“Requiem for Methuselah”

To me, this is one of the most disappointing -- though not among the worst -- episodes of TOS. It's an amazing premise, but the love story derails it. It would have worked a little better if Kirk hadn't fallen head over heels with Rayna in like 90 minutes. At least with Edith Keeler, he spent a couple days around her.

Beyond that, the TOS cliche of Spock explaining why Rayna died at the end was really annoying. How did he know she didn't die because of an unrelated mechanical problem? How did Spock figure out what happened while Flint (who built Rayna) seemed clueless? And, really, why was the explanation necessary?

Also, Kirk's line to Spock about how they "were fighting over a woman" seemed really out of character for the supposed advanced sensibilities of 23rd century humans.

This could have been a really great episode if it stretched out over a couple days, if the guy playing Flint was a better actor and if less time was spent on Kirk falling in love and more time spent on the idea that one man had been such an important part of human history.

I agree with Paul, above, about the "fighting over a woman" comment, and would add that Kirk seemed to run Amok way too easily.

This is disappointing. It's one of the worst episodes of Trek. It's just so utterly appalling how Kirk "fell in love" with someone, especially since she's supposed to be the companion for someone who can't die. Oh wait, Flint doesn't need a woman anymore because he's going to die. Problem solved!

I just have to point out one thing... Flint was watching them on a flatscreen TV with a soundbar. Straight out of 2013. Hell, maybe even 2014 or 2015. It was a little bit flatter than the ones around today. It never fails to amaze me how well Star Trek predicts technological advances.

Good idea but poorly executed. How many episodes are based on transporting medicine for some planetary outbreak? Kirk falling in live with an android was totally absurd as was Spock doing the mind meld at the end to make him forget.

Alternative episode title: Kirk's Got The Feevah! Who wouldn't..? Louise Sorel as Rayna, is absolutely stunning in her, snug, aluminous dress. But how out of character does Kirk seem, here? Quite clearly, and for less than noble reasons, our virile captain wants to be, ahem, in like Flint. Of the many times I saw this episode years and years ago (edited 70's era butchered airings) - though I understood she was an android I have no memory of the scene where Kirk reveals that unfortunate reality... Rayna is just one of many copies. By the way... Data (whose Lal and pre-Lal units had nothing on Rayna) wouldn't even need an emotion chip to experience some serious human envy - Flint's version is THAT impressive. The episode expects us to believe that in the short time between cold sonic showers, Kirk has fallen so deeply in love that he's willing to beat up a creepy, one thousand year old man - who once could have been Hercules. Did not Kirk witness Hercules' power to shrink a thirty foot film production Enterprise into a twelve inch AMT model?? - and freezing Scotty solid in the process? Ultimately, the landing party's visit to Holberg 917-G (weird name if you ask me) in search of an antidote results in the death of everyone on the planet (Da Vinci, Brahms, Alexander, et al) - probably a TOS "first." Not a first is James T. Kirk's innate ability of forcing a robot into suicide. Spock's use, at the end, of a sort of katra reset button was sweet... he probably thought it was only appropriate what with all the suffering Kirk went through after he murdered Edith Keeler with a Packard.

Strangely I liked this one a lot better than All our yesterdays even though it included yet another instant love story.

The episode owes a lot to the movie "Forbidden Planet," which in general TOS owes a lot to, which also means this owes a lot to "The Tempest." By having Rayna literally be both Flint's creation and the woman he loves, the creepy possessiveness of Prospero/Morpheus over his daughter is explored a little more directly. There is definitely something poignant about this story: Flint has lived so many lifetimes that his only equal is someone he can program himself, but his ability to create her as life basically means that it's impossible for a romantic relationship to blossom. Whether or not the weird father/daughter stuff surrounding Flint and Rayna was intended (I think so), it's still difficult for Rayna to shift from Flint-as-creator/mentor to Flint-as-lover. And so Kirk is brought in as a ringer. Flint starts off absolutely denying contact of Kirk etc. to his planet, before suddenly insisting that Kirk and Rayna spend time together in the hopes that this dashing captain will find the right combination to let her tumblers fall and her lock open. I'm not sure whether Flint changes his mind because he is mercurial (or the episode is poorly plotted), or if something Kirk does demonstrates his superior studliness, or if Flint had been faking his reticence all along and had always been planning to bring Kirk in. Kirk has a certain vitality that Flint has lost over the years (a common theme in depictions of extreme longevity) and maybe he can awaken something in Rayna, after which Flint can have that awakened, vital Rayna be his "life line" to give his own life meaning again.

The tragedy around Rayna is that Flint and Kirk both want something from her, and while they do both care for her to an extent, neither sees her fully. Kirk wants to "free" her to "love," and Flint wants to give her everything he has to offer, which is quite a bit, on his terms. It's appropriate that one of Flint's past identities is Solomon, because I'm reminded a little of the story of Solomon suggesting splitting a baby in two to give to warring mothers, and the "true" mother being the one willing to let the baby survive with the other. Neither Kirk nor Flint pay enough attention to how badly this situation is tearing Rayna apart to stop their warring, and she dies. It's a decently effective strategy. I think that too much time was spent on the "mystery" of Flint's ancient origins, of his being Leonardo and Brahms, but given that Flint doesn't come across very well in the episode it's worth establishing why Rayna might think well of him -- his genius stretches back human centuries.

The big weak link in this episode is the Kirk/Rayna "romance," which is unconvincing. It might have worked had Kirk just gotten passionate about Rayna's need for freedom, but he's in love with her as a person, which given Kirk's character needs a fair bit more setup than is given here. Contrasting this with, say, Edith Keeler, that episode spent a great deal of time setting up the nature of Kirk's feelings for her and why she was special to him; and it also came at a point in the series in which Kirk's womanizing had not gone into overdrive. It's hard to say what Kirk likes about Rayna; Spock admires her intellect, but does Kirk? Does he think she's a good dancer? Is hot?

The last scene is interesting in its implications. McCoy suggests Spock is incapable of love, and then Spock administers the "forget" to Kirk, which is framed by the episode as an act of love. It is also nonconsensual, and even if it had been consensual it is an odd choice, one that goes counter to a lot of Kirk's usual gusto. I hate to bring up Star Trek V, but "I need my pain!" seems to define Kirk much more than an overwhelming desire to forget; for an in-series example, see "This Side of Paradise" for a quick demonstration of Kirk's absolute preference of messy reality over fantasy. Spock is somewhat defying Kirk's moral stance and violating his will because he doesn't want to see his friend in pain, which is also (possibly) a purely logical decision that whether Kirk would ascribe meaning to his suffering or not in the long term (he certainly doesn't seem to at this very moment), it probably is not worth the pain that he is going through right now. That the episode ends with something of a criticism of Kirk -- for throwing himself into "save the girl" to the point where the woman in question gets killed, and his bravado leading to heartbreak he couldn't recover from himself -- and Spock having to violate personal boundaries to save him suggests something a bit like the direction the movies will go in, in examining these characters' flaws and questioning the assumptions of their virtues.

The episode's very slow first half and the extent to which Kirk/Rayna was unconvincing means I can't really recommend this episode, but it has its moments. 2.5 stars, I suppose.

The thing that gets me about this episode is that the Enterprise crew are supposed to be dying of plague from which only Flint's antidote can save them. You'd think that saving the lives of his entire crew would be a higher priority to Kirk than getting to shtoink Flint's android girlfriend. But apparently not.

I didn't get the impression that Flint died due to the landing party's actions, though. IIRC, the dialog stated that the reason he was dying was because the unique conditions that kept him immortal were only found on Earth, and he had left it.

I found this episode interesting because in retrospect it functions very much as a precursor to themes that TNG would explore with Data. The most directly related TNG episode is "The Offspring", but there are also links to "The Measure of a Man" (Kirk showing that Rayna can be human and should be allowed to make her own decisions), as well as "The Most Toys" (an android dealing with being considered property).

Having watched most of TOS now, I can say it's surprising how much material was borrowed from it for later use in the feature films and episodes of TNG.

After viewing this episode for only the second time in 20 years, I can only assume that Kirk's judgement was impaired by early symptoms of the onslaught of Rigelian fever. That's the only way to explain his totally out of character actions in this episode, since it had already been well established on multiple occasions that his first love is his ship. Perhaps Flint was even aware of this early symptom of the disease and decided to exploit it in his effort to unlock his android's emotions.

If that was, indeed, the rationale driving this story, I sure would have appreciated a few lines of exposition by McCoy or Spock confirming it.

I think this episode is hysterically awful. The episode's premise is "we must stop the virus before it kills all the crew" and yet the story turns into a totally non-credible love story. Kirk acts like some possessed school boy having his first crush on a girl.

The pace is slow, no sense of urgency.

The Enterprise turned into a model was Irwin Allen type gimmickry.

KIrk is more concerned with loving a robot woman than saving his crew. Totally out-of-character.

It was fun to watch, all episodes of Star Trek have fun moments but I'd have to rate this episode zero out of four. Meh.

In this rare instance, I must disagree with one portion of what William B. posted about Spock in his last paragraph. The fact is both Kirk, then confirmed by McCoy, say out loud (perhaps as musing, but in a way that conveys a deep wish on both their parts), the need for Kirk to forget Rayna. Kirk says it, then McCoy, after his habit-driven and equally flawed excoriation of Spock's emotional character. My take on the scene is that Spock, and yes, in an "act of love," then grants what both patient and doctor could not do. For that reason, I think the ending was outstanding.

I noticed that toward the end of TOS there was a lot of characters somehow knowing why things happened and just explaining it to each other and, really, to the audience. Very lazy stuff.

It was rather one of these dreams where someone tries to leave or go somewhere but sits in a jam an cannot leave. For havens sake McCoy, why did you not bream up as soon as you had the medicine!!!

But the story was not about saving Enterprise again, and I liked it. The two alfa men fighting over a female. Both actually just wants to posses, even if Kirk says something else. This fight though is the catalyst for Raynas development to become a human being as well as it crushes her realising its consequence.

Spock realises how senseless this is, tries to warn bit his boss does not want to listen. An excellent example on both modern and old management.

Yes this episode had potential to be something more, but I still enjoyed it as it was.

A couple things I didn't like...McCoy insulting Spick at the end for not being human seems out of character, and Spock mind raping Kirk also seems out of character. Maybe Spock could do that to me and I'd forget the last two movies.

I would like to point out the writer of this episode, Jerome Bixby further explored the concept of a immortal caveman who survived into modern times in the film: 'The Man from Earth'. It is basically a play and filmed in 2007 starring none other then Tony Todd and John Billingsley.

This episode starts out telling us that the Enterprise is infected with the plague and everyone will die if they aren't treated within four hours. Okay, but where did they pick up this plague, and how? Surely there are decontamination and quarantine procedures which would essentially eliminate plagues, and certainly prevent them from happening on a starship, but the crew are frequently careless, so I'll buy this.

Kirk demands the cure from the guy who owns the planet, after trespassing, and then later claims he didn't "demand", just "ask". His behavior throughout this whole episode is kind of off. Everyone of the ground team is acting odd, in fact. It's probably bad writing, but I'm going to say it could be that they were all suffering from early stages of the plague. I wish that had been established as the case, it would have made this episode easier to swallow.

The hostile planet owner changes his mind and invites them in, offering them a drink. Because the most appropriate time to have a drink and chill is when your crew is dying of plague. Even Spock has a drink. Wtf. There's some joking around about him not wanting his brainwaves messed with by alcohol and drunk Vulcans which doesn't make any sense. A previous episode established Spock saying that alcohol has no effects on Vulcans. So one of these episodes is lying. Or it's a retcon, or Spock was lying, or McCoy and Kirk were mistaken or joking. I'm not deep enough in this to know what's right, but I still had to point that out.

Spock says he's never felt envy before. I'd have assumed that since the pure Vulcans were cruel to him about his mixed race when he was a child and still seem to hold prejudices against him, he'd have at some point felt envious of them and their inclusion in society. I guess I can sort of hand wave that, he could be unaware of his own feelings, or lying about them, or maybe actually telling the truth. It just doesn't seem to go with what we've been told about the character so far.

Again, the crew are dying and Kirk and Co. are happy to goof off and let this guy bring the vital McGuffin instead of insisting on getting it themselves. Why did they even have the subplot about everyone dying if they were going to treat it like it wasn't a big deal? Kirk plays pool and dances with some chick, Spock wanders around saying contradictory things about how things are authentic but brand new despite the fact that age is the test for authenticity for all the things he's saying that about. Also, playing the piano seems like too unnecessary a skill for a logical being who values useful things and hates emotions to have bothered cultivating, especially when he already has that harp-thing, but that's just a nitpick. It's all pretty out of character. Kirk values his crew and duties above all else, and Spock his duties and captain, and while I would buy Kirk et al playing along to keep on their host's good side, that's obviously not the case here. It's played as them actually just screwing around.

The medicine comes back tainted and Kirk and Spock are content to let McCoy go alone with the robot that almost killed them earlier to acquisition more? These three men are always jumping all over each other to be the first to make a heroic sacrifice for the team, but they don't care enough about their dying crew to make sure nothing goes wrong this time? They're content to sit there and do nothing of value and just let McCoy do it? Really? Even if Kirk was distracted, surely Spock would say something and snap him out of it, remind him of his duties, or find out his real plan? Or McCoy would? Where are the checks and balances these three are supposed to impose on each other?

The woman acts like she's still a child emotionally, but Kirk finds her so irresistible that he just walks up and starts smooching on her with no provocation? Their only interaction was dancing and her showing him some pool moves. Those must have been some damn good moves. Kirk has romanced plenty of women, but his ship always comes first. Now he's forgetting about his dying crew to make out with his grouchy host's daughter? And Spock just watches? Really? Even though this could piss off their host, and screw them all over? And then the robot conveniently doesn't see Spock standing in the doorway watching when it comes in to kill Kirk. Mmmmmkay.

Kirk's known this girl for less than four hours, and doesn't even know anything about her other than she's magically good at everything but stupidly naive. And now he's forgetting about his duties and loyalties and risking everyone's lives to try to win her, even though he knows his host could easily kill them all. Wtf. Kirk's number one trait has always been loyalty to his ship, his crew. Even when he truly loves a woman, he'll leave her, because the Enterprise is his #1, it's even been explicitly stated that he's pretty much married to the Enterprise. But now this girl who's good at pool is making him throw it all away? No way I'd buy that.

The host is a lonely immortal, and the girl is just a robot he made for himself as a companion, and Kirk still keeps stupidly fighting to have her? People are dying upstairs and he's fighting for possession of a glorified sexbot? Against a being who could easily overpower him if it so chose? Really? When would he ever, ever do that? He insists she's real, and that she come with him? She's not a person, she's this man's property. Wtf Kirk.

The robot breaks and Spock somehow is the one who knows why, and not the 6,000 year old genius who made her? No. And he makes a big speech about love and how it killed her? No. Sorry, no. Spock being moved by the fate of a robot is stupid and out of character. Him making a speech about love is stupid and out of character. And the speech was contrived and boring, to top it off.

Back on ship, of course they got there just in time to cure everyone, even though so must time was wasted planetside. Instead of talking about what a horrible captain Kirk was this episode, Bones and Spock talk about how they feel sorry for him because the feelings he had for a robot he knew for three hours tops must have caused irreparable heartache to our womanizing hoebag captain who sleeps with a different girl every week. And for some reason Kirk is sadder here than he was for longer, more fulfilling romances (Edith, Miramanee) he had with real women that ended worse. (I guess I could hand wave this by saying it's the combined forces of all these heartaches weighing on him, but that's a bit of a stretch.) Then Bones goes to town on Spock for being incapable of love? Wtf? Again, that's totally out of character. Bones explicitly stated in a previous episode that he sees right through Spock's facade.

Spock engages in some non-consensual mind melding and memory erasing after Bones leaves. Again, this is pretty out of character. Kirk always says people need struggle and adversity to truly live, and always refused any other way. Now Spock is going against the captain's own wishes because he feels bad for him? It's his fault in the first place for hiding the fact that the captain's weekly conquest was a robot until the last minute. Then he makes it worse by screwing with Kirk's memories and feelings without permission or even Kirk's knowledge of the fact. Maybe it's a Vulcan lullaby. Maybe it's mindrape. Maybe this episode is really stupid.

@Outsider65

Nice thoughts on this episode. The more I read your commentary, the more I thought of some of the earlier TOS novels, where the author had just the basic idea of what Star Trek was about, and wrote a novel that was totally out of character. And Roddenberry wasn't there during the third season, if I recall correctly, to keep things from running off the rails...

Have a great day... RT

I've followed Jammer's reviews for YEARS, and I mean years - since he first started reviewing Trek. And on the whole I agree with a lot of his opinions. But man..... I think some of his TOS reviews are wildly off the mark - especially with Season 3. Many of his low scoring episodes I've really enjoyed and several of his higher scored episodes I've thought were awful..... including this one.

The premise of Flint was a fascinating concept, this lonely man who had been so many pivotal figures in human history..... but it was totally undone by the incredibly out-of-character behaviour of Kirk.

I do not buy for one second that our heroic captain, with the lives of all his crew on the line, would suddenly risk everything because he's decided he's in love with a woman he's met for an hour..... It is so wildly out of character it completely ruins the episode. Spock is chastising him throughout the entire episode - I expected him at one point to yell "Jim, you are acting incredibly unprofessionally - unbecoming of a starship captain".

And the less said about "Stay out of it Spock, we're fighting over a woman" the better. Can you imagine any military, political or civil leader uttering those words ever.

And then at the end, Spock removes Kirk's memories without permission!!!!!!! That is a serious violation or assualt, and again completely out of character for Spock.

What had the potential to be a 3 or 4 star episode is reduced down to a 1 star for the awful, awful characterisation.

If nobody else has pointed out ... the obvious source of the infection is Kirk fooling around on some lovely planet LOL

I think "Requiem for Methuselah" is a good but not great TOS episode. Of the four solid TOS shows (the others are "Mirror Mirror," "By Any Other Name," and "Day of the Dove") written by the great Sci-Fi author Jerome Bixby, it's undoubtedly the weakest and most cerebral, but there's some intriguing and moving stuff here. Jammer's 3-star rating and review seem like a fair assessment to me, even though I agree that he underrates some other very entertaining episodes compared to this one.

This show did remind me of the Lal episode from TNG, but I think the notion of an android shorting out when it achieves human emotion is done better here. In particular, I like how Rayna's character is treated with intelligence and dignity here rather than some of the slapstick humor that Lal provides, and I'm sorry that some viewers seemed to miss that the "two men fighting over a woman" thing at the end is actually presented in a self-critical light as the woman in question firmly declares her freedom to make her own choices in life -- a scenario quite different from most shows of the 1960s where the woman would have declared herself the prize of the victor. If one watches this episode and genuinely thinks it's misogynistic, one is missing the point that the episode presents the misogynist attitude of Kirk and Flint simply to discredit it: In the end, Rayna belongs to neither of them, and her choice not to choose one of them defies the programming of her "owner."

I likewise appreciate that "Requiem" foreshadows Data's striving to be more human on TNG and recalls "Measure of a Man" in some of the polemics at the end. And I love Spock's quiet expression of care for Kirk with the mind meld at the end, which didn't feel out of character at all to me, as we don't even know what "forget" meant exactly. I interpreted it as Spock alleviating Kirk's pain more than removing it entirely or wiping his memory. It's a sweet and gentle moment that Nimoy wisely underplays as a quiet rebuttal of McCoy's condescending harangue.

Of course, the show drags in the middle, and some of the romance sequences do feel perfunctory. But the mystery of the reclusive man who simultaneously sets up Kirk with his female companion and feels jealous about it is generally enough to hold one's attention until the big revelations at the end. For what is essentially a high-concept story ("immortal man builds the perfect woman and strives to make her love him") that recalls Brannan Braga's work from later Trek series, Bixby brings a remarkable sensitivity and balance to the character dilemmas in this story, and his dialogue makes you think in places where it could have been so much more superficial. This one is a bit of an underrated gem for me.

By the way, check out the little callback to this episode by Captain Janeway in Voyager's "Concerning Flight," where she says James T. Kirk claimed to have met Leonardo Da Vinci, whom Janeway has befriended on the holodeck. Apparently, Kirk's memory of these events remained intact after Spock's mind meld, or else he wouldn't have been claiming such things in his official report.

Good catch Trek Fan. I like to think that Spock removed only Kirk's love for Rayna, not the entire experience of meeting Flint. Maybe since she was an android and he may have felt embarrassed at not having detected her non-humanity, Spock though it prudent to remove his unrequited love so he wouldn't angst over it needlessly.

This is a weird episode -- a very interesting premise of a near-immortal man who has been all these great historical figures trying to create a woman of his equal manipulating Kirk to get her to have emotions.

But there are some things I didn't like -- how Kirk quickly falls in love with Reyna. That was very unnatural and then he's willing to fight over her. Another thing I didn't like is how Spock somehow knows what "kills" her -- that she can't tolerate the emotions of her love for Kirk or whatever she felt for Flint. How does he surmise all this?? This can only be speculation -- which is out of character for Spock.

The episode meanders a fair bit but the concept of a man like Flint is an pretty amazing. He certainly pulls off some remarkable tricks like immobilizing the Enterprise. He was Brahms and da Vinci but yet he throws the first punch at Kirk.

Kirk's acting in this episode is really out of character - at the end being so lost because of losing Reyna, knowing full well she was an android. And then Spock cures it with a mind-meld... Bit of a reset button here, which I'm never a fan of, but also out of character for him.

"Requiem for Methusalah" was definitely not done on the cheap, seems to me with the elaborate sets and backdrops. It is inspiring given how so many episodes come across as low budget. I'd give this episode 2.5 stars -- interesting premise and plot but again, poorly executed with Kirk and Spock really acting out of character to varying extents. A missed opportunity here.

A pretty daring feminist message, and a lot of good ideas, get wasted in this episode. Did Kirk have to be that unhinged? Did the villain have to be that powerful? Did the Enterprise have to be shrunk yet again? In hindsight, Season 3 of TOS had the most highbrow, SF ideas, but motched most of them.

These are the voyages of captain Kirk. His five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life ... and pork it, wheter it's human or alien, organic, robot or android.

This episode also reminded me of TNG's The Survivors", as Flint has a very Kevin Uxbroge vibe about him, both in his crankiness and his immense power, what with the planet consisting of just his house. Heck, there's even a scene where they dance a waltz! I almost wish Flint had revealed himself to be a Douwd...though he's not immortal and clearly can't perish a civilization with a thought...

I found this to be a tragic love story, Shakespearean in scope, about two men---one an immortal who had lived thousands of lives and the other a very human 23rd-century man, both in love with a woman whose one flaw, a major one, was that she was not human. Following this tale I was sharply reminded of Offenbach's opera "Tales of Hoffman", in which Act One finds the poor goof falling for a woman who turns out to be a robot. I sensed that Flint had bitten off more than he could chew, and he made a costly error in throwing Captain Kirk and Rayna together, because she (it?) not only learned human emotions but also human desires such as freedom of choice, and it was her inability to choose that ultimately destroyed her: her last words were "I...love..." Of course, Kirk was really hit hard by the whole thing and when he returned to the Enterprise he disconsolately shut himself up in his room. The ending is one in which I had to choke up because it was so beautiful; Spock and Dr. McCoy had been discussing the situation, and just before Bones left the room he said sadly "I do wish he could forget her"---and I caught an undertone in his voice which told me that he was giving Spock the green light to do what he could to help. And Spock did; he performed not only an act of compassion but also a powerful psychological save---a quiet mind-meld, a whispered suggestion, and a telepathic block to give Kirk the time he needed to recover his emotional equilibrium. And I thought, "If that isn't love, what is?"---I witnessed a demonstration of just how deeply Spock cared for his commanding officer.

I regret my earlier comments; watching this a second time, about a year after first seeing it, I now find it a powerful and affecting episode. It also has one of Trek's great villains in Flint, and a nicely tragic ending (the death of the android, and Spock's gesture of compassion/love).

I think most TOS episodes benefit from rewatches. You need to get an initial feel for what the episode is attempting, you need time to get over your assumptions, and you need time to assimilate some of the hokiness. In "Requiem for Methuselah", this entails accepting that Kirk's going to fall madly in love within the space of ten minutes, a floating robot and a shrunk Enterprise. You accept these minor "problems", and this plays like an excellent, soulful tragedy in the vein of season 1's underrated "Conscience of the King".

What I also like is how subtly hilarious this episode is. You have a guy, Flint, who basically literally was Da Vinci, Moses, Brahms, maybe even Beethoeven, Ghandi, Jesus and Mother Teresa. He's an immortal creature trying to live the best possible life and so teach humans how not to be giant jerks. But of course he gives up - you stupid humans! - and exiles himself on another planet, where he lives in a mansion and bitterly fumes about the stupidity of man whilst building himself a hot robot chick to live with. A hundred years later Kirk comes along and steals his robot babe. Even a hundred years in the future, humans are ruining poor Flint's day!

@Trent,

I think you missed the point of the episode. Flint is not a villain. Yes, he uses Kirk and causes him to have his heart broken, but he's not evil and deliberately trying to inflict harm or achieve some other nefarious goal.

I think @Philadlj's comment re. the similarities between Flint and Kevin Uxbridge from "The Survivors" is helpful, although the 2 had different purposes. Uxbridge wanted to be left alone and Flint did too, until Kirk fell into his lap and so he tried to use him to give Rayna the ability to love like a real human.

Also I don't see how you can characterize an episode can be "subtly hilarious" but predominantly a "soulful tragedy". This episode is meant to be, as @ZITO CARNO says, "a tragic love story".

It seems to me this is basically the typical Pygmalion story, where the newly created person exceeds what the creator wanted and surpasses him. In this case she doesn't surpass him intellectually but rather emotionally, needing something other than him to love. In that sense I'd say it's definitely not a comedy, since Pygmalion is in its essence not funny at all (and actually I don't think the play is funny despite Shaw's attemps to make it so).

And while I wouldn't call Flint a villain, exactly, he does have the trait Pygmalion does of esteeming himself so highly that other people are like gnats before him. This results in his concept that only "his equal" could satisfy him, and that he must create that equal. They gave Flint the 'superior case' of that, being absolutely speaking a superior individual to Pygmalion, who only had his vanity to brag about. Flint has something real to brag about, if we want to put it that way, but I think the point is that these accomplishments are nothing at all to brag about when it makes you belittle all life besides yourself. He's 'missed the point', if you will, and if anything his intellectual powers made it harder for him than for anyone else to recognize his own weakness. From that perspective it's more the story of a fool than a villain, although we might call him a villain insofar as he's an example of what attitude not to have.

And I suppose I agree with Rahul that Kirk stealing 'his babe' isn't funny or meant to be funny, but is a reflection of how sad a person Flint is. I also don't even think it needs explaining why Kirk falls for her so quickly; she's described as being the height of intellectual powers, equal to Flint, and is lovely and wanting to learn how to love. We don't even have to see Kirk as a horndog to explain this attraction; there is ample reason to actually admire her and also feel for her difficulties. She's literally the perfect, yet lonely, woman, looking for someone who loves life and loves women. Well hello, I don't know how Kirk could even resist this.

I'd have to watch this one again to see if I can detect some subtle humor in it such as Trent describes, but offhand I don't recollect anything like that.

I have to disagree with most of the comments, and say this is one of my favorite episodes, James Daly is perfect as flint.My only nitpick is the piece that spock plays would never be written by brahms,who was a classical composer,the piece that spock plays is a simple baroque dance number,something a court composer would have thrown together for some get together the king was throwing.

I know it was impossible as I hoped for it, but I still really wish Rayna would have rejected both men, hopped on a starship and took off to do her own thing. Instead they killed her. Oh well. Let's get back to lovesick Kirk, before he's off to his next lady conquest of the week.

Awful.

The concept was great, but again, the execution was an utter failure.

So much stupid it's impossible to list it all, though the worst part was the "romance."

Ugh. Well below average.

The overall premise was great, but certain story elements were off. I really liked the Flint character, who is revealed to have been Brahms, DaVinci, Alexander, Lazarus, and others. The Lazarus reference was particularly interesting from a theological perspective: that would the best friend of a young (pre-ministry) Jesus who died and was resurrected didn’t actually benefit from a miracle, but from his own power of regeneration. I guess most of the audience back then missed the implications, or it certainly would have created some controversy back then.

The fascinating concept of a super-long-lived genius plagued by loneliness and needing to manipulate Kirk and company into staying a bit longer to spur the emotions of his android creation was so inventive—yet Kirk’s character was so off that it marred the episode. Sure, he’s always been one to fawn over any new young woman with an elaborate hairdo and shimmering outfit, but he also is always first and foremost cognizant of his duty to his ship and crew. How many times have we seen him deliberately lead a woman on to save his ship? In one notable episode, he completely played on the emotions of a Romulan captain to steal her cloaking device technology. Kirk is a ladies man, yes, but he also always puts duty first. In this episode, we have Spock continually reminding him that there is a plague raging and the entire crew will die, and at best this distracts him only momentarily? I don’t buy it. It’s poor writing.

Equally poor writing was seen in McCoy’s cruel digs at Spock near the end. Usually, the banter is good natured and only highlights the respective strengths of these two. This time, however, McCoy’s pity that Spock can never love, nor even understand the term, when even an android can, was unnecessary and completely unwarranted. I was expecting Spock to point out that at least not being foolishly blinded by such an emotion meant saving the crew from death, but he made no response. It’s especially odd given the obvious refined sensibilities and appreciation for art that Spock had just shown. Here is a person who knows the work of Brahms intimately (even down is to the composer’s handwriting) and who knows the brush stroke style of DaVinci, but is still emotionally stunted according to McCoy? Where did the doctor get that idea?

As I write this (8/6/20) today is the 80th birthday of Louise Sorel, who played Rayna. Since Shatner is still alive (89yrs old), it's not too late for Kirk and Rayna to get together after all!

Thanks @Outsider65 for pointing out all the bullshit in this episode.

@Jammer really dropped the ball on this review. As lots of folks (@SteveRage, @Rahul, @Paul, @SPOCKED, @Joseph B, @Sean) have pointed out, our heroes were acting ridiculously out of character in this episode. Not sure why @Jammer didn’t catch that - very, um, out of character ;)

@Peter G. has a good point, this episode could have been a good take on Pygmalion. But sadly the execution fell apart, not the least because of Spock's ridiculous explanatory exposition (she died of love) and Spock's decision to mind-rape Kirk (wtf!).

I hate to say this, but ENT actually did a much better job in “Exile,”

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-ent/s3/exile.php

Since, there were many copies of Rayna, maybe they could have just given each person their own copy?

https://media.tenor.com/images/cb189c4f9e5cec51a1400b1454053fb2/tenor.gif

Unless, that is, Flint had something like this in mind,

https://fastly.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1292xauto/public/2017/09/gettyimages-138405820.jpg

@Paul, I couldn’t agree with you more: "this is one of the most disappointing -- though not among the worst -- episodes of TOS. It's an amazing premise.”

2 stars. Barely.

@ Mal,

I think this was actually a superior *premise* to that of Pygmalion, insofar as we get a sci-fi setting with the potential for life-forms to become superior in a technical sense. In the Shaw play (and My Fair Lady) what we're really dealing with is bourgeois or upper class values and gloating about having them while the masses are 'uneducated', valuing fine diction as some sort of moral virtue, and parading it around like a fancy cloak. To the extent that Pygmalion succeeds, I'm not even certain what to say about it being a material improvement in a timeless sense; certainly within that society she has been moved upwards. But in Requiem we are given the idea that an actually superior person with heightened intelligence and artistic sense tries to create an equal. And this is not even pygheaded like in the Shaw play and the musical, because I can completely understand someone with an IQ of 300 feeling like he has nothing in common with normal people. As an analogy, I remember some depictions of Quicksilver in Marvel material (cartoons/comics, not the films) where he describes how SLOW everyone else is and how aggravating it is to interact with them in any way. When put in a situation like that I could imagine Quicksilver wanting to meet someone as quick as him so they could play tennis at real speed, and likewise for Flint wanting someone he could actually spend time with and not keep thinking about what a moron they are.

So this premise is quite nice, even sad. How could such a man, immortal and brilliant, ever find a way out of feeling totally alone? As you say, the execution is not great, but I don't think it's as bad as you say, either. The ending is really clunky and this harms our feeling of the episode coming out of it. It's like in music - mess up the beginning and the end and people will have a tough time remembering that the middle was good. And I think the middle of this one was good. I especially like the quiet tone and simple conversational scenes where they meet Flint and are being shown around. Sure, there is some 'action' just for the sake of action, with a deadline just for the sake of a deadline. It would have probably worked better if there was no ulterior motive for being here and we got to spend all the time meeting Flint and Rayna. So I'd say I like half of the episode quite a bit, and the other half is Frankenstein's monstered onto it which drags it down.

Oh @Peter G., I see what you’re saying. I was actually going off a much older version of Pygmalion (maybe two thousand years older!). As depicted in one of my favorite paintings,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gerome_pygmalion-galatee.jpg

There, Pygmalion is a sculptor, and it is the sculpture he creates that comes to life, and he falls in love with that sculpture. For obvious reasons, this ancient greek myth fits the robot Rayna a little better than Shaw’s play.

By the way, Shaw’s twisted (and equally famous) version is also a very old arch-type, which you see in other classics, like The Tale of Genji (only a thousand years older than Shaw’s play ;)

In any case, yes, to the extent that I love Ovid’s version of the story as depicted in the painting, I agree, “Requiem” is an even better set up than the Shaw play. Shaw’s play (and Genji, for that matter) strike me as very creepy (just my personal opinion). Whereas “Requiem” and Ovid’s version is a little like Pinocchio; the sculpture turns into a real woman. With the twist that then the creator falls for his own creation. Not at all “pygheaded”. And of course the theme of a robot turning into a real person with feelings takes us straight to Data.

I am harsh on this episode not at all because of the set up. And I agree with you 100% that the measured tone is a pleasure to watch.

I love your analogy to Quicksilver. It reminds me of one of my favorite DS9 episodes, Statistical Probabilities. There, Julian is so excited the first time he gets to interact with people who are his intellectual equals,

BASHIR: They really are quite brilliant, though. I mean, once we actually started working, it was incredible. We were all on the same wavelength, talking in shorthand, finishing each other's sentences. I've never had that with anyone else.

O'BRIEN: After being with them, I can see how the rest of us must seem a little uncomplicated.

BASHIR: I wouldn't say that, exactly. More like slow.

O'BRIEN: Ha, ha. Must very be frustrating for you.

BASHIR: I don't mind. Makes me feel superior.

O'BRIEN: Glad to be of service.

BASHIR: I appreciate it. It's not always easy walking amongst the common people.

I can appreciate how Julian and Flint felt, which is why "Statistical Probabilities” is so dear to me. Perhaps that is yet another reason why I’m so harsh on “Requiem”. Instead of actually exploring what Kirk, Bones and Spock would be like around someone as incredible as Flint, they each act so out of character, that it defeats the entire purpose of the episode.

Depicting Kirk and Spock the way they did would be as if Data were plonked in front of his own intellectual peers, only to get drunk and babble on about his ex-girlfriend from In Theory. It would have been a ridiculous waste.

https://youtu.be/mg8_cKxJZJY

Interesting to see how Enterprise handles Space-Covid. Kirk doesn’t give a rats about social distancing and gets right up in Flint’s grill. I guess that what you get for sicking a vicious spaghetti colander laser blaster bot on a feller with no warning.

Kirk always negotiates from a position of strength. Gun boat diplomacy. He going to take Methuselah’s hydroxyl chloroquine no matter what. So human.

Watching TOS and wondering what kind of weapons and technology will exist on the Starships of the nations in the future after all of us here are gone, is very worrisome. Obviously this exact scenario in a deadly future pandemic is going to happen. I don’t think our germ fears and future super-dooper weapons are going to mix well...

Did Rayna own a flat screen TV? And man is she hot. And of course, Kirk totally violates her bubble. And snoop dawgs her house. Manners Kirk. Manners.

Should have guessed that Spock is an art and classical music snob...Fascinating.

A Highlander, Androids, shrink rays, sentient A.I., a love triangle, Spock showing tenderness and best of all, old guy whoops Kirk’s ass. This episode was awesome.

Wow this was bad. Falling hopelessly in love with a robot in the space of two hours.
Iknow Kirk is a hound dog but his behavior here was just wrong. He says tha Flint used him but he was a willing patsy.
And then Spock just mind wipes him while he's sleeping. Lol
I guess you can make this stuff up.

While watching this episode I was suffering ADHD quite badly. I needed a dose of Ritalin but selfishly Kirk had taken all the supplies to use it on a contagion that it couldn’t possibly have any effect on. Sigh.

I agree with all the comments that said this was an episode with great potential but sadly wasted. I half remembered that Rayna was an android (long time no see!) and I thought she acted the part very well- non-comprehending reactions to Kirk’s first kiss, for example. The idea that she would self-destruct when faced with an impossible choice was more convincing than Data’s absurd artificial consciousness and “needs” in TNG.

But the notion that a few-thousand-year-old genius who had created many of humanity’s greatest achievements would stoop to a fist fight over a woman (who wasn’t) is plainly ridiculous.

And McCoy’s cruelty to Spock at the end was too much. The biggest laugh out loud moment? When Kirk stared through the view screen of the miniaturised Enterprise and saw the crew in suspension.. it’s not a window for heaven’s sake!

Jammer was way too generous. 2 stars at best.

One more criticism - Kirk more head over heels in love than at any time in TOS , WITH AN ANDROID??? So he really is that superficial then, putting looks over personality every time?

This seemed like “Highlander”, where a character was going through time and loving as different men and pretending to die. You’d think if he wanted to remain secluded that he would not have had his works as DaVinci and Brahms in plain sight for travelers to see. They’d then want to make the place a tourist attraction. Yet another lovely lady to grace the show. It had potential but seemed slow. The show appeared on it’s last legs, I can see why there was no season 4. The miniature Enterprise was really cool, no doubt they used it in filming. I give it a C.

This only makes any sense if Kirk is suffering from the fever. Jeez.

So many good ideas in this episode. Such a poor execution. If this had been done in the first or second season, with more production time, budget, and better story editors, I can only imagine what it might have been.

My favorite personal episode. Only for the concept of a being like Flint who has lived through so much history. Being immortal is the human dream and nightmare. James Daly was great casting.

Captain Kirk’s opening line last week in Lights of Zetar: “When a man of Scotty’s years falls in love, the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed to him.”
Captain Kirk’s closing line the next week in Methuselah: “A lonely old man, and a lonely young man. We put on a pretty poor show, didn’t we?”
The common theme is striking. Going where no man has gone before, and serving in a mission where “risk, gentlemen, is our business!”, despite the thrills is not adequate compensation for giving up love and the permanence of family. Our beloved crew of the Enterprise are living lonely lives.
The humility and genuineness of this admission, at this late stage of the series, is astounding and shows once again why TOS is distinguished from all the other Trek series.

@Lmo
"The common theme is striking. Going where no man has gone before, and serving in a mission where “risk, gentlemen, is our business!”, despite the thrills is not adequate compensation for giving up love and the permanence of family. Our beloved crew of the Enterprise are living lonely lives."
Sure but would they be happier with family and a desk job? For those guys it would probably be a very boring life. Furthermore, only because you choose "permanent family" doesn't mean that it will be a happy family. So what is better, an exiting but lonely life or a permanent but also boring family life?

@Booming:
I do not disagree with you. All of life choices involve trade offs. I was just noting that these two successive episodes of TOS reveals that one of the trade offs for our main characters is loneliness. Or at least yearning for romantic attachment.

That revelation might explain why Captain Kirk was acting so ridiculously in Methuselah. He was clearly embarrassed by his own behavior at the end of the episode. I wondered if what he wanted to forget was not Rayna, but the memory of his own desperation in the way he had behaved. It was touching that his suffering was ultimately relieved by his close friend Spock, who truly cares for him. In fact, Spock tried several times throughout the story to spare Kirk the emotional pain he saw developing.

Entertaining but too many leaps of logic for me to buy. A guy is just born immortal? He has been several historical figures? He just shows up as da Vinci one day and starts painting without anyone questioning his background, and then becomes Brahms? And Kirk needs to visit one of Quark's holosuites or take a cold sonic shower before away missions. Getting emotionally attached to every piece of tail that crosses his path does not befit a starship captain.

The last scene is interesting in its implications. McCoy suggests Spock is incapable of love, and then Spock administers the "forget" to Kirk, which is framed by the episode as an act of love. It is also nonconsensual, and even if it had been consensual it is an odd choice, one that goes counter to a lot of Kirk's usual gusto. I hate to bring up Star Trek V, but "I need my pain!" seems to define Kirk much more than an overwhelming desire to forget; for an in-series example, see "This Side of Paradise" for a quick demonstration of Kirk's absolute preference of messy reality over fantasy.


This exactly.

This was my favorite episode, maybe because the idea of such intellect acquired over Melenia overshadowed the aforementioned flaws in the script, and the cherry on the top clearly was Spock's act of compassion at the end, "Forget"
I will never forget this splendid episode. God Bless Gene Roddenberry, and He did.
Ken

Always have to laugh when the doctor gets down to feel for the robots pulse HAHA

@William B, why and how do you mean TOS owes a lot to one movie Forbidden Planet?? It's not derivative of it I hope?

I was looking for a comment about the very beginning of this episode but no one has pointed this out so I will. Out of all the uncharacteristic behavior of Kirk, the part I find most jarring is him demanding the Ritalen or be destroyed. That sounds like a mirror universe Kirk. He never displayed this demanding arrogance before or later. It’s just such a jarring beginning.

I have been reading excerpts from this and it's a great forum. I do want to bring up something because my biggest issue with this episode is Captain Kirk. The series makes a big production out of the Prime Directive, how important it is, almost to the point of being sacred. What I wonder, is why then, is the Prime Directive not important when it comes to dealing with people whose intelligence rivals or even exceeds that of the Federation? Shouldn't Flint and Rayna be protected by the same Prime Directive that protects beings who are not so advanced?

The episode really raises the question of just how far Kirk would have gone had Flint not given him ryetalyn from the planet.

As mentioned above, watch Jerome Bixby's remake film of this "The Man From Earth". It's far superior and has several Trek regulars and guests.

But this was ridiculous.

Only McCoy is bothering to try to get the urgently needed antidote while Spock spends the whole episode looking at Flint's artworks and Kirk just tries to get in bed with robo girl.

At least Kirk was in character-- until he later suffers crippling sadness over the girl he knew for two hours.

"I would like to point out the writer of this episode, Jerome Bixby further explored the concept of a immortal caveman who survived into modern times in the film: 'The Man from Earth'. It is basically a play and filmed in 2007 starring none other then Tony Todd and John Billingsley."

Don't forget Ethan Phillips!

I had no idea the writer was the same as this episode, neat.

Funny enough I never even connected the two until just now even though I of course knew the subject matter of Requiem for Methusalah.

Somehow the TOS episode just to convey its central concept (of an immortal human existing through the ages). I think the issue is:

1) The immortal is living on some alien world and not Earth; and
2) The focus on the android woman.

The problem is you just forget who and what Flint is because he comes across as another weird alien like Apollo or something. There is scarcely anything human about him. Apart from the initial setup the implications of his existence scarcely matter. I think part of the problem is that Star Trek is just a terrible vehicle to convey the awe and wonder inherent in such an idea.

Meanwhile the central concept (an immortal human living through the ages of man) is sidelined by the android plot.

Anyway I loved The Man from Earth and am glad Bixby was able to explore this very cool scifi concept in a far more appropriate venue.

SOme parallels with the Companion (title forgotten) episode:

a- a self exiled historic human leaves earth , disappears from history, and ends up on an isolated planet with an inhuman female with whom he has an ambiguous relationship
("I am Johannes Brahms. . . and da VInci . . . and Zefrem Cochrane...." "NIce try, we just met him a few planets ago"))
b-- a disease's progress is pressuring their time
c -- the first guy's immortality comes after leaving earth; hte second guy's comes from being on Earth
d-- The female dies to become fully human

I've always had problems with this episode. The instalove of Kirk for Rayna - unlike his feelings for Edith Keeler (the implication is that he and Spock are there for a couple of weeks before McCoy arrives, she is a visionary and inspirational person, she has a warm, humorous manner) it doesn't seem credible that he goes head over heels with someone he knows for a few hours. She is so gauche and childlike it isn't a proper relationship even on his side. Despite the idea that the robot can produce the cure much more quickly than they could do it on the ship, they seem far too casual when they hang around waiting. And the episode veers off into pure fantasy with the idea of Flint being reborn and being able to shrink the Enterprise. Also, if he was a simple Mesopotamian soldier - a bully he says - how does he later develop the genius to become Leonardo Da Vinci? That I find totally incredible.

I like the idea that Spock's action is an 'act of love' which repudiates McCoy's lecturing him just beforehand, although it does come across also as dodgy and non consensual. I always thought though that it wasn't a total mindwipe as it would cause practical problems if Kirk has amnesia about the whole time period. It's just the 'love' and I assume his guilt for her death that Spock is able to alleviate. But the three characters are quite out of character in this episode and it is also a bit odd that Spock suddenly turns out to be an accomplished pianist and also able to recognise the brush strokes of famous painters. So I find too many flaws in this to be able to really enjoy it.

One odd thing near the end is when Kirk refers to Rayna being human down to her red blood cells... so is she really what was called in Blade Runner a replicant? Because of course Philip K Dick's novel, on which that film was based, is called 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' - for the film they were changed to artificially created humans with enhancements but radically reduced lifespans. If Rayna were like this (only immortal of course) some of the story would make a bit more sense because she would be physically human, albeit very improved, but because she has been created as an adult (as seen from the failed earlier versions) hasn't had the experience of growing up and maturing and has inadequate emotional and social development. In which case the conflict of getting those emotions perhaps gave her a brain aneuryism. Just a thought!

I rather liked this particular episode. I found the Flint characters history to be fascinating. I also liked how Spock wiped the captain in the end. Now as for Rayna, I can't believe that there wasn't a Jetsons cartoon show where Kirk was caught making out with Rosie the robot. Limitless power!! Limitless!!

I'm rather with those who think that this episode has many problems. Usually I like episodes like this one which are driven by interaction and dialogue rather than action, but this doesn’t work well here. In addition to the logical leaps (I was quite impressed by the long list made by Outsider65 years ago), there’s too much out-of-character acting, and the love story is a particularly uninspired one. So, in the absence of simple and plain action (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), there’s nothing that could carry the plot, and it quickly falls apart.

However, there’s one saving grace, and that’s the writing style of the dialogue which in some moments has an almost lyrical quality. It starts with a description of the plague that sounds more like poetry than facts: “Constantinople, summer 1334. It marched through the streets, the sewers. It left the city by ox cart, by sea, to kill half of Europe. The rats, rustling and squealing in the night as they, too, died. The rats.” I can’t remember having heard anything like it in any other episode, so this kind of sets this one apart.

To be fair, it even backs Flint’s motives to have Rayna’s emotions stirred up by Kirk. When she asks Flint what loneliness is, he says: “It is thirst. It is a flower dying in the desert.” – and it clearly shows that her android mind can’t understand the metaphor. The world of poetry which means so much to Flint will never be accessible to her; while intellectually she clearly is his equal, spiritually they are living in different worlds, and this is the one thing Flint desperately wants to change.

And speaking of poetry, I also like McCoy’s description of “the things that love can drive a man to. The ecstasies, the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures, the glorious victories.” Sounds like he knows what he’s talking about…

I've always liked this one, but apparently my wife loves it. I'm happy to hear that, because it's a more thoughtful one than I think people give it credit for. There is honestly far too much good material crammed into here to fit in the time allotted, so it can be forgiven for skipping over certain details.

For instance we could complain that Kirk falls in love too easily and without any explanation. But we are meant to understand that Flint has created a delay precisely in order to give Kirk time to develop feelings for Rayna, and vice versa, so this complaint is actually asserted as a premise: they *do* have enough time. If this had been a feature-length film it could have been drawn out into weeks instead of hours, so I think this complaint is really just a result of them not having any other way to do it in a TV episode. Another complain is how little interest Kirk and McCoy seem to have that they are literally talking to Da Vinci, Brahms, Alexander the Great, etc. Only Spock is afforded the chance to marvel at it, but again, if this was given its proper treatment we'd have scene after scene of them grilling him, explaining how it's hard to believe, and if they believed him, asking to know about his life. All of that is realistic, but wouldn't fit into a TV episode, especially since the episode is really about Rayna rather than Flint. That fact is itself a marvel: can you imagine writing in a character like this and *not* having it be about how amazing it is that this guy exists? But no, it's about how even someone like that can no more control someone else's feelings than we can. For a story that really is about the immortal man, there's a film called The Man from Earth, which is basically this story but feature-length and all about the immortality of the man. Incidentally, that film somewhat lacks imagination. We might also connect Methuselah with Pygmalion, which I have to expect they were deliberately channeling: great man wants to create a woman equal to himself, but she surpasses him and leaves him behind. In this case, Rayna does surpass Flint in 'humanity', but since it focuses on her weakness rather than her strength it doesn't go the route that Pygmalion does in its final moral. Also, I don't think that Spock's remark about how the pains of love were too much for her connects with any theme Pygmalion is about, so if there's a similarity between these stories it's mostly to be found in the megalomaia of Flint.

More than those stories, though, I was reminded of TNG's the Offspring when watching this. They are both about immortal beings creating an android, yes, but the crux of each is the same: the sheer brilliance of the new being is overshadowed by her lack of feeling the fulness of being alive, and at the critical juncture the overwhelming flood of emotion was too much for their neural nets. In Methuselah they frame as the pains of love being too great, and in Lal's case it's the tech side, but in both cases we are primarily see that situation through the eyes of those who love them: Kirk and Data, each in their own way. The grief of Kirk is highlighted through his pain, and Data's through his lack of pain.

I'll mention one observation I have about the final scene, that has been cast so often as Spock violating Kirk's mind without his permission. Right before that Kirk says he wishes he could forget. McCoy then berates Spock for not knowing love and not understanding its positive and negative aspects. McCoy leaves, satisfied that Spock is left out of the matter, unable to understand what love is and what the Captain is going through. He then also remarks that he wishes Kirk could forget. Spock's next action is to go help Kirk forget. That this immediately follows having been told that he knows nothing of love cannot be an accident: it's a mercy, and one born of the same kindness that caused him to risk his career to offer Captain Pike a respite from his suffering. One can argue that it's not actually a kindness to forget something painful, but that's really a separate argument. Assuming that Kirk truly did wish he could forget, Spock was granting that wish. Doing so without asking permission is one way to frame it; doing so without being asked to do the good deed is another. I think the writing expects us to understand it in the latter way, that a good deed done without solicitation or recognition is the purist kind. That you may disagree that this is a good deed at all is understandable, but essentially rejects a premise the episode is asserting as a given. I will also note that the grief Kirk is being relieved of is the same as that which killed Rayna just beforehand, so the episode is likewise inviting us to this as not only being a kindness, but perhaps something that could save the Captain from destroying himself mentally.

The world of poetry which means so much to Flint will never be accessible to her; while intellectually she clearly is his equal, spiritually they are living in different worlds, and this is the one thing Flint desperately wants to change.

Despite what Flint wants, even what Kirk wants out of this android, the fact remains. She will always be an android to both of them, and eventually both men will come to the conclusion that she cannot be their equal.

In the final scene, Spock steals the one thing from Kirk that might have let him learn from the experience and grow as a person. What a letdown.

Far better than reviews above would have you believe. I have always liked this one.

I think this is a 4 star episode. Yes, it has some problems, as people pointed above. But, can we really complaint about things like the "instant love" plots? C'mom, we are at episode 19 of season 3; if a hot girl appears, kirk will try to bang it — this is not "problems" this is just what trek IS, in it's core hahaha, and by now no one can be expecting anything diferent.

And I think this episode has a interesting theme in his intro: can a man claim property of an entire planet, and refuses others to access ressources to save their lives? There is a really interesting debate in there — and I liked a lot the way Kirk just bypassed that with mutual destruction terms haha

@F
""And I think this episode has a interesting theme in his intro: can a man claim property of an entire planet, and refuses others to access ressources to save their lives? """

There is also another interesting theme in this episode. Can a man make a claim on property that is clearly owned by another?

This is not the Next Generation, where an android is legally declared an entity with rights. This is an android constructed by Methuselah, and clearly she belongs to Methusaleh. Kirk's feelings are no matter in this episode.

@ Winnie,

"There is also another interesting theme in this episode. Can a man make a claim on property that is clearly owned by another?"

In context of it being an android like Data or Lore I think you'd need a strong case for their sentience to tell Dr. Soong he isn't allowed to keep them at his compound but has to let them do as they please. Then again another case could be made that a 'new' android is like a child and is under the guardianship of the creator/parent until they're passed a certain maturity level.

In context of this episode I don't believe Rayna is an android in the sense of being filled nothing but processors and microchips. From the details given she is artificial but human, with human parts. Flint essentially constructed a human from scratch:

MCCOY: Physically human but not human. These are earlier versions of Rayna, Jim. She's an android.

And later:

KIRK: She's human. Down to the last blood cell, she's human. Down to the last thought, hope, aspiration, emotion, she's human. The human spirit is free. You have no power of ownership. She's free to do as she wishes.

Maybe Kirk is just speaking poetically, but it seems to me Kirk wouldn't have kept on fighting for her if she was literally just a robot. The situation seems to be that she may have been built by Flint but she's for all purposes a human now and therefore cannot be his property.

@Peter G

""In context of this episode I don't believe Rayna is an android in the sense of being filled nothing but processors and microchips. From the details given she is artificial but human, with human parts. Flint essentially constructed a human from scratch:

MCCOY: Physically human but not human. These are earlier versions of Rayna, Jim. She's an android.

And later:

KIRK: She's human. Down to the last blood cell, she's human. Down to the last thought, hope, aspiration, emotion, she's human. The human spirit is free. You have no power of ownership. She's free to do as she wishes.

Maybe Kirk is just speaking poetically, but it seems to me Kirk wouldn't have kept on fighting for her if she was literally just a robot. The situation seems to be that she may have been built by Flint but she's for all purposes a human now and therefore cannot be his property.""

Flint could not have created a human from scratch because any human parts would have decayed on the models that didn't make the cut. As we saw, they were in the room on gurneys, much like mannequins. I see Rayna as an android with a human like exterior.

Even Star Fleet in TNG took the view that Data was property and not a sentient being. In reality, if Star Fleet was going to take Data on as a crew member, that should have been well documented before he ever stepped aboard a starship.

Kirk was speaking poetically, and one has to wonder: Just what would he have done if Rayna had agreed to come with him? First and foremost, she belonged to Flint. It's his planet and his android. Would Kirk have murdered Flint if he refused to let Rayna go? I do believe he would have murdered Flint to get the ryetalin.

@ Winnie,

"Flint could not have created a human from scratch because any human parts would have decayed on the models that didn't make the cut. As we saw, they were in the room on gurneys, much like mannequins. I see Rayna as an android with a human like exterior."

I can see that interpretation. What I was saying is that there's a decent reason to believe it's not a given but has been left open. In other words I'm not so much arguing that Rayna is definitely a flesh and blood human as there is some evidence to suggest it. I would argue that the existence of the other prototypes on the table (a) doesn't necessarily imply that the current Rayne is just like them, and (b) should maybe not be taken that literally. I doubt the writers were interested in inspecting what would happen to biotech that sits on a table for a while, would it rot, etc. That's just not the point the episode is trying to make. Since I take this to be a Pygmalion-inspired story, I think the main thrust of the plot is that that which is created may reject the creator, and that just because you 'made' someone doesn't mean you own them. That fact that he literally made Rayna in this case is a sci-fi element, but thematically I think it's less relevant than the fact that she's the way Flint wanted her and therefore she is made for him. Flint seems certain she should be with him not because he was the owner of the parts used to assemble her, but because they are both immortal and she has been designed to be a match for him. In other words he sees her as the ideal wife according to his desire, and that is why she should rightfully be with him. Any force he's willing to exert to defend that desire could be justified as 'ownership' but really I think it's about him believing his desires are the ultimate artiber of what should happen. It's a power thing. He wasn't Alexander the Great for no reason, after all.

@ Peter G.

""I would argue that the existence of the other prototypes on the table (a) doesn't necessarily imply that the current Rayne is just like them, and (b) should maybe not be taken that literally. I doubt the writers were interested in inspecting what would happen to biotech that sits on a table for a while, would it rot, etc. That's just not the point the episode is trying to make.""

I don't think the creators were trying to show the merits of a plastic Rayna versus one made of organic materials either. In my opinion, the scene of the various Raynas in the mysterious room was a shock value scene: Rayna's an android who's come from a rather long line of androids.

""Since I take this to be a Pygmalion-inspired story, I think the main thrust of the plot is that that which is created may reject the creator, and that just because you 'made' someone doesn't mean you own them. That fact that he literally made Rayna in this case is a sci-fi element, but thematically I think it's less relevant than the fact that she's the way Flint wanted her and therefore she is made for him."""

You know, I truly wish this had been a Pygmalion based story, without the Flint-Kirk hormones thrown in for good measure. That would have raised it as among the best of the Star Trek episodes in my opinion.

""Flint seems certain she should be with him not because he was the owner of the parts used to assemble her, but because they are both immortal and she has been designed to be a match for him. In other words he sees her as the ideal wife according to his desire, and that is why she should rightfully be with him."""

Very well put.

TOS has dealt with the android issue, and in my opinion, handled it rather poorly. Androids, if they're female, are put in TOS realm as mechanisms of servitude. They're also beautiful and sexy, and they're on some dark and dreary planet that no one else cares to populate. They're also easy to replace, which makes them dispensable.

While we don't know if the previous "Raynas" were organic or not, there is something else we don't know about them. Any one of them may have been strolling around Flint's mansion, just like the current model.

I believe Rayna is supposed to be organic, and human, but "soulless", or "emotionless" — and that's why Flint took the crew arrival to try to "wake" her by contact with them. (Yes, there is some "preservation issue" with organic copies, as winnie pointed out, but I think that is wanting a little too much for a 70's show with serious budget constraints. We can just picture Rayna being in some cryopreservation capsules and that would not have being a stretch).

Now, she being organic or not, we indeed have a interesting debate, because Flint, either way, made (or "produced") her. Is that enough to claim property? I don't think so, and to think about that would take us on what makes beings have rights, self ownership and all of that.

And that's why I like Star Trek: even if the episode doesn't go deep into these questions, they are always there as food for thought.

F wrote: ""Now, she being organic or not, we indeed have a interesting debate, because Flint, either way, made (or "produced") her. Is that enough to claim property? I don't think so, and to think about that would take us on what makes beings have rights, self ownership and all of that.""

Interesting thoughts which raise a question in my mind. Did Rayna "die" or did she "malfunction"?

Wednesday night is TOS night. And it's starting to be a real chore. I'm going to put off the rest of the episodes for a while.

I agree entirely with the first comment above, by Paul, from ten years ago. This wasn't so much a bad episode so much as a disappointing one. Downright frustrating and tiresome in the final act.

2/4

I have two basic problems with this episode:
1)Kirk falling in actual love. Not “I’m pretending to be in love in order to escape” kind of love, but actual cuckoo for cocoa puffs “let’s run away together” love.
2)Flint being all these famous dudes from history.
Both these elements of the story are distracting and, more importantly, unnecessary. For the first point, the time scale is far too short for Kirk to tumble head over heels for Rayna. Particularly when the ship is in imminent danger and racing against the clock. This whole scenario defies everything we know about Kirk’s character. It would be perfectly fine for Rayna to become enamored with Kirk, he’s an extreme novelty for her, and her interest in him would still drive the drama, making Flint jealous and creating conflict. But to have Kirk turn into such a weirdo in the course of 2 hours is ridiculous and makes it tough to take the larger ideas in play seriously.
The second point is one of those quirky ideas that, in my opinion, is too big to simply sit in the background. Flint as a sort of “highlander meets forest gump” persona, guiding humanity throughout its history would immediately become the main focus of attention in the room, easily surpassing some child-like hot lady wanting to talk about astrophysics or whatever. By having flint actually having been all these famous people and then not focusing more attention on it kind of buried the lead in my view. And once again, it’s not necessary. He could have simply been Methuselah of old, and maybe Lazarus(just for the sacrilegious implications), after which he might have sought anonymity but still witnessed all these great minds and even interacted with them. An unseen influence, imparting wisdom and ideas, but remaining in the shadows. I’d find that far more interesting and less distracting.

Outside of those scripting missteps, there’s some cool ideas here. The true impact that immortality would have on a person, how lonely and cynical it could make someone. Definitely some food for thought.

Then there’s the ending. What to make of Spock “forgetting” Kirk’s mind? On the one hand I’ve always taken that moment to be a quiet and unseen act of love for his friend, a repudiation of McCoy’s rather mean insistence that Spock can’t feel the more profound emotions of life. I was left with the impression that Spock basically wiped Rayna from Kirk’s mind. However, I think it’s fair to ask what exactly it was that Spock was causing Kirk to forget. And I think that it might be more specific than the memory of Rayna, but rather it might be targeted at Kirk’s shame and guilt over how he acted. Kirk’s guilt is his real suffering, he tried to possess rayna when he should have protected her. She was after all essentially a child in need of guidance and care, not a fully mature woman to chase after. I think that’s what he meant with his line “we put on a pretty poor show”.

Overall, a bit clunky. However I do appreciate some of the more cerebral elements at work.

2/4 love induced android brain aneurysms.

Question: Do you think Flint was sterile? He talks about this long life and apparently was married or involved. However, he never talks about any children.

Neither Leonardo da Vinci nor Johannes Brahms had children, though Solomon is supposed to have several. I suppose this would be easy enough to fake, however.

The Flint character is very intriguing, but his rapid name dropping of his past selves feels a bit off. I can imagine him at the side of all those people (like Asimov's R Daneel Olivaw in the later Foundation books) but I find it hard to take that he's personally Alexander the Great, da Vinci and Brahms and many others... that's a lot for a guy that probably has to play things low key to not get noticed, and that's very eclectic even for an immortal genius.

@ Pete,

From your post in VOY's Concerning Flight:

"Isn't Flint the immortal also Leonardo? (Flint is a cool idea, but IMO they went overboard with the historical figures, and Jerome Bixby wanted to go ever further and make him Jesus himself)"

Funny you should mention it, he went ahead and did that story anyhow:

Wiki:

"The Man from Earth is a 2007 American science fiction drama film directed by Richard Schenkman. It was written by Jerome Bixby, who conceived the screenplay in the early 1960s and completed it on his deathbed in April 1998.[2] It stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, a departing university professor, who puts forth the notion that he is more than 14,000 years old. The entire film is set in and around Oldman's house during his farewell party and consists almost entirely of dialogue. The plot advances through intellectual arguments between Oldman and his fellow faculty members.

The screenplay mirrors similar concepts of longevity which Bixby had introduced in "Requiem for Methuselah", a Star Trek episode he wrote which originally aired in 1969. The Man from Earth gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through Internet peer-to-peer networks, which raised its profile. The film was later adapted by Schenkman into a stage play."

@Peter G

Yeah, I am a big fan of TMFE but left it out of my post. Apparently it was Bixby's Magnum Opus in his own estimation, the story he absolutely had to tell (he basically finished the script on his deathbed)

Gene R has also always wanted the crew to literally meet God, but the producers would never allow it, so we got Apollo, Flint, Kukulkan, Lucien, and whatever that stupid thing in ST V was.

What did Kirk need to forget? That he fell in love with a blow up doll, or what he did to the doll? Throw a bunch of old episodes into a blender, press quick liquify for one second, and edit the pieces together. We get the omnipotent alternatingly benevolent then threatening humanoid being. We get a half Nomad and half ice cream maker malevolent spying levitating robot. We get more invisible medical pathogens and the urgency with which its antidote is imperative yet inconvenient. We get the same castle interior with previously seen props chairs and decorations placed in new positions. And the Captain has to jump start the female lead with his positive probe to get her horned up to the satisfaction of the boss. And as if they thought this was bad, the next eposide has Chekhov meeting his old flame who even talks with his outrageous accent...... because the audience at 10pm friday night only watched star trek and the monkees.

@Top Hat-"Neither Leonardo da Vinci nor Johannes Brahms had children, though Solomon is supposed to have several. I suppose this would be easy enough to fake, however".

Methuselah had a son, at least from what I could find. The other few names he mentions did not reveal much.

However, according to Flint, he married a hundred times. He goes on to say that he stayed with these various women through age and death. It seems impossible that there wouldn't be other children during his marriages. I can't imagine many children who also wouldn't be by his side at their mother's death.

The third season was obvious that this show was written by writers in the sixties. Kirk bosses around Flint an individual becuase Kirk's needs are greater than Flints McCoy steals Flints brandy without asking. In the third season no one seems like 23rd century starfleet officers to me but then I'm kinda nitpicking this has got to be like the twelfth time I've watched the series. The only episode this season I couldn't re watch is And the Children shall lead.

Take a set of interesting concepts, shoehorn them into 50 minutes, 47 for syndication, and you get Requiem for Methuselah. All of Trek requires some suspension of disbelief, of course, and for some reason I'm willing to extend this ep more than the usual amount. I think Kirk's experience on the planet is meant to illustrate for the viewer what Flint has apparently experienced many times.

The movie Ex Machina (recommended) demonstrates what can be done with these concepts given more screen time and more money.

3 of 4 field density discussions

Although it was painful to watch, I forced it. Now, wondering if I can boil down what's going on here. This is rated three stars. why? So Flint the immortal (until recently) once lived on Earth as many of its best known and accomplished historical characters without letting on that he does this as the rest of humanity ages and dies while he continues to live to become the next famous person, the next husband, the next lover, etc. He became so "bored" with immortality that he left for this abandoned planet to escape his scourge of immortality and not be bothered by anybody. However, he got lonely, and resorted to trying to build an android female companion that can't get old and die. But the android companion can only delve into intellectual subjects. Flint, also an omnipotent supreme being apparently, "saw" the Enterprise coming and knew their purpose of scavenging for a medical supply mineral deposit. So he decided to use the Enterprise's visit to introduce his frigid android (Rayna) to Kirk, and to isolate Rayna and the Captain together enough times for Kirk to charm whom he's been led to believe is a real woman, an adopted Ward, who's being denied freedom and behaves confusingly with regard to the subject of emotions. Meanwhile, Flint cuckholds by observing the interactions of Rayna and Kirk on a flatscreen TV with soundbar, then becomes jealous. The high point of the episode happens when the crew discovers (Flint let them discover) that Rayna is just the latest in a series of androids made by Flint. But Kirk takes the high ground by insisting Rayna is "human" anyway because she feels emotions now. (thanks to himself) Kirk gets mad when he figures out that Flint cucked him, and the two get into a fist fight. As they fight, Rayna achieves clarity of her emotional right of choice, commands the combatants to stop, but then is overwhelmed by the new emotional feelings and just suddenly dies or turns off. That being said, Flint apparently just lets them go on their way, after McCoy tells him that his immortality is now vanquished and he will eventually die of old age now. Kirk is left despondent, but the audience is not sure if it's because he lost a romantic connection (like he's never had one before, lol) or if he's ashamed of falling for an android. Spock uses a sort of mind meld to make him "forget" what happened.

The only interesting part is when Flint says he will have to destroy the Enterprise because the ship would warn Star Fleet about him and Rayna would find out she's an android. (Rayna does not know she's an android, and is forbidden to enter the room where previous but now inactivated versions of her android self lie on morgue tables, numbered, and covered by sheets.) Kirk says, your secret is safe with us, but Flint says he could not trust Kirk's word to keep his existence a secret. You know, things happen.
Kirk quickly yells into a communicator for the ship to take off quick and warn Star Fleet...... but Flint presses a button on a wrist watch that turns the Enterprise into a 3 foot model that suddenly appears on a table. Kirk seems like a giant peering into the bridge viewing screen where the tiny bridge crew is in suspended animation. The model is actually the REAL model of the Enterprise that was the basis for all the special effects of the series depicting the ship. So desperate to use anything for a prop, like Karob's chair, the half Nomad robot, the series is just plain out of ideas at this point. Compared to these lame 3rd season episodes, I would prefer to watch Alternative Factor back to back for hours. Have pity on me.

Perhaps a better script for this episode would’ve had had Spock figure out and reveal early on that Flint was very old. Flint does not have the power to shrink the Enterprise and Rayna is a 100 year old original android. The tension is that Rayna wants to leave the planet with the Big Three but Flint is unwillingly to let them have the vaccine unless she stays…

Quite an uneven episode. It's frustrating because there are some interesting ideas here in isolation, but they collapse into silliness when all the disparate threads strain against each other. The setup is urgent: the Enterprise crew is dying of a plague, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are on a race against time to synthesize a cure. Yet Kirk spends the hour mooning over his Love Interest Of The Week (who also happens to be their host's would-be romantic partner), so much so that Spock has to keep reminding him: "Captain, your crew is literally about to die."

Then we've got Flint. He was once da Vinci, Brahms, Alexander, even Merlin, which should make him the most interesting man who ever lived. Instead, the script reduces him to a creepily possessive old man, running a father/master/lover experiment with Rayna, an android who exists purely to validate him. This, apparently, is what millennia of genius has been leading up to. Sad.

Naturally, Kirk and Flint's egos collide with Rayna as the prize. But this was part of Flint's master plan: who better than Kirk, the legendary space-seducer, to warm up Rayna's cold andussy, after which Flint could swoop in and reap the benefits. Too bad things don't go according to script. First, Kirk still wants her after finding out she's not "real" (apparently forgetting the lessons of "What Are Little Girls Made Of"). Second, Flint suddenly decides he can't let Kirk leave anyway, because Kirk now knows his secret identities -- and heaven forbid his private estate become an intergalactic tourist trap (though with a matte painting that gorgeous, who could blame them?)

What really baffles me is why Rayna is supposed to be so special. After one hour together, Kirk doesn't just want his usual fling; he wants her for keepsies! He even begs her to choose him over his beloved Enterprise, his one true mistress. But alas, Rayna short-circuits under the pressure of choosing between these two titans of male ego and promptly dies on the spot. And with that, the plot dies too. At least the ryllium got secured somewhere amidst the melodrama, so the Enterprise crew won't all hemorrhage and rot from the inside out. Small mercies.

Oh, how I wish Spock could do me a solid and mercifully mind-wipe this episode the way he did for Kirk at the end. Kirk may "need his pain" but I've had enough.


Stray Thoughts:

- The "plague" is a bizarrely backgrounded element. Every crewman we actually see looks perfectly fine, as if the sick are conveniently offscreen because the script isn't about them. But that raises a question: were Kirk, Spock, and McCoy infected too, with symptoms delayed -- and not a single word of warning to their hosts? Either way, the supposed epidemic generates almost no tension.

- Doesn't it take FOREVER for them to realize Flint is ancient? The episode is called "Methuselah" for crying out loud; the audience has solved the mystery long before Spock bothers to painstakingly assemble all the clues.

- Alexander and da Vinci were almost certainly gay but I guess for Flint those entire lifetimes were but brief dalliances on his march toward normalized android domesticity.

What a world we live in now, full of technological witchcraft and wizardry. There we were, watching “Requiem for Methuselah” together, and all my piano-playing son had to do when Spock started pounding out the waltz was to aim his phone at the TV while Shazam did the rest. (No, not the genie that Shaq played, although that would have been hilarious.) In less than five seconds, Shazam identified the music and put the artist and title up for my son to see--”Pseudo Brahms Esq. (Requiem for Methuselah)” by Ivan Ditmars, if you’re curious. He’s in the family room now working it out on the piano, because he wants to play it too. (In an hour his ass had better be in bed, as it’s a school night). My lesson from this? AI is freaky, folks.

Speaking of freaky AI, you’d best believe that in just a few years, “Brahms” will compose new music, “Shakespeare” will write new plays, and “Da Vinci” will release new paintings--all generated by AI. You watch. “Requiem for Methuselah” asks us to consider the nature of immortality. Is it just living a long life without dying, or is it the contributions and bodies of work that a person leaves behind for all time?

Or, at least, the episode *could* have asked those heady questions, if it gave a damn. “Requiem for Methuselah” (a really cool title, for those familiar with Methuselah) turns out to be more preoccupied with quick Shatner Shenanigans, Fun With Robotic Nightmare Fuel and endless conversations that go nowhere. We’ve seen this already, in one form or another.

Frankly, it starts off great with the introduction of Flint, who at first is a man after my own heart. All this poor old guy wants is to be left the fuck alone and enjoy his retirement on a quiet planet, not bothering anybody. Suddenly, who should stroll in but three interlopers from Starfleet who *need* what he has, you see. They *need* it, and he has it. Well, tough shit. Kirk--my man Kirk--even insists, “If necessary, we’ll take it.” Wonderful! Thievery will be alive and well in the 23rd century. Slow claps from me.

All Flint has to do is kill the landing party with his Big Alien Powers that he controls from a garage-door opener, but things quickly go downhill. Even though this is clearly a Stand Your Ground planet, Flint invites them in for coffee, billiards and dancing because his wife isn’t fucking him right and he thinks that if Kirk awakens her out of her funk with his Magic Moves she’ll suddenly feel like getting in the sack again--but with her husband and not the dude she's in love with--and…. I don’t know, this is too dumb to even explain further. Suddenly we’ve been transported into The Real World on MTV.

Rayna is a goddamn sentient AI, you see. Flint has been trying to get this bloomin’ cuckoo clock to “love” him for probably a hundred years or something, but he’s been unsuccessful because she’s a DAMN ROBOT just like that flying linkage of pasta colanders that shoots laser beams out its cakehole. (They actually call it an “M4,” which had me rolling my eyes considerably. My M4 looks nothing like that, but I kid.) Of course, all the robot needed was a little KIRK encounter! Kirk falls in love with the thing instantly because it has a terribly nice rack and pouty eyes, and wouldn’t you know, the magnetism of CAPTAIN JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK is enough to make an emotionless robot become A Real Bo--I mean Real Girl. Far be it for me to care about bad science in Star Trek, but sentient AI’s don’t have emotions. They only do so in fiction and fantasy tales (and only if they meet CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN JAMES LOTHARIO DON JUAN TIBERIUS F. KIRK).

So, follow this logic again. Flint succeeds in using Kirk to get Rayna “awakened.” He then gets pissed off when his plan is successful, so he does the Star Trek thing and initiates a cock fight with Kirk, who delivers a few good blows but otherwise gets tossed around like it’s Tuesday night at the MMA gym. Rayna, meanwhile, short-circuits because it’s a malfunctioning goddamn sentient AI and can’t figure out that love for a “father” and love for a “boy toy” are different. The episode treats it as a tragedy, BUT WAIT! This is the best part -- Flint can just activate one of those other ones in the next room! Wait until the next putz comes along looking to steal his plant life, I guess. But that’s not going to happen either, because now that Flint is away from Earth and the Magic Island properties that it gave him (see: LOST), he was always going to die after all. Therefore, he finally learns to embrace the existence he had at the beginning of the episode--content to be an old man who just wants to be left alone and enjoy his retirement on a quiet planet, not bothering anybody.

As for Kirk, he’s *devastated* with his head in his hands, sprawled across the desk. Apparently, he’s a poor 14-year-old boy who’s suffered his first break-up. You feel bad when it happens to your kid, but Kirk is 40-something here. Where the hell did this come from? Who writes this stuff? Of course, everything ends happily anyway--or is it “haplessly.” It’s Spock to the rescue, with a good-old mind meld that makes Kirk forget everything that happened because this is a 1960’s kid’s show now. Consequences that survive beyond a single episode would screw up the syndication prospects.

Louise Sorel steals the show. I was wondering why there was always something “off” about her performance at first, but once I learned Rayna’s true nature, I was impressed with the acting and direction. James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols collect their paychecks by sitting around for a single scene and looking bored out of their minds, and good for them. As for Tim Daly’s dad, he’s serviceable but not memorable in the role of Flint. William Shatner plays William Shatner playing James T. Kirk, doing a bang-up job as always.

Seriously though--Shazam is a great app.


Speak Freely:
McCoy -- “Get to the point, Spock, if there is one.”


My Grade: D+

I think this episode has a unique storyline and it could have great. Instead, it was botched from the get-go. But it's watchable and I do enjoy viewing it from time to time.

Kirk: ""You kept us together, Rayna and me, because you knew I could bring her emotions alive".

Wow. What ego. Not surprising from our dear Captain. That statement is also false. Rayna recognizes and feels several emotions; appreciation, curiosity, and excitement, to name a few. She also has affection for Flint.

I think had Flint given her a little more time she would have come to love him the way he wanted. Despite that, she is one of the most boring characters I've come across. She has no chemistry with either Flint or Kirk or vice versa, but even pushing that aside, she's not even interesting. So what if she has 17 degrees in whatever? She was downloaded with them. That doesn't make is easy to see why either man would want to pursue her.

I also find the treatment of Captain Kirk by the writing staff appalling. The Captain I see would never fall in love within hours, much less go gaga and fight over what essentially amounts to a sophisticated machine. He would find it just too strange. We know this because even the Enterprise, who he claims to be married to, is never first to be attended to. He loves people and if they're not redshirts, does his best to attend or get attention to them first.

I'm assuming that Rayna crashes at the end of the episode. I wonder why Flint couldn't simply reboot her with a bit of different program instead of building an entirely new Rayna. Maybe this was a quirk in Flint. Having to reboot her would mean imperfection existed. This maybe is something that he cannot deal with. But why keep the other Rayna's around like some weird punishment detail? That is really weird.

I like the suggestion made in previous posts which say the way the big three acted reflected a possibility that the virus was attacking them. That would have made an excellent story arc, maybe with Flint coming up with the cure, treating all three men, and making sure the Enterprise got the vaccine in time. Rayna could assist and thus learn compassion with the eventual understand of love.

So one thing I think we have to take seriously is the premise that Flint can't activate Rayna's emotions properly. While I've at times said this is a simple Pygmalion story, the difference here is that someone like Kirk wasn't required in Shaw's play to activate Eliza's excitement for her new life. But Bixby very deliberately paints Flint as being unable to complete the job that Henry Higgins could. Why? Just an as excuse to provide Kirk with yet another woman fall for him? I suppose that would be the cynical answer.

Somehow I feel like Flint needs to be compared a bit with John Oldman in The Man from Earth, the successor story to R for M. In the latter story, Oldman is much more ordinary than we think, not what you'd expect from an 'immortal', especially one who's been so many famous people (I won't spoil it). Part of the surprise is supposed to be that he's doesn't look like a superhuman, isn't arrogant, doesn't talk as if he knows everything, and doesn't even believe that his experiences make him that special. He just happens to be immortal, that's it. But Flint is maybe further in the other direction, quite arrogant, does think he knows everything, and has a god complex to boot. And I think part of what R for M is doing, which anticipates The Man from Earth, is to portray this immortal genius and try to take him down a peg, to portray him as not being everything he thinks he is. Basically to say, Flint should be more like Oldman and learn a little humility. So maybe this is part of why he can't get Rayna to be fully human, because he himself isn't really quite human in the sense of being humble and good. He sees his overtowering perfection as being the sum of what he is and why he matters, and so he designed what he sees as the same perfection into Rayna: immortality, brilliance, knowledge.

If I take this viewpoint of the author correctly, then I think where it leads is that Rayna couldn't become fully human with Flint because his intention for her wasn't really human. She was indeed what he made her, because his vision of what a human being needs to be was flawed. She was what he was: brilliant, detached, not concerned with humanity qua humanity, not concerned with individuals for their own hearts. But he wanted more from her, which is interesting. He appears to have wanted things from her that he himself isn't capable of. Sure, he has emotions and all the rest, he is (I suppose) biologically human, more or less. But that thing which makes humans more than just intelligent animals, he seems to be lacking that, and I suppose Rayna is aware of it on some level. She can't learn what she's not exposed to. And for better or worse, the missing part of humanity that Flint lacks is to be found in Kirk. I don't think it's just that Kirk is good looking, and that Rayna for some reason found Flint physically unattractive. Even if the issue was attraction, to personality let's say, Flint's plan would still make no sense because it's not like he was going to change his own personality once Kirk left. So I think we're left with the idea that Flint needed Rayna to become 'fully human', probably in a way surpassing himself, and that he could then have humanity plus perfection, all in one package. The problem is that - and this is something TOS stresses repeatedly - the best of humanity knows that perfection is not necessarily desirable, not in certain forms. Khan could be argued to be a 'more perfect' genetic specimen, but clearly that's portrayed as a flawed manner in which to perfect oneself. Cultures are sometimes portrayed as perfect, serving some computer or god like Vaal, or having death chambres, and these perfections are likewise rejected. The kind of perfection the Federation seeks is that of enlightenment, of exploration and meeting new races, of finding ways to co-exist. Whereas Flint lives alone and sees himself simply as superior, not different. So in acquiring that which Flint lacks and makes Rayna more perfectly human, it would perhaps also cause her to reject the perfections Flint programmed into her. Those might actually undermine the sort of perfection Kirk, Spock, and McCoy seek. Maybe the two can't mix and you'd just shut down.

At least this type of scenario doesn't require us to see Kirk as being put to stud. Instead it makes him the exemplar of how humanity has progressed, and I do think this reasoning is more in line with why TOS generally paints him as being heroic. Yes, women do tend to like him, but most of his successes involve explaining to others that risk is our business, death is real, differences can unite rather than divide, and machines cannot replace human beings. His passion for these values, and for his ship and crew, seem to me what would attract Rayna, more so than his looks and charms. And they would be a good example for her to model on. Kirk is there, after all, in a state of need to obtain ryetalyn to save his crew. Flint however just lives for himself. This alone makes them very different people.

Just a few naming details:

-Flint's planet is in the Omega system, perhaps a reference to his immortality? And if Bixby had originally wanted Flint to also be Jesus, this naming wouldn't just be a vague reference but a direct statement about who he is.

-The substance ryetalyn: could it possibly be a reference to Ritalin, which existed at the time? I'll note that Ritalin works like an amphetamine. According to Wiki. [it's] efficacy as an athletic performance enhancer, cognitive enhancer, aphrodisiac, and euphoriant is supported by research. And Flint's planet has large quantities of it. Perhaps the name of this substance is a reference to Flint's hyperactive cognitive and physical capabilities? The fact that the ship's crew is dying and needs this is perhaps suggestive in the metaphorical sense, that mortal humans are always verging toward slowing down and dying, which would make the ryetalyn a sort of fountain of youth stand-in perhaps, or at least something to counteract the effects of aging.

-Flint: the name is interesting. One the one hand it can mean rock, perhaps another New Testament reference. But apparently it also means this: Figuratively, "flint" can describe a personality that is unfeeling or hardhearted, stemming from the stone's hardness.

-M4: I think someone else might have mentioned that this might be a reference to the M-5 unit from The Ultimate Computer?

"-Flint: the name is interesting. One the one hand it can mean rock, perhaps another New Testament reference. But apparently it also means this: Figuratively, "flint" can describe a personality that is unfeeling or hardhearted, stemming from the stone's hardness."

Every time I think about the word, 'flint', it takes me back to the Clan of the Cave Bear book series. They were extremely popular for a time. Flint's a prominent element in the book as the main cavegirl character, Ayla, discovers its characteristics and uses it to survive. Very light reading and not historically accurate, but they are entertaining. In thinking a little further, Ayla and Rayna are similar as far as their outlook on loneliness. Both of them do not seem to suffer from it.

I always thought that the flower dying in the desert was a foreshadowing of Rayna's shutdown. Maybe a flower dying in the desert has nothing to do with her, but instead with Flint. I would count Kirk in this as well, but the cheesy ending where he "forgets" ruins that.

@ Winnie,

"Every time I think about the word, 'flint', it takes me back to the Clan of the Cave Bear book series. They were extremely popular for a time. Flint's a prominent element in the book as the main cavegirl character, Ayla, discovers its characteristics and uses it to survive."

The names do sound similar, but I guess that might be a coincidence (unless Auel was a fan of this episode and was inspired by it). But, having never read Clan of the Cave Bear - even while my parents were raving about it - I think it definitely explains where the name of Ayla from Chrono Trigger comes from! That's a slam dunk to me, and the Wiki article confirms it :)

If you want to take a slam dunk for it, that's fine. But I must point out that my post wasn't about comparing the similarity of names. I never considered their names as similar. I did state that neither one seems to suffer from loneliness. It was a mistake to type that.

The question came up somewhere in this thread of why the name of Flint was used. I took it as a possible analogy and used the Ayla character because flint was so useful to her.

However, use of flint didn't begin or end with Auel's character. Flint is used as the spark to start a fire, or a tool, or a weapon. Survivalists are still using it today for the very same reasons. The use of flint doesn't stop there. It can be used for other things. Within the context of this episode, I can see Flint as a human form of flint. He can be compared to a spark that starts a flame, a tool, or a weapon.

If you have the background on why the name was used, please post it. I'd be interested in reading it.

So many TOS episodes are just a revision away from being good. :(

Was it really necessary that the "ticking clock" had to be a matter of a few hours? Give us a scene showing Kirk's loneliness early on. Then give us a story that takes place over a stretch of time where a love story becomes believable.

Minor nitpick: it was a mistake for Spock to explain what happened to the girl at the end. Not only because it isn't needed, but because it shows that he already understands love. This undermines the final scene where Bones says he pities him because he doesn't know what love is and, what should have been a very powerful moment, when Spock makes Jim forget because he really does understand.

Thank you @Toony for bringing up the movie The Man from Earth. It's one of my favorite low-budget sci-fi movies. I was immediately reminded of it, and it was quite a surprise to learn that they both come from the same writer.

I know TOS focused on developing only three or four characters, but Spock is just too overpowered in this one. Now he is also a Brahms expert and a fluent pianist? He can recognize the style of Leonardo and tell it apart from reproductions or fakes? There is just too much piled onto this character at this point.

This is the type of episode where we could have had three or four more science officers in the landing party to appreciate all the items inside Flint's mansion. Instead, it is all Spock, all the time. It is understandable, but a little much in this particular outing.

The thing that bothered me the most, and many commenters have mentioned, is McCoy taking shots at Spock at the end for no reason whatsoever.

All in all, I enjoyed it. 3.5 out of 4.

The parallel with Forbidden Planet stretches even further. FP hints, though it is never confirmed, that Altaira herself just might have been Morbius' creation via the ancient Altairian technology, and here, Rayna is explicitly Flint's technological creation. And Flint built his handy dandy robot that always does his will, just like Morbius built Robby the Robot. Rayna needs Kirk to awaken her romantic emotions, like Altaira needed Adams. Flint has hopeful but resentful feelings about this, much like Morbius. And at the end, Morbius dies & Flint finds out he is no longer immortal. One big difference is that in FP the threat comes from Morbius' Id Monster, whereas here Flint expresses his creepy bad side directly himself. Rayna's death, unlike Altaira's rescue, is the big divergence.

And isn't it fitting? Romantic love leads to death. And McCoy chides Spock for not being all there for it. Didn't this episode originally air on Valentine's Day?

I really wish this had been a two-parter to give the romance portion of the plot more room to grow and to let the mystery of Mr. Flint unravel more slowly.

This is an okay-ish episode. I have some problems with it though.
The biggest issue for me is that Kirk falls in love far too quickly and far too deeply.

I don't care for the epilogue. Why tack on that Flint is dying? Why does MCoy insult Spock? The "forget" moment should be great, but it's undercut by the fact that Kirk has only known the girl for a couple of hours. This ending would have been much more powerful, and appropriate, in "The Paradise Syndrome."

I think Flint miniturizing thr Enterprise is a bit much. He's Da Vinci, not Q.

This is a weird complaint, but I don't like the idea of one man being so many of the great minds in human history. It seems sort of disrespectful. Is that weird of me to think that?




"FP hints, though it is never confirmed, that Altaira herself just might have been Morbius' creation via the ancient Altairian technology,"


I have never picked up on that. I'll try to remember to look for those hints the next time I watch Forbidden Planet.