Apollo instructs Kirk to begin making arrangements for the remaining crew to come down to the planet. Kirk takes Carolyn aside and tells her that she must reject Apollo to save them all from slavery. She reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock locates the power source for the force field holding the Enterprise, and finds a way to communicate and fire phasers through it. Putting her responsibilities first, Carolyn tells Apollo her interest in him is purely scientific, likening him to a new strain of bacteria. Hurt, Apollo invokes thunder and lightning while Kirk orders Spock to fire on and destroy the power source. Defeated, Apollo addresses his fellow gods, admitting that he was wrong, and begging to join them. He fades away. Carolyn is distraught. Kirk notes that humans owe their moral code to the Greek civilisation and mythology, and (along with McCoy) regrets having to destroy Apollo. Reception Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+ rating, noting that it was occasionally memorable, but "undone by lazy scripting and bizarre dialogue". Cultural references The title is a quotation from the poem Adonais by Percy Shelley lamenting the death of John Keats, which is loosely based upon A Lament for Adonis by the Greek poet Bion. See also "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" – An episode of the animated Star Trek series about an alien that had long ago visited Earth and now demands worship as a god by the Enterprise crew. Star Trek: New Frontier, a series of novels written by Peter David. One of the characters, Mark McHenry, is a descendant of Apollo. (In the novelization of the episode, but cut from the final shooting script, Carolyn Palamas is pregnant with Apollo's child, whom she names Athena. Athena is McHenry's grandmother.) In the photonovel Star Trek: New Visions issue #11 "Of Woman Born", John Byrne retells the episode's ending and continues with the events during Palamas's pregnancy. The first episode of Star Trek Continues, "Pilgrim of Eternity", was a 2013 fan-based sequel to the episode. In it, Forest reprised his role as an elderly Apollo who asks the Enterprise crew for help. Apollo's "green hand" is mentioned in dialogue in Star Trek Beyond as well as being seen in the movie's credits. References External links "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Review of the Remastered version at TrekMovie.com - the main antagonist of the episode. 1967