History Recap / StarTrekS3E14WhomGodsDestroy

* AbsenteeActor: Chekov doesn't appear.

* PlagiarismInFiction: During Garth's dinner party, Marta recites a poem she claims to have written that morning. A minute into her performance, Garth interrupts and points out that it was actually written by Creator/WilliamShakespeare. She admits that he wrote it first and says she wrote it again that morning. Later in the episode, she recites another poem; although nobody bothers to point it out this time, it's equally unoriginal, being the first stanza of one of Creator/AEHousman's ''Last Poems''.

* ForcedToWatch: Garth uses ColdBloodedTorture on Governor Corey to make Kirk reveal the password.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: Of a variation; Garth's explosive, as mentioned above, is so powerful that the Enterprise feels it **in orbit**. The explosive itself would also cause the name of the trope if more of it were used.

** Crossrs over with recycled props, but the chair too is a re-use from that episode. What makes it a potential continuity nod is that when it is first wheeled out, Kirk says he recognises it and knows what it is used for, which given he was put under it the last time it appeared makes perfect sense.

* FamousFamousFictional: '''Garth:''' All the others before me have failed. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Li Kuan, Krotus! All of them are dust! But I will triumph! I will make the ultimate conquest!

Spock and Kirk beam down to Elba II to deliver a new miracle drug to a PenalColony in hopes of curing the patients permanently. Governor Donald Corey greets them warmly, accepts the medicine, strongly insists on them staying for dinner and visiting the poor unfortunates that they have come to cure. [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe An Orion female]] insists that she's perfectly sane and that Corey is an imposter. Corey tuts over the poor woman's delusions and shows them the cell of the infamous Garth of Izar...only to find a severely battered Donald Corey in the cell. Suddenly, [[SpecialEffectsFailure the screen goes fuzzy]] and [[WackySoundEffect "Boing!"]] The person they thought was Donald Corey is really the mad captain Garth of Izar!

!!Tropes for this episode include:

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Marta, of course.

* LargeHam: Kirk has certainly met his match with "'''LORD'''" Garth.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Marta claims to feel this way about Kirk. If she does love him, it's in an [[{{Yandere}} I want to wear your skin]] sort of way.

* HairTriggerExplosive: The madman Garth of Izar has developed an explosive so powerful that a single flask of it could vaporize a planet. It will go off if dropped to the floor.

* ShoutOut: Marta's first poem is, as Garth points out, identical

SFDebris asserts that this is the closest ''Star Trek'' ever came to doing a ''Series/{{Batman}}'' episode. It even has Batgirl!

* KillUsBoth: Spock is faced with both Kirk and Garth of Izar who was impersonating Kirk. Kirk ordered Spock to shoot them both to prevent Garth from taking over the Enterprise. Spock only shot one. Luckily it was the right one. Subverted in that it's a phaser on stun, which is harmless.

* UngratefulBastard: After the pacifist natives on Antos IV saved his life Garth offered them power in gratitude. When they turned it down he ordered the destruction of their world. His crew promptly removed him from command and he was placed in psychiatric care.

Garth was once a well respected Federation captain, but one day, he just got tired of being made to "grub away like some ants on some...[[BuffySpeak somewhat larger than usual anthill.]]" No! He was made for bigger things! He is not a mere captain but a GodEmperor! He is the true Master of the Universe, so sit and spin, [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse He-Man!]] His only mistake was overestimating the Federation's tolerance for [[FinalSolution mass genocide.]]

* CaptainObvious: Spock, when he responds to Kirk's claim that they are "brothers" by saying that Kirk is speaking "somewhat figuratively."

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Marta feels no need for them.

* LargeHam: Kirk has certainly met his match with "LORD" Garth.

* SissyVillain: Garth wears a mink coat over a purple jacket with glittery highlights. A presumed insane Andorian wears a fluffy pink boa. [[CureYourGays WHAT ARE THEY INSINUATING?]]

* IdiotBall: Spock, while trying to determine which "Kirk" is really Garth, ask Kirk a question that Garth could also have known the answer to, and then gives up that line of reasoning altogether rather than asking a very specific question about their past that only the real Kirk could possibly know. Leonard Nimoy objected to this, but the director really wanted to do a fight scene. The other obvious answer gets a nod at the end of the fight, when the real Kirk says to just stun both of them.

** Actually, whatever the Torture Chair was originally meant to do, it was explicitly said to be completely painless until Garth made his "modifications".
** This is more accurate than it seems; electroshock therapy is both still in use and (unless something goes badly wrong) painless. It's only in movies where the procedure involves massive painful doses.

* UnderageCasting: Fleet Captain Garth of Izar, whose exploits were studied by Kirk at the academy, is played by a 34-year-old actor. Steve Ihnat was in fact younger than William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

* KillUsBoth: Spock is faced with both Kirk and Garth of Izar who was impersonating Kirk. Kirk ordered Spock to shoot them both to prevent Garth from taking over the Enterprise. Spock only shot one. Luckily it was the right one.