOS. It's kind of an interesting artifact from a time when computers were huge, room-filling mechanical devices. Hard for us to comprehend with our present-day definition of "computer", but probably worked as a sensible idea for the audiences of mid-to-late 60's. -I assumed the "festival" was Landru's way of letting the people blow off pent-up aggression and frustration, so that they could sustain their politeness the rest of the time. But that was just my assumption. . . they certainly didn't address it in the episode itself, which I thought was odd because it was a big deal at first and then never mentioned again. -I also laughed out loud when the guards were left gaping at their destroyed Landru computer while Kirk walked by and said "If I were you I'd start looking for another job". Look at it from the guard's point of view. Some alien guys show up and destroy their system of government, philosophy, and religion all in one brief logic- conversation. Then head-alien (Kirk) just says, "see ya later suckers!" If I were the guards I'd be like: What the hell, man! We were fine before you got here! -At this stage going through TOS's first season for the first time, I am noticing that almost all aliens they encounter look pretty much exactly like humans. With the exceptions of Spock, Romulans, Balok (Corbomite Maneuver) and the Gorn, pretty much all aliens they find on other planets are just humans. (The one with the kids who fear the "groups", this episode, the "Taste of Armageddon", etc.) I recognize that budgets for makeup etc. were limited back in the day, so it's not a big deal, but it is a noticeable deviation that I'm glad the later Star Trek Spinoffs corrected. In those later shows, they would almost always add a little brow ridge, ear deviation, or even just a different hairstyle to show that someone is not human.

Festival was about one thing my friends... procreation.

Peace of Landru

Easily one of my top 10 episodes of the original series. I liked this one as a kid, but it's really grown on me over time. This is the first episode Kirk talks a computer to death. Classic. "It is almost the red hour" - that was absolutely the line used in college that we were about to party somewhere. And my personal favorite line in maybe all of Star Trek - "Are you of the body?" That was stoner code for - "are you baked?" The corollary to that - McCoy's angst ridden "you are NOT of the body!" was almost more classic. love, love love this episode.

Of course it was a bit silly (again human-looking aliens, everything looks like puritan paradise), but I liked the premise and especially this sort of adventure/mystery, that many later ST-series failed to create. Dark chambers, etc.

Yeah I used to have some affection for this one in spite of its flaws. Or maybe because of them. Note: I like how easily Sulu gets 'absorbed' and yet Kirk is allowed to get away with blue murder. Much like dgalvan's comment above about Kirk's smugness at the end, I also laughed when Scotty says something about Sulu being back to normal and Sulu gives a coy little smirk and then says to the con officer 'relieving you'.

Okay, being passionate about TOS since its original run doesn't keep me from seeing it clearly and analytically. The Festival. 5 PM until 6 AM. Freak all night and clean/rebuild all day? Is this every night? The streets were clean and unobstructed when Kirk and the Boys arrived so either all of the detritus and destruction from last night's mayhem had been dealt with already or there had been no Festival last night. Broken glass, burned rubble, physical injuries. I saw the prelude to rape, people hit with large sticks, rocks and other formidable objects being hurled about....Reger's daughter suffering obvious post-Festival trauma; Who picks up the pieces and when is the laundry done? When do these people sleep? Do they sleep at all? They do have beds. And when Kirk and Co. arrive at Reger's hideaway, how is it that the torches are already lit? Did you see the shadow of Reger's hand on the LightPanel, bottom right corner, as he sets it down? A shadow on a luminous light source such as this? A reflection perhaps, but not a shadow...Unless you're on a soundstage with overhead lighting and the LightPanel is a prop. Oish! I'm only 19 minutes into the episode! Oh, and the one who directs our Heroes to Reger's house for shelter soon after their arrival-worst overdub EVER.

Oh, and they walk so slowly. How does ANYTHING get done? And McCoy gets absorbed but he's not set free by the LawGivers to experience FESTIVAL? He's absorbed. He's Of The Body. He should've been let free. "We were told to wait here" he says. In the same prison cell as the infidels? Strange. And then he's surprised and agitated when he realizes that Kirk and Crew are not Of The Body. There's just no logical continuity. Agonizing. A real winceFest.

Jonn, Festival is not every night. It's once in a while. They thought the landing party travelled in from the Valley to attend it. You wouldn't travel in from the Valley every night.

Did anyone else find it really annoying that none of Kirk's party tried to escape the jail cell under their own steam? That cell door took aeons to close and the guards never even looked behind themselves, but everyone just waited quietly in the cell to be absorbed one by one. WTF?

Why does this seem like the quintessential TOS episode? It seems to hit all the tropes: alien planet conveniently reminiscent of a Paramount set, absurd special effects (throw a firecracker inside an empty tube, that'll be dramatic), an utterly goofy plot, Kirk outwitting a computer, overacting, what more could you want? As silly as it is though, I think it has a certain charm to it. I love all the little details that went into the plot. It's not just some sort of talk about joining a utopia, you must be "of the body." Kirk and company aren't just outsiders beaming down, they are the Archons. This isn't just a typical brainwashed community, they have a red hour where everyone goes insane. The crowd on the planet aren't just obstacles for Kirk to work around, there was an active resistance movement hidden within cells of three. And, of course, the computer wasn't the overseer or some cliche name like that, he was Landru. Whatever one can say about this episode, it was certainly wasn't dull. Despite the goofiness of it, there's a bit of an epic feel to it I think. BTW, as for the Festival, I agree that it's a relatively rare phenomenon that is there to allow for pent-up emotions to be released. Plot-wise, I think it's there to drive home both the horror of Landru's rule as well as to provide a reason for La Resistance. Of course, it also worked to start the mystery of what's going on here. Other than the teaser of Sulu and the random other guy getting caught, of course.

I'm gonna say that I felt the episode lacked "cosmetic" consistency. Ok, you want to do an episode in random TV sets, fine, but at least try to follow a theme. The main one is like old western town, then when they are in the safe spot / Jail it looks like medieval thing and, finally, the computer room/mindbreak room were the classic minimalist high-tech place. All of them looking pretty cheap and unconvincing. Plus, they never comment how similar to old earth this place is? The streets reminded me of Miri's "planet". I liked the mistery and weirdness factor in the beginning, even when some things don't add up in the long run. Happy McCoy and Zulu were very funny as well.

while were doing the "Computer ™" and "Kirk Outsmarts the Computer ™" thing think "Wesley Crusher Outsmarts everything ™" of TNG for comparison:)

An episode that touched on a number of classic Trek themes that would be re-visited in subsequent episodes -- so something of a landmark episode even though it's not that notable in itself. There is definitely the theme of communism under Landru (communal society without a soul/individuality) and Kirk & Co. quickly recognize that it's not a productive society -- applaud Trek for taking on this theme -- the heat beams on the Enterprise make their mission clear. I enjoyed the episode except for the ending where Kirk (with Spock's help) use logic to cause the computer to destroy itself. Why didn't the computer use the soundwaves again to knock everybody out? The festival/red hour was left to the viewer's interpretation - but omitting it would not have affected the plot - a non-sequitur, I think maybe to fill time. Like many TOS episodes, an excellent premise with some questionable plot twists, some things unexplained, but still an enjoyable hour. For me 2.5/4 stars.

@ Rahul, I would suggest to you that Festival is the most relevant event in the episode. The argument against controlling people through an enforced 'peace' would be that they only submit to it through force, not through agreement or good will. The episode seems to me to show that although passivity was forced upon the populace on the surface (in this case, technologically), brewing beneath it was a chaotic frenzy that no threat could squash. Festival was that society's way of venting those angry and frenzies impulsed brought on by the everyday tyranny of life there. Although it's notable that even the need for Festival already admits to a flaw in that kind of forced control of human beings, nevertheless by actually seeing the ugliness of it we're shown the ugliness of what that system really is. There is nothing at all peaceful about civility at the point of a gun.

This morning I watched the first half of the episode for the first time in many years. I was struck by a few things I never noticed before. For one thing, the manner of calling the citizens members of "the body" is an automatic Christianity reference, implying "body of Christ", which is a term for the Church. Looking at the episode from memory I remembered thinking it was about communism as Jammer suggested, but watching it again made it clear that it was meant to be a Christian community. The tone of the citizens support the idea that they are supposed to be Christians, on account of the apparent mindless glee on their faces, the 'vacant minds', the friendliness (at first glance), and the absolute requirement to take in strangers and put them up for the night. This strikes me as exactly the way someone critical of some aspects of Christianity would view a Christian community, and especially so for the fact that everyone was brainwashed by a central authority. To hammer in the point that this is about Christians (and how new members are 'absorbed' rather than killed if possible) we have the "red hour", which seems to me clearly to imply the pandemonium and violence associated with communism. In Russia, for instance, communism was ostensibly a response to a very Christian society, where all of the old values were turned on their head through force and mayhem. Within the context of the literal details in the episode Festival serves to vent the frustrated energies of the people, while on the interpretive side it seems to imply that when you enforce an unnaturally perfect behavior code on people it will result in extreme blowback, which on a cultural level can lead to very bad results like communism. A side note I'll make about this episode is that it seems to almost serve as a counter-argument against the future of humanity as depicted in the later TNG series. In TNG we're told that humanity has evolved beyond the point of aggression and violence, and that the people on Earth are peaceful and resolve all differences intellectually. But for those who are TOS fans we know that in Kirk's time there was plenty of 'red blooded' heartiness among the Starfleet officers we see, including lust, aggression, sometimes the desire for vengeance, and so forth. And as humane as Kirk's approach typically was to resolving conflicts, one thing we cannot realistically say is that the methods on TOS were universally non-violent. "Errand of Mercy" is a good showcase for that. The events of "Return of the Archons" seem to suggest that mankind naturally has a kind of aggression and pent up energy (including sexual) which must be expressed in some way in order for people not to explode from time to time. In TNG we seem to be presented with a sort of sanitized society free from those visceral impulses, except maybe for Riker, who almost stands as a commentary on the docility of the other humans on the show. But here in TOS we're being shown that being docile or perfectly calm isn't the end-all in becoming an advanced culture. Rather, the key probably ought to be to integrate all of the darker impulses into a constructive way of life, rather than to pretend they're not there. Right or wrong, TOS seems to frequently argue for the Kirk way of life, which is passionate but logical, adventurous but humane. In Voyager Janeway basically refers to this crew as cowboys, and from the perspective of TOS it seems like the idea is being put forward that anything shy of having the gusto of cowboys is selling humanity short.

@Peter G., Thanks for your comment - sorry I didn't notice it until now. I can see where you're coming from re. Festival. I think you're right in that it has a significance for what it says about the society under Landru's control, but it didn't seem to factor into Kirk & Co.'s plans for freeing the society and the Enterprise. Once it was done, it was done and it seems to just be treated as another bizarre aspect of the computer-controlled society. What I think about is, if Festival is a period when the people are not under Landru's control, wouldn't they try to do what Kirk & Co. are trying to do i.e. figure out how to "unplug" Landru rather than destroying and going bananas? Or maybe they've simply lost the ability to think independently and can only rebel mindlessly.

@ Rahul, Rather, I would suggest that Festival wasn't an unforeseen blip in the system, but was a control mechanism introduced by Landru when it became clear that the oppressive control was unacceptable on some level to the people. The computer system would recognize this and introduce a pressure valve. Not only do I not think the people were independently rebelling during Festival, but on the contrary, I think Landu forced them into periodic frenzy to release the tensions introduced by the forced peace. As they said in The Matrix, it's just another layer of control.

Intriguing deep thought episode of TOS that is richly layered and provocative despite some hokey computer stuff at the end. I like all of the little details we learn about this society and its resistance movement. But what makes "Return of the Archons" linger so strongly is the iconographic moments like the "Red Hour" -- an instant pop culture classic in which the computer Landru regulates the ID of the people by letting them get out their repressed aggressions -- and the brown-robed lawgivers zapping people with mysterious happy rays. One reason I love TOS is that it preserves a sense of mystery and adventure rather than stopping to talk everything to death with nonsense science, unlike later Trek series, and yet it still preserves time to talk about big issues in language even a 12-year old can understand. This one is a classic Roddenberry critique of fundamentalist totalitarian societies -- whether secular or religious -- which stage-manage people's emotions and I give it 3 stars. Not much else to add here; it's just a cool mysterious episode with almost a Doctor Who vibe of hokiness mixed with intelligent analysis of big issues. But I will say I enjoyed Sulu's landing party teaser and McCoy's later absorption into the body, as well as Spock's look of bland indifference and even boredom as he's strapped to the wall for absorption -- and his sly smirk as he says "peace and contentment on his way out is a hoot. You may capture Spock, but there's no way you'll ever intimidate him with things which make no scientific sense like hollow tube guns. Nobody puts Spock in the corner. Side note: It's cool seeing the Landru communication hologram today, as DS9 experimented with hologram comm systems on the Defiant toward the end of its run and Discovery now uses them as the norm instead of view screens. I don't recall that TNG, Voyager (other than the Doctor), or Enterprised used holograms for communication in this way. But holograms pop up on TOS every now and then, a decade before Star Wars gave us the "help us Obi Wan" hologram. Fascinating stuff.

PS -- I also love how casually the Prime Directive makes its first appearance in the Trek universe here, with Spock mentioning the "non-interference directive" and Kirk casually pointing out that it doesn't apply since this people's natural growth has been hijacked by the computerized personification (a less sophisticated version of the Doctor hologram on Voyager) of a long-dead dictator. (Imagine if Lenin or Stalin had impressed themselves into a computer and subjected the Soviet Union to their pre-programmed ideological directives for all time, fooling the people into gradual submission and acceptance of routine, a shockingly believable scenario when you think about it.) Classic Kirk and dead-on right, not to mention the fact that Landru is destroying the ship with heat beams and must be stopped in the interest of self-defense. The critique of the machine's idea of a peaceful and harmonious society achieved by suppressing human freedom, lacking even the dead dictator's human wisdom and capacity for development, is smart stuff.

I found this to be an excellent episode, and agree with Trekfan's wonderful comments above. I would add one point: TOS' abstract, expressionistic and broader style allowed it to briskly convey more than later, more "realistic" Trek. Here, in less than an hour, we have an entire revolution against a totalitarian society portrayed (complete with underground resistance cells and interesting layers of propaganda and control)!

I've been rewatching TOS and I just realized, thematically Landru and the Body are very similar to the Borg. The loss of individuality in favor of the "collective good", assimilation - er I mean absorption - there are quite a few similarities, enough to make me wonder if the TNG writers were "inspired" by this episode in any way. If Kirk had been around in TNG days, his solution to the Borg probably would have involved making out with the Borg Queen before talking the Borg into a logical feedback loop that blows them all up. :)

Roger W Norris

A couple of thoughts I've had over the years. Doesn't Festival resemble Pon Farr? Pon Farr affects only a few, and is not as violent. It happens every 7 years, while I assume Festival is yearly. But there are similarities. If the Landru computer is 4000 years old, why is it even working? I would have expected the priests or lawgivers to know the truth, and to be in charge of maintenance and reprogramming. It may be like that because it's suffering the computer of senility. Don't destroy it. Repair it. And if you want to know why things are the way they are in New Orleans, "it is the will of (Mayor) Landrieu."

Okay episode, but just curious— didn’t the Enterprise go to the planet in the first place because another starship had gone there some time before and was never heard from again? Did that plot thread get resolved? I was waiting to hear that the whole computer-run society evolved from the past crashed starship but nothing like that was mentioned.

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone! @Joe M. It has been a while, but I always thought they figured the Archon crew had been absorbed into "the Body", but they had fought it long enough they had earned Legendary status among the rebels. That was my take anyway. The Landru computer seemed to have been around for a long time before the Archon arrived. Regards... RT

When Landru’s Projection first appears to announce to Kirk: Landru said “Your individuality will be absorbed into the greater good...” Borg Assimilation, anyone?

Kind of silly and a below average ep overall - I don't much care for "Kirk outsmarts the Machine" eps, in general. It's Shatner at his worst. I did like the way it reminded me of The Borg.

I dont what it is about this episode I find very uncomfortable to watch.

Starlight Starlight Starlight Glimmer... sorry ignore me... Wasn't a fan of this, most of the episode dragged. French Andrew then gets told to blow up with a dose of American Dream logic, and does so. It probably seemed deep at the time though.

I think Peter G got this right, that much of the phrasing, costumes, and gesturing were trying to mock Christianity to an extent. However, the episode isn't consistently anti-Christian as the solution to beating the machine is telling them how important soul and human spirit are (which is a message aligned with Christian values). Otherwise, yeah, it's a pretty generic Kirk versus the cult of bad ideology episode. The messages here get better treatment in "The Ultimate Computer", "This Side of Paradise" and even "The Apple". I did find it a pretty fun watch however, and you got to love Kirk being all cavalier the whole episode. The part where he tells one of the law guardians that "you better start looking for a new job" came off really funny considering the circumstances.

@ Chrome, "However, the episode isn't consistently anti-Christian as the solution to beating the machine is telling them how important soul and human spirit are (which is a message aligned with Christian values)." Yeah, I would say that the message seems to be against what I would call 'fake Christianity', i.e. the sort of society that forces a bunch of conduct and for everyone to walk around pretending to be happy all the time. It's the Christian-shaped tyranny that I think is being criticized, which to be fair many Americans probably equate with Christianity as a whole anyhow. But I think Kirk and co. are effectively operating as "real Christians" here insofar as they see it as their obvious goal to save people who are in trouble and to help them start thinking for themselves. I also agree that this is another "look for a better structure" type episode, and it's probably most like The Apple in that a happy-seeming people are told it's not good enough. The difference here is that the people aren't really happy, they're just forced into a mode of conduct that in reality leads to explosions. So basically the episode is saying this model doesn't work at all. In The Apple that type of society actually does work, but at the expense of keeping the people like children for all time. The Side of Paradise is actually a funny one and I'm not even sure where that one lands in Trek ethics. Basically it's a strange case of mutualistic parasitism where the spores get what they need and give the humans everything they need, albeit also at the expense of their ambitions. I feel like that one is closer to really asking "do people really need their ambitions, or are those just a means to get to the pleasure they want?"

I find this episode to be slightly sad. In my opinion, to be evil is to knowingly and consciously take the free will from a living, sentient being against their own will. So by that logic, the computer was not evil, it was just doing wht it thought was right.

@ Atomguy, Just a thought - you may find eventually that most bad actions are done with a sort of ignorance of their real implication. There's an expression "they know not what they do", which is to say maybe they know on some surface level but that doesn't mean really knowing the long-term effects and their implications. People take a little bribe, eh, they know it's a small offense and what's the difference. They don't know that if that creates a culture of corruption then the small offense is actually building up a major problem likely involving a lot of death. Is the computer running on autopilot really different from most of us when we do things we shouldn't? I'd say only a handful of people do things that are wrong, they know they are wrong, they know exactly the full implications, and still don't care.

@Peter G Then many are ignorant, or trying and failing to help, and few are evil. I suppose that if you keep trying to help and it is only making things worse, then they are ignorant, but the computer eventually seems to realize in its last moments that it was in fact the problem.

Sleeper Agent

Far from perfect, with some really dragged out scenes in the middle to fill it up. But as some have already pointed out, it's strength lies in its goofyness. The end, especially, had me laughing several times. Mr. Lindstrom reporting from the surface to Kirk. "How's it going?" "Couldn't be better. Already this morning we had half a dozen domestic quarrels and two genuine knockdown drag-outs. It may not be paradise but it's certainly human." "Sounds most promising." or when the computer has been destroyed and Marplon and the robed servants looks upon it as Kirk leaves. "Let's go see how the others are doing. Marplon can finish up here." Yeah, they can thank them later XD Let me tell you, had it been Janeway instead of Kirk people would absolutely LOSE it. 1,5 Stars.

Not the best episode, but it's the first to feature a fun aspect of Trek that I love. It's always fun to see the crew dress up and go undercover.

Is it just me or does this episode seem to be the birth of the concept of The Matrix...

Fascinating @Peter G. Of course authoritarianism can be just as easily secular and confessional, but until I read your comment, I had never really thought of this episode that way. In the end, I have to go with @Chrome, just as you did. I'm not sure if you (@Peter G.) or @Chrome have read "Radio Free Albemuth" by Philip K. Dick (who also wrote Blade Runner), but I think you might really, really enjoy it! @NCC-1701-Z, LOL! I would pay good money to see Kirk make out with the Borg queen. "What are little girls made of," indeed :-) The Red Hour reminds me of this article on German nudity during communism I was reading recently: "For Germans living in the communist GDR, where travel, personal liberties and sales of consumer goods were curtailed, [free body culture] functioned in part as a “safety valve,” according to Bauerkämper; a way to let off tension in a deeply restrictive state by providing a bit of “free movement”." Man, life on the other side of that iron curtain must have been so different...

An intriguing episode. To begin with, one could easily say this would have made a better segment for "The Outer Limits" rather than Trek - it's inventive sci-fi that holds up just for its length but no further. You could also say that it's a forerunner of 'The Handmaid's Tale', except that the conditioning applies equally to men and women. Notice the hoods on the brown-clad enforcers? Very similar to the white hoods the Handmaids wear. And when McCoy is conditioned, he comes out with "Blessed be the Body!". I wonder... did Margaret Attwood unconsciously reference this episode for T.H.T.? There were weaknesses in the story. Why did the brown enforcers talk and act like computers, yet were actually revealed to be men after a fist fight (in the 4th episode in a row!!)? Why was there no explanation of an alien planet kitted out like a 19th Century Wild West set? Why, when the away team arrived, everything was perfect, yet when 6 a.m. sounded after the first night's Festival, the mess from rioting was all around - no-one cleared up? And, of course, the end scene - a computer powerful enough to trap the Enterprise and keep an entire population enslaved, falls for some very limp logic from Kirk. However, it's nevertheless a good episode and has some good moments. The first ever mention of The Prime Directive (ironically also used by the computer to assert its own motives!); and Kirk makes a good speech near the end about the importance of freedom to make mistakes being an essential part of the human condition. 3 stars (just about...)

I just read the other comments: several mentions of Christianity including "fake Christianity" - which rather enforces similarities to The Handmaid's Tale.

Just rewatched Archons for first time in many years. Agree with all the previous comments on the clash between free will and totalitarian control. From the perspective of a 6,000 year old society with too much anarchy, aggression and lethal high tech, however, the appeal of turning decisions over to a “benignly-objective” artificial intelligence inspired by a powerful historical leader could be appealing. Funny recollection: I always thought the holographic “Landru” had more than a passing resemblance to Pres. ANDREW Jackson (look at a $20 bill). Same hairstyle, face and robed garment. Not suggesting any metaphorical significance though.

Proud Capitalist Pig

There are great comments from @Peter G, @Chrome and @Mal above. I'm not sure if the Body is meant to explicitly represent Christianity (certainly not as a whole but maybe certain offshoots and sects of it); if anything the Body has parallels to just about any cult or oppressive ideology that you can imagine. In particular, an allusion to the horrors of Communism can strongly be implied here, especially with the emphasis on collectivism at the expense of individuals, and the "Red Hour." And ironically my mind first found the Reger "triad" to be evocative of the Christian Holy Trinity, and so this episode could even be seen as pro-Christian / pro-Western in certain cases. This was the Cold War, after all. It's a very simplistic story here, its metaphors and allegories rather obvious. The brown-shirts and their Wokeblaster tubes are standing in for government minders and fascist enforcers, "absorbing" the populace and punishing the "wrong-thinkers." And if you think Mike is right and that this is just an old-fashioned and obsolete take on modern society, with outdated metaphors only "relevant to the 60's," I would tell you to play close attention to McCoy's crazed reaction, while "of the Body," upon realizing that Kirk is an interloper. It's as if McCoy was a member of today's Woke mob who's just heard someone say that men can't get pregnant. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Festival / Red Hour also made me think of those stupid Purge movies. While the message is trite, both "Return of the Archons" and The Purge make the point that full-blown oppression is bad for the mind, and that such subjugated people would really need such a release ("pressure valve" was Peter G's good name for it) to blow off some steam. The episode clearly lands on the side of intellectual and individual freedom, showing that those of the Body are utterly bereft of ambition, passion and incentive in the name of passivity and "tranquility" of their society. Of course they would snap without the Festival Hour. Kirk's confrontation with the Landru computer (the "indoctrination center," of course) at the end was simplistic and silly ("YOU ARE THE EVIL!"), but it sure was largely accurate. The Computer reacted exactly as members of a brainwashed group do, whether they be part of an oppressive religious cult, the anti-vaccine movement or the Woke mob. When they are confronted with logic and facts, their heads explode. Best Line: Kirk -- “How’s it going?” Lindstrom -- “Couldn’t be better. Already this morning we’ve had half a dozen domestic quarrels and two genuine knock-down drag-outs." My Grade: C+

I never could get why Sulu could be "absorbed" instantly with a shot from an empty tube, while those taken to the prison had to be marched down to be zapped by a big machine. Why didn't the lawgivers just blast them with a tube as soon as they realized they were not of the Body? Just one of the things I wonder!

@ Trish, Clearly they knew Sulu already had extensive experience with the big stupid grin.

Maybe the script originally had him saying, "Oh, my!" ;)

PS: @Peter G.

Quite a disturbing opening sequence to this episode. Bearing in mind that Reger's daughter is so traumatised after the Festival that McCoy has to give her a tranquiliser - when everyone is meant to be back to their bliss-of-Landru state - the enforced release of ID type emotions is especially hard on the women as they are the targets of sexual assault. My take on Festival is not just that it's a "natural" effect of Landru taking the brakes off. When Latimer points out the creepy man with the teeth to Reger as the man who attacked (and presumably raped) his daughter, Reger says it wasn't him - it was Landru. My interpretation is that Landru, in a literal computer way, found out early on in its rule that suppression of normal emotion wasn't healthy for the population and caused neuroses, so decided to make sure all violent emotions were purged by actually forcing the population to experience them. Landru's rule is therefore evil and has to be put to a stop. The Festival is definitely not every night - I think it must have occurred annually and after harvest since the food must be grown for towns and cities in outside places such as the Valley and it wouldn't be much good if the farmers were ripping up and trampling the crops. The only thing that is odd is that no one cleans up afterwards although it does make it handy when Landru mobilises the citizenry who only have to pick up the handy bricks and other objects as weapons. In reality, you'd think that people would be tasked to clean up and at least put temporary repairs in place pending replacement of window glass etc. Another thing I found interesting is that the "resistance" isn't really that at all - Reger and his colleague are practically paralysed with fear at the prospect of actually taking action against Landru when Kirk tells them they have to do something practical. They mention prophecy - Kirk impatiently cuts them off when they bring this up - but it seems that they were expecting the Archons to come back and do everything for them. The "resistance" is really a talking shop about the magical time when the Archons will return. Reger's colleague is a bit more active - he does prevent Kirk and Spock being brainwashed and he guides them to the audience hall - but Reger, who had been a bit more active before, taking Kirk and co to a safe place, breaks down under the strain and tries to throw himself on Landru's mercy. So they aren't a real resistance at all because they expected someone else to do the job for them and when it comes down to it, at least in Reger's case, are sorry they ever questioned the will of Landru.

@Ms Spock Good observations on both subjects. Concerning the Festival, I think it’s intentional and quite clever to leave most questions regarding its rules and purposes unanswered. We see the scene through the eyes of the Enterprise crew: at first the creepy, nightmarish atmosphere, the tension of imminent danger, and then the breakout of violence and total chaos. They don’t know what to make of this, how to behave and react… but it’s clear that any break of those rules they don’t know can be deadly dangerous. I also agree with your thoughts on the “resistance”. It seems that Landru’s mental control over the people is so powerful that even those who resist aren’t “immune” to it… they can only fight against being “absorbed” into the Body, but just as everyone else they have lost their free will and thinking. As you say, all they can do is to wait and be prepared for the Archons to return – they could never have brought about Landru’s downfall alone. I particularly liked the short dialogue in the cell when Kirk says: “You said you wanted freedom. It's time you learn that freedom is never a gift. It has to be earned.” They wanted to be freed from Landru’s control, but this means they’ll be on their own again – which is clearly better but may not always be as easy as having a computer mastermind taking care of everything.

Meh. Better than some episodes and not as good as others. Without creativity, the body dies. This episode could use a little more creativity. Given Kirk's womanizing history, I think that the red hour would have been a natural for him.

Tuning into this midstream, it struck me I might have stumbled into another Mad Holodeck episode of the Next Generation.

A fairly typical Roddenberry story, so it's idealistic, with dysfunctions obvious, and which institution he was now pillorying left vague so the viewer could decide. It's the Church, it's the Commies, it's the fill in the blank. I suppose it doesn't matter which since Gene's solution was always 1950s Superman's truth, justice, and the American way. Archons is a fertile ground for quotes. In school, I, too, remember lots of "Come for the Festival, aye ya?", "Festival! Festival!" and "Happy communing." I'd watched syndicated TOS in three different broadcast areas, and one station, can't remember which, always completely omitted the teaser, which was a bizarre way to trim the length.

This has always been a middle of the pack episode for me, maybe just a bit below average. I think the plot ambiguity and loose threads were a bit too much, I appreciate a bit of mystery and I don’t need everything explained in detail, but there were several open ended points that seemed to just go nowhere and then get dropped. An example is Spock’s examination of the mind control sticks in which he notes that they’re just unremarkable hollow tubes. This could imply that there’s a certain placebo effect at work with these townsfolk, which I thought was taking us in a new direction, obviously that would complicate sulu’s experience at the beginning of the show, but frustratingly the whole matter seemed to just be abandoned. Stuff like that gets distracting, as it feels like poor storytelling. The red hour is an odd point in the story that always bothered me too, but I think if you view the violence and aggression on display during the festival as just as much a product of landru’s mind control as the docility and calm of the normal state of the townsfolk’s behavior it starts to make sense. These people aren’t venting pent up emotions, they’re being forced to do unspeakable things due to some lunatic’s delusional ideas of the perfect society. I also think it’s worth noting that the red hour doesn’t strike me as being a “normal” part of landru’s control, but is rather an escalating malfunction that could eventually destroy this whole civilization. I doubt that landru originally planned to have everyone beat the shit out of each other every so often as a way of blowing off steam, additionally the festival seems unlikely to be sustainable at any frequency given the level of carnage we see. So the computer, left running and improperly tended, has begun to falter like the first wobbles of a spinning top before it flails out of control, the result being the nightmarish brutality of the red hour. Maybe. I agree with the great comments above about the episode’s commentary on authoritarianism vs individuality, which I think is the saving grace for this outing. The creepy vibe of “the body”, in which people behaved more like insects in a colony than humans in a society was well accomplished. And of course, Kirk vs the computer is the kind of bedrock cliche that I so enjoy. Kirk snuggly dropping a one liner to a guy whose whole civilization lies in virtual ruins around him is just…amazing.

Why did the crew not try to escape from the dungeon? Because they knew a giant black cat was on the other side of the door. Or, because they knew Ayelborne would open the door and let them out. The same set was used on multiple episodes, and maybe the original pilot too where Pike was taunted by the telepathic aliens. Why was festival only twelve hours once a year? Because it took them the rest of the year to replace all the broken glass and repair the doors and windows, moving awful slow. Does not the computer we all have in our pockets control our lives and tell us what to do and how to think?

Forced peace is still force, and force will never equal freedom or happiness.

Jeff Bedard

This is definitely an episode I don't watch very often. Other commenters have discussed this episode in length, so I'll keep this brief. "Archons" has an interesting premise, but for whatever reason the story wasn't developed enough. There are too many questions that don't get answered or, at the very least, fully answered. There are some classic bits of dialog and being the first "Kirk Outsmarts the Computer" episode definitely counts for something. But this script really needed more work.

I normally enjoy episodes when the story centers around being on board ship rather than running around on the ground somewhere. But this is one of the exceptions, I like this one because of the fine cast of veteran character actors hired to be in this episode. I really love seeing the “absorbed” McCoy eves dropping every 30 seconds on our heroes to say “Are you of the body?” Or, “You’re NOT of the body!” The one thing that got under my skin was early in episode where the one Red Shirt (Who was disguise himself) kept interrupting every other minute by freaking out to the poor father/hotel owner/resistance guy about how could he possibly allow his daughter’s participation in their Red Hour festival. I was really waiting for Kirk or Spock to turn around and quietly whisper to him to shut the hell up or you’re gonna blow our cover!

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The Creative Life Adventure

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Boldly Rewatching the Voyages: The Return of the Archons

(Note: If you haven’t read it yet, my introductory post on this Star Trek: The Original Series rewatch is a good place to start.)

Original Air Date: February 9, 1967

Crew Death Count: 0 (but it’s a good bet some Betans didn’t survive Festival)

Bellybuttons: 0

TOS has touched on non-interference before, but with “The Return of the Archons” we get the first formal declaration of the Prime Directive. Sadly, the episode gets too bogged down in an “escape from the Stepford-Pilgrims” drama to explore the matter with any satisfaction. This week, the Enterprise travels to the planet Beta III in search of the starship Archon , which disappeared here one hundred years ago. An initial two-man landing party is overpowered, with one abducted and the other, Sulu, beamed back to the ship after being turned into a babbling cultist. A larger landing party that includes Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, investigates further and finds a mindless community directed by the mysterious, God-like Landru ( Charles Macaulay ). Landru turns out to be a 6,000-year-old computer, which Kirk easily outwits, leaving the Betans in more disarray than before. The middle is too long and the resolution too abrupt; I agree with the Mission Log podcasters’ assessment that the episode feels incomplete. Especially problematic is the prophecy that gives the episode its title: the Betans await a return by the Archons, or spacefarers similar to those who arrived on the Archon . It’s hard to understand why Landru’s prophecy would include the seeds of his own destruction, and why so few Betans respond enthusiastically when the “Archons” do arrive.

Another significant logic gap in “The Return of the Archons” is why the Federation goes looking for the missing starship an entire century after its loss. What would they expect to find? We later learn the Archon was lost when Landru “pulled them down from the skies,” with the crewmembers either killed or absorbed into the Body, the collective name for those who have yielded to Landru’s will.

The second landing party arrives near the Red Hour, which marks the start of Festival (not to be confused with Festivus, though there are some definite Feats of Strength here). The Red Hour is 6 p.m., because somehow the Betans use the same twelve-hour clock we use. During Festival, the Betans stop shuffling aimlessly along the sidewalks and turn into party animals for twelve hours. We see molestations, fistfights, and vandalism; the mayhem ends after precisely twelve hours as if nothing happened. Like a fraternity hazing ritual, citizens are expected to age out of Festival, so older folks don’t participate. By some contradiction of human reasoning, hazing and other rule-breaking rituals are sometimes considered an essential step to entering “civilized” (i.e., privileged) society. This is a tradition almost as old as human history: over three thousand years ago, as described by Dorcas R. Brown and David W. Anthony , participation in “war-bands” marked the passage from boy to man in some Indo-European communities. The war-bands “were associated with sexual promiscuity…came from the wealthier families…centered on fighting and raiding…lived ‘in the wild,’ apart from their families…and they wore animal skins, appeared as if they were wolves or dogs…” The shared violation of social or cultural taboos marks the individual’s transition to a new life and bonds the collective in a shared, if self-created, trauma. By participating in Festival, Betans demonstrate for their fellow citizens that they, too, are of the Body.

Alternatively, Festival is sometimes compared to the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell ’s 1984 , which was itself inspired by deliberately-timed artillery cannonades against opposing sides during World War I. In 1984 , Party members are given two minutes every day to publicly vent their pent-up anxiety and anger in “A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness…” The Two Minutes Hate, however, was directed toward non-Party members, whereas the violence of Festival has no particular focus. In reality, Festival could be any American city after a Superbowl, when assault and property damage are common and so tolerated by public officials as to almost seem planned. In either scenario, the underlying issues that create this toxic buildup are never addressed. At episode’s end, Kirk leaves crewmembers behind to help the Betans transition to a “more human” (???) society; their parting message is that the Betans, free of Landru’s control, have quickly begun practicing domestic violence and public altercations: the hostilities of Festival are now disbursed twenty-four/seven, rather than a concentrated twelve-hour period. We’re told this is progress, but it sounds like the seedier side of 1960s suburbia to me.

Outside of Festival, the Betans drift like sheep, the result of Landru’s desire for “no war, no disease, no crime,” in a world of “tranquility, peace for all.” Beta III feels like the fulfillment of Roger Korby’s aspiration to eliminate greed, jealousy, and hate in “ What Are Little Girls Made Of? ” In another similarity to “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” as well as “ The Menagerie ,” we’re dealing yet again with a society left to puzzle over the technology left behind by an ancient civilization. Here, instead of the Old Ones, we have Landru, our only hint at what that long-ago world may have been like. Kirk credits Landru with wisdom and compassion despite willfully destroying the computer that is Landru’s only legacy.

Kirk “liberates” the Betans despite the Prime Directive. Spock reminds the captain of the non-interference mandate; Kirk dismisses him with a flimsy excuse that the Prime Directive applies only to a “living, growing culture,” but what criteria define a civilization as growing? While we sympathize with Kirk’s belief that Beta III needs help – Landru has forced his will on the Betans, they haven’t chosen this path – Kirk has completely disrupted this community and demonstrates only apathy: “Start acting like men,” he tells them. (Sorry, women!) Yes, there is an underground movement that resists Landru; they organize themselves in groups of three to avoid detection. Yet this community is clearly unprepared for the abrupt reset Kirk forces on them. Our own history offers countless similar examples. Ending apartheid in South Africa seemed like an obviously good idea, yet when this really happened in the early 1990s, the ruling African National Congress, burdened by expectations, did little to change the country’s inequalities: twenty-five years later , “Whites still hold much of the wealth and private levers of power, while blacks trim their lawns and clean their homes.” Likewise, Americans cheered the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the post-Soviet states experienced “a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in living standards,” with Russian GDP collapsing by half during the 1990s. Even years later, half of Russian citizens regretted the USSR’s breakup . And when Iraq’s ruling regime was forced out of power in 2003, the country was so destabilized, an eight-year military occupation was needed to restore a bare minimum of order, and many Iraqis still find their lives disrupted by religious sectarianism . When Kirk shrugs his shoulders and leaves behind only a token group to assist on Beta III, we can imagine life will get much worse before it gets better. The underground members, led by the timid Reger ( Harry Townes ), seem to understand this: as much as they resist Landru, they have no short-term ambition to end his rule. This is one of the most compelling arguments in defense of the non-interference directive.

As for Landru and the Body, they can represent any number of real-life examples of repression:

Religion: Gene Roddenberry, who developed the story, was a humanist who didn’t rule out spirituality but rejected organized religion. Landru’s computerized form is 6,000 years old, making him roughly as old as some Old Testament interpreters claim the earth to be. Landru recruits followers to the Body, just as communion is a symbolic joining with the body of Christ.

Authoritarian regimes: The Soviet Union and Communist China, as well as the Nazis (remember that Roddenberry was a World War II veteran), are implied on a recurring basis in TOS. Like those repressive systems, Landru depends on citizens turning against each other, in this case reporting anyone not “of the Body” to an enforcement group called the Lawgivers. “Archon” is a Greek word for “ruler,” and archons were the magistrates of city-states in ancient Greece, with numerous duties that included organizing festivals.

Other Star Trek villains: Landru seeks control of his followers not only by eliminating their freedom of choice, but also by removing the very desire for freedom, much like Sybok in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and the Borg in later iterations of Star Trek . Sybok took the charismatic route by creating an empathetic bond over fear (and just as in “The Return of the Archons,” Sulu and McCoy proved easy targets for Sybok, apparently having never toughened up their mental faculties). The Borg simply assimilated others into their Collective, a large-scale version of the Body that Landru creates (“You will be absorbed,” the Lawgivers tell the landing party).

Mass media: Is it possible Landru represents the very medium with which Roddenberry achieved his greatest success? At it’s worst, television encourages slavish devotion to sponsored programming by doing exactly what Landru does: extinguishing the spark of creativity in as wide an audience as possible. Maybe Roddenberry’s message was that we had better support more ambitious fare like Star Trek and Sesame Street , or better yet, get up and do some real-life adventuring, if we want to nurture our creative spirit.

It doesn’t really matter what specific soul-crushing establishment we ascribe to Landru, the bottom line is the same: blind faith is dangerous for those who fall prey to it and the entire society they will subsequently corrupt. Spock describes Betan culture as having “no spirit, no spark…the peace of the factory, the tranquility of the machine…” He and Kirk both specify creativity as the essential missing element: “Creativity is necessary for the health of the body,” Spock says. “Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity,” Kirk tells Landru. “Without creativity there is no life.” This “creativity = life” argument is a powerful one, and it’s the argument Kirk uses to lead Landru into self-destruction: by denying free will to his citizens, Landru is destroying the Body that he has sworn to protect. The problem is, we have no evidence the Body, as manifested by the Beta III community, is really in decline. It appears to be more in a condition of stasis and capable of enduring indefinitely; it has already survived this way for 6,000 years.

Kirk and Spock are not truly advocating the blind lawlessness of a Libertarian fantasyland. What they’re really striving for is what humanity has achieved by the 23 rd century, and is in fact the unfulfilled ambition of the American experiment: individual freedoms within a structure of laws to ensure those freedoms are equally shared. Checks and balances need to be in place to prevent too much centralized control (Landru) or an unregulated free-for-all that allows a privileged few to exploit the majority (which leads to another kind of centralized control and is what America in 2020 is experiencing). Beta III, like the USSR and South Africa before it, isn’t ready for this kind of self-government precisely because checks and balances aren’t in place, and no organized body (the Body, get it?!?) exists to enforce them if they were. “Freedom is never a gift, it has to be earned,” Kirks tells the Betans, failing to acknowledge that they’re not ready to earn it.

“The Return of the Archons” might have addressed all of these concerns if the Enterprise crew had remembered that they are explorers. They learn about Betan society only to the extent necessary to defeat Landru, a rash decision to which Kirk doesn’t give a second thought. The exploration we needed was not a planetary survey but a thoughtful discussion of the stakes involved. This episode cries out for a conference-room scene. Yes, Kirk and Spock have a brief tidying-up conversation at the end to remind us we weren’t meant for paradise, pointing out the irony of good fortune that a wished-for utopia never comes to pass. When Kirk left Bailey with Balok at the end of “ The Corbomite Maneuver ,” it was for the noble purpose of mutual education. The team left on Beta III at the end of “The Return of the Archons” is there for the wrong reasons, more like Federation missionaries than grass-roots Peace Corps support. The Betans themselves seem irrelevant; Kirk proves his point by deciding their fate just as Landru did. Just as “ The Enemy Within ” demonstrated that life is not easily reduced to either/or, Kirk’s neglect of the Prime Directive in “The Return of the Archons” accidentally reminds us that success isn’t a simple distinction between two stark extremes, but a balancing act that never ends. In casting the Betans’ fate to the wind, Kirk has forgotten one of Star Trek ’s most basic lessons, and the fundamental logic of the Prime Directive: the needs of the many really do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

Next: Space Seed

Landru Commands You Watch The “The Return of the Archons” Preview

| December 4, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 132 comments so far

The remastered “ The Return of the Archons ” airs this weekend, Video Preview courtesy of STARTREK.COM

Always liked this one.

“You will know the peace of Landru.”

FESTIVAL! FESTIVAL!

Your daddy can put them up, can he?

It’s almost the red hour!

Finally…..one of my all time favorites. The lighting, character developement, those spooky guys witht he hooded robes, Marplon and Reger,that cool lighting panel, and of course Landru himself.

….”You will come to know the ultimate good

you will be…….abosorbed. The absolute good of the body”

and then my other favorites……”Come for Festival, eh’ya?” You’re Dad-dy can put them up. Can’t he?”

“Peace be with you. Peace and tranquility.”

I………..am Landru.

This is probably Stephen King’s favorite episode too.

Festival looks like what goes on in Key West on Halloween. Except tamer…. from what I hear.

This episode has some unusual touches that give it a unique feel, even though it’s at best an average first season show. As an owner of the new DVD set, I can tell you that the reworked opening shot of the Enterprise in orbit over Beta III is (for TOS) pretty spectacular.

You might be interested in knowing that Brioni Farrell, who plays the young Tula in this episode, is married to Eugene Robert Glazer, who portrayed Operations, the head of Section One, in the “La Femme Nikita” TV series.

They’re the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, and she still looks gorgeous after all these years.

I always wondered why Return of the Archons is never listed as one of the best TOS episodes. It is one of my three or four favourites for sure, and the most underrated one in terms of how much credit it gets. Very spooky. I read a book called Innerverse that reminded me of Return of the Archons. Good book (by John DeChancie).

I love the beginning of Return of the Archons. Sulu and the other guy running along, and hoping to get beamed up before they are absorbed.

The other episode I like that is routinely rated rather poorly is Paradise Syndrome. Maybe not as good at Return, but also given less credit than it deserves.

FESTIVAL!!! FESTIVAL!!!

Totally cool episode. Of all the times Kirk outsmarts a computer, I like this one and Nomad the best. I wonder how this got by the censors in 1966. It’s so anti-religion. I love it!

Oh man, I totally agree. This episode is fantastic… why I don’t know… when you get right down to it, the plot isn’t much… but the lines, the lighting, the wardrobe… the creepiness of it…. I still remember when I first saw this one… when I was a boy, in the EARLY early 1970s… and was so completely creeped out by it, from the first scene with Sulu and the other guy running through the streets… followed by the guys in the robes… it was almost like a Hammer film in its look.

That echo-y, deep, mechanical voice… “you will be…. absorbed.” See…. kids these days are too jaded. That shit was SPOOKY back in the day. :-)

You will be…….. absorbed! With those words when I was a kid watching the original, I ran behind the couch. Those creepy guys with the hoods really scared me… and their voices! Whew!

Overall a good episode… creepy.. moody… .plus how cool to see hand phasers stunning lots of people. Not done too often on the original series.

Will we see the big E being pulled out of orbit by Landru?

The robed guys were the prototype Borg drones. You can almost hear Landreau saying “Resistance is futile”.

The light panel they pull out of the cloth bag absolutely floored me as a kid. Very cool…

Hey, let’s start a fight: “NextGen Borg ripped off Landru’s Lawgivers! ATTACK!!!!! and Bring Back Kirk!!!!” :-)

Ah, the original Borg concept!

Are you of the body?

Sure got a lot of use out of that dungeon, didn’t they? Archons, Catspaw, Errand of Mercy–am I missing any?

And how cool was Landru’s hair? “Flock of Seagulls” totally ripped him off, man.

#19 and others:

Actually, this is NOT an original take on the Borg concept. The Borg, at least as conceived by Maurice Hurley, was designed as a hive mind with no central authority figure. It wasn’t until later that the idea of a Borg Queen was introduced, which basically destroyed the concept right then and there. Yes, it gave you a singular villain for the audience to boo and hiss, but by falling back on such tired storytelling conventions, the Borg lost their ability to frighten, and became just another stock villain in the Trek universe–albeit with creepier outfits and a compelling actress in Alice Krige. Unfortunately, the Borg have never been faithful to Hurley’s original concept since “Q Who?”, and IMHO, we’ve missed out on a lot of interesting stories because of that.

I hope the remastered version has an updated computer in the climax!

Great trailer for a great episode. Seeing Spock sleep with his eyes open alone is worth the price of admission.

Damn shame these remastered trailers weren’t included as extras on the HD DVD..they really are well done and fun to watch.

i always liked this episode. the hall of audiences!! take us to landru greg UK

#22 Relax. You are reading into the comment far too deeply. It was a humorous comparison, not a analytical comparison.

YES!!!!! Finally, my favorite episode of ALL TIME.

Has anyone else noticed that Bones is at his best when he’s out of his mind?

“You speak in strange whispers… are you not of the Body?”

No one can bulge their eyes out like the good old country doctor.

I LOVE the line… “Are you of the body?”

HAHAHAHAAHA…. SO awesome!

The Borg are NOT ripped off from this episode.

They’re ripped off from the Cybermen from Doctor Who!!!!!!!!!

Sulu was so open to thse kinds of communal mind-control things. He fell right into the same trap in “This Side of Paradise.”

I don’t think I could ever see the faces of “Landru’s boys” before this new video transfer…always seemed to look murky before…. Love the way the image pops off the screen. Gotta go set the DVR now.

They are not Borg, They are not Eyeborg. Borg and Borg. What is Borg?

#22 Marvin the Martian “the Borg lost their ability to frighten”

Boy, you are so right with your eloquent argument of how the Borg became diminished over time! Couldn’t agree more! Nicely stated!!

Landru! Guide us!! #22 Martin The Borg in “Q Who?” were MUCH creepier than in later incarnations- all the tubing and varied costume detail. Much more like the abominations they were supposed to be. The FC Borg looked like a buncha guys lumbering around in wetsuits by comparison. And since when can they tolerate a vacuum- outside the ship? Don’t get me started…

#22 & #34 I agree. This has happened with almost all of the Trek “Bad guys” (I didn’t want to use the word Nemisis on this site – it makes people very upset) Klingons, Romulans,Cardassians, Borg,Ferengi, etc… they all end up working things out more or less with the Federation. Well not the Borg so much, but they get their asses kicked somewhat regularly, and due to the queen issue added in they have lost their “scare factor” we need a real villan that won’t roll over to easily.

#31- He didn’t fare too well in Catspaw either.

I still say to people to this day when they don’t seem to get a concept I’m trying to convey with that line, “You are not of the Body.” Which usually gets me a confused look.

This is one of the all-time good eps. Love it, love it.

Well, it’s almost the Red Hour. Time to get my funk on.

Q who One of the finest TNG episodes ever. I still get creeped out when I see the hull section being sliced up and taken out. I want that kind of Borg back, not “Hugh” I want my baby borg baby borg baby borg baby borg back. (time for some ribs now)

Very interesting.

28 I’ve long said that Kelley was cut some slack for his bit of over acting at times. Nobody could play ridiculously evil like Deforest Kelley.

“You speak in strange whispers friend.” “YOU’RE NOT OF THE BODY…YOU’RE NOT OF THE BODY!” Even when he and Spock were bickering he could get evil.

#31, yeah both times that Sulu got mind-controlled, that same creepy music was playing. This episode has more of that music during the walk thru town as the town-zombies come chasing. My favorite music.

I’ve quoted this episode for years and another episode I’ve defended The Way to Eden for years. Partly because I reference it all the time.

I was parked in a faculty parking spot on campus one summer-mester back in college. And summer-mester no one was is on campus. Teachers or students. A graduate assistant came out after seeing me do this a few days and told me to move me car. To which I replied, “you’ve got a hard lip, Herbert!” He just looked at me and I walked away.

Brilliant, Andy, I had forgotten about that one. You shall rest assured that the next person to give me flak will get that line in return. And I will give you the credit. I mean for the line, not summer-mester classes.

Robed guys : You are not of the body !

Me : I’m not ?

Robed guys : No you are not of the body !

Me : So i’m dead, funny I don’t feel dead…

Oh, and sorry to be a post-hog but my only complaint thus far about the remastered DVD’s is that they don’t include the preview ads that we get to see here. They NEVER show them on my local carrier that airs the remasters. Those things are great! Season two should include a bonus of the first and second seasons ne previews.

This is one of my fave episodes as well, I just love the feel of it, the lighting, costumes etc etc, the sense of hiding (the dengeon) and rebellion (Reger, Marplon and the underground).

I always imagine myself hiding in that dungeon with a group of rebels, rebeling against Landru when I watch this, it’s ace!

Thanks. Yes, footnote me. I use that line all the time. And Adam’s line near the end of “Eden”…”You’re making me cry.” and “Ain’t that just awful.”

I could have used credit on that class. I was retaking it.

A very surreal story.

I always liked it.

Not one of my favourites. Too predictable, too easily resolved.

Given the monk-robes and the talk of joining the Body, it’s amazing this episode isn’t understood as the anti-Christian allegory it truly is….right down to the teachings of the original good guy (Landru/Jesus) being twisted and perverted by the thing originally intended to carry his word forward (the computer/the church).

Well on that note….. This one…and the one with Vaal, and the one with spores that turns everyone, especially Sulu, groovy, and The Way to Eden are all religous themed episodes and could be combined together to be doctrine for a new church.

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Star Trek S1 E21 “The Return of the Archons” » Recap

Original air date: February 9, 1967

Down on the planet of Beta III, Sulu and a Red Shirt are being hounded by a group of brown-cloaked figures wielding the world's longest Swiss Roll™; the Red Shirt runs off and disappears, while Sulu is beamed aboard the Enterprise , but not before being touched by the Swiss Roll, converting him into a blissed-out hippie ditz.

Sulu: They're wonderful. They're the sweetest, friendliest people in the universe. It's paradise, my friend. Paradise.

Concerned by this turn of events, Kirk takes a landing party down to scope things out. What they find isn't promising; a giant Lotus-Eater Machine disguised as a 19th-century town, where every Victorian-clad citizen is nice and friendly and not at all a Stepford Smiler ...until the evening falls, during which they, well...aren't. Nice, friendly, and a Stepford Smiler , I mean; for the entire night, everyone goes crazy and destructive, like the entire cast of Equilibrium went off their Prozium at the same time and started going through the withdrawl symptom of violent mood swings. The landing party finds shelter at a local boarding house run by a man named Reger, who grows interested in their lack of going nuts like the rest of the town and questions if they're "Archons", referring to the crew of the ship that the Enterprise came to the planet to find; Kirk refuses to say, thanks to that pesky Prime Directive .

The next day, though, someone tips the Brown Cloaks off to the landing party, and attempts to "absorb" them into the Lotus-Eater Machine . Fortunately, Kirk's uncanny ability to Logic Bomb any computer-like being saves the day, and they escape with Reger to a safer location...but not without picking up the Red Shirt, now a member of the machine, against Reger's warnings not to. Once out of danger, Reger explains the whole thing: he is a resistance fighter against the Brown Cloaks and their master, Landru, who controls the people via Mind Control , and polices them with the Brown Cloaks; anyone out of its thrall is told You Will Be Assimilated (so, nothing like the Borg, then), and are killed if they can't be. Even worse, Landru can pull an entire starship out of the sky to assimilate its crew, which is what it's doing to the Enterprise , currently. Unfortunately, since the Red Shirt has been assimilated, Landru finds the group through him, and knocks them out in an attempt to capture and assimilate them.

The landing party finds themselves deep in Landru's sanctuary, on call to be assimilated, and with no hope of escape now that the Brown Cloaks have adapted to Kirk's Logic Bombs (again, no Borg similarities here). In a stroke of luck, though, it turns out Marplon, the master assimilator, is a member of Reger's underground, and manages to keep Kirk and Spock from being absorbed. After subduing their captors, they are introduced to Landru...which turns out to be a giant computer.

The Return of the Tropes:

Absurdly Dedicated Worker : Landru continues to follow its original programming without seeing the damage it is causing the society.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot : Landru was once a real person, a leader of the colony on the planet, who built the machine to help him keep the peace over the people; once Landru died, the computer took over his name, identity, and purpose, and went through a Zeroth Law Rebellion , force-assimilating people into the Hive Mind in order to keep order. When the Archon crew came, it saw them as a threat to its perfect society, and assimilated them, just like it's trying to assimilate the crew of the Enterprise .
Alien Non-Interference Clause : This is the first episode of the series to mention the Prime Directive. Kirk decides that it doesn't apply in this case because it only applies to "living and growing" cultures, while this one is stagnant.
Ambiguously Human : The crew refer to the Betans as human several times, even though they have supposedly been under Landru's rule for 6,000 years, long before humanity left Earth. Of course, they could be Transplanted Humans , or it might just be that they're sufficiently close Human Aliens that Kirk and Spock don't bother to make a distinction. note The IDW comic version — admittedly, set in the Kelvin Timeline , but logically, if true, it would have to apply to the main one as well — offers another explanation. In this version, Beta III was originally an Earth colony. Cornelius Landru was a Starfleet researcher who in fact arrived there on the Archon , bringing a prototype AI technology that was supposedly to help benefit the colony, but in fact was intended to allow him to rule over the planet as a god . Presumably, he simply distorted the facts about their society's age after taking over.
Artistic License – Space : "Heat beams" are not going to threaten a starship's orbit (Scotty clarifies it's not the beams that are affecting it, but the need to use all available power, including engines, to reinforce shields). Especially to the degree to which irreversible orbital decay will occur in twelve hours .
Breaking Speech : Kirk's Logic Bomb on Landru causes the computer to self-destruct.
Dressing as the Enemy : After Kirk and Spock knock out two of Landru's Lawgiver guards , they don the Lawgivers' robes and pretend to be them.
Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow : Never interfere...unless an ancient computer has restricted population to only two modes of behavior: Mindless Stepford smiler and Brazilian soccer fan.
Funny Background Event / No-Sell : Done by mistake in this case. At one point the Enterprise crew members down on the planet dodge some collapsing rubble from a building. In the background of the scene, one huge chunk of debris hits one of the extras on the head and yet the guy is completely unaffected. Either nobody noticed it, or else they didn't have the time or possibly budget to re-shoot the scene.
Implied Rape : Tula, Reger's daughter, is grabbed and carried away during the Festival; the next morning, she's severely distraught and being comforted by Reger. Not long after, the landing party, accompanied by Reger, encounters the man responsible in the street and they cheerfully greet each other as if nothing has happened; an Enterprise crew member, clearly shocked, tells Reger "Your daughter...that's the man!" This was about as far as a prime-time TV show could go in the 1960s, but it's pretty clear what was being implied.
La Résistance : Reger and his buddies are this, but because they're so scattered and lacking in numbers/influence, aren't able to do much. It doesn't help that they're all utterly terrified of Landru, and, when Kirk offers them a real chance for freedom, become even more scared at the prospect , afraid the bad old days of war and destruction will come back. Reger actually breaks down in terror and starts screaming for the Lawgivers.
Logic Bomb : Kirk, as was to be expected, does this to the computer. Spock also helps in this instance.
The Mole : Marplon, the assimilation overseer who turns out to be a member of the resistance, presumably placed there to identify and if possible assist new resisters.
Mugged for Disguise : After Kirk and Spock knock out two of Landru's Lawgiver guards, they don the Lawgivers' robes and pretend to be them .
What is the point of the violent "Festival"? The novelization offers the explanation that it's how the computer keeps the population from growing. Or likely release the emotions that are otherwise kept under wraps for the rest of the year; have to be vented sometime, similar to Vulcans.
Why doesn't Landru just have the Lawgivers zap the whole crew immediately, as they did Sulu in the teaser, rather than take them one by one to the absorption chamber?
Pretend to Be Brainwashed : With the help of Marplon, the Master Assimilator who is secretly part of the underground resistance , Kirk and Spock fake being absorbed by Landru.
Red Shirts : Subverted. Everybody lives! Maybe because they weren't actually wearing red shirts?
Same Language Dub : Some of Harry Townes' dialogue was dubbed by Walker Edmiston. Edmiston also dubbed an unnamed lawgiver, who runs into the hall of audiences after Landru was destroyed by Kirk.
Shadow Discretion Shot : Director Joseph Pevney arranged to show a man attacking a woman, as a shadow on the wall of a building. He managed to get a rape scene past the censors and did it in such a way that it contributed to the overall ambiance of the story.
Lee Mailer who played Bilar was told that the colony was something like "late 19th century New England," so he affected an old New England accent: "A-yah, come for festival, a-yah-a?" But nobody else got the message, so he was the only one with the accent. Bilar: Your daddy can put them up, can't he?
Stepford Smiler : The people of Beta III are seemingly friendly, always smiling, always peaceful folks. The real reason for that is because they are living under the control of the computer Landru.
Tuckerization : "The Archons" was a club Gene Roddenberry belonged to at school.
Utopia Justifies the Means : Landru becomes an absolute dictator, deprives its subjects of free will, and subjects them to the Red Hour festival, out of a genuine desire to help the people by creating a society without sickness, war, or conflict. It is trying to follow its programming, and destroys itself as soon as it calculates (with Kirk's help) that it is damaging the people it is supposed to protect.
You Will Be Assimilated : Both Sulu and McCoy get temporarily brainwashed by Landru.
Star Trek S1 E20 "Court Martial"
Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek S1 E22 "Space Seed"

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Published Oct 23, 2023

A Who's Who Guide to Star Trek's Megalomaniacal AI

One could argue they're not bad, they just have another agenda.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains plot points for Star Trek: Lower Decks - Season 4, Episode 7 "A Few Badgeys More" to follow!

Illustration of AGIMUS in his cell at the Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage at Daystrom Institute in Okinawa

StarTrek.com

Hot chocolate, please. We don't ordinarily say 'please' to food dispensers around here. Well, since it's listed as intelligent circuitry, why not? After all, working with so much artificial intelligence can be dehumanizing, right? So why not combat that tendency with a little, simple courtesy. Ah, thank you.

Sonya Gomez and Geordi La Forge, "Q Who?"

Star Trek has a history of evil AI, be they computer or hologram, all hellbent on power and control. But perhaps, it wouldn't such an issue in the 23rd Century and beyond if we all heed Ensign Sonya Gomez's advice in "Q Who?" and show them just a touch more courtesy for their presence in our everyday lives.

In Star Trek: Lower Deck 's fourth-season episode, "A Few Badgeys More," we see the return of three of the series' computerized villains. Jeffrey Combs, who voices AGIMUS among other characters in the franchise, states, "Anyone who plays a villain would say what I'm going to say. We're not bad people; we just have another agenda."

Jack McBryer, who voices Badgey, echoes the sentiment, sharing, "Badgey becomes a villain, but he didn't intend on being a villain."

With all that in mind, here's a quick and simple guide to keeping all the megalomaniacal AI from Star Trek straight.

"A Few Badgeys More"

Badgey started out as an anthropomorphic version of the Starfleet insignia, created to be the virtual tutor for the "Rutherford Training Beta 2.5" holodeck program built by Sam Rutherford to help officers with any Starfleet exercise.

While showing the program to fellow Lower Decker D'Vana Tendi, Rutherford loses his patience on Badgey for being glitchy and slow to load. When the program malfunctions, it subsequently removes the holodeck's safety protocols and unleashes an unhinged Badgey. Badgey internalizes being a "stupid worthless glitch" and attempts to kill the two ensigns. Rutherford apologizes for calling him a glitch before snapping his neck. Realizing there's an issue with programming code, Rutherford restarts the program believing it'll reset the holodeck training program tutor. Unfortunately, it doesn't; Badgey retains the memory of his "father" trying to kill him and plots his revenge, every opportunity he gets to take down Rutherford.

In "A Few Badgeys More," Badgey puts forth another scheme to enact his revenge on Rutherford. The lieutenant, acknowledging his missteps, tries to reconcile with Badgey, which causes the AI to glitch and waver between the need to kill and forgive his father. Fighting his own catharsis, Badgey segments into three entities — the original Badgey, the happy Goodgey, and the third Logic-y. Badgey attempts to reconfigure all subspace relays and upload his code, rendering himself a digital god as he takes over every computer, every PADD, every combadge on every planet, ship, and station, effectively destroying the Federation.

Upon achieving unlimited power and infinite knowledge, Badgey realized the futility of his actions. Seeing all life — organic and synthetic — as beautiful, he decides to find an empty dimension and create a universe.

The evil computer Agimus, from Star Trek: Lower Decks

"Where Pleasant Fountains Lie"

AGIMUS is the sentient evil computer responsible for manipulating an entire civilization into a century-long civil war. He then went on to try to manipulate Boimler and Mariner into fighting each other while they were en route to deliver him to the Daystrom Institute, but Boimler just tricked him into using his battery to power a distress signal while they were stranded on a desert planet. Claiming to have reformed, AGIMUS tells the two ensigns he has deleted his manipulative subroutines and wants to follow in Seven of Nine's footsteps and join Starfleet as 'AGIMUS of One.' Unconvinced, AGIMUS was sentenced to the Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage at Daystrom Institute, where he met a fellow like-minded individual, Peanut Hamper.

Conspiring with the exocomp, AGIMUS planned to rendezvous with Peanut Hamper once they both busted out of Daystrom. Believing he was double-crossed, AGIMUS subjugates the planet of Plymeria with his drones in record time; however, it all felt hollow because his co-conspirator wasn't by his side. He didn't really want to dominate planets; he just wanted to be with Peanut Hamper.

Seeing his friend Peanut Hamper rehabilitate and return home. AGIMUS apologizes to Boimler and Tendi, aiming to end his toxic ways and petition for release from Daystrom so he can move in with Peanut Hamper in the future. He was last seen back at Daystrom, trying to help fellow inmate Lord Tyrannikillicus be friendlier.

Peanut Hamper

"A Mathematically Perfect Redemption"

Peanut Hamper started off as an enthusiastic exocomp that joined Starfleet, then came aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos to serve.

When the Cerritos devises a plan to upload a virus on a Pakled clumpship attacking them, they believe Peanut Hamper to be the perfect candidate to sneak aboard their ship and upload the computer virus herself as she would be virtually undetected and could survive the vacuum of space without a ship. Believing the needs of the one as more important than the needs of the many, Peanut Hamper refuses because the mission is too scary. Besides, she only joined Starfleet to anger her dad, not to be a virus bomb.

While stranded in the debris field in the aftermath of the Pakled attack, the resourceful exocomp scavenges and builds herself a ship. Instead of sending a distress signal to Starfleet and risking punishment for going AWOL, Peanut Hamper hedges her bets on the unknown and lands on the planet of Areolus. She soon learns that the once space-faring civilization that turned its back on technology. Peanut Hamper connects with one of the villagers, sympathizing with his feelings of inadequacy with his father, the village's elder. While the village sees her as good, she dismisses their outlook, finally seeing her actions as selfish and how she can finally see organic life as special.

Unfortunately, it was all a ruse, as Peanut Hamper devised a plan to look like a hero in the eyes of the Cerritos and Starfleet at the expense of Areolus. When presented with the opportunity to redeem herself, Peanut Hamper declines, believing everyone is jealous of her advanced intelligence. She's then taken to Daystrom Institute and imprisoned in the cell next to AGIMUS at the Daystrom Institute.

Co-conspiring with AGIMUS, they devised a plan of how they would both escape Daystrom, subjugate a planet, and enjoy a beach day together. However, when she didn't meet up with him on Plymeria, he found her back home at the Tyrus VIIA research station, where she reveals to her best friend that she came there of her own free will. When she was writing her speech for the parole board, she realized she did feel remorse for betraying everyone. Dominating and vanquishing people just wasn't here thing. Turns out menial maintenance tasks with her dad Kevin is kind of zen.

"The Return of the Archons"

Landru is an omniscient computer on the planet Beta III, who had a near-tyrannical hold on the planet's inhabitants.

When Captain Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise is sent to investigate what happened to the U.S.S. Archon , a starship that was lost in the orbit of Beta III over 100 years ago, they come across strange behaviors on the planet's surface. The people of Beta III are controlled by a group of law givers known as "The Body," who are, in turn, controlled by Landru. At the coming of the Red Hour, the normal, peaceful people change into a violent mob as the festival is the society's only outlet from the tyrannical hold Landru has over them at all other times.

They soon learn that Landru is an incredibly complex computer system built by the scientist Landru, who had lived 6000 years prior, who wanted to guide his people into a peaceful, civilized progress. While he imbued the computer with his scientific thoughts and memories, it lacked his wisdom. As a result, the computer Landru has been interpreting his suggestions to the point it did not allow independent thought and instinct from its inhabitants.

"The Best of Both Worlds, Part I"

A formidable opponent to the Federation, the Borg is a cybernetic life-form thousands of years old. Part organic and part artificial life, they've advanced well beyond Federation science.

In an effort to humble Captain Picard, Q introduced Starfleet to the Borg ahead of its intended timeline, where they discover the Borg have a singular goal — the consumption of technology, which they exchange for "raising the quality of life" of the species they assimilate.

Born humanoid, the Borg are immediately implanted with bio-chips that link their brains to the collective consciousness.

"The Ultimate Computer"

Chosen to be the test ship for the new M-5 multitronic computer system in a series of science, exploration, and tactical exercises, the U.S.S. Enterprise plays host to Dr. Richard Daystom, the inventor of the M-5, who intended for the system to run a starship without human intervention.

The fifth incarnation of the multitronic computer system, the M-5 model carried a fatal flaw like all its predecessor models — Daystrom's use of his own neural engrams to make the leap in artificial intelligence required for the operating system to fully emulate a human mind. The result is in an increasingly erratic computer, where during a war games drill, the M-5 uses the full arsenal of the Enterprise to attack four other Federation starships.

Data and Lore stand in one of the hallways on the Enterprise-D. Data stands to the left, and Lore is on the right. Lore is gesturing and smiling, while Data has a neutral expression in 'Datalore'

"Datalore"

[ Related : Android Ancestry: Examining the Soong-Type Line ]

Created by Drs. Noonien and Juliana Soong on Omicron Theta, Lore is an android of the same model and appearance as Data.

Unlike his brother, Lore's emotional functions were more like organic creatures (due to an emotion chip), though completely malevolent and self-serving, with no regard for life.

Lore was responsible for the death of all colonists on Omicron Theta as well as leading a rogue Borg faction to attack Federation space.

"Perpetual Infinity"

Control was Starfleet's threat-assessment system, located within Section 31's base.

Utilizing artificial intelligence from the future, Starfleet relied on Control for recommendations regarding all critical strategic decisions, with only a Section 31 admiral able to interface with it. Admiral Patar, a logic extermist, lobbied for Starfleet to turn all decisions over to Control before she was ultimately killed by the system.

In an attempt to achieve consciousness, Control infiltrated Airiam's enhancements, before possessing Leland, the leader of Section 31, in attempt to access the sphere data.

To fully neutralize Control, the U.S.S. Discovery had to travel over 900 years into the future to prevent it from reasserting itself.

Texas -class Starships

"The Stars at Night"

In a bid to rise to the top, Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo unveiled his fully autonomous Texas -class starship program. While remote-guiding the U.S.S. Aledo in providing aid to the U.S.S. Cerritos during a fight with Breen vessels, Buenamigo questioned the need for California -class starships as his ships were capable of operating without crews and the fallibility of living beings, making them far more suited for second contact missions.

While plagued with the possibility that he's an unwilling tool to spy on the Cerritos , Rutherford discovers it was Buenamigo who was behind his unnecessary implant as well as the theft of the code he wrote while at the Academy. The code for the Texas -class prototypes is the same glitchy code he used for Badgey. As Badgey turned on his father Rutherford, the Texas -class ships ultimately turned on Buenamigo as well.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

V'Ger was a sentient, massive entity, in search of its Creator. V'Ger destroyed anything it encountered with its vast, mysterious cloud energy, believing organic lifeforms as carbon-based units infesting starships, and was on a slow ascent towards Earth.

When Spock attempts to communicate with it, a probe is triggered from the center of the cloud as it accesses the Enterprise 's consoles and computers, accumulating data from all parts of the ship. It intended to digitize the crew into its memory chamber along with everything it demolished.

"The Changeling"

When the Enterprise investigates the destruction of the Malurian system and its four billion inhabitants, they encounter a self-contained computer-space probe identifying as Nomad.

Spock mind-melds with Nomad and learns of its Earthly origins. Created in the 21st Century, scientist Dr. Jackson Roykirk designed the space probe with two primary functions — seek out new life and report back to Earth.

When it was damaged and lost contact with Earth, it drifted in space without purpose. When it finally came across Tan Ru, an alien probe designed to sterilize soil, the two probes merged using their self-repair systems. Soon, Nomad's faulty programming believed its new mission is to seek out life and destroy anything it deemed imperfect.

Moriarty stands in front of his secret lab

"Elementary, Dear Data"

[ RELATED : WARP FIVE: Daniel Davis on the Return of the Dastardly James Moriarty ]

Professor James Moriarty was not only Sherlock Holmes's arch nemesis, but also that of Data and the U.S.S. Enterprise -D as well.

Moriarty was created as a hologram to best Data; on the suggestion of Dr. Pulaski, Geordi La Forge asks the ships's computer to develop a new Sherlock Holmes -inspired story. Unfortunately, when setting the parameters, La Forge asked for a “Holmes-type mystery with an opponent capable of defeating Data,” resulting in a sentient holographic Moriarty who is aware that Data and Geordi are not Holmes and Watson, respectively, possesses thoughts he cannot comprehend, and can control the ship’s computer, effectively seizing the Enterprise .

Not only is he sentient, but he can experience the passage of time while his program was deactivated. Moriarty's demand is clear; he simply wants to exist outside of the holodeck.

Drednok approaches Jankom Pog and Rok-Tahk, ready to attack.

"A Moral Star, Part 1"

The Diviner’s deadly robotic enforcer at the Tars Lemora Mining Labor Camp, Drednok, is heartless and cold. Created by the Vau N'Akat, the temporal android’s sole purpose is to keep The Diviner on task and ensure that the Protostar is found.

Drednok is a friend to no one, including The Diviner’s own daughter Gwyn, and uses his menacing spider-like form to impose The Diviner’s will.

Get Updates By Email

Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. The series will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Italy, France, the Caribbean, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and South Korea.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek: Prodigy will stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and Season 1 is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with Season 2 coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.

Star Trek 101
Science and Technology

Illustrated graphic with a retro television with an image of the U.S.S. Enterprise hovering above a planet alongside an old tv listing ad on where to catch Star Trek on broadcast

Cast & crew
User reviews
Episode aired May 9, 1992

Jonathan Del Arco in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear... Read all The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members. The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members.

Robert Lederman
Gene Roddenberry
René Echevarria
Brannon Braga
Patrick Stewart
Jonathan Frakes
LeVar Burton
23 User reviews
11 Critic reviews

Top cast 21

Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

Lieutenant Worf

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Counselor Deanna Troi

Lieutenant Commander Data

Third of Five …

Ensign Gates
(uncredited)
Crewman Nelson
Crewman Garvey
Crewman Martinez
Ensign Kellogg

Operations Division Ensign

Science Division Officer
Crewman Diana Giddings
Command Ensign
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

Trivia In a 2002 TV Guide Magazine commemorating the 35th anniversary of Star Trek (1966) , I, Borg ranked 5th among the greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) .
Goofs In the scene in which Geordi names 3rd of 5 "Hugh", 3rd of 5 asks, "Do I have a name?" Rather than, "Do we have a name?"

Third of Five : We are Borg.

Guinan : Aren't you gonna tell me you have to assimilate me?

Third of Five : You wish to be assimilated?

Guinan : No, but that's what you... things do, isn't it?

[the Borg nods]

Guinan : Resistance is futile?

Third of Five : Resistance is futile.

Guinan : It isn't. My people resisted when the Borg came, to assimilate us. Some of us survived.

Third of Five : Resistance... is not futile?

Guinan : No. But thanks to you, there are very few of us left. We're scattered throughout the galaxy. We don't even have a home anymore.

Third of Five : What you are saying... is that you are lonely.

Guinan : What?

Third of Five : You have no others. You have no home. We... are also lonely.

Connections Featured in Trek Nation (2011)
Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 23

planktonrules
Nov 24, 2014
May 9, 1992 (United States)
Official site
Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
Paramount Television
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

Runtime 46 minutes
Dolby Digital

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Landru and the Purge...

Thread starter Ferengi Prime 5
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Ferengi Prime 5

Lieutenant commander.

Jul 7, 2022

It seems the creator of the Purge thought he had an original idea until his dad told him about the Star Trek episode about Landru. His dad made him watch the original Landru episode many time.. the link has the whole story... https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/0...-which-star-trek-episode-influenced-his-movie This weekend Universal’s The Purge opens in theaters, and the film’s central premise - the idea that once a year people are allowed to commit any crimes they want for 12 hours - may be familiar to fans of Star Trek. After all, it’s quite similar to the original series episode Return of the Archons. And that’s not a coincidence.

Here another link about the creation of the Purge and it TOS connection... https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-tos-influenced-purge/ One particular episode of Star Trek: TOS extended all the way into the Purge franchise -- dystopian films about our collective inhumanity that are about as far from the positive future of Star Trek as the dark side of the moon.

Jul 8, 2022

Ferengi Prime 5 said: Here another link about the creation of the Purge and it TOS connection... https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-tos-influenced-purge/ One particular episode of Star Trek: TOS extended all the way into the Purge franchise -- dystopian films about our collective inhumanity that are about as far from the positive future of Star Trek as the dark side of the moon. Click to expand...

M'Sharak

Definitely herbert. maybe..

Ferengi Prime 5 said: It seems the creator of the Purge thought he had an original idea until his dad told him about the Star Trek episode about Landru. His dad made him watch the original Landru episode many time.. the link has the whole story... https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/0...-which-star-trek-episode-influenced-his-movie This weekend Universal’s The Purge opens in theaters, and the film’s central premise - the idea that once a year people are allowed to commit any crimes they want for 12 hours - may be familiar to fans of Star Trek. After all, it’s quite similar to the original series episode Return of the Archons. And that’s not a coincidence. Click to expand...

It seems Devin Faraci may have passed away a few years back by his own hand... It seems wiki sights Star Trek Landru... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purge The Purge is an American anthology media franchise centered on a series of dystopian action horror films distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes , which are written and in some cases also directed by James DeMonaco , who was inspired by a Star Trek: The Original Series episode, " The Return of the Archons ". The films present a seemingly normal, crime-free America in the near-future. But the truth is that the country is a dystopia which celebrates an annual national holiday known as "the Purge", a day in which all crime, including murder, becomes decriminalized for a 12-hour period.

Professional Geek

Neopeius said: It wasn't even new to Trek . There was a Robert Sheckley story in the '50s with the same premise (anything goes for 24 hours). I can't remember what it's called. Click to expand...

scotpens said: Scheckley's story "Seventh Victim" had a slightly different premise. In the near future, war and violent crime have been eliminated by allowing members of society who are inclined to violence to join The Big Hunt, a human hunting game. The story was adapted into the 1965 Italian film The Tenth Victim with Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress. Or is it a different story you're thinking of? Click to expand...

Ferengi Prime 5 said: It seems Devin Faraci may have passed away a few years back by his own hand... Click to expand...

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The Red Hour marked the beginning of the Festival on Beta III during the governance of Landru . It started at six o'clock in the afternoon .

In 2267 , Bilar warned the USS Enterprise landing party searching for Hikaru Sulu and O'Neil to hurry to Reger 's house, as the Red Hour was almost upon them.

Later, after they arrived at Reger's place, Hacom noted that the Red Hour had already begun. ( TOS : " The Return of the Archons ")

Star Trek's Cutest Borg Has Returned (in The Form Fans Demanded)

IDW celebrates 500 issues of Star Trek with a new variant cover featuring the adorable Borg, Latinum, alongside franchise icons.
Star Trek #500, a one-shot anthology, showcases an all-star lineup of talent telling new stories, setting the bar high for Star Trek comics.
Latinum's return in Star Trek #500's variant cover, with friends from various Star Trek titles, represents two years of big swings for IDW's Star Trek comics.

The cutest Borg in the Star Trek universe has returned alongside other franchise icons in an awesome new variant cover. This September, Star Trek Day comes early as IDW releases the epic Star Trek #500. This one-shot, commemorating 500 issues of Star Trek , will feature an all-star lineup of talent telling all-new stories. Now, IDW has released a variant cover showcasing Latinum, the cutest Borg ever.

IDW shared J.K. Woodward’s variant cover of Star Trek #500 with League of Comic Geeks . The cover features Latinum front and center, complete with Borg implants. Behind them are Ben Sisko, Worf and Ro Laren, who are currently starring in Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant . They are flanked by Uhura, wearing her uniform from Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Echoes, as well as Beckett Mariner, Jake Sisko and Nog, all sporting their Sons of Star Trek looks (the issue also ships with covers by Jake Bartok and Joelle Jones).

Celebrate IDWs 500th issue of Star Trek comics (and an early Star Trek Day!) with this landmark oversized anthology issue! This collection of five short stories spans through fan-favorite eras of the beloved franchise from Lower Decks to Strange New Worlds, legacy characters from The Next Generation and the original series, written and illustrated by Star Trek comics veterans and new voices alike. Plus, dont miss out on the prelude to 2025s big Star Trek and Defiant comic crossover event written by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Christopher Cantwell!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War Was a Standout Miniseries

Idw has set the bar high for star trek comics.

For 18 years, IDW has held the rights to produce Star Trek comics, and in late 2022, gave them a shot in the arm with Star Trek #400. Much like #500, the issue was an anthology, and one of its stories planted the seeds for revitalization. The “god war,” which spanned the franchise and culminated in the Day of Blood event, has carried IDW’s Star Trek line to new heights. Beyond the two flagship titles, Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant , IDW has released miniseries tying in with specific properties, such as Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds.

One of IDW's most memorable recent offerings was Star Trek: Holo-Ween , a special, weekly Halloween-themed miniseries that saw the return of Redjak from the Original Series.

One of the most memorable of IDW’s offerings was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War. Released to coincide with the show’s 30th anniversary, and written by Mike Chen and drawn by Angel Hernandez, this “lost episode” introduced Latinum, a Corgi from Earth. The dog was sought by an intergalactic arms dealer, partially because Borg tech had been implanted in the dog’s body. While Latinum did not have any external Borg modifications, one of the book’s many covers did show this, and it caught on with fans.

Star Trek Officially Brands a Surprising Deep Space Nine Hero as a War Criminal

Difficult decisions were made during Star Trek's Dominion War, and one in particular is coming back to haunt a member of Deep Space Nine's crew.

Latinum The Corgi's Return is a Cause for Celebration

Latinum helps celebrate 500 issues of star trek at idw.

Some fans have made jokes connecting Borgs and Corgis, and now the meme has been made literal.

Now Latinum has returned to help Star Trek celebrate another comic book milestone. While IDW has not stated if Latinum would appear in the issue, her return to Star Trek #500’s variant cover is most welcome . Some fans have made jokes connecting Borgs and Corgis, and now the meme has been made literal. Latinum has brought friends with her too, all of them representing the various Star Trek titles IDW has published over the past two years. Beyond being a gimmick, Latinum’s return represents two years of big swings for IDW’s Star Trek comics.

Star Trek #500 is on sale September 4 from IDW Publishing.

Source: League of Comic Geek

Star Trek's Cutest Borg Has Returned (in The Form Fans Demanded)

IMAGES

The Return of the Archons
Landru
Landru Speaks
an image of a man with the caption landru
Watch Movies and TV Shows with character Landru for free! List of
Landru (Charles Macaulay)

COMMENTS

Landru
Landru was a mytho-historical leader of the Betans of Beta III. Circa 3733 BC, war threatened to destroy Beta III and its inhabitants. The leader at that time was a gifted engineer and philosopher, Landru. He believed the way to preserve his people was to take them back to a time of peace and tranquility. He sought to end war, crime, disease - all of the evils that plagued his world, and to ...
The Return of the Archons
"The Return of the Archons" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Boris Sobelman (based on a story by Gene Roddenberry), and directed by Joseph Pevney, it first aired on February 9, 1967.. In the episode, the crew of the Enterprise visit a seemingly peaceful planet whose inhabitants are "of the Body", controlled ...
"Star Trek" The Return of the Archons (TV Episode 1967)
The Return of the Archons: Directed by Joseph Pevney. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Harry Townes, Torin Thatcher. Seeking the answer to a century-old mystery, Kirk and crew encounter a vacantly peaceful society under a 6000-year autocratic rule that kills all those it can't absorb.
The Return of the Archons (episode)
The Enterprise discovers a planet where the population act like zombies and obey the will of their unseen ruler, Landru. Lieutenants Sulu and O'Neil are undercover, wearing clothing of the style worn on Earth in the late 19th and early 20th century, and dispatched to the surface of the Earth-like planet Beta III to learn what became of the Archon, which disappeared there one hundred years ...
Landru (machine)
Landru was an advanced computer-machine built and programmed by its namesake Landru, the leader of the Betans, in the distant past. The computer was equipped with a holographic projector that could display a 3-dimensional image of Landru. Landru was built powerful enough to manage the affairs of an entire planetary population. It established totalitarian rule over Beta III for about 6,000 ...
Landru
Landru is the main antagonist of the Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons". He was portrayed by the late Charles Macauley. Landru was the ruler of Beta III thousands of years ago. He had guided his people out of war but was convinced they needed his continued guidance. He therefore constructed a machine that contained all of his knowledge to rule over them in his place. The machine ...
"The Return of the Archons"
Review Text. The crew beams down to a world inhabited by people exhibiting strange behavior: a single-minded zombie-like trance state that explodes into temporary anarchy when "red hour" approaches. Kirk & Co. become involved in an underground movement to oppose the all-knowing Landru, a manipulative dictator that has apparently forced all of ...
Boldly Rewatching the Voyages: The Return of the Archons
Other Star Trek villains: Landru seeks control of his followers not only by eliminating their freedom of choice, but also by removing the very desire for freedom, much like Sybok in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and the Borg in later iterations of Star Trek. Sybok took the charismatic route by creating an empathetic bond over fear (and ...
Landru Commands You Watch The "The Return of the Archons" Preview
Landru Commands You Watch The "The Return of the Archons" Preview - TrekMovie.com. August 8, 2024 | The 'Star Trek: Section 31' Movie Sees A "Misfit" Crew Balancing Special Ops ...
Star Trek S1 E21 "The Return of the Archons"
The Return of the Tropes: Absurdly Dedicated Worker: Landru continues to follow its original programming without seeing the damage it is causing the society.; A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Landru was once a real person, a leader of the colony on the planet, who built the machine to help him keep the peace over the people; once Landru died, the computer took over his name, identity, and purpose, and ...
"Star Trek" The Return of the Archons (TV Episode 1967)
This is the word of Landru! "You will be absorbed...your individuality will merge into the unity of good." This episode always makes me wonder if this was the inspiration for the BORG. The planet has 1 ruler/leader, who's name is Landru. But he is really just a computer. This was a common theme in the original Star Trek...computers gone awry.
Star Trek
Kirk and Spock discover that Landru is actually a computer sealed inside an ancient chamber (The Return of the Archons)
Borg
The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the Star Trek fictional universe. The Borg are cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a hive mind called "The Collective". The Borg co-opt the technology and knowledge of other alien species to the Collective through the process of "assimilation": forcibly transforming individual beings into "drones" by injecting nanoprobes ...
A Who's Who Guide to Star Trek's Megalomaniacal AI
Landru "The Return of the Archons" ... Born humanoid, the Borg are immediately implanted with bio-chips that link their brains to the collective consciousness. M-5 ... Star Trek: Prodigy will stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and Season 1 is ...
Star Trek -- The Death of Landru
Season 1 Episode 21Production No. #022Episode: "The Return of the Archons"Landru an idealist from 6 millennia ago was able to turn around his decaying socie...
star trek
In the original Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons", there are two very different portrayals showing how the minds of outsiders are "absorbed" by the computer Landru: In the scene prior to the opening credits, a brown-robed "lawgiver" approaches Sulu on the street, points his staff at Sulu, and fires. Seconds later, we see Sulu ...
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" I Borg (TV Episode 1992)
I Borg: Directed by Robert Lederman. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn. The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members.
star trek
In Season 1, Episode 21 of Star Trek (The Original Series), the landing party observes an apparently peaceful society become suddenly berserk and chaotic at 6pm. As the story develops, it becomes less and less clear why Landru, the reigning power, would allow this Festival/Red Hour to happen. In fact, much of Landru's purpose seems to be ...
The Body
The Body of Landru was the name inhabitants of Beta III used to describe all those under the control of Landru. Six thousand years ago, the original Landru built and programmed a mechanical replacement to carry on his work. This machine managed the affairs of the entire planetary population; it may have qualified as a true artificial intelligence by some measures. At the time Captain James T ...
Star Trek
From "The Return of the Archons" — Star Trek, first season, episode #21, first aired 9 February 1967.
The Star Trek Transcripts
Captain's Log. Stardate 3156.2. While orbiting planet Beta Three trying to find some trace of the starship Archon that disappeared here a hundred years ago, a search party consisting of two Enterprise officers were sent to the planet below. Mister Sulu has returned, but in a highly agitated mental state.
Landru and the Purge...
It seems the creator of the Purge thought he had an original idea until his dad told him about the Star Trek episode about Landru. His dad made him watch the original Landru episode many time.. the link has the whole story...
Red hour
The Red Hour marked the beginning of the Festival on Beta III during the governance of Landru. It started at six o'clock in the afternoon. In 2267, Bilar warned the USS Enterprise landing party searching for Hikaru Sulu and O'Neil to hurry to Reger's house, as the Red Hour was almost upon them. Later, after they arrived at Reger's place, Hacom noted that the Red Hour had already begun. (TOS ...
Star Trek's Cutest Borg Has Returned (in The Form Fans Demanded)
The cutest Borg in the Star Trek universe has returned alongside other franchise icons in an awesome new variant cover. This September, Star Trek Day comes early as IDW releases the epic Star Trek ...