Translation in progress - Traduzione in corso
(scritto dal punto di vista del mondo reale)
| "Who Mourns for Adonais?" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Traduzione Italiana: {{{TradIta}}} Traduzione letterale: {{{TradLett}}} TOS, Episodio 2x04 Numero di produzione: 60333 Prima messa in onda: 22 September 1967 Versione rimasterizzata messa in onda: 12 January 2008 | ||
| ← | 34° di 80 prodotto in TOS | → |
| ← | 31° di 80 rilasciato in TOS | → |
| ← | 53° di 80 rilasciato in TOS Rimasterizzata | → |
| ← | 31° di 756 rilasciati in tutto | → |
| Scritto da Gilbert Ralston Diretto da Marc Daniels | ||
| 3468.1 (2267) | ||
L' Enterprise viene catturata da un alieno che sostiene di essere Apollo, il dio greco del sole.
Summary
As the USS Enterprise nears the planet Pollux IV, a huge, green hand made of energy materializes in space, catching and holding the ship. Then, on scanner 57, a new image: the ghostly, laurel-wreathed head of a man. Claiming the eons have passed, he welcomes the Enterprise crew, congratulating them for leaving their plains and valleys and making a "bold venture". Among other things, this being claims familiarity with Earth, from five thousand years ago, tossing about the names of individuals alive then. Captain Kirk's repeated demands for freedom finally irritate him, and he threatens to "close his hand" and crush the ship – a threat that seems very real. This threat finally prompts Kirk to agree to visit the planet with his officers, except for Spock. Spock evidently reminds this being of Pan, who always bored him.
The landing party consists of Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Chekov and Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas. Palamas is trained in archaeology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations – all fields likely to be of some use here. There, they meet the being responsible for their capture. A being familiar with ancient Earth, and who introduces himself as Apollo. Despite his claims, McCoy's scans show him to be a "simple humanoid".
Apollo claims he and others – Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis – were a "gallant band of travelers" who visited Earth five thousand years ago. He demands to be worshiped, and in return offers a simple, pleasurable life. He reveals himself as petulant, arrogant, and accustomed to obedience. All these qualities correspond with his depictions as a god. But he controls a power that also makes him very dangerous, as the crew discover in a number of ways: phasers are fused, and individuals are injured by lightning strikes, or other acts of directed will. And, he has developed a romantic interest in Palamas.
Despite his array of tricks, the Enterprise landing party refuses to believe Apollo is a god. Aboard the ship, Spock is proceeding under the same assumption, and the crew there may be making headway: Uhura busies herself rigging a subspace bypass circuit to restore communications. And Sulu discovers a strange radiated power with no clear source.
Apollo, meanwhile, has taken Palamas away from the rest of the Enterprise crew. During a conversation, she discovers that the gods left Earth when mankind turned away from them. They returned to their home, an empty place without worshipers. But they lacked the strength to leave, and so they waited. And over the course of time, all but Apollo discorporated. Apollo claims the gods are immortal, and can't die, at least, not the way humans understand death. But even they eventually reach a point of no return; they "spread themselves upon the wind... thinner, and thinner, until only the wind remained..."
The landing party has also discovered the energy flow, but, like Sulu, they cannot isolate it. Chekov's theory is that Apollo can channel this flow of energy through his body without harm to himself. Finding the source of this energy is top priority. McCoy adds something very interesting: while generally a standard humanoid, Apollo has an extra organ in his chest that so far defies understanding. Chekov makes a key observation: as Apollo vanishes, he appears tired or pained. It seems that Apollo has a limited reservoir, and when he expends too much energy, he must retreat and recharge. Aboard ship, as Uhura and Sulu work, Spock has devised a method he hopes will penetrate the force field, at least in a few places; he proposes to generate M-rays on selected wavelengths.
On Apollo's return, the landing party attempts to goad him into attacking someone; their goal is to force him to expend his power, and weaken him so that he might be overpowered. But Palamas, who was not part of the plan, ruins it in her well-meaning attempt to save Kirk from Apollo's wrath.
The attack on Apollo's temple
Attempts to foil Apollo's plans are hampered by Palamas, who has fallen in love with the god and whom Apollo decides will be his bride. This is a problem, because Kirk's final plan requires her to spurn Apollo; if she does this, depriving him of the love and adulation he needs, it may weaken him. If she chooses Apollo, the Enterprise crew had better be prepared for a radical change in their lives.
Spock determines that the god's powers come from his temple. The Enterprise has used his technique to pierce the force field around the ship. When Kirk tells Palamas to reject Apollo, which she reluctantly does, the captain orders Spock to use the Enterprise's weapons to destroy Apollo's temple. Apollo, rejected by a mortal woman and bereft of his powers, spreads himself upon the winds to join his fellow gods. After he is gone, McCoy and Kirk regret what they had to do, but what Apollo demanded, mankind could no longer give.
Diario di bordo
- "Diario del capitano, data astrale 3468.1. Durante l'avvicinamento a Pollux IV, un pianeta situato nel sistema Beta Geminorum, l'Enterprise è stata fermata nello spazio da una forza sconosciuta."
Memorable quotes
"Am I seeing things?"
"Not unless I am, too. Captain! That thing's a... giant hand!"
- - Chekov and Sulu
"Approach me. I said approach me!"
"We're busy." (sotto voce) "Look after the girl."
"You will gather laurel leaves! Light the ancient fires! Kill a deer! Make your sacrifices to me! APOLLO HAS SPOKEN!"
- - Apollo and Kirk
"The eons have passed, and what has been written has come about. You are most welcome, my beloved children – your places await you!"
- - Apollo
"Captain Kirk; I invite you and your officers to join me. But do not bring that one – the one with the pointed ears. He is much like Pan, and Pan always bored me. No sad faces – let your hearts prepare to sing!"
"Let's go, Bones; you in good voice?"
"Jim, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"If we don't accept his gracious invitation, we'll have a crushed egg shell where this ship used to be."
- - Apollo, Kirk, and McCoy
"Insulted, Mr. Spock?"
"Insults are effective only where emotion is present."
- - Kirk and Spock
"Your fathers knew me, and your fathers' fathers – I am Apollo."
(sarcastically) "And I am the Czar of all the Russias!"
"Mr. Chekov –"
"I'm sorry, sir; I never met a god before."
"And you haven't yet."
- - Apollo, Chekov, and Kirk
"Apollo, we're willing to talk... but you'll find we don't bow down to everyone who has a bag of tricks."
"Agamemnon was one such as you, and Hercules; proud and arrogant. They defied me – until they felt my wrath."
"I would like to point out that we are quite capable of some 'wrath' ourselves."
- - Kirk, Apollo, and Scott
"To coin a phrase: 'fascinating'!"
- - McCoy, after seeing Apollo change size.
"Apollo's no god. But he might have been taken for one... once. Say, five thousand years ago, a group of highly advanced space travelers landed on Earth – somewhere around the Mediterranean."
"Yes! To the simple shepherds and tribesmen of early Greece, creatures like that would have been gods."
"Especially if they had the power to alter their form at will, and command great energy. In fact, they wouldn't have been taken for anything else."
- - Kirk, McCoy
"You will dismantle your ship for the supplies you will need; then I'll crush its empty hull. I have been too patient. I shall be patient... no longer." (vanishes)
"Captain, we've got to do something!"
"We were doing something, until our brave lady stepped in and saved us."
"Got any more bright ideas, Jim?"
"Yes, I do, Bones – one more, and it depends on the lieutenant's loyalty. If she fails us... we'd better get used to herding goats."
- - Apollo, Scott, Kirk, and McCoy
"Reject him, and we have a chance to save ourselves. Accept him... and you condemn us all to slavery – nothing less than slavery; we might never get help this far out... Give me your hand... your hand! Now feel that: Human flesh against Human flesh. We're the same. We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference, we're Human. We couldn't escape from each other even if we wanted to. That's how you do it, Lieutenant. By remembering who and what you are: a bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end. And the only thing that's truly yours is the rest of Humanity. That's where our duty lies. Do you understand me?"
- - Kirk, eloquently but firmly reminding Palamas whose side she is on
"Where's Apollo?"
"He disappeared again! Like the cat in that Russian story..."
"Don't you mean the English story – the Cheshire cat?"
"Cheshire? No, sir; Minsk, perhaps..."
"All right, all right, all right..."
- - Kirk and Chekov
"Zeus. Hermes. Hera. Aphrodite. You were right. Athena. You were right. The time is passed. There is no room for gods. Forgive me, my old friends. Take me. Take me. Take me..."
- - Apollo
"Besides, you stiff-necked thistle-head, you could have gotten yourself killed!"
(sighs) "Aye..."
- - Kirk and Scott
"Captain, some creatures can pass energy through their bodies with no harm to themselves; the electric eel on Earth. The giant dryworm of Antos IV. The fluffy-"
(dryly) "Not the whole encyclopedia, ensign."
"The captain requires complete information."
"Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim."
"Are you saying that he, Apollo, is able to channel his power from another source?"
"That would seem most likely, sir."
"Mr. Chekov, I think you've just earned your pay for the week. But where is the source of that power?"
"Number one on our list of things to do."
- - Chekov, McCoy, and Kirk
"Perhaps if I assisted?"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-two, sir."
"Then I'd better handle it."
- - Chekov and Kirk, upon the return of Carolyn Palamas
"I wish we hadn't had to do this."
"So do I. They gave us so much. The Greek civilization, much of our culture and philosophy came from a worship of those beings. In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder... just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"
- - McCoy and Kirk, on the "death" of Apollo
"I can give life or death. What else does mankind demand of its gods?"
"Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate."
- - Apollo and Kirk
"All right, mister! You want worshipers? You've got enemies! If you want us to bow down...!"
- - Kirk
Retroscena
Storia e produzione
- Il titolo è stato tratto da Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats (Adone: un'elegia per la morte di John Keats) di Percy Bysshe Shelley. La riga 415 recita "Who mourns for Adonais?" (chi porta il lutto per Adone?). L'Adonais di Shelley deriva da Adonis, una figura maschile della mitologia greca associata alla fertilità. È stato anche rilevato che il nome ricorda "Adonai", un termine ebraico che indica Dio nella tradizione giudaico-cristiana In quanto tale, Adonais, su base mitologica, potrebbe riferirsi sia alla bellezza che alla divinità della fertilità. [1] Inoltre, "Adonais" sarebbe il plurale inglese del sostantivo ebraico, in modo da conferirgli il significato di "Chi porta il lutto per gli dei?"
- Secondo lo Star Trek Compendium di Allan Asherman, un finale alternativo di questo episodio avrebbe rivelato che la Palamas era rimasta incinta di Apollo (vedi Apocrifo). Infatti, James Blish usa questo finale nel suo adattamento di questo episodio in Star Trek 7.
Costumes and special effects
- In the trailer, the phasers fired by the Enterprise at the temple are blue. In the episode itself, they are red.
- The huge hand keeping the Enterprise from moving in the beginning of this episode is, in fact, Gene Roddenberry's.
- The second season blooper reel shows Michael Forest parading very effeminately in his Apollo costume. Mr. Forest was supposedly displeased with his costume, and this was his way of showing it.
- A traveling matte was used to allow a giant Apollo to appear with the landing party in the foreground at the end of act one.
Continuity
- This is the only time in TOS that a star is both referred to as its Bayer designation and ancient name, specifically β Geminorum / Pollux.
Response
- The British band Apollo 440 sampled Kirk's line "If you wanna play God and call yourself Apollo, that's your business, but you're no God to us" as well as Lieutenant Palamas' line "You really think you're a God?" in their 1991 single Destiny.
- Jason Alexander cites this episode as his favorite of the original series, describing it as "thought-provoking, beautiful, and very sad." (TV Guide: Vol. 44, No. 34, Issue #2265, pg. 33)
Storia di produzione
- Soggetto di Gilbert Ralston, 8 marzo 1967
- Sceneggiatura, 7 aprile 1967
- Filmato tra la fine di maggio ed inizio giugno 1967
- Prima messa in onda: 22 settembre 1967
Rimasterizzazione
- La versione rimasterizzata di questo episodio è andata in onda per la prima volta in syndication nel fine settimana del 12 gennaio 2008. Conteneva nuove immagini della mano gigante nello spazio ed una versione migliorata dell'attacco coi phaser al tempio di Apollo.
Apocrifo
- Nel romanzo di Peter David, Star Trek: New Frontier, il personaggio di Mark McHenry è un discendente del figlio di Apollo e di Carolyn Palamas (che era rimasta in stato interessante durante gli avvenimenti di questo episodio), e possiede alcuni poteri di suo padre.
Video and DVD releases
- Original US Betamax release: 1986
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 18, catalog number VHR 2343, release date unknown
- US VHS release: 15 April 1994
- UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.2, 24 February 1997
- Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 17, 24 October 2000
- As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection
Link e riferimenti
Interpreti
- William Shatner nel ruolo del capitano Kirk
Altri interpreti
- Leonard Nimoy nel ruolo del signor Spock
- e
- DeForest Kelley nel ruolo del dottor McCoy
Attori ospiti
- Michael Forest nel ruolo di Apollo
- Leslie Parrish nel ruolo di Carolyn Palamas
Con la partecipazione di
- James Doohan nel ruolo di Scott
- George Takei nel ruolo di Sulu
- Nichelle Nichols nel ruolo di Uhura
- Walter Koenig nel ruolo di Chekov
- John Winston nel ruolo del tenente Kyle
Attori non accreditati
- William Blackburn nel ruolo di Hadley
- Roger Holloway nel ruolo di Roger Lemli
- Eddie Paskey nel ruolo di Leslie
Controfigure
- Jay Jones nel ruolo della controfigura di James Doohan
References
A&A officer; Agamemnon; ancient civilizations; anthropology; Antos IV; Aphrodite; Apollo's temple; appendage; archaeology; Athena; Artemis; artisan; atmospheric disturbance; bacteria; Beta Geminorum system; bow; cartographic detail; cartographic section; cartographic standard; Cassandra; Cheshire Cat; communications system; class M type; coffee; culture; Daphne; deer; Earth; eggshell; electric eel; encyclopedia; English; energy; evolution; flock; force field; giant dryworm; goat; God; Golden Age; Greece; Greek gods; GSC; Hector; Hera; Hercules; herd; intelligent life; laurel; Leto; lyre; m-rays; Mediterranean; Minsk; Mount Olympus (Olympus); myth; mythology; neural damage; nitrogen; nuclear electronics; Odysseus; Olympian; organ; oxygen; Pan; percentages; phaser bank; philosophy; Pollux IV; Pollux V; pulse rate; relic; Russia; Russian; Saracen; scientist; sheep; shepherd; slavery; social development; space normal; standard orbit; Starbase 12; subspace bypass circuit; tractor beam; tribesman; tsar; wine; Zeus
| Precedente episodio prodotto: "Friday's Child" |
Star Trek: Serie Classica Stagione 2 |
Prossimo episodio prodotto: "Amok Time" |
| Precedente episodio trasmesso: "Amok Time" |
Prossimo episodio trasmesso: "The Changeling" | |
| Precedente episodio rimasterizzato trasmesso: "Day of the Dove" |
TOS Rimasterizzata | Prossimo episodio rimasterizzato trasmesso: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" |
- ↑ Literary Encyclopedia: Adonais Accessed: 2 December 2007.