When the Enterprise is called to the remote outpost of Cestus III the away team are shocked to discover the settlement has been wiped out; not only that the sole survivor claims that no messages had been sent
somebody wanted to lure the Enterprise there! Soon both the landing party and the ship are attacked by unknown aliens. They manage to repel the attack and Capt. Kirk orders the Enterprise to pursue and destroy the attackers believing their destruction of Cestus III was a precursor to an attack on the Federation. The pursuit is ended when both ships suddenly come to a complete stop in an uncharted solar system; here they are contacted by a race known as the Metrons who beam Kirk and the captain of the alien ship to a remote planet where they must fight to the death; the crew of the loser's ship will share the fate of their captain. They are told that there are materials required to make weapons and Kirk will certainly need to find them if he is to defeat his much stronger adversary; a lizard-like creature known as a Gorn.
This is one of the most memorably episodes of the original series partly due to the 'man-in-a-rubber-suit' Gorn and partly for the classic location; Vasquez Rocks used so often in Star Trek that they became known as 'Kirk's Rocks'. While the look of the Gorn is rather dated and almost comical the story is solid and doesn't shy away from the possibility that it may be the Federation who were in the wrong; the Gorn claim the outpost was built in their territory. The plot doesn't warrant too much scrutiny; the Metrons claim to be forcing Kirk and the Gorn captain to fight because they disapprove of barbarity but what they do is little different to letting the ships fight it out in space one might think they are testing the two for signs of mercy but they express surprise when Kirk spares Gorn to be fair though there is no rule saying beings claiming to be morally superior can't be hypocrites! There are some accidentally amusing moments when the crew on the enterprise view the action on the main screen Spock instantly recognises an innocuous white powder as potassium nitrate when it could be any number of more likely but less useful things. Overall despite its flaws I found this to be a highly entertaining episode.
This is one of the most memorably episodes of the original series partly due to the 'man-in-a-rubber-suit' Gorn and partly for the classic location; Vasquez Rocks used so often in Star Trek that they became known as 'Kirk's Rocks'. While the look of the Gorn is rather dated and almost comical the story is solid and doesn't shy away from the possibility that it may be the Federation who were in the wrong; the Gorn claim the outpost was built in their territory. The plot doesn't warrant too much scrutiny; the Metrons claim to be forcing Kirk and the Gorn captain to fight because they disapprove of barbarity but what they do is little different to letting the ships fight it out in space one might think they are testing the two for signs of mercy but they express surprise when Kirk spares Gorn to be fair though there is no rule saying beings claiming to be morally superior can't be hypocrites! There are some accidentally amusing moments when the crew on the enterprise view the action on the main screen Spock instantly recognises an innocuous white powder as potassium nitrate when it could be any number of more likely but less useful things. Overall despite its flaws I found this to be a highly entertaining episode.