Star Trek’s Most Tragic Space God, Apollo, Explained

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew encountered several divine beings in Star Trek: The Original Seriesincluding the tragic Greek god Apollo (Michael Forest). As the USS Enterprise explores the galaxy in Terms of Service Season 2, Episode 2, “Who Weeps for Adonais?”, a giant green hand suddenly grabs the ship, holding it in place. Captain Kirk and his crew try several ways to free the ship, but end up giving in to the powerful being’s demands. and get ready to descend to the planet.

Captain Kirk leads a landing party consisting of Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Scotty (James Doohan), Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish). The landing party arrives on the planet to find an ancient Greek temple and a humanoid man who claims to be the Greek god Apollo. Although Dr. McCoy’s tricorder reads Apollo as human, the supposed deity has powerful abilities originating from an unknown source. Apollo renders the Enterprise’s transporters and all communications devices inoperative and informs the landing party that they cannot leave.

The Greek God Apollo in Star Trek, Explained

Apollo was played by character and theater actor Michael Forest

In Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of the sun, as well as music and arts, and was also considered one of the most beautiful gods. Apollo claims that he and his fellow gods needed “love, admiration, [and] love” of humans, just like humans needed food. After humanity stopped worshiping the Greek gods, Apollo and his traveling companions returned to Pollux IV. Although the other gods eventually disappeared with no one to worship them, Apollo waited, knowing that one day humans would explore the stars.

It is not clear whether Star Trek Is Apollo the true deity worshiped in ancient Greece or whether he just assumed that guise. When sharing the story of his origin, Apollo gives two somewhat contradictory accounts. Initially, Apollo tells Kirk that he and his fellow Greek gods were travelers who visited Earth five thousand years earlier. But he later suggests to Lieutenant Palamas that he was born on Earth, the son of Zeus and Leto. While advanced alien travelers would likely have been worshiped as gods in ancient Greece, It’s also possible that Apollo simply conjured the trappings of Greek culture for the benefit of the Enterprise’s mostly human crew.

Why Apollo Was Star Trek’s Most Tragic Space God

The story of Apollo is a Greek tragedy in itself

Whether or not Apollo is the true Greek deity, his story has all the hallmarks of a Greek tragedy. Although Apollo threatens the Enterprise and attacks with his power, his actions largely stem from solitude. He brought the Enterprise crew to Pollux IV and pursued Lt. Palamas because he had no other companions. Carolyn recognizes Apollo’s loneliness and starts to love him, but she can’t turn her back on the Enterprise crew. Kirk orders Palamas to reject Apollo and she does so, telling him that she “I couldn’t love you any more than I could love a new species of bacteria.”

This devastates and angers Apollo, who creates a huge storm with his power. The Enterprise identifies the source of Apollo’s power and begins firing at the temple. In the end, with his temple in ruins, Apollo says he loved Carolyn and would have loved her and the entire Enterprise crew. When Kirk rejects him for the last time, Apollo finally recognizes that the other gods were right to abandon humanity and he disappears into nothingness as Carolyn cries. It’s a particularly tragic ending to an episode of Star Trek: The Original Seriesand even Kirk and McCoy regret what they had to do.