“The Gamesters of Triskelion” is a very, very bad episode. There are some intriguing enough elements right at the beginning of the episode but whatever potential the story might have had, end up becoming severe liabilities by the end. It’s as if the series opened up the chance to write an episode to someone who writes some really bad fan fiction. The episode has some high-minded ideas that simply do not make it from script to screen. But for the most part the ideas are bad even in script form, and translate even worse on the screen.

As the episode begins, Kirk, Chekov and Uhura are abducted from the transporter room and taken to Triskelion – planet populated by Thralls (slaves) and Providers (masters) – to take part in the gladiatorial games presided over by the planet’s rulers, the Providers (who turn out to be a trio of glowing brains, yeesh). The three are, essentially slaves, kept in line by dog collars with glowing plastic thingies which light up whenever they are punished by Galt, the lead Thrall (aka overseer).

While in captivity, Kirk pontificates about slavery and freedom to woman named Shahna (who is scantily clad in a silver outfit). It’s forced and fake and teeters on the edge of pretentious. Shahna has this perpetual deer-in-the-headlights look that makes her character so two-dimensional that whatever intended drama there might have been from her scenes with Kirk is lost.

Furthermore, the Thralls are littered with badly conceived characters, including the typical “oaf” with teeth protruding from the lower jaw, a masculine woman who hits on Chekov, and a guy named Lars who tries to rape Uhura in the episodes most embarrassing and cringeworthy scene.

Kirk’s gambling deal with the Triskelion brains is likewise embarrassing, especially when you factor in the episode’s culminating fight sequence. Not only is the whole scenario blatantly contrived, but the rules set by the brains – that Kirk cannot touch the wrong color on the game field – are repeatedly broken by Kirk due to bad choreography, action, or both.

The episode’s subplot, featuring Spock searching for Kirk might have proven interesting had it not been for the fact that McCoy and Scotty spend the entire episode second-guessing and criticizing Spock’s every decision. The tension between Spock’s logic and McCoy’s emotion is usually good for some fine interactions between the characters, but here it’s almost a caricature with Scotty and McCoy acting as though they’ve lost all sense of rationality and intelligence, instead of simply listening to their hearts. And stories that rely on the characters behaving stupidly are inherently lazy.

“The Gamesters of Triskelion” is just not a good episode by any criteria. The scripting, the pacing, and even the acting from Kirk, McCoy and the guest stars is just not up to usual Trek standards (such as those standards are).

Filed under: Original Series