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.

This unusual episode might well have been subtitled "Enterprise meets 'Twilight Zone' "---there are a number of such elements here. It's also a provocative and intriguing exploration of the nature of reality vs. illusion, and as I watched it, not just once but many times (which goes to show just how hooked I am on this original series), I found myself speculating on various aspects of this exploration---not the least of which was the stupidity of the Melkotians for not doing their homework! They should have known that the information they gleaned from Kirk's mind was erratic and inconsistent, so they could only come up with an illogical scenario in which to throw the landing party. Fascinating (in Vulcan the word is "sem-rik".) And speaking of Vulcan---I was thoroughly intrigued by the triple mind-meld, which was actually a beautiful demonstration of one of Spock's unusual and little-known abilities: telepathic hypnosis. I noticed that he worded his spoken suggestions differently for each member of the rest of the command crew---each one a bit different, but the end result was the same: the idea that the bullets were unreal, they did not exist. The only thing damaged in the shootout was the wooden fence! As for the question of whether the review contained any spoilers, I would have to say " no". Something to think about.

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.

The Enterprise arrives in Melkotian space, Kirk's aim to set up relations with the secretive race. The Melkotians don't take kindly to visitors, however, and, as a form of punishment, seemingly send the 'big five' (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Chekov) to a warped version of Tombstone, circa 1881, based on information they plucked from Kirk's mind. When I saw this episode in my early years, my first thought was that the budget for the show had really been curtailed by this point: they couldn't even set up a complete 'Old West' town - what, they ran out of wood? Was wood too expensive by this time? Of course, I missed the key line of dialogue from McCoy: the characters themselves realized the town was incomplete. Bits and pieces were selected from Kirk's brain, creating a surrealistic hodgepodge of history and stylized staged drama. I wasn't even acquainted with the term 'surrealism' when I first viewed this episode, young as I was, so it wasn't until years later that I started to appreciate the gloomy dramatic elements of this eerie ghost story - an almost nightmarish stroll among some phantoms and shadows of a violent past era.

When I was younger, my favorite moments in this episode involved Kirk's somewhat comical attempts to communicate 'his reality' to some of the residents of this half-baked town: to the bartender, to the cowardly sheriff Behan, and to the main antagonists themselves, the cold-eyed Earps. But, in my later years, these scenes became the weaker aspects to the story: why was Kirk wasting his time running around trying to convince apparitions of who he really was? Why waste time trying to make peace in the face of a predestined, preordained clash of wills? Make no mistake, minutes after their arrival to this fake Tombstone, the 'landing party' has already deduced that they're trapped in some strange illusion; they're not sure of its exact nature yet, but they realize it's some replay of history, a recreation of reality, but unreal in essence - they know the aliens tapped into Kirk's mind. So Kirk's lame efforts are at odds with the nature of this storyline - the thing's a head trip and those scenes stray from the premise, as if Kirk is trying to make meaningful contact with natives of just another planet, as with most episodes.

To me, the strengths of this episode are the moments when the Trek-makers adhere to the eerie play of shadows premise: the Earps and Doc Holliday are the best sample of this; they're consistently portrayed as some ghostly, almost demonic versions of lethal western characters. I wonder what direction the actors received for their portrayal - probably something like 'act as if you're zombies.' Morgan and Wyatt in particular come across like some bizarre wax figures come to life. The stylized presentation of the 'not quite there' town, as if half of it is trapped in another dimension, remains a trippy excursion into Twilight Zone territory, exemplified by that clock hanging in mid-air where a wall should be; the viewer's mind is also drawn to that clock because we're constantly reminded of how it's closing in on 5:00, the time of our heroes' doom. It's a countdown to doom, quite effective. Oh, and, Chekov is shot and killed in this episode; yes, this is Chekov's final episode...just kidding. Check out the film "Tombstone"(93) for another interpretation of this page of American history.

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!