1.17 The Squire of Gothos

Kirk and his crew are imprisoned by a man who has the ability to control matter.

Plot Summary
Stardate 2124.5 - 2126.3 [1]Seeing something in the distanceThe USS Enterprise encounters an unknown planet named Gothos. As they approach it, Sulu and Captain Kirk disappear from the ship. When McCoy and his team are sent down to the planet to look for the missing persons, they are shocked to learn that it is not stormy like their instruments had predicted. After searching briefly, they find Captain Kirk and Sulu frozen in place in an 18th century home. Kirk and Sulu are released from their state by Trelane, who owns the home. Trelane is a being with the ability to control matter. He is selfish and spoiled. Noticeably, he has an interest in humans and their customs from the 18th century. Because of this, he decides to imprison Kirk and his crew for his own amusement. Soon Spock is able to transport Kirk and the others up by he ordering his men to transport all living beings in the location where the storm and toxic atmosphere does not reach. For a moment, Kirk and his crew are freed from Trelane's grasp, but Trelane teleports himself to their ship. [2]Come at me broUsing his powers, Trelane teleports everyone in the control deck to his home. There, he amuses himself by dancing with the women. As he dances, Kirk and the other officers think of strategies they could use to stop Trelane. They notice that Trelane does not move far from his mirror and assume that it is the source of his power. Kirk stops Trelane's dance and challenges him to a duel. During the duel, Kirk shoots the mirror with his pistol and destroys Trelane's machine. With the machine destroyed, communications between the Enterprise and the people on the planet are established again after Trelane had disconnected them with his power. Kirk and his crew beam up and attempt to distance themselves away from the planet. However, Trelane prevents their escape by place the planet of Gothos in a collusion course with the Enterprise repeatedly and blocking their escape. [3]Trelane corners KirkKirk has no choice but to beam down to the planet and face Trelane one on one. When he beams down, he is put on trial by Trelane. Kirk is sentenced to death, but Kirk convinces him to play a game of cat and mouse in exchange for letting the Enterprise go. Kirk is able to win the game, but Trelane is unwilling to recognize Kirk as the winner. Instead, he continues the game and tells Kirk that he will be doing the same to the rest of the crew members despite his promise to let them go. Their game is interrupted by the parents of Trelane. They scold him and teleport him away. Kirk is then sent back to his own ship and allowed to leave.

Production Notes
In the episode, Trelane mentions that he was watching the Earth in the 18th century and the episode had established that Earth was 900 years away from Gothos. That would mean that the stardate should have been in the 27th century. Instead, it is in the 23rd century. During the production of the episode, the series' creators were still uncertain by the aspects of the universe. For example, it was also still not established that the Enterprise was a part of Starfleet or the United Earth Space Probe Agency.