The remastered “The Return of the Archons” airs this weekend, Video Preview courtesy of STARTREK.COM
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Always liked this one.
“You will know the peace of Landru.”
FESTIVAL! FESTIVAL!
Tula!
Your daddy can put them up, can he?
It’s almost the red hour!
COME.
Finally…..one of my all time favorites. The lighting, character developement, those spooky guys witht he hooded robes, Marplon and Reger,that cool lighting panel, and of course Landru himself.
….”You will come to know the ultimate good
you will be…….abosorbed. The absolute good of the body”
and then my other favorites……”Come for Festival, eh’ya?” You’re Dad-dy can put them up. Can’t he?”
“Peace be with you. Peace and tranquility.”
I………..am Landru.
This is probably Stephen King’s favorite episode too.
Festival looks like what goes on in Key West on Halloween. Except tamer…. from what I hear.
This episode has some unusual touches that give it a unique feel, even though it’s at best an average first season show. As an owner of the new DVD set, I can tell you that the reworked opening shot of the Enterprise in orbit over Beta III is (for TOS) pretty spectacular.
You might be interested in knowing that Brioni Farrell, who plays the young Tula in this episode, is married to Eugene Robert Glazer, who portrayed Operations, the head of Section One, in the “La Femme Nikita” TV series.
They’re the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, and she still looks gorgeous after all these years.
I always wondered why Return of the Archons is never listed as one of the best TOS episodes. It is one of my three or four favourites for sure, and the most underrated one in terms of how much credit it gets. Very spooky. I read a book called Innerverse that reminded me of Return of the Archons. Good book (by John DeChancie).
I love the beginning of Return of the Archons. Sulu and the other guy running along, and hoping to get beamed up before they are absorbed.
The other episode I like that is routinely rated rather poorly is Paradise Syndrome. Maybe not as good at Return, but also given less credit than it deserves.
FESTIVAL!!! FESTIVAL!!!
Totally cool episode. Of all the times Kirk outsmarts a computer, I like this one and Nomad the best. I wonder how this got by the censors in 1966. It’s so anti-religion. I love it!
#6 Andy:
Oh man, I totally agree. This episode is fantastic… why I don’t know… when you get right down to it, the plot isn’t much… but the lines, the lighting, the wardrobe… the creepiness of it…. I still remember when I first saw this one… when I was a boy, in the EARLY early 1970s… and was so completely creeped out by it, from the first scene with Sulu and the other guy running through the streets… followed by the guys in the robes… it was almost like a Hammer film in its look.
That echo-y, deep, mechanical voice… “you will be…. absorbed.” See…. kids these days are too jaded. That shit was SPOOKY back in the day. :-)
You will be…….. absorbed! With those words when I was a kid watching the original, I ran behind the couch. Those creepy guys with the hoods really scared me… and their voices! Whew!
Overall a good episode… creepy.. moody… .plus how cool to see hand phasers stunning lots of people. Not done too often on the original series.
Will we see the big E being pulled out of orbit by Landru?
The robed guys were the prototype Borg drones. You can almost hear Landreau saying “Resistance is futile”.
The light panel they pull out of the cloth bag absolutely floored me as a kid. Very cool…
Hey, let’s start a fight: “NextGen Borg ripped off Landru’s Lawgivers! ATTACK!!!!! and Bring Back Kirk!!!!” :-)
Ah, the original Borg concept!
Are you of the body?
aw crap!
Sure got a lot of use out of that dungeon, didn’t they? Archons, Catspaw, Errand of Mercy–am I missing any?
And how cool was Landru’s hair? “Flock of Seagulls” totally ripped him off, man.
#19 and others:
Actually, this is NOT an original take on the Borg concept. The Borg, at least as conceived by Maurice Hurley, was designed as a hive mind with no central authority figure. It wasn’t until later that the idea of a Borg Queen was introduced, which basically destroyed the concept right then and there. Yes, it gave you a singular villain for the audience to boo and hiss, but by falling back on such tired storytelling conventions, the Borg lost their ability to frighten, and became just another stock villain in the Trek universe–albeit with creepier outfits and a compelling actress in Alice Krige. Unfortunately, the Borg have never been faithful to Hurley’s original concept since “Q Who?”, and IMHO, we’ve missed out on a lot of interesting stories because of that.
I hope the remastered version has an updated computer in the climax!
Great trailer for a great episode. Seeing Spock sleep with his eyes open alone is worth the price of admission.
Damn shame these remastered trailers weren’t included as extras on the HD DVD..they really are well done and fun to watch.
i always liked this episode.
the hall of audiences!! take us to landru
greg
UK
#22
Relax. You are reading into the comment far too deeply. It was a humorous comparison, not a analytical comparison.
YES!!!!! Finally, my favorite episode of ALL TIME.
Has anyone else noticed that Bones is at his best when he’s out of his mind?
“You speak in strange whispers… are you not of the Body?”
No one can bulge their eyes out like the good old country doctor.
I LOVE the line… “Are you of the body?”
HAHAHAHAAHA…. SO awesome!
The Borg are NOT ripped off from this episode.
They’re ripped off from the Cybermen from Doctor Who!!!!!!!!!
Sulu was so open to thse kinds of communal mind-control things. He fell right into the same trap in “This Side of Paradise.”
I don’t think I could ever see the faces of “Landru’s boys” before this new video transfer…always seemed to look murky before….
Love the way the image pops off the screen. Gotta go set the DVR now.
They are not Borg, They are not Eyeborg.
Borg and Borg. What is Borg?
#22 Marvin the Martian “the Borg lost their ability to frighten”
Boy, you are so right with your eloquent argument of how the Borg became diminished over time! Couldn’t agree more! Nicely stated!!
Landru! Guide us!!
#22 Martin
The Borg in “Q Who?” were MUCH creepier than in later incarnations- all the tubing and varied costume detail. Much more like the abominations they were supposed to be.
The FC Borg looked like a buncha guys lumbering around in wetsuits by comparison. And since when can they tolerate a vacuum- outside the ship? Don’t get me started…
#22 & #34
I agree. This has happened with almost all of the Trek “Bad guys” (I didn’t want to use the word Nemisis on this site – it makes people very upset)
Klingons, Romulans,Cardassians, Borg,Ferengi, etc… they all end up working things out more or less with the Federation. Well not the Borg so much, but they get their asses kicked somewhat regularly, and due to the queen issue added in they have lost their “scare factor”
we need a real villan that won’t roll over to easily.
#31- He didn’t fare too well in Catspaw either.
I still say to people to this day when they don’t seem to get a concept I’m trying to convey with that line, “You are not of the Body.” Which usually gets me a confused look.
This is one of the all-time good eps. Love it, love it.
Well, it’s almost the Red Hour. Time to get my funk on.
Q who
One of the finest TNG episodes ever. I still get creeped out when I see the hull section being sliced up and taken out.
I want that kind of Borg back, not “Hugh”
I want my baby borg baby borg baby borg baby borg back. (time for some ribs now)
11
Very interesting.
28 I’ve long said that Kelley was cut some slack for his bit of over acting at times. Nobody could play ridiculously evil like Deforest Kelley.
“You speak in strange whispers friend.” “YOU’RE NOT OF THE BODY…YOU’RE NOT OF THE BODY!” Even when he and Spock were bickering he could get evil.
#31, yeah both times that Sulu got mind-controlled, that same creepy music was playing. This episode has more of that music during the walk thru town as the town-zombies come chasing. My favorite music.
37
I’ve quoted this episode for years and another episode I’ve defended The Way to Eden for years. Partly because I reference it all the time.
I was parked in a faculty parking spot on campus one summer-mester back in college. And summer-mester no one was is on campus. Teachers or students. A graduate assistant came out after seeing me do this a few days and told me to move me car. To which I replied, “you’ve got a hard lip, Herbert!” He just looked at me and I walked away.
Brilliant, Andy, I had forgotten about that one. You shall rest assured that the next person to give me flak will get that line in return. And I will give you the credit. I mean for the line, not summer-mester classes.
Robed guys : You are not of the body !
Me : I’m not ?
Robed guys : No you are not of the body !
Me : So i’m dead, funny I don’t feel dead…
Oh, and sorry to be a post-hog but my only complaint thus far about the remastered DVD’s is that they don’t include the preview ads that we get to see here. They NEVER show them on my local carrier that airs the remasters. Those things are great! Season two should include a bonus of the first and second seasons ne previews.
This is one of my fave episodes as well, I just love the feel of it, the lighting, costumes etc etc, the sense of hiding (the dengeon) and rebellion (Reger, Marplon and the underground).
I always imagine myself hiding in that dungeon with a group of rebels, rebeling against Landru when I watch this, it’s ace!
I
42
Thanks. Yes, footnote me. I use that line all the time. And Adam’s line near the end of “Eden”…”You’re making me cry.” and “Ain’t that just awful.”
I could have used credit on that class. I was retaking it.
A very surreal story.
I always liked it.
-cs™
Not one of my favourites. Too predictable, too easily resolved.
Given the monk-robes and the talk of joining the Body, it’s amazing this episode isn’t understood as the anti-Christian allegory it truly is….right down to the teachings of the original good guy (Landru/Jesus) being twisted and perverted by the thing originally intended to carry his word forward (the computer/the church).
Well on that note….. This one…and the one with Vaal, and the one with spores that turns everyone, especially Sulu, groovy, and The Way to Eden are all religous themed episodes and could be combined together to be doctrine for a new church.