Search results
Patterns of Force: Directed by Vincent McEveety. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Richard Evans. Looking for a missing Federation cultural observer, Kirk and Spock find themselves on a planet whose culture has been completely patterned after Nazi Germany.
- (3.5K)
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Vincent McEveety
- 1968-02-16
- Overview
- Summary
- Memorable quotes
- Background information
- Links and references
The Enterprise, searching for a missing Federation historian, discovers that the historian has apparently contaminated the cultural development of the planet where he was assigned as a cultural observer to have it follow the societal path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and '40s.
Teaser
The USS Enterprise heads for the planet Ekos to locate a missing cultural observer, Professor Dr. John Gill, Ph.D., a noted historian and brilliant history teacher who had been one of Kirk's instructors at the Presidio Campus of the Academy. Spock, whose studies of Earth history were from a text that Gill had prepared, and McCoy reminisce about his (Gill's) style of approaching history as a matter of causes and motivations, rather than simply dates and events. But while it is approaching the planet Ekos, the Enterprise is attacked by an old-style chemical rocket with a thermonuclear warhead – technology of whose development the planet is not yet supposed to be capable. Kirk has Chekov destroy the rocket with the ship's phasers. McCoy notes that the missile is generations ahead from where they should be technically. Kirk surmises that they may have had help – and Spock glances at the photograph of Gill displayed on a video screen.
Act One
Fearing that Gill's mission has been compromised in violation of the Prime Directive of non-interference with developing planets, Kirk and Spock beam down to Ekos. Before they do, they have McCoy insert subcutaneous emergency transponders, dependent on crystalline rubindium, into their forearms, to locate them for retrieval in the event they cannot use their communicators. Kirk orders that Scotty beam them up at the appointed time if they fail to contact the ship, no matter what their condition may be. Upon beaming down, Kirk and Spock find a culture almost identical to that of Germany during its Nazi period of the 1930s and 40s, right down to the uniforms, the salutes, and the persecution of another ethnic culture – in this case, the inhabitants of the neighboring planet Zeon, and the concept of the Führer – John Gill himself. Stealing some SS uniforms, Kirk and Spock attempt to infiltrate the Führer's headquarters but are quickly captured when Spock is forced to remove his helmet, revealing his pointed Vulcan ears.
Act Two
Kirk and Spock are stripped to the waist and interrogated by an SS-Major, who lashes them cruelly with a whip; this, however, is interrupted by Chairman Eneg, who chides the SS guard for not realizing that punishment is effective for only just so long. Left with their wounds still open, they find themselves imprisoned next to Isak, a Zeon underground member who explains how the Nazi movement began on Ekos, coinciding precisely with the time of Gill's arrival. Improvising a crude cutting-torch laser from the rubindium crystals from the transponders Kirk had had McCoy insert, at a subcutaneous level, into the skins of their forearms before beaming down, the trio then make their way to the SS laboratory, where Kirk pickpockets the keys from a guard; they manage to escape and retrieve two disassembled communicators from a SS laboratory. Kirk and Spock are able to steal SS uniforms again and leave, hauling out Isak in a stretcher. Later, the three return to the underground's base. There, Isak is greeted by his brother, Abrom, and told of the death of his fiancée, Uletta. In the midst of this, a squad of Ekosian stormtroopers (led by a woman) arrives, intent on arresting the entire lot. She apparently shoots Abrom dead and plans to "finish the job" by killing Kirk.
"Our missiles utterly destroyed the enemy."
"You look quite well for a man who's been utterly destroyed, Mr. Spock."
- Ekosian Newscaster and Kirk, on the missile attack on the
"That helmet covers a multitude of sins."
- Kirk describing Spock's Nazi disguise
"You should make a very convincing Nazi."
Production history
•Production number: #60352 •Story outline "Tomorrow the Universe" by Paul Schneider: 13 December 1966 •First draft teleplay: 20 January 1967 •Second draft teleplay: 3 March 1967 •Revised second draft: 1 June 1967 •Story outline "Patterns of Force" by John Meredyth Lucas: 7 June 1967 •Revised story outline: 19 June 1967 •Second revised story outline: 26 June 1967 •First draft teleplay: late-October 1967 •Second draft teleplay: November 1967 •Additional page revisions: 24 November 1967, 27 November 1967, 28 November 1967, 30 November 1967 •Filmed: 29 November 1967 – 6 December 1967 •Day 1 – 29 November 1967, Wednesday – Paramount European Street backlot: Ext. City street, Street corner, Alley; Paramount office buildings: Ext. Nazi party headquarters, Ext. Chancellery •Day 2 – 30 November 1967, Thursday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Transporter room, Underground room, Newscaster room •Day 3 – 1 December 1967, Friday – Desilu Stage 11: Int. Ekosian jail, Jail cell •Day 4 – 4 December 1967, Monday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Nazi headquarters: Lower corridor, SS Labs, Broadcast room •Day 5 – 5 December 1967, Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Nazi headquarters: Interior corridor, Main room, Decoration area •Day 6 – 6 December 1967, Wednesday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Cloakroom, Desilu Stage 9: Int. Bridge •Original airdate: 16 February 1968 •First UK airdate (on BBC1): 3 August 1970 •First UK airdate (on ITV): 23 January 1983 •Remastered airdate: 19 May 2007
Story
•During the first season, Paul Schneider wrote a story outline entitled "Tomorrow the Universe" about the Enterprise encountering an alien planet adopting Nazi ideology and forming its own "Third Reich." Schneider began to develop the story further; however, when John Meredyth Lucas came up with his very similar idea of "Patterns of Force," it was deemed much better than Schneider's story, which was scrapped. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two) •John Meredyth Lucas wrote this episode out of his fascination with the functioning of totalitarian regimes (especially Nazi Germany) and their ability to stay in power. William Shatner quoted him to Chris Kreski, in Star Trek Memories, as saying that "it was fun to write a well-meaning Nazi, a guy who for the right cause completely fucked everything up. Y'know, we started with the question, 'How the hell did Nazism get past the shits and the street gangs and take root among the basically decent people? How did sane, reasonable adults come to buy into this bullshit?' The answer seemed to be because it was efficient and because, in a society beset by all kinds of problems, it may have seemed like a feasible necessity. So it becomes feasible, and the people take that leap." •An early draft of this episode had the source of cultural contamination arriving aboard a small "Ambassador-class" vessel called the Magellan. The name was later applied in TNG to the Ambassador-class of ships in the mid-24th century. •No stardate is logged in the episode. Bjo Trimble gave it a stardate of 2534.0 in her Star Trek Concordance, apparently using an earlier script version. •Based on the details of the episode's shooting schedule, at least two scenes were trimmed for unknown reasons; both scenes were filmed on 29 November 1967: •Act II, Sc. 39-41. When Kirk and Spock exit the Chancellery they rounded a street corner and entered an alley. With the removal of this scene, two storm troopers and two trooper guards and apparently a Jeep did not appear in the episode as filmed. •Act III, Sc. 46. When the cars pulled up at night and unloaded at the Chancellery, it was indicated that more officials were seen being dropped off before Kirk's group drive up in Sc. 47. Namely missing from the scene were two storm troopers, along with an SS officer general and his wife, whereas only the SS Gestapo general and his wife were seen entering as was noted. •In addition to these scenes, the shooting schedule indicates that there were, among the reception party crowd, two waiters that appeared throughout, however no such individuals appeared in the episode. •Eneg's name is an inside joke – it is "Gene" backwards. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 136)) The name "Zeon" is a take on "Zion," while "Abrom" corresponds to "Abraham", "Davod" to "David", and "Isak" to "Isaac"; "Daras", reversed, is almost "Sara". •Star Trek 12 contains a novelization of this story by James Blish and J.A. Lawrence.
Sets and costumes
•The headquarters of the Nazi Party in this episode are the redecorated offices of Paramount Pictures during the 60s, including the building where Lucille Ball ran Desilu. Paramount office buildings were also used as locations in "Assignment: Earth", and a short newsreel scene in "Bread and Circuses". •The underground area is the same set as was used for "The Devil in the Dark". •All the Nazi uniforms used in this episode are taken from Paramount's costume storage, and were previously featured in many of the studio's World War II-era films. Many of them featured mismatched epaulets, collar tabs, and other rank-identifying insignia. However, McCoy's collar tabs, bearing a single silver oak leaf, correctly identify him as a colonel, as Kirk had ordered. Several uniforms, such as Kirk's and McCoy's, show cuffbands reading "Adolf Hitler". They represent members of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, special bodyguards of the Führer. •On the archive file photograph shown by Spock in the teaser, John Gill is wearing Commissioner Ferris's jacket from "The Galileo Seven". •The front of the Ekosian Chancellery has all of its windows and shutters closed, for the real world reason that the actual building was an active office of Paramount Pictures with daily business going on inside while the film crew and actors were shooting the exterior on 29 November 1967. (To Boldly Go: Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage - Season Two, p. 191) Even so, two individuals who appear to be curious Paramount Pictures employees can be seen looking down on the courtyard from an upper window.
Starring
•William Shatner as Kirk •Leonard Nimoy as Spock And •DeForest Kelley as McCoy
Guest stars
•Richard Evans as Isak And •Valora Noland as Daras
Special appearance by
•Skip Homeier as Melakon And •David Brian as John Gill
"Patterns of Force" is the twenty-first episode of the second season of the American science-fiction television series Star Trek. Written by John Meredyth Lucas and directed by Vincent McEveety, it was first broadcast on February 16, 1968.
Patterns of Force. Buy. TV-PG. CC. Star Trek (Remastered) 180M subscribers. Subscribed. 38. Star Trek (Remastered) S2 E21. The crisp Remastered treatment only heightens the irony...
Patterns of Force. Available on Paramount+, Prime Video, iTunes. S2 E21: Enterprise is sent to planet Ekos to investigate a disappearance of Federation historian John Gill. Sci-Fi Feb 16, 1968 48 min.
Dec 31, 2014 · Patterns of Force is a rather strange little episode, the type of weird and iconic adventure that Star Trek tended to do quite well. It’s very much an off-the-wall adventure, of the kind that none of the spin-off shows would attempt.
Jun 4, 2010 · Season 2, Episode 21. Production episode: 2×23. Original air date: February 16, 1968. Star date: Unknown. Mission Summary. The Enterprise is on a mission to the planet Ekos, home to “primitive, warlike people in a state of anarchy” and where Starfleet Academy history instructor John Gill has been on assignment as a cultural observer.
