Spectre of the Gun

Things are not going OK at the corral, crew can't escape to high chaparral, high noon's come and gone, the west hasn't been won, the magnificent five need a pal.

Revolvers are drawn by an alien with a sense of history.

The best thing about a beloved show from your childhood is watching it over and over and finding things you missed. I've lived in Taos New Mexico for over a decade but recently rewatched this episode and realized the McCoy makes a reference to a style of whiskey known as Taos Lightning which has recently been resurrected by some local distilleries... Taos Lighting can also be seen written on the blackboard menu of the dining room of the hotel in the show Deadwood.

I don't understand the 3rd season criticism. I read a review of this episode the other day that called it "corny", "goofy", etc... Have these people ever seen the rest of the series? How is this episode cornier than "The Omega Glory", or "The Apple"? Every complaint about this episode I've seen can easily be said about any 1st or 2nd season episode. (Kinda sounds like Star Wars prequel hate to me.) I think the third season is actually better in places than the first two seasons. For one thing, the music is much better, a lot more subtle. The slow pace people complain about is actually a good thing because it allows for more character development as well as simply slowing down and presenting the environment a little bit. Yes, the episodes are corny, but THIS IS STAR TREK!!! That's par for the course here, friends.

I like the feel and look of this episode. Sure, the Sylvia character isn't really needed but one could easily say that about many Star Trek characters. I like this episode a lot better than the movie Tombstone. That's for sure.

When I first saw this episode in 1968, I was half impressed. The clever ending I liked, and the knockout gas scene, but the half-built sets put me off. In hindsight, this episode has much to recommend it.

The western set functions like a stage production: bare bones, but enough to give you the general idea. Quite fitting considering who put them there (the Melkotians apparently also had a tight budget). The photography and staging are excellent, especially at the OK Corral. There's a real feeling of dread.

The actors playing the western bad guys are top notch, as if they walked straight off one of the many westerns still on TV at that time. As a bonus, the bartender is a hoot, a Walter Brennan soundalike.

Ordinarily I'd roll my eyes at this type of show: all-powerful aliens (again), an Earth-like setting (again), a plot based on earth's history (again). But it works. The dialog is top-notch and the bad guys look fearsome. Yet there's even room for Scotty's humorous and unnecessary "pain-killing" swig of liquor.

At first glance, this episode looks like "this isn't my Star Trek!" But in the context of a final season when many people have bailed on the show for various reasons, here we have an episode that dares to be different and be almost experimental.

And it almost qualifies as a spoof of all those other westerns still hanging on for dear life. They can't do a space travel show, but Star Trek can visit the wild west. Beat that, Gunsmoke!

Season 3, episode 6. The Enterprise enters the uncharted territory of the Melkot and nearing their planet. An object in the sky translates telepathically to the crew they are to turn back now - one warning only. Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Chekov & Bones beam down to the planet, as Kirk put it "to find out what they are so afraid of". They meet an alien face that tells them they trespassed and passed a sentence on them - to a replica of the 1881 gunfight of the O.K. Corral. It is October 26, 1881 it is the fight of Clanton gang and the Earps. The Earps won and the Clanton's lost - the crew is in the role of the Clanton's and history cannot be changed. Now they have to find a way out of there.

Neat episode, some cute scenes, some gun-slinging and it's a bit different. A great episode? No. A fun episode? Yes.

One thing bothers me, in the beginning of the episode Kirk kept calling Spock "Science Officer" instead of his usually friendly way of saying Spock or Mr. Spock. That is a minor thing but it really bothers me.

8.5/10