Professor John Gill was a character from Season 2 of Star Trek, appearing in the episode "Patterns of Force". He was portrayed by David Brian.
History[]
Professor Gill was a Federation historian who was assigned by Starfleet to the planet Ekos as a cultural observer. His analysis of the Ekos was that the planet was in a state of anarchy and took it upon himself to use his knowledge of history to help the local people. To this end, he created a version of Nazi Germany on the planet that was focused on social and economic renewal without the racial and/or religious persecution that marked the first Nazi State on Earth. Professor Gill provided much needed structure to the society by giving the local people the Nazis' richly symbolic culture to build on.
While Gill's intentions were good, an Ekosian by the name of Melakon had become enamoured by the Nazi Party's more sadistic, fascist notions. Having become the Deputy Fuhrer of the Ekosian Nazi State, he was in a position to take full power himself and did so by drugging Gill, using him as a puppet to deliver speeches to the Ekosian people while he dictated the Party's policies himself, leading his people in a campaign to conquer and exterminate their planetary neighbours, the Zeons.
Death[]
In 2268, the USS Enterprise arrived at Ekos in search of Professor Gill, who had not contacted Starfleet for many months. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beamed down to the planet, seeing that the local society had been transformed into a Nazi State with Gill as the apparent Fuhrer.
When Kirk finally managed to locate Gill, the captain found his old history professor in extremely bad health, having been drugged by the Deputy Führer, Melakon. After Dr. McCoy administered several injections of a stimulant into Gill's body, Spock performed a mind meld on the historian, enabling Gill to answer Kirk's questions. Gill claimed that when he had first arrived on Ekos, he had found the planet in such a fragmented and divided state that he decided to break the Prime Directive in order to transform Ekos into a simulation of the most efficient state Earth had ever known. According to Gill, his plan had initially worked until Melakon began to drug him. As Gill's attention returned to his current situation, Kirk urged the historian to notify the Ekosians of Melakon's betrayal before the Final Solution to destroy Zeon began. Gill was able to transmit a message to the Ekosians and tell them to stop the invasion of Zeon. He also apologized to Zeon, insisting that he himself, not the people of Ekos, bore the blame for this aggression. He then denounced Melakon as a traitor, at which point the Deputy Führer grabbed a soldier's machine gun and assassinated Gill before he himself was killed by Isak. Before Gill died, he admitted to Kirk he was wrong to violate the Prime Directive.