Requiem for Methuselah

Kirk being his usual childish attention seeking arrogant self. Captain of a starship indeed.

In desperate need of a crucial antidote ingredient to fight a plague overtaking the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock & Bones beam down to a planet where the ingredient can be found in abundance. They find one lone man, Flint (James Daly, "Planet of the Apes"), and one young woman, Rayna (Louise Sorel, 'Days of Our Lives"), living there, accompanied by a helper robot called M-4. Initially quite hostile, Flint soon welcomes their presence, and it's clear he has some ulterior motive for making them stay - especially Kirk, who goes hilariously gaga over the lovely young lady.

Well-written by Jerome Bixby (it's to be expected, as he also penned three other episodes, including the very fun 'Mirror, Mirror'), and intelligently executed, this has some brilliant plot twists which I dare not reveal here. But the plot does revolve around love, one of the most powerful of human emotions that can give us real highs or real lows. (Near the end, Bones bemoans the fact that Spock will never be able to experience this kind of feeling.). Certainly it causes Kirk to behave irrationally here, and to forget about his actual mission.

Superb performances by guest stars Daly & Sorel, an obvious appreciation for art & literature, and a compassionate final gesture from Spock help to make this an episode that will linger in the memory.

Eight out of 10.

The Enterprise is in the grip of a deadly epidemic: Rigellian fever. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to Holberg 917-G to gather the mineral ryetalyn (amusingly pronounced Ritalin), necessary to create an antidote. On the planet's surface, they encounter Flint, who says he owns the planet: his personal retreat from the human race.

Flint introduces his young ward Rayna to the party, and while McCoy and Flint's sentry robot M4 process the ryetalyn, Kirk gets up close and personal to the beauty. It was at this point that I guessed that Rayna was an android, created by Flint as a companion (ie. Sex robot), and I wasn't far wrong. Flint is allowing Kirk and Rayna to get smoochy in order to bring her emotions alive, so that she can return her creator's affections.

What I didn't guess is that Flint is immortal, having lived for 6000 years, during which time he had gone by many names, including Lazarus, Alexander the Great, Leonardo Da Vinci and Johannes Brahms: this combination of the predictable and the unexpected proves very entertaining, with mystery, sex, a miniature Enterprise, and a fistfight, and a sad ending that sees Rayna's conflicting feelings for Kirk and Flint causing her to shut down.

It's not perfect, Kirk's horndog behaviour seeming extremely inappropriate given the seriousness of the epidemic currently ravaging his crew, but it's still a far more enjoyable effort than the last few episodes, proving there's still some life in the series yet (or was that it?).

Arguably the last good episode of Star Trek ("All Our Yesterdays" features an interesting plot line with Spock and Mariette Hartley), "Requiem for Methuselah" is among the more literate scripts the series offered. Jerome Bixby demonstrates his considerable science-fiction writing ability in his well-drawn Flint character, adeptly brought to life by veteran TV actor James Daly. While this episode is almost farcical in its accelerated Kirk/Rayna love-story arc, the concept of Flint as an immortal conglomeration of the some of the greatest minds in human history and Spock's gradual realization of this secret are intriguing and engaging. What also makes this episode memorable is that it stands out so far above the largely forgettable third season, and a touching scene between Kirk and Spock helps an otherwise schlocky ending. "Methuselah" belongs nowhere near the pantheon of the likes of "Naked Time" or "City on the Edge of Forever," but it was a final reminder of what made the series so special.

"Requiem for Methuselah" (Feb. 14, 1969) Old TV Guide synopsis: 'The crew intrudes on a private paradise inhabited by two individuals: a man of extraordinary accomplishments; and his ward, superbly educated - but unacquainted with human emotions.' Another conflicting episode (the last of four written by Jerome Bixby) that presents Kirk as a captain who can forget about the fever aboard the Enterprise to inexplicably fall in love at first sight. Louise Sorel is fine as Rayna, but the standout is James Daly's emotionally wrenched performance as Flint, and his various guises throughout human history, from Da Vinci to Brahms, still composing after an astonishing lifetime of 6000 years. A great confrontation between Spock and McCoy, who laments that the Vulcan won't be able to share Kirk's experiences regarding both the pain and joy of love; once the doctor is out of sight, Spock uses a quiet mind meld to ease his captain's anguish, a nice touch to close things out.