Episode of the Week : The Conscience of the King
- Thread starter Botany Bay
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The Governor of Tarsus IV hereby sentences feek61 to death that more valued members of the Trek BBS might live...
LOL, well, it was bound to happen!
I'm voting a 9. It's a great episode, I really can't complain about except the (very) minor one that I don't think it's appropriate to have a "night shift" actually deal with the actual problems of beinging night shift, like your body rhythms being off. Maybe just in non duty areas, but you're still kind of randomly making a section of the crew suffer for the other part to have a more "normal" life.
Wow that sounded way too ranty than I meant it to be, but I know from working a lot of night shift and midnights, it's no fun at times.
I'm making this up myself, but I always thought an important clue was, "the revolution is successful" from the begining of the speech. as in Kodos seized power, possible motivated by the emergency, and then declared himself governor of the colony. He must have had accomplices, but maybe they were all killed as he was presumed to be when the Federation forces retook the colony? I still think we are not dealling with an "elected" governor at any rate but someone who was a relatively unknown before he seized power and kept himself secreted from the population, 1/2 of which he then murdered.
Wow that sounded way too ranty than I meant it to be, but I know from working a lot of night shift and midnights, it's no fun at times.
I'm making this up myself, but I always thought an important clue was, "the revolution is successful" from the begining of the speech. as in Kodos seized power, possible motivated by the emergency, and then declared himself governor of the colony. He must have had accomplices, but maybe they were all killed as he was presumed to be when the Federation forces retook the colony? I still think we are not dealling with an "elected" governor at any rate but someone who was a relatively unknown before he seized power and kept himself secreted from the population, 1/2 of which he then murdered.
I must say I appreciate the whole mystery about what happened on Tarsus IV. We don't really know why the doctor had been disfigured. Maybe he survived to his execution, maybe he had been injured by the same explosion/fire that killed the false Kodos. Star Trek is now so much about explaining or trying to explain everything.
I don't see the absurdity. It's not TNG (or even Voyage Home). Space is raw! If there's still famine risks on Earth colonies, we can also assume that facial reconstruction is not totally miraculous.
From a modern perspective, the fact that DNA testing never comes up is hard to miss.
"If only there were some reliable, scientific test to determine his identity! Guess we'll have to rely on voice-prints."
Granted, you can rationalize that by assuming that they didn't have a reliable sample from Kodos . . ..
The identity of Kodos is never in question as such: Starfleet has his voiceprint, his image, and no doubt also his DNA, his inverted-proton scan, and his psychological profile manifested as an AI that they have interrogated many times over. (Feel free to insert your own favorite criminal investigation method here when one emerges in the real world or when you invent one.) Mentioning DNA testing would bring nothing new to the episode, as Kirk is already shown sufficiently matching Karidian with Kodos.
I'll go with the Kodos-became-governor-in-coup approach. "Kodos" is such an obvious nom de guerre anyway; clearly (IMHO), some madman arrived on the planet, possibly poisoned the food, and then took power and began killing people, using the poisoning as an extremely weak excuse for this preplanned murder spree of his.
This would also explain why the 4,000 survivors aren't valid "witnesses": like Starfleet, they have only seen Kodos. They have not seen the madman who assumed this identity - only those nine people who arrived on the colony in the same spacecraft with the madman would be able to tell Starfleet more about who the man was before becoming Kodos. All that anybody needs to know about Kodos is already known. Yet virtually nothing is known about the man behind Kodos, and Lenore Karidian may be acting to prevent anybody from learning that.
She probably shouldn't bother: "Anton Karidian" might not be any more related to the original criminal than "Kodos" was. But she's crazy as a cuckoo, so we can excuse her here.
Timo Saloniemi
I'll go with the Kodos-became-governor-in-coup approach. "Kodos" is such an obvious nom de guerre anyway; clearly (IMHO), some madman arrived on the planet, possibly poisoned the food, and then took power and began killing people, using the poisoning as an extremely weak excuse for this preplanned murder spree of his.
This would also explain why the 4,000 survivors aren't valid "witnesses": like Starfleet, they have only seen Kodos. They have not seen the madman who assumed this identity - only those nine people who arrived on the colony in the same spacecraft with the madman would be able to tell Starfleet more about who the man was before becoming Kodos. All that anybody needs to know about Kodos is already known. Yet virtually nothing is known about the man behind Kodos, and Lenore Karidian may be acting to prevent anybody from learning that.
She probably shouldn't bother: "Anton Karidian" might not be any more related to the original criminal than "Kodos" was. But she's crazy as a cuckoo, so we can excuse her here.
Timo Saloniemi
Echoing a few previous comments, as a youngster this episode held little appeal but as I matured I began to appreciate it considerably. Two points that still bother me to this day, the phaser overload sound effect and of course the death of Anton Karidian....by a phaser shot that fails to singe even a mere strand of clothing.
Let's remember that Anton Karidian was killed by a phaser grabbed from a security guard by Lenore Karidian. The guard would not have his weapon at "kill", and we don't see Lenore adjust anything - so it's quite likely that frail old Kodos died of a stun shot at close range, an unfortunate feature of the phaser that gets confirmed in ST6:TUC.
Sure, previously the madwoman had manipulated a phaser skilfully enough to produce an overload, and here she was decidedly attempting to kill Kirk. But this need not trump the fact that we don't see her alter the setting. In the heat of the moment, she probably just forgot to do it, or even how to do it.
(The thing is, if we choose to treat this particular shot as a stun shot, then TOS remains consistent with the movies in that unauthorized use of the kill setting would raise an alarm. All other uses of phasers to a deadly effect aboard the TOS vessel are by authorized personnel!)
Timo Saloniemi
Sure, previously the madwoman had manipulated a phaser skilfully enough to produce an overload, and here she was decidedly attempting to kill Kirk. But this need not trump the fact that we don't see her alter the setting. In the heat of the moment, she probably just forgot to do it, or even how to do it.
(The thing is, if we choose to treat this particular shot as a stun shot, then TOS remains consistent with the movies in that unauthorized use of the kill setting would raise an alarm. All other uses of phasers to a deadly effect aboard the TOS vessel are by authorized personnel!)
Timo Saloniemi
Very plausible. Generally when Kirk stuns someone ("Assignment: Earth," "Spock's Brain"), the shot is a single ping lasting less than a second. Lenore held the trigger for a sustained blast on an old man. And he might have had a pacemaker or an artificial heart.
I always thought there was a "microwave" effect with a phaser as well, as in it effects the target from the inside and not directly at the surface. So it would pass through clothes and skin and start to affect the tissues and organs.
I think the shock of finding out his daughter wasn't protected probably would have finished him off, the phaser just hastened it. He may have been injured from escaping the authorities and it shortened his life span.
I think the shock of finding out his daughter wasn't protected probably would have finished him off, the phaser just hastened it. He may have been injured from escaping the authorities and it shortened his life span.
Well, you could always have Lenore say to him "I remember you! I never forget a face!"
Pretty much how I feel. Though I give the episode a 7.
And me. That and yet another example of the fact that Enterprise's has really poor security.
I like the Hamlet references to really good effect and the concept of the play within a play, which is essentially Lenore's double life and ends up being her whole existence.
The performances were excellent fun. I love Bruce Hyde and Grace Lee Whitney conveyed a lot of Rand's personality with just a look. I really wish we'd seen both characters in a few more episodes throughout seasons 2 & 3.
The one thing I do like is the concept is the frontier feel. That space isn't small like in TNG and if there's trouble you'll be lucky if the Enterprise is the only ship in the quadrant.
I wonder how much Soylent Green Kirk ate before help arrived?
Everyone knows about the "Wagon Train to the stars" pitch, and this has probably the closest feel to that show of any episode. Actors and entertainer troupes traveling the frontier were a fairly common Western trope. The idea of a criminal reinventing himself and disappearing into the frontier works well in the old West; less so in a futuristic society with advanced identification, record-keeping and communications technology, as others have mentioned above.
I too am a fan of the early season one feel of the lonely frontier. This ep is very successful in that way, and little touches like talking to the captain of the Astral Queen hint at a larger, more interesting world. I like the scenes of shipboard life with the rec room, lonely watches in the engine room and that sort of thing. I always wished we'd seem more of that kind of thing as the show went on. The observation deck is one of the most effective examples of featuring the ship in the series, even though you couldn't see anything outside the windows.
Besides this episode, I don't know much of Barbara Anderson except Ironside, where she seemed kind of "blah." But as a kind of manipulative, femme-possibly-fatale she does very well here. The way she butters Kirk up talking about his "throbbing" power is almost absurdly forward but fits in with the character as revealed later. Her over-played breakdown approaches parody, but it works for me because of course a totally bonkers actress would overdo a scene like that.
Arnold Moss, Bruce Hyde and pretty much everyone are also very good. Stylized touches like the closeup on the crazy eyes and the lines coming from behind the mask work quite well for me. The music is impeccable. A solid 8.5, round to 9.
I too am a fan of the early season one feel of the lonely frontier. This ep is very successful in that way, and little touches like talking to the captain of the Astral Queen hint at a larger, more interesting world. I like the scenes of shipboard life with the rec room, lonely watches in the engine room and that sort of thing. I always wished we'd seem more of that kind of thing as the show went on. The observation deck is one of the most effective examples of featuring the ship in the series, even though you couldn't see anything outside the windows.
Besides this episode, I don't know much of Barbara Anderson except Ironside, where she seemed kind of "blah." But as a kind of manipulative, femme-possibly-fatale she does very well here. The way she butters Kirk up talking about his "throbbing" power is almost absurdly forward but fits in with the character as revealed later. Her over-played breakdown approaches parody, but it works for me because of course a totally bonkers actress would overdo a scene like that.
Arnold Moss, Bruce Hyde and pretty much everyone are also very good. Stylized touches like the closeup on the crazy eyes and the lines coming from behind the mask work quite well for me. The music is impeccable. A solid 8.5, round to 9.
COMPUTER: Working. Kodos the Executioner, summary. Governor of Tarsus Four twenty Earth years ago. Invoked martial law. Slaughtered fifty percent of population Earth colony, that planet. Burned body found when Earth forces arrived. No positive identification. Case closed.
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1) Had Kodos been an illegal Governor--and legal governors can be appointed or elected, it depends on the kind of governor we're talking about (I always thought Kodos was the appointed kind)--I would think the computer would have listed the fact that he was just a guy who had taken power illegally in a coup of some kind, and
2) The fact that he "invoked martial law" (or any kind of law) suggests strongly to me that he was the legitimate governor of Tarsus IV. I don't think the computer would refer to an illegal seizer-of-power as "invoking martial law." Only someone who believed he was acting legally would bother to invoke any kind of law.
SPOCK: I will continue, Doctor. According to our library banks, it started on the Earth colony of Tarsus Four, when the food supply was attacked by an exotic fungus and largely destroyed. There were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law.
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"Full' power. Not just "power." Implying he already had some power--the power of a legitimate governor.
However, Kodos' own line "the revolution is successful" does suggest to me that he was doing more than just declaring martial law (by itself not an illegal act for a lawful governor) and conserving rations according to his principles of eugenics--he was seizing power, he hoped, permanently, and for power's sake, not just for the sake of the colonists in an emergency situation. The fungus-blight emergency was an opportunity, not just a reason/justification. Otherwise why call it a "revolution" at all?
But here the logic of the show also breaks down--how could he possibly expect to retain the unlimited power of a Governor who has declared martial law once the emergency had passed, even if he'd been right and help hadn't arrived in time? Because help from earth would have arrived eventually, and then he'd at least have had to give up his martial law powers.
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1) Had Kodos been an illegal Governor--and legal governors can be appointed or elected, it depends on the kind of governor we're talking about (I always thought Kodos was the appointed kind)--I would think the computer would have listed the fact that he was just a guy who had taken power illegally in a coup of some kind, and
2) The fact that he "invoked martial law" (or any kind of law) suggests strongly to me that he was the legitimate governor of Tarsus IV. I don't think the computer would refer to an illegal seizer-of-power as "invoking martial law." Only someone who believed he was acting legally would bother to invoke any kind of law.
SPOCK: I will continue, Doctor. According to our library banks, it started on the Earth colony of Tarsus Four, when the food supply was attacked by an exotic fungus and largely destroyed. There were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law.
------
"Full' power. Not just "power." Implying he already had some power--the power of a legitimate governor.
However, Kodos' own line "the revolution is successful" does suggest to me that he was doing more than just declaring martial law (by itself not an illegal act for a lawful governor) and conserving rations according to his principles of eugenics--he was seizing power, he hoped, permanently, and for power's sake, not just for the sake of the colonists in an emergency situation. The fungus-blight emergency was an opportunity, not just a reason/justification. Otherwise why call it a "revolution" at all?
But here the logic of the show also breaks down--how could he possibly expect to retain the unlimited power of a Governor who has declared martial law once the emergency had passed, even if he'd been right and help hadn't arrived in time? Because help from earth would have arrived eventually, and then he'd at least have had to give up his martial law powers.
I'd say that once Kodos became Governor, he would be one from the viewpoint of the computer records, and he and his actions would be described accordingly. How he became Governor is not known. We hear of "seizing" and of a "revolution", which might mean Kodos ousted the previous governor with means that don't really stand up to scrutiny but don't exactly stand out as illegal, either. Say, "Step down and let me be appointed in your place by emergency procedure 47, or else I'll kill you. Oh, and never speak of this to anybody." would do the trick nicely enough.
Obviously, it would be madness no matter how one looks at it. Killing 4,000 is not the correct way of stopping the rest from starving - starvation just plain doesn't work like that. If there's going to be a supply of food arriving at some known timepoint, it's always possible to cut the rations (rather than necks); people can survive with essentially zero food for weeks and in some cases months. The survival odds and timescales in starvation (as opposed to, say, asphyxiation) cannot be calculated accurately, and there's no point in erring on the side of cruelty there. If there's no promise of such a supply arriving, then there's no point in killing anybody, or then it might be a good idea to distribute suicide pills to everybody. So we cannot argue that Kodos would have been a reasonable person at any point of the story. Interpreting him as a devious madman carefully setting up a scenario that allows him to order the execution of thousands for the sheer kicks of it is probably among the more rational ways of reading "Conscience"...
This assuming that the cabin was locked somehow - and TOS never indicates that this would be the case. So all she'd really need to do would be to use the above excuse if somebody caught her in the act.
Timo Saloniemi
This would not matter if the power was merely a means to an end. Either Kodos wanted to show the world what a splendid leader he was in being able to so cleverly order the killing 4,000 people in order to save another 4,000 - or then he just wanted to kill 4,000 people.
Obviously, it would be madness no matter how one looks at it. Killing 4,000 is not the correct way of stopping the rest from starving - starvation just plain doesn't work like that. If there's going to be a supply of food arriving at some known timepoint, it's always possible to cut the rations (rather than necks); people can survive with essentially zero food for weeks and in some cases months. The survival odds and timescales in starvation (as opposed to, say, asphyxiation) cannot be calculated accurately, and there's no point in erring on the side of cruelty there. If there's no promise of such a supply arriving, then there's no point in killing anybody, or then it might be a good idea to distribute suicide pills to everybody. So we cannot argue that Kodos would have been a reasonable person at any point of the story. Interpreting him as a devious madman carefully setting up a scenario that allows him to order the execution of thousands for the sheer kicks of it is probably among the more rational ways of reading "Conscience"...
I doubt Kirk managed to keep his late night walks with Lenore secret from his crew. So the girl could just have waltzed in on, say, Janice Rand or the unseen Quartermaster and said that the Captain had invited her to, umm, visit and promised her the cabin key.
This assuming that the cabin was locked somehow - and TOS never indicates that this would be the case. So all she'd really need to do would be to use the above excuse if somebody caught her in the act.
Timo Saloniemi
Exactly! Smokin' Hot blonde heading to Kirk's bedroom ... how many times has the crew seen that manuever in action? Who would even stop to question it? C'mon ...
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