I don't know why I can remember arcane goofy stuff from my childhood, I just do. In the Sixties, I had a DC Action Comic featuring a Superman cover, the lead story having to do with the Man of Steel brought to a red sun planet where he had no super powers. While there, he was forced to do battle with the champions of other planets to decide who was the strongest being in the universe. One of the characters he had to face off against was... Borko of GORN!!! So as I'm watching the episode, I'm asking myself if there was some connection to this old Superman story. As Spock would say - 'Fascinating'.
And speaking of Spock, he's not exactly buying Captain Kirk's rationale that the aliens the Enterprise is chasing are planning an invasion. That's brought home when the Metrons intervene and set up the hand to hand combat scenario between Kirk and the Gorn leader. The Enterprise and the Gorn ship were intruding into their section of space, and that of course is an intergalactic no-no.
So, hopelessly outmatched in terms of brute strength, Kirk must rely on his agility and speed to buy some time and think his way out of this one. The resolution leading to that hand made weapon would have seemed much more imaginative if everything Kirk needed didn't just happen to be simply lying around. Think about it, where on Earth (or any planet for that matter) would you find diamonds, coal, sulphur and phosphorus just scattered about in plain sight?
Well for those viewers who liked to think of Star Trek as a creature of the week show, this one was sure to satisfy. Almost two decades later, the theme would be reworked somewhat to give us "Enemy Mine", another tale of hand to scale combat. Besides one of the more memorable alien characters to appear in a Star Trek episode, this one also gave us the first mention and use of photon torpedoes, obviously more potent than phaser weapons. The show also had me running to the cast credits, as one of the helmsmen had an unusually uncanny resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter, known to Trek fans as Captain Christopher Pike.
And speaking of Spock, he's not exactly buying Captain Kirk's rationale that the aliens the Enterprise is chasing are planning an invasion. That's brought home when the Metrons intervene and set up the hand to hand combat scenario between Kirk and the Gorn leader. The Enterprise and the Gorn ship were intruding into their section of space, and that of course is an intergalactic no-no.
So, hopelessly outmatched in terms of brute strength, Kirk must rely on his agility and speed to buy some time and think his way out of this one. The resolution leading to that hand made weapon would have seemed much more imaginative if everything Kirk needed didn't just happen to be simply lying around. Think about it, where on Earth (or any planet for that matter) would you find diamonds, coal, sulphur and phosphorus just scattered about in plain sight?
Well for those viewers who liked to think of Star Trek as a creature of the week show, this one was sure to satisfy. Almost two decades later, the theme would be reworked somewhat to give us "Enemy Mine", another tale of hand to scale combat. Besides one of the more memorable alien characters to appear in a Star Trek episode, this one also gave us the first mention and use of photon torpedoes, obviously more potent than phaser weapons. The show also had me running to the cast credits, as one of the helmsmen had an unusually uncanny resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter, known to Trek fans as Captain Christopher Pike.