Who Mourns for Adonais?

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
The landing party encounter Apollo, Who Mourns for Adonais?
Episode no.	31
Prod. code	033
Airdate	September 22, 1967
Writer(s)	Gilbert Ralston Gene L. Coon
Director	Marc Daniels
Guest star(s)	Michael Forest Leslie Parrish John Winston (actor) Eddie Paskey William Blackburn (actor) Roger Holloway
Year	2267
Stardate	3468.1
Episode chronology
Previous	"Amok Time"
Next	"The Changeling"

See also: Who Mourns for Morn? (DS9 episode)

"Who Mourns for Adonais?" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #31, production #33, first broadcast September 22, 1967 and repeated May 10, 1968. It was written by Gilbert Ralston and Gene L. Coon, and directed by Marc Daniels.

Overview: The crew of the Enterprise are held captive by the Greek god Apollo.

[edit] Plot

On stardate 3468.1, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is nearing orbit of Pollux IV, a Class M planet, for a survey. Suddenly, a huge energy field in the shape of a glowing green hand appears and grabs the Enterprise; halting its movement. Kirk tries to wriggle the ship free of the hand by using the ship's impulse engines, but to no avail.

An apparition, wearing a golden laurel wreath on its head, appears on the bridge viewscreen and addresses the ship's crew as his "children". The words of the figure boom with a godlike presence, and he seems impressed with the human species for finally making their way into deep space. Kirk demands that the ship be set free, but the being responds by tightening the grip, threatening to crush the ship. Kirk backs off, and then the apparition invites them down to the planet, all except for Mr. Spock, whose pointed ears remind him of Pan's annoyance.

Kirk assembles a landing party consisting of himself, Dr. McCoy, Engineer Mr. Scott, Mr. Chekov, and Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (who specializes in archaeology, and anthropology, and whom Mr. Scott shows growing affection toward). The team arrives in what appears to be an ancient garden from Mount Olympus, complete with marble columns and Greek statues. They soon encounter a male humanoid dressed in a short himation. The man identifies himself as the god Apollo. He informs the party that he will not allow them to leave, and renders the team's communicators useless. He indicates that he wants the crew of the Enterprise to settle Pollux IV, to serve and worship him as their god, which Kirk instantly refuses.

Annoyed, Apollo grows to a gigantic height as a show of his awesome power, but he quickly shifts his interests toward Lt. Palamas which angers Mr. Scott. Apollo admires her beauty, and Palamas seems flattered as he takes her hand. Scotty steps forward to defend her against Apollo's advances, but he finds his weapon destroyed. Apollo then magically transforms the Lieutenant's uniform into a revealing peplos and announces he will take her as his bride. Scotty protests again, but Apollo repels him with an electrical shock sending him to the ground.

After this display of his power, Apollo appears drained, retiring with Lt. Palamas to his throne, which leads Kirk to the idea that he needs time to recuperate his energy. McCoy scans Apollo, discovering he has an extra organ in his body, but the Doctor isn't sure of its function. He guesses it may have something to do with the alien's powers. Kirk schemes a plan to deliberately anger Apollo to see how far his powers can go. Maybe if he's weakened enough he'll lose his hold on the Enterprise and the party can overpower him.

Meanwhile, an infatuated Lt. Palamas learns all that she can from the powerful being. Kirk and McCoy conclude, he is indeed the real Apollo, who was part of a group of powerful aliens that once visited Earth. Eventually all but Apollo realized that humanity had outgrown them. They spread themselves "upon the wind" and faded away.

Apollo then instructs Kirk to make arrangements for the crew of the Enterprise to come down to the planet. Once that is done he will destroy the ship and begin a new society of humans to rule over. Kirk takes Palamas aside and orders her to reject Apollo if he doesn't comply with Kirk's demands to leave. She reluctantly puts duty before herself and tells Apollo she was only using him to get information. Angered, Apollo calls down thunder and lightning and prepares to punish the landing party.

Meanwhile, in orbit around the planet, Mr. Spock manages to locate the source of Apollo's powers, which is somewhere inside his temple. As Apollo's energy unfolds, it weakens the protective shield around the structure. Spock relays the information to Kirk, who orders him to lock phasers on the structure. Spock is able to punch through with the ship's phasers, destroying the temple.

Apollo is stunned when his powers are nullified. Weakened, he turns to the sky, growing gigantic again, and pronouncing sadness that there is no room left in the universe for gods. He then pleads with his fellow deities to take him away. Rejected by a mortal woman, and bereft of his powers, Apollo fades away.

Kirk remarks with some regret that had Apollo not forced matters, he could have been a valuable source of cultural and historical information.

[edit] Trivia

• Recently, Star Trek fans and critics have theorized that the aliens in this episode had visited not only Earth, but a number of other worlds as well. Some of the worlds the aliens could have visited include Vulcan and/or Romulus. This theory explains the connection between the Vulcan and Romulan races and Roman mythology.

• Many of the concepts associated with the Romulan race are taken from Roman mythology and history. Romulus and Remus - the two homeworlds of the Romulan people - are in Roman mythology the two brothers who founded Rome. The concept of the Romulan Senate is taken from the Roman Senate. Praetor and proconsul were government officials in the Roman Republic and Empire. Furthermore, the Vulcan planet and race are named after the Roman god Vulcan.

• The theory is non-canon, although it was published on the official Star Trek Web Site. This theory would explain why races on distant worlds had connections to ancient Earth.

• The title of the episode is taken from a line from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Adonais.

• Actor Michael Forrest, who played Apollo in this episode has in recent years lent his distinctive voice to hundreds of English dubbed anime productions.

• The idea of ancient mythologies being inspired by aliens features prominently in the film Stargate and its spin-off series Stargate SG-1.

• An earlier draft of the script ended with McCoy telling Kirk that Lt. Palamas was now pregnant.

[edit] External links

• Who Mourns for Adonais? at StarTrek.com
• Who Mourns for Adonais? article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

Last produced: "Friday's Child"	Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 2	Next produced: "Amok Time"
Last transmitted: "Amok Time"		Next transmitted: "The Changeling"