@Knixon said:

One might guess that after this one, Kirk realized he should give more reason to contact the leader, like he did later in "Bread And Circuses."

Except "Bread And Circuses" was actually produced first, in production order.

The only reason I can think of why he didn't say something to the jailer/guard/torturer like "Tell The Fuhrer, John Gill, that Cadet James Kirk wants to see him," is the old Because Plot. It would have required a major re-write, but probably worth it.

You make a valid point, but here's something else to consider. Had he said what you suggest to the guard or whoever, they would have probably checked records and find that "Cadet James Kirk" didn't exist. Besides that, Gill was in a drug induced stupor and wouldn't have gotten the message anyway thanks to Melakon. He wouldn't even allow important Nazis to see Gill. A non-existent cadet that he would assume was a Zion spy would have no chance. This could, of course have been fixed with with a re-write, but it would have to alter the entire structure of the episode. The Nazi movement only went sour because Gill was drugged. A re-write ala "Bread And Circuses" would have to make Gill a willing participant in the anti-Zion campaign.

Well, that's what I meant by "Because Plot." They didn't already know that Gill was drugged - they didn't know the status of Captain Merik in "Bread And Circuses" either, at the time Kirk gave the message to the guard - but it would have made sense for him to say something like that to the Ekosian guard. The apparent reason that he didn't, was just that the WRITERS already knew that Gill was drugged. So they kept Kirk from making what likely would have been a fatal mistake, under the (unknown to him) circumstances, Because Plot.

In order for it not to be a likely fatal mistake, it would have had to be written so that Gill wasn't completely out of it, but maybe blackmailed by having assistants or his family or something, being held prisoner and under threat of death. Or something. But I would say that makes more sense than having Kirk not do what seems like a pretty obvious thing, simply because the writers had Gill being drugged so it likely would have failed. Or they could have still had Gill drugged, and worked out some non-fatal way for the message to fail. If Melakon already knew the truth about Gill, the way Proconsul Claudius Marcus knew about Captain Merik, some opportunities could arise from that.

And "Cadet Kirk" was just a first suggestion, too. Maybe not a great one either, since Gill doubtless taught a lot of cadets. But there are other ways Kirk could have gotten a message to Gill showing who he was and where he was from, that the Ekosians wouldn't have recognized. The obvious one that comes to mind now would have been for Kirk to say his name was Adolf Hitler. (Or Himmler, or heck maybe Stalin or Trotsky or even Blitzkrieg or something.) The Ekosians apparently wouldn't have had a clue, but Gill would have known it was someone from Earth.

Your over-thinking is giving me a headache. You answered your own question. Had Kirk tried to get a message to Gill, he and Spock most likely would have been executed immediately. I don't have a big prob with POF. I like it as it is. I guess that puts e on a lower level than you. So be it.

Again, it depends. For example, if Melakon knew the truth about Gill, and intercepted - and understood - the message from Kirk, well, it would have been a different script, sure. A little more similar to Bread And Circuses, arguably perhaps TOO similar. But they did shoot a missile at the Enterprise, they could have tried more of that... Which could have been very entertaining, and not something that could have happened in B&C. (Although if they made it too much like the Alien Nazis stuff in the Enterprise series, I might wish I hadn't suggested it.)

I also wonder what kind of reports Gill had been sending back to the Federation/Starfleet, since the Nazi stuff had apparently - other characters said - been going on for at least a few YEARS, but they'd only lost contact with Gill 6 months ago, Kirk/Spock said.

I decided to watch POF again and noticed something odd. In the old, pre-digital version, I clearly remember Spock having green wounds on his back and shoulders from the whipping. In the remastered version they are missing. Strange. Kirk's wounds are still quite visible.

@Jetfire59 said:

I decided to watch POF again and noticed something odd. In the old, pre-digital version, I clearly remember Spock having green wounds on his back and shoulders from the whipping. In the remastered version they are missing. Strange. Kirk's wounds are still quite visible.

Just took a look on Amazon Prime Remastered Season 2. They are there.

Also, it's 'Zeon', not 'Zion'. They didn't want to make it too historical.

I just re-checked Netflix and Hulu. The ones on his shoulders are there, but his back is unmarked. Must be something about the sites themselves. I remember Spock's wounds being much more visible in the old version.

Dayum. Now I have to go watch the old version.

...dees ees not pawssible. An energy veadink frawm 'Tsee' deck ...frawm eenside Meester Spock's qvuarters.

The scene is about 14 minutes in, Chris. It could just be my failing vision and/or memory. Let me know about the pre-digital version.

Last time I saw the enhanced digital version I remember seeing that there were green wounds on his back and shoulders maybe the networks censored it?

It is kinda funny though, that Spock with his green blood etc, had a different skin tone from the beginning of the series; but later they seemed to just forget about that, and in this episode, and with movie 4 for example, green-blooded/green-skinned Spock could pass as human on 20th century Earth.

Hey if they can pass off Data as South American then surely they can pas Spock off as human by having him wear a Karate Kid bandana

But wasn't Spock really Chinese that got his head caught in a mechanical rice picker?

@Jetfire59 said:

The scene is about 14 minutes in, Chris. It could just be my failing vision and/or memory. Let me know about the pre-digital version.

Checked both the original and the remastered. At 17 minutes, Spauck is using Koik as some sort of platform. There definitely are gdeen whip marks on his back.

Checked both the original and the remastered. At 17 minutes, Spauck is using Koik as some sort of platform. There definitely are gdeen whip marks on his back.

I told you so my memory so far hasn't failed me ,and gdeen??? come on Chris you're not really implying that you are Scotty's illegitimate son? or did you just drank too much Scotch(12 years or 25 years old Chris?)