Spectre of the Gun

Supposedly the third season's budget cuts resulted in the very abstract Wild West town setting. I am skeptical of that because any major Hollywood studio of the era would certainly have a Wild West setup on their back lot.

Plus, the story itself is explicitly about all of this being an illusion.

Spock knowing about Wyatt Earp, etc, was more of an issue for me. However, the reason that's even in the script is a side effect of so much Wild West production of that era.

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

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.

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.

I think what has stayed with me all these years are the cold fish-eyes of the Earps and Doc Holliday. Normally portrayed as heroes, these black clad, cold blooded killers face off against the Enterprise principles. A planetary people, the Melcotians, are angry with Kirk and the gang for crossing into their territory. He proceeds anyway because of his basic bullheadedness. The crew find themselves in Tombstone, Arizona, on the day of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. They are recognized as the Clantons and their ilk (normally the bad guys in the story). I always get a kick out of guys like Chekov (and even Kirk in some episodes) when, in the most dire circumstances, they are taken in by their human weaknesses. Chekov gets himself killed because he can't wait three hours (make that five minutes) to hook up with a saloon girl, ticking off Virgil Earp, who has desires for her. Their lives are at stake; what is he doing? What is weird is the Enterprise crew continues to wear their regular uniforms, yet the townspeople and the Earps see things differently. They have old western gun belts, but the rest of their attire is their day-to-day clothing. Why didn't the Melcotians go the extra step? All that aside, it is a pretty entertaining episode.