WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.

#43: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 25 “Bread and Circuses”

Written by Gene Roddenberry & Gene L. Coon, directed by Ralph Senensky.

Stardates 4040.7 through 4041.7 (April 2268)

“You’re a Roman, Kirk, or you should have been.” - Claudius

The Enterprise encounters the remains of the SS Beagle six years after it went missing. The Commander was R.M. Merik (William Smithers), an Academy friend of Captain James Kirk. Commander Spock plots the drift of the debris back to the fourth planet of the unexplored 892 system. When they arrive, they find a very Earth-like planet that followed Hodgkin’s Law of parallel development and roughly resembles Earth’s own mid 20th-century. Except their version of the Roman Empire never fell, and a planet with radio, television, and automobiles still has gladiators and deathmatches.

Originally released: 15 March 1968

“Bread and Circuses” on Memory Alpha

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