History Recap / StarTrekS3E19RequiemForMethuselah

Our usual PowerTrio beams down to Holberg 917-G in search for ryetalyn, the antidote for the disease ravaging the ''Enterprise'' crew. It seems now everyone has trouble sitting still and focusing on...no, wait, that's what they'd need ''Ritalin'' for. Sorry. Actually, the disease is Rigellian fever and has already killed three crewmen off screen. (We are to assume they all wore RedShirts.) It was assumed from previous scans that the planet was uninhabited. However, not only is Spock's tricorder picking up life signs, but they are greeted by a flying robot that resembles a two foot tall metallic [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Mayor [=McCheese=].]] They are soon introduced to a man who only gives the name Flint. He brings Kirk and co. to his well appointed home and tells them to help themselves to brandy. No, Brandy is not the name of the blonde bombshell watching them on closed circuit TV (on a very snazzy flatscreen, no less). Her name is Rayna Kapec (Creator/LouiseSorel), however, [[TheCasanova Kirk]] will indeed help himself to her.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Rayna is the last GirlOfTheWeek for Captain Kirk in the series proper and even for the rest of his tenure in the [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] and the movie era. Given the ending and his reflection on his behavior, it might be somewhat appropriate.

* JuliusBeethovenDaVinci: Flint claims to have been, among others, Creator/JohannesBrahms, Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Myth/{{Merlin}}, [[Literature/TheBible Lazarus]], UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat, [[Literature/BooksOfKings King Solomon]], and [[Literature/TheBible Methuselah]]. His birth name was Akharin, a Sumerian soldier.

Our usual PowerTrio beams down to Holberg 917-G in search for ryetalyn, the antidote for the disease ravaging the ''Enterprise'' crew. It seems now everyone has trouble sitting still and focusing on...no, wait, that's what they'd need ''Ritalin'' for. Sorry. Actually, the disease is Rigellian fever and has already killed three crewmen off screen. (We are to assume they all wore RedShirts.) It was assumed from previous scans that the planet was uninhabited. However, not only is Spock's tricorder picking up life signs, but they are greeted by a flying robot that resembles a two foot tall metallic [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Mayor [=McCheese=].]] They are soon introduced to a man who only gives the name Flint. He brings Kirk and co. to his well appointed home and tells them to help themselves to brandy. No, Brandy is not the name of the blonde bombshell watching them on closed circuit TV (on a very snazzy flatscreen, no less). Her name is Rayna Kapec, however, [[TheCasanova Kirk]] will indeed help himself to her.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Near the beginning, [=McCoy=] compares Rigellian fever to bubonic plague, and Flint describes how the plague swept through Constantinople in 1334, devastating the city on its way to kill half of Europe. The team assume he's just a very learned student of history, but the way he describes it sounds more like someone recalling the trauma of events he witnessed first-hand. [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Because that's exactly what's happening]].

* TitleRequiem: The episode is called "Requiem for Methuselah", an [[LiteraryAllusionTitle allusion]] to the Biblical Methuselah, who was reported to have lived for 969 years.

!!Tropes from this episode include:

* IncredibleShrinkingStarship: Flint shrinks the ''Enterprise'' to model size, placed on a tabletop. Kirk lurks through the main viewscreen.

* FictionalPainting: While in Flint's mansion Spock discovers a number of da Vinci paintings that have never been cataloged, as well as an unknown waltz by Johannes Brahms. It later turns out that Flint is an immortal who was da Vinci, Brahms, and other famous men. He created the new works after leaving Earth. Flint also has fictional antiques like "The Creation lithographs by Taranullus of Centauri Seven" and "a sten from Marcus Two" (a piece of art, don't ask me what a "sten" is).

* BittersweetEnding: The PowerTrio got the cure they came for, but Rayna is dead and Kirk and Flint get their hearts thoroughly broken. Also, Flint is finally dying [[TechnoBabble due to being outside Earth's "fields" so long]], though he will at least get to finish living out his life and plans to use his remaining time researching and giving back to the universe.