50 – Patterns of Force

Grade: A

Summary

Kirk and crew beam down onto a planet where for some reason, the people have adopted the same symbols, political dogma and government practices that were present in Nazi Germany. They realize a former Starfleet captain named John Gill may have caused this societal change in the first place. Now they need to find out why, and hopefully fix it.

Commentary

This is one of my absolute favorite episodes. The story is very interesting, even if it is a bit predictable. I loved it when Spock said to Kirk, “you should make a very convincing Nazi.” In all honesty, this is a very well-written episode, and there are a lot of really memorable lines, such as this: “if we adopt the ways of the Nazis, we’re as bad as the Nazis.”

Of Note

This episode was originally banned in Germany, because much of its content is prohibited by the German Constitution.