"Captain Kirrrrk! Thisss issss your opponent!"

My friend Clayton Sayre directed me to these rare images of the costume of The Gorn from the Star Trek episode The Arena in which Capt. Kirk is abducted from the Enterprise by powerful beings called the Metrons and placed on a desolate planet to fight one-on-one against the Gorn captain in order to settle an impending war. The Gorn is certainly one of the better designed creatures from the Original Series and the makers were bold enough to give it scant clothing, exposing its full arms and legs in an era when it was common to put aliens in dorky-looking jumpsuits so they didn't have to spend the money to make full-body creature suits. The second image shows the costume without its clothing, displaying the airholes necessary to keep the performer from sweating to death in the California desert heat, where the combat sequence was shot. The final shot is of the orginal Gorn mask in its current state as part of a private collection.