Bread and Circuses (Star Trek: The Original Series) entertainment. In the episode, Captain Kirk and his companions are forced to fight in gladiatorial games on a planet resembling the Roman Empire, but possessing mid-20th century Earth technology. The Federation starship USS "Enterprise" is on routine patrol when it finds wreckage of the SS "Beagle". The "Beagle" was under the command of Captain R. M. Merik (William Smithers), whom Captain Kirk (William Shatner) knew during his academy days. First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) traces the path of debris back to a planet in the previously unexplored system 892. The "Enterprise" picks up a 20th-century-style television news broadcast, reporting in
This Side of Paradise (Star Trek: The Original Series) This Side of Paradise (Star Trek: The Original Series) "This Side of Paradise" is the twenty-fourth episode of the of the American science fiction television series "". Written by D. C. Fontana and Jerry Sohl (using the pseudonym Nathan Butler) and directed by Ralph Senensky, it was first broadcast on March 2, 1967. In the episode, the USS "Enterprise" visits a planet where the inhabitants are under the influence of strange plant life. The title is taken from the poem "Tiare Tahiti" by Rupert Brooke and the novel "This Side of Paradise" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "Enterprise" is ordered to