"The Mark of Gideon" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek.
In the episode, a race of aliens from an overpopulated planet abduct Captain Kirk to solve their problem.
First Officer Spock is informed that the Captain has not arrived on the planet, but the Gideon Ambassador, Hodin, refuses to allow a search team to investigate.
Kirk learns from Odona that her home planet is severely overpopulated, with crowds of people everywhere and no privacy, because death is rare.
Questioned about alternatives, Hodin explains that the Gideon people's regenerative abilities would foil sterilization attempts, and that other methods of birth control would never be accepted.
In 2017, Den of Geek ranked "The Mark of Gideon" as the 14th "best worst" Star Trek episode of the original series.
[1] This episode was released in Japan on December 21, 1993 as part of the complete season 3 LaserDisc set, Star Trek: Original Series log.3.