‘Landru seeks tranquility. Peace for all. The universal good.’

The Return of the Archons is a pivotal episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It pits Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise crew against Landru, the computer ruler of Beta III, and also introduces the enduring concept of the Prime Directive that would inform so much Star Trek storytelling. This volume explores the philosophy and implementation of Starfleet’s Prime Directive, considers the concepts of ‘Red Hour’ and ‘Festival’ as examples of sanctioned social violence, explores the idea of hidden rulers (or ‘Archons’) like Landru through a Gnostic prism, and examines artificial intelligence as an ‘evil God’. There’s also an account of the script development and filming of The Return of the Archons.