Star Trek episode "Bread and Circuses"

"Bread and Circuses"

Season 2, Episode 25.

The SS Beagle is destroyed, just debris in space. Kirk knows Captain Merrick from the Academy. The wreck leads them to a pre-atomic world but with their sports as gladiator fights. It is twentieth-century Rome.

Kirk discovers that the barbarian in the fight is Flight Officer William B. Harrison. The crew of the Beagle have violated the Prime Directive.

Kirk gets captured again! Isn't it amazing how many sci-fi shows have our heroes captured in order to learn the lay of the land?

Kirk mentions Hodgkins' Law of Parallel Planet Development.

There's a great scare when their little party is behind a group of trees and gets shot at by machine guns. It's a great idea to imagine the Roman Empire lasting until the twentieth-century, with guns and cars.

The bad guy proconsul, a native of the planet, uses the Prime Directive against Kirk quite well, knowing they can't just phaser their way through the world.

And there's a code-term! "Condition Green" means they are in trouble but no interference is to be taken from the Enterprise. Finally, a code-term so the ship isn't overrun or something.

We find the rebels are devoted to Son worship, not Sun worship. Kirk says, "The word of Christ is spreading now...Wouldn't it be something to watch...to see it happen all over again." After the episode is over, again you are wondering what happens next. There is apparently a sequel novel set in The Next Generation universe that I have to find now called The Captain's Honor.