Television Review: Who Mourns for Adonais? (Star Trek, S2X04, 1967)

Who Mourns fo Adonais? (S02E04)

Airdate: September 22nd 1967

Written by: Gilbert Ralston
Directed by: Marc Daniels

Running Time: 50 minutes

The Ancient Aliens hypothesis—popularised by Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods and later co-opted by the Stargate franchise and the History Channel—has long oscillated between imaginative speculation and pseudo-historical triviality. Yet the premise of extraterrestrial beings influencing human civilisation is far from novel, tracing its roots to early 20th-century occultism and science fiction. In the 1960s, this concept found fertile ground in speculative storytelling, with Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) notably adopting it in its second season episode Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967). While the episode’s premise might seem derivative of later, more overtly sensationalist takes, its execution—grounded in classical mythology and Shakespearean tragedy—reveals a nuanced exploration of power, loneliness, and the human condition, even as it deals with the era’s creative and ideological constraints.

The plot opens near Pollux IV, where the USS Enterprise is abruptly immobilised by a colossal green hand, a spectacle that immediately evokes the campy grandeur of 1960s sci-fi. Captain Kirk and his landing party, including the archaeologist Lt. Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish), are summoned to the planet’s surface, where they encounter Apollo (Michael Forest), a humanoid alien posing as the Greek god of the same name. Apollo claims to be one of the “gods” who abandoned Earth millennia ago, now awaiting humanity’s return to resume their worship. His demand for adoration—framed as a biological necessity akin to sustenance—clashes with Kirk’s ethical resistance to what he deems “slavery.” Apollo’s godlike powers, demonstrated through pyrotechnic displays of control over the Enterprise, initially overwhelm the crew. Yet the crew identifies vulnerabilities: Apollo’s reliance on external energy sources and his infatuation with Palamas, whose growing affection for him threatens her loyalty to Starfleet. The tension escalates as Palamas’s romantic entanglement with Apollo forces her to confront her professional identity, culminating in a poignant conflict between duty and desire.

At first glance, Who Mourns for Adonais? risks redundancy. Episodes like Charlie X (1966) and The Squire of Gothos (1967) similarly pit the Enterprise against beings of immense power. Yet Gilbert Ralston’s teleplay introduces subtle innovations. Unlike the capricious, mystifying villains of those episodes, Apollo’s origins are rooted in historical specificity. Kirk’s hypothesis—that the Greek gods were advanced aliens whose technology was mistaken for divinity—injects a rationalist undertone into the narrative, aligning with Star Trek’s broader Enlightenment ideals. This framing transforms mythology into a metaphor for cultural imperialism, questioning how power dynamics shape belief systems. Apollo’s self-awareness of his own irrelevance (“You have outgrown us”) adds depth, contrasting with the one-dimensional tyranny of Trelane.

Michael Forest’s portrayal of Apollo is the episode’s emotional core. A Shakespearean actor by training, Forest imbues the character with tragic gravitas, balancing Apollo’s godlike arrogance with the pathos of eternal solitude. His loneliness—a consequence of humanity’s abandonment of worship—humanises him, rendering his demands for adoration less a tyrant’s whim than a plea for connection. The irony of Forest’s friendship with Leonard Nimoy, whose Spock shares no scenes with Apollo, underscores the episode’s thematic duality: the clash between logic and emotion, progress and obsolescence. Apollo’s physicality, enhanced by William Ware Thiess’s costumes, becomes both a tool of seduction (for Palamas) and a symbol of his inability to evolve beyond mortal desires.

Critics might argue that the episode’s focus on Greek deities reflects an anthropocentric, even Eurocentric worldview. Why, they might ask, are the “gods” exclusively Greco-Roman? This narrow lens overlooks other mythologies, reducing ancient alien narratives to Western frameworks. Yet the choice to centre Greek mythology—rooted in Trek’s Western cultural context—allows the episode to interrogate familiar symbols of power and legacy. Moreover, the gods’ physical resemblance to humans hints at a deeper critique: the danger of conflating the alien with the familiar, thereby limiting imagination to anthropomorphic constructs.

The treatment of Lt. Palamas invites further scrutiny. Her character epitomises the era’s gendered tropes. Early dialogue hints at her career being jeopardised by marriage, a subtle nod to 1960s societal norms. Her infatuation with Apollo—triggered by his charisma and physique—recalls Lt. Marla McGivers’ fascination with Khan in Space Seed (1967), reinforcing the trope of female characters as conduits for male conflict. The revealing costume adorning her during her tryst with Apollo amplifies this dynamic, though Forest’s own toplessness (a rare instance of male nudity on TV at the time) complicates the gendered gaze. Leslie Parrish, however, later defended her performance as a highlight of her career, suggesting she embraced the role’s dramatic potential despite its limitations.

The episode’s conclusion delivers an unexpectedly melancholic resolution. Though the Enterprise prevails by exploiting Apollo’s dependency on energy and Palamas’s love, Kirk’s final monologue—lamenting the loss of a civilisation that shaped Earth’s history—elevates the narrative beyond a simple triumph of logic over tyranny. This elegiac tone, rare in TOS’s often upbeat finales, underscores the moral ambiguity of progress: the “win” comes at the cost of erasing a culture that once inspired humanity.

Director Marc Daniels, a veteran of Trek’s early seasons, imbues the episode with visual flair despite budgetary constraints. The green-hand effect, while dated, is rendered striking through stark lighting and deliberate pacing. The planet’s Eden-like setting benefits from minimalistic production design that prioritises atmosphere over spectacle. The cast’s performances—particularly Forest’s nuanced command of tragedy—compensate for any technical shortcomings, ensuring the story’s emotional resonance endures.

Had Roddenberry’s proposed subplot about Palamas’s pregnancy with Apollo survived NBC’s censorship, the episode might have explored themes of hybridity and legacy more explicitly. The censors’ insistence on maintaining 1960s conservative values truncated this angle, though its later inclusion in apocryphal adaptations illustrates its enduring narrative potential.

Michael Forest’s enthusiasm for the role—and his reprisal as Apollo in fan-made web series Star Trek Continues (2012)—speaks to the character’s lasting appeal. Apollo’s blend of hubris and vulnerability, his tragic arc as a fallen deity, and the episode’s philosophical undertones have cemented it as a fan favourite.

In retrospect, Who Mourns for Adonais? transcends its potential derivative premise through its layered characterisation and thematic ambition. The episode stands as a testament to Star Trek’s capacity to blend mythic storytelling with progressive ideals, even within the confines of 1960s television. As Kirk’s lament reminds us, the true tragedy lies not in Apollo’s demise but in the inevitability of all civilisations—human and divine—facing obsolescence in the face of progress.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9