Several third-season episodes are like that: "Whom Gods Destroy," "Elaan of Troyius," "Plato's Stepchildren," "And the Children Shall Lead." It's as if the writer thought up a title with a classical allusion, then wrote a script around it.
50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread
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WGD works for me completely as a title. EOT makes no sense, really, and I agree with you there. PS actually has a very decent title; the Sahndarans followed the teachings of Plato while on Earth but didn't really get the message. ACSL is a quote from Isaiah. It works well too.
I imagine before photosensitive epilepsy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy) was discovered, nobody ever dreamed that the pattern of sunlight moving through leaves could cause a seizure in an otherwise healthy person.
I assume it was meant as wordplay on Helen of Troy, although the story has little to do with the Greek legend and actually has more in common with Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.
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Right. That's it exactly. There's really not much of a Helen of Troy aspect to the script at all (well, maybe if you really stretch going for the "all men fall for her" idea), and so naming France Nuyen's character and her planet with pitifully "disguised" allusions to Helen of Troy is just . . . dumb. Come to think of it - although I believe that the ep itself has some strengths such as a good amount of Enterprise technology, the D7, good use of the ensemble, etc. - I think this is my least favorite title in TOS. I love most of them.
Awesome episode.
I love it. Very Twilight Zone or Sapphire and Steel. It's one of those episodes where I wish they'd had a woman on the landing party to have a female perspective on the craziness though.
Weak story (Kirk & Co. are forced to re-enact the historic O.K. Corral gunfight??Awesome episode.
) but a triumph of style over substance with its surreal sets and eerie music.
That's my take. Also the alien and satellite visuals were interesting. I'm speaking of original recipe, I've not seen the TOS-R VFX.Weak story (Kirk & Co. are forced to re-enact the historic O.K. Corral gunfight??
Like swapping out Chekov for Uhura, and a Melkotian "Billy" romancing her as Sylvia went after "Billy". But I guess they wanted everyone from the Enterprise to be one one side, the Melkotians replicas on the other. Less confusing that way.
The episode may have aired on the 25th but I watched it just now and was surprised to notice that today was the actual anniversary of the gunfight which happened on the 26th of October 1881.
Was this one of the first retellings of the gunfight that depicts the Earps as giant dicks that they historically were, but by virtue of "history is written by the victors" got turned into heroes of the piece for many a Hollywood production?
Anyways, I quite like the episode, I ticks all the classic Star Trek stuff, first contact, "we're cool because we choose not to kill", weird aliens, glowy spaceprobes... and it's packaged in a weird surreal wrapper and I do like me some weird stuff so it totally works for me.
Was this one of the first retellings of the gunfight that depicts the Earps as giant dicks that they historically were, but by virtue of "history is written by the victors" got turned into heroes of the piece for many a Hollywood production?
Anyways, I quite like the episode, I ticks all the classic Star Trek stuff, first contact, "we're cool because we choose not to kill", weird aliens, glowy spaceprobes... and it's packaged in a weird surreal wrapper and I do like me some weird stuff so it totally works for me.
Weak story (Kirk & Co. are forced to re-enact the historic O.K. Corral gunfight??
Personally, I like the story. It very much has a The Twilight Zone feel to it.
Definitely one of the first, and I give it a lot of points for that. Especially considering the long-running Hugh O'Brian TV version, where Wyatt was pretty much on the Superman or Lone Ranger level of moral rightness. James Garner in Hour of the Gun was more morally ambiguous, but that was more driven by revenge and a sense of injustice after the OK Corral events. I don't know of a really amoral or bad-guy depiction of Wyatt until Doc in 1971.
"Spectre" is probably my favorite S3 episode.
This episode is pretty meh for me, but I do like that it aired so close to October 26, the day they talk about in the episode. And for all the times I've seen this episode, I never knew that, so I've learned something from this 50th anniversary rewatch.
Wasn't the episode originally called The Last Gunfight?
JB
JB
Star Trek
"Spectre of the Gun"
Originally aired October 25, 1968
Stardate 4385.3
What was going on the week the episode aired.
This would be the one that we production order enthusiasts think of as the season premiere. A generally good and enjoyable episode for reasons that others have touched upon...particularly its surreal atmosphere. The main thing that that bugs me is how everything plays out after Spock successfully convinces everyone that it's all just an illusion. If it's all an illusion, such that the bullets don't have any effect on them...why bother getting into a fistfight with one of the Earps? Why does it make a game-changing good impression on the Melkotian that Kirk won't kill what everybody knows is a fake person with what everyone knows is a fake gun? In the coda, why is Spock, who convinced them all that everything was an illusion, so appalled that Kirk was "ready to kill"...a fake person with a fake gun?
Next week: Klingon bastards, you keeled my fake brother!
"Spectre of the Gun"
Originally aired October 25, 1968
Stardate 4385.3
H&I said:
What was going on the week the episode aired.
This would be the one that we production order enthusiasts think of as the season premiere. A generally good and enjoyable episode for reasons that others have touched upon...particularly its surreal atmosphere. The main thing that that bugs me is how everything plays out after Spock successfully convinces everyone that it's all just an illusion. If it's all an illusion, such that the bullets don't have any effect on them...why bother getting into a fistfight with one of the Earps? Why does it make a game-changing good impression on the Melkotian that Kirk won't kill what everybody knows is a fake person with what everyone knows is a fake gun? In the coda, why is Spock, who convinced them all that everything was an illusion, so appalled that Kirk was "ready to kill"...a fake person with a fake gun?
Or put her into one of the guy's roles. They could have gotten some good moments out of "Do I look like Billy Claiborne to you?" But I guess 1968 wouldn't have been ready for her scenes with Sylvia....
Next week: Klingon bastards, you keeled my fake brother!
Yes but as I mentioned that is shown as Wyatt's reaction to the events after the famous shootout, when Virgil and Morgan are killed and the corrupt local law protects the Cowboys. It portrays Wyatt as pretty much a straight arrow until he is pushed over the edge, as Doc (of all people) accuses him of hypocrisy at one point for abandoning his previous belief in rules and the legal process.
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