Who mourns for Adonis, explained

Key foods

• space explorers
  With Apollo disguised as a Greek god, it dealt with gods versus aliens.
• TOS
  Episode “Who Mourns for Adonis?” He sees Apollo as an outsider, but accepts that the ancient Greeks considered him a god.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks
  Introduces the demigod Ensign Olly.

Since it first aired, space explorers It has raised complex issues and raised questions that make its fans think differently about the world. Although Jane Roddenberry, space explorers The creator was not a religious man, he and other minds behind them The Original Series (TOS) He saw the power of narrative in raising questions about spirituality and even the existence of gods or a single God.

They covered this in depth in the second season TOS With the episode “Who Mourns for Adonis?” This episode became famous, or perhaps infamous, for the scene in which a giant, green, floating hand grabs the Enterprise and tries to crush it. That disembodied hand belonged to none other than Apollo, the Greek god Apollo, the god of light and purity.

When Kirk met a god

As a giant green hand held the Enterprise in a literal death grip, a vision of a giant head with a crown of laurel leaves appeared and his voice echoed through the Enterprise. Calling the crew “his beloved children”, the giant head welcomed them to his planet, their “home”.

Captain Kirk traveled to the surface of the planet known as Pollux IV in a landing party. When he, Lt. Scotty, Dr. McCoy, Ensign Chekov, and Lt. Palamas arrived, they were greeted by a magnificent man wearing a golden crown, a golden robe, and golden sandals. His aesthetic was reminiscent of the ancient Greeks, as was architecture on this planet. He introduced himself as Apollo.

Of course, the landing party members didn't really believe he was a Greek god. In fact, Dr. McCoy's tricord scans revealed that he was basically human, although he had an extra organ in his chest that McCoy couldn't explain. Angered by their doubts, Apollo transformed into a giant version of himself and boomed:

Welcome to Olympus, Captain Kirk!

Apollo demanded their worship and worship, just as the ancient Greeks gave him. He spoke of that time period in great detail, and his personality matched depictions of Apollo in Greek mythology. When the crew refused to worship him, he shot them with a thunderbolt, a power known to Apollo as the son of Zeus.

Was Apollo really a god?

Although the landing party members could not explain Apollo's supernatural abilities, they still did not believe that he was actually an ancient Greek god. Kirk then asked one of the most interesting questions space explorers The franchise has tackled this issue so far – what if the beings that humans understood as “gods” were actually aliens?

He suggested that if Apollo's story is accepted, detailing how he and the rest of the Greek pantheon visited Earth thousands of years ago, it would make sense for the people of the time to interpret these alien visitors as gods. After all, they had supernatural powers that the Greeks had never seen, and they had no concept of life beyond the earth. How can they interpret the alien visitors, if not as God?

The landing party concluded that, although Apollo was clearly not a god, he was in fact the being known to the ancient Greeks as the god of light and purity, Apollo. After some research, they discovered that Apollo was able to channel energy from any energy source through his body to create the “lightning bolts” that he shot from his fingers.

space explorers It took the concept of aliens being worshiped as gods several times over. particle for direct object TOS The actors addressed this issue again Star Trek V: The Final Frontier When they discover an alien who claims to be a Judeo-Christian version of God. in The next generation In the episode “Who Watches the Watchers”, Captain Picard visits a pre-war society that discovers a Starfleet observation post on their planet and begins to worship Starfleet officers as gods.

Of course, the deepest and most subtle exploration of “God-Aliens” happened in this country The ninth deep space With “Wormhole Aliens / Prophets.” In the same first part of DS9Commander Benjamin Sisko discovers that the Bajoran “gods”, the Prophets, are actually non-corporeal aliens living inside a persistent wormhole in space outside Bajor's orbit.

Spoiler for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 6 is coming up.

Star Trek: Lower Decks' demigod

The last part of Star Trek: Lower Decks“Ofs and Angles” introduces a new character, Ensign Olly. The first thing people notice when they see him is his laurel wreath, similar to that of a creature named Apollo, whom Captain Kirk had met over a century earlier. Turns out, she's related to Apollo. Zeus is his grandfather, and like his family members, Ensign Olly can channel electricity from any source around him through his body and direct it to a target.

Unfortunately, Ensign Olly doesn't have as much control over his electrical powers as Apollo. He continues to channel energy from the ship, creating waves of energy that destroy whatever he's working on, not a great skill for an engineer. Because of this, Ollie has left several ships by the time he reaches Cerritos.

As a former employee, Lt. Mariner takes on the role of Ollie's mentor, helping him figure out how to use his powers for good. Seeing Mariner, the perpetual rebel, as a mentor is another indication of how far the Lower Deckers have come since the show began.

It is unclear if Ensign Olly will appear in any of the remaining episodes Lower decksbut his presence in this episode sanctifies Starfleet's first demigod. Although, as Captain Freeman points out, Starfleet does not accept the use of the term demigod.

Sources: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Lower Decks