• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Return of the Archons - 45th Anniversary this week

Wingsley

Wingsley

Commodore
Commodore
It's paradise, my friend! Paradise! Paradise! This week marks the 45th anniversary of the first airing of the TOS episode "The Return of the Archons". A delightful psycho-drama story reminiscent of THE TWILIGHT ZONE! "Return" aired for the first time on NBC on 9 Feb. 1967!

According to Memory Alpha, a minor guest star was none other than Dragos from JASON OF STAR COMMAND: a clean-shaven Sid Haig portrayed one of the Lawgivers.
 
Personally, I really love this episode; although I know 'Return of the Archons' often receives less than stellar accolades, as often as it is cited as a favorite among fans.

I often feel 'Archons', to me at least, represents STAR TREK in a nutshell.

I feel that if I had to pick only episode to share with someone who was without any concept of what the show was, I might very well choose 'Archons'; not as an example of TREK at its best, but rather as the most typifying and illustrative of the series on the whole.

'Archons' encompasses all that is found across the board in TREK - both good and bad - in one tidy adventure.

An adventure I am always happy to watch.
 
There was an article on the web, forgot where, about TOS and its "minimalist" approach to set and prop design. One of the examples given was the Landru computer exhibited in this ep; clean and simple, not busy with a zillion features and gadgets.
 
Cars from the late 1960's already wear antique plates.

And I still think I'm a kid at times.
 
I just now noticed something about the episode's trailer. It states the stardate as 3192.1, which was really the stardate for A Taste of Armageddon.
 
We're only a couple years away from the 45th anniversary for TOS's third season eps, folks. And then a couple years after that we can look forward to the 50th anniversary of TOS' first year eps! :bolian:

Let's look at the glass half-full. We're here on this forum enjoying discussions of a memorable scifi franchise that people are still getting a kick out of over two generations after it first hit the airwaves. TOS has a proven and remarkable legacy.
 
Mutai Sho-Rin said:
Captain Tracy said:
BillJ said:
Great episode. But forty-five years? God I feel old...
Click to expand...

I'm with BillJ,... apparently together in the nursing home!
Click to expand...

Since I was 20 when Trek premiered in September, 1966, I feel the call of the nursing home quite loudly. Social Security starts in May, boys.
Click to expand...

gh4pic-300x225.jpg

"Eh?... what's that?,... fancy a game of checkers, 'new fish' ?
 
Last edited:
One silly thing I noticed about this story... Some people are immune from absorption, right? So, when Landru issues commands telepathically to clear the streets or to raise the roof at Festival and to pick up a stick and start pursuing Kirk, how do people like the underground know what to do?

The other funny thing about "Return" is what did Kirk do with all the mind-control technology after Landru blew a gasket? I say Kirk ordered all of it destroyed immediately. Any other ideas?
 
Last edited:
Never was a fan. Too many inconsistencies for my take, and the parallel world so close to our own they even use the same clocks makes me roll my eyes.
 
Not an episode for the time capsule to be sure, but a guilty pleasure.

This episode has one of Kirk's great lines : "Well, you're on your own, Marplon; I hope you're up for it. You can get rid of those robes... If I were you, I'd start looking for another job." :lol:
 
I would like to know who fixed all the windows/damage etc after each Red Hour.

The handyman must have been a millionaire.
 
Come on guys, this is a GREAT episode with lots of great character moments. It was also the first of the Kirk vs the god-computer episodes.

Sure it was an episode done "on the cheap" but it was a solid episode nonetheless.

Yancy
 
Back when I was in college and the TOS eps were in syndication, "You are not of the body." became kind of a catcvhphrase.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top