Patterns of Force ( episode ) The " Enterprise , " searching for a missing Federation historian , discovers that the historian has apparently contaminated the cultural development of the planet where he was assigned as a cultural observer to have it follow the societal path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and ' 40s . Summary . Teaser . The heads for the planet Ekos to locate a missing cultural observer , John Gill , a noted historian and brilliant history teacher who had been one of Kirk ' s instructors at Academy . Spock and McCoy reminisce about his style of approaching history as a matter of causes and motivations , rather than simply dates and events . While approaching the planet , the " Enterprise " is attacked by an old - style chemical rocket with a thermonuclear warhead – technology of whose development the planet is not yet supposed to be capable . Kirk has Chekov destroy the rocket with the ship ' s phaser s . McCoy notes that the missile is generations ahead from where they should be technically . Kirk surmises that they may have had help – and Spock glances at Gill ' s photo . Act One . Fearing that Gill ' s mission has been compromised in violation of the Prime Directive of non - interference with developing planets , Kirk and Spock beam down to Ekos . Before they do , they have McCoy insert subcutaneous emergency transponders , dependent on crystalline rubindium , into their forearms , to locate them for retrieval in the event they cannot use their communicator s . Kirk orders that Scotty beam them up at the appointed time if they fail to contact the ship , no matter what their condition may be . Upon beaming down , Kirk and Spock find a culture almost identical to that of Germany during its Nazi period of the 1930s and 40s , right down to the uniforms , salutes , persecution of another ethnic culture – in this case the inhabitants of the neighboring planet , and the concept of the Führer – John Gill himself . Stealing some SS uniforms , Kirk and Spock attempt to infiltrate the Führer ' s headquarters but are quickly captured when Spock is forced to remove his helmet , revealing his pointed Vulcan ear s . Act Two . Kirk and Spock are stripped to the waist and interrogated by an SS - Major , who lashes them cruelly with a whip ; this , however , is interrupted by Chairman Eneg , who chides the SS guard for not realizing that punishment is effective for only just so long . Left with their wounds still open , they find themselves imprisoned next to Isak , a Zeon underground member who explains how the Nazi movement began on Ekos , coinciding precisely with the time of Gill ' s arrival . Improvising a crude cutting - torch laser from the rubindium crystal s from the transponders Kirk had had McCoy insert , at a subcutaneous level , into the skins of their forearms before beaming down , the trio manage to escape and retrieve two disassembled communicators from a SS laboratory . Kirk and Spock are able to steal SS uniforms again and leave , hauling out Isak in a stretcher . Later , the three return to the underground ' s base . There , Isak is greeted by his brother , Abrom , and told of the death of his fiancée , Uletta . In the midst of this , a squad of Ekosian stormtroopers ( led by a woman ) arrives , intent on arresting the entire lot . She apparently shoots Abrom dead and plans to " " finish the job " " by killing Kirk . Act Three . When Kirk and Spock intervene to help the underground workers , it is revealed that the woman , Daras ( who they recognized from a propaganda broadcast they viewed earlier ) , is an Ekosian member of the underground and the storming was a test to see if the two strangers could be trusted – once Kirk and Spock responded to her apparent murder of Abrom by her holding at gunpoint , those gathered realized that the two strangers were definitely on their side and put an end to the ruse . Kirk and Spock then reveal who they really are and why they are there . The next opportunity to get to the Führer , they decide , is an upcoming speech in the chancellery in which Isak suspects war will be declared on Zeon ( the " " ) . To infiltrate the chancellery , Kirk and Spock accompany Daras and Isak ( in Nazi disguise ) to Führer headquarters posing as a Nazi documentary crew to try and reach Gill . Kirk , Spock , Isak , and Daras walk down a corridor pretending to film a record of the Führer ' s final solution speech . During this , Spock catches a glimpse of John Gill in a guarded room , seemingly drugged . Kirk tells Spock that they need Dr . McCoy . Kirk hides inside a cloakroom with Spock and asks Lieutenant Uhura to have McCoy beamed down from the " Enterprise " , however , they learn from Daras that the transmission was traced , prompting a search party . The doctor joins them dressed in a Nazi colonel ' s uniform and throws the search party by pretending to be drunk . Act Four . With McCoy now joined with them , the group listens to a speech by Gill , followed by another from his deputy , Melakon , pledging the destruction of Zeon which is already taking place as he speaks . Meanwhile , the three are able to sneak into a broadcast booth and find Gill , heavily drugged . Partly revived by McCoy , they learn the truth ; Gill had taken matters into his own hands on Ekos , which he had found to be in a condition of anarchy . He had organized the planet using ( what he thought was ) the efficiency of the Nazi system , but had tried to prevent it from sliding into sadism . Unfortunately for his plans , however , Melakon had begun a takeover and had begun drugging Gill , leaving what now remained of Gill as a figurehead ; the direct result was that Melakon has been the real power on Ekos for years . The search party , led by Eneg , steps into the room , and Kirk quickly pretends they foiled an assassination attempt by Spock . They convince Eneg to present him to Melakon , which also convinces Isak that he is a member of the underground resistance . While they distract Melakon , Kirk struggles to revive Gill to a sufficiently coherent state . Gill is finally able to broadcast a message halting the invasion and declaring Melakon a traitor . Melakon takes an MP40 machine gun from a guard and shoots Gill through the broadcast booth curtain to silence him . Isak , in turn , shoots him twice with a Luger , killing him instantly . As Gill dies in Kirk ' s arms , he tells the captain that the Prime Directive was the right way all along . Meanwhile , Eneg takes control of the government , declaring , " " There has been " enough " killing . Now we ' ll start to live the way the Führer meant us to live . " " He plans to go on the airwaves with Daras to offer a new way of life for both Ekosians and Zeons . Back on board the " Enterprise " , Spock expresses confusion as to how a man as logic al as Gill could make such a mistake emulating the Nazis . Kirk says the problem was not simply the Nazis themselves but giving any one individual so much power . McCoy remarks how power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ; Spock dryly points out several examples from Earth history of just that mentality and Kirk cuts off their argument by saying , " " Gentlemen , we ' ve just been through one civil war ; let ' s not start another . " " Kirk then orders that Ensign Chekov to plot a course and break out of orbit around Ekos as quickly as they can before another civil war starts . Memorable quotes . " " Our missiles utterly destroyed the enemy . " " " " You look quite well for a man who ' s been utterly destroyed , Mister Spock . " " " " You should make a very convincing Nazi . " " " " Lieutenant ? Better see a doctor . You don ' t look well . Your color . " " " " Yes . I shall tend to it , Major . " " " " Lieutenant ! Your helmet . " Remove it ! " " " I . . . don ' t care if you hit the broad side of a barn . Just hurry , please . " " " " Captain , why should I aim at such a structure ? " " " " Never mind , Spock . Just . . . get on with the job . " " " " If we adopt the ways of the Nazis , we ' re as bad as the Nazis . " " " " Captain , I ' m beginning to understand why you earth men enjoy gambling . No matter how carefully one computes the odds of success , there is still a certain . . . exhilaration in the risk . " " " " Very good , Spock . We may make a Human of you yet . " " " " I hope not . " " " " Doctor McCoy is having difficulty with that uniform , sir . " " " " Send him down naked if you have to ! Kirk out . " " " " Note the sinister eyes and the malformed ears . Definitely an inferior race . " " " " Even historians fail to learn from history . . . they repeat the same mistakes . Let the killing end , Kirk . Let - - " " " " For so long I ' ve prayed for this . Now I ' m sorry . " " " " So was he . " " " " It is time to stop the bloodshed . . . to bury our dead . " " " " Gentlemen , we ' ve just been through one civil war ; let ' s not start another . " " Background information . Remastered information . The remastered version of " Patterns of Force " aired in many North American markets during the weekend of . While the episode required very few new effects , an entirely new shot of the " Enterprise " phaser ing the Ekosian warhead was substituted . In addition , Ekos was given a CGI - makeover as a more Earth - like planet , with new orbit al shots of the " Enterprise " , and the rubindium crystal beam was refined . Links and references . References . 20th century ; 2267 ; Alexander the Great ; alien ; anarchy ; architecture ; bankruptcy ; barn ; ; " Bones " ; broadcast ; brother ; ; cancer ; capital ; car ; catalepsy ; Chairman of the Party ( Chairman ) ; Chancellery Detention Center ( prison ) ; channel ; circuit ; cloakroom ; clock ; coat hanger ; Colt Police Positive ; coma ; communicator ; corporal ; crystal ; cultural contamination ; cultural observer ; curtain ; Daras ' father ; declaration of war ; Deputy Führer ; detection device ; disease ; doctor ; drugs ; Earth ; Earth history ; Earthmen ; Ekos ; Ekos and Zeon system ; Ekosian ; Ekosian Chancellery ; Ekosian missile ; excellency ; execution ; Fatherland ; Federation ; Final Decision ; Final Solution ; flogging ; frequency ; " Führer " ; Führer ' s Special Documentary Corps ; gambling ; generation ; Germany ; German language ; Gestapo ; Gestapo Command Headquarters ; guard ; hate ; helmet ; ; hour ; Human history ; humanoid ; hypnosis ; interrogation ; Iron Cross ( medal ) ; kilometer ; laser ; Leader Principle ; ; lieutenant ; light ; light bulb ; logic ; machine gun ; major ; malformed ; maximum security ; medi - comp ; Mercedes - Benz 770 ; microphone ; millimeter ; monster ; MP40 ; nation - state ; National Socialist Party ( Nazi , Nazi Party ) ; National Socialist uniform s ; non - interference directive ; odds ; pain ; pallor ; " papers " ; party secretary ( ) ; patriotism ; phaser ; pig ( swine ) ; probe ; projectile weapon ; punishment ; psychosis ; physics ; radio ; Ramses ; report ; rocket ; rubindium ; sadism ; salute ; semi - divine detachment ; sin ; SS ; SS weapons laboratory ; space fleet ; spacecraft ; spy ; standard orbit ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; steal ; street s ; subcutaneous transponder ( transponder ) ; suicide ; swastika ; tank ; thermonuclear missile ; thermonuclear warhead ( warhead ) ; transponder ; Uletta ; Underground ; uniform section ; United Space Ship ; viewscreen ; Volkswagen Beetle ; Volkswagen Kübelwagen ; Vulcan mind probe ; Vulcan neck pinch ; Walther P38 ; wife ; whip ; Zeon ; Zeon ( planet ) ; Zeon ship ( Zeon spacecraft )