  A fitting play within a play, 2008-05-28
Although the premise of this episode has some serious holes in it, the merging of Shakespeare and space travel is a good one. The idea that the plays of Shakespeare would still be popular light years from Earth and centuries in the future is a comforting one. As long as humans still enjoy Shakespeare, it will be certain that they remain human. However, the premise that the governor of a space colony would order the execution of half the colonists during a famine is absurd. Furthermore, the idea that the governor could then disappear and somehow remain hidden as a Shakespearean actor in the Star Trek world is beyond belief.
Kirk is reunited with an old friend Thomas Leighton and the episode opens with them attending a Shakespearean drama. The lead male is an actor named Anton Karidian and Leighton believes that he is in fact Kodos the Executioner, the governor of a colony whose response to a famine was to kill thousands of the colonists. Help arrived much sooner than expected, saving the remaining colonists and somehow Kodos was able to disappear and his body never found. Leighton and Kirk are two of only nine people who remain alive and were eyewitnesses to the slaughter.
At first Kirk does not share Leighton's suspicions, but when Leighton is murdered, Kirk arranges to transport the company of actors to their next destination. When there is an attempt on the life of crewman Riley, a third eyewitness, Kirk confronts Karidian and tries to prove that he is Kodos, although the evidence is inconclusive. At the end, Karidian/Kodos dies trying to protect his daughter from the dark stain of his past.
The major problem with the plot is that it is very unlikely that the soldiers under Kodos' command would ever obey an order to systematically kill thousands of innocent people in order to avoid a famine. This is largely unprecedented, even in the dark and blood stained history of humans on Earth. Secondly, in the highly technical world of Star Trek, medical records would be universal and it would have been a simple matter to verify whether Kodos and Karidian were the same man.
Despite the obvious weaknesses of the story line, the presentation of "The Tragedy of MacBeth" being performed on the Enterprise was heartwarming. Given the plotline of the episode, it was a fitting play within a play.
Solid, superior 1st season episode with a few minor flaws..., 2003-03-31
Tightly written and expertly acted, 'The Conscience Of The King' foreshadows the recurring themes of Shakespeare used inventively in several episodes and incarnations of Star Trek. Here Kirk is a thinly veiled interpretation of Hamlet as he tries to determine the guilt or innocence of a suspected mass murderer and whether or not he can act on the scarce evidence at hand. Though the plot seems a bit farfetched - of 8,000 colonists on Tarsus IV only nine eyewitnesses can identify the planet's most prominent politician - the story is punched acrossed solidly with it's few obvious flaws sidestepped gracefully. As Anton Karidian/Kodos The Executioner Arnold Moss supplies one of the best character portrayals from the original series, and Barbara Anderson (of television's "Ironsides") is his equal as his daughter who comes unhinged in the finale.A scientist who claims he has invented a food substance that will save the populace of another planet suffering a famine summons the Enterprise to Planet Q. Soon after they arrive though they discover the story is a ruse. The scientist, an old acquaintance of Kirk's, explains to him that he is certain that an actor in the traveling troupe visiting Planet Q is the infamous Kodos The Executioner. Kodos was responsible for the death of 4,000 colonists on Tarsus IV, a colony that both Kirk and his friend were part of when the massacre occurred; now some twenty years later only a few eyewitnesses who can identify Kodos remain alive. Kirk is skeptical at first but when his friend turns up dead and a consultation with the ship's computer reveals that seven of nine eyewitnesses have been murdered while the traveling troupe is in the vicinity, this coincidence persuades Kirk to arrange to transport the actors to their next destination. After attempts are made to kill Kirk and Lt. Riley - another eyewitness - the captain finally forces both the assassin and Kodos to reveal themselves. While this episode is one of the series' better-acted and directed shows it painfully reveals the series 1960's origins. In attempting to proof that Karidian is actually Kodos Kirk uses information provided by the ship's computer and later a voiceprint analysis. DNA evidentiary findings weren't in vogue at the time of production, but certainly fingerprints were! And wouldn't a Federation appointed colony governor have been sufficiently processed by a clerical system to have some sort of records that could provide damning evidence too? Despite this glaring oversight the show succeeds in providing sufficient suspense and a terrific finale. Also contained within the story is another worthy round in the continuing Spock vs. McCoy ethical debates; eventually they confront the captain - both as friends and as staff officers - to determine his questionable motives, a scene that is handled brilliantly. Note: William Shatner would later co-star with Barbara Anderson in an episode of Mission: Impossible (post Leonard Nimoy years); but the tables would be turned this time, as Ms. Anderson would set a trap for the villainous Shatner. By the way, does the figure seven of nine ring a bell to anyone?
Slow Moving but Fascinating, 2001-05-01
The suspense isn't very engrossing and the mystery doesn't yield too much of a surprise, but the concepts in the episode are worth considering. The actor that portray's Koridian does an excellent job and Bruce Hyde gets to ham it up again as the passionate, misunderstood, overeager Kevin Riley. If you can sit through the slow moving story, this is actually a fairly good episode.
Definitely one of the best episodes!, 2003-03-06
Conscience of the King is the 1st season Trek Original Series December 8th, 1966 episode. The story is that Anton Karidian a space touring Shakespearean actor may really be Kodos the Executioner who wiped out half of his colony (4000 people). Kirk is one of 9 witnesses, 7 of which have been killed, and Karidian and his beautiful daughter Lenore(Barbara Anderson of Ironside fame) end up onboard the Enterprise. It's an interesting twist on the equivalent of a Nazi war criminal of the future, and a reference is made as such: "his own form of eugenics" "he wasn't the first". And considering William Shatner's classical acting training, he must have loved the Shakespeare stuff in this episode. And it's hard to take your eyes off of Barbara Anderson, strikingly beautiful (oh I said that already) and great intensity in her acting. And the story offers a great twist at the end, not at all predictable. Watch also when Janice shoots Lenore a quick icy "get away from my man" stare. Finally all acting here is first rate, and we even get to hear Uhura sing and play that guitarlike thing. And the final part is classic '60s Trek drama all the way: the "death scene" where Hamlet merges with reality, and the final thing with Bones "you really cared about her didn't you?...I have my answer." A couple lines in the dialogue were definitely "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" influenced as that film was out in 1966:
"later, latest, too late" and such. And even the sub-theme is a vague allusion being a woman who has lapsed into fantasy. This and the other best Star Trek Original Series episodes have that je ne sais quoi surrealism, intensity, intelligence, believability, creativity, and '60s style.
The Donner Party, Holocaust, and Shakespeare Too, 2007-07-17
I recently viewed this episode for the first time in many years and discovered that it was far more sophisticated than I remember. The genius of the script is that it works on many levels at the same time -- something other original-Trek episodes sometimes did but rarely so well as this one. "Conscience of the King" is a murder mystery and a revenge story with allusions and parallels to both "Hamlet" and "MacBeth." Above all, it's an issue-driven story with a moral complexity hardly seen even in Star Trek.
Twenty years earlier, a planetary governor named Kodos ordered the deaths of half the population of a starbase because of sudden famine. By killing half the population, he hoped there would be enough supplies for the other half to survive. It's a moral dilemma echoing such tales as The Donner Party. The end justifies the means -- or does it?? In this case, the supply ships arrived in time after all, and history judged Kodos to be a monster. Kodos then died... or did he fake his death to escape judgement? Only a few survivors can identify Kodos 20 years later.... among these was the teenager who grew up to be Capt James T. Kirk. (Although wasn't he in Iowa at the time?) Another is Enterprise officer Lt. Kevin Riley.
Arnold Moss plays Karadian, an aging Shakespearean actor who is apparently Kodos. He gives a strong performance, remarkably making Karidian nearly as sympathetic as Kodos' victims. Kirk is obsessed with punishing the murderer, but like Hamlet, he is equally obsessed with first making sure he is right. This episode does not ask us to excuse or approve of what Kodos did. But on a subtle level, it suggests mercy might be an appropriate response even for the worst of people.
Kirk, Spock, and Riley never forgive Kodos, and this is understandable in light of the killings 20 years earlier. But in the last act, Karidian sacrifices himself to save Kirk's life. It is left to the viewer to sort out the moral implications. The episode also features a "Kirk in love" story involving Karidian's daughter Lenore (Barbara Anderson), but while it is at times cringe-worthy, it's a necessary part of the larger drama.
There are some logic problems. How does a man who served as governor of a planet survive with only seven people who can identify him... especially when his photographic image is on file in every Federation computer??!! Compounding this error is the idea that the ideal way to hide would be to become a traveling actor, of all things, about the worst way imaginable to "hide." Yet the resulting drama is so strong that it's worth your while to suspend your disbelief.
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