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Historical archive, Starfleet (production resource)

Historical archive mentioning Beta III

Beta III was the inhabited third planet of the C-111 system. This was the homeworld of the Beta III natives, a pre-warp humanoid species.

About 6,000 years ago, a leader and philosopher named Landru became deeply concerned that the wars raging on Beta III would destroy all life there. To solve the problem, he built an extremely sophisticated computer, also called Landru. Landru absorbed the members of Beta III's society, eventually exerting absolute control over the thoughts and feelings of the entire planetary population. Landru eliminated hate, fear, and conflict, put an end to war, disease, and crime. But Landru also eliminated the soul of the civilization. The people moved through their lives in a blissful daze—and nothing changed for almost 6,000 years.

In 2167, the Archon visited Beta III, and her crew encountered Landru. Many were absorbed into Beta III's society; many more were killed, and the ship itself was destroyed.

A hundred years later, the USS Enterprise visited in search of clues to the Archon's disappearance. She, too, was threatened by Landru. Captain James T. Kirk confronted Landru, and convinced it that it was harming the very society it was programmed to protect. Unable to resolve this paradox, Landru destroyed itself, leaving the citizens of Beta III free to govern their own affairs. The Enterprise left a team of sociologists and other experts behind to help them return their society "to a more Human form." (TOS: "The Return of the Archons")

In 2328, this was the destination for passengers traveling from New Vegas colony via commercial transport. Naren Shankar traveled on the SS Manoa, Brian Vogt traveled on the SS Kogin, and Dawn Velazquez and Art Cadron traveled on the SS Wisconsin. (TNG-R: "Inheritance", okudagram)

The unrevised final draft of the script, dated 10 November 1966, called the planet "Beta 3000", and described it as "remarkably like a street in the United States of the 1890's. It is drab to the point of eeriness."
For the pre-remastered episode, the planet model for Beta III was first used for Delta Vega ("Where No Man Has Gone Before"). It was used later for Alfa 177 ("The Enemy Within"), M-113 ("The Man Trap", Tantalus V ("Dagger of the Mind"), Planet Q ("The Conscience of the King"), Benecia ("The Conscience of the King"), Gothos ("The Squire of Gothos"), Lazarus' planet ("The Alternative Factor"), Janus VI ("The Devil in the Dark"), Organia ("Errand of Mercy"), Mudd ("I, Mudd"), Argus X ("Obsession"), and Ardana ("The Cloud Minders"). For the remastered episode, a new planet model was created by an unknown CGI artist.

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