Return of the Archons

[johcomp]

Been lurking too long without posting, so I thought I'd air a question about one of my fave episodes.

Absorption???

Why did the lawgivers need to take Kirk/Spock/McCoy to the absorption chambers to become the body? In the teaser, the lawgiver zaps Sulu with his staff and he instantly becomes a Landrite??

Also, it really annoys me when Hacom fetches the lawgivers and they kill Tamar for "mild blasphemy"

Any ideas?

 

[Timo]

We already know that many of the locals are only partially under the control of Landru, or not at all; a rebellious movement exists, even. So it's not a clear-cut case of Being of the Body vs. Not Being of the Body.

The Lawgivers probably give "first aid" at best, then. When it is revealed that Sulu was part of a greater outside threat, it also becomes necessary for Landru to start using stronger measures to contain that threat. Hence careful Absorption of the main heroes, shooting down of their starship, and no doubt also Absorption of any other Enterprise personnel Landru might get his virtual hands on, including the already zapped Sulu were he to beam down.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nebusj]

The Lawgivers probably give "first aid" at best, then. When it is revealed that Sulu was part of a greater outside threat, it also becomes necessary for Landru to start using stronger measures to contain that threat.

Plus, once the resistance forces within the Lawgivers learned there was a pod of Archons available, they'd want them to be (a) not absorbed while (b) Landru thought they were. Thus, capture the Archons and rather than do anything on the spot, bring them to a processing facility where Landru can see that everything is done perfectly, while the resistance is able to make sure it's not done.

Yeah, they're not able to keep McCoy and other supernumerary from being absorbed because things go wrong, but then, the whole episode is about the fallibility of well-made plans, isn't it?

 

[johnnybear]

Are you of the body my friend?
JB

 

[johcomp]

Thanks guys - very useful theories.

Landru is all - he knows and he watches

 

[Marsden]

Plus, he runs Argelius when no one is looking.

 

[telerites]

Thanks guys - very useful theories.

Landru is all - he knows and he watches

Love your avatar.

 

[Mr. Hengist]

FESTIVUS!!!!

 

[Melakon]

One of my favorites since it first aired, partly for the religious symbolism since I was a preacher's kid.

Lawgiver Staffs are a mysterious thing, possibly not under an individual Lawgiver's operation, but as a mobile field tool by Landru, who seems to be exercising tight control of Lawgivers, who seem to have no free will of their own despite being authority figures.

The puffed wheat effect on Sulu simply tranquilizes him, though a similar looking puffed wheat is used on Tamar and kills him. Is it a higher setting? Tamar seems to already be partially under the effect in how he reacts to Landru's voice, so maybe a second dose of puffed wheat is potentially fatal based on the target's age. Tamar, Hacom, and Reger seem exempt from Festival participation, so perhaps their survival within the Body is of minimal importance for being outside the prime age range for "replenishing the Body", i.e., sexual activity.

 

[plynch]

It is nice - as noted in other threads - that not everything is explained in this ep. Red Hour, though people hypotesize that it is necessary id-venting, is never explained. I show that clip to my government classes every year as a tongue-in-cheek example of a state of nature, each doing what is right in his own sight, kind of life. Thank god for consent of the governed and laws that actually make us free-er than those in ... a . . . (ding ... dong) . . . FESTIVAL!! WOO HOO gotta go . . . help . . . Red Hou