I enjoyed this episode much more when I was a kid, growing up on Star Trek.
The episode that brought us the memorable fight between Kirk and a 6' tall scaled down version of Godzilla (The Gorn Captain) is not one of the better thought-out first season episodes. It starts out strong - somebody has completely destroyed a federation outpost and Enterprise detects an alien vessel while the landing party is stuck on the surface. A brief engagement is followed by a long pursuit, as Kirk's desire for revenge mounts. Finally, both ships are stopped by yet another omnipotent advanced culture, The omnipotent alien power (The Metrons) exsplain that violence is not tolerated in their system and that the Gorn and Star Fleet are therefore unwelcome. And Kirk and his counterpart on the Gorn ship are transported to a planet to settle their dispute with hand-to-hand combat. To the victor goes life. To the loser - death for the entire crew. The Metrons have apparently adopted pacifism, but have no qualms about hypocrisy. Kirk's character is also somewhat inconsistent throughout this episode. The Gorn's lizard body suit is pretty cool looking, but his costume, as well as that of the Metron is straight out of Flash Gordon. Despite its high rating among some fans, I consider this episode somewhat dispensable.
The episode that brought us the memorable fight between Kirk and a 6' tall scaled down version of Godzilla (The Gorn Captain) is not one of the better thought-out first season episodes. It starts out strong - somebody has completely destroyed a federation outpost and Enterprise detects an alien vessel while the landing party is stuck on the surface. A brief engagement is followed by a long pursuit, as Kirk's desire for revenge mounts. Finally, both ships are stopped by yet another omnipotent advanced culture, The omnipotent alien power (The Metrons) exsplain that violence is not tolerated in their system and that the Gorn and Star Fleet are therefore unwelcome. And Kirk and his counterpart on the Gorn ship are transported to a planet to settle their dispute with hand-to-hand combat. To the victor goes life. To the loser - death for the entire crew. The Metrons have apparently adopted pacifism, but have no qualms about hypocrisy. Kirk's character is also somewhat inconsistent throughout this episode. The Gorn's lizard body suit is pretty cool looking, but his costume, as well as that of the Metron is straight out of Flash Gordon. Despite its high rating among some fans, I consider this episode somewhat dispensable.