"The Return of the Archons" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Boris Sobelman (based on a story by Gene Roddenberry), and directed by Joseph Pevney, it first aired on February 9, 1967. In the episode, the crew of the Enterprise visit a seemingly peaceful planet whose inhabitants are "of the Body", controlled by an unseen ruler, and enjoy a night of violence during "Festival". The episode contains Star Trek first reference to the Prime Directive. Plot The , under the command of Captain Kirk, arrives at the planet Beta III in the C-111 system where the USS Archon was reported lost nearly 100 years earlier. Lt. Sulu is the only member of the landing party who beams up from the planet's surface, and exhibits inexplicable euphoria, as well as insisting the crew "is not of the Body" and referring to them as "Archons." Kirk beams down with another party to investigate. They find the inhabitants living in a 19th-century Earth-style culture, ruled over by cloaked and cowled "Lawgivers" and a reclusive dictator, Landru. Their arrival is shortly followed by the "Festival", a period of violence, destruction, and sexual aggression. Kirk's landing party seeks shelter from the mob at a boarding house owned by Reger. A friend of Reger's suspects that the visitors are "not of the Body" (the whole of Betan society), and summons Lawgivers. When the landing party refuses to come with the Lawgivers, the Lawgivers become immobile. Reger leads the Enterprise landing team to a hiding place. En route, a telepathic command causes the townspeople to attack the landing party. They stun the attackers with their phasers, and find Lt. O'Neill, the other member of the original landing party, among them. They take O'Neill with them, but keep him sedated on Reger's advice. Reger reveals that Landru "pulled the Archons down from the skies". Contacting the ship, Kirk learns that heat beams from the planet are attacking the Enterprise, which must use all its power for its shields. Its orbit is deteriorating and it will crash in 12 hours unless the beams are turned off. A projection of Landru appears in the hiding place, and Kirk and his team are rendered unconscious by hypersonic waves. The landing party is imprisoned in a dungeon. Dr. Leonard McCoy is "absorbed into the Body", i.e., placed under Landru's