An episode which clearly benefited from Season 1's more decent budget. (That budget would be later decreased from season to season.) Great outdoors scenes. A very moody episode with a real sense of mystery. Not much sense or logic in this episode though, not too many things add up, and not much is explained. Very vague overall, which isn't necessarily bad. Though I would have liked to have at least an inkling of an explanation why the cult's zombies were forced to act out with violence and depravity on a regular basis when the clock struck 12. Bread and circuses and violence as opposed to just bread and circuses?
But it's the overall mood, the effective direction, and great use of music that make this one of the best episodes - if a bit too "simple" (i.e. Message-free) for the average "socially aware" Trekkie.
The most strikingly stupid scene is by far when one of the key resistance movement members suddenly panics, deciding not to help the crew fight Landru and his tyranny. Instead, the man starts shouting for help from Landru, his enemy!... A very silly scene indeed, almost Pythonesque.
Speaking of Python, not quite as goofy but still silly is the "Confuse-a-cat Ltd" conversation between Kirk/Spock and Landru's computer. It is very reminiscent of some of the dialogues with the robot probe in "The Changeling" episode. The Landru computer doesn't converse like a computer at all - it is way too emotional - plus the crew defeat it far too easily merely by contradicting it. Death by contradiction, a ploy used by ST's crew several times. Confuse-a-computer Ltd, the company that destroys computers and robots by messing with (their) logic: this shtick was also used in "I, Mudd". In fact, it may be a sci-fi cliche much older than "Star Trek", perhaps borrowed from the vast vault of sci-fi pulp novels, comic-books and stories published between the 30s and the 50s.
But it's the overall mood, the effective direction, and great use of music that make this one of the best episodes - if a bit too "simple" (i.e. Message-free) for the average "socially aware" Trekkie.
The most strikingly stupid scene is by far when one of the key resistance movement members suddenly panics, deciding not to help the crew fight Landru and his tyranny. Instead, the man starts shouting for help from Landru, his enemy!... A very silly scene indeed, almost Pythonesque.
Speaking of Python, not quite as goofy but still silly is the "Confuse-a-cat Ltd" conversation between Kirk/Spock and Landru's computer. It is very reminiscent of some of the dialogues with the robot probe in "The Changeling" episode. The Landru computer doesn't converse like a computer at all - it is way too emotional - plus the crew defeat it far too easily merely by contradicting it. Death by contradiction, a ploy used by ST's crew several times. Confuse-a-computer Ltd, the company that destroys computers and robots by messing with (their) logic: this shtick was also used in "I, Mudd". In fact, it may be a sci-fi cliche much older than "Star Trek", perhaps borrowed from the vast vault of sci-fi pulp novels, comic-books and stories published between the 30s and the 50s.