The Mark of Gideon by: George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams and directed by: Jud Taylor

 

“The Mark of Gideon” is written by: George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams and is directed by: Jud Taylor.  It was filmed under production code 72, was the 16^th episode of Star Trek Season 3, the 71^st episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on January 17, 1969.

 

Sometimes there’s an episode of Star Trek that you’re not quite sure what to make of, something that the third season has made me say to myself more than once.  “The Mark of Gideon” is another one of those episodes with an explicit message that doesn’t quite read nicely in 2024, largely because George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams have written a script about overpopulation while writing in a more conservative 1960s framework.  This is also hampered by the messaging only really finding its way into the story in the third act while the first two acts of the story are setting up the mystery of what has happened to Captain Kirk and the B-plot of Spock and company being unable to actually beam onto the planet Gideon without disobeying Federation commands.  The central premise that is revealed in the episode’s twist is that Gideon as a planet is extremely overpopulated due to an implied lifestyle without consequences of illness nor death.  The council in charge of Gideon has made the decision that the only way to stop this problem is to offer voluntary infection with a deadly illness, acquiring the virus over the course of the episode due to Kirk passing it on to a woman he is isolated with on a recreation of the Enterprise.  This virus is something that Kirk just so happens to be a carrier of so his blood is used to infect this woman, Odana played by Sharon Acker, because of course she and Kirk fall in love.  Slavin and Adams seem to have no interest in questioning the ethics of this situation, the Enterprise crew leave and Kirk seems happy to see Odana go back to her people to let them die in the end.  This type of population control is also one that could be easily read as advocating for a form of eugenics, Slavin and Adams clearly not examining fully the social aspects of which groups of people would be incentivized to take their own lives on a planet where there is apparently no privacy or personal space.  There’s a heavy implication of a lack of personal property as well adding to this element.

 

The trouble here is largely coming from the depiction of this society, we simply don’t see it.  The closest thing we see are crowd shots on the screens of the false Enterprise, implied to be people looking in.  Now this is clearly due to the budget cuts this third season of Star Trek faced, the entire episode was filmed in studio after all and the number of guest actors brought in was heavily reduced to usually one or two compared to previous seasons which could have at least four or five on average.  This could be why the episode shifts focus from exploring an alien society in its own environment to exploring through two representatives: Odana seducing Kirk while he is basically being lied to and Ambassador Hodin, played by David Hurst, lying to the Enterprise crew to stop them from beaming down to Gideon.  William Shatner’s performance as Kirk is also an interesting aspect of the episode.  There’s this idea that Captain Kirk as a character is incredibly sexual and it seems that Slavin and Adams have bought into that notion.  While there is a clear sex symbol aspect to the character and often episodes do write romances with Kirk and a weekly female character, “The Mark of Gideon” includes a romance that is severely underwritten.  Kirk is portrayed as almost distracted from the mystery surrounding him by Odana’s presence, something that honestly feels out of character.  Much of Kirk’s character has the main thrust being the fact the Enterprise is his top priority, she is his ship and his partner, all done through the subtext of why while there are casual relationships they can only remain casual.  Leonard Nimoy as Spock is attempting his best with the material in the B-plot as well, a plot that is stronger than Kirk’s due to the fact that there is material there, enough to potentially sustain a complete episode.  It gives Spock a moment to be active and disobey the Federation, while not wishing to bring down McCoy with him that becomes the episode’s shining moments.

Overall, “The Mark of Gideon” is an episode that like its title doesn’t actually make a lot of sense when you think about it.  There isn’t really a mark outside of this bruise on Kirk’s arm and the allegorical nature of the episode falls apart quite easily into some very dangerous areas because the writers clearly didn’t think it through.  The scenes with Spock largely work while Kirk comes out of the episode quite mischaracterized.  It just left me kind of baffled with what it was trying to accomplish.  4/10.