   "the magicks of megas-tu" is the eighth episode of the first season of the animated science fiction television series star trek. it first aired in the nbc saturday morning lineup on october&nbsp;27, 1973, and was written by american television writer larry brodythis story was expanded into a novelette by science-fiction author alan dean foster as part of the collection, star trek log three (1975) (isbn 0-345-24260-2). who would go on to write the star trek: voyager episode "tattoo". in this episode, captain kirk must defend both humanity and an alien named lucien on their turf. ==plot== on stardate 1254.4, while exploring near the center of the galaxy, the federation starship uss enterprise is caught inside an energy/matter vortex and all her computer systems fail. a being named lucien appears on the bridge, repairs the ship's systems and takes the crew to explore his planet, megas-tu. on this planet, magic and witchcraft are quite normal. the megans are an ageless species that had, at one time, lived on earth, and were responsible for the legends about witches. lucien, their guide, is in reality the lucifer of earth mythology. during this time, the enterprise crew begin to experiment with magic: lt. sulu conjures up a beautiful woman while science officer spock creates a vulcan chess game. lucien then warns the crew that their experiments would draw unwanted attention, but it is too late. the crew are transported into salem during the middle of a witch trial where lucien is the creature placed on trial by the megans. the megans are determined to put humanity and the enterprise crew on trial for what humans did to their people during the salem witch-trials. kirk comes out in support of lucien's life and says that killing him would make the megans just like hu
1973_television_episodes Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series_episodes