Who Mourns for Adonais?

The theory that the gods worshipped by ancient civilisations on Earth were in fact space travellers with advanced powers was popularised in Erich Von Daniken's 1968 bestseller 'Chariots of the Gods?', but this episode of Star Trek addressed the issue first. In 'Who Mourns for Adonais?', the crew of The Enterprise encounter one such being, Apollo, who has spent the last few thousand years residing on a planet waiting for the human race to advance into space so that he can once again be revered and adored. Of course, Kirk isn't about to kowtow to an alien, not even one that can shoot lightning bolts from his fingertips.

The story starts with The Enterprise halted in its path by a field of energy in the form of a giant green hand - a bizarre image that sets the quirky tone for this memorable adventure for Kirk and company. Beaming down to the planet below, a landing party discovers an ancient Greek temple where they encounter Apollo (Michael Forest), who renders their equipment useless and declares that they must stay on the planet and worship him. The deity also takes a shine to Lieutenant Palamas (Leslie Parrish) and seduces the woman, much to the annoyance of Scotty. In order to defeat Apollo, Kirk and his crewmates attempt to locate the source of his power and destroy it.

There's a fair amount of fun to be had with this one, Apollo growing to giant size to tower over the landing party, transforming Palamas' uniform into a more revealing outfit befitting the queen of a god, and hurling impetuous Scotty backwards with bolts of energy. The one big problem I have with the episode is the notion that Apollo requires a 'source' for his energy, the temple apparently acting like a powerful battery: it begs the question, 'Did he lug that temple all the way to Earth and back all those years ago?'.

"Who Mourns for Adonais?" (Sept. 22, 1967) Old TV Guide synopsis: 'Mortals battle an immortal when the Enterprise is seized by the Greek god Apollo.' Michael Forest was no stranger to beefy, larger than life characters (first in the title role of Roger Corman's 1960 "Atlas"), here cast as Apollo, whose arrival with fellow space travelers in ancient Greece could only have been perceived as gods by the simple shepherds. Apollo has awaited his flock to join him among the stars, expecting his 'children' to worship him as before, but the Enterprise crew have other ideas. It's a rare episode that finds Scotty in protective mode, getting himself tossed about like a rag doll for his trouble, Leslie Parrish as Lt. Carolyn Palamas required to subjugate her feelings for the handsome Greek god to bring him down among mere mortals. It's a sad finale when Apollo tearfully joins his long lost comrades upon the winds.

While telling the landing party about himself, Apollo states that his father is Zeus and his mother was Lito, a mortal or human. In that case Apollo would actually be a demigod or a Titan.

Lito was actually a Titan princess, which did make Apollo a God in all sense and manner. I would consider this only a blooper by the writers of the show and did not take away much of the enjoyment.

My all time favorite was shown the other night. City on the Edge of Forever. Now that was the all-time best Star Trek episode of any of the Star Trek series. It's too bad that few of the original cast are still around.

Alright, where to start. We have on the surface a pretty standard sci- fi theme of old-historic power meets modern man. The two meet and things happen.

We've got this highly self centered and egotistical (and I should add abusive) "god" from Earth's past wanting adoration just like the olden days. But the days of mans' "oohing" and "ahhing" over things like fire, storms and earthquakes are over. Man is the master of his domain (the odd Klingon not withstanding), and needs little for super natural beings to interfere in his life.

But Apollo has other plans.

What strikes me as being interesting about this episode is a notion that the author brought up. The notion that we, mankind, have this primitive nature within us, but that we grow beyond it as we mature. Apollo, as another reviewer stated, is in this essence an immature teenage boy. He's an adolescent with lots of power. So much power that he can stop one of starfleet's finest vessels cold in space.

The story comments on man's primitive instincts and base desires. They're a foundation for a lot of what human's have achieved, but in the end they're only the foundation, and not the higher modes of thought we use in everyday life. Apollo uses his classical Greek god status and powers to try to win over the higher social circle that is the personnel of Starfleet command. He has temporary success, but must ultimately be brought down lest the rest of the Federation see/hear/read about the Enterprise not returning from a mission.

In this way you could use this episode as an allegory for a lot of man's ills, and a lot of history we as humans have created for ourselves because of our inner Apollo. Though the truth is that even though we recognize all those negative or over-energetic and unregulated aspects within ourselves, we still have Apollo-like moments. The key is to not let our inner Apollo over come our inner Kirk :-)

The times being what they were we have a Russian in the episode in the form of Chekov. Scotty, for whatever reason, has beamed down completing the usual "Let's send the ship's senior staff to the planet" motif that seems to be in nearly all Trek episodes. But hey, we wouldn't have a show or story if that didn't happen.

If I had a gripe with this installment of Trek it's that the thing wasn't shot outdoors. It's got that ever oh-so Trek artificiality when it comes to alien planetscapes shot on a stage. Which is too bad because this would have been perfect if Desilu could have found an old Steve Reeves' gladiator set, and had it double for an ancient Greek god oracle. Then again who knows? Anyway, that's how I would've shot it :- )

In any event, give it a whirl. It should entertain.

*EDIT* Hmm, interesting; apparently some of this applies to myself: An egotistical self-centered "god", prone to mood sways and high opinions of his worth than he actually is, has caused some mischief and problems for the traffic ways in the UFP. However, the difference is that for Trek's Apollo, his treatment was forced. Mine was voluntary, and now I've got some sort of plot to get me to "fairer pastures"; note; not greener, but something more suitable? Sorry. It's not going to happen. No matter who is sent to plead the case.

These reviews are done.

Season 2, episode 2. The Enterprise encounters a very large hand made of pure energy. This hand stops the ship dead in it's tracks. Apollo appears on the viewing screen and demands Kirk and crew to come down to the planet.. all but Spock whom he claims reminds him too much of Pan. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Chekov and Carolyn beams down to met Apollo. Apollo wants Kirk and crew to worship him and uses his powers to stop them from communicating with the ship & using their phasers. Kirk theorizes "what if he really is Apollo?" Apollo is taken by Carolyn and willing to open up to her some. The men are working on who or what Apollo is and how to communicate with the ship. Kirk and crew must find away to deal with Apollo and go on to their next adventure.

Not too bad of a story... kinda interesting where Greek mythology meets science fiction fun.

7/10