I've seen that episode many, many times and never realized this until today. Sulu was absorbed on the spot by the Lawgivers, but Kirk and company had to be taken off to "absorption chambers". Was it simply a dramatic thing so that absorbed Sulu could be on the Enterprise and Kirk and company had to be taken somewhere giving them time to dodge the process or was there another reason that makes sense in-universe.
Return of the Archons question
- Thread starter E-DUB
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There appears to be various people immune to absorption. It could be that Sulu was susceptible to the on-the-spot absorption but Landru calculated that Kirk and his disobedient group needed to go to the absorption chamber with the restraints and more powerful mind control system and if that didn't work to be killed.
Maybe Sulu was processed in the Absorption Chamber, manacled to the wall ("Oh, my! I volunteer"), but he escaped before he got the finishing touch, which is a quick spritz from the Lawgiver's tube.
Then the Lawgiver caught up with him on the street and administered the Activation Code. From then on, it's like when your toaster won't work unless it's connected to the Internet. They own you.
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Great question. I love it when people discuss the handful of eps that are in my personal top ten but not most people's – this one, "Wink of an Eye," "Wolf in the Fold" and "Friday's Child." (The rest of my T10 is very conventional.)
This–and the Lawgivers' abilities given the "hollow tube–no mechanism" are pretty confusing. I like Zap's take (with hilarious added joke) and blssdwlf's theory as well. I've also always assumed that Sulu's LG street absorption was only temporary and would have required the later use of the absorption chamber to make it lasting/permanent. With Kirk & company, the former step wasn't needed, because they were in custody.
Two additional pieces of evidence support this idea. First, the absorption chamber appears to be designed for one, not many, so temporary LG field zaps may have been needed to enable Landru's takeover and maintenance of control. Of course, there could have been unseen mass absorption chambers elsewhere (much like the Enterprise's never-seen, but oft-discussed cargo transporters), but maybe it truly was a one-on-one process. Second, Sulu recovers and is in full uniform backslapping the dude covering for him on the bridge pretty quickly. I suspect the writer(s) was/were implying that Landru's destruction instantly released Sulu from its influence, but I think it's just as easy to conclude that his tempo-zap was wearing off well before we saw him recovered. After all, Scotty doesn't strike me as the sort of commander to release Sulu against Kirk's original order unless Sulu was clearly back to normal and M'Benga or whoever was subbing for McCoy backed that up with medical data.
This–and the Lawgivers' abilities given the "hollow tube–no mechanism" are pretty confusing. I like Zap's take (with hilarious added joke) and blssdwlf's theory as well. I've also always assumed that Sulu's LG street absorption was only temporary and would have required the later use of the absorption chamber to make it lasting/permanent. With Kirk & company, the former step wasn't needed, because they were in custody.
Two additional pieces of evidence support this idea. First, the absorption chamber appears to be designed for one, not many, so temporary LG field zaps may have been needed to enable Landru's takeover and maintenance of control. Of course, there could have been unseen mass absorption chambers elsewhere (much like the Enterprise's never-seen, but oft-discussed cargo transporters), but maybe it truly was a one-on-one process. Second, Sulu recovers and is in full uniform backslapping the dude covering for him on the bridge pretty quickly. I suspect the writer(s) was/were implying that Landru's destruction instantly released Sulu from its influence, but I think it's just as easy to conclude that his tempo-zap was wearing off well before we saw him recovered. After all, Scotty doesn't strike me as the sort of commander to release Sulu against Kirk's original order unless Sulu was clearly back to normal and M'Benga or whoever was subbing for McCoy backed that up with medical data.
Archons is creepy and effective in the sense of dread it puts in the viewer, but really doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Also, at episode #22 filmed it is the first where they try and mostly succeed in tricking the natives into thinking they are from their planet, with no logical explanation as to how the language issue is dealt with. Afterward they just got lazy and sidestepped making any effort to explain how they could be taken for natives. A universal translator works for advanced races but is absurd to pretend it could work well enough to trick less advanced aliens into thinking they were "from the valley" or any other region of whatever planet they were on.
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This sort of question is the type that can strain the allegory of a story into breaking. A series like Star Trek cannot be taken too literally (the need for "in universe" explanations for everything by some fans).
Without becoming too specific and risk being "too political" for the forum, we've seen many psy-ops in history that require little more than a "hollow tube" to enthrall the susceptible with some controlling idea. (Here is one place where we must take Spock's statement about "hollow tube" literally—no in-universe cop-outs that maybe the material of the tube contained technology too esoteric for Spock to understand. It was, as he said, a hollow tube. Just that. A symbol with no technology behind it.)
There is a demonstrated "herd effect" for people to go along with others, even when they can see that the herd is "wrong" about something:
Sometimes all it takes is one little boy to point out that the Emperor is naked to break the spell. And there are other documented cases where the "brainwashed" will continue to believe the propaganda, no matter what evidence is provided. Or as Mark Twain put it, “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
Without becoming too specific and risk being "too political" for the forum, we've seen many psy-ops in history that require little more than a "hollow tube" to enthrall the susceptible with some controlling idea. (Here is one place where we must take Spock's statement about "hollow tube" literally—no in-universe cop-outs that maybe the material of the tube contained technology too esoteric for Spock to understand. It was, as he said, a hollow tube. Just that. A symbol with no technology behind it.)
There is a demonstrated "herd effect" for people to go along with others, even when they can see that the herd is "wrong" about something:
Sometimes all it takes is one little boy to point out that the Emperor is naked to break the spell. And there are other documented cases where the "brainwashed" will continue to believe the propaganda, no matter what evidence is provided. Or as Mark Twain put it, “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
Good points, especially about the allegory, but the Lawgivers straight killed Tamar where he stood. That's not mere Jim Jones or other cult-like (geeeee, I am just *straining* to think of a current example) behavior. Somehow the hollow tube with no mechanism was lethal.
Oh, and I like in-universe fan explanations. It's amazing to me how much of a nearly 59-YO TV show can be explained with a modicum of reason and logic – and it's equally inspiring how much such devotion TOS inspires in its fans to this day.
