Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (voiced by William Shatner) and the crew of the Starfleet starship Enterprise.
In this episode, while exploring the center of the galaxy, the crew of the Enterprise are transported by an alien named Lucien to the planet Megas-Tu, where magic and witchcraft are normal.
Following the broadcast, a novelization of "The Magicks of Megas-tu" was created by Alan Dean Foster, and it has been released on a variety of home media formats.
While exploring near the center of the galaxy, the Federation starship USS Enterprise is caught inside an energy/matter vortex and its 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 which differing physical laws allow the existence of magic and witchcraft.
On examining their ship's records, the Megans conclude that the Enterprise coming to Megas-Tu was a freak accident and they need not fear human incursion.
The Star Trek creator was pleased with the idea for "The Magicks of Megas-tu", saying that they had tried to do a magic based episode ("Catspaw") in the second season of The Original Series but he was unsatisfied with the effects due to the budgetary constraints.
[4] At this point the plot concerned the crew of the Enterprise coming across God in space, something which Roddenberry had previously wanted to include in The Original Series but it had been turned down by NBC Primetime's executives.
[4] Brody returned home and started work on the script immediately, wanting to improve it far beyond the point that he had developed when he pitched it for The Original Series.
[4] Fontana was aware of the controversial content of the episode, and later said that some people felt that "The Magicks of Megas-tu" dealt with the Devil sympathetically, but believed that it was good.
[5] "The Magicks of Megas-tu" was one of two episodes of The Animated Series previously pitched for live-action Star Trek, the other being David Gerrold's "More Tribbles, More Troubles".
They highlighted that the episode depicts Kirk successfully defending Lucifer from banishment and noting that he will not fall prey to legendary superstitions.
[11] However, Michelle Erica Green in her March 2011 review for TrekNation described the episode as so bad that she thought fans only watched it to play drinking games.