31 – Who Mourns for Adonais?

Grade: B

Summary

A giant hand stops the Enterprise in space, and then an alien named Apollo instructs Kirk and other crewmen to beam down to the planet to visit him in Olympus. There, he hopes they will worship him and live in peace.

Commentary

There are several Star Trek episodes that deal with God-like creatures or religion. Some of these episodes, like this one are pretty good while others are terrible. Adonais is one of the better ones because it never really says if this being actually is the Greek god Apollo. It simply tells the story, and lets us decide for ourselves.

At the end of the episode, I actually feel sorry for Apollo. This wouldn’t happen if the storyline weren’t well-written with believable characters and an interesting plot. All things considered, this isn’t among the very best of the Star Treks, but it’s pretty close.

Of Note

Actor Michael Forest plays the role of Apollo in this episode. Originally, they wanted an actor with a British accent to play the role. Forest refused to even try an accent and just used his normal accent instead. I think it worked out just fine.