1x21 The Return of the Archons

[7.5/10] One of the fun things for me about Star Trek is reverse-recognizing so many bits from others shows that have been influenced by The Original Series, and boy, “The Return of the Archons” has that out the wazoo. I thought the “Purge Planet” episode of Rick and Morty was just a reference to The Purge, but the old fashioned town that goes nuts is borrowed pretty directly from “Festival” here. Speaking of which, I thought I’d caught all the Star Trek references in South Park’s unfortunately titled episode, “The Wacky Molestation Adventure” when I rewatched it after seeing “Miri,” but the giant clock counting down to the madness feels like an homage to “Archons” as well.

And man, Futurama mined this episode again and again, whether it’s the Robot Elders who resemble the “lawgivers” in “Fear of a Bot Planet” or the fem-puter reveal in “Amazon Women in the Mood” or even the Santa bot’s “paradox-absorbing crumple zones.” Hell, even the Jasmine arc in Angel feels like the folks behind the scenes had this episode in mind.

When a single episode of television has that sort of diverse and wide-ranging impact, you can tell it made an impression on people, and it’s not hard to see why. As corny as “Archons” is at times, it’s a snootful of distinctive weirdness right from the jump, that invites you to wonder just what exactly is going on in these town where the strange things just keep piling up.

Take the cold open, which is completely in medias res. Why are Sulu and his fellow crewman in period clothing? Who are those weird guys in robes that they’re running from? What exactly did they do to Sulu that has him so mentally absent? It’s a great way to kick off the episode, setting up just enough to make you wonder what’s going on.

The meat of the episode feels like (appropriately enough for William Shatner) an installment of The Twilight Zone. “Archons” does a great job of establishing the strangeness of the planet and society that Kirk and company visit. The unnerving politeness of the citizenry, the odd repeated mantras, the cruelty and carnage of “Festival,” and the constant references to law-givers and “Landrew” add up to a supremely creepy locale, with every new reveal adding to the unsettling qualities of the place. Brain-washing, sonic attacks, and panicked resistance leaders help to create the paranoid atmosphere of the story.

The episode does sag a bit in the middle, between the beginning of their visit to the planet when they’re still feeling the place out, and the end, when they start helping the resistance in earnest. But for the most part, it’s a cool concept, and these townspeople being subservient to an unseen force that Kirk, understandably, doesn’t want to kowtow creates tension in every scene.

But for all of “Archons” influence on other works, its ending feels like a page out of the Wizard of Oz. The reveal that there is a man (or at least a machine) behind the curtain to whom we should pay no attention was no great twist, and the idea of defeating a machine by giving it a paradox was kind of ruined for me by parody, but it’s a satisfactory resolution and explanation how weird everything is on the planet Beta.

It also ties into the theme of the episode, which is that machines can be efficient; they can create harmony, but that they lack soul and creativity, which means that the things designed and planned by them will always feel somewhat hollow and even dangerous for that reason. I have to admit, after my nearly 2,000 word write-up on what basically amounted to the same message in last episode, “Court Martial,” I’m kind of tapped out when it comes to material on the strange luddite qualities of Star Trek. But suffice it to say, it’s continues to be funny to me how much a show that popularized an idealized version of the future, where technology generally and computers specifically were shown to have helped man end hunger and traverse the stars, still has such a “you can’t trust the machines!” strain of thought in so many episodes.

I wouldn’t call “Achrons” a great episode. Its ending isn’t quite up to snuff, and the final “we sure did learn an important lesson today” scene back on the bridge is too on the nose for my tastes. But it’s influential for a reason. There’s a palpable out there quality to these proceedings, in a way that dives into the unusual, unknown, and legitimately kind of scary, giving “Achrons” a distinctive and captivating quality in the process. The elements of it are memorable and unique, and that alone makes it stand out. Let’s just get to the bottom of who convinced Gene Roddenberry that the computers were coming to get him.