Star date: 3156.2
Summary: This episode starts "in medias res", with Sulu and another crewman inexplicably running down what appears to be a street in the old American west, wearing period-appropriate clothing. As two men in robes approach them, carrying long sticks, Sulu grabs his communicator and tells Kirk they need to beam up immediately. Unfortunately, the guys in the transporter room aren't fast enough. The "other" crewman runs off, and Sulu is tagged with one of the sticks before getting beamed up, materializing in the transporter room with a big smile on his face, spouting nonsense about tranquility, "the body" and "Landru".
The planet Sulu was on is called Beta 3, and the Enterprise has arrived there to investigate the earlier disappearance of a ship called Archon and its crew. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and several others then beam down to the surface of the planet, also in mid-19th century American clothing. They quickly notice that everyone in the town has a vacant smile, and seem to be not quite "all there". One man they meet on the street talks of an impending "festival", which turns out to be indistinguishable from a riot. The Enterprise crew find refuge in a nearby hotel while the natives spend all night engaging in all sorts of violence and debauchery, only to return to their original vacant, placid state at the stroke of 6:00 AM.
It's obvious the residents of the town are subject to some sort of mind control, and the Enterprise crew quickly find that they're under the microscope as obvious free-thinkers who are not "of the body" --- that is, not followers of Landru. When two "lawgivers" come to collect the crew and have them "absorbed", they are whisked away by a resident (Reger) who is part of an underground resistance movement. Landru uses telepathy to direct everyone on the street to attack the Enterprise crew and Reger, who are only able to make it to Reger's hideout by stunning a number of townsfolk. Once there, it doesn't take long for Landru to find them and knock them all unconscious using high-frequency sound waves. But before he does, we learn that Landru is also attacking the Enterprise using heat waves, and as a result, the Enterprise can neither leave nor assist those on the planet. It is clear that Landru used this same method to destroy the Archon ship and absorb its crew years before.
When they awaken, McCoy, Reger and another crewman are gone, taken in to be absorbed. When McCoy and the other crewman return, they have the same vacant smiles and make the same type of bland statements about "joy" and "tranquility" as the other followers of Landru. Kirk and Spock are taken for absorption as well, but have the good fortune to meet Marplon, another resistor, who ultimately assists them in facing Landru --- who turns out not to be a human at all, but a computer built and programmed by the real Landru 6000 years ago. Kirk causes the computer to overheat and destroy itself by telling it that it is harming "the body" (the people of Beta 3). This releases everyone from "Landru's" power, and releases the Enterprise to go about its business.
Finally, another episode worth watching. Not that it was perfect, but unlike other recent episodes, I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at it every few minutes.
This is at least the third episode in the series so far --- and the second in a row --- dealing with the relationship between humans and computers (the other being "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", which is among the worst of the series to this point). Perhaps people in the 1960's had a genuine fear that computers would one day make humans subservient to them --- and if they did, they weren't alone (see for example, The Terminator series). In each case, it seems that the writers of the show aim to argue that computers can never take the place of humans, because computers don't have a soul. But at the same time, they can't actually present a computer as being soulless, because that makes for boring television. So in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", they give the various androids feelings of resentment, fear, and lust. In this episode, the computer which is responsible for maintaining mind control is clearly self-aware, crying out to its creator Landru "Help me! Help me! Help me!" as it burns itself out.
And of course, the idea that Kirk could make the Landru computer burn itself out by reasoning with it is completely ridiculous.
Setting that aside, this show does a good job of presenting a cult society driven by thought control, fostering uniformity of behavior and mistrust of each other. The "festival" early in the show, during which residents run around yelling and vandalizing the town (and I believe the numerous shots of men picking up women and spinning them around is intended to be a TV-appropriate metaphor for sex in the streets, consensual or otherwise) is simply bizarre, and no explanation is ever given as to why Landru would allow such a thing, much less encourage it. But all of the (now peaceful) residents stopping their tracks to pick up a stone or a stick and slowly close in on the Enterprise landing party is well-done, and appropriately frightening. Other aspects, such as the existence of an underground movement opposing Landru, Landru's characterization of free-thinkers as an "infection", and the double-speak of insisting that Landru is peaceful immediately after two of his lawgivers have killed a man for disloyalty give the plot some nice texture.
So on the whole, this was one of the better episodes --- but that's really damning with faint praise.
In the end, of course, Landru (the computer) is destroyed, the Beta 3 civilization is freed, and the good guys win. But after 6000 years of mind control, the Beta 3 residents don't know how to handle their freedom, so a number of Enterprise crew members are left behind to train them in human society, led by a sociologist named Lindstrom. The final interchange between Lindstrom (on Beta 3), Kirk and Spock (on the bridge) is worth archiving here:
Kirk: How's it going?Other observations on this episode:
Lindstrom: Couldn't be better. Already this morning, we've had half a dozen domestic quarrels and two genuine knockdown dragouts. It may not be paradise, but it's certainly human.
Kirk: Sounds most promising. Good luck.
Spock: How often mankind has wished for a world as peaceful and secure as the one Landru provided.
Kirk: Yes, and we never got it. Just lucky, I guess.
This is the first time we hear about the Prime Directive, as Kirk and Spock are imprisoned, discussing how to deal with Landru, whom they've come to suspect is a computer:
Kirk: Mr. Spock, the plug must be pulled.It's interesting that, when Kirk and Spock are talking Landru into destroying himself, Landru states: "I reserve creativity to me.", to which Spock responds: "Then the body dies. Creativity is necessary for the health of the body." Spock is known for logic, which is generally considered the opposite of creativity. And besides, we haven't actually seen Spock do anything creative since he played the harp on "Charlie X".
Spock: Sir?
Kirk: Landru must die.
Spock: Captain, our Prime Directive of non-interference . . .
Kirk: That refers to a living, growing culture. Do you think this one is?
It seems that Sulu is successfully "absorbed" at the start of the episode when a lawgiver simply taps him with a stick. So why do Spock, Kirk and the others need to be taken to a special dungeon to be absorbed?
Uhura is still not fourth in command at this point. When Kirk and Spock are on Beta 3, and Sulu is in a blissed out, brainwashed state, it's Scotty in charge on the bridge.
The Moral of the Story: A utopia obtained by destroying free will is really a Hell. And computers have no soul.
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