Requiem for Methuselah

ST episode
name = Requiem for Methuselah


Rayna and Flint
series = TOS
ep_num = 74
prod_num = 076
remas._num = 75
date = February 14, 1969
writer = Jerome Bixby
director = Murray Golden
guest = James Daly
Louise Sorel John Buonomo William Blackburn Roger Holloway
stardate = 5843.7
year = 2269
prev = The Lights of Zetar
next = The Way to Eden

"Requiem for Methuselah" is a third season episode of "", first broadcast February 14, 1969, on St. Valentine's Day. Its repeat broadcast, on September 2, 1969, was the last official telecast of the series to air on NBC ( would immediately debut in syndication on the following Monday, September 8 a full 3 years after its debut). It is episode #74, production #76, written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Murray Golden. It guest-stars James Daly as "Mr. Flint", and Louise Sorel as "Rayna Kapec".

Overview: The crew of the "Enterprise" encounter an immortal human in this science fiction retelling of Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

Plot

On stardate 5843.7, the crew of the USS "Enterprise" is struck with a deadly disease known as Rigellian Fever and heads to the remote planet Holberg 917-G, in search of the mineral Ryetalyn to manufacture an antidote. Once there, sensors detect humanoid life despite the reports that the planet is listed as uninhabited.

Captain Kirk, along with his first officer Mr. Spock, and chief medical officer Dr. McCoy, beam down to the planet to investigate and are quickly attacked by a floating sentry robot. The robot is called off by its master, who steps forward and identifies himself as Flint. Flint claims that the landing party is trespassing on private property, and orders them to leave his planet immediately, threatening to kill them if they do not comply.

Kirk, however, will not accept Flint's authority and calls Mr. Scott on the "Enterprise" to shoot a spread of phaser fire at their position if any harm comes to them. Such an attack would completely vaporize everything in the area. At first, Flint thinks Kirk is bluffing, but he finally backs down and reluctantly talks with his uninvited guests. McCoy informs Flint about the disease that threatens the "Enterprise" crew and about the urgent need for the minerals on the planet. Flint listens and compares the epidemic to bubonic plague in Constantinople, Earth in the summer of 1334.

Flint allows the landing party two hours to gather the Ryetalyn mineral and offers the services of his sentry robot, "M4", to find and gather the mineral for them. Meanwhile, Flint escorts the landing party back to his home. They are amazed at Flint's impressive collection of Earth artifacts which includes original copies of Shakespeare, a Gutenberg Bible, and lithographs by Terra Nullus of Centaurus VII. Spock is puzzled when his tricorder scans reveal the impressive works are new recreations made with contemporary materials. It is as if the original masters had returned to remake them.

The party is then surprised by the appearance of Flint's beautiful adopted daughter, Rayna, who instantly takes a liking to Spock. Spock is impressed with her incredible knowledge of advanced physics and the two discuss warp field density and its relationship to gravitational dynamics. Flint states that Rayna's parents used to be in his employ, but died in an accident. He has proudly assessed Rayna's knowledge to be the equivalent of 17 university art and science degrees.

Kirk plays billiards with Rayna, then they dance while Spock plays a waltz on the piano. Spock determines the waltz to be an unknown piece written by Johannes Brahms since the work seems to be written in his style and by his own hand. Back in Flint's lab, McCoy analyzes the Ryetalyn gathered by M4 and discovers that it is contaminated with "irilium", rendering it inert and useless.

Meanwhile, Kirk romances Rayna but M4 appears and attacks him. Spock enters just in time and destroys the robot with his phaser. Flint rushes in and Kirk confronts him about the attack. Flint excuses it as a simple misunderstanding, explaining M4 interpreted Kirk's advances toward Rayna as hostile. Kirk forgives the incident and is rather relieved of M4's demise, but is shocked when Flint quickly summons a replacement sentry.

Kirk contacts the "Enterprise" and asks Lt. Uhura to check out Flint's and Rayna's identities. She finds nothing except that Holberg 917-G was purchased 30 years ago by a private investor named Brack. In the meantime, Spock, using a surreptitious tricorder scan, discovers that Flint is over 6,000 years old.

With the materials almost ready, Rayna comes to Kirk to say goodbye. Kirk is madly in love with her and begs her to come with him. McCoy then informs them that the Ryetalyn is now missing and a search begins. Spock follows the tricorder readings to a hidden chamber where they find other Raynas, who are apparently all androids.

Flint arrives and Kirk demands an explanation of what is going on. Flint confesses that he is immortal, born on Earth in Mesopotamia, in the year 3834 BC. He was first a soldier, and after falling in battle and later recovering, he learned he could live forever. As time went on he lived the lives of famous identities: Alexander the Great, Lazarus, Leonardo DaVinci, Johannes Brahms, King Solomon, Merlin, Methuselah, Reginald Pollack (of the late 20th century), the painter Sten from Marcus II, and many others throughout history. He also says he personally knew Moses, Galileo and Socrates. He explains his purpose for making Rayna was to create a mate who would never grow old, and live forever just as he can.

Horrified, Kirk believes it's time to leave, but Flint refuses to let them go since they have learned his secret. He also claims that Kirk has taught Rayna something he has never been able to: true love. He now wants Kirk to direct Rayna's love toward himself. Kirk refuses to give into Flint's demands and contacts the "Enterprise" to beam them up and prepare to leave orbit.

Flint then activates a device that teleports the "Enterprise" to the planet, miniaturized to the size of a desktop model with the crew in a state of suspended animation, as seen by a giant Kirk peering through the viewscreen. Flint is quickly shamed into restoring the ship, but when he realizes Rayna will not turn her love to him, Flint attacks Kirk and a brawl ensues. Rayna tries to stop the fight and her feelings are torn in a logic loop between the two men. This causes the android's circuits to overload and she collapses dead on the floor. Flint and Kirk stop fighting and the two grief-stricken men mourn over Rayna's body.

Both men are devastated, but Flint regains his composure and allows Kirk to leave with the supply of Ryetalyn. Back on the "Enterprise" McCoy discovers from his readings that Flint is dying. Only the complex fields of Earth were keeping him alive, but his life off world is now aging him normally. Kirk remains distraught over Rayna, affecting his ability to command. Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld and utters the word "forget", presumably causing Kirk to forget Rayna or at least to forget the pain, so that he could return to his duties.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired June 21, 2008 as part of the remastered "Original Series". It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered "The Way to Eden" and followed a week later by the remastered "The Savage Curtain". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS "Enterprise" that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

* Planet Holberg 917-G is given a more detailed and realistic appearance and includes two moons instead of one as is the original version.
* Two new panoramic shots of Flint's palace, with new unique detail instead of the original matte painting (which was a reuse of elements from "The Cage"). Details include waving flags, the two moons, and one of the towers has a telescopic observatory dome.
* The disappearance and reappearance of the "Enterprise" has been cleaned up as a smooth transition instead of a sudden jump cut as in the original version.

Notes

*Methuselah is the longest-lived man mentioned in the Bible. Genesis 5.27 reads, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died."
* The name Rayna Kapec was an homage to Czechoslovakian writer Karel Čapek, who coined the term "robot" in the classic Sci-Fi play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). [http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Rayna_Kapec]
*The Crew meet up again with the character Flint in the Star Trek Book "The Cry of the Onlies", by Judy Klass which is a follow-on from both "Requiem for Methuselah" and "Miri." He is also encountered in Greg Cox's non-canonical novels , as Dr. Evergreen, a 1980s scientist who discovers a hole in the Ozone layer over Antarctica and again in Immortal Coil by Jeffery Lang.
* In the "" episode "Concerning Flight", the Captain Janeway refers to this episode when she notes that "Captain James T. Kirk claimed he met Leonardo da Vinci."
* Fan critics, notably Tom Lalli in "Same Sexism, Different Generation" ("Best Of Trek #15") cite this episode as exemplifying the underlying sexism in Star Trek. When the female android becomes capable of independent thought and decision-making, her circuitry overloads; she can't take it. Virtually the same thing happens to Lal in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Offspring". The idea that men "think" and women "feel" is a common theme in many Star Trek scripts from all eras and incarnations of the show.
* This episode has much in common with a screenplay called The Man From Earth by the same writer, Jerome Bixby.
*The various individuals that Flint claimed to be were very different from each other in appearance, suggesting an ability to alter his outward appearance or at least to simulate aging.
* Notice that the generic series drug name seems to correspond nicely w/an alternate pronunciation of a currently popular drug, Ritalin.

External links

* [http://trekmovie.com/2008/06/23/requiem-for-methuselah-remastered-review-video-screenshots/ Review of the remastered version of "Requiem for Methuselah" at TrekMovie.com]
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68812.html "Requiem for Methuselah"] at StarTrek.com
* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/secret/Immortal/flint.htm A Timeline of the Methuselah's life]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708444/ Requiem for Methuselah] at IMDB