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TOS episode #13 - The Conscience of the King

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 3:16 pm    Post subject: TOS episode #13 - The Conscience of the King Reply with quote

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Star Trek TOS - 13 - The Conscience of the King - Preview


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THE CONSCIENCE OF THE KING (1st season; episode #13)
Directed by Gerd Oswald / writer: Barry Trivers Like a Star @ heaven Air Date: 12/08/66



This suspenseful drama in the future is an example of a Star Trek episode where Capt. Kirk temporarily and voluntarily abandons his usual mission and goes off on a personal vendetta.

This didn't happen too often; see also the same season's Dagger of the Mind and a later season's Obsession.

This episode is more similar to Obsession, because it's very personal in this one. On the surface it may seem trivial, because larger questions concerning the galaxy and the Federation are placed aside, but we become fairly involved in Kirk's private quest.



The episode is basically a mystery. Is a traveling Shakespearean actor (Arnold Moss) just what he seems to be, or is he really the ex-governor of a failed colony where, 20 years earlier, 4,000 people had been put to death on his orders?

Kirk, as a young boy, was one the survivors of the massacre and one of the very few people to have seen 'Kodos the Executioner' in person. We are left guessing for most of the episode. Will this turn out to be a false quest, a morality tale on the pitfalls of revenge? Or will the suspect truly be revealed as a mass murderer, causing Kirk to send him into oblivion with a shot from his phaser?



This episode also has an interesting set design for a futuristic house on another planet, and a nice rendition of a song 'Beyond Antares' by Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).

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I would think guest star Moss had a field day with his role in this one. His specialty in real life was Shakespearean plays. He acts out Macbeth, the story of which carries eerie parallels to the character he plays in this episode, and also Hamlet, which parallels scenes in the actual episode.

His voice is deep, rich, and almost hypnotic, and his confrontation scene with Kirk as they parry verbally remains one of the better dramatic scenes during this Trek season. The first season emphasized serious and somber drama, more so than in the later seasons. Barbara Anderson, as his daughter, also holds her own in an eerily beautiful role.


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__ The Conscience Of The King Star Trek Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition Extras


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[size=22The episode is filled with nice touches, such as the very brief one when Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) passes Anderson's character in the turbolift, and they exchange glances.

Whitney quietly left the series at this point — so this brief scene was her silent farewell. It's also telling that Spock, for all his usual annoyance with McCoy, runs to him when he notices the captain behaving in an edgy, unpredictable manner. There's a key scene with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy which sums up this trinity's relationship. They gain strength & wisdom from each other — and in certain rare situations, Spock & McCoy need to team up — not against Kirk but to aid him.



Finally, we have crewman Riley (Bruce Hyde) back again in his second and last appearance (after The Naked Time). It's an ironic form of justice that Riley ends up demoted to the lower decks in the engine room, where he caused all that trouble in his previous appearance. A rather haunting conclusion caps this foray into space intrigue.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10. Some SPOILERS below:



Extra Trek Trivia: The title of this episode is from Hamlet, Act II, Scene II. The planet in the early scenes of this episode is simply named Q (no relation to the Q character on TNG). The background music during the cocktail party in an early scene is a lounge version of the Star Trek theme.[/size]

Star Trek-Trailer TOS-season 1 episode 12-the conscience of the king


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BoG
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Last edited by Bogmeister on Mon May 20, 2019 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in the 70s, Gene Roddenberry was a guest speaker at my college.

He said that he never felt that TCOTK really worked as an episode, it just somehow did not come together in his opinion to be what it should have been.

Barbara Anderson was one of the most beautiful & talented guest stars that ever appeared on the show.
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

She might have been but I'd rather have Yeoman Rand myself to be honest with you!
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I hate the fact that poor Grace Lee Whitney was forced to wear that horrible beehive wig! Imagine how much better Yeoman Rand would have looked with the soft hairstyle she had in the Outer Limits episode Controlled Experiment.

You know, blond hair that moved around, got in front of her eyes, and had to be brushed back with one hand in the classic "look at me" gesture that ladies use to get attention. Wink

I did a little Photoshopping and created a picture to show what I mean.





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Never minded the Bee hive 'do on beautiful Grace.

Hey, always worked for the gals in Gary Larson's hilarious,and much missed, Farside cartoons.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Think of how beautiful women use the way their hair falls around their faces and across their cheeks to express different moods.

~ Whipping it back away from their face to show how angry the are.

~ Letting it fall over one eye while they tilt their head forward and give you that come-hither look.

~ Taking both hands and pulling up and behind their heads while they smile provocatively and arch their backs to show off their . . . cheekbones.

~ And the simple and classic gesture, the four-fingered sweep on one side to hook their hair behind their ear.

Poor Janice's Conehead beehive didn't allow her to do ANY of those! Sad

YouTube says the video below shows the last appearance of Janice on the series, and it also happens to be the unintentionally funny scene with Barbara Anderson in that Flinstone's Mink Miniskirt! It doesn't exactly show off her figure the way Janice's uniform does! Laughing


________ Last appearance of Janice Rand in TOS


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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat May 04, 2019 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That must have been the day that Kirk thought about getting Yeoman Rand reassigned to another ship or starbase!!!
JB
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trivia for "The Conscience of The King,'' December 8, 1966.

Writer Barry Trivers early story treatment was different from the what ended up on screen for this episode.

The plot had Jim Kirk witness a slaughter that took place on Earth when he was a boy.
Earth had been invaded by an army of fierce marauders that annihilated everything in their path.

Led by Karidian (That was Trivers name for him at this point there was no Kodos), these marauders would murder Area Commander Kirk who was the Governor of a Province and Jim Kirk's father.

ST:TOS Producer Gene Roddenberry rejected this horrific view of a future Earth. He also did not like that Karidian and his marauders were based upon Hitler and his Nazi forces.

Cut Scene : Lenore resting in bed in Sickbay after her mental and emotional breakdown. This idea would also be used for Dr.Daystrom after his breakdown on the excellent second episode "The Ultimate Computer."

Cut from script : Scene where Yeoman rand interrupts Kirk & Lenore on the ship's Observation Deck in order to bring Kirk a report. In this episode they refer to it as the Flight Deck and not the Hanger Deck as it would alter be routinely called.

Only episode to show the Observation Deck. The Observation Deck was a redress of the Romulan Bridge from "Balance Of Terror."

The Enterprise's theater where the play takes place is a revamp of the Engineering set.

The city seen in the background out of Thomas Leighton's house window was originally created as the city during Captain Pike & Vinna's picnic from "The Cage" pilot.

The house window was originally seen in the Delta Vega lithium cracking station from the second ST pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

Guest star Barbara Anderson shares the record with Joan Collins & Ricardo Montalban for the most costumes worn by a guest star on a single episode.
Barbara had six costume changes and she looked "Marvelous" as Billy Crystal's Fernando would say.

Captain Kirk refers to Kevin Riley as a lieutenant in the "Star Service." That term would be replaced by the name Star Fleet.

This was the only episode to depict the Enterprise as recreating the conditions of nighttime on board the star ship via lighting.
It is done to create a sense of normal rhythms and routine for humans just as they would experience on Earth.

This episode had the lowest bill for FX work for any episode on the series.

Grace Lee Whitney was devastated at the time to be let go from the show.

Some fans of the show did not care for this episode as it lacked action while others enjoyed its intellectual and emotional aspects.

Yeoman Rand was to have appeared in the audience as the Enterprise crew watched the play in the ship's theater.

Arnold Moss was one awesome actor in anything that I saw him perform in during his career. Even in supporting & smaller roles he just grabs your attention.

It was not only his background as a Shakespearean actor but his powerful & resonate voice that makes you sit up and take notice of this gentleman.

Beautiful Barbara Anderson was 20 years old when she appeared on this episode.
Barbara had performed Shakespeare as a teenager and could handle the role of Lenore easily.

You couldn't say that for too many twenty year old actresses.

Arnold Moss & Barbara Anderson would both go on to guest star on my favorite TV western series "Laredo" that ran from 1965~'67.

Moss would guest star as a deadly French officer that the Texas Rangers must prevent from executing a Mexican freedom fighter on the episode "Coup de Grace".

Coincidentally two more ST:TOS guest stars would also guest star on that same episode.
John Hoyt who played the Enterprise's Chief Medical Doctor Dr. Phillip Boyce on the very first Star Trek pilot "The Cage."

Barbara Luna was the other guest star on that Laredo episode.
Barbara had played Lt. Marlena Moreau on "Mirror Mirror.

Barbara Anderson would guest star on the Laredo episode "The Other Cheek."

This was not particularly one of my favorite episodes of ST:TOS when I first saw it as a teenager.

Over the years I have come to appreciate it much more with its powerful themes of revenge versus justice, guilt, love lost and tragedy and madness.

Of course everyone is correct to point out that there is a humongous technical flaw in Kirk's pursuit of establishing Kardian's real identity as Kodos The Executioner.

Kodos Federation medical records would list his DNA.

By Star Trek's era of the 23rd century such records and samples would be easily available. As well as high tech tools to test for it.

So obtaining anything that Kardian touched, drank out of, hair brush samples and so forth could readily be matched to Kodos medical records and reveal that Karidian is indeed a hiding Kodos.

There would also have been extensive video footage of Kodos over the course of his life from school to his career service, weddings, birthdays and other such events.

Computer facial recognition would easily be able to identify Kardian as Kodos.

Anyone wonder just why Kodos would decide to escape from justice and go undercover as an actor?!

We see in this episode that Karidian and his acting troupe travel all over the galaxy and perform in front of many audiences on different planets.

Kodos isn't exactly going under the radar with this particular guise. Did he ever play at a Federation Star Base?

And sure enough it is someone that was on Tarsus IV during Kodos rule & slaughter, Dr.Thomas Leighton, who recognizes Karidian as Kodos.

Did Kodos subconsciously wish to be discovered, caught and brought to trial?

Technical errors aside, this remains a powerful and poignant episode.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Of course everyone is correct to point out that there is a humongous technical flaw in Kirk's pursuit of establishing Kardian's real identity as Kodos The Executioner.

Kodos Federation medical records would list his DNA.

By Star Trek's era of the 23rd century such records and samples would be easily available. As well as high tech tools to test for it.

So obtaining anything that Karidian touched, drank out of, hair brush samples and so forth could readily be matched to Kodos medical records and reveal that Karidian is indeed a hiding Kodos.

It's easy to call it a "technical flaw" in hindsight, but remember that the episode was made in 1966, when DNA profiling didn't yet exist. The first use of DNA evidence in criminal investigation occurred in 1985.

Science fiction writers try to predict future technologies, but they're not psychic!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

With all due respect to your wonderful and informative post, Pow, Scotpen's comment highlights an important point.

Stories like this one made perfect sense when they were presented to 1960s audiences. But we're sit here now in the 21st Century, typing posts of a message board with our advanced devices which would have amazed the TOS audience, long before the internet even existed! Shocked

Consider, for example the sound of the soothing voice of Alexa — which we can all converse with on our phones and in our homes — compared to the horribly grating voice of the Enterprise computer, created by Majel Barrett, apparently delivered by holding her nose and speaking into a rusty tin can! Shocked

As scotpens said, "Science fiction writers try to predict future technologies, but they're not psychic!"

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with yours & Scotpen's points, Bud.

Even the most visionary writers cannot foresee how the future can unfold in reality.

I merely pointed out how such a plot would not work today based upon our science of today and how much more sophisticated it'll be by the 23rd century. If humans still exist.

I should have made that clear in my writing.

I do still have to submit that the script is flawed based upon science which did exist even back in 1966.

Fingerprints. Kodos would be traceable as being Kardian by fingerprinting.

Also, when Kirk is viewing the photos side-by-side of Kodos & Kardian in the Briefing Room, we clearly see that it is the marvelous actor Arnold Moss posing in both photos.

Cosmetic surgery had existed for quite some time back in 1966 when this episode was shot.

So it is reasonable to assume that it will continue to exist by the 23rd century and it'll advance significantly along the way.

Why would Kodos not subject himself to such a procedure or series of procedures in order to hide his true identity?

I know, I know, then we wouldn't have a story and it is indeed an entertaining episode.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nitpicker's Guide

This whole business of only nine witnesses to the massacre of four thousand colonists deserves scrutiny. There were four thousand other colonists who lived. None of them saw Kodos?

He must have been an extreme recluse. In essence, he was the mayor of a small town, population eight thousand. Normally, everybody knows the mayor in a town that size.

Along the same lines, if the computer records have a picture and a voiceprint, why does the prosecution need eyewitnesses?

Mr. Spock declines a drink offered to him by Dr. McCoy. Spock says that his ancestors were spared the effects of alcohol.
Bones replies that must be the reason they were conquered.

In the episode "The Immunity Syndrome" Spock emphatically says that Vulcans have never been conquered.

Mr. Spock gives the computer a list of names and then orders the computer to correlate any past episode that they all have in common. Those named in the list are: James Kirk, Thomas Leighton, Kevin Riley, and Anton Karidian.

It lists that all were present at the massacre on Tarsus IV.

It shouldn't have, because Anton Karidian didn't exist during the massacre. Only Kodos did.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The city seen outside the window is the Phoenix AZ. painting from the first pilot. The stage compartment is a redress of the engine room, it has the same curved ceiling.

It is embarrassingly easy for people to get their hands on phaers on the Enterprise. One in the cabin on overload (they don't lock their compartments when they leave?), and Riley has one when he goes hunting. Riley being a crew member can conceivably get his hands on one, but how did Lenor get one? Don't they lock these things up in a ship's armory until needed?

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NBC press release, November 15, 1966:

The USS Enterprises provides passage for a stranded troupe of Shakespearean actors, one of who plots the murder of Captain Kirk (William Shatner), in "The Conscience of the King" on the NBC Television Network colorcast of Star Trek on Dec. 8....

Although Kirk suspects that actor Anton Karidian (Arnold Moss) is actually a former notorious rebel leader, long-sought by authorities but now believed dead, there is insufficient proof to make an arrest.

Meanwhile, Karidian's beautiful actress-daughter Lenore (Barbara Anderson) offers a special performance of Hamlet aboard ship as an expression of gratitude for being rescued. Kirk agrees, unaware he is setting the stage for a tragedy not in the script.

Thoughts: Well I hardly would define Kodos the Executioner as a "notorious rebel leader." Makes the gent almost sound like he's a decent person rebelling against some evil regime.

They did use the word "notorious" I admit. However, in our planet's long history of rebellions we know full well that certain rebel individuals, or groups, while fighting on the side for justice could be as ruthless & bloody as their oppressors.

Was this press release indicating that Kodos was rebelling against the authority of the Federation of Planets?
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The city seen outside the window is the Phoenix AZ. painting from the first pilot.

According to the dialogue in "The Cage," the painting depicts Capt. Pike's home town of Mojave. We assume it's somewhere in the southwest American desert, though the exact location isn't given. (There's a real unincorporated community of Mojave in California's Kern County, located 50 miles east of Bakersfield and 100 miles north of Los Angeles.)
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