Must-Read: Why "Arena" is one of my ten favorite Star Trek episodes of all time!
: Star Trek The Original Series Rewatch: “Arena”: "The Metrons... find the confrontation that was about to ensue to be violent and icky...
...and so they will resolve it.... They have prepared a planet for Kirk and the Gorn captain (which is the first time the enemy has been identified by name) to battle against each other in individual combat. Elements will be provided for them to fashion weapons, and they’re equipped with translators that will enable them to talk to each other and record the combat. While Kirk is faster than the reptilian Gorn, the Gorn is far stronger....
The Gorn talks to Kirk, requesting that Kirk stay put for a merciful death, as he’s weary of the chase. In addition, the Gorn reveals that Cestus III is within Gorn space, and they viewed the establishment of a base there as the first wave of an invasion.... Kirk finds a deposit of sulfur, and then later finds potassium nitrate. He then gathers a hollow wooden tube and a bit of stringy stem. He puts the potassium nitrate and the sulfur in the tube, and uses the diamonds as projectiles. He finds some coal, adds that, and then mixes it all up after crushing the coal. He uses the stringy stem as a fuse, lights it with a piece of cloth and fires the diamonds right at the Gorn’s chest. The Gorn is at Kirk’s mercy and he is about to stab him in the chest with his own knife—but then he stops himself. If the Gorn saw the establishment of the outpost as an act of war, then he was only defending his territory.
That act of mercy saves Kirk, as one of the Metrons explains. He sends the Gorn back to his ship, and offers to destroy them, but Kirk says no, they can talk and work out an agreement....
Of all the Trek episodes that did location filming at Vasquez Rocks, this is probably the most famous. The movies Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Free Enterprise, and Paul all have homages to the use of the rocks in this episode.... Cestus III will have become a Federation colony by the 24th century....
This episode is a classic example of what made Star Trek unique in the late 1960s.... Any other adventure show would have had the same story beats for the first three acts, but a much different fourth act, in which our hero would have struck the fatal blow against the evil bad guy. And we know he’s evil because he hisses and snarls and looks like a lizard and he ordered the deaths of all those people. But Star Trek didn’t do that.... It takes an act of compassion on Kirk’s part to stop the violence and get the two sides talking to each other.... Star Trek was one of the first to do [ythis]--and unlike other genre shows that pulled this kind of switch like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, the twist wasn’t there for the sake of pulling a fast one on the viewer or to reveal a more devastating unexpected truth. No, the twist here comes from a place of compassion, of enlightenment, of making a mistake and realizing it.... It’s about the dangers of space and of quick judgments, and of the power of compassion and mercy. Those are all worthwhile as storytelling devices and as morals. Bravo.
