Television Review: The Magicks of Megas-tu (Star Trek: The Animated Series, S1X08, 1973)

The Magicks of Megas-Tu (S01E08)

Airdate: October 27th 1973

Written by: Larry Brody
Directed by: Hal Sutherland

Running Time: 22 minutes

The Animated Series of Star Trek, freed from the budgetary and technical constraints of live-action television, offered Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators an opportunity to explore ideas and scenarios that would have been prohibitively expensive or logistically impossible in the original series. The absence of physical sets and practical effects allowed for imaginative leaps into surreal realms, abstract concepts, and visual experimentation. However, this same medium had its drawbacks: animation could not fully compensate for rushed writing, underdeveloped characters, or a lack of narrative focus—flaws that often rendered ambitious episodes uneven or forgettable. “The Magicks of Megas-Tu,” one of the series’ most thematically daring instalments, epitomises this duality. While its premise boldly intertwines cosmic mystery, moral ambiguity, and historical allegory, the execution stumbles under the weight of its own ambition, revealing how animation’s potential was sometimes squandered on ideas too vast for its brevity or too complex for its target audience.

The episode follows the Enterprise as it ventures to the galactic core to investigate the origins of matter creation, only to be pulled into a parallel universe governed by magic rather than physics. Here, the crew encounters Lucien, a devil-like Megan who guides them to his homeworld, Megas-Tu, where they face a trial orchestrated by the tyrannical Asmodeus (voiced by Ed Bishop). The Megans, a species once persecuted as witches on Earth, accuse humanity of historical intolerance, framing the encounter as a cosmic reckoning. Captain Kirk, however, defends both his crew and Lucien—a sympathetic figure wrongly branded a villain—by reframing the Megans’ persecution as a mutual misunderstanding. The plot hinges on a clever inversion of the Salem witch trials, transposing humanity into the role of the accused, while Lucien’s tragic backstory as an outcast adds depth to what might otherwise have been a simplistic morality tale. Yet the narrative’s ambition—juggling parallel universes, science vs. magic, and interdimensional history—proves unwieldy. Scenes shift abruptly between exposition, confrontation, and resolution, leaving little time for character development or thematic exploration. The Salem setting, while evocative, feels more like a convenient shorthand than a nuanced critique of prejudice, and Asmodeus’s villainy lacks the nuance required to justify the episode’s high stakes.

The script, initially written by Larry Brody for The Original Series, originally centred on an encounter with a divine being, but NBC’s religious sensitivity led to the substitution of a devil-like entity. Roddenberry’s revisions transformed Lucien from a mere antagonist into a tragic figure, complicating the episode’s moral framework. This shift exemplifies the series’ willingness to challenge conventional notions of good and evil, even within the constraints of network censorship. Yet the final script retains traces of its earlier, more ambitious premise: the clash between science and mysticism, for instance, echoes the original’s theological undertones, while Lucien’s sympathetic portrayal subtly critiques humanity’s fear of the unknown. Unfortunately, these ideas are presented as surface-level themes rather than fully integrated into the plot. The episode’s 22-minute runtime, tailored to a family audience, leaves little room for subtlety; even the animation, though visually inventive, cannot salvage the rushed pacing or the reliance on well-worn tropes like the witch trial or the fallen angel.

Despite its flaws, “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” remains a fascinating case study in Star Trek’s capacity for reinvention. Its bold fusion of science fiction and fantasy, its willingness to confront uncomfortable historical parallels, and its nuanced portrayal of Lucien as a misunderstood “devil” all demonstrate the creative risks the animated series was willing to take. Yet these experiments often falter under the weight of their own ambition. The episode’s attempt to cram cosmic philosophy, moral ambiguity, and historical allegory into a children’s programme results in a narrative that feels both overambitious and underbaked. Characters are defined by their roles in the plot rather than their personalities—the Megans, for instance, are reduced to archetypes rather than individuals—and the parallels to the Salem trials are invoked more for shock value than thematic depth.

Nonetheless, the episode’s influence continues. Its central premise of humanity standing trial before an alien tribunal resurfaced decades later in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint,” while its exploration of parallel universes and moral relativism foreshadowed later Trek installments. Though the episode’s execution falters, its audacity laid groundwork for future iterations of the franchise to tackle complex themes with greater confidence. In this light, it stands as both a missed opportunity and a testament to what Star Trek could achieve when freed from convention—a reminder that even flawed experiments can illuminate new paths for storytelling.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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