Template:Realworld The Enterprise encounters a being that once visited the ancient peoples of Earth.
Summary
- "Captain's Log, Stardate 6063.4. The Enterprise is tracing the origin of a mysterious alien space probe. It approached the Federation home worlds, made a scan of Earth's system and signaled outward into space. Before it could be intercepted, the probe self-destructed. We are following a trail of disrupted matter left by the probe's highly advanced propulsion system. Thus far the trail has not intercepted any inhabited star systems."
Soon, the Enterprise encounters an alien vessel that is approaching on the same course as the probe. It is twice the size of the Enterprise, surrounded by an immense energy field and composed of crystalline ceramic. A globular force field encompasses the Federation ship. The alien ship probes the Enterprise, then the surrounding energy pattern shifts and transforms itself into the shape of a large feathered serpent, which Ensign Dawson Walking Bear recognizes as Kukulkan.
Upset over being forgotten by Earthlings, Kukulkan gives the crew one chance to redeem themselves because one crewman did not forget him. When asked, Walking Bear tells Captain Kirk that he is a Comanche and has studied his background. The ship bears a strong resemblance to a god of ancient Mayan and Aztec legends. The Mayans had a legend of a winged serpent god who came from the skies. They could conceivably be dealing with a space traveler who visited Earth in early times and was the basis for such legends.
- "Captain's Log, Stardate 6063.5. First officer Spock in temporary command. The Enterprise is a captive of an alien lifeform calling itself Kukulkan. Captain Kirk and three other officers have vanished. They were most likely transported by Kukulkan to his ship."
Inside the other ship, Kirk asks Walking Bear if legend says what happened to Kukulkan. The ensign tells him no, only that he left and promised to return one day. Kirk surmises that the space probe was his. Kukulkan says, "Now I have shown you the seeds I have sewn before. Learn from them. Find their purpose if you can. Only then will I appear before you." If they fail, the crew will all perish.
The four crew members are transported to an Earth-like city filled with many cultures that appears to be one gigantic riddle. Walking Bear tells Kirk that Kulkukan gave the Mayans a remarkably accurate calendar and instructed them to build a city according to its cycles. When the city was finished, Kukulkan was supposed to return. The Mayans built their city and waited. Kukulkan never appeared. Kirk reasons that he must have visited several ancient people on Earth but each one only used part of his knowledge to build their cultures. If no one built this city exactly right, that is why Kukulkan never came back. The city is the key. It must contain some sort of signaling device.
Kirk decides that it must be a pyramid. He climbs it and gets McCoy and Scotty to turn the heads of the serpent statues to all strike a certain space on the pyramid. When they accomplish the task, Kukulkan appears as the winged serpent, alleging to be their master. He claims they strayed from the path he set. Kirk claims he doesn't know him so Kukulkan will teach him. Transported to an ominous "life-room," the crew members notice a variety of creatures from around the galaxy, all in cages. There is even a ferocious, but now peaceful, Capellan power-cat.
Kukulkan says they are contented. Each creature's mind thinks that it is on its own world, created by Kukulkan's machinery. They are his only companions, his children to be shown how to live. Kirk says, "If children are made totally dependent on their teachers, they will never be anything but children." Kukulkan has had enough. Despite what he has shown them, they still cling to their disobedient ways. Kirk explains that they cannot accept Kukulkan as their master, despite his contributions to mankind.
On the Enterprise, Spock discovers a way to break the energy field surrounding the ship, distracting Kukulkan from the other crewmen. The men release the animals from their cages, thereby creating a chaos which Kukulkan is unable to control. The power-cat traps Kukulkan, which forces him to reveal himself as a mortal. Kirk saves Kukulkan and thus teaches him a valuable lesson about human survival. Kukulkan leaves as an old, broken mortal, and Kirk decides that the price of infinite knowledge is too high to pay. McCoy reminds them of a line from Shakespeare's King Lear, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."
Memorable Quotes
"Intelligent life is too precious a thing to be led by the nose."
- - Kirk to Kukulkan
- This line was one of two notes left on a cassette tape by Gene Roddenberry for writers David Wise and Russell Bates. They included it in the script as a way to "suck up to the boss."
"Vulcan was visited by alien beings. They left much wiser."
- - Spock
Background Information
- This episode received top ratings for a children's show, got favorable comments and mail and went to The International TV Film Festival in Monte Carlo. This episode was also submitted to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the show, and is responsible for The Animated Series winning Star Trek's only Emmy Award for a series as a whole.
- Including TOS: "The Cage", this episode marks the 100th appearance of Mr. Spock.
- This episode gets its title from a quote from Shakespeare: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." - King Lear, Act I, Scene 4.
- This episode's plot is similar to that of TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?" as an intentional homage by Russell Bates to that episode's writer, Gene L. Coon.
- Writer Russell Bates suggested that Kukulkan was on Earth for several hundred years as the character stated he had visited the planet's Mayan and Aztec cultures, each of which had developed in different centuries.
- This episode featured the first appearance of a Native American starship crewmember on Star Trek, Ensign Dawson Walking Bear. Walking Bear was a Comanche, and he had studied the customs of several Native American cultures. Co-writer Russell Bates is Native American himself.
- William Shatner mispronounces "Kukulkan" throughout the episode. He says Kuklakan.
Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (CIC Video): Volume 7, catalog number VHR 2557, 17 February 1992
- As part of the The Animated Series DVD collection
Links and references
Starring
- William Shatner as Captain Kirk
- Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
- And
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
Also starring
Background character
References
Aztec; calendar; Capellan power-cat (Capella IV); central power source; Chinese dragon; clay; Comanche; crystalline ceramic; disrupted matter; dragon; Earth; Earth's system; Egypt; energy field; energy amplification system; evasive action; globular force field (force globe); God; hypo; Human history; jungle; King Lear; kitten; Kukulkan's city; Kukulkan's machinery; Kukulkan's probe; Kukulkan's species; Kukulkan's starship; Kulkulkan's space probe; Kukulkan's zoo; library computer; light year; Mayan (Mayas); medical kit; Native American; obelisk; pyramid; Quetzalcoatl; serpent; Shakespeare, William; signaling device; standard greeting; Starbase 21; spiral invasive course; Toltec; tranquilizer; volt; Vulcan; warp catapult effect; yellow alert; yeoman; zoo
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