‘WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?’ (TOS)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This is an interesting ‘Star Trek’ episode! It does a take on the Greek myths by making the Greek gods turn out to be aliens. This actually makes sense to me when you come think about those myths.

I didn’t really like this episode when I first saw it on DVD. But recently, I’ve grown to find some merit in it. In this episode, the Enterprise is caught in space by great giant green hand from the planet Pollux IV.

Captain Kirk and his crew are summoned by a god who turns out to be Apollo. Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Chekov and Lt. Carolyn Palamas transport down to the planet to find him there sitting on his throne.

Kirk’s party are meant to worship him forever. As they struggle against Apollo’s seemingly almighty powers, Kirk’s party must find a way to free themselves from Apollo and his hold on the Enterprise.

I must admit, my knowledge of the Greek myths isn’t that great. But I find some aspects of the Greek myths interesting and it’s astonishing that people from the past worshipped these beings many years ago.

Michael Forest guest stars as Apollo in the episode. He delivers a majestic and terrifyingly overpowering performance as Apollo. Kirk and his men have to be careful when he gets very angry.

Apollo is known as the god of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. He can create lightning from his fingertips when he wants to as well as creating a storm.

In the episode, Leslie Parrish guest stars as Lt. Carolyn Palamas. She’s a pretty blonde-haired Starfleet lieutenant. She catches Apollo’s eye and is given a dazzlingly beautiful Greek dress by him.

The Greek dress that Carolyn wears makes her devastatingly sexy throughout the episode. I’m sure all male viewers enjoyed it when they saw this episode and she does look beautiful in that dress.

Scotty gets to show a romantic interest in Carolyn in this episode. He doesn’t like it when Apollo becomes attracted to her and he takes her away. He gets hit by Apollo’s lightning bolts when he tries to save her.

Chekov gets to have an active role in the episode, as he acts as the science officer in place of Spock. I liked it when Chekov noticed Apollo was becoming tired when he sat in his throne and he informs Kirk of it.

On the Enterprise ship, Spock, Uhura, Sulu and everyone else tries to find a way to free the ship from the giant hand. I thought it was mean of Apollo to refuse Spock down onto the planet because of his pointy ears.

I liked it when Uhura gets to put her technique expertise at communications to good use when she goes underneath the console. She wears an overall and she tells Spock to stop pushing her to her limits.

Eventually, the Enterprise manages to get in touch with Kirk’s party before the ship fires its phasers on Apollo’s temple. Apollo tries to stop them, but his throne ends up being destroyed by the ship’s phasers.

The scene where Apollo grows gigantic and begs his fellow gods to take him away is meant for us to show sympathy for him. But to be honest, I’m glad Apollo was gone as he wasn’t a true god for me.

‘Who Mourns For Adonais’ isn’t one of my favourite ‘Star Trek’ episodes. However I found it reassuring when Kirk told Apollo, “Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.”

The DVD special features for this episode are as follows. On Disc 1 of both the original and re-mastered DVDs of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 2’, there’s a preview trailer for this episode. On Disc 1 of the re-mastered DVD of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 2’, there are the documentaries ‘Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 2’, ‘To Boldly Go…Season Two’, ‘Designing the Final Frontier’, ‘Writer’s Notebook: D. C. Fontana’ and ‘Star Trek’s Favourite Moments’.

‘Who Mourns For Adonais?’ (TOS) rating – 6/10

---

The previous story For ‘The Original Series’ was ‘Amok Time’ (TOS) (TV)	The next story For ‘The Original Series’ is ‘The Changeling’ (TOS) (TV)
Return to Star Trek
Return to Sci-Fi