Episode of the Week : The Savage Curtain

[johnnybear]

Channel 4 ran the show in the very early 90's. They did The Time Tunnel as well, I think they alternated them . I have a few of them on converted video tape.

Yes I remember that well! Channel 4 started with Lost in Space in 88 and then went on to the other shows in the 90s before ending their Sunday afternoon sci-fi spectaculars with Planet of The Apes in 93 I think! I recorded all of the LISs and had most of TT from Sky but I was busy dating in the early 90s so didn't have the time! But I have them all on DVD nowadays!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I've heard that, apart from Lost in Space, the DVD editions of Irwin Allen's other three sci-fi shows were super-high quality. Which is why LIS stood to benefit the most from a Blu-ray release. Did you find a technical reason to keep video tapes?

LIS look a bit grainy on DVD although I hadn't really noticed back in the days when I first bought them! But once you've seen the other shows you can tell! Hopefully they will release the upgraded LIS shows on DVD again here in the UK someday!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Any luck?

Alas no! Plenty of original Battlestar episodes, a few Dr.Whos, about ninety percent of the second series of 1999 and the odd B7 but no Treks so far...
JB

 

[Maurice]

LIS look a bit grainy on DVD although I hadn't really noticed back in the days when I first bought them! But once you've seen the other shows you can tell! Hopefully they will release the upgraded LIS shows on DVD again here in the UK someday!
JB

On the Blurays the difference is amaaaazing.

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[Doctor Clu]

I don't think so but it's possible! I've still got some of the Space 1999 ones I did from the seventies and maybe the odd Doctor Who here or there but I'll have a look over the weekend!
JB

It was fans recording audio like this that saved many early 1st and 2nd Doctor episodes going into oblivion completely. You can watch many episode with pictures. And that was awesome. Hail to the fans and their audio recordings!!

 

[Ssosmcin]

On the Blurays the difference is amaaaazing.

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It's really like night and day. The original LIS DVD releases were sourced from the same prints used for the VHS tapes. They always looked like crap upscaled like that. However, the blu-rays are such a huge leap. The restoration of the prints is outstanding. It's a 99% perfect release of the series.

 

[johnnybear]

It was fans recording audio like this that saved many early 1st and 2nd Doctor episodes going into oblivion completely. You can watch many episode with pictures. And that was awesome. Hail to the fans and their audio recordings!!

Indeed! Without them we wouldn't have had the animated episodes which have completed a couple of stories in recent years on DVD!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

On the Blurays the difference is amaaaazing.

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Are you trying to make me jealous?
JB

 

[Doctor Clu]

Saw the Savage Curtain today and I'd give this about a 8.

Overall fun, a bit outragous. I thought I would dislike Abe Lincoln in space as much as the truck in space on Voyager. But it was just a transmission in the end.

All the characters were interesting that they brought together. I will have to say this though...

Ghengis Khan, Zora, Col Green, Kahless the Unforgettable. Some very evil people, at least from the memories of the crew of the Enterprise. Zora might not have been much of a fighter, or Col. Green (though Colonel would suggest some time in the military.)

And who does the good side get? Abe Lincoln and Surak? Not to mention Kirk and Spock may or may not have been the most shining examples of good. :P

The overall feeling I get after all this was Kahless was a lot of fun to watch. For fans of Vulcans and Klingons we both got a treat. I am a fan of both, so seeing the father of both cultures was fun.

Ghengis Khan is brought in to tell the audience "Ok, now these people are REALLY bad. Now Ghengis Khan we know about you. Don't say anything and let these other three people we don't know get the screen time."

Abraham Lincoln fought off Kahless. I love it.

Col. Green is fun. Zora basically gave us little to nothing to work with, but then by description she was more of a mad scientist working in her lab than a warrior anyway.

So the fight gets to the point where the pacifist is killed, and the other (Lincoln) is killed off trying to save the pacifist. Leaves a fight for four against two.

Honestly, why did evil loose? One could have kept one of the people busy while the other stabbed them in the back. And what would have happened if they had won? These Excalibans that morphed into these figured would have left home and gone on as these people? Now that would have been a hoot.

Some saw Kirk's reaction to Yarik (Excaliban) a missed opportunity, but honestly, the way the Excalibans treated the Enterprise was extremely unwarranted. Rather than talking to the crew of the Enterprise they conducted a test under their rules and had Kirk and Spock running through a maze to get some cheese or in this case the safety of the Enterprise.

Forget good or evil, how about the Human spirit to overcome? The Excalibans did have good results for "survival" though. Honestly I think the test was flawed. It is like ripping the wings off a fly, telling the fly to fly, and when it doesn't fly conclude the fly is deaf.

Above all, I think that is what this episode illustrates, an poorly executed or conducted lab test. Makes me wonder if the tests we run in our labs ask the right questions or right conditions for the answers we are trying to find.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Are you trying to make me jealous?
JB

Let's just say, and it's true, that on Blu-ray you can actually read the little labels on many buttons and control knobs.

 

[johnnybear]

My old style TV (2000) still gives me a wonderful picture for TOS! TNG not so good though but TOS is near perfect!
JB

 

[Drusilla's valet]

I have always liked this episode despite its flaws and limited depth on some of the guest characters. The Rock was to me, very well conceived and a very underrated antagonist. Col. Green was properly well spoken, seemingly amiable and sufficientlly slimey. I really liked Surak and especially Lincoln. This was an episode where they truly could have well expanded the storyline by giving us some true evil flavor relative to each and every one of the "bad guys" but budget constraints evidently took much of the wind out from those sails. It was good to have them bring back the S1 combat music; a nostalgic touch of sorts for the moments of hand-to-hand combat.

I think in the end we got a very watered down episode, that despite being fun (to me), could have been so much better if they had allowed some polish.

 

[Doctor Clu]

I think in the end we got a very watered down episode, that despite being fun (to me), could have been so much better if they had allowed some polish.

I think in later Trek this would have been a two parter. It is not that the premise was all that interesting, it is just you had so many interesting characters that were thrown in one place: Kahless, Col. Green, Zora, Surak, even Ghengis Khan and Abraham Lincoln.

In a retelling of this story with say, Star Trek: The Next Generation, you would have had Picard work to unravel the various characters. Data would probably figure out that the character were developed from the memory of the crew. Riker would want to fight along with Worf, Picard would work on another strategy and ask them to hold back till they had more information. Hmmm, then again, this is Next Gen we are talking about, so probably Re-Kirk and Worf for a action episode. I think Riker would have gile to pull off what I think the Next Gen crew would do.

And that is where I have to stop for a moment. Instead of Surak you'd have Kahless, the unforgetable, legend, honorable warrior from Worf's memory. Who would be Riker's hero that the Excalibans would have picked from his brain? Of course... Kirk! :P

Ghengis Khan, still not a bad choice. How about Hitler? Stalin? Some Earth choice.

Zora, we would get more of a personality and story for her. But then, only so far as the crew remembered. She might have realized as a being there was much missing from her memory which would have driven her crazier.

Colonel Green, similar story. Seemed like Kirk's crew remembered some good details about his strategy, but not where he came from (did you all catch that)? But Col. Green seemed less interested in that. And in the Next Gen scenario, just a character, like the rest, fighting to survive and gain power.

Here is an interesting thought, what would you have thought if, being in the end of season three, they brought back the notorious people already introduced? Like Red Jack, Khan Noonien Singh, other notorious characters?
Yarik rushed the experiment, but I can see Riker and Worf playing on the evil characters' greed and distrust against each other. I could see mind games as they continue to remind and prod the evil characters. Worf and Kahless hunting together... yeh that would just be unfair.

But that is another point, for evil characters they worked REALLY well together. I guess the promise of power talks.
And at the end, Riker and Worf are victorious. In this scenario no one is killed as one by one the "good" side managed to unravel the persona of each opponent. Riker would stand there with the confused opponents and allies alike and say something like "Alright Yarik, we played your game, release the Enterprise"

"You are indeed victorious, though your methods are strange to me. Your methods used lacked any difference from the tactics of evil."

Riker smiles "We knew all here were false and we had to save our ship. Just used a little gile to remove the masks and bring this to and end. So about our ship?"

"Your ship is released. It is a shame that you did not realize the honor we bestowed on you to be our teachers."

"Yarik we are still here and we would like to learn from you. Good, evil, those are ancient terms we used on Earth long ago. Why don't we spend our remaining time getting to know each other, no titles, no pretenses?"

"In my current form I would need to return to the regular Excaliban climate, but perhaps you'd like to converse with my Excaliban associate in the form you know as Kirk?"

"I've always dreamed of meeting Kirk, and more so, it is a pleasure to meet you..." Riker says extending a hand. The Kirk look alike extends his hand.

"Call me Yarik, they all call themselves that. Long story. A pleasure to meet you too as well Commander Riker" the Excaliban as Kirk explains in older Kirk mannerisms shaking Riker's hand. Riker smiles. "Mr. Worf, certainly you wouldn't mind going on a hunt with Kahless?"

"Indeed Commander!" Worf says sharing a growl with Kahless as they run off into the woods in a warriors howl.

"Klingons. Never could understand them." Excaliban Kirk exclaims.

"Ah but you will, you're not Kirk."

"Oh yeh! Good point. So tell me about that jazz music you talked about earlier..." Riker and the Kirk look alike walk off, cue closing music.

 

[Aaroncarine]

5/10

Much of this is a retread of earlier, better episodes. The alien design is fairly neat, though, and Abraham Lincoln floating in space is a striking, pulp sf image if there ever was one.

One of the better episodes of the often appalling third season. I'm not sure I would have included Genghis Khan as an example of "notorious evil" though. Even if we don't accept the overused excuse about "the standards of the time", the fact remains that Genghis Khan wasn't that unusual in his brutal society and brutal age. If I was looking for an "icon of evil", I would choose someone who was recognized by his own generation as being monstrous, like Hitler and Stalin(or if they were too predictable a choice, King Leopold of Belgium, perpetrator of genocide in the Congo.)

 

[UnknownSample]

Genghis Khan and the Mongols were unparalleled in brutality. Europe was scared crapless over what was going to happen to them when the Mongols came. The Mongol army would destroy any city that didn't promptly surrender so thoroughly and completely that not a trace of the city remained -- not people, buildings, information kiosks, nuthin'...

 

[Gary Mitchell]

On the Blurays the difference is amaaaazing.

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One little problem with the 1.78:1 full frame....at about 2:10 in that youtube video, you see the shadow of the robot's claw on the wall next to Dr. Smith before the robot even enters the room.

 

[3D ChessMaster]

I think the problem with Ghengis Khan is his sweeping away of civilisations for booty , compared to say Romans who were probably just as vicious to their opponents but also created a civilisation

 

[johnnybear]

It's really like night and day. The original LIS DVD releases were sourced from the same prints used for the VHS tapes. They always looked like crap upscaled like that. However, the blu-rays are such a huge leap. The restoration of the prints is outstanding. It's a 99% perfect release of the series.

But isn't there a halo around the ship in the third season space scenes which affects your viewing of the whole thing? The DVDs showed the picture virtually as it should be as I recall!
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

On the LIS Blu-Rays? No, the image is perfect. I'm not sure what halo you mean.

The DVDs were of a very inferior quality. They were fine for the limited resolution of VHS, but on DVD, they were really the pits. Especially on HD TVs. This upgrade was long in coming.

 

[johnnybear]

Well I'd read and have been speaking with a few LIS fans and they all talk about a glow around the ship when it was travelling in space during the third season! Now that would put me well off!
JB