his ship; he relates that when he met Claudius Marcus and came to know his culture, he agreed that the planet should be protected from cultural contamination at all costs. Merik decided to stay, putting his crewmen into the gladiatorial matches, where they would be killed (Harrison was called the "last of the Barbarians"). Merik and Marcus try to persuade Kirk to have the Enterprise crew abandon their ship and integrate into the planet's culture. Kirk refuses their demands and instead signals to Chief Engineer Scott, in code, that the landing party is in trouble, but that no rescue attempt should be made. Angered, Marcus sends Spock and McCoy into the televised arena where they must fight Flavius and another gladiator, Achilles. Spock overpowers Achilles and uses a Vulcan nerve pinch on Flavius, ending the fight to a hail of pre-recorded boos and hisses. Spock and McCoy are taken back to the slave pens while Kirk is sentenced to a televised execution scheduled for the next day by the TV Manager aka "Master of the Games". The evening prior to the execution, Marcus sends Drusilla to Kirk's quarters to entertain him and have sexual relations with Kirk. Marcus later remarks to Kirk that he was responsible for Drusilla's visit. As the execution broadcast begins, Flavius rushes forward and is killed trying to save Kirk; Kirk kills the Master of the Games and two guards as well. Marcus orders the remaining guards to kill Kirk; On the Enterprise, Scott uses a low-power phaser burst to cause a power blackout upon the Planet, allowing Kirk to free Spock and McCoy. Merik signals the Enterprise to beam Kirk and party up with a stolen communicator, and is fatally stabbed by Marcus. The landing party dematerializes just one second before the guards open fire with their machine guns. Back on the Enterprise, Spock expresses surprise at a sun-worshiping cult preaching universal brotherhood, opining that sun worship was primitive superstition, with no such philosophy behind it. Lt. Uhura, having monitored the planet's communications all this time, has the answer: "It's not the sun up in the sky. It's the Son of God." The Captain is astonished: "Caesar and Christ. They had them both. And the Word is spreading only now." Production The submachine guns used by the Roman guards in the episode are Danish Madsen M-50 submachine guns. Lois Jewell said in an interview that