As beautiful as the Enterprise is, Star Trek wouldn't have been nearly as exciting if Captain Kirk and the crew stayed on board every episode. They visited a myriad of planets over the series' three-year run, and some left viewers wondering how things changed once Kirk and his crew became involved. Let's take a look at three planets worth revisiting and what they might look like today.
1. Gamma Trianguli VI, aka the planet of Vaal ("The Apple" S2E05)
When Kirk and his landing party beamed down to this planet, it seemed comparable to Eden. It had lush foliage, a beautiful climate, and friendly, innocent people. Unfortunately, it also had an angry mechanical god named Vaal who would hurl lightning bolts down on unsuspecting redshirts when the crew tried to free the natives, who lived only to tend to Vaal. Kirk, with Scotty's help on board the ship, freed the Vaalians by destroying the machine, allowing them to live as free people.
Without Vaal, it isn't easy to know whether the inhabitants of Gamma Trianguli VI prospered. Kirk assured Starfleet would assist them with the basics of farming and building a self-sustaining society, but imagine how difficult this might have been, working with people who don't even know where babies come from! Also, if Starfleet did send a liaison, we can only hope they were told to watch where they stepped.
Sigma Iotia II ("A Piece of the Action" S2E17)
When Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy beam down to Sigma Iotia II, they find that the entire planet is run by the guidelines of the 20th-century Earth mobsters, and that most rules of their society come from a book left behind 100 years before by an exploratory ship called the Horizon. When Kirk realizes all the different territory bosses don't respond to reason, he beats them at their own game by taking over and leaving the two major bosses, Bela Okmyx and Jojo Krako, in charge, with the Federation taking a "cut" to invest back into the growth of the restructured society.
One has to wonder what Sigma Iotia II looked like a few generations after Okmyx and Krako took charge. Did they still carry guns to bolster their positions? Was their leadership generational? Did the Federation's "piece of the action" help improve quality of life for those who lived there, and, most importantly, what did the Iotians learn from the communicator McCoy left behind? It's a shame future Trek shows never revisited the planet!
Triskelion ("The Gamesters of Triskelion" S2E16)
When Captain Kirk, Mr. Chekov, and Lt. Uhura are abducted during a beam-down from the Enterprise and taken to the planet Triskelion, they realize that the inhabitants are slaves who are forced to fight each other for the amusement of beings who call themselves "Providers," powerful beings who have bred generations of "thralls" (including Tamoon, with Jane Ross stealing every scene she was in as Chekov's trainer). Kirk works with the fierce but beautiful thrall Shahna and eventually plays the Providers' games by gambling his, Uhura's, and Chekov's freedom in a 3-on-1 match against Shahna and two other experienced thralls.
Kirk wins the fight, and the Providers, who showed themselves to Kirk as three glowing brains under glass, agree to free all the thralls and help them build a new society based on personal liberties. A return to Triskelion would've been interesting, if nothing more than to ensure the Providers kept their deal. It seems that undoing generations of training would take decades or even centuries, and if the Providers are not immortal, did the new society crumble without them intervening? Only time and possibly fan-fiction sequels know for sure.
Did I choose any Star Trek planets from the original series that you'd like to see in future shows one day? Which ones would you want to visit? Drop by our Facebook and X pages to let us know. We'd love to hear from you!