Gorn – theLogBook.com Episode Guides

Arena

By theLogBook.com
January 19, 1967

Stardate 3045.6: Arriving at a Federation planet at the request of a starbase director, the Enterprise finds a devastated world with only one survivor, who reveals that any summons Kirk received to visit the planet must have been a trap. The Enterprise locates and pursues an alien vessel right past the borders of the apparently omnipotent Metrons, who halt the ensuing battle and force Kirk and the captain of the other vessel – a huge, reptilian Gorn – to settle their differences in hand-to-hand combat…a prospect which immediately leaves Kirk at a disadvantage. Should he lose, the crew of the Enterprise will be destroyed.

teleplay by Gene L. Coon
from a story by Frederic Brown
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Jerry Ayres (O’Herlihy), Grant Woods (Kelowitz), Tom Troupe (Lt. Harold), James Farley (Lang), Carole Shelyne (Metron), Sean Kenney (DePaul)

Notes: This episode was already in pre-production by the time the producers realized that it closely paralleled Frederic Brown’s novel “Enemy Mine”; they offered him screen credit and payment to ensure that their use of the story was above-board, and he happily accepted. “Enemy Mine” itself was later adapted into a movie.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

In A Mirror Darkly Part II

By theLogBook.com
April 29, 2005

Archer’s gambit to salvage a ship from a hundred years in the future works as he watches the destruction of the Enterprise from the bridge of the U.S.S. Defiant. Liberating the Defiant from the clutches of the Tholians is no easy matter, however, and even once the ship is free from their asteroid salvage yard, Archer discovers an unwelcome passenger aboard. With the most advanced ship in the fleet, Archer experiences delusions of grandeur and power, but after hearing the service record of the Captain Archer who lived in the alternate universe from which the Defiant came, he begins to experience other delusions as well. The Empire’s top brass proves incapable of removing Archer or his mighty new ship, and an uprising among the enslaved Vulcans proves no more effective. But Hoshi, lusting for a power beyond what she can achieve as the “captain’s woman,” may just succeed where Archer’s other opponents have failed…

teleplay by Michael Sussman
story by Manny Coto
directed by Marvin V. Rush
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Gary Graham (Soval), Gregory Itzin (Admiral Black), Derek Magyar (Kelby), John Mahon (Admiral Gardner), Pat Healy (Alien), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

Notes: This episode marked the first appearance of the Gorn since the original Star Trek episode Arena; there were some notable physical differences, with some subtle touches lost in the rubber suit-to-CGI transition, but those can probably be chalked up to evolutionary differences between “our” Star Trek universe and the Mirror universe. The Defiant’s service records of the 22nd century Enterprise crew note that Archer was considered that century’s pioneering explorer and has even had planets named after him (possibly including Archer IV from Yesterday’s Enterprise), and also credits Hoshi Sato, in her late 30s, with the development of the Linguacode translation matrix first mentioned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Guest star Gregory Itzin appeared with Scott Bakula once before in a 1993 episode of Quantum Leap; he has also appeared in Max Headroom, twice (as different characters) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and in the Critical Care episode of Star Trek: Voyager. He also appeared alongside classic Trek alumnus George “Sulu” Takei in the TV movie DC 9/11: Time Of Crisis, in which Itzin portrayed Attorney General John Ashcroft to Takei’s Norman Mineta.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Season 2 Star Trek Strange New Worlds

Hegemony

By theLogBook.com
August 10, 2023

Stardate 2344.2: As the U.S.S. Cayuga checks in on Parnassus Beta, a human colony outside of Federation space, Captain Batel continues her long-distance relationship with Captain Pike via subspace communication, which is suddenly cut off with the arrival of a crash-landing Starfleet shuttlecraft, followed closely by an enormous Gorn ship. By the time Enterprise responds to the Cayuga‘s distress signal, the Cayuga has been reduced to a field of debris orbiting Parnassus Beta. Worse still, the Gorn claim that the colony is in their territory, and any attempt to rescue either colonists or any survivors from the Cayuga will be seen as an act of war. Even with Admiral April’s explicit orders to avoid initiating hostilities, Pike and a small, hand-picked team go to the surface, hiding their shuttlecraft from detection by drifting through the Cayuga‘s debris. They find the Gorn present in great numbers, but also a contingent of surviving colonists and Cayuga crew members, including Captain Batel. Among the survivors is Lt. Montgomery Scott, the sole survivor of the last Starfleet ship attacked by the Gorn before attacking Parnassus Beta. His ingenuity provides what could be some tactical advantages, assuming he and the others survive long enough to eliminate the Gorn’s transporter scattering field and return to the Enterprise alive. Aboard the Enterprise, Pelia and Uhura devise a plan to dismantle the Gorn’s scattering field and rescue the humans on the surface, but when it happens, it will leave no doubt that Starfleet has taken a more aggressive posture and possibly start a war. The plan is a success, though the Gorn beam the colonists – including several of the Enterprise landing party – to their ship instead, attacking the Enterprise immediately afterward. As the crew awaits Pike’s orders, Captain Batel is put into stasis in sick bay, having been implanted with fast-hatching Gorn eggs in the Gorn’s attack on the planet.

written by Henry Alonso Myers
directed by Maja Vrvilo
music by Nami Melumad
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds main theme by Jeff Russo

Cast: Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Ethan Peck (Lt. Spock), Jess Bush (Nurse Christine Chapel), Christina Chong (Lt. La’an Noonien Singh), Celia Rose Gooding (Ensign Uhura), Melissa Navia (Lt. Erica Ortegas), Babs Olusanmokun (Dr. M’Benga), Rebecca Romijn (Commander Una Chin-Riley), Martin Quinn (Lt. Scott), Adrian Holmes (Admiral Robert April), Melanie Scrofano (Captain Batel), Dan Jeannotte (Lt. Sam Kirk), Carol Kane (Commander Pelia), Rong Fu (Jenna Mitchell), Matt Jensen (Ensign Appel), Alex Kapp (USS Enterprise/Cayuga Computer), strongNoah Lamanna (Chief Jay), Emeka Menakaya (Tiko), Simon Northwood (Rak)

Notes: Still a mere lieutenant in a room full of lieutenants, this is Scotty’s first appearance, chronologically speaking, in the prime Star Trek timeline; he’s also a former student of Pelia’s (though maybe it’s a good idea to look past his transcript). This is the first time an actual Scottish actor has played the role of Scotty. Since this season-ending cliffhanger premiered in the midst of a combined strike of the Writers’ Guild of America and the Screen Actors’ Guild, the ensuing wait for part two of the story would prove to be lengthy.