YMMV / Star Trek S1 E18 "Arena"

• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Gorn. Appearing in only this episode, and hardly ever getting a mention again, they still captured the imaginations of many Star Trek fans. Probably due to the combination of an intimidating and cool design (carried off as well as budget '60s special effects could) and one of the first genuinely morally grey conflicts. In the EU, the Gorn have run the gamut from joining the Federation to allying with the Klingons to being a galactic power in their own right. Likely due to this popularity, the Gorn were finally brought back in Strange New Worlds (a prequel series set eight years earlier) where they receive a Cerebus Retcon and feature heavily in both La'an's backstory and the overall Myth Arc.
• Fight Scene Failure:
  • The brawl between Kirk and the Gorn became one of the most remembered moments from the series for all the wrong reasons. The Gorn moves at the speed of molasses and he and Kirk fight with all the forceful aggression of a summer breeze, at one point simply hugging each other like a father and son. Most infamous is a scene where Kirk strikes the Gorn in the side with a large rock, with the Gorn not even reacting to the hit.
  • Kirk and Spock are shown ducking for cover from the explosions, but not the 'Incoming!' whistle, which would have been dubbed on later.
• Harsher in Hindsight: As popular as this episode has been, this episode left its own nasty mark on William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. One of the stage prop explosions from this episode may or may not have given both men chronic tinnitus. Although it was not confirmed to have been from filming this episode (Shatner didn't start dealing with it until the 90's), both men had the opposite ear affected, Shatner's left ear and Nimoy's right.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: With Strange New Worlds establishing that Starfleet had considered the Gorn relentless monsters up to this point, Kirk's willingness to show mercy to one hits much harder.
• It Was His Sled: The first half of the episode is a tense encounter and pursuit with the mysterious ship that attacked a Federation outpost against enemies the crew never see, which is rather undermined by the fight with the Gorn captain being one of the most famous scenes in television.
• Narm: The actor playing Lt. Harold, the survivor of the Cestus III attack, gives a weird Large Ham performance that involves rocking his head back and forth inexplicably.

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