“Arena”

I think that you are right on in your "Arena" review. If they had just followed the original short story (which is considered to be one of the best ever written in the sci fi genre) it would have been a great episode. Fredric Brown is credited with the story, but I wonder how much he was involved in the actual episode; or if it is just a reference to his short story that the show is based on, with the teleplay being a major rewrite.

ahhh .. Arena ..was my FAVE when I was ... 9 years old ... lol...

"Arena" is one of my dad's favourite episodes of TOS. Also, on a completely unrelated matter to that statement, there's a video on YouTube called "Worst Fight Scene Ever". If you're an Original Series fan I highly recommend you check it out.

I still think "the Doosday Machine" is the best overall Trek episode, but after lots of years "Arena" was all that bad either. I wish someday they would clean up (digitally) some of the cheasy rubber suit on the Gorn...

This has always been one of my favorites. Just seeing Kirk grappling with the Gorn is one of the most indelible images of TOS.

Yes, the Gorn costume is a bit silly, but it's still remarkably detailed considering the TOS episode budget and is still vastly superior to anything LOST IN SPACE ever did regarding non-humanoid aliens.

I love the action set piece at the beginning, especially enjoying the fact that Shatner and Nimoy are doing some of their own stunts which adds to the believability.

The chase of the Gorn ship is suspenseful despite never seeing the Gorn ship itself (I know that in the remastered version there is now a Gorn ship).

The multi colored light effect for the Metrons is cool and using Vic Perrin for the voice is effective.

Some of the fight scene between Kirk and the Gorn works really well, some of it is a bit silly. I don't understand why the guy wearing the Gorn suit moved so slowly in the early part of the fight. Was that due to limited mobility in the suit, a choice by the director, or perhaps showing us that the Gorn had physical speed limitations on this particular planet? It does distract from the early part of the fight 'cause the Gorn is moving painfully slow.

Not a perfect episode perhaps, but I'd at least give this three stars. We get an out of doors action sequence, a space ship chase, two non-humanoid alien species (despite the human boy version of the Metrons at the end) and a nice illustration of TREK's "humanity can improve on itself" message with Kirk showing mercy to the Gorn. A great closing conversation between Spock and Kirk and a showing of a rare black eye to the Federation in the TOS era and what's not to love?

While I might not see it in as favorable a light as I did in my childhood, I still believe Arena is worthy of three stars. Sure, the fight with the Gorn is cheesy when viewed in a modern light and is plagued by some bad pacing, but it remains an iconic cultural image. I actually found the rest of the episode to be quite entertaining; the battle with the unknown and unseen enemy on the deserted outpost and the subsequent chasing of the Gorn ship being prime examples. Overall, for me a good episode.

Arena is definitely overrated.

The morals in this episode are total BS. When the Gorn states his reasons "You were invaders!" McCoy exclaims "Could he be right.", expressing moral self-doubt.
No, that's not even close to a justification.
If group of Cubans settled and island off the coast of Texas which belonged to the US, it wouldn't make it ok for Americans to just start killing them, without any notice or negotiations.

How superior can the Metrons be. Forcing two aliens to fight to the death and promising the execute the loser's crew is hardly the act of a superior being.

The good part is actually the ridiculous slow motion fight scene between Kirk and the Gorn. That is a laught a minute.

To analyze this episode you must go back to the first time you saw it. The numerous surprises in the plot from the hoax to get them down on the planet, to finding out there were invaders, to chasing them across the galaxy, to suddenly being stopped by the Metrons, to transport to the "arena" for the competition and first discover what a "Gorn" is, and lastly to see that awesome looking "Metron" and learn about their advanced state of being was, as Spock would say, "fascinating". Kirk's final expression of humility and then hope was a superb ending. Four stars for me.

Arena is one of my favourite episodes of TOS. It might not be incredibly deep, and it is quite cheesy by modern standards, but the Gorn is iconic, dammit! One of the most iconic images of the series

I thought the pacifist message was quite radical and powerful. This episode opens with the slaughter of a human outpost and then positions you to accept this as being "our fault". This is quite a brave stance. The episode positions you to side and sympathise with a group who have commited a massacre.

Unlike later Treks, the Original Series always had genuinely alien looking aliens.

Whats not to love? Mortars, car chase, scavenger hunt, fight to death, speed vs Brawn, iconic alien.

Oh yeah, there was that androgynous liberal at the end... OK well bump it down to 3.5 stars for that. Classic trek.

The redshirt guard accompanying the captain down to Cestus III earns the dubious distinction of Dumbest Red Shirt Ever in my book. Today's lesson: If you're in a war zone and see the bad guys, scream really loudly and stand up tall. That always goes over well.

"CAPTAIN, I SEE SOMETHING!" [ZAAAAAAP!] [instantly vaporized]

Definitely one of those episodes best watched as an 8 year old.

The amazing part is how a "superior" race could have two beings fight to the death and have the losers' ship execute yet refer to humans as half-savage. I think the writers missed the boat on that.

Look, I get it, you're a (wannabe) critic. But you've got to take it for what it is: a fun TV show, produced in 1966. This is not a mega-buck movie where the premise and script is honed over months/years and there's plenty of budget for special effects and costumes. [And with this in mind, what's your opinion on Star Wars, Eps 1-3...?]

This is a classic episode, the Gorn an iconic alien. While I did watch Arena for the first time way back when I was a kid, it is still an episode that when I come across it on TV, I will stay and watch until the end. Great entertainment! --Making gunpowder out of the component minerals! Awesome!

Using your metric, I give it all 4 stars.

"Can you manufacture some sort of rudimentary gun?!"

Considering a great scene from Galaxy Quest owes itself to this episode, I think it deserves a higher rating. Agree with the others this was in my top 3 as a youngster.

Let me see, an alien race murders a colony and then tricks a ship into coming just to murder them but it might be humans' fault because they accidently settled into their section of space? They defend themselves by sneak attacking without communication and taking out weapons and slaughtering people. And then a "superior" race considers Humans half-savage. And they deal with this by having a human cock fight and promising to execute and murder the losing side. The writers fell asleep on this one.

I also find it ironic that they judge humans on the "advanced trait of mercy" yet they were originally not going to show mercy. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black on that one. What were the writers thinking?

It's probably a good thing I wasn't the captain of the Enterprise (besides the fact that the Gorn would probably kill me...). When the Metron appeared and talked about their superior morality and how humans would one day become as moral as them, I would have laughed in his face. And probably continued laughing at him until he got annoyed enough to blow up the Enterprise. Because this episode's morality was a giant load of malarkey.

Just look at at the much ballyhooed comment from McCoy: "could he be right?" Excuse me? Craig gave an example of the US blasting a Cuban colony right off the coast of Texas, but that's an improper analogy. It would be the US blasting a Cuban colony in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Was there any evidence, anywhere, of Gorn settlements on the planet? Was there any evidence of Gorn settlements in the solar system? In the neighboring solar systems? When Kirk chased the Gorn ship off, he was 30 parsecs behind them. 30 parsecs! They were going at breakneck speed, and given that TOS talked about traveling to the edge of the galaxy with no problems, that must be a very high speed. No other Gorn ship intercepted them. In other words, there was no evidence that the Gorn had any territory anywhere near this outpost. So by what right do the Gorn claim this land? Can you claim a faraway land that you aren't even trying to colonize, or mine, or anything?

And even if you do claim it, without putting up a sign or anything, how the heck is anyone else supposed to know? If you claim an acre in the desert, with no sign or fence around, can you really complain if someone trespasses? Ah, but it's not just complaining that the Gorn did. They killed everyone. Even the civilians. Even after the Federation officer declared their surrender. And then tricked the Enterprise crew members into beaming down and ambushing them. There was no mistake or miscommunication here. The Gorn knew full well what they were doing when they killed everyone.

Fine, maybe that was perfectly acceptable in the Gorn's mind. Maybe they think they are perfectly within their rights to do what they did. But not all moral codes are created equal, and we have no obligation to respect a moral code that doesn't respect ours. And clearly, the Gorn's actions here crossed the line when it comes to respecting us. So the Metrons pretending that everyone is equally bad was just silly. To say nothing of the Metrons moral code being a fight to the death between two people in order to kill everyone else on the loser's team being utterly absurd.

Meanwhile, while all of this is going on, the writers dumped on Kirk's characterization. In their desperate attempt to be preachy and create moral uncertainties, they turned Kirk into a crazed bloodthirsty Ahab rather than the cool collected captain. His statement, that he is the only policeman and something must be done, is absolutely correct. But the way he goes about it, trying to destroy the Gorn ship rather than even trying to communicate or disable it, does not ring true. Is there any doubt that Picard would at least hail them first? Of course he would. And of course Kirk would, too! We know Kirk is acting irrationally, because the wise old Spock kept talking about being troubled by his actions, and we know Spock is the calm logical one. But we had to show Kirk being in the wrong and pretending that the Gorn had a point in order to make the stupid Metrons look wise.

And that, my friends, is why "message" shows are awful. Because you end up shoehorning characters into your message, rather than letting the story flow naturally. Who cares if Kirk's actions are not consistent with his character, the message must prevail. Who cares if the Gorn's justifications don't hold up to scrutiny, we have to pretend they have a point. Who cares if the Metrons superiority is laughable, we need someone to stand in for the writers and preach to us. When the message is elevated above the story and characters, the story and characters inevitably suffer. And you can't blame that on cheesy rubber outfits.

I thoroughly enjoyed this iconic episode as a kid some 30+ years ago and even just watching it now, I still enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but it is a classic TOS episode. Plenty of suspense, action, a decent plot.
I have no issues with the Gorn's rubber costume or the fight scenes. Kirk is supposed to be fighting a large slow powerful intelligent lizard-like humanoid -- and that's exactly how the fight scene plays out. Kirk's ingenuity wins out.
Kirk is justified in pursuing the Gorn ship -- I think Kirk's argument here wins out over Spock although it would have been good if he could have laid out why (all women/children mercilessly killed, Enterprise lured in for destruction) rather than simply disregarding Spock's objections. I don't see how the Enterprise could start believing that the Gorn were merely defending themselves.
What isn't well thought out is the Metron's higher moral standard. Arranging a fight to the death between the 2 captains and then planning to destroy the losing ship doesn't strike me as an example of a more advanced race's ideology.

Anyhow, still a very enjoyable episode of classic TOS Trek. I give it 3.5/4 stars - it is one of the better Season 1 episodes and really feel Jammer's review is much too harsh at 1.5 stars which would put it as one of the worst.

One other thing to add to my prior comment:

"Arena" is very similar to "Balance of Terror" -- aliens (justifiably in the wrong according to Enterprise) destroy Earth outposts and Kirk & Co. go in pursuit. BoT is a riveting starship vs. starship battle, whereas "Arena" needs some contrivance to become a captain vs. captain battle. It's the contrivance that weakens "Arena" in absolute terms and relative to BoT. But it is still a very strong episode. If "Arena" hadn't interjected the "lesson" of "superior race" etc., it would probably please a lot of people.

Ah yes, "Arena." If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then this episode is one of the most iconic Star Treks ever, as it epitomizes what's great and cheesy about the franchise in one sublime package. Granted, the climactic fight is laughable in spots, but the script is so sensitive and smartly written that it's easy to forgive all.

I agree with many commenters that this episode is a classic worthy of 3 1/2 stars, knocked down half a star only for the sagging midsection and corny fight stunts; it's the show that many casual viewers remember when pressed to name a Star Trek episode from any of the series. Indeed this episode symbolizes everything I love about Star Trek: Compassion for the alien "other" and belief in the possibility that people can learn to get along after even the most violent of disagreements.

For many viewers, you've got to look beyond the obvious cheese of a guy in a rubber suit doing slow-motion fight moves to appreciate the sincere idealism of the story's payoff. But even the guy in the suit is part of the charm and part of what people love about "Arena," as its obvious budget flaws make the show that much more endearing. Also, the creativity of everyone involved -- the actors are *really* trying in this first season -- shows what can happen when a talented group of people work harder to overcome lack of resources.

I also have to admit that Shatner, although imitated by legions of comics like Kevin Pollak for his staccato monologues here, puts in one of his best Kirk performances here. As Wrath of Khan showed us, Shatner is often at his best when he underplays Kirk, and his theatricality is nicely understated here. There's a deep sobriety and lack of histrionics to his performance that really sells the story from start to finish, as his reactions to the slow-moving Gorn opponent help us overcome the initial guffaw at the fight and take it seriously. While Shatner often employs stylized acting flourishes, "Arena" is actually not one of the shows where he's jerking his body around and shouting at the camera.

There have been times I was underwhelmed at this episode and times I have taken it less seriously. I have tried at times to dislike it. But I just cannot hate "Arena" no matter how hard I work at it: While it's not the best TOS episode, it embodies the futuristic optimism and retro fun of Star Trek better than almost any show from the franchise. And we have to give it credit for that.

I was surprised to see the low rating on this one. I disagree with the "cost" of the set. While supposedly "outside" you really only see a few places on the planet. it wasn't that expensive.

Every TOS episode had issues with disbelief and inconsistencies. To me, it's a waste of brainpower to determine when the Gorn people settled into the area, who is right etc. I will agree that having the fight on the bridge screen was silly. But that was only done to fill the hour. Having Spock say "Coal" and things like that put in the 10 minutes or so needed to make a full show.

I've always liked this one. It's the first episode of TOS that I ever saw. I was 12 years old and watched it with my father the night it was broadcast in '67. Just a footnote that no one has mentioned.......the casualty/survivor the Enterprise crew finds on the destroyed outpost (and takes back to the ship) is played by the same actor that plays Loki in the 3rd season episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".

I acknowledge some of the criticisms here, but from childhood until now Arena is still one of my favorites. 4 out of 4

I think the rating is low - I say 3.0 stars.

Craig and Skeptical do raise valid points. However, this is still an entertaining episode. Also, one thing I will say in defense in Star Trek in general is that every episode has now been seen literally many times by millions of people. Therefore, it is not surprising that people will notice that some episodes have plot holes, inconsistencies, continuity errors, etc.

I read the short story on which this story is based (supposedly), and it is a classic science fiction story. (I say supposedly based, because there are conflicting stories regarding the origin of this episode. One story is that the writers wrote this episode, without realizing there was a similar story already written by Frederic Brown.) The Outer Limits episode "Fun and Games" is similar to this episode. Indeed, even Star Trek's own The Savage Curtain and The Gamesters of Triskelion are similar.

I read the story adaption by James Blish (spoiler alert), and he had an interesting twist. In his story, the Metrons would destroy the winner of the contest, as they thought that race posed a greater threat.

RE: craig

'The morals in this episode are total BS. When the Gorn states his reasons "You were invaders!" McCoy exclaims "Could he be right.", expressing moral self-doubt.
No, that's not even close to a justification.'

That's precisely why the moral message is so powerful. Don't forget that the Gorn are an alien race of lizards whom we know nothing about and we can't set the same moral standards for them that we adhere to. Kirk's show of mercy was clearly a testament to that.

"How superior can the Metrons be. Forcing two aliens to fight to the death and promising the execute the loser's crew is hardly the act of a superior being."

That was an obvious bluff if you pay attention to the ending dialogue between Kirk and the Metron. The Metron's believed we were savages and they intentionally put it in terms they thought we'd understand. When the Metron asked if he should destroy the Gorn for Captain Kirk, I took that as a challenge to Kirk's show of mercy to ensure that the lesson was truly learned.

One and half stars? Really?

This episode is a classic.

@Adam: "If they had just followed the original ["Arena"] short story (which is considered to be one of the best ever written in the sci fi genre) it would have been a great episode. Fredric Brown is credited with the story, but I wonder how much he was involved in the actual episode; or if it is just a reference to his short story that the show is based on, with the teleplay being a major rewrite.

As the lore goes, this was an original script written at home by Gene Coon at over a three-day weekend just to have something ready to shove into the pipeline. When it was sent to the research company, they were the ones who noted the rather...obvious similarity to Brown's story. Then the Star Trek office contacted Brown and asked permission to base an upcoming episode on his story -- neglecting to mention it was already in pre-production. Fortunately for them, Brown was flattered and agreed.

This is a pulpy masterpiece, IMO, and works well as a possible critique of the Vietnam war. You essentially have the enemy demonized as lizards for commiting massacres. The Federation go out seeking revenge, but are then revealed to be colonizing another's territory and so partially responsible for retalliation. Mercy, appologies and bridge-building ensues. The lizard monsters are not our enemy.

Gene Coon was so underrated. More than Roddenberry, he defined the soul of Trek.

Ah the Gorn: The bane of my childhood nightmares as a kid in the 60’s when I first watched it...The hissy, vomitous snarling serpentine voice....That maw with its rows of crocodile teeth...buff body but slow movement (musclebound, no doubt)....loved it when Kirk hurled a basketball-sized rock and it bounced off the Gorn’s meaty chest like a pebble...the Gorn was unstoppable and ever-pursuing like a Terminator robot....When Kirk and the Gorn got face-to-muzzle in that bearhug fight, I wanted the Gorn to try to bite off Kirk’s nose...I even got the plastic model of the Gorn when I got over my nightmares of him....Good memories!

I agree, Bruce. As a kid the Gorn was 100% real to me. No amount of retroactive "but it's so cheesy!" analysis will change that. This episode was already light years ahead of The Terminator, because not only did it comprise the unstoppable killing machine vs human ingenuity aspect, but the end goes far beyond it where killing the enemy is not the correct solution. Granted, it's easier to justify when it's literally a mindless robot. But imagine a Terminator movie where it isn't a mindless robot but an electronic "person" fighting for his own cultural survival.

I read the original story by Frederic Brown many years ago. I don't know how closely the teleplay of this episode followed the original, but it was interesting---and if it was in any way "cheesy", so what? I love cheese. Now to a couple of details. The Gorn is described as huge, powerful, reptilian---but slow, and this was to Captain Kirk's advantage, even with the sprained ankle. And I got to wondering about something. As the pursuit progressed Kirk was hard put to remember "something about sulfur", but when the bridge crew of the Enterprise was permitted to see the action on the planet's surface he suddenly started remembering things and set about putting together a weapon, and I started wondering---was it possible that Spock was somehow in telepathic communication with the captain, telling him what to look for? I know that the Vulcan could communicate over long distances in this way, and so I began to speculate about this. Whether this was the case or not, I was intrigued by the possibility, and it added to my enjoyment of the episode. I have said before, many times, that every episode, good, bad or indifferent, has something to say, and this was no exception.

Definitely a favorite from when a kid, lol, but it still has its charms.

It is kind of comical how Spock spends like 20 minutes watching Kirk on the view screen commenting "good, good."

Definitely an iconic episode. This one was featured in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, after all... A great bit where B&T are watching Kirk walk/climb the mountain then later they are forced to walk up the same path from the same camera angle. Vazquez Rocks if you're curious.

More snooty, superior aliens and McCoy being extra annoying ( why does Spock put up with him) but the gorn made the episode great.
Yes, the grenade they used on Cestus 3 looked like a bocce ball, the gorn wore a rubber outfit, and the translater/communicator looked like an electric razor but that’s what made the episode a classic.
This is one of the few episodes that I can watch over and over again but only for the final segment.
I loved the Gorn’s expression when he saw the huge boulder about to fall on him and how he chuckled while setting his trap. Even spock showed emotion in this one.

Kirk should have realized the gorn’s toughness right away when he saw the gorn’s lack of shoes. Even the tough Klingons and romulans wore shoes.

Despite the shortfalls, I think this was a very good episode. I remember watching as a kid, and I liked it once again today!

I think you guys are being a little too harsh on this episode. Sure the costumes are cheesy but there are a lot of smart touches. The chemicals Kirk uses to make gunpowder would really work. Also, more significantly, his final act of mercy after besting the Gorn is what elevates the episode. If this show was made today The Gorn would remain a stupid monster and Kirk would simply kill him. But his mercy and fighting against the superior alien being is a great ending and a good message.

That Gorn is just too much.

But it's not fair to knock TOS on the basis of bad special effects. The story is fairly creative but plodding.

Below average.

I'm firmly in the "loved it as a kid - still love it now" camp here. I want a Gorn figure now.

Overall the Gorn comes off way better in the fight. He quickly proceeds to build an effective weapon out of vines that serves to neutralize his opponent's advantage (speed). Kirk, meanwhile, inexplicaply logs his tactical status into what he was clearly told is a 'translation device', and he struggles to remember the formula for gunpowder even though according to Spock that's still 'basic chemistry' in their time.

There's a road on that asteroid which is presumably for Metron trucks carrying sulphur, although we never see one.

And when the Metron dude appears in the end, there is a glittering effect next to him that I didn't notice before. It looks like it's part of the set, something hanging there?

Though not the best episode, its main conceit that humans are "promising" and will evolve into something wonderful is one that was recycled heavily throughout TNG

I think a lot of the comments and Jammer's review are too harsh.

Regarding McCoy's comment, there is a certain context being missed. The analogy isn't a group of Cubans settling on an island off the coast of the USA (as suggested by others on this thread). The correct analogy would be a group of reptile monsters from space doing so.

While I would like to think our first reaction would not be EXTERminaaaate! some degree of fear, hostility or even violence would be at least understandable in context.

One of the best parts about this episode is Spock. He called it right from the get go- he warned Kirk that they didn't really know the context of the attack. He was completely correct. This and other examples (eg: Galileo 7) are reasons I love Spock.

See Babylon 5 for an illustration of the foolishness of running into a situation like this guns blazing without knowing all the facts.

On the subject of the rubber suit, I liked it as a kid and I still like it. In complete honesty it was better than the CGI mush we got from Enterprise for the Gorn. The ridicule this gets is more retrospective and unfairly blamed the episode for the limitations of 60s effects.

"Arena" is a classic, and the best part is, having seen this episode then watching Galaxy Quest. When the captain is fighting the Rock Monster, Guy shouts, "Can't you make a rudimentary lathe?" and I lost it, too funny.

This episode is famous for the fight scene between Kirk and the Gorn, but the event leading up to that moment is interesting as well. It was interesting seeing Kirk out for payback for a Starfleet base being destroyed. This was a fun action pack episode.

I’m rewatching it. It’s great.

I’ll fanwank... there’s a very good reason the Gorn moves in slow motion- it’s explicitly stated the race is cold blooded.

There’s plenty to critique- like why did Kirk and company not immediately beam up when first beaming down to the colony when it was very obviously a trap. And Uhuru screaming when Kirk was taken from the bridge... lol because teleportation is quite mundane in this universe.

But still, this is a first season ep of TOS. Come on, they were quite literally making it up as they went along. And thank you Lucille Ball!

When the Enterprise first attacked the Gorn ship, it's weapons had no effect. Why did Kirk think they were going to be successful the second time?

C'mon did Sisko say: "I'd love to meet Kirk and talk to him about the time he saved Earth by letting a social worker die?" or "I'd love to meet Kirk and talk him about destroying the Planet Killer?" No! It was: "I'd like to shake his hand, ask him about fighting the Gorn on Cestus Three."

Damn right. The Gorn fight was an epic Star Trek moment for all the right (and wrong) reasons.

4 stars.

Complain to Sisko if you disagree.

@SouthofNorth

I wouldn’t take it up with Sisko but one could sure take it up with the writers. It was throwaway line about Kirk and they had to mention an episode everyone remembers (most people remember the Gorn because of how bad the suit was and how the episode has been parodied). If Sisko said something like “I’d love to meet Kirk and ask him about delivering medical supplies and running into Garth” most people wouldn’t recall that particular episode and just be confused. So just because Sisko says the word Goen doesn’t make this a great episode. I like this episode but I agree with the consensus that the suit looks really REALLY bad and being filmed in the 1960s is not an excuse. It’s bad for the time. If you can really suspend your disbelief and stifle your laughter this is a decent episode I’d agree on 3 stars but I don’t think this quite makes the top ten

Gee Sisko, you know the most famous fight with the Gorn didn't actually happen ON Cestus III, right?

This is the kind of Sci-Fi my childhood was built upon. I embraced it. Sure, many people poke fun at this episode, and so many "Monday morning quarterbacks" like to nit-pick the production quality and script, but Star Trek was something new back when this came out and I found this episode to be a wonderful adventure. I still do!

Ten stars! One thousand stars!!!

Heck, one million stars, if only for the iconic line from Spock,

SPOCK: Now this is the power of Chemistry. Fuck yeaaaah.

Oh, the crap we loved as kids :) Good times.

@Jason R., I assume you are referring to the all-time classic Babylon 5 episode Infection? "Protect!"

Great maker, scifi can be so cheesy.

If Sisko had mentioned Garth, we all would have known who
he was talking about. The Gorn however is a classic and
can be haunting (just ask Sheldon Cooper).

I am sure the Star Fleet Academy Case Study that Sisko
read as a Cadet was entitled "Captain Kirk and the Gorn:
Cestas III and the importance of morals in the face of
outrage" (did the Metron mineral planet have a name?)

Does anyone have the rookie card for the Gorn who played
First Base for the Pike City Pioneers?

I was waiting, waiting, waiting, for Kirk’s inevitable victory over Godzilla to be followed by the Metrons announcement that their threat to destroy the loser’s ship was “simply a threat, Captain, couched in the primitive terms only you would understand— we, of course, are far too sophisticated to ever do anything so violent.”

It never came, and so this episode was total BS.

"There’s plenty to critique- like why did Kirk and company not immediately beam up when first beaming down to the colony when it was very obviously a trap."

They had to assess the situation and look for survivors. It wasn't known that the Gorn were still on the planet until they came under fire...after they found that one colonist alive. Also they did try to beam up but by then Sulu had raised the shields because the Enterprise was under attack. Geez.

I do like FASA's take on the Gorn from their role playing game supplement Demand of Honor: a society that values physical prowess and is ruled by a complex honor code.

I liked the episode but wish it would have had a bigger battle. The Gorn presented a pretty cool and formidable enemy. Having it just come down to Captain Kirk versus the Gorn Captain was a little disappointing. Perhaps the budget was lacking for a big battle. Creating a giant zip gun with black powder was a neat idea, the thing was that the recoil would have made it highly inaccurate and/or it would have seriously hurt Kirk. Also notice that Kirk is wearing some sort of specialized low cut hiking boots to assist in navigating the rocky terrain. A good concept, I just wanted more! I give it a B+.

Loved this episode as a teen. I always wondered, though: In the beginning of this episode, how would the Gorn have been able to send a message in the voice of Commodore Travers in order to trick the Enterprise into sending down their tactical people?

Frankly, I find the morality of this episode to be pretty asinine, for the same reasons others have listed. I mostly enjoy it for the camp value of seeing Kirk fight a big rubber monster, it's genuinely kind of endearing how clunky it all is. Some TOS episodes have great sophistication in their writing and morals, others are just goofy fun, and this episode falls into the latter category for me, despite the obvious attempt at being profound.

I will say, a lot of other works to use the same premise are far more successful on several levels. Many have already been mentioned here, but I'd recommend the Blake's 7 episode, 'Duel', it benefits a lot from playing off an intense rivalry that'd already been established between two characters, and has some genuinely well-directed and choreographed fight scenes for such a low-budget show. It also has an ending which feels almost like a parody of 'Arena', where neither combatant learns *anything* from the whole experience.

I echo completely the words of "Skeptical" that the moral philosophy of this episode does not pass the smell test. The Gorn had ZERO justification for their actions. Even if the Federation was technically "intruding" on Gorn space, there was no Gorn presence there, no Gorn had been displaced and the Gorn then engaged in a blatant shoot first and ask no questions later policy that resulted in mass murder and extermination of civilians even AFTER attempts to communicate had been made and was then compounded by a deliberate attempt to lure the Enterprise into destruction through fake messages. The idea that there is somehow "moral equivalence" between the two sides in this is laughable on its face and its clear that presenting the Gorn as a hideous looking reptile is meant to play up the "humans react prejudicely to what they don't understand" card.

And as for the Metrones.....ugh. I am so sick and tired of the cliche of sanctimonious, holier-than-thou "superior" races presuming that they are so noble and so perfect and odor-free that they have the right to pass judgment on others and then judge the others on when they can be ready to talk to them on their sanctimonious terms. In presuming to be enlightened and against "violence" they themselves are prepared to engage in their own form of mass killing. Talk about hypocrisy! This is why I can't stand "The Day The Earth Stood Still" either because it has the same fundamental problem. Do as we say or be destroyed in the name of "peace" and "enlightenment."

Kirk was worried about Sulu having to protect the ship, ummmm, where was Scotty?

Did anyone notice the hollow tube that Kirk kept filling with minerals and nothing fell out? Penn and Teller would be impressed!

Funny how things float to the surface of my brain decades after watching some TV show or movie.

I was drinking my coffee this morning, silently cursing the upcoming time change to DST, and a thought suddenly occurred to me: “Hey, the Metrones rigged the fight against Kirk!” The Gorn didn’t have to reinvent gunpowder to win. The Gorn could have squeezed Kirk in half with a great big reptilian bear hug, if it could avoid getting its ears boxed again. At least I assume those were its ears. Kirk does have a talent for accidentally locating a hostile species gonads in the nick of time to save himself. (Ok, the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet).

On the other hand, the Gorn couldn’t just hide somewhere in a cold-blooded reptile trance conserving energy while waiting for speedy warm-blooded Kirk to pass out from starvation. Industrious primate Kirk was scurrying around looking for a way to kill a big strong reptile from a distance.

Amazing that I’m still thinking about Trek after 50+ years. As a kid, I had the whole set of Blish script novelizations (and his Trek novel “Spock Must Die!” with Scotty’s immortal line, “I’d rather stick a 15 Ampere tap directly into God!” He didn’t want to try drawing power directly from Hilbert space. To give a shuttle craft warp drive capability, of course. Why else would you do it? Read it if you can find a copy. Better than your average FanFic. ). I was always surprised when there was a change in the book that contradicted The Truth of the TV Episode. It wasn’t until much later that I found out that the books were done from earlier versions of the scripts than what finally ended up on film. I vaguely recall the previous reference about the Metrones in the book having actually planned to exterminate the victor’s species. I also recall something about not having coal, but there were piles of diamond dust along with the larger stones to use as projectiles. Kirk assumed the diamond dust would substitute for coal/charcoal, since hey, carbon is carbon, right? Just as well they changed it to coal in the script. It takes a lot of heat to keep a diamond burning in normal air, although it will sustain its own combustion in pure oxygen once it’s ignited.

If you’re still with me, I hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts on one of my favorite topics. I’m sure my coherence level will be worse tomorrow after we’ve all robbed ourselves of an hour of perfectly good sleep. Perhaps they’ll come to their senses by the 23rd century and stop doing this foolish twice-annual temporal displacement ritual.

This one is just epic. It has a sprawling scope for the era with more story than most of the Trek movies.

The starbase/planet set in the first act looks like a million bucks, especially considering it's only used for less than ten minutes. That weapon they use is rather convincing.

And while the gorn's suit is obviously a suit, it's a great one for tv of that era. I would say it's almost of TNG/DS9 caliber, and doesn't even look bad in HD.


There are several annoyances, particularly both Spock and McCoy navel gazing about whether the colony being slaughtered was justifiable. And I always find it annoying that Kirk goes instantly from "there are resources to build weapons" to "they said there would be weapons".

I have no issues with the Gorns’ motivations here. Those that do seem to be applying mammalian moral codes to judge the Gorns’ actions as reprehensible. There are several reasons that the writers consciously made the Gorn reptilian, not the least of which was to make them suitably “alien” to our way of thinking. These Gorn probably reacted precisely as a reptile alien race would if they found an infestation of humans on one of their worlds. Identifying flags and “No Trespassing” signs or not, they simply saw them as foreign bodies to be exterminated, like we would see a wasp nest in the eaves of a house, or even a mouse wandering around the kitchen--in which case you do just what the Gorn did and set a mouse trap (drawing the Enterprise to the planet with a fake recording) to prevent further incursions. “The Gorn should have negotiated with the humans!” “The Gorn should have staked their claim to the planet more effectively!” “There’s no justification for massacring hundreds of people!” All these objections are missing the point completely--the Gorn are basal, reactionary and hostile down to their very nature, and I’m sure Spock would applaud that analysis. @Jason R nailed it -- “The analogy isn't a group of Cubans settling on an island off the coast of the USA (as suggested by others on this thread). The correct analogy would be a group of reptile monsters from space doing so."

This story is really about showing mercy to an intractable alien foe that is naturally out to destroy you, which is a far more interesting position on conflict/war than, “Hey, we’re all humans, let’s just all join hands, sing 'Kumbaya' and put down our silly weapons.”

Would I have exterminated as many Gorn as I could find after they attacked a human colony? Well yes, of course I would have. The fact that the Gorns’ actions are perfectly rational, from their point of view, doesn’t absolve them of their sins--they attacked our colony, proving themselves to be an intolerable threat; sure, let’s kill them. But “Arena” is meant to show us that some people, like Captain Kirk, are capable of mercy even in the most extreme examples of existential threat, and that’s what separates us humans from the reptilian Gorn.

And ultimately the story includes a third point of view--that of the Metrons, represented by that silly man-child wearing a Harry Styles dress at the end. While the Gorn are intelligent but still basal reptiles, and Kirk/humans the reasoning mammals, the Metroids are the allegedly advanced ubermensch who seek to study both of these lower species as lab rats in order to determine how they measure up in the scheme of the galaxy. Other commenters have pointed out that their threat to annihilate the loser of the gladiator match is probably a bluff. Yes, I believe that too. What they really want to see is if either side is capable of rising above their supposed savagery with a bit of mercy and compassion, and the only way to test that is through a contest of savagery. And one of the races is indeed capable of doing this. Still, fuck this sanctimonious, holier-than-thou Metron. He thinks that his supposed superiority gives him every right to lecture us like Nancy Pelosi. I’d just as soon kill him, with his smug preaching and treating me like a zoo animal, as I would the Gorn who was just acting with reactionary reptile reasoning. "Arena" is simple and amusing, but damn is it full of itself.

Now as to the fight sequences--you could select any critique or praise of them in this thread and basically agree with the assessment. Like the Gorn itself, they're a force of nature. This one-one-one battle is an iconic piece of Star Trek lore (even I, new to classic Star Trek, knew what “Kirk fighting the Gorn” was) that deserves to be celebrated, discussed, parodied, praised, you name it. It’s also a laughably cheesy cockfight, filmed with 1960’s budgetary limitations, between hammy William Shatner and a guy shambling around in an oversized dinosaur costume to the soundtrack of guttural noises and growls that are exactly like the ones my own vocal chords emit on a Sunday morning after a heavy night of drinking while I’m lurching through the house trying to get my kids to shut the fuck up and let me sleep it off. The clash of Kirk and the Gorn Captain is not exactly Enkidu vs. Gilgamesh (Google it--it’s a fantastic epic poem), but it has solid entertainment value.

My favorite moment of absurdity actually doesn’t happen on the planet but on the ship -- I’m pretty sure that Uhura has seen crew members instantly teleported off the Bridge before, but this time when it happens to Kirk, she *screams in terror* while Spock just looks on nonchalantly.

It's good for some laughs. It's good for some thoughts. It's no classic, but also no disaster.


Best Line --
Kirk: “Don’t try to figure it out, Mr. Sulu.”


My Grade: C

@ Proud Capitalist Pig,

As fate would have it I just watched this one a couple of nights ago, so it's fresh in my mind.

"I have no issues with the Gorns’ motivations here. Those that do seem to be applying mammalian moral codes to judge the Gorns’ actions as reprehensible. There are several reasons that the writers consciously made the Gorn reptilian, not the least of which was to make them suitably “alien” to our way of thinking."

Well the thing is Trek in general, and TOS on many occasions, seems to argue that true intelligence always leads to the final conclusion of respect for life, to the point where multiple groups of super-advanced beings judge lesser mortals for killing each other. So in this context, the only way to judge the Gorn's actions as reasonable (even from their own POV) is if you argue that reptiles cannot really be intelligent in any meaningful way; that their intelligence is a sort of 'fake cleverness' that cannot ever evolve into the sort of beings the Metrons are. We are talking about an absolute scale of advancement, wherein certain types of things (murder, greed, etc) are objectively wrong and any sufficiently advanced civilization would know that. So you sort of end up reducing the Gorn to the 'backward natives' to ascribe to them no innate capacity to share these values.

"This story is really about showing mercy to an intractable alien foe that is naturally out to destroy you, which is a far more interesting position on conflict/war than, “Hey, we’re all humans, let’s just all join hands, sing 'Kumbaya' and put down our silly weapons.”"

While I agree that this is a nifty thing to explore - a moral position with no possible material upside - I am really not sure we're meant to understand the Gorn in this way here. The entire tenor of Arena changes once Kirk learns the Gorn felt they were protecting themselves. And this is foreshadowed in Spock's conversation in Kirk's quarters near the start where he questions whether it's an invasion. It seems what the writers wanted was to demonstrate that our natural assumption that no being could do this for any reason other than wanton destruction was incorrect in the case of the Gorn, since they are different from us. But it's not that they're intractable, just that their initial reaction is going to be a lot less forgiving than the Federation's would be.

"Other commenters have pointed out that their threat to annihilate the loser of the gladiator match is probably a bluff. Yes, I believe that too. What they really want to see is if either side is capable of rising above their supposed savagery with a bit of mercy and compassion, and the only way to test that is through a contest of savagery"

Hm I guess I'm not sure about this. The Metrons didn't have to do anything, and unlike the Organians the Gorn weren't exactly rounding them into prison camps to be irritated at their intrustion. Also their attitude, coming off as smug and superior, does seem to me to speak to a race that really doesn't want anything to do with these lesser races; their test seems to be in the vein of "if you're going to settle this with violence then we will see to it that it's done as gentlemen rather than savagely." It feels like a "not in my backyard" attitude rather than trying to teach anyone anything. My idea for this came when the Metron said he was surprised that the humans could show mercy. Seriously? Did he not bother to read even the slightest detail in the ship's computer before engaging in this farce? Even Gary Mitchell did more homework than this. So it makes me think that they were just dismissing both races as primitive and were mildly interested that in one case this wasn't quite true; but only mildly. It seems more like they're detached from lesser concerns rather than that they have an elevated concern for these races. The Organians, too, are later shown to be very detached rather than caring. More Dr. Manhattan and less Superman.

I've always really liked this one and still do, but the 'moral' at the end (Kirk being pleased that humanity shows promise) is really empty writing since Kirk, the Metrons, and everyone watching should know better than to wonder whether humans are capable of mercy. In fact if they had wanted to do something at least thought-provoking at the end it could have been an exchange between Spock and Kirk about the value of even alien life, and perhaps a disagreement about whether this should be called "mercy" or just "logical", and whether it's an emotional position versus a dispassionate truth. The question could sit whether humans can arrive at the concept of mercy without Vulcan logic, meaning an emotional position leads to the same conclusion as a Vulcan logical one. If that's a bit too dry then perhaps Kirk could have ended the episode condemning the Metrons rather than feeling praised by them. As it was they felt they were making a 'deep' point that is...not.

TOS' Arena.. Always loved this episode. It was a 3-in-1.
Part 1, which I call the Battle of Cestus III, began with a lot of smarmy good ol' boy chit-chat in the transporter room about Travers' legendary hospitality. Upon beaming down, Kirk instantly assesses the situation "Cestus III has been destroyed." Real Shock. Transition to opening credits. Very exciting.

Title scene shows the large fortress wall of the colony below a matte painting of rugged mountains....a tried and true technique to produce a scenic effect of large scale....Kirk and crew fan-out...red-shirt is disintegrated by a disruptor beam of a type not seen before in the series...looked hot and painful too. Traumatizing for the first time viewer. Quickly the paltry Federation landing party are pelted by destructive ordinance. Very frustrating for our out-gunned heroes. All-in-all, it's the most effective battle scenario ever offered up in TOS. Nothing really equaled it until Deep Space 9.

Part 2: The Hot Pursuit shows Kirk obsessed with punishing the Gorn and pushing the ship too hard....interesting discussion about war with Kirk. He is foolishly not relenting, just seeing red.

Part 3: The fight for survival on the remote planetoid....for a young viewer the situation was scary as Hell. I know, I know, the Gorn was a man in a suit. At least he had a loincloth on and for my money, the rubber leotard, however cheesy, still beat a Fireball XL5 lizard marionette!

The final chat between Kirk and the Metron. To me it was magical. (And I think the Metrons foreshadow the Q Continuum rather well, though are less grouchy).

Arena deserves 3.5 stars!
"We are a very promising species Mr. Spock."

"(And I think the Metrons foreshadow the Q Continuum rather well, though are less grouchy)."

The episode just before this one with Squire Trelane is a much better foreshadowing of Q. While the Metron may have similar powers, it displayed far less personality. But I can't help thinking that the first 2 episodes we see Q on TNG are possibly direct results of "The Squire of Gothos".

@ Rahul,

Yeah. To the point where early Q may as well *be* a more grown-up Trelane, especially with his fascination of humanity.

@ Peter G

Good comments there. I definitely think the Gorn were objectively a threat, but their reasons for attacking the colony made perfect sense to a certain way of thinking. I think Star Trek's teachings of compassion and a default respect for life are noble, but you can't expect it from every intelligent alien.

You lost me with the "Organians" comparison, unless I missed something. Maybe I haven't gotten that far yet?



@ Rahul,

Okay yeah, I never connected Trelane with the Metron at all, but that's a good observation. Is this a coming trend in Star Trek? Switching from Twilight Zone culture mirrors to consistently encountering all-powerful aliens who screw with and judge humanity?

@ Peter G

"Perhaps Kirk could have ended the episode condemning the Metrons rather than feeling praised by them. As it was they felt they were making a 'deep' point that is...not."

Yes, for sure. I noticed that too. Personally I would have exploded on the Metron, really taken the piss out of him.

@ PCP,

"You lost me with the "Organians" comparison, unless I missed something. Maybe I haven't gotten that far yet?"

Forget it, just erase that comment from your memory. In fact, Jammer can you delete the neurons in PCP's head related to the word "Organian"? Maybe just a full mindwipe if that's easier.

@ Peter G

Considering I just watched "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," I have the perfect solution at the top of my head--just beam me back into my body as it existed a minute before I read your comment (after Jammer expunges the comment of course).

We seem to be at exactly the same place in our watching! I'm halfway through Tomorrow Is Yesterday as we speak (halted for the night due to sleep necessity disparity between me and my wife. I think you'll probably get ahead of me in pace but I'll try to add thoughts when I can after I've watched one.

@Proud Capitalist Pig

"Is this a coming trend in Star Trek? Switching from Twilight Zone culture mirrors to consistently encountering all-powerful aliens who screw with and judge humanity?"

When I think of TOS S1, one of the themes that gets frequently revisited is humanity's interaction with superbeings. But it's done in different ways and tells different stories -- whether it be "Charlie X" or Gary Mitchell, the Metrons, Organians, etc. And then Q is a fixture throughout TNG.

So yes, I'd say it is a "trend" in Trek but also in sci-fi writ large. It provides a way to look at humanity from 30,000 feet and can lead to some interesting observations. Not a bad plot device for sci-fi.

@Proud Capitalist Pig, on all-powerful aliens (a.k.a. gods), you'll enjoy the comments when you get to "Who Morns for Adonias?"

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-tos/s2/adonais.php#comment-79223

@ Peter G -- "We seem to be at exactly the same place in our watching! I'm halfway through Tomorrow Is Yesterday as we speak (halted for the night due to sleep necessity disparity between me and my wife. I think you'll probably get ahead of me in pace but I'll try to add thoughts when I can after I've watched one."

Sounds good! My watching is sporadic too. My family is all trying to watch it together, but sometimes someone has to catch up. I always appreciate your thoughtful comments.

@Rahul -- "Yes, I'd say it is a "trend" in Trek but also in sci-fi writ large. It provides a way to look at humanity from 30,000 feet and can lead to some interesting observations. Not a bad plot device for sci-fi."

Very true. As long as science fiction / fantasy is saying something interesting, it can go anywhere it wants.

@Mal -- "on all-powerful aliens (a.k.a. gods), you'll enjoy the comments when you get to "Who Morns for Adonias?"

Thanks for the tip! I try to scan through all the comments on these pages after I finish watching an episode and I'll make a note to myself to pay close attention to that thread when I get to it.

I think the really important point (and maybe lesson) in “Arena” is that there is a way to break the spiral of violence. In the first half of the episode, the situation between the Enterprise and the Gorn escalates at high speed, with both sides having their share in it, as other reviewers have already analysed. Resorting to violence breeds further violence from the opponent’s side, a fight or even war seem unavoidable. At first, when the Metrons stop both ships in space, their interference breaks the circle, but it doesn’t solve the conflict… it just continues on a different level, with Kirk and the Gorn as proxies. From what I see here, the Metrons are far from being the peacemakers they claim to be. They interfere because the Enterprise and the Gorn ship have violated the space of the Metrons during their pursuit. Forcing Kirk and the Gorn to fight to the death is not supposed to bring peace – based on one killing the other and the loser’s ship being destroyed, what kind of peace would that be?! – but to serve others as a cautionary tale. That the outcome finally is a peaceful solution is to Kirk’s credit, not to that of the Metrons: by showing mercy and sparing his enemy, he renounces vengeance… and in doing so, he breaks new ground and opens the door for diplomacy. I’m not sure if that was the Metrons’ intention from the beginning…

I never post videos here but in this instance I had to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4SxPLXrTDc&ab_channel=Insider

Just watched it last night. It's two weapons experts rating fights in film and TV. Not my favorite video ever but at around the halfway point you'll get your money's worth :)

@Peter G

If you right click over a Youtube video there is an option to copy the URL at the current play time. The Gorn discussion starts at 12 minutes and 36 seconds: https://youtu.be/r4SxPLXrTDc?t=757

That video is pretty cool! They suggest the gorn moves so slowly because he's very thick skinned and it's similar to guys fighting in heavy armor. That makes sense considering he was hit by a bolder and survived.

Whatever the in story reason, surely it was deliberate by the production. I seriously doubt the suit was that heavy or constricting.

Meanwhile back to nit picking-- this episode is fairly epic feeling, but gets kind of goofy when the bridge crew start watching the fight on tv with commentary.

It seems like it would have been better for them to be doing something else, like researching the gorn or something.

Or maybe even expand the sci-fi element of the battle arena, like maybe it's extremely small, like unbounded but finite, meaning you go out one side and come back in the other.

That would explain one flaw-- Kirk could move vastly quicker than the gorn so should have easily been able to stay ahead of the gorn.

(And they actually did show in "Land of the Lost" that that realm was unbounded but finite.)

This episode is straight up trash. The message that humanity is a backward race of beings totally misses the mark as well because the aliens are the ones who come off as barbarians.

-1 stars for the hypocrisy.

What would "Kirk & the Gorn at Cestus III?" come to mean in the Darmok people's language?

Another episode I loved as a kid and still do. The Gorn are a race worthy of further development today. The Metrons are pretty darned cool too. Maybe in a few thousand years....

I’ll admit up front that Arena scores very high on my nostalgia-o-meter, and as such I’m very aware of the possibility that I’m viewing it through rose colored glasses. But personally I think this is a 3-3.5 star episode, if for no other reason than it’s iconic standing. But also, it might embody more than any other TOS episode that certain pizzazz that only the original series seems to carry. It’s a kind of do-no-wrong swagger that allows me to look past its less than perfect special effects and see the heart and soul of a show fully committed to telling its story. As I mentioned, maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but the more I think about it the more confident I become that my analysis is objective: rubber lizard suits be damned, this is a fun episode.
And honestly, who really cares about cheesy special effects? When contemplating the evolution of sci-fi effects in general I’m reminded of the prologue to Henry V:

“But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.”

Is it, or perhaps better asked, *should* it be the job of the effects to stand in for one’s own imagination? When I watched Arena as a kid the gorn was real, visceral, dangerous. My mind picked up the slack where the clunky suit left off and I was, and am, perfectly fine with that. If pressed to make a choice, I’ll take a good story/characters with bad effects over a bad story/characters with great effects. Any. Day. Of. The. Week.

So the question becomes, is Arena a good story? I say, yes. Absolutely. This episode is quite a journey. We get a WWII style mortar duel, a space chase, two mystery civilizations with difficult to understand motives, and finally the arena itself. It’s a packed show that tells its tale with great competence. Much has been made above about the episode’s questionable moral messaging. However, I’d argue that Arena takes no stand, its asks rather that we question our own assumptions. We assume the Gorn are evil, after all they commit a massacre with what seems to be extreme prejudice, yet we know nothing of their society. Perhaps their civilization is organized more along the lines of an insect colony, where individuals are unimportant to the whole, and as such killing a few drones is a perfectly acceptable means of communication, they even may have thought they were being quite polite by not attacking starfleet headquarters. There are hundreds of possible reasons for the Gorn actions that go beyond them just being bad, the point is that we don’t know and thus our entire attitude towards them is built around our own ingrained prejudice. McCoy realizes this and begins to reassess the situation in a more dynamic light, but the episode doesn’t pound home that point, it just demands the question, and it falls to us how we choose to interpret our own worldview bias. Part of Kirk’s victory at the end is that he chooses to jettison those prejudices, he breaks the cycle of violence driven by ignorance, he chooses to remain true to himself regardless of the Gorn or the Metrons, and in so doing shames the metrons into pretending they aren’t just preening jerks who like to put bugs in jars and shake them up for fun. At least that’s how I took it.

Anyway, still one of my top 20 trek episodes.

The idea of having a cold blooded reptile moving slow was current in the 60's but now modern science has rendered that idea outdated. We now know dinosaurs didn't sit up to their necks in a swamp, how many snakes and lizards have we seen in real life moving very fast? The modern iterations of the Gorn in SNW and once on enterprise are a more accurate vision of reptiles. The continuity/canon issue rears it ugle head again in that in Arena Kirk and Spock say things like "Apparently it's called a Gorn." Like they have never heard of it. But it seems like they were the new Klingon/Borg/Big Bad before Kirk took over the Enterprise from Pike. I'm glad the producers are finally using the Gorn as a core threat species and fleshing them out. However, maybe the writers should have made up a new enemy species like TNG did with the Cardassians or ENT did with the Xindi. then there wouldn't be any canon/continuity issues at all.
Maybe new trek should be original instead of doing all these prequels and retcons.

You're ALL nuts...

BEST REAL TREK EPISODES....

1. City On The Edge Of Forever...(possibly the best television episode of ANY show..ever)
2. Arena
3. The Doomsday Machine
4. Balance Of Terror
5. Spectre Of The Gun (admittedly a guilty pleasure, when picked over Trouble With Tribbles, or Mirror, Mirror)

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-tos/s1/arena.php#comment-40406

@Klovis Mann....

Sorry, hate to be THAT guy, but "Lt. Harold", the last survivor of Cestus III, was played by Tom Troupe. Who DOES bear a resemblance to Last Battlefield (and Cool Hand Luke) actor Lou Antonio.

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-tos/s1/arena.php#comment-91671

Dr. Bob...Internally, bamboo is made out of a number of individual chambers, so you can easily fill a broken bamboo chamber with stuff, and nothing will fall out of the other end.

In pre-plastic Japan, they's saw an intact chamber out of a green bamboo tree, drill a hole on one end, fill it with water, and them plug it with a stick...Boom! old school canteen.

Best thing about the Gorn "captain" is that his growling and hissing always that he sounds like a 200 year old heavy cigar smoker.

I can never get that distinct sound out of my head.

I just watched this episode with my 6 and my 3 year olds and they were on the edge of their seat the entire time. 10/10 experience.

If there ever was a classic trek episode this is it. I'm sure the Gorn has been lampooned many times such as in cartoons and Halloween costumes. Since there are multiple things going on, the planet, the chase, the halting of the chase, the arena, the climax, the closing moral loop-around, the ending is a little rushed, such as the construction of the canon. It might not be a good idea to try to strike your flint spark textile fire right on top of the pile of gunpowder you just made. I wonder if that stuff was even real. Yeah this is another of the episodes where the all powerful alien being forces the crew or the Captain to joust or engage in combat. But I like this episode.

I love the video game commercial with Shatner and the Gorn starting to fight, and then both deciding they're too old for this! Hilarious. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR3FdSJfVsg

Like someone astutely pointed out years ago, the TOS non humanoid aliens were much more convincing than those in other series'. Hokey yes but this is the 60s. At least it's a plausible alien, though why is biped the only option? I digress.

As a story, this works so well, with a history and multiple parts, and plenty of action. Lots of moral questions and a hand to hand battle, with ingenuity. Iconic episode. Only 4 stars is an option