As the Enterprise passes a volcanic planet a message is received from a being claimed to be none other than Abraham Lincoln
yes that Abraham Lincoln! Despite knowing it can't be him Kirk allows him to beam aboard and affords him the full honours due to the man he claims to be. After a tour of the ship he invites Kirk and Spock to beam down to the planet where he promises Spock will meet a great Vulcan. Despite warnings from Scotty and McCoy that they might be beaming down into lava they go ahead although their phasers left on the transporter pad. On the surface they do indeed meet the great Vulcan Surak. Shortly afterwards a 'rock monster' appears and tell them that the four of them, designated 'good' are to fight four 'Evil' characters that include Genghis Khan and the Klingon Kahless. This is because the creature wants to learn about good and evil as it has no understanding of the concepts. At first they refuse to fight but then the rock-monsters says that if they don't the Enterprise will be destroyed.
It is clear by now that the series is now running out of steam; we've already had episodes where aliens want to understand the way humans think so force a fight to the death. Having historical figures appear is a little too cheesy even if they aren't actually the people they appear to be. This also provides a bit of a plot hole; if the aliens can replicate good and evil characters from history why do they need to threaten some actual people? The fight scenes were little more than characters throwing pointy sticks and fake rocks; there was nowhere near the tension of the episode where Kirk fought lizard-man Gorn. Overall a bit of a disappointment as Star Trek had done it all before and done it better.
It is clear by now that the series is now running out of steam; we've already had episodes where aliens want to understand the way humans think so force a fight to the death. Having historical figures appear is a little too cheesy even if they aren't actually the people they appear to be. This also provides a bit of a plot hole; if the aliens can replicate good and evil characters from history why do they need to threaten some actual people? The fight scenes were little more than characters throwing pointy sticks and fake rocks; there was nowhere near the tension of the episode where Kirk fought lizard-man Gorn. Overall a bit of a disappointment as Star Trek had done it all before and done it better.