The Mark of Gideon

This episode of Star Trek prime should probably been done with a bigger budget, or when computer graphics came into use. You needed that to show the mass of humanity that was on the planet Gideon. Yet for a television show episode this one was effective and is a favorite of mine from the series.

Captain Kirk beams down to the planet Gideon, but when he materializes it looks like he's beamed into an alternate universe because he's still on the Enterprise, but no one else is. His entire crew has vanished and he soon finds a waif of a young woman played by Sharon Acker.

Acker tries real hard to get William Shatner's mojo going and she's doing her best and he's weakening. But more than a good time with Acker, he wants to find what's going on.

The secret is a frightening one. Two things you should know, what can make a place a paradise can also turn it into a nightmare. Secondly this is an example of the concept of right to life run totally amuck.

While Kirk is in his predicament, Spock is having a dual of words with the Gideon ruler played by David Hurst. Hurst won't let Leonard Nimoy come down and investigate. In the end Spock cuts some red tape, but even Vulcans can lose their patience and what he did was eminently logical.

One of the best Trekkie episodes ever.

This episode has so many holes. Kirk beams down to the surface of a planet, or so he thinks. He finds himself on what appears to be the Enterprise. But there is no crew. After a thorough investigation of the ship he is suddenly face to face with a young woman. She claims she does not know why she is there. Meanwhile, on he real Enterprise, Spock and the gang are trying to negotiate the ability to beam down and look for the Captain. Unfortunately, the officials on the planet refuse to allow this. Kirk, who despite being in grave danger, can't control his hormones and has contact with the young woman. After their tryst Kirk sees faces on the viewing screen. A group of people wearing some kind of hoodie. It turns out that this is a planet where people no longer die (unless they grew extremely old) and they have only to wander the planet, no room, like they were stuck in Time Square on New Year's Eve. The hope is that Kirk will infect the young woman and she will in turn bring disease to the population, decreasing it through mass death. It's unfortunate that there is no satisfactory resolution. I guess it is a lesson in population control.

Captain Kirk seemingly transports to the planet Gideon but materialises on a duplicate Enterprise.

This is a reasonably good episode with some interesting ideas and decent performances.

The story contains a fairly ridiculous premise for a deception, but some of the ideas regarding overpopulation I think are quite interesting. I have to admit I appreciate the b-plot of Spock trying to work diplomatically with bureaucrats, as I have experienced this kind of frustration myself in work over the years.

I think Sharon Acker gives a decent performance as Kirk's love interest of the week. She and William Shatner have a good on screen chemistry, but as with all romances portrayed on episodic TV, particularly those involving serial Kirk it is never plausible.

Leonard Nimoy is on good form as Spock makes some futile attempt at diplomacy. Some of the dialogue foreshadows what is to come for this character in TNG.

The visuals are very basic and I get the sense of the production team doing the best they can with the budget available. The crowded populace imagery is simple but relatively effective.

Third Season Star Trek tried to be more bold in the storytelling but their budget was slashed, Dorothy Fontana had left, and Gene Roddenberry had gone off sulking after the Network called his bluff on threatening to walk away from the show if the show was put in the "death slot" (10pm Fridays, when no one was watching.) The Network did not like or want any more to do with Gene Roddenberry.

So you have producer Fred Freiberger having to produce bottle shows as there was no money for location shoots (with the exception of The Paradise Syndrome) and with bottle shows they have to be good interpersonal stories which focus on characterization and well-written dialog (no visuals.) Hence why Star Trek's third season took on subjects it hadn't in the previous two seasons and the stories were more mature and more ambitious

The Mark Of Gideon is a classic example of what could have been a good story, certainly the premise was: overpopulation and the pro-life vs pro-abortion argument that was going on at the time. Where it falls down is the execution of the story. With no money to tell the story properly scripts have to be butchered, corners have to be cut, and things have to be changed. This is no fun. Hence we get episodes like The Mark of Gideon, And The Children Shall Lead, The Way To Eden, and maybe one or two others that were good story ideas but subsequently poorly executed. (Then there are the real stinkers like The Lights of Zetar, Spock's Brain, That Which Survives, and The Savage Curtain which failed miserably and were just bad in every way.)

So Star Trek's third season was definitely a more mature Star Trek but the slashed budget meant they were doomed from the start. It was not "Fred Freiberger's fault" as some Star Trek fans want to believe. If anyone was to blame it was Gene Roddenberry. His first mistake for Season 3: not elevating Bob Justman to Producer, instead bringing in an outsider, Fred Freiberger. The talent was sitting righ there in front of his nose. Stupid decision, Gene!

Season 3, episode 16. The Enterprise arrives at the planet Gideon to begin diplomatic relations and to have them join the Federation. Kirk beams down and finds himself on what appears to be an empty Enterprise. In the sky, is Spock in charge of the real Enterprise. Kirk finds no one on the fake Enterprise but does find the young girl Odona who does not know how she got there. Spock, in the real Enterprise, must now deal with representatives of Gideon that say that Kirk never arrived. Spock also realizes later that the coordinates given to him are wrong. Back on the false Enterprise, Odona tells Kirk that her planet is very much overpopulated and Kirk believes she's from Gideon but she insists she is not. Then Odona falls ill - her illness is exactly what the Gideon leaders want. Kirk takes her to sickbay where he meets Ambassador Hodin, Odona's father. Odona has a virus, Vegan choriomeningitis, and it is help control the overpopulation problem and that Kirk is part of a secret experiment. Spock must try to find Kirk from the real Enterprise, while Kirk must find a way to get back to the real Enterprise. They also must get to bottom of what is going on at Gideon.

Nothing unusual about Kirk (and crew) ending up in an odd place, disappearing or missing. Nor is it unusual for Kirk (and crew) to be used as a pawn is someone else's game. BUT the way it is put together and played out in this episode is done quite well. In spite of the lower rating, I like it.

8/10