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Patterns Of Force"Patterns of Force" is a second season episode of , first broadcast February 16, 1968. It is episode #52, written by John Meredyth Lucas, and directed by Vincent McEveety. Quick Overview: The crew of the Enterprise visits a planet dominated by a Nazi regime. On stardate 2534.0, the starship USS Enterprise arrives at the planet Ekos in the M34 Alpha System, to investigate the disappearance of a Federation historian named John Gill, who has been missing for six months. As soon as the Enterprise enters orbit around Ekos, it is attacked by a rocket armed with a thermonuclear warhead. It carries technology that is too advanced to be from Ekos or their closely neighboring planet Zeon. The ship easily avoids the weapon, and moves out of range of the planet's detection devices. The crew is confused as to how the inhabitants of Ekos acquired such technology, since records indicated the Ekosians are supposed to be a primitive, warlike people in a current state of anarchy. Zeon has a more advanced technology level, but the inhabitants are peaceful and would never make such weapons. No contact can be made with Gill, so Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock decide to beam down to the planet to investigate. Before they leave, Dr. McCoy fits them with subdermal transponders, which can be used to locate and retrieve them if they are not heard from within three hours. Upon their arrival, Kirk and Spock are approached by a Zeon man who urges them to hide. Kirk and Spock then watch the Zeon as he is arrested by Ekosian soldiers who appear dressed in uniforms that resemble Nazi German forces of the mid-20th Century. Kirk hesitates to act, but Spock reminds him of the Prime Directive which prevents them from interfering. Kirk and Spock then notice a video broadcast that shows that the Ekosians and Zeons are at war. Kirk is astonished that another planet could independently develop a culture identical to one that once existed on Earth. They watch the broadcast further as a beautiful female Nazi officer called Daras, receive a medal of honor, and learn that the planet is committed to "a final solution"; the death of all Zeons who reside on their planet. The broadcast ends with a salute to the Fhrer "John Gill". Kirk is determined to get to the bottom of this and find Gill as soon as possible. He and Spock are approached by a Nazi officer who questions them, but Spock manages to overpower him and steal his uniform. Spock, now disguised as an Ekosian soldier and Kirk acting as his Zeon prisoner, disable a Gestapo commander and Kirk obtains his uniform. They then try to infiltrate the main headquarters, but are caught when Spock forgets to salute an S.S. officer, and is forced to remove his helmet. They see his Vulcan ears and the two are arrested. Their weapons and communicators are confiscated and they are taken for interrogation and torture. Afterward, a senior commander orders them are thrown in a cell for an hour for further interrogation. They meet Isak, the Zeon man they saw being arrested earlier. Isak informs them that the Nazi movement started after John Gill arrived, and an all out invasion of Zeon is being planned. Spock removes the rubidium crystals from his and Kirk's subcutaneous transponders and fashions a crude laser from it. He powers it the focused light of an incandescent bulb on the wall and cuts the lock off the cell door. After overpowering the guard, they find the weapons where they manage to recover one of their dismantled communicators and the three prisoners escape. Isak takes them to meet the underground resistance led by his brother Abrom. Kirk explains to Abrom that he needs to find John Gill in order to stop the war. Abrom is not keen on helping them until Kirk persuades him that it is their only chance for success. Meanwhile Spock tries to contact the Enterprise but is unable to test its reliability before the ship returns into transmission range of the reassembled device. Suddenly the resistance group's headquarters are raided, led by Daras, the officer who was being honored on the newsreel broadcast. She shoots Abrom and Kirk and Spock overpower her and take her weapon. Now convinced that the strangers can be trusted, they are then told that the raid was only a ruse to test their loyalty and that she is actually a member of the resistance group. The medal they had seen her receive on the newsreel was awarded for her turning in her father to the Gestapo. Her father had planned this in order to get her elevated to a position of trust within the Nazi organization. Kirk asks about Gill, and Daras explains that Gill is nothing but a figurehead, and Deputy Fhrer Melakon is the one in command. Kirk and Spock return the favor by explain that Gill is an extra-terrestrial cultural observer in flagrant violation of his orders. She informs that Gill is due to make a speech and she agrees to help get them past security. To gain entrance, they pretend to be a film crew that is shooting propaganda footage. John Gill is eventually located sitting in a broadcasting booth surrounded by guards and giving a speech that is a barely coherent string of almost random statements. Isak insists that Kirk and Spock kill Gill as soon as possible, but Kirk refuses. Kirk gets a closer look at Gill who appears to be either heavily drugged or perhaps mentally ill. Spock finally makes contact with the Enterprise and explains their situation while Kirk orders Dr. McCoy to beam down and examine Gill. McCoy materializes in a cloakroom, disguised as a military doctor, but the party is discovered by a security team who had detected Spock's communications in the building. Although the search leader is the same officer overseeing Kirk and Spock's earlier imprisonment, he surprisingly does not seem to recognize them, and accepts their hasty alibies. After he leaves, Isak explains that the officer has been on their side all this time. Sneaking into the broadcast booth, McCoy examines Gill and confirms he is heavily sedated, and prepares a serum to counteract the effects. McCoy administers the stimulant on Gill, but he fails to revive him. Spock assists Gill by performing a mind meld on him which brings him to a state of semi-consciousness that allows him to respond to questions. Gill is barely coherent, but explains that he never meant for any of this to get out of control. He instituted Hitler's National Socialism upon the lawless Ekosians because he believed that it is the most efficient system of government ever devised. He explains he only wanted to bring order to the people of Ekos, and it worked until Melakon gained control, and took it one step further to rid the planet of Zeons like Hitler did the Jews. Kirk tells Gill that he must recall the invasion fleet headed to Zeon. Melakon has already started the broadcast, announcing the "final war" with Zeon that Gill is to endorse in his speech. Through the help of Spock's mind meld combined with Kirk having him further injected with stimulants, Gill renounces the invasion and declares Melakon is a traitor. Melekon grabs a machine gun and opens fire on the broadcast booth, fatally wounding Gill. Isak manages to kill Melekon in retaliation. Before he dies, Gill tells Kirk he is sorry for violating the Prime Directive, and hopes the Ekosians and Zeons can work together and fix the damage he caused. Trivia This episode is casually referred to as the Nazi-planet episode. While naming the persecuted species in this episode "Zeons" is a bit too blatant, consider that the party leader's name is "Eneg" "Gene" (as in Roddenberry) spelled backwards. Lucas has said that he was inspired to write this episode by thinking about how the Nazis might have motivated people outside their natural base to join the party. He felt that an appeal to efficiency would have been their strongest card. External Links
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