The Omega Glory
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 1 March 1968
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Vincent McEveety
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 54
WRITTEN BYWritten by Gene Roddenberry
The Enterprise finds the USS Exeter drifting above Omega IV with her crew reduced to crystals, and her captain living on the planet below, taking sides in a local war.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Boarding the USS Exeter, Kirk's party finds the crew reduced to dried crystals by a disease brought up from Omega IV. Already exposed, they must beam down, where they learn that the planet itself gives immunity. There they find Captain Ron Tracey alive, using phasers to help the village-dwelling Kohms against the savage Yangs, convinced the planet holds the secret of extraordinary long life. Kirk confronts him over the Prime Directive and ends up a prisoner. When the Yangs overrun the village, Kirk and Spock realise this world has run parallel to Earth: Yangs are Yankees, Kohms are Communists, and the Yangs carry a tattered Stars and Stripes and treasure holy words they no longer understand. After Kirk defeats Tracey in a duel, Sulu arrives to arrest him. Kirk reads the Preamble to the US Constitution aloud and tells the Yangs its words must apply to everyone.
- 01Gene Roddenberry's story was one of three considered for the second pilot, alongside “Mudd's Women” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.
- 02NBC announced Star Trek's renewal for a third season during this episode's closing credits on 1 March 1968.
- 03Morgan Woodward, who plays Captain Tracey, had earlier played Dr Simon van Gelder in “Dagger of the Mind”.