Star Trek (1966) 1.17

The Squire of Gothos

The Enterprise finds a small planet in the middle of nowhere. Lieutenant Sulu and Captain Kirk mysteriously disappear from the bridge of the Enterprise. The atmosphere on the planet seems inhospitable. Mister Spock sends down a landing party of three by transporter, led by Lieutenant DeSalle which also includes Doctor McCoy and Geophysicist Karl Jaeger.

The landing party finds that there is an area where the atmosphere is breathable. They also fun Kirk and Sulu immobilized inside what looks like a small castle. Kirk and Sulu were abducted from the Enterprise by a man who introduces himself as General Trelane. He welcomes then to Gothos and unfreezes Kirk and Sulu. Trelane freezes DeSalle when he points his phaser at the general.

Trelane has never seen a phaser before. He turns it to kill and tries it out on some of the decor. He is quite impressed Kirk retrieves the phaser from Trelane and insists that they must go. All five are beamed up once the Enterprise locks in on them.

The Enterprise is getting ready to leave when Trelane appears on the bridge of the Enterprise. He beams most of the bridge crew back down to Gothos, including Lieutanant Uhara, Yeoman Teresa Ross, and Mister Spock.

Trelane is very interested in the female members of the crew. He insists that Uhara play the harpsicord while he dances with Yeoman Ross. Captain Kirk puts up with Trelane's behavior for a little while but then challenges him to a duel. Trelane is delighted and brings out 18th century pistols for them to use.

Kirk shoots the large mirror in the room. Trelane's power is disrupted momentarily giving Kirk and the others a chance to escape back to the Enterprise. They try putting a lot of distance between themselves and Gothos but something keeps bringing them back to the planet.

Kirk beams down to Gothos. Trelane puts him on trial and finds him guilty. Kirk is sentenced to be hanged but Kirk objects. He suggests that some other sort of challenge would probably more to Trelane's liking. Trelane agrees and the two come to an agreement over the sort of of challenge.

Trelane hunts Kirk but just as he corners Kirk two non-corporeal entities step into tell Trelane that playtime is over and that he has to come home. Trelane begs and pleads but they don't give him a choice in the matter. The two entities apologize to Captain Kirk and allow him to leave.

Thoughts

William Campbell played the part of Trelane. He was in one other episode of the series and also appeared in an episode of Deep Space Nine. 

This is the first of three appearances of Lieutenant DeSalle. He is a navigator in this episode but he is not in his other two appearances.

One of the trophies in Trelane's castle was a salt vampire (see 1.01, The Man Trap).

This episode was a lot of fun. I think that a lot of what made it so good is the way that Campbell played the part of Trelane. He really seemed to throw himself into the role and played it to the hilt. It never felt like he was just reading the lines.

I wouldn't say that this is my favorite episode of the original series or the first season but it definitely belongs in the upper echelon of episodes from the original series.