Requiem for Methuselah by: Jerome Bixby and directed by: Murray Golden

 

“Requiem for Methuselah” is written by: Jerome Bixby and is directed by: Murray Golden.  It was filmed under production code 76, was the 19^th episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 74^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on February 14, 1969.

 

Forbidden Planet is often touted as a science fiction take on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and as a film its influence is one of the major factors on why science fiction of the late 1950s and the 1960s is the way it is.  It is very likely that without Forbidden Planet being successful, Star Trek would never have been made, or if it had it would have been made in a very different way.  Jerome Bixby’s final episode of Star Trek is an explicit take on The Tempest nestled near the end of the third season.  “Requiem for Methuselah” sets itself up to be another budget saver of an episode, at least in terms of cast being limited to William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley from the main cast (with very brief appearances from James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols) and guests James Daly and Louise Sorel as the Prospero and Miranda figures in the episode.  And drawing on Forbidden Planet for inspiration is a robot essentially taking the Ariel/Caliban role.  Bixby’s script is fascinating because as a writer adapting elements of The Tempest, and let’s be clear it is largely just elements and scenarios from Shakespeare instead of a proper adaptation, he ends up overdoing it in terms of what is being drawn on.  Instead of a shipwreck, the Enterprise is battling an illness and stumbles upon a planet at random that would has the mineral that can be processed as antidote, though Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are not suffering the illness.  Bixby’s script fails to make the plague ship plot relevant after the first act of the episode, largely giving lip service to mention it and having Flint, the Prospero analogue, initially be unwilling to give the crew the mineral.  Director Murray Golden paces the scenes in a particularly slow fashion which contributes to the competing plotlines clash when they really should work better than they do.

 

Flint and Rayna as Prospero and Miranda doesn’t entirely work, largely because Flint instead of being a protective father is attempting to be a protective lover.  The big twist of the episode is that Rayna, who falls in love with Kirk, is an android who doesn’t know she is an android.  The climax of the episode is a genuinely emotional one of an android becoming human, Bixby clearly drawing upon the myth of Pygmalion in addition to The Tempest, with Rayna as Galatea dying upon gaining humanity which feels slightly drawn on Shaw’s Pygmalion in a way without understanding the ending of Shaw’s Pygmalion.  It doesn’t help that Rayna is given as much characterization as the typical female character on Star Trek though with intelligence that she briefly shows when introduced to the crew.  It is James Daly as Flint which is an interesting and layered performance.  The reason the title refers to Methuselah is that another of the episode’s twists is the fact that Flint is an immortal, living his life as Johannes Brahms and Leonardo da Vinci among other historical figures.  His wish to have retreated from the universe due to the expansion and colonialism of humanity is a fascinating idea, if slightly underdeveloped as the Federation is not meant to be viewed as a colonizing force.  There is a sympathy to his desire for a relationship, and the episode clearly understands the problems a relationship would pose, leading to the tragic ending and the necessity for Rayna to make her own choice.  Killing Rayna undercuts the ending, largely because this is Star Trek which loves to kill off love interests for tragedy.

 

Overall, “Requiem for Methuselah” is a mash of several different stories and it is because of that it suffers and is held back, yet as an episode it is still a largely compelling piece of drama.  Not having an alien to fight and attempting to focus on the characters is what makes it largely work and be one of the stronger episodes of the third season of the show.  This one probably would have flourished under a different director and maybe another draft.  6/10.