History Recap / StarTrekS2E20ReturnToTomorrow

* CessationOfExistence: Sargon says "Thalassa and I must now also depart into oblivion" before he dies, implying a disbelief in any sort of life after death. The idea is muddled a bit by his suggestion that him and Thalassa will be together forever after their deaths, which sort of requires them to still exist after death. The inconsistency is a result of the show's producer adding in the "oblivion" part to fit with his atheistic philosophy, while the rest of the final speech was penned by the Catholic writer of the rest of this episode. He had written "into eternity" -- they would still exist, just as disembodied spirits -- and Roddenberry changed it.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SenseFreak: All of the aliens enjoy the sensations of life again after taking human bodies, but none allow it to affect their work, though Henoch does use the fact that their robot bodies will not have this sensory ability to try and persuade Thalassa to side with him.

* GrandTheftMe: Subverted, as the crew actually let them, closer to WillingChanneler. They understand that Sargon and Thalassa only intend to do this temporarily, long enough to construct robot bodies to hold them instead. Henoch, unbeknownst to the others, has more permanent designs on Spock's body.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: [=McCoy=] naturally has his doubts letting Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch borrow bodies. His concern proves well founded, but not for the reasons he expected as the danger comes from Henoch refusing to leave Spock's body and plotting to kill Kirk's body to ensure Sargon's death.

* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch, aliens who survived the destruction of his world half a million years ago by becoming {{Energy Being}}s of pure thought.

** When Sargon is in Kirk's body, the hamminess is UpToEleven. Yes, even by Shatner's standards.

* DareToBeBadass: Some would call this the franchise's greatest monologue.

* AbsenteeActor: Chekov doesn't appear in this episode.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Nurse Chapel is quite pleased about having had Spock ''inside'' her.
--> '''Christine.''' We shared consciousness together.

* CradlingYourKill : In the James Blish novelization of the episode, Kirk, nearly breaking down in tears, does this with [[TheNotLoveInterest Spock's]] 'dead' body after Henoch has been forced to flee. Well, Kirk didn't deliver the killing blow himself, but it was done on his orders.

** She was the only person to officially play Spock for those few scenes before Billy Simpson's 1973 portrayal of young Spock for "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E2Yesteryear Yesteryear]]" in the animateds.

!!This episode provides examples of

* CessationOfExistence: Sargon says "Thalassa and I must now also depart into oblivion" before he dies, implying a disbelief in any sort of life after death. The idea is muddled a bit by his suggestion that him and Thalassa will be together forever after their deaths, which sort of requires them to still exist after death. The inconsistency is a result of the show's producer adding in the "oblivion" part to fit with his atheistic philosophy, while the rest of the final speech was penned by the Catholic writer of the rest of this episode.

* KissingUnderTheInfluence: Sargon and Thalassa smooch no less than 3 times while borrowing Kirk and Mulhall's bodies.

* WillingChanneler: Essentially what they're all doing, although Roddenberry and Gene Coon insisted on removing anything that seemed the least bit "spiritual", to the point that author John Dugan, a devout Catholic, used his pseudonym Knightsbridge on this. Roddenberry had rewritten the final scene to say that the Arretians departed into "oblivion" rather than just deciding to go on existing without bodies in "eternity" or "infinity" as Dugan had wanted it.

* CessationOfExistence: Sargon says "Thalassa and I must now also depart into oblivion" before he dies.
** He was supposed to say they would exist in eternity as spirits, just giving up the idea of re-embodiment, but atheist Roddenberry wouldn't allow that. Writer John T. Dugan, a Roman Catholic, took his name off the script at that point and used "John Kingsbridge" instead. Roddenberry had made numerous changes to his script, but those didn't matter; it was the change in philosophy that bugged him.