The Return of the Archons

Back when Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were at the height of their PTL prowess – before they were laid low by sex scandal – part of their empire included a theme park. My wife and I were divided about whether or not it would be a fun place to visit. She thought it would be the ultimate in ironic anti-vacations. Though I was tempted to agree, I had the creepy misgiving that if we actually tried to pass ourselves off as happy members of the faithful flock that the experience would turn out either like the end of the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Beta III, the planet in this episode.

Minus the “Festival! Landru commands it!” element, of course.

The story wastes little time with preliminaries. Before the opening credits roll, Sulu is captured by the locals and absorbed into The Body. When the usual suspects beam down, everyone they meet walks around in a zombie-grinning tranced-out state. They’re all “Greetings, friend” and “Peace and contentment be upon you.” It all vibes heavy Heritage USA.

That is until the clock strikes. Without warning all the people on the street start screaming “Festival!” at the top of their lungs and run hog wild. Assault, rape, vandalism and no end of other random riotous behavior suddenly supplant nitrous-oxide-sluggish meandering. The crew flees the street for the relative safety of a local boarding house.

However, there they encounter an even more sinister danger. The reason for the trance-like behavior of the pre-Festival crowd is that a mysterious, deity-esque character named Landru runs the whole place. Those who are “of The Body” are safe (if zombified), but those who think for themselves may be seized at any moment by robe-wearing, magic-pipe-wielding Lawgivers.

For awhile our heroes try to work with members of the anti-Landru underground, but they’re found out and imprisoned. McCoy gets absorbed, but Kirk and Spock make contact with another resistance member and escape the Body-izing chamber.

Eventually they manage to locate the supercomputer that has been posing as its own creator for hundreds of years. Not for the last time in the series, the machine’s inexorable logic proves to be its own undoing. Kirk points out that the unproductive state of passive compliance imposed as a computer’s notion of perfect social order is in fact bad for The Body. And as a negative influence on the people, the Landru machine must destroy itself. Which it proceeds to do.

Episode rating:

Stardate: 3156.2

Episode type: Message piece

Written by: Boris Sobelman

Original air date: February 9, 1967

Court-Martial / Space Seed

Back to the Star Trek index