"Star Trek" The Conscience of the King (1966)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Barry Trivers (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

8 December 1966 (Season 1, Episode 13)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

While Captain Kirk investigates whether an actor is actually a presumed dead mass murderer, a mysterious assailant is killing the people who could identify the fugitive.

Plot Keywords:

Presumed Dead | Mass Murderer | Beautiful Daughter | Fugitive | Faked Death

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Arnold Moss	...	Karidian
Barbara Anderson	...	Lenore
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Yeoman Rand
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
William Sargent	...	Dr. Leighton
Natalie Norwick	...	Martha Leighton
David Troy	...	Larry Matson (as David-Troy)
Karl Bruck	...	King Duncan
Marc Grady Adams	...	Hamlet (as Marc Adams)
Bruce Hyde	...	Kevin Riley

Runtime:

50 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The title refers to Shakespeare's Hamlet Act II, Scene II; "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the second to last scene of the episode, the one where Kodos is killed, Lenore has blue eyes at first. At the end of the scene, she has green eyes.

Quotes:

Lenore: So, Captain of the Enterprise. Interesting.
Captain James T. Kirk: So, Lady Macbeth. Interesting.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror (#2.3)" (1990)

Is He Kodos the Executioner or just an Actor?

This is another example of a Trek episode where Capt. Kirk temporarily abandons his usual mission (exploring) and goes off on a personal vendetta (see the recent "Dagger of the Mind" and the much later "Obsession") - but it's very personal in this one. On the surface, it may seem trivial because larger questions concerning the galaxy are placed aside, but we become very involved in Kirk's private quest here. The episode is basically a mystery: is a traveling Shakespearean actor just what he seems to be or is he really the ex-governor of a failed colony, where, 20 years earlier, 4000 people had been put to death on his orders? We are left guessing for most of the episode. Will this turn out to be a false quest, a morality tale on the pitfalls of revenge? Or will this suspect truly be revealed as a mass murderer, causing Kirk to phaser him into oblivion? This episode also has an interesting set design for a futuristic house on another planet and a nice rendition of a song 'Beyond Antares' by Uhura (Nichols).

I would think guest star Moss had a field day with his role in this one; his specialty in real life were Shakespearean plays. He acts out Macbeth here, the story of which carries eerie parallels to the character he plays in this episode, and Hamlet, which parallels scenes in the actual episode. His voice is magnetic and his confrontation scene with Kirk as they parry verbally remains one of the better ones during this Trek season. Anderson, as his daughter, also holds her own in a strangely beautiful role. The episode is filled with nice touches - catch the very brief one as Yeoman Rand (Whitney) passes Anderson's character in the turbolift. It's also telling that Spock, for all his usual annoyance with McCoy, runs to him when he notices the captain being edgy again. There's a key scene with Kirk, Spock and McCoy which sums up this trinity's relationship. Finally, we have Riley (Hyde) back again in his second and last appearance (after "The Naked Time"). It's an ironic form of justice that Riley ends up demoted to the lower decks in the engine room, where he caused all that trouble in his previous appearance. A rather haunting conclusion caps this foray into space intrigue.