Arena

Although it may seem like a silly story on the surface (in essence, Kirk fights against a man-sized reptile), Arena is actually one of the best Star Trek episodes, being an insightful critique on the unnecessary casualties of war.

The episode begins with the destruction of a Federation outpost, which prompts Kirk to go after the alien attacker and destroy him at all costs. During the pursuit, the Enterprise is seized by more powerful beings who send Kirk to a desert planet so that he can face his adversary: the reptilian Gorn. Whoever wins the duel will be set free; the loser will be destroyed, along with his ship and crew. Given the Gorn is much stronger than Kirk, the latter has to come up with an inventive strategy to survive.

Of the many examinations of the futility of war that Star Trek has offered, Arena is undoubtedly one of the more interesting ones, all because of its central idea: the preconception that all conflicts must end with the total annihilation of one of the two conflicting sides. The episode's presentation of the villain also plays on man's natural fear of all things unknown or different, making for 45 minutes of intelligence and tension that still resonate four decades on (despite the fact that the Gorn is obviously a stuntman in a suit).

I won't spoil it by saying what the ending is in this episode, but for me the ending is what made it all worthwhile. This episode is a little slow, a little clunky, but the Gorn (Kirk's enemy in this episode) has so much natural charm to him that it keeps you watching.

A deep space outpost of the Federation gets slaughtered and Kirk and his crew are out for revenge. The episodes starts out quite well, it focuses on action and mystery. Who attacked the outpost and why? It's all very mysterious and alarming. Is this the start of an intergalactic war? Perhaps.

The Enterprise ends up chasing the attacking ship through space and things don't go as planned for either ship. That's where I'll leave it. As I said the Gorn is the star of this episode. It's not often the someone outshines Kirk, but the Gorn certainly did.

This is a very good episode with a very good plot. The only problem for me is that the enemy (the Gorn) is really cheesy-looking--the head barely moves and looks like a crummy mask. Not terrible by 1966 standards, but today it looks pretty poor.

Now as for the plot, it really rocked. The Gorn attack a Federation outpost and kill practically everyone with their super weapons. The Enterprise has no idea who these enemy are but they know they MUST kill them or risk further attacks. However, in pursuing them, they enter Metron space and these advanced beings are horrified by the seeming brutality of these two races. So, to end the problem, they place the captains of BOTH ships on a barren planet and let them fight to the death--and the loser's crew will then be destroyed.

Despite a relatively simple plot, the episode has three different locales and is a good showcase episode for Kirk. Not the best, but definitely among the better episodes made.

A convention used frequently is that of setting two opponents against each other, giving them no choice but to fight. The frequent accusations by the more advanced aliens that earth creatures are too violent is often counteracted by their own blood lust. In this episode, Kirk is pitted against the Gorn, a species of lizard man. Perhaps they could have done just a bit of work to animate his jaw, rather than making it look like a Halloween mask. This episode forces Kirk to draw on his knowledge of chemistry and warfare to face the Gorn. As the crew watches the fight continues. They parry and thrust their way. The strength of the episode has to do with lessons learned. McCoy gets in his usual shot at Spock for inaction. He seems to blame him whenever his logic doesn't solve the problem.

'Arena' has always been one of my favorite TOS episodes, both for legitimate reasons and ironic. It is a good episode, examining the idea of casualties of war and man's heavy-handed expansion to other planets. An outpost is destroyed, the Enterprise pursues the Gorn ship responsible, and Kirk finds himself facing off against their captain at the will of the Metrons ("We will resolve your conflict in the way most suited to your limited mentalities").

This is where the fun begins. Gaze upon Shatner's grappling with a giant rubber lizard man at Vasquez rocks (there's a reason Trekkies make the pilgrimage to those rocks, and this is it). Lumbering moves, telegraphed punches and really fake boulders; that is what this episode is really about. One drawn-out and ham-fisted fight scene.

This is just the right mix of thought-provoking and hilarious, and the Gorn has lived on as somewhat iconic for a reason. Maybe just a tiny step down in status from the Tribbles.

9/10