The Squire of Gothos by: Paul Schneider and directed by: Don McDougall

 

“The Squire of Gothos” is written by Paul Schneider and is directed by Don McDougall.  It was filmed under production code 18, was the 17^th episode of Star Trek Season 1, and was broadcast on January 12, 1967.

 

While Paul Schneider’s other episode for Star Trek “Balance of Terror” was a hard science fiction tale, “The Squire of Gothos” leans more heavily into science fantasy as a genre, though not without forgetting that this is a series on a cosmic scale.  The plot sees the Enterprise travelling through a star desert only to find an oasis of sorts, a single planet which is plagued by hostile winds and acidic rain.  This is just the setting, something we don’t learn until the episode has really started moving forward.  The pre-credits sequence is great.  It’s a snappy introduction of first Sulu disappearing from the bridge, followed by Kirk and immediately after the credits we stay on the Enterprise until Spock can get some crewmen, mainly McCoy and two others, down to the planet to investigate.  The small buildup to the reveal that this planet has one inhabitant, Trelane, a mysterious being who cannot be detected as alive and has the powers to warp reality.  Escaping from the clutches of Trelane is the plot of the episode.  It’s a very simple plot that mainly runs on character interactions, the big ones being between Kirk and Trelane.  The supporting cast is there essentially to be put in danger once the episode really gets going, once the focus is away from Spock at command.  These early scenes with Spock are a great way to investigate things on the planet from the Enterprise and quickly build up mystery: Trelane sends up greetings on screen in calligraphy and several sweeps do not detect any life on the planet.

 

Once we actually meet Trelane we get director Don McDougall’s wonderful shots of this historical set which is gorgeous.  Trelane as a character is obsessed with the planet Earth, having observed it 900 years in the past due to the speed of light bringing those images to Gothos, his planet.  He stiles himself as a general, squire, and gentleman, introduced in the episode as playing the harpsichord and surrounded by classic Earth artifacts.  He does not care that the people he has captured has autonomy and just wishes to play out this fantasy of capturing people, getting increasingly annoyed as Kirk’s determination to leave.  He brings more crewmen down after invading the Enterprise leading to some genuinely uncomfortable scenes involving Uhura, whose race is directly referred to and is forced to play the harpsichord, and the yeomen of the week, who is forced to dance with Trelane.  William Campbell, a character actor, plays Trelane with this utter delight and glee, never going quite over the top and relishing the chance to put up these historical airs and graces.  William Shatner also is the perfect sparring partner, this episode being the first time, at least for me, where Shatner’s acting choices feel like William Shatner acting choices.  There is this rage bubbling to the top and there are line deliveries from Shatner with very odd pause choices.

 

So if there’s so much praise I can heap on the main point of the episode, why is this not stacking up to “Balance of Terror”?  Well, that’s essentially two-fold.  First, the minor point of Don McDougall’s direction as the episode goes on just starts to feel uninspired, especially on the Enterprise itself.  The shots are by no means bad, but they aren’t doing something interesting and it is the script and performances from Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, and Nichols in these early scenes which build the mystery.  Second, it really doesn’t help that this is an episode that doesn’t quite tie everything up nicely in the end.  Trelane as a character doesn’t actually have an arc or is forced to change and see the validity of life that he has deemed lesser, the episode ends instead with a deus ex machina of others from his people taking away his power.  While not an awful ending, it comes after this trial sequence which feels like it’s meant to lead to some sort of catharsis and as it stands we don’t actually get that.  To play devil’s advocate you do get the great sense of cosmic power and mystery in the ending since Campbell plays the role in a way that you think Kirk may genuinely die and not get out of things alive, plus his temper tantrum at the end is great, but it undercuts an otherwise great episode.

 

Overall, “The Squire of Gothos” is an episode that not only has a lot of good ideas but contains some genuinely amazing performances dialing the camp to perfect levels.  It’s sadly one that is let down by a third act that almost runs out of steam as if Schneider had more to say but the runtime would not allow it.  Plus it’s from a director who at points is meticulous while at others is a bit sloppy which is a genuine shame.  It does however excel at showing the mystery and wonder that space may hold.  7/10.