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Requiem for Methuselah (episode)

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"Requiem for Methuselah"
TOS, Episode 3x21
Production number: 60043-76
First aired: 14 February 1969
Remastered version aired: 21 June 2008
← 77th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 74th of 80 released in TOS →
← 74th of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 74th of 727 released in all →
Written By
Jerome Bixby

Directed By
Murray Golden
5843.7 (2269)
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While the Enterprise searches for the rare cure to a deadly disease, the landing party is confronted by a reclusive man who is willing to kill to preserve his privacy.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Its crew suffering from the deadly Rigelian fever, the Enterprise pays an emergency call on a supposedly barren planet, Holberg 917G, to gather ryetalyn, a rare element that is the key ingredient of the antidote. Beaming down to the planet, Kirk, McCoy, and Spock are attacked by a hovering robot. An old man, Flint, arrives to halt the robot's attack, but insists that the landing party leave at once. Kirk resists, and eventually convinces Flint to help them gather the ryetalyn.

Flint takes them to his home to process the ryetalyn. There, the landing party find what appears to be authentic but undiscovered specimens of Earth art, such as a score by Brahms and paintings by Leonardo da Vinci – and Flint's beautiful, highly intelligent, but ultimately enigmatic ward named Rayna. Flint seems to encourage encounters between Kirk and Rayna but exhibits sufficient jealousy to lead him to nearly kill Kirk.

As Kirk (who is falling in love with Rayna) and Spock ponder the paradox, McCoy comes back with the report that the ryetalyn contains irillium in quantities sufficient to render the antidote useless. As more ryetalyn is gathered, Kirk and Spock realize Flint wishes them to linger for reasons unknown, to the point of hiding the processed ryetalyn. In their search for the antidote, they enter a room containing earlier versions of Rayna; she is an android.

Flint then arrives and reveals his other secret; he is an ancient immortal, born more than three millennia before Christ. Over the course of his life, Flint has taken on many names, such as Brahms and da Vinci. Eventually, he acquired enough wealth to purchase Holberg 917G and work on a perfect, ultimate – and equally immortal – woman. Kirk had provided the final step in her creation, stirring her emotions to life. Now, Flint prepares to put Kirk and the Enterprise in suspension for a thousand years or more, as Rayna's emotions turn to him. Despite Flint's intent to keep her creation a secret, Rayna enters the room and learns the truth, forcing Flint to release the ship.

Flint and Kirk eventually fight over Rayna, stopped only by the emergence of Rayna's emotions. However, her new feelings and the sudden choice between Flint and Kirk overwhelm her, and she dies. Back aboard ship, the plague is stopped and Kirk finally falls asleep after ruefully reflecting on what happened. McCoy enters and informs Spock that the full tricorder readings on Flint indicate he is aging and will eventually die; in leaving Earth, he sacrificed immortality. After commenting about love and Spock's eschewing of that emotion, the doctor looks at Kirk and wishes he could forget Rayna. As McCoy leaves, Spock moves over to his sleeping captain, places one hand on Kirk's temple, and whispers, "Forget".

[edit] Log Entries

  • "Captain’s log, stardate 5843.7. The Enterprise is in the grip of a raging epidemic. Three crewmen have died and 23 others have been struck down by Rigelian fever. In order to combat the illness, Dr. McCoy needs large quantities of ryetalyn, which is the only known antidote for the fever. Our sensors have picked up sufficient quantities of pure ryetalyn on a small planet in the Omega system. We are beaming down to secure this urgently needed material."
  • "Captain’s log, stardate 5843.75. Have I committed a grave error in accepting Flint's word that he would deliver the antidote to us? The precious time I have let pass may result in disaster for the Enterprise and her crew."
  • "Captain’s log, stardate 5843.8. We have accomplished our mission and have the ryetalyn ready to combat the epidemic aboard the Enterprise. But we have also discovered our benefactor's secret. He has created the perfect woman. Her only flaw... she's not Human."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Rayna... have you been lonely?"
"What is loneliness?"
"It's a... thirst. It is a flower dying in the desert."

- Flint' and Rayna


"Well, let's enjoy this brandy; it tastes real."

- Kirk


"To be Human is to be complex. You can't avoid a little ugliness... from within and from without."

- Kirk


"...since we are dependent on Mr. Flint for the ryetalyn, I would suggest you pay less attention to the young lady should you encounter her again. It appears our host's interest are not confined to art and science."
"He – loves her?"
"Strongly indicated."
"Jealousy! Of course, that would explain the attack, but he seemed to want us to be together; the billiard game... he suggested that we dance."

- Spock and Kirk


"Physically Human, but not Human. These are earlier versions of Rayna, Jim – she's an android."
"Created here, by my hand. Here the centuries of loneliness were to end."

- McCoy, interrupted by Flint


"I have married a hundred times, captain; selected, loved, cherished, caressed a smoothness, inhaled a brief fragrance, then – age, death, the taste of dust. Can you understand?"
"You wanted a perfect, ultimate woman; as brilliant – as immortal – as yourself. Your mate for all time."
"Designed by my heart; I could not love her more."

- Flint and Spock


"All emotions are in play, Mr. Flint. Harm us – she hates you."

- McCoy, after Rayna learns her true identity


"Stay out of this Spock, we're fighting over a woman!"
"No, you're not – for 'she' is not."

- Kirk and Spock


"The very old and lonely man, and a young and lonely man; we put on a pretty poor show, didn't we?"

- Kirk


"What happened?"
"She loved you, captain... and you, too, Mr. Flint, as a mentor; even as a father. There was not enough time for her to adjust to the awful power and contradictions of her new-found emotions; she could not bear to hurt either of you. The joys of love made her Human, and the agonies of love destroyed her."

- Kirk and Spock


"Forget."

- Spock, using a mind meld to ease Kirk's pain

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode's title is a dual-allusion: First to a ritualistic liturgy of Roman Catholicism (and other related religions), the "Requiem" being a Mass for the dead. Secondarily to Methuselah, son of biblical prophet Enoch and paternal grandfather to Noah, who is the longest-lived human being as recorded in the Bible (at Genesis 5:21-27) having lived 969 years; nearly existing for a millennium, Methuselah's lifespan has historically become a proverbial reference for longevity.
  • In a story outline (dated 2 October 1968) the 8,000 year old Flint was also Beethoven (Spock's favorite composer because of his music's mathematical, logical construction), and Spock enabled Kirk to forget Rayna by using mental suggestion from a distance, while Kirk was in his cabin and Spock was on the bridge. First draft script 19 November 1968, filmed in early December. In the final scene in the episode, Spock causes Kirk to forget but not from a distance, but by touching his head and telling him to forget. Note resemblance to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Spock told McCoy to "Remember."
  • Flint's castle is reused matte painting of the Rigel VII fortress from "The Cage".
  • The Brahms paraphrase that Spock plays was written especially for this episode by Ivan Ditmars.
  • Flint's viewscreen appears to be the Beta III lighting panel seen in "The Return of the Archons". It is also similar to the one seen in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
The Enterprise 3-foot model
  • This episode includes the newest footage of the Enterprise seen since "Mirror, Mirror", utilizing the three-foot model built to demonstrate the Enterprise shape in 1964.
  • Captain Kirk peers into the bridge of the Enterprise through the viewscreen, much like Q does when he shrinks the USS Voyager to the size of a Christmas ornament in VOY: "Death Wish".
  • Some of the furnishings in Flint's castle are recognizably recycled from previous episodes. Spock sits in the ornate chair used by Korob and Sylvia in "Catspaw". In the outer room of Flint's laboratory, just in front of the vertical grill, is the female Romulan commander's "communications box" from "The Enterprise Incident". In the same room, the back walls are lined with the consoles from the Elba II control room in "Whom Gods Destroy".
  • In the third season blooper reel, there is a shot of the M-4 on its dolly mount, being wheeled toward William Shatner by its operator. There is also a clip of Leonard Nimoy rocking his head sarcastically while "fill-in" elevator music plays during the scene where Spock plays Brahm's waltz for Kirk and Rayna. Ivan Ditmars' performance was dubbed in later.
Correct spelling
  • The current DVD releases incorrectly spell Rayna's name "Reena" in the end credits. Her name is shown in the episode very clearly as "Rayna" during the reveal of the multiple versions of the android. The correct spelling can be seen in the end credits on the earlier Laserdisc and VHS releases.
  • This episode is referenced in Voyager's 4th season episode "Concerning Flight", in which Captain Kathryn Janeway mentions that Captain Kirk claimed to have met Leonardo da Vinci.

[edit] Production timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also starring

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Uncredited co-stars

[edit] Stunts

[edit] References

2239; Abramson; Akharin; Alexander the Great; android; Bible; billiards; Brack; Brahms; bubonic plague; Centauri VII; chess; creation lithograph; Constantinople; da Vinci, Leonardo; early history; Europe; Federation legal banks; Flint; Galilei, Galileo Gutenberg, Johann; Holberg 917G; irillium; Lazarus; M-4; Marcus II; Merlin; Mesopotamia; Methuselah; Moses; Omega system; piano; Rayna 14; Pollack, Reginald; Rigelian fever; robot; ryetalyn; Saurian brandy; screens; Shakespeare, William; Socrates; Solomon; Starfleet Command; Sten; sub-dimensional physics; Taranullus

[edit] External links


Previous episode produced:
"The Way to Eden" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3 		Next episode produced:
"The Savage Curtain"
Previous episode aired:
"The Lights of Zetar" 		Next episode aired:
"The Way to Eden"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Way to Eden" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Savage Curtain"
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