Guest Characters

TREKCORE > TOS > EPISODES > THE RETURN OF THE ARCHONS > Guest Characters

 
 REGER

PLAYED BY: Harry Townes
SPECIES: Beta III Male

Reger was a citizen of Beta III at the time the USS Enterprise visited in 2267. He was the father of Tula. He was part of a resistance that was organized in threes; Tamar was his contact, and he did not know who the other member of the cell was. He provided a refuge for the landing party when they sought to escape the mayhem of the Festival, and later led them to a safe haven. After Landru discovered and abducted the landing party, Reger was able to slip away; he was somehow immune to absorption. Although part of the resistance, when he was confronted with an actual attempt to end Landru's rule, he recanted and attempted to betray the landing party to the lawgivers.
   
 MARPLON
 
PLAYED BY: Torin Thatcher
 SPECIES: Beta III Male
 
Marplon was an official in the society of Beta III. Among his duties was the absorption of new members. He was also one member of the underground that opposed the will of Landru.

In 2267, when the USS Enterprise visited the planet and became trapped, he provided vital assistance to the landing party; he prevented Kirk and Spock from being absorbed, and he returned their weapons and communicators to them. After Reger collapsed emotionally, Marplon guided the landing party to the Hall of Audiences, so they could confront Landru.

As a trusted official, Marplon evidently had access to more information than was available to most members of the Body; he knew which of the devices removed from the landing party were weapons, and which were communications devices. He also knew how to operate the absorption chamber, and how to substitute a harmless light show for the absorption process. Nevertheless, he held Landru in nearly the same reverence as a member of the Body would -- hesitating at the Hall of Audiences, and displaying shock when Kirk and Spock revealed that Landru was actually a sophisticated computer.
   
 TULA
 
PLAYED BY: Brioni Farrell
 SPECIES: Beta III Female
 
Tula was the daughter of Reger, and a citizen of Beta III in 2267. She was involved in the Festival, and Lindstrom did not understand Reger's disinterest in removing her from it. It was implied by her extremely distraught emotional state at the end of the Festival that she was assaulted and possibly raped by Bilar.
   
 THE LAWGIVER
 
PLAYED BY: Sid Haig 
SPECIES: Beta III Male
 
The Lawgiver and others like him enforced the will of Landru when other measures, such as absorption, failed. Dressed in drab robe, he carried a stave that could absorb and kill. Unlike most Betans, the lawgiver could initate a conversation with Landru via the process of communing. When Kirk disabled the computer Landru, the Lawgiver became confused.
   
 LANDRU
 
PLAYED BY: Charles Macauley
 SPECIES: Unknown Male
 
In approximately 4,000 BC, war threatened to destroy the planet Beta III and its inhabitants. The leader at that time was a gifted engineer and philosopher, Landru. He believed the way to preserve his people was to take them back to a time of peace and tranquility. He sought to end war, crime, disease – all of the evils that plagued his world, and to produce "the unity of good" – a world without hate, without fear, without conflict. To that end, he built and programmed a sophisticated machine, which took on his identity.

The machine Landru built was powerful enough to manage the affairs of an entire planetary population. It ruled Beta III for about 6,000 years, managing the affairs of each individual and striving to meet the ambitious goals its builder set it. Its subjects were oblivious to the fact that they were ruled by a computer. Since Landru was hidden behind a solid wall, it is likely that its builder intended this; even millenia later, some of the citizens of Beta III believed the Landru who ruled their world was the same one who saved it so many centuries ago, and none realized it was a machine. The passing years of peaceful rule had inculcated in the people a kind of reflexive worship of Landru. This could be seen even in members of the underground who sought freedom and actively opposed Landru's will.
   
 TAMAR
 
PLAYED BY: Jon Lormer
SPECIES: Beta III Male
 
Tamar was a citizen of Beta III in 2267. The USS Enterprise landing party met him at Reger's house, when they retreated there to escape the mayhem of the Festival. A grandfatherly figure, Tamar attempted to calm the irascible Hacom, who felt the strangers belonged in the Festival. His gentle comment suggesting that the lawgivers were all-knowing was taken for mockery by Hacom, who became further enraged, and fled the house. Later, Hacom returned with lawgivers, to whom he had reported the conversation. They evidently took Hacom's accusations seriously, for they murdered Tamar. The landing party later learned from Reger that he was part of an underground that was organized in threes, and that Tamar was his contact. With Tamar's death, Reger was isolated from the third man in his cell.
   
 HACOM
 
PLAYED BY: Morgan Farley
SPECIES: Beta III Male
 
Hacom was a citizen of Beta III at the time of the USS Enterprise's visit in 2267. A sour, suspicious old man, he immediately questioned the landing party's motives for retreating from the Festival. When Tamar tried to calm the waters, he took the comments for mockery of the lawgivers, and fled Reger's house. The next morning, he returned with lawgivers, having evidently convinced them matters at Reger's house required their attention. Acting on Hacom's accusations, the lawgivers murdered Tamar and demanded the Enterprise landing party accompany them to the absorption chamber. When Kirk's disobedience forced the lawgivers to commune with Landru, Hacom fled the house.
   
 LIEUTENANT LINDSTROM
 
PLAYED BY: Christopher Held
 SPECIES: Human Male
 
Lieutenant Lindstrom was a sociologist who served aboard the USS Enterprise in 2267. That year, the Enterprise visited planet Beta III, searching for clues to the fate of the Archon, lost there a century earlier. Lindstrom's initial error in attire led to the quick identification and absorption of the first landing party, Lieutenants Sulu and O'Neil. Kirk then put together a six-man landing party that included Lindstrom. Subsequent events revealed the fate of the Archon, and left Beta III without effective governance; Lindstrom and other experts remained behind to help guide the civilization back to a more Human form.
   
 O'NEIL
 
PLAYED BY: Sean Morgan
SPECIES: Human Male
 
He was one of two men assigned to investigate the planet Beta III for clues to the disappearance of the Archon, a starship that vanished there in 2167. A wardrobe error left the landing party obvious to the sinister lawgivers, who enforced the will of the planet's leader, Landru. Hounded relentlessly by lawgivers, the landing party requested beam-up, but O'Neil panicked and fled the transporter coordinates. At some subsequent point, he was absorbed into the Body. The second landing party encountered him in an alley, where he was one member of a crowd they were forced to stun. They took him with them, keeping him sedated, until they could determine what was wrong with him. Reger, a Beta III native who had befriended the landing party, advised against this, warning that Landru could find them through O'Neil. O'Neil later returned to normal when Landru destroyed itself.
   
 BILAR
 
PLAYED BY: Lev Mailer
SPECIES: Beta III Male
 
Bilar was an inhabitant of Beta III in 2267. He was the first Betan to address the second landing party, and he appeared to be a simpleton, until the landing party learned more about the nature of the civilization of Beta III. When the red hour struck, signaling the beginning of the Festival, Bilar's inhibitions disappeared completely, and he seized Reger's daughter Tula, assaulting and possibly raping her.