The Conscience of the King (episode)
An actor traveling aboard the Enterprise may be a former governor who ordered a mass murder twenty years earlier.

Summary

Teaser
The  is diverted three light years off of its scheduled course to Planet Q, lured by word of a new synthetic food which promises to ease chronic shortages on Cygnia Minor. But what Doctor Thomas Leighton actually wants to show his childhood friend Kirk is merely a traveling Shakespearean actor, Anton Karidian. Leighton believes Karidian to actually be Kodos the Executioner.

Act One
Kodos is notorious because he seized control of the doomed Earth Colony Tarsus IV in 2246 and ordered the execution of half its population of 8,000. Of the 4,000 survivors, only nine, including the young Kirk and Leighton, ever saw the face of the revolutionary governor.

Though convinced Kodos is long dead, Kirk does enough research to pique his curiosity about Leighton's claim. He returns to the planet in hopes of meeting Karidian in person. At a cocktail party held at the Leightons' home, Kirk meets Karidian's attractive daughter Lenore, and the two hit it off. They leave the party to stroll in Planet Q's desert, and come upon the body of their host Thomas Leighton.

Leighton's death makes Kirk take his dead friend's suspicions more seriously. After promising Leighton's distraught wife Martha that he will find out why her husband was killed, Kirk calls in a favor: he asks Jon Daily, commanding officer of the Astral Queen, to leave Planet Q orbit ahead of schedule and without notice. This strands the Karidian Players, who now have no choice but to ask for passage aboard the Enterprise.

Act Two
Researching, Kirk reviews the list of the nine eyewitnesses, and discovers that Lieutenant Kevin Riley, a member of the Enterprise crew, is one of them. Despite the fact that Riley recently was promoted from engineering to communications, Kirk orders Spock to send Riley back down to engineering with the apparent intention of protecting him. When Spock asks why, pointing out that such action may be regarded by Riley as a demotion, Kirk refuses to explain.

Spock becomes concerned about the captain's behavior and confides in Dr. McCoy, while Kirk proceeds to get more involved with Lenore. Spock does his own research and learns enough to raise his own suspicions, including the disturbing fact that of the nine eyewitnesses who could positively identify Kodos, seven are now dead. And whenever one died, the Karidian Players were somewhere nearby. Only Kirk and Lieutenant Riley remain alive.

With a tray of food at his side Riley broods while alone in engineering and calls up the rec room pleading for company. Lieutenant Larry Matson turns over the intercom to Uhura, who serenades him by playing a Vulcan harp and singing "Beyond Antares". While Riley is distracted by her performance, someone sneaks into the room and emerges from the shadows to squirt something into his glass of milk. His spirits brightened, Riley reaches for his drink and takes a long gulp. Uhura finishes her song and Riley begins choking. Fortunately, Uhura's party realizes the situation and sends help in time to save him.

As Riley lies in critical condition on a bio-bed, Spock realizes that if he dies, Kirk will be the next target.

Act Three
In McCoy's lab report on Riley's condition, he finds that the lieutenant had an appreciable amount of tetra-lubisol in his system, a milky lubricant used aboard the Enterprise. Spock is now certain that Riley was poisoned and with a reluctant McCoy confront Kirk in his quarters. Spock is now certain Karidian and Kodos are the same man, but Kirk remains unsure and has to make certain of it. McCoy asks Kirk what he will do if Kodos and Karidian are one and the same, inquiring if he will carry his head through the ship's corridors in triumph, noting that will not bring back any of the dead colonists. Kirk agrees but notes that "they may rest easier." Later, a similar discussion Kirk and Spock have is interrupted by the hum of an overloading phaser. Somewhere in Kirk's quarters is a potential explosive that can take out the entire deck. While Spock orders ship's personnel to clear the area, Kirk finds the overloading phaser in his quarters' red alert indicator and disposes of it seconds before it explodes.

Kirk is finally driven to confront Karidian, asking him point blank whether he is Kodos. Karidian gives him evasive answers, and after twenty years of playing parts that, of all things, he is tired. He does perform a short speech for the purposes of voice comparison with a piece of voice film in the Enterprises database. This was apparently the speech made by Kodos condemning thousands of innocent people to death. Kirk mentions how Karidian barely looked at the text, hinting that it was already familiar to the actor, but Karidian simply states that he learns his parts quickly. Meanwhile, in sickbay, the recovering Lieutenant Riley overhears McCoy's log entry, learning that Karidian is suspected of being Kodos, the man who murdered Riley's family.

Act Four
The voiceprint comparison is close, very close, but Kirk argues that when a man's life is at stake, very close isn't good enough.

The Karidian Players begin a presentation of Hamlet. Riley, with a stolen phaser, sneaks backstage. Kirk manages to talk him out of killing Karidian, who overhears their sotto voce conversation. Riley, with great reluctance, heads back to sickbay.

Kirk is still backstage when Karidian and his daughter Lenore discuss what he overheard during an act break. Trying to shield her from his past, Karidian attempts to pass off his distress as hearing the "voice of a part that he played long ago". But he is horrified when Lenore lovingly reveals that she knows all about his past deeds, and has already killed seven of the nine people who could identify him. Lenore goes on to tell him, innocently, that she will dispose of the remaining two after the performance.

Karidian is horrified that there is still more blood on "his" hands, but she proclaims that "they had to be silenced", and says, all with a smile on her face, that she buried those ghosts for him, and she has "saved" him. Karidian is devastated that all his attempts to prevent his past crimes from tainting his daughter have failed, and left him with nothing but a long legacy of murder.

Kirk appears from his hiding place to confront them. Lenore rebukes Kirk for interrupting her father before his appearance on stage. Kirk says she has killed seven innocent people, and she declares to Kirk that those people weren't innocent, they were "dangerous", and that she would have killed a world to protect her father.

Kirk summons security to take them into custody; Lenore snatches security officer Harrison's weapon and runs on stage. Her eyes show she's quite insane (reminiscent of Lady Macbeth and/or Ophelia). Karidian/Kodos, desperate there should be no more blood on his hands, steps between her and Kirk as she fires; the shot is fatal. Twenty years after earning the name, Kodos the Executioner is dead.

The death of her beloved father at her own hands sends Lenore over the edge. By the time Kirk leads her away, her tears have given way to laughter. Sometime later, after the performers have been dropped off at Benecia, McCoy promises Lenore will get the best of care, and that the last report of her is that she believes her father is still alive… performing to cheering audiences. McCoy suggests that Kirk did care for Lenore, which Kirk does not respond to, instead giving the order for Lieutenant Leslie to break orbit and go to warp. He does give McCoy a knowing look, which is all the answer the doctor needs.

Log entries
 Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2266
 Medical log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Memorable quotes
"The chain of command is often a noose."
 - McCoy to Spock, in sickbay

"My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol."
"Now I know why they were conquered."
 - Spock and McCoy, as Spock declines McCoy's drink

"And this ship. All this power. Surging and throbbing, yet under control. Are you like that, captain?"
 - Lenore, flirting with Kirk in the observation deck

"Worlds may change, galaxies disintegrate, but a woman always remains a woman."
 - Kirk, flirting with Lenore

"The Caesar of the stars and the Cleopatra to worship him."
 - Lenore, before kissing Kirk

"Even in this corner of the galaxy, Captain, two plus two equals four. Almost certainly an attempt will be made to kill you. Why do you invite death?"
 - Spock, in Kirk's quarters

"Do you play God? Carry his head through the corridors in triumph? That won't bring back the dead, Jim!"
"No. But they may rest easier."
 - McCoy and Kirk, on what to do if Karidian is Kodos

"What were you twenty years ago?"
"Younger, Captain. Much younger."
 - Kirk and Karidian, in Karidian's quarters

"I find your use of the word mercy strangely inappropriate, Captain. Here you stand, the perfect symbol of our technical society. Mechanized, electronicized, and not very Human. You've done away with Humanity, the striving of man to achieve greatness through his own resources."
"We've armed man with tools. The striving for greatness continues."
 - Karidian and Kirk

"Blood thins. The body fails. One is finally grateful for a failing memory."
 - Karidian, to Kirk

"There's a stain of cruelty on your shining armor, captain."
 - Lenore, confronting Kirk

"You are like your ship – powerful, and not Human. There is no mercy in you."
"If he is Kodos… then I've shown him more mercy than he deserves."
 - Lenore and Kirk

"Who are YOU to say what harm was done?"
"Who do I have to be?"
 - Lenore and Kirk, before he leaves Karidian's quarters

"In the long history of medicine, no doctor has ever caught the first few minutes of a play."
 - McCoy, before realizing that Riley is missing

"All the ghosts are dead. I've buried them. There's no more blood on your hands."
"Oh, my child – my child…"
(voice becomes an anguished sob)
"You've left me NOTHING!!!"
 - Lenore and Karidian, after she admits killing seven of the last nine witnesses

"The play is over. It's been over for twenty years."
 - Kirk, to Lenore

"Caesar, beware the Ides of March."
 - Lenore, pointing the phaser at Kirk

"The curtain rises! It rises! There's no time to sleep!"
 - Lenore, weeping over her father's corpse

Background information

Production timeline
 Story outline by Barry Trivers: 
 Revised outline: 
 Second revised outline: 
 First draft teleplay by Trivers: 
 Revised first draft teleplay: 
 Second draft teleplay: 
 Revised second draft teleplay: 
 Revised teleplay by Steven W. Carabatsos: 
 Final draft teleplay by Gene L. Coon: 
 Additional revisions: , 
 Revised final draft teleplay by Coon: 
 Additional revisions: , , , , , , , 
 Filmed:  – 
 Day 1 – , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Leighton home, Ext. Planet surface
 Day 2 – , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 10: Int. Theater; Desilu Stage 9: Int. Karidian's quarters
 Day 3 – , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Karidian's quarters, Observation deck, Ship's theater (redress of Engineering)
 Day 4 – , Friday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Ship's theater (redress of Engineering), Recreation room (redress of Briefing room)
 Day 5 – , Monday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Recreation room (redress of Briefing room), Engineering, Sickbay, McCoy's office
 Day 6 – , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Transporter room, Bridge
 Day 7 – , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9: Int. Briefing room, Kirk's quarters, Corridors
 Score recorded: 
 Original airdate: 
 First UK airdate: 
 Remastered airdate:

Story and script
 The title is a reference to the line from Hamlet: "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (Act 2; Scene 2)  This episode shares many plot elements with the play: A leader's troubled conscience, his crimes being exposed during a play, and a daughter going insane (or more so, in Lenore's case) after the accidental killing of her father. Lenore recites the lines leading up to and including these over her father's body.
 The most overt reference is in the teaser. The Karidian Company is performing a scene from Macbeth, where the title character (played by Karidian) murders King Duncan and utters the line, "Will all Neptune's great ocean wash this blood clean from my hands?"
 In the script, the teaser started with a view of the city on Planet Q, with a poster advertising the Karidian Company of Players superimposed over it, then dissolving into the performance of Macbeth. It was probably director Gerd Oswald who decided to start the episode in medias res instead, with the shot of the dagger, which seemed to be more effective on screen. 
 A line scripted, but cut from the episode established that Kirk was a midshipman, fresh out of the Academy when he was stationed on Tarsus IV and witnessed the massacre. Since it happened twenty years before the events of this episode, this would have indicated that Kirk is somewhat older than what was later established in . 
 A scene of crewmen watching the performance of Hamlet on the bridge was filmed, but cut from the episode. 
 Another scene which was cut showed Lenore resting in sickbay after her mental breakdown.

Cast and characters
 James Doohan (Scott) and George Takei (Sulu) do not appear in this episode.
 Eddie Paskey's character name, Leslie, is finally established in this episode.
 Her walk-on bridge appearance and stern look at Lenore is Grace Lee Whitney's last filmed appearance in the series. However, her last on screen appearance, , actually aired a week later.
 In the script, Yeoman Rand interrupted Kirk and Lenore on the observation deck to bring Kirk a report. However this event was omitted from the episode, 28 years later it was featured (as a dream flashback) in the comic book story, "The Dream Walkers".
 Whitney was already notified that she was fired from the series a week before filming on this episode began. Her limited walk-on scene was the last she had to film for Star Trek, before her return in . She recalled, "By that time, I had already been written out of the show. I did the scene sober, but after shooting my walk-on, I went out to a liquor store, bought a bottle of wine, and brought it back to my dressing room. That day, I drank. I couldn't deal with the fact that I wasn't going to be on the show anymore, so I drank to anesthetize the pain. That was the only time I ever brought a bottle unto the studio lot." (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 102)
 In the original draft, a "Lieutenant Robert Daiken" was the young man whose parents had been murdered by Kodos. When Bruce Hyde was cast in the role, the staff realized that he played the character Kevin Riley in  and re-wrote the role to feature Riley instead. Riley was a navigator in the former episode, but in this one he's a communications officer who at one time was transferred from engineering, but he still wears the gold command shirt.

Music
 Joseph Mullendore's score for this episode was heard again in , , , , and in the teaser of .
 The Star Trek theme song is performed by the lounge band at Tom Leighton's party. This is the first time the Star Trek theme has been played as "source music". The other times this occurs in the original series is later in the episode when Kirk is speaking to Lenore in Karidian's cabin, when Areel Shaw enters the bar in , and when Kirk, McCoy, and Tonia Barrows run to Sulu's position in .
 The dreamlike song sung by Uhura is "Beyond Antares". Nichelle Nichols got to interact with the Vulcan harp again in , but that scene was cut from the episode. In , she sings a portion of that song again, without an instrument, before Nomad interrupts her.

Sets, props, and costumes

 Guest star Barbara Anderson (Lenore Karidian) shares the record (with Ricardo Montalban and Joan Collins) for the most costumes worn in a single Trek episode by a guest star (six). She wears a maroon-colored dress for her Lady Macbeth costume, a blue dress with a veil at the party thrown by the Leightons, a fur mini-skirt dress when arriving on the Enterprise, a greenish multicolored mantle on the observation deck, a black and red evening dress when Kirk visits the Karidians in their quarters, and, finally, her yellow and lavender Ophelia costume. It could even be argued that the veil she wears while walking with Kirk just before discovering Tom Leighton's body could be considered a seventh costume.
 The city in the background out Tom Leighton's window is the same one used as Mojave in . The window itself was used in the Delta Vega lithium cracking station set in .
 Unlike most of the doors seen in the original series, the one to Leighton' house is operated manually and swings open and shut. Similar examples are seen in the courtroom in Court Martial and in Captain Pike's ward in The Menagerie, Part 1.
 The chair in which Leighton sits just before he rises to reveal his black facial patch was later seen with its mate in Chief Vanderburg's office in .
 In the original series, this is the only appearance of the observation deck. It overlooks the shuttlebay, called here the "Flight Deck".
 The equipment-filled alcove that McCoy and Spock pass in the corridor as they discuss Kodos the Executioner is labeled "Engineering Circuit Bay G-121". This sign was later placed next to the Jefferies tube in season two.
 The ship's theater is a redress of the engineering set. Pieces of the ship's gymnasium are hanging on the walls, and the ceiling can be seen of this set in one of three glimpses in the first season. According to the script, the theater was set up in one of the ship's recreation rooms.
 In the scene where security guards are searching for Kevin Riley in the corridors, rectangular seams are visible in the floor. This is where the grates visible in  and other early episodes were eliminated and filled in with the corridor floor material.

Continuity 
 McCoy's cabinet has two skulls in it for the first time in this episode.
 The pressure vent disposal drawer, into which Kirk places the overloading phaser, was later used by Lazarus to cause a fire in . The small drawer was filled with circuits for that scene.
 The location of Kirk's quarters are first identified, located at "3F 121".
 The phaser overload emergency is the only known instance when a double red alert is declared. However, in James Blish's adaptation of  in Star Trek 2, he has Kirk ordering a red alert and then a double red alert during the ion storm – as opposed to the yellow alert and red alert that were depicted on screen. "Red alert" and "double red alert" were used in the final draft of that episode's script but were changed on-set before filming.
 This episode contains Star Treks first direct reference to eugenics, although there is an oblique reference in . Spock declares Kodos' martial rule of Tarsus IV to have been an experiment in eugenics, causing McCoy to note that his wasn't the first such experiment.
 Kirk refers to Riley as a lieutenant in the "Star Service" – another early name for Starfleet.
 This is the only episode to depict nighttime on the Enterprise (Kirk says that conditions of night and day are approximated as closely as possible aboard ship.)

Preview 
 The preview contains a Captain's Log recorded solely for the preview: "Captain's log, stardate 2817.2. Suspicion that a famous actor is, in reality, Kodos the mass executioner places the Enterprise and her crew in grave danger."
 The preview for this episode features an alternate edit of Kirk searching for the overloaded phaser in his quarters. It was unused because the plywood under the mattress of his bunk was visible.

Reception and legacy
 This episode was among the lowest in ratings during the first season, mainly due to the fact that it was "too talky" with no action scenes, and didn't feature any "monster" or "sci-fi gimmick". Hence, it was decided not to give "The Conscience of the King" a repeat broadcast. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, p. 299)
 Director Gerd Oswald recalled this episode as "A very intriguing idea. A good story.". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, p. 299)
 Matt Groening, creator of  named his recurring alien characters Kodos and Kang after the characters in this episode and , respectively.
 Stating that this was his favorite episode of TOS, writer Ronald D. Moore commented:
I liked the backstory of Kirk as a young man caught up in a revolution and the nightmarish slaughter by Governor Kodos. I liked the Shakespearean overtones to the episode as well as the use of the plays themselves. And I absolutely loved Kirk in this episode – a troubled man haunted by the shadows of the past, a man willing to lure Karidian to his ship under false pretenses, willing to do one of his more cold-blooded seductions on Lenore, willing to fight with his two closest friends, and risk his entire command in the name of justice. Or was it vengeance?  Kirk's aware of his own lack of objectivity, his own flaws to be in this hunt for a killer, but he cannot push the burden away and refuses pull back from his quest to track down Kodos no matter what the cost. It also has some of my favorite lines in TOS.
The scene with Spock and McCoy in Kirk's quarters is one of the series' highlights. The brooding tone and the morally ambiguous nature of the drama fascinated me and definitely influenced my thinking as to what Trek could and should be all about. 
 Consequently, in his re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica, executive producer Ronald D. Moore named the prison barge Astral Queen after the ship commanded in this episode by Jon Daily, as noted in their DVD commentary for the episode "Bastille Day". According to the same commentary, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick say that in hindsight they feel that Astral Queen was a very poor choice of name for a prison ship, and they now wish they had used a different name.
 The Enterprise fourth season episode  shows the future biographical information displayed for Hoshi Sato, written by Mike Sussman.  A portion of the bio written by Sussman but not shown on screen would have stated that Sato was one of the 4,000 people killed by Kodos on the Tarsus colony. (Sussman noted that he never intended for the data to be readable on screen, and on his website he says to take that biographical information with "a grain of salt.")
 Kodo's slaughter and its aftermath, as well as the pursuit of him and faking of his death are depicted in the novel Drastic Measures by Dayton Ward.

Syndication 
During the syndication run of Star Trek, no syndication cuts were made to this episode.

Video and DVD releases
 US LaserDisc release: 
 Original US Betamax release: 
 UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 7, catalog number VHR 2256, release date unknown
 Japan LaserDisc release: 
 US VHS release: 
 UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.5, 
 Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 6, 
 As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection
 As part of the TOS Season 1 HD DVD collection
 As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Links and references

Starring
 William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring
 Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Guest star
 Arnold Moss as Karidian

Also starring
 Barbara Anderson as Lenore

Featuring
 DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
 Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand
 Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
 William Sargent as Dr. Leighton
 Natalie Norwick as Martha Leighton
 David-Troy as Larry Matson
 Karl Bruck as King Duncan
 Marc Adams as Prince Hamlet
And
 Bruce Hyde as Kevin Riley

Uncredited co-stars
 Tom Anfinsen as Enterprise command crewman
 Majel Barrett as Computer Voice
 Frank da Vinci as 
 Jon Daily (voice)
 Vinci
 Carey Foster as Enterprise sciences crew woman
 Robert Justman as Enterprise security guard (voice) 
 Jeannie Malone as Enterprise operations yeoman
 Eddie Paskey as Leslie
 Ron Veto as Harrison
 Unknown actors as
 Bobby
 Enterprise command crew woman 1
 Enterprise command crew woman 2
 Enterprise command/operations crew woman 3
 Enterprise command lieutenant 1 and 2
 Enterprise command lieutenant navigator
 Enterprise operations crewman 1 and 2
 Enterprise operations crew woman
 Enterprise operations technician
 Enterprise sciences crewman 1 and 2
 MacBeth audience
 MacBeth grooms

References 
2246; 2247; 2257; accident; accusation; act; actor (aka ); alcohol; alternative; ambition; amount; analysis; answer; ; antidote; Arcturian; area; armor; Astral Queen; audience; authority; background check; "back into a corner"; bargain; Benecia; Benecia Colony, "Beyond Antares"; blade; blood; body; book; Caesar; ; cargo; case; chain; chain of command; chance; children; Cleopatra; cocktail party; colony; communications section; conscience; channel; communicator; contact; corridor; couch; course; crowd; cruelty; curtain; Cygnia Minor; ; day; death; deck; ; disciplinary action; ; dossier; dozen; double red alert; Duncan; ; Earth; Earth Forces; empirical research scientist; empiricism; engineering; engineering deck; engineering room; ETA; eugenics; execution; existence; experience; explanation; explosion; eye; eyewitness; face; famine; family; fire; flight deck; flower; food concentrate / synthetic food; food supply; fungus; Galactic Cultural Exchange Project; galaxy; ghost; ; God; Good Samaritan; governor; greatness; green; Hamlet; ; hand; harm; head; heart; hero; history; history file; hostess; hum; Human; idea; Ides of March; identification; identification record; information; ; job; Juliet; justice; Karidian Company of Players; king; Kodos; lab report; Lady Macbeth; Leighton home; library banks; library computer; light; light year; list; logic; love; love song; lubricant; lunar flower; Macbeth; ; machine; madness; martial law; massacre; medical log; medical report; medicine; memory; mercy; metaphor; milk; Milky Way Galaxy; minute; mistake; ; murder; music; ; night; noose; observation deck; ocean; officer; Ophelia; orbit; orbit station; overload; pain; paper; parent; party; passenger; patio; patrol; performance; permission; personnel file (aka personnel dossier); phaser; philosophy; photograph; planet (aka world); Planet Q; Planet Q town; ; ; prince; prison house; privacy; quadrant; quarters; question; rec room; ; revenge (); revolution; Riley's parents; room; rule; Sarek; Saurian brandy; schedule; scientist; second-in-command; Section C4; Section C5; security two alert; ; ship's captain; ship's company; shuttlecraft; society; soldier; song; soul; space; space regulations; sponsor; spray bottle; stage; stain; star; "Star Light, Star Bright"; Star Service; stubbornness; subject; suicide; sulphurous; surveillance; survivor; supply ship (Federation supply ship); suspect; symbol; Tarsus IV; tetra-lubisol; theater; theory; thing; thousand; threat; tomb; tool; tradition; tray; universe; voice; voice film; voice test; volatility; ; Vulcan; Vulcan lute; wall; weapons locker; week; welcoming committee; word; worship; year

Unreferenced materials 
the Academy; Horatio; Kirk's father; Marcellus; midshipman; nightmares; perfume; plastic; rebellion; sandwiches; snow; star-video; trump card; Venusian; voice track;

External links
 
 
 
 

de:Kodos der Henker
es:The Conscience of the King
fr:The Conscience of the King (épisode)
it:La magnificenza del re (episodio)
ja:殺人鬼コドス（エピソード）
nl:The Conscience of the King
pl:The Conscience of the King
sv:The Conscience of the King

TOS episodes