According
to Greek Myth, a siren is a beautiful
individual or creature, usually female that-- with an enticing song -- lures passing sailors to their doom on
the rocky shores of remote islands.
In other words, the siren is a seductress who
can lure men from the path of a the straight-and-narrow, to one of complete
destruction instead.
The
siren has appeared several times throughout cult-television history.
Perhaps
the best and most memorable example comes from the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series Space:1999
(1975 – 1977). Story editor Johnny Byrne once termed the program the “origin story of a people” (meaning the
Alphans). Accordingly, since the series was a space age myth, so the Alphans often
encountered creatures or aliens who had corollaries in Earth mythology, such as
dragons (“Dragon’s Domain”), King Midas (“Force of Life) or even sirens, as is
the case in Christopher Penfold’s “Guardian of Piri.”
In
“Guardian of Piri,” the Alphans -- and even Moonbase Alpha’s main computer -- are
lured to the mysterious planet Piri, where an unseen Guardian (actually a super-advanced
computer) helps them attain perfection.
The siren is the lovely Servant of the Guardian (Catherine Schell), who
welcomes the Alphans, and Command Koenig (Martin Landau). She promises the wandering humans perfection and beauty, but
delivers a kind of lingering physical lassitude and death instead. Eventually, Koenig destroys the siren -- actually
an android or robot -- and the Alphans shrug off her false promises, or in terms of
the Siren myth...her song.
Although sirens appear in Homer's The Odyssey, another variation of these beautiful
(but deadly) creatures also appears in German folklore, which accounts for the
title of the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode: “the Lorelei Signal.
In Germany, "Lorelei" (or
sometimes Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine. It is also
the name in folklore of a "feminine water spirit" associated with that rock.
In this Star Trek story by Margaret Armen, the U.S.S. Enterprise explores the Taurean
solar system and hopes to investigate a long-standing mystery. Specifically, every 27 years, a starship disappears near this section of
the galaxy...never to be heard from again.Soon, the Enterprise falls into the
same trap.
The lovely women of planet Taurus II transmit a signal that
hypnotizes all the males aboard the Starfleet vessel. When Kirk, Spock,
Bones and a landing party of men beam down, they are immediately drugged by the
beautiful, technologically-advanced sirens of this world, and then forced to
wear head-bands which cause rapid aging, and which drain their life-forces.
The women of this world thrive on that life force, and need it to
survive...
On board the Enterprise, Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) assumes
command of the Enterprise and promotes Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) to the role
of chief medical officer. Then, Uhura leads a landing party of female security
officers to the planet to rescue the helpless males...
In
the early 1990s, the second season Land of the Lost (1991 – 1992) episode “Siren’s Song”
featured Marta Du Bois as an imprisoned woman who could sing an enchanted song
to entrap others. In the course of the
story, she beguiled the Porter children (Kevin and Annie) by taking the form of
their dead mother. Eventually, Mr.
Porter (Timothy Bottoms) freed his children, and was also able to save the
siren from her eternity in the land of the lost.
In
early 1998,Chris Carter’s Millennium (1996 – 1999) featured another fascinating
take on the old siren myth in a tale penned by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Here, a Chinese freighter smuggling illegal
immigrants into the United States is raided by the INS. Jordan Black (Brittany
Tiplady) makes a connection with a strange Chinese woman who was chained up
aboard the ship and may now possess the secret to saving Frank’s (Lance
Henriksen) life.
As Lara Means (Kristen Cloke) and Frank investigate the
mysterious woman, they learn how the siren may have seduced and killed and
members of the ship’s crew. Finally,
this siren attempts to seduce Frank with a tantalizing vision of his life in which the
Millennium Group has no role.
“The
Siren,” -- Lorelei Circes -- was also a villain on the third season of the Adam
West Batman (1966 – 1969), and was played by Joan Collins.
The mythical creature has also appeared on Red Dwarf (as Psirens), and in Supernatural.
No comments:
Post a Comment