When the Enterprise travels to the planet Beta III to search for the survivors of a long-lost starship, Captain Kirk discovers an arrested culture where the inhabitants behave in a collective, orderly and tranquil demeanor during the day, only to lose their minds in an overly aggressive and downright violent fashion during a nighttime event called "festival." Making matters worse, members of the Enterprise crew become transformed -- or "absorbed" -- when they fall under the spell of the planet's mysterious and powerful leader, known only as Landru, whose true identity will force Kirk and Spock to pull the plug on this mechanical society. "The Return of the Archons" is a big, bold, effective and downright surreal episode that has a lot to say, and the producers of "Star Trek" have spared no expense to say it with the most ambitious and lavishly-produced episode of the first season. And at a time when the world was facing the threat of life under the Communist party, the message of "The Return of the Archons" rings loud and clear -- that freedom isn't a gift; it has to be earned -- and "Star Trek" was (and still is) the best series of its kind to deliver that all-important and aspirational message.

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