53) Patterns of Force

When the Enterprise travels to the planet Ekos to search for a revered Federation historian named John Gill, they discover that the entire planet has fashioned itself after the Nazi regime of old Earth, with Gill as their "Fuhrer." What's worse, the Ekosians are already in the process of rounding up immigrants from their neighboring world of Zeon for extermination, and they are about to launch a full-scale attack on that planet to wipe the out the Zeon race completely. In order to avert the attack, stop the genocide and get to the bottom of why Gill would so blatantly violate the Federation's Prime Directive of non-interference, Kirk, Spock and McCoy must infiltrate the underground resistance and earn their trust -- but time is running out. As one of the weaker entries of what has otherwise been a stellar second season, "Patterns of Force" served as evidence that "Star Trek" was starting to get stuck in a rut -- another parallel Earth story, another violation of the Prime Directive -- not to mention the premise itself, which was totally absurd and about as subtle as a sledgehammer. But even a problematic episode such as this one still has its merits, the most important of which are its messages, specifically that "absolute power corrupts, absolutely," and that if we do not learn from our mistakes, then we will be condemned to repeat them. Plus, it's "Star Trek," and even when the episode isn't great, we still love watching our beloved heroes Kirk, Spock and McCoy do their thing. You can support Enterprise Incidents right here (think of it as a "tip jar"): https://anchor.fm/enterpriseincidents You can follow Enterprise Incidents on social media at:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnterpriseIncidents  Twitter: @enterincidents  Instagram @enterpriseincidents  Follow Scott Mantz @moviemantz on Twitter and Instagram Follow Steve Morris @srmorris on Twitter and @srmorris1 on Instagram