Star Trek (1966–1969): Season 3, Episode 19 - Requiem for Methuselah - full transcript

When Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a supposed uninhabited planet to gather the mineral ryetalyn to fight a plague of Rigelian fever on-board the Enterprise, they find a fellow Earth-man called Flint and his extremely intelligent female ward Rayna with whom Kirk begins to fall in love. Flint then proceeds to trap them and the Enterprise on his planet.

Captain's log, stardate 5843.7.

The Enterprise is in the grip
of a raging epidemic.

Three crewmen have died
and 23 others

have been struck down
by Rigelian fever.

In order to combat the illness,
Dr. McCoy needs

large quantities of ryetalyn,

which is the only known antidote
for the fever.

Our sensors have picked up
sufficient quantities of pure ryetalyn

on a small planet
in the Omega system.

We are beaming down to secure
this urgently needed material.

Report.



Jim, there's a large deposit,
bearing 273, four kilometres away.

I got four hours to process that stuff

otherwise the epidemic
will be irreversible.

- Everybody on board the Enterprise will...
- Strange.

Readings indicate a life form
in the vicinity, apparently human.

Yet ship sensors indicated
this planet was uninhabited.

Let's get that ryetalyn.

Inoperative.

Do not kill.

- I'm Captain James Kirk...
- I know who you are.

I have monitored your ship
since it entered this system.

Then if you know who we are,
you know why we're here, Mr?

Flint.

You will leave my planet.



Did you say your planet, sir?

My retreat from the unpleasantness
of life on Earth

and the company of people.

Mr. Flint, I have a sick crew
up there.

We can't possibly reach
another planet in time.

You can't refuse us the ryetalyn.

You're trespassing, captain.

We're in need.

We'll pay for it, work for it,
trade for it.

- You have nothing I want.
- But you have the ryetalyn that we need.

If necessary, we'll take it.

If you do not leave voluntarily,
I have the power to force you to leave.

Or kill you where you stand.

Space, the final frontier.

These are the voyages
of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission:
To explore strange new worlds,

to seek out new life
and new civilisations,

to boldly go where no man
has gone before.

Kirk to Enterprise. Mr. Scott,
lock phasers onto our coordinates.

Aye, captain. All phasers locked on.

Mr. Flint, if anything happens to us,

four deaths,

and then my crew comes down
and takes that ryetalyn.

An interesting test of power.

Your enormous forces against mine.
Who would win?

Mr. Flint, unless you are certain,

I would suggest you refrain
from a most useless experiment.

We need only a few hours.

Have you ever seen a victim
of Rigelian fever?

They die in one day.

The effects are like bubonic plague.

Constantinople, summer, 1334.

It marched through the streets,
the sewers.

It left the city by oxcart, by sea,
to kill half of Europe.

The rats, rustling and squealing
in the night, as they too died.

- The rats.
- Are you a student of history, sir?

I am.

The Enterprise, a plague ship.

You have two hours, at the end
of which time, you will leave.

With all due gratitude.

M-4 will gather the ryetalyn
which you need.

Permit me to offer you
more comfortable surroundings.

Come in, gentlemen.

Our ship sensors did not reveal
your presence here, Mr. Flint.

My planet is surrounded by screens

which create the impression
of lifelessness.

A protection against the curious,
the uninvited.

Then you live here alone.

Except for M-4, which serves
as butler, housekeeper, gardener

and guardian.

A most impressive home, Mr. Flint.

Yes. A Shakespeare first folio,
a Gutenberg bible.

Creation lithographs by Taranullus
of Centauri Vll.

That's one of the rarest
book collections in the galaxy,

spanning centuries.

Be comfortable, gentlemen.

Help yourselves to brandy.

Do we trust him?

It would seem logical to do so
for the moment.

Well, I'll need two hours to process
that ryetalyn into antitoxin.

If that ryetalyn isn't here in one hour,

we'll go prospecting,
right over Mr. Flint, if necessary.

This is the most splendid
private collection of art I've ever seen.

And the most unique.

The majority are the works
of Leonardo da Vinci,

Renaissance period.

Some of the works
of Reginald Pollack, 20th century.

And even a Sten from Marcus II.

At last I've seen other humans.

- Other men.
- One is not human.

The Vulcan.

So that is a Vulcan.

I would like to discuss
subdimensional physics with him.

You've taught me all you know
in the area

and you say Vulcans know more.

Even he is not your intellectual equal,
nor mine.

- Let me meet them.
- They are selfish, brutal.

A part of the human community
which I rejected

and from which I've shielded you.

Soon they will be gone.
Let me meet them.

Rayna,

have you been lonely?

What is loneliness?

It is a thirst.

It is a flower dying in the desert.

Flint, don't take this opportunity
away from me.

It's so exciting.

Exciting?

You have never made
a demand of me before.

I'm sorry.

Do not be sorry.

It might be interesting.

- Saurian brandy, 100 years old. Jim?
- Please.

Mr. Spock, I know
you won't have one.

Heaven forbid those mathematically
perfect brainwaves be corrupted

by this all-too-human vice.

Thank you, doctor.
I will have a brandy.

Do you think the two of us can handle
a drunk Vulcan?

Once alcohol hits that green blood...

If I appear distracted,
it is because of what I've seen.

I am close to experiencing
an unaccustomed emotion.

I'll drink to that.

- What emotion?
- Envy.

None of these da Vinci paintings has
ever been catalogued or reproduced.

They are unknown works,
all apparently authentic,

to the last brushstroke
and use of materials.

As undiscovered da Vincis,
they would be priceless.

Would be?
You mean you think they're fakes?

Most strange. A man of Flint's
obvious wealth and impeccable taste

scarcely needs to hang fakes.

Yet my tricorder analysis indicates
that the canvas and pigments used

are of contemporary origin.

Well, this could be
what it seems to be.

Or it could be a cover,
a setup, or even an illusion.

Well, that could explain the paintings,
similar to the real thing.

Spock, at your earliest opportunity,
take a full tricorder reading of our host,

see if he's human.

- Kirk to Enterprise. Mr. Scott?
- Aye, captain.

Mr. Scott, run a full computer check
on Mr. Flint

and on this planet, Holberg 917-G.

Stand by with your results.
I'll contact.

- Aye, sir.
- Kirk out.

Well, let's enjoy this brandy.
It tastes real.

Easy.

Bones?

Ryetalyn, ready to be processed
into antitoxin.

Beam up to the ship
and start processing.

That will not be necessary, captain.

M-4 can prepare the ryetalyn
for inoculation

more quickly in my laboratory
than you could aboard your ship.

I would like to supervise that,
of course.

And when you are satisfied
as to procedures,

I hope you will do me the honour
of being my guests at dinner.

Thank you, Mr. Flint.
I don't think we have the time.

I regret my earlier inhospitality.
Let me make amends.

Gentlemen, may I present Rayna.

I thought you lived alone.

I meant there are no others
besides my family.

Dr. McCoy.

Mr. Spock.

Mr. Spock, I do hope we can find
a moment to discuss field density

and its relationship
to gravity phenomena.

Indeed. I would appreciate such a talk.
It is an interest of mine.

Captain Kirk.

- Captain Kirk?
- Rayna.

Her parents were killed in an accident
while in my employ.

Before dying, they placed their infant,
Rayna Kapec, in my custody.

- I have raised and educated her.
- With most impressive results, sir.

What else interests you
besides gravity phenomena, Rayna?

Everything. Less than that
is betrayal of the intellect.

The totality of the universe?
All knowledge?

Rayna possesses the equivalent
of 17 university degrees

in the sciences and arts.

She is aware
that the intellect is not all.

But its cultivation must come first,
or the individual makes errors,

wastes time in unprofitable pursuits.

At her age, I rather enjoyed errors
with no noticeable damage.

But, I must admit, you're the farthest
thing from a bookworm I've ever seen.

Flint is my teacher.

You are the only other men
I've ever seen.

The misfortune of men everywhere
and our privilege.

If you will accompany my robot
to the laboratory, doctor,

you can rest assured that the ryetalyn
is being processed.

Thank you, sir.

Your pleasure, gentlemen?
Chess, billiards, conversation?

Why not all three?

- Did you teach her that?
- We play often.

May I show you, captain?

You said something about savagery, Mr. Flint.
When was the last time you visited Earth?

You would tell me
that it is no longer cruel.

But it is, captain. Look at your starship,
bristling with weapons.

Its mission: To colonise, exploit,

destroy, if necessary,
to advance Federation causes.

Yes.

Thank you.

Our missions are peaceful,
our weapons defensive.

If we were barbarians,
we would not have asked for ryetalyn.

Indeed, your greeting, not ours,
lacked a certain benevolence.

The result of pressures
which are not

your concern.

Yes, well, those pressures
are everywhere, in everyone,

urging him to what you call savagery.

The private hells, the inner needs
and mysteries, the beast of instinct.

As human beings,
that is the way it is.

To be human is to be complex.

You can't avoid a little ugliness
from within and from without.

Why don't you play the waltz,
Mr. Spock?

To be human is also to seek pleasure,
to laugh, to dance.

Rayna is a most accomplished
dancer.

- May I have the pleasure?
- Thank you.

- Is something wrong?
- Yes there's something wrong, the ryetalyn is no good.

It contains irillium,
nearly one part per thousand.

Irillium will render the antitoxin inert
and useless.

Most unfortunate
that it was not detected.

I shall go with M-4
to gather more ryetalyn

and screen it myself.

- You're welcome to join me, doctor.
- Thank you.

Time factor, Bones, epidemic.

Nearly two and a half hours. I guess
we got time to get in under the wire.

I've never seen anything
like the speed of that robot.

It'd take us twice as long
to process that stuff.

But would we have made the error?

Jim, what if all the ryetalyn
on this planet contains irillium?

Go with Flint.
Keep an eye on procedures.

Like a hawk.

Captain, something else
which is rather extraordinary.

This waltz I just played
is by Johannes Brahms.

- Later, Spock.
- Captain, it is written in manuscript.

In original manuscript

in Brahms' own hand,
which I recognise.

It is totally unknown,
definitely the work of Brahms,

and yet, unknown.

I think I will go to the laboratory.
There may be a way of reversing

the irillium's effect
and saving the existing antitoxin.

Stay here.

Let me know
when Flint and McCoy return.

Captain's log, stardate 5843.75.

Have I committed a grave error
in accepting Flint's word

that he would deliver
the antidote to us?

The precious time I have let pass
may result in disaster

for the Enterprise and her crew.

You left us.
The room became lonely.

It is a thirst.
A flower dying in the desert.

What?

- What's in there?
- I do not know.

Flint told me never to enter.

- He denies me nothing else.
- Then why are you here?

I do not know.

I come here when I am troubled.

When I would search myself.

Are you troubled now?

Yes.

By what?

Are you happy here with Flint?

He is the greatest, kindest,
wisest man in the galaxy.

Then why are you afraid?

Don't be afraid.

Stop command.

Stop.

Thank you, Mr. Spock.

Fortunately, the robot did not detect
my presence

and deactivate my phaser.

M-4 was programmed to defend
this household and its members.

No doubt I should have altered
its instructions to allow

for unauthorized but predictable
actions on your part.

It thought you were attacking Rayna.
A misinterpretation.

If it were around right now,
it would correct...

Too useful a device
to be without, really.

I created another.

It will now go to the laboratory
and join Dr. McCoy.

- Fascinating.
- Be thankful that you did not attack me, captain.

I might have accepted battle and
I have twice your physical strength.

In your own words, it would be
"an interesting test of power."

How childish he is, Rayna.

Would you call him brave or a fool?

I'm glad you did not die.

Of course.

Death, when unnecessary,
is a tragic thing.

Dr. McCoy is in the laboratory
with the new ryetalyn.

He's satisfied as to its quality.

May I suggest that you wait here,
patiently, safely?

You have seen
that my defence systems

operate automatically,

and not always in accordance
with my wishes.

Come, Rayna.

Rayna.

Come.

I don't like the way
he orders her around.

Since we are dependent on Mr. Flint
for the ryetalyn, captain,

may I respectfully suggest that

you pay less attention
to the young lady

if you should encounter her again.

Our host's interests do not appear
to be confined to art and science.

He loves her?

Strongly indicated.

Jealousy.

Yes.

That would explain the attack,
but he seemed to want us together.

The billiard game.
He suggested we dance.

It does appear to defy the male logic,
as I understand it.

- Kirk to Enterprise. Mr. Scott.
- Aye, captain.

Report on the Rigelian fever.

Nearly everybody aboard
has got it, captain.

We're working a skeleton crew
and waiting for the ryetalyn.

Just a little while longer, Scotty.

Report on the computer search.

There's no report on Mr. Flint.
He doesn't seem to have any past.

The planet was purchased
30 years ago by a Mr. Brack,

a wealthy financier and recluse.

Run a computer check
on Rayna Kapec.

Status, legal ward after the death
of her parents.

- Aye, sir.
- Kirk out, Mr. Scott.

We have still
a greater mystery, captain.

I was able to run a tricorder scan
on Mr. Flint.

He is human, but there are certain
biophysical peculiarities.

Some body function readings
are disproportionate.

For one thing,
extreme age is indicated,

on the order of 6000 years.

Can you confirm that, Mr. Spock?

I shall program the readings through
Dr. McCoy's medical computer

- when we return to the ship.
- Time factor?

We must commence
ryetalyn injections

within two hours and 18 minutes

or the epidemic will prove fatal
to us all.

What's keeping the processing
this time?

The delay may be deliberate.

As though he was keeping us here
for some reason.

Most interesting.

Our host appears
to wish us to linger,

yet he is apprehensive.

It is logical to assume
that we are being monitored

and that he is aware
of our every move.

You sent the robot to kill him.

It came to protect you.

My mind could not have summoned it.
I was not frightened.

It was defective, then.
I would have destroyed it myself.

Have I lied to you?

Never.

Believe what I say.

I would not want Captain Kirk dead.

What did you feel?

- You will let them have the ryetalyn?
- Yes.

Go to them if you wish.
Say your farewells.

- Kirk here.
- Mr. Scott, sir.

There's no record of a Rayna Kapec
in Federation legal banks.

No award of custody?

No background at all
in any computer banks. Like Flint.

Kirk out.

"Like Flint."

People without a past.

What hold does he have over her?

Captain, I would suggest that
our immediate concern is the ryetalyn.

Let's find McCoy.

Captain?

I'll meet you in the lab.

I've come to say goodbye.

I don't want to say goodbye.

A last tender encounter, Captain Kirk,
to end your usefulness.

I tell you, Spock, I was waiting
for the robot to finish the processing

and the next thing I knew,
it was gone and so was the ryetalyn.

Interesting. Obviously Mr. Flint
is not yet ready for us to depart.

- Well, I think we better tell Jim.
- The captain wanted us to wait here.

Come with me.

I offer you happiness.

I've known security here.

Childhood must end.

You love me, not Flint.

Flint lied. The ryetalyn isn't here.

Picking up tricorder readings,
captain.

Apparently the ryetalyn
is behind this door.

Why is Flint playing tricks on us?

Apparently we're supposed to go in
and get it.

If we can.

Let's not disappoint
the chess master.

Phasers on full.

Captain, I shall get the ryetalyn.

- Why you?
- There may be dangers within.

- Let's find out.
- Let me go alone, captain.

Why?

Get to the point, Spock,
if there is one.

We'll all go.

The ryetalyn.

Captain's log, stardate 5843.8.

We have accomplished our mission
and have the ryetalyn

ready to combat the epidemic
aboard the Enterprise.

But we have also discovered
our benefactor's secret.

He has created the perfect woman.

Her only flaw:

She's not human.

Physically human, but not human.

These are earlier versions
of Rayna, Jim.

She's an android.

Created here by my hand.

Here the centuries of loneliness
were to end.

Your collection of Leonardo da Vinci
masterpieces, Mr. Flint.

They appear to have been
recently painted

on contemporary canvas
with contemporary materials.

And on your piano,
a waltz by Johannes Brahms.

An unknown work, in manuscript,
written in modern ink.

Yet absolutely authentic,
as are your paintings.

I am Brahms.

- And da Vinci?
- Yes.

How many other names
shall we call you?

Solomon, Alexander, Lazarus,
Methuselah, Merlin, Abramson.

A hundred other names
you do not know.

- You were born?
- In that region of Earth

later called Mesopotamia,

in the year 3834 B.C.,

as the millennia are reckoned.

I was Akharin.

A soldier, a bully and a fool.

I fell in battle, pierced to the heart,

and did not die.

Instant tissue regeneration

coupled with some perfect form
of biological renewal.

- You learned that you're immortal.
- And to conceal it.

To live some portion of a life.

To pretend to age and then move on
before my nature was suspected.

Your wealth and your intellect

are the product
of centuries of acquisition.

You knew the greatest minds
in history.

Galileo, Socrates, Moses.

I have married a hundred times,
captain.

Selected, loved, cherished,

caressed a smoothness,
inhaled a brief fragrance.

Then age, death, the taste of dust.

Do you understand?

You wanted a perfect,
ultimate woman.

As brilliant, as immortal, as yourself.

Your mate for all time.

Designed by my heart.

I could not love her more.

Spock, you knew?

I had hoped I was wrong.

You cannot love an android, captain.
I love her.

She is my handiwork, my property.
She is what I desire.

You brought me here to learn this?

- Does she know?
- She will never know.

- Let's go.
- You will stay.

- Why?
- We have discovered what he is, captain.

If you leave,
the curious would follow.

The foolish, the meddlers,
the officials, the seekers.

My privacy was my own.
Its invasion be on your head.

We can remain silent.

The disaster of intervention, Spock,
I've known it. I will not risk it.

Kirk to Enterprise.

Clear the area.
Inform Starfleet Command...

Enterprise? Scotty?

They cannot answer, captain.

My crew.

The test of power.
You had no chance.

It is time for you to join your crew.

You'd wipe out 400 lives? Why?

I have seen 100 billion fall.
I know death better than any man.

I have tossed enemies
into his grasp.

And I know mercy.

Your crew is not dead,
but suspended.

Worse than dead.
Restore them. Restore my ship.

In time. A thousand, 2000 years.

You will know the future,
Captain Kirk.

You have been such men.

You've known and created
such beauty.

You've watched your race evolve
from cruelty and barbarism

throughout your enormous life
and yet now you would do this to us?

The flowers of my past.
I hold the nettles of the present.

- I am Flint now, with my needs.
- What needs?

Tonight, I've seen
something wondrous,

something I've waited for,
laboured for.

Nothing must endanger it.

At last Rayna's emotions
have stirred to life.

Now they will turn to me
in this solitude which I preserve.

No.

Rayna.

- You must not do this to them.
- I must.

What will you feel for him
after we are gone?

All emotions are in play, Mr. Flint.

You harm us, she hates you.

Give me back my ship.
Your secret is safe with us.

That's why you delayed the processing
of the ryetalyn.

You realised what was happening.
You kept us together, Rayna and me.

Because you knew
I could bring her emotions alive.

And now you're just going
to take over?

I shall take what is mine,
when she comes to me.

We are mated, captain.
Alike, immortal.

You must forget your feelings in this
matter, which is quite impossible for you.

Impossible.

Impossible.

From the beginning, you used me.

I can't love her.

But I do love her.

- And she loves me.
- No.

Captain, your primitive impulses

- will not alter the circumstances.
- Stay out of this.

- We're fighting over a woman.
- No, you're not, for she is not.

I cannot be the cause of this.

I will not be the cause of this.

Please, stop.

Stop.

I choose where I want to go.

What I want to do.

I choose.

I choose.

- Rayna.
- No.

Do not order me.

No one can order me.

She's human.

Down to the last blood cell,
she's human.

Down to the last thought, hope,
aspiration, emotion, she's human.

But the human spirit is free.
You have no power of ownership.

She's free to do as she wishes.

Gentlemen, I urge you to stop.
There is a danger.

No man beats me.

I don't want to beat you.

This is no test of power.

Rayna belongs to herself.

And she claims
the human right of choice,

to be as she wills.

To do as she wills,
to think as she wills.

That's what I have worked for.

Rayna,

come with me.

Stay.

I was not human.

Now I love.

I love.

You can't die.

- What happened?
- She loved you, captain.

And you too, Mr. Flint.

As a mentor, even as a father.

There was not enough time for her
to adjust to the awful power

and contradictions
of her new-found emotions.

She could not bear to hurt
either of you.

The joys of love made her human

and the agonies of love
destroyed her.

Spock.

The epidemic is reduced
and no longer a threat.

The Enterprise is on course 513,
mark 7, as you ordered.

A very old and lonely man.

And a young and lonely man.

We put on a pretty poor show,
didn't we?

If only I could forget.

Jim...

Thank heaven. Sleeping at last.

Your report, doctor.

Oh, those tricorder readings
on Mr. Flint are finally correlated.

He's dying.
You see, Flint, in leaving Earth,

with all of its complex fields

within which he was formed,
sacrificed immortality.

He'll live the remainder
of a normal life span, then die.

On that day, I shall mourn.

- Does he know?
- Yes, I told him myself.

He intends to devote the remainder
of his years and great abilities

to the improvement
of the human condition.

And who knows
what he might come up with?

Indeed.

Well, I guess that's all.
I can tell Jim later or you can.

Considering his opponent's
longevity,

truly an eternal triangle.

You wouldn't understand that,
would you, Spock?

You see, I feel sorrier for you
than I do for him.

Because you'll never know the things
that love can drive a man to.

The ecstasies, the miseries,

the broken rules,

the desperate chances,

the glorious failures
and the glorious victories.

All of these things you'll never know

simply because the word "love"
isn't written into your book.

Good night, Spock.

Good night, doctor.

I do wish he could forget her.

Forget.

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