Elaan of Troyius written and directed by: John Meredyth Lucas

 

“Elaan of Troyius” is written and directed by: John Meredyth Lucas.  It was filmed under production code 57, was the 13^th episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 68^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on December 20, 1968.

 

This episode of Star Trek at least in terms of the title is riffing on the mythological figure of Helen of Troy, and that should be the first clue that this is going to be an episode stuck completely in the trappings of the 1960s.  John Meredyth Lucas had written for the show before this point with “The Changeling” and “Patterns of Force” as well as directing “The Ultimate Computer” and “The Enterprise Incident” so he clearly understands how Star Trek works.  “Elaan of Troyius” sees Lucas responsible for both the script and direction, and there is a world where this is a winning combination.  Lucas as a director is actually quite dynamic and his script is confined to Enterprise sets as many episodes this season are, but because of his style visually the episode looks interesting.  Lucas knows how to pace an episode of Star Trek so it doesn’t drag like other episodes this season in particular have struggled with pacing.  The makeup of the aliens in the episode is also something that has some retro camp appeal in execution, outside of the title character being potentially in brownface in makeup that feels like a stylized Ancient Egyptian Pharoah costume which feels quite insensitive.  This is also an episode where William Shatner is clearly having a ball with the material, getting to be largely more prideful in his role of Captain Kirk which is a lot of fun to watch, even when Kirk gets brainwashed by the beautiful Elaan due to magic tears which are used to seduce him.

 

This is where the big troubles of “Elaan of Troyius” really show their head.  As mentioned above the title is a clear reference to Helen of Troy, the character of Elaan being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want paralleling the abduction of Helen by Paris in myth.  There is an academic history to paint Helen as at fault for the Trojan War which looking at the mythological sources is an incorrect reading, she was kidnapped after all and forced into a relationship while already being married and in The Odyssey it is shown that Helen is still happily married to Menelaus.  It’s clear that Lucas wishes to have the audience make the parallel between Helen of Troy and Elaan being sent as bride in a political marriage between Elas and Troyius who are on the brink of war.  Lucas is attempting to characterize Elaan as being dissatisfied with the situation and being treated in an insulting way within the largely warrior like culture of her people, but the characterization also is drawing on another character, that of Katherina from William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.  Indeed, much of “Elaan of Troyius” draws its plot and conflict as equally from Shakespeare’s play as the 1960s perception of the Epic Cycle.  The Taming of the Shrew is a highly problematic play, the central comedy is quite literally how a woman is tamed by a suitor while her sister is allowed a more traditional Shakespearean romance.

 

The play would have been in the public consciousness at the time of this episode’s production: Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate and its film adaptation were over a decade old at this point allowing some reinterpretation of the play while the episode was roughly a year after Franco Zeffirelli’s straight film adaptation of the Shakespeare play starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.  France Nuyen’s portrayal of Elaan in this episode while being inspired by a Pharoah is also clearly modeled partially after Elizabeth Taylor’s portrayal of Katharina and her 1963 portrayal of Cleopatra.  Much of Elaan’s character arc is becoming tamed in the same was as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew, however she is heightened to be immediately a royal brat that characters come into conflict with.  Lucas is clearly attempting to engage with the text of The Taming of the Shrew by giving his shrew some sense of actual power, but he also is directing this episode through a particularly male lens.  We are not through Elaan’s point of view, we are in Kirk and Ambassador Petri’s, played by Jay Robinson.  Elaan is treated as a femme fatale by the halfway point of the episode, something we are seeing now as a sexual partner for Kirk and the tension comes from Kirk’s violation.  There is a Klingon B-plot in this episode that feels largely there for action that doesn’t actually work, it’s almost an afterthought to add some conflict and worldbuilding.

 

Overall, “Elaan of Troyius” is clearly an attempt to reevaluate William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew through a Star Trek lens and that’s probably why it doesn’t work.  Star Trek often drops the ball when it comes to portraying women and this is an episode whose text explicitly portrays the ideal woman as soft and demure following the gender dynamics of Shakespeare’s play and eventually casting Kirk in the role of Petruchio (Kirk slaps Elaan at one point in retaliation in the episode).  John Meredyth Lucas as a writer easily could have done more work to make this premise work, but it’s stuck in the trappings of its time and those attitudes stopping it from being a good episode.  3/10.