Arena (episode)

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

"Arena"
TOS, Episode 1x19
Production number: 6149-19
First aired: 19 January 1967
Remastered aired: 21 October 2006
←  20th of 80 produced in TOS  →
←  18th of 80 released in TOS  →
←  7th of 80 released in TOS-R  →
←  18th of 911 released in all  →
Teleplay by	Gene L. Coon
Story by	Fredric Brown
Directed by	Joseph Pevney
In-universe date	←  3045.6 (2267)  →

Kirk battles an alien captain who destroyed a Federation outpost.

Summary

Teaser

Captain Kirk and a landing party – Spock, Dr. McCoy, O'Herlihy, Kelowitz, and Lang – beam down to the Federation observation outpost on Cestus III at the invitation of its commander, Commodore Travers, who has received quite the reputation for setting a fine table with his personal head chef. When the away team arrives, they discover that the invitation is a ruse and the colony has been destroyed.

Act One

After the landing party takes cover and Kirk declares full alert, they discover a survivor in the ruins, Lieutenant Harold. Spock quickly locates the presence of other lifeforms nearby but no colony survivors. His tricorder reads them as cold-blooded creatures but definitely not Human. O'Herlihy scouts them out but is immediately disintegrated by an alien weapon as the landing party is bombarded by a massive shelling attack.

"Captain, I see something…!"

At the same time, the USS Enterprise comes under attack in orbit by an unidentified starship. With her deflector screens up, the Enterprise cannot beam up the landing party. Kirk orders Lieutenant Sulu to return fire with the phaser banks, but it has little effect as the alien ship has screens up as well. Kirk orders the use of photon torpedoes, but the torpedoes are ineffective, as the alien is too far away even for visual contact. The captain orders Sulu to take whatever action is necessary to protect the Enterprise, be it leaving orbit or engaging maximum warp. Sulu opts for the former and takes the ship away from Cestus III.

Kirk makes his way to the colony's arsenal, avoiding large blasts from the unidentified attackers, and retrieves a grenade launcher. Spock and Kelowitz rendezvous with him as the first officer reports that the enemy troops are moving towards their location. Kelowitz reports that Lang has been killed and gives Kirk his best guess as to where they have moved, and Kirk launches the grenade in that direction. The tactic proves successful as the aliens begin to decamp back to their vessel, allowing Sulu to return with the Enterprise and retrieve the landing party and quickly set a pursuit course of the attacking ship.

In sickbay, Harold tells Kirk and Spock of the attack on the colony. The aliens had knocked out their phasers with their first salvo, leaving the colony defenseless, and confirms Kirk's earlier theory that the aliens had faked the message from the colony diverting the Enterprise to Cestus III in an attempt to destroy the Enterprise, the only protection in that part of the Federation. Such a move, a prelude to invasion, suggests the correct course: overtake and destroy the enemy before he can return to his home base and report. The captain orders the ship to battle stations and to warp 6 to overtake the aliens. "Red alert. I repeat, red alert. This is no drill," Kirk announces to the crew through the Enterprise's intercom. "This is no drill."

Act Two

"We are the Metrons."

The aliens, aware that the Enterprise is in pursuit, jump to warp 6 as well. Kirk orders warp 7 engaged, drawing concern from Spock and chief engineer Scott that a sustained warp 7 speed would be hazardous to the Enterprise's warp engines. Spock argues against destroying the enemy vessel on the basis of respect for sentient life. Kirk disagrees; his opinion is that a crime has been committed and the perpetrators must be punished. Sulu reports that the aliens have moved to warp 7, as well. Kirk, mulling over his options, orders the ship to accelerate to warp 8 and have all weapons departments at battle ready.

Closing at warp 8, the Enterprise records a scanning beam from an uncharted solar system at 2466 PM. The alien is not approaching this system; it appears that a third party is "curious" about the Enterprise. The alien abruptly begins to slow, going quickly to sublight speed until finally stopping dead in space. Kirk closes for the kill, but the Enterprise is soon slowed to sublight, as well, stopped dead like the alien with all power to the engines and weapons simply cut off.

The architects of this reveal themselves: the Metrons, an advanced race who regard intrusion into their space for the purpose of conflict as entirely unacceptable. They remove Kirk from the Enterprise and the Gorn captain from the alien vessel and deposit both of them on a suitably prepared world. From there, they will settle their differences, using strength and ingenuity. The winner and his ship will be free to go; the loser and his ship will be destroyed.

Act Three

The Gorn captain is reptilian, large, and very strong – but quite slow. Kirk is able to evade him initially, but knows he can't evade him indefinitely. He'll have to find a way to defeat an opponent who is far stronger and tougher.

Kirk fighting the Gorn captain

The key may lie in a comment the Metron made, that the prepared environment contains elements suitable for fabricating weapons. Attack and evasion continue for some time, with Kirk narrowly evading death at the Gorn's claws. Back on the Enterprise, the crew is unable to restore power to the engines and the weapons and remains immobilized. The Metrons reestablish communications and inform the crew that Kirk is losing the battle. In view of his impending death, they allow the crew to watch what is happening on the viewscreen.

The Gorn finally communicates: it proposes that Kirk cease trying to evade him, and promises in exchange to be merciful and quick. Kirk compares this offer to the "mercy" that was shown to the Humans at Cestus III; this enrages the Gorn, who tells Kirk his people regard Cestus III as part of their space. From the Gorn perspective, they were repelling an invading force. Watching from the bridge (for the Metrons are now allowing this), McCoy posits that it is perhaps they who are in the wrong. Spock agrees it is possible.

Act Four

File:McCoy, Scotty, Spock, and Uhura watch Kirk.jpg

"If there were only some way we could contact him."
"Yes, indeed, doctor. If only there were…"

As the conflict continues, Kirk remembers an old formula: gunpowder. Using sulfur, coal, potassium nitrate, diamonds, and a bamboo-like plant, Kirk constructs a makeshift cannon. Spock, impressed by the captain's ingenuity, posits that Kirk might be successful if he can complete construction of the cannon before the Gorn closes in for the kill. Moments from a fatal attack, Kirk rips up his own uniform to make a fuse and uses the metallic recording-translating device provided by the Metrons to spark the coal, allowing Kirk to touch off his crude device, which incapacitates the Gorn.

File:Gorn Kirk cannon.jpg

Kirk fires his makeshift cannon

Kirk has won the contest but stops short of delivering the fatal stroke to the Gorn captain. He yells out loud to the unseen Metrons that he won't kill him and that they will have to find their entertainment elsewhere. The Gorn suddenly disappears, and the Metron appears, expressing surprise: Their analysis did not prepare them for Kirk's demonstration of mercy towards his helpless opponent. The Metron informs Kirk that he is 1,500 Earth years old and has returned the Gorn to his ship. The Metron will destroy him for Kirk, if he so chooses. Kirk declines and claims that the Federation and the Gorn can talk their dispute over and perhaps reach an agreement. This also impresses the Metron and theorizes that although Humanity is still half-savage, perhaps in several thousand years it will be civilized enough to be of further interest to the Metrons. Kirk is returned to the Enterprise, where he discovers that the ship has been relocated five hundred parsecs away from the Metron solar system.

Talking over the incident with the Gorn captain and the Metrons with Spock, Kirk tells his first officer that "We're a most promising species, Mr. Spock, as far as predators go," when Spock asks what happened after Kirk fired off his cannon. Spock remarks that he frequently had his doubts about that, but Kirk informs him that in a thousand years or so, Humanity will be able to prove it to the Metrons. "A thousand years, captain?," Spock inquires. "Well, that gives us a little time," Kirk replies as the Enterprise heads back to Cestus III.

Log entries

"Captain's log, stardate 3045.6. The Enterprise has responded to a call from Earth observation outpost on Cestus III. On landing, we have discovered that the outpost has been destroyed."

• "Captain's log, supplement. We have beamed back to the Enterprise and immediately set out in pursuit of the alien vessel. It appears to be headed towards a largely unexplored section of the galaxy."

• "Captain's log, stardate 3046.2. We are in hot pursuit of the alien vessel which destroyed the Earth outpost on Cestus III."

• "The Enterprise is dead in space, stopped cold during her pursuit of an alien raider by mysterious forces… and I have been somehow whisked off the bridge and placed on the surface of an asteroid, facing the captain of the alien ship. Weaponless, I face the creature the Metrons called a Gorn: large, reptilian. Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles. I must fight to remember that this is an intelligent, highly advanced individual, the captain of a starship like myself. Undoubtedly, a dangerously clever opponent."

• "This is Captain James Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Whoever finds this, please get it to Starfleet Command. I'm engaged in personal combat with a creature apparently called a Gorn. He's immensely strong. Already, he has withstood attacks from me that would have killed a Human being. Fortunately, though strong, he is not agile. The agility – and I hope the cleverness – is mine."

• "The Metrons, the creatures that sent us both here, said that the surface of the planet provides the raw material… to construct weapons. There's very little here – scrub brush, rocks, an abundance of mineral deposits, but no weapons in the conventional sense. Still, I need to find one; bare-handed against the Gorn, I have no chance."

• "A large deposit of diamonds on the surface. Perhaps the hardest substance known in the universe. Beautifully crystallized and pointed, but too small to be useful as a weapon. An incredible fortune in stones, yet I would trade them all for a hand phaser or a good, solid club. Yet, the Metrons said there would be weapons… if I could find them. Where? What kind?"

• "This may be my last entry. I am almost exhausted. Unless I find the weapon the Metron mentioned, I have very little time left. Native sulfur, diamonds… This place is a mineralogist's dream! Yet… there is something about sulfur… something very old. Something… if only I could remember."

Memorable quotes

"Doctor, you are a sensualist."
"You bet your pointed ears I am."

- Spock and McCoy, on the prospect of eating non-reconstituted food

"Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles."

- Kirk, on seeing the Gorn captain

"This place is a mineralogist's dream."

- Kirk, describing the planet

"We appeal to you in the name of civilization! Put a stop to this!"
"Your violent intent and actions demonstrate that you are not civilized."

- McCoy and a Metron, after the Metron announces that Kirk is losing the battle

"I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."

- Gorn captain, attempting to persuade Kirk to surrender

"Can he do it?"
"If he has the time, Doctor. If he has the time."

- McCoy and Spock, discussing Kirk's chances of firing off the cannon

"By sparing your helpless enemy who surely would have destroyed you, you demonstrated the advanced trait of mercy. Something we hardly expected."

- Metron, to Kirk

"You are still half savage. But there is hope."

- Metron's parting words to Kirk

"We're a most promising species, Mister Spock, as predators go. Did you know that?"
"I've frequently had my doubts."
"I don't. Not anymore."

- Kirk and Spock

Background information

Production timeline

• "Arena" is published in the June 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction magazine
• Story outline by Gene L. Coon: 10 October 1966
• First draft teleplay by Coon: 13 October 1966
• Second draft teleplay: 18 October 1966
• Final draft teleplay: 28 October 1966
• Revised final draft teleplay: 3 November 1966
• Additional revisions: 4 November 1966, 7 November 1966, 8 November 1966, 10 November 1966, 15 November 1966
• Filmed: 8 November 1966 – 15 November 1966
  • Day 1 – 8 November 1966, Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge
  • Day 2 – 9 November 1966, Wednesday – Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park: Ext. Planetoid surface
  • Day 3 – 10 November 1966, Thursday – Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park: Ext. Planetoid surface
  • Day 4 – 11 November 1966, Friday – Fortress set near Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park: Ext. Cestus III surface
  • Day 5 – 14 November 1966, Monday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge
  • Day 6 – 15 November 1966, Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge, Kirk's quarters, Sickbay, Transporter room
• Original airdate: 19 January 1967
• Rerun airdate: 6 July 1967
• First UK airdate: 15 November 1969

Script

• This teleplay was credited to an original story by Fredric Brown, also titled "Arena", that was first published in 1944 on the pages of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, though Robert Justman and Herb Solow wrote in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ^{[page number? • edit]} that Gene L. Coon wrote his script as an original (over the course of a weekend), unaware of Brown's story, and only sought permission to "adapt" the story after the slight similarities were pointed out to him. Brown was more than happy to hear that Star Trek decided to use one of his stories and probably never found out the real plot behind it.
• The plot also bears some similarity to the Outer Limits episode "Fun and Games" (1964), in which advanced aliens known as Anderrans "electro-transport" Humans and other intelligent beings to do battle with one another on the moon known as "Arena". The Anderrans see Humanity as violent, and the losers of the battles are supposed to forfeit the lives of all the inhabitants of their own planet, and they are only allowed to use primitive technology.
• In his final speech, the Metron informs Kirk that because he demonstrated mercy, he will not be destroyed. Initially, they said they planned to destroy the loser, "in the interests of peace". In Coon's script, in dialogue not aired, the Metron admits that they had, all along, planned to actually destroy the ship of the winner of the personal combat, because that race would represent the greater danger to them. James Blish preserves this disclosure in his novelization in Star Trek 2.

Production

• This was the first episode directed by Joseph Pevney, brought in by producer Gene Coon. Pevney was known for his fast work, and finished this episode – originally expected to be shot in seven days (one day extra) – in six days, remaining on schedule, for which he received a $500 bonus (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ^{[page number? • edit]}, These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One ^{[page number? • edit]}).
• The scenes on the planet surface were filmed at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, California, the same location used for "Shore Leave", "Friday's Child" and several other Star Trek productions.
• A piece of crinkled "stone" wall, which was black aluminum foil, was placed at the top of the frame to hide the California landscape with homes that would have otherwise been seen in one very wide shot of the fort. The remastered version of the episode corrects this error by rendering a CGI landscape in place of the foil.

Props and costumes

• Cestus III was a globe of the Earth (previously seen in "Miri"), printed backwards and tinted a hazy orange.
• The recording-translating device Kirk and the Gorn were given later appeared in "Metamorphosis" as a universal translator.
• Wah Chang designed and built the Gorn suit; its clothing was designed by William Ware Theiss. Actually, two suits were made, worn by stuntmen Bobby Clark and Gary Combs. Also, William Blackburn wore the Gorn head for close-ups. The suit had air vents to keep the wearer from becoming overheated. (Star Trek: Lost Scenes) After production finished on the episode, the two Gorn costumes were placed in Robert Justman's office (one dressed up to look like a girl) to scare unsuspecting visitors (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ^{[page number? • edit]}).
• Harold, the outpost's only survivor, wears the recycled uniform worn by Commander Hansen in "Balance of Terror".
• The closing credits use a different shot of Vina than was used for most of the first season episodes.

Continuity

• This is the first episode to establish the existence of a "Federation". The full title of "United Federation of Planets" would not be used until later in "A Taste of Armageddon".
• The phaser control room reported that the "aft phasers" were ready, making the first reference in dialogue to the Enterprise having aft weaponry. Aft phasers were later shown to have been a feature of the USS Defiant in Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly", which, perhaps not coincidentally, is the first of a two parter featuring a Gorn – the only other episode in Star Trek to do so.
• This episode is the first to reference, and show the use of, photon torpedoes.
• According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Family Business", by 2371, Human colonists were once again living on Cestus III, suggesting that the Gorn Hegemony had relinquished control of the planet, or moved to accept Human settlers, after the events of this episode.
• In the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", Captain Sisko admits to Jadzia Dax that he would love to meet Kirk and ask him about "fighting the Gorn on Cestus III…."

Legacy

• William Shatner currently suffers from tinnitus due to a special effects explosion on the set of this episode. Both Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley reportedly suffered from tinnitus as well during the remainder of their lives. ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• Bobby Clark later reprised his Gorn performance from "Arena" in the Bring Back... Star Trek documentary in 2009. William Shatner also fought a Gorn in an "Arena" parody to advertise the 2013 Star Trek video game. [1] The same video game, which featured an attack by the Gorn in the alternate reality, used this episode's title as a chapter title.
• The creation of the diamond cannon was tested on the show MythBusters in late 2009 and deemed implausible. (It's been suggested the wood on the Metron planet may have had different properties, however.)

Remastered information

• "Arena" was the seventh episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication on the weekend of 21 October 2006 and most notably featured new effects shots of Cestus III from space, the Enterprise battling the Gorn ship, and an expanded matte painting of the outpost, showing more battle damage and giving greater scope to the surrounding terrain. A small but significant alteration also appeared in the form of the Gorn, which blinked several times throughout the remastered episode – achieved with computer-generated eyelids. Another small detail was finally inserted into the episode: the Gorn starship.

The original outpost shot…

The expanded matte painting of the outpost

The original Cestus III planet…

…and its remastered counterpart

The next remastered episode to air was "Catspaw".

Video and DVD releases

• Original US Betamax release: 1985
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 11, catalog number VHR 2295, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.7, 4 November 1996
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 10, 21 March 2000
• As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 HD DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Apocrypha

• A cat version of "Arena" was featured in Jenny Parks' 2017 book Star Trek Cats.

Links and references

Starring

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Featuring

• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
• George Takei as Sulu
• James Doohan as Scott
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Jerry Ayres as O'Herlihy
• Grant Woods as Kelowitz
• Tom Troupe as Lt. Harold
• James Farley as Lang
• Carole Shelyne as the Metron
• Sean Kenney as DePaul

Uncredited co-stars

• William Blackburn as
  • Hadley
  • Gorn captain (head only)
• Bobby Clark as the Gorn captain
• Gary Combs as the Gorn captain
• Ted Cassidy as the voice of the Gorn captain
• Jeannie Malone as a yeoman
• Vic Perrin as the voice of the Metron
• Frank da Vinci as Brent
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Ron Veto as Harrison
• Unknown actor as Travers (voice)

Stunt double

• Dick Dial as Shatner's stunt double

References

8th century; 2279 PL; 2466 PM; 2466 PM solar system; advice; agility; agreement; alert status; all hands; "all right"; Archanis; area; Arena planet; arsenal; asteroid; atmosphere; azimuth; battle; battle stations; "Bones"; cannon; Canopus; Cestus III; Cestus III civilians; chance; Channel 1; charcoal; chef; chemistry; circuit; civilization; club; coal; course; commodore; communications officer; compassion; composition; computer banks; contact; coordinates; crime; "crystal clear"; culture; damage control; day; deflector screen; degree; demonstration; deposit; diamond; diplomat; disruptor; dream; drill; ear; Earth; Earth Observation Outpost; Earthling; electronic; facility; Federation; feeling; full alert; Gorn; Gorn starship; gravimetric; grenade; grenade launcher; gunnery officer; gunpowder; head; heat; home base; hope; hospitality; hostility; Human (Human being); identification; impulse engine; ingenuity; "in place"; internal injuries; "in the name of"; invasion; jewel; "just in case"; life system; light; living creature; logic; magnetic; massacre; maximum warp; meal; medical personnel; memorial arrangements; mercy; Metron; Metron colony; Milky Way Galaxy; mineralogist; mission; mortar; nature; ordnance officer; orbit; overload; parsec; peace; phaser; phaser banks; phaser battery; photon torpedo; place; plot; policemen; potassium nitrate; power; predator; projectile; proof; propulsion system; radiation burn; raider; range; "rank hath its privileges"; recording-translating device; red alert; reptile; result; revulsion; risk; rock; rumor; salvo; savage; scanning beam; search; search party; section; sensors; sensualist; sentient life; shock; signal; Sirius; space; space legend; space-normal speed; species; "stand by"; star chart; Starfleet Command; sublight; subspace channel;; sulfur; surface; surrender; survivor; table; tactics officer; "thank you"; thousand; threat; tractor beam; transformer bank; transporter; trap; Travers' personal chef; tricorder; universe; vine; visual contact; (not) warm-blooded (aka cold-blooded); warp drive; wavelength; weapon; word; yard; year

External links

• "Arena"
• "Arena" at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• "Arena" at Wikipedia
• ""Arena"" at MissionLogPodcast.com, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• Arena short story review and episode comparison at Orion Press

Previous episode produced: "The Squire of Gothos"	Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1	Next episode produced: "The Alternative Factor"
Previous episode aired: "The Squire of Gothos"		Next episode aired: "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
Previous remastered episode aired: "I, Mudd"	TOS Remastered	Next remastered episode aired: "Catspaw"