The Squire of Gothos (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "The Squire of Gothos" | |
 Trelane, The Squire of Gothos. |
|
| Episode no. | 17 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 6149-018 |
| Airdate | January 12, 1967 |
| Writer(s) | Paul Schneider |
| Director | Don McDougall |
| Guest star(s) | William Campbell Richard Carlyle Venita Wolf Michael Barrier Eddie Paskey Barbara Babcock Bartell LaRue |
| Year | 2266 |
| Stardate | 2124.5 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "The Galileo Seven" |
| Next | "Arena" |
"The Squire of Gothos" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast by NBC on January 12, 1967 and repeated on June 22, 1967. It is episode #17 and was written by Paul Schneider, and directed by Don McDougall.
Quick Overview: A powerful being torments the crew of the Enterprise.
On stardate 2124.5, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is on an 8-day supply mission to Colony Beta VI located in Quadrant 904. Along the journey, the ship encounters a rogue planet drifting through space. Without the time to really stop and investigate it, Kirk orders the planet to be recorded for a future exploration mission and to continue with their original heading. Suddenly, Kirk and Lt. Sulu are teleported from the bridge.
Spock believes that the two must have been taken to the mysterious planet below even though sensor readings indicate the planet's atmosphere is lethal to most forms of life. The Enterprise then receives a strange message on a viewscreen, in blackletter writing, "Greetings and Felicitations!" followed by "Hip hip hoorah. Tallyho!" Spock orders Dr. McCoy, along with Lt. DeSalle, and geophysicist Karl Jaeger, to form a landing party and conduct a search.
The landing party beams down and finds the area to be a lush and breathable environment, contradicting Jager's original scans that the world was barren and couldn't support life. They also come to what appears to be a medieval castle constructed in the middle of nowhere. They soon find Captain Kirk and Lt. Sulu along with a brash and impetuous being who identifies himself as "General Trelane". McCoy's medical tricorder does not get any readings from Trelane and to the scanner, nothing is there. Trelane invites everyone to stay as his guests on his world he calls Gothos and discuss his favorite subject: the military history of Earth.
Spock meanwhile, manages to locate the landing party and beams everyone, except Trelane, back to the ship by locking onto every detectable lifeform in the area. Unwilling to let his guests leave, Trelane makes an appearance on the Enterprise's bridge. He then brings the entire bridge crew back down to the planet. This time he includes Spock, Uhura, and Yeoman Teresa Ross.
Kirk's patience with Trelane begins to wear thin and while Trelane dances with Yeoman Ross, after he changes her uniform into a flowing formal ball gown, Kirk and Spock notice that their host never strays too far away from a certain mirror on the wall. They surmise that the mirror may be the source of his powers. To test his theory, Kirk provokes Trelane into a duel and during the fight, destroys the mirror and damages the strange machinery inside. It is discovered that Trelane uses these machines to manipulate matter for his amusement. The bridge crew manage to beam back to the Enterprise, but as the ship warps away, Gothos keeps appearing in its path. The Enterprise stops and Kirk beams back to Gothos to confront Trelane. Trelane tells Kirk he must face a trial for "treason". Trelane condemns Kirk to death by hanging, but Kirk, playing off of Trelane's childish whims, has a better idea.
In order to have his ship released, Kirk offers himself as the prey for a royal hunt. Trelane gleefully accepts and the hunt begins. Just as Trelane is about to kill Kirk, two energy beings appear and put a stop to his fun. It is revealed that Trelane is the "child" of the two beings. After apologizing to Kirk for their child's misbehavior, the beings disappear along with the whining Trelane, and Kirk is allowed to return to the ship.
[edit] Trivia
- Years later, when Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced The Q, a being/race with similar powers to Trelane (only more powerful), fans immediately began speculating that Trelane might have been a member of the Q Continuum. One novel by Peter David, Q-Squared featured Trelane and suggested that he was, indeed, a Q. To many this seems implausible, as the behavior of Trelane's "parents" is not in line with the behavior of any known Q. Also, Trelane relies on machines for at least a few of his powers, nor is he as omniscient as the (known) Q beings. As novels are not considered canon and no episode or film has ever established Trelane's background, the notion of him possibly being a Q remains in the realm of fanon.
- The plot of the episode seems to have been inspired by the comic book magazine Fantastic Four #24. In this issue, Infant Terrible, an omnipotent and hysterical alien child, is causing major trouble in New York City and almost destroys the world by attracting the sun. Mister Fantastic calls upon Infant Terrible's parents just in time to bring him back home.
- This theme of powerful beings who turn out to be children and taken back by their parents has been reused many of times, especially in children's shows. Examples:
- Garfield and Friends animated series: an omnipotent, wishing-well alien is taken away by his parents after refusing to bring back Mondays for Garfield, the latter discovers the world is actually worse without them.
- Sitting Ducks animated series: a duck-shaped alien comes visit Bill and causes ruckus at his home. He gets taken back by his parents at the end of the episode.
- Space Goofs animated series: a bunch of aliens establish themselves in the main characters' (who are also extra-terrestrials) house and cause trouble. They get taken back by their parents at the end of the episode.
- In a Mickey Mouse comic: Mickey and Goofy meet a tiny obnoxious green alien who causes trouble at their town. He gets taken back by his parents at the end of the story and gets spanked.
- In the Futurama episode Where No Fan Has Gone Before, the crew meets the cast of Star Trek:TOS and are manipulated by a being who ends up being a child (though 34), parodying the episode itself.
- In the film Explorers three children through the help of visions, build their own spacecraft which takes them to visit aliens, which turn out to be children.
- Barbara Babcock, who starred in two Trek episodes; "A Taste of Armageddon", and "Plato's Stepchildren", was the voice of Trelane's mother at the end of this episode. She was also the voice of Isis the cat in "Assignment: Earth". James Doohan has long been credited with providing the voice of Trelane's father, but even a cursory listen proves it is obviously that of Bart La Rue.
- The name of the waltz that Uhura plays on the harpsichord is "Rosen aus dem Süden" ("Roses from the South", in English). Presumably the piece was chosen by Uhura rather than Trelane, as it was composed in 1880 and Trelane's knowledge of Earth appears to stop at the Napoleonic Era.
- While romancing Yeoman Ross, Trelane quotes from Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
- One of the props seen in Trelane's home is the Salt Creature from the first season episode "The Man Trap", suggesting that the Salt Creatures were another predatory species that Trelane had "studied".
- It is suggested that the name "Squire Trelane" may have been inspired by the character "Squire Trelawney" in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. The similarity appears to extend only to the name.
- In the episode, Trelane says to Kirk, of Uhura: "Ah, a Nubian prize. Taken on one of your raids of conquest, no doubt." During filming, William Campbell blew the line with the embarrassing blooper, "Ah, a Nubian slave!" According to Campbell, Nichelle Nichols responded, "I'll kick you in the ankle!"
- Trelane's sentence upon Kirk — "You will hang by the neck until dead, dead, dead." — is often attributed to "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker, though historians and Parker biographers agree he never uttered these words when handing down a death sentence.
- William Campbell also portrayed the Klingon captain Koloth in the episode The Trouble with Tribbles.
[edit] External links
- The Squire of Gothos article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "Shore Leave" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1 |
Next produced: "Arena" |
| Last transmitted: "The Galileo Seven" |
Next transmitted: "Arena" |
