Television Review: The Omega Glory (Star Trek, S2X25, 1968)

The Omega Glory (S02E25)

Airdate: March 1st 1968

Written by: Gene Roddenberry
Directed by: Vince McEveety

Running Time: 50 minutes

Gene Roddenberry’s legacy as a visionary architect of science fiction is undeniably secure, thanks to Star Trek: The Original Series, a franchise that redefined television storytelling and became a cultural touchstone of the 20th century. His creation’s blend of optimism, social commentary, and exploration remains unmatched in its influence, inspiring countless imitators and cementing its place as the gold standard for sci-fi. However, even giants have missteps, and Roddenberry’s The Omega Glory stands as a glaring example of his flawed judgment. Written by Roddenberry himself and aired in 1968, this episode is often cited as one of the worst in TOS’s history, marred by a convoluted script, cringe-worthy Cold War allegories, and a betrayal of the series’ own ideals. While its technical execution is functional, its narrative and thematic failures overshadow any superficial merits, leaving a bitter aftertaste in what should have been a compelling story.

The episode opens with the Enterprise investigating the mystery of the USS Exeter, a starship that abruptly ceased communication while orbiting planet Omega IV. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam aboard the Exeter, only to find it eerily abandoned. The crew has been reduced to dust-like remains, victims of a deadly virus. A final log entry from the dying Dr. Carter (Ed McCready) reveals that the planet’s atmosphere grants immunity to those who land, prompting Kirk to follow suit. On Omega IV, they encounter Captain Ronald Tracey (Morgan Woodward), the sole survivor of the Exeter, now leading a war between two primitive factions: the technologically advanced Kohms and the more primitive Yangs. Tracey, violating the Prime Directive, has armed the Kohms with phasers, driven by both a desire to survive and a fascination with the natives’ longevity. Kirk must navigate the escalating conflict, confront Tracey’s descent into madness, and resolve a crisis rooted in the planet’s dark history.

Technically, The Omega Glory is a competent but unremarkable effort. Director Vincent McEveety employs Paramount’s existing sets with ingenuity, using lighting to transform the Enterprise’s corridors into the ghostly shell of the Exeter. The opening scenes, particularly the eerie exploration of the derelict starship, are atmospheric and tense. However, the production quality falters when the story shifts to Omega IV. The planet’s indigenous tribes are portrayed through low-budget effects and wooden acting, while the second half’s combat sequences feel rushed and poorly choreographed. The makeup for the planet’s inhabitants lacks the creativity seen in other TOS alien cultures. Despite these limitations, the episode’s technical execution is not its primary failing; the script, written by Roddenberry, is the true culprit.

Roddenberry’s script, originally drafted in 1965 as one of three second-pilot proposals, betrays a startling lack of cohesion and attention to detail. The opening’s medical mystery—a promising hook—quickly devolves into a disjointed narrative. The transition from the Exeter’s horror to the tribal conflict on Omega IV feels abrupt, with little to no explanation for how Tracey survived or why the planet’s atmosphere offers immunity. Characters are underdeveloped: Tracey’s motivations oscillate between survival, megalomania, and a quest for immortality, yet his transformation into a power-hungry tyrant feels unmotivated. Morgan Woodward’s hammy performance, reminiscent of his role in the superior Dagger of the Mind, only amplifies the disconnect between his character’s actions and the episode’s stakes. Meanwhile, Kirk’s confrontations with Tracey and the tribes lack urgency, bogged down by clunky dialogue and a plot that prioritizes thematic grandstanding over emotional resonance.

The script’s most glaring flaw is its heavy-handed Cold War allegory, which undermines the episode’s potential and reveals Roddenberry’s regressive instincts. The Kohms and Yangs are not merely fictional tribes but crude mirrors of Earth’s geopolitical divisions. The Kohms, with their Mongol-like aesthetic and authoritarian ethos, represent Soviet communism, while the Yangs—a noble, freedom-loving people who inexplicably revere American symbols such as the Pledge of Allegiance and the U.S. Constitution—stand in for capitalist democracy. This dichotomy is both illogical and offensive: the Yangs’ possession of 20th-century American cultural artifacts strains credibility, as their society has no plausible connection to Earth’s history. The episode’s climax, in which Kirk recites the Constitution to rouse the Yangs, is a jarring, propagandistic moment that feels tacked-on rather than earned. Such a heavy-handed endorsement of American exceptionalism not only violates the Prime Directive’s spirit but also contradicts Star Trek’s broader ethos of universalism and transcending nationalism.

Worse still, the episode leans into racial stereotypes in its portrayal of the tribes. The Kohms are depicted as Asian-inspired “others” bent on domination, while the Yangs—white-coded and rugged—embody virtue. This echoes the worst Cold War propaganda, reinforcing simplistic binaries of “us vs. them” and reducing complex global conflicts to a Manichean struggle. Roddenberry’s failure to address these issues, even in the context of allegory, reflects a staggering lack of self-awareness. In contrast, episodes like Patterns of Force or A Piece of the Action at least attempted to explain Earth-like societies through external influence (e.g., cultural contamination). Here, Roddenberry resorts to lazy worldbuilding, ignoring continuity and common sense to shoehorn his ideological points.

NBC’s rejection of this episode as a pilot in 1965 was a fortuitous decision. Had The Omega Glory been the series’ debut, Star Trek might have been dismissed as a propagandistic relic rather than the enduring classic it became. By the time it aired in 1968, the show’s reputation was already bolstered by stronger episodes, softening the blow of this misfire. Yet its existence remains a cautionary tale of a visionary whose ideological rigidity and poor storytelling instincts could occasionally overshadow his brilliance.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

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