Spectre of the Fun, a retrospective of a third season episode

[Qonundrum]

Just rewatched this little stinker of a story.

The build-up and increased suspense, coming to a slow boil, is brilliantly handled and directed. Indeed, when we see the Earps walk across the screen, with each Earp waiting to join in with the rest, is one of the best directed moments - in a story using more camera angles and tricks to sell the "baddies", all of which are from Kirk's mind and history used for macabre and ultimately theatrical effect. Yes, Trek has done the mind scan and vicious past routine before, but not as original as this, and it is highly successful.

Spock's realization is simply first rate.

The mind melds sublime - especially when we see Spock and McCoy's intercut with the Earps with even a fantastic jump scare I'd forgotten existed.

Chekov "getting the girl" is an odd but refreshing twist and there's no cornball "let me teach you about love (but before I vanish for next week's rendezvous)", the weaving of this into the story is exceptionally well-crafted and feels far more "natural dialogue" than many shows today... all despite TOS using more theatrical methods typical of the 1960s!

I love how Scotty gets another round of being goaded (see "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode, except here he's falling for the Melkotian trap and also feels more natural; than the "Tribbles" episode's more theatrical approach.)

Along with the use of surrealism for the sets, the effort putting into the actual shootout in creating the bullet holes in the fence was nothing less than magnificent.

There's something incredibly odd about the use of the Star Trek font used exclusively for the "SHERRIFF" sign, for which I'd say "fourth wall" except the other three walls aren't seen and there's no direct or spoonfed nod. The camera lingers on the sign twice in the story; the first might be foreshadowing a parallel to the story or the story's overall theme as the Federation is a galactic sheriff in a way, but it is the second time that truly intrigues as the Sheriff goads Kirk, who in turn has just about had it. A poignant and multifaceted scene in its own right, it is a pivotal moment for the episode's message.

Some say season 3 is a stinker. I will say it's a mixed bag, with the gems overlooked and unsung stories deemed underwhelming or worse and sometimes without reason or context. This episode is none of those. It's a classic in its build-up and tone. Don't expect constant dopamine, let it build up. The payoffs are well worth basking in its experience for 49 minutes. Or 51 if you sit through both opening and closing credits too. This episode exemplifies Trek to its core, using innovative twists to compensate for budgetary constraints. It's a winner.

9/10

 

[Ssosmcin]

Just rewatched this little stinker of a story.

Nah it's awesome.

Some say season 3 is a stinker.

Nah it's awesome.

This episode exemplifies Trek to its core, using innovative twists to compensate for budgetary constraints. It's a winner.

Yup, it's awesome.

9/10

Agreed.

 

[CoveTom]

Some say season 3 is a stinker. I will say it's a mixed bag, with the gems overlooked and unsung stories deemed underwhelming or worse and sometimes without reason or context. This episode is none of those. It's a classic in its build-up and tone. Don't expect constant dopamine, let it build up. The payoffs are well worth basking in its experience for 49 minutes. Or 51 if you sit through both opening and closing credits too. This episode exemplifies Trek to its core, using innovative twists to compensate for budgetary constraints. It's a winner.

This is a lesson that modern Hollywood needs to re-learn. I often use Aliens as an example. It is considered a classic action movie. Yet not one damn bit of action occurs in the first hour of the film. It's all build-up. And it works better than most films today that start with the action from the first frame.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Not just modern Hollywood, but younger audiences. "I can't watch TOS. It's so slow."

 

[Warp Core Breach]

I love this episode, it's probably one of my favorites of the third season. The minimalism, the half finished sets, the atmosphere, it all lends toward making use of a reduced budget well. And it's creepy as hell, too.

 

[Qonundrum]

Not just modern Hollywood, but younger audiences. "I can't watch TOS. It's so slow."

I don't believe it's a universal truism, but one hears a meme and then does their part to parrot it. Heck, there are YouTube review/reaction channels where someone now in their 50s was whining how TWOK now feels slow! (For which some possible reasons seem easier to guess at than others, but...)

 

[Tosk]

I often use Aliens as an example. It is considered a classic action movie. Yet not one damn bit of action occurs in the first hour of the film. It's all build-up. And it works better than most films today that start with the action from the first frame.

I've said similar! If you watch the Special Edition, by the time they first fire on an Alien many action movies would be about to begin their big finale or even part-way through it.

 

[Qonundrum]

This is a lesson that modern Hollywood needs to re-learn. I often use Aliens as an example. It is considered a classic action movie. Yet not one damn bit of action occurs in the first hour of the film. It's all build-up. And it works better than most films today that start with the action from the first frame.

Definitely agreed. Groundwork for who is there and why, build-up and then payoffs and shifting back and forth to make use of the runtime has a lot more going for it than whiz-bang constant camera angle change without enough (or any) context that keeps the audience engaged (which, at times, is like herding cats that just took a fresh bath in catnip juice...). Not to mention a certain YouTube that amusingly pointed out how TNG could make walking down a corridor more successful; it is about the story and its tone first. I recall a movie that opened post-opening credits with a car change and for over a minute it's cars whizzing by and "So do we assume the protagonist is in the front or the antagonist chased by the cops or is this scene pointless that has no bearing on anything except alleged thrills of watching two cars when I could just watch a dozen cars run around in a big oval track at home, counting which one does it 500 times without getting dizzy first?" If the goal is to get the audience to ponder to where they should be emotionally invested is one thing, but to ratchet up tension that complements the protagonist and their plight really needs an anchoring before the fun begins just feels more rewarding and "Spectre" definitely has a fresh shake-up while letting characters remain true to themselves... but the movie "Quantum of Solace" was a disjointed and disappointing mess (at least from the last time I'd seen it, in the theater as I didn't even watch it when getting the Craig 4K set!). Perhaps it's not without merit for ideas and some scenes, but with the overall radical format shift of "Casino Royale" (not the 1967 comedy, ha!) there were some Pavolvian expectations on what the sequel might deliver.)

Here's a fun one, how many people now try to look at "Aliens" and say "Boring"? I have to add this one to my watch list; 1 & 2 were fantastic. 3 stumbles but shrewdly tries to expand the universe than whip out the cookie cutter of inane action.

 

[Doug Otte]

I watched it again yesterday for the first time in a long while. A few thoughts:
1) I've always loved the shadows of branches against the "sky" as we see the Earps approach the shootout. How did they do it? Were the shadows projected from the front or the rear of the scrim?
2) I don't recognize the score cues from any other episode. Am I wrong?
3) Strange how Kirk didn't chastise Chekov for cavorting with Sylvia.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I watched it again yesterday for the first time in a long while. A few thoughts:
1) I've always loved the shadows of branches against the "sky" as we see the Earps approach the shootout. How did they do it? Were the shadows projected from the front or the rear of the scrim?
2) I don't recognize the score cues from any other episode. Am I wrong?
3) Strange how Kirk didn't chastise Chekov for cavorting with Sylvia.

Shadows on the sky were a bug turned into a feature, that the episode folded into its surreal setting with incomplete buildings that weren't supposed to be convincing. The sky backdrop getting hit with a shadow gives away the scale of the set, but that was okay in this episode.

Spectre of the Gun has its own original score, by Jerry Fielding. A cue will show up here and there in later episodes, but it's not a seminal score like The Naked Time or The Doomsday Machine. Fielding also did The Trouble with Tribbles, whose comedy cues made it into By Any Other Name.

 

[Doug Otte]

Shadows on the sky were a bug turned into a feature, that the episode folded into its surreal setting with incomplete buildings that weren't supposed to be convincing. The sky backdrop getting hit with a shadow gives away the scale of the set, but that was okay in this episode.

Spectre of the Gun has its own original score, by Jerry Fielding. A cue will show up here and there in later episodes, but it's not a seminal score like The Naked Time or The Doomsday Machine. Fielding also did The Trouble with Tribbles, whose comedy cues made it into By Any Other Name.

Thanks for the info about Fielding.

I wasn't clear about the trees on the sky. I'm wondering how they achieved that effect. Or, maybe it was unintentional.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I wasn't clear about the trees on the sky. I'm wondering how they achieved that effect. Or, maybe it was unintentional.

I think it was quasi-intentional. If lightning was needed on a good "fake outdoors" set (The Apple, Who Mourns for Adonais), normally a lot of care would be taken to arrange everything-- the lights, the composition, the camera angles-- to keep those shadows off the backdrop. But in the sandbox of Melkotian surrealism, they said "F--- it. We can shoot this quick and dirty." Not a real quote.

Lost in Space had an episode with a similarly surreal Old West town, done with low-cost partial buildings on a sound stage. It was "West of Mars."

I also recall at least one color episode of Lost in Space with lighting looking terrible on the fake-outdoors set, and there was no surrealism excuse. Among other things, it revealed that the mountains always seen on the horizon were not painted on the backdrop. They were painted flats placed in front of it. Lightning made the mountains cast shadows on the sky.

 

[Qonundrum]

I watched it again yesterday for the first time in a long while. A few thoughts:
1) I've always loved the shadows of branches against the "sky" as we see the Earps approach the shootout. How did they do it? Were the shadows projected from the front or the rear of the scrim?

It's so incredibly well done. Still haven't figured it out. As with the fence/bulletholes sequence (small explosive materials attached, at an angle that makes it impossible to see once triggered? And not enough booms to make the actors jump out of their pants (or other things in) and the floating clock (either close to a wall with beam holding it in place, or hanging with very fine translucent wire as one scene barely shows a very slight amount of wobble and in most other scenes the clock is utterly motionless.) So many TOS effects done with practical and optical means are simply amazing, regardless of time in which they were made; "Obsession" and "The Tholian Web" instantly come to mind for what's otherwise simplicity but look more than the sum of their parts, especially the cloudy effect for the cloud creature...

2) I don't recognize the score cues from any other episode. Am I wrong?

They could be completely new at that point (6th episode in?). Season 3, for all its budget woes, did the shrewd thing by creating new music cues and those really do work marvels.

3) Strange how Kirk didn't chastise Chekov for cavorting with Sylvia.

It does make sense to do in the story when not compared to the rest of the series as Kirk was telling everyone else to sit still, etc (at least from what I recall but in a couple/three decades' time, the biggest plus is that all these episodes will feel fresh and new on a daily level, but I digress...). I'm just glad Kirk (or Riker!) wasn't around when Janeway admonished Harry for getting busy...

Come to think of it because caffeine cola's cool, weren't they just teleported into (or shared delusion?) that place and trying to figure out the locals and situation? Kirk did briefly tell him to stop but Chekov's reply was (admittedly amusing*) and Kirk let it slide instead of reprimanding as, as commander, he should be the one copulating with all the locals figuring out the area since everything is on him. Plus, the setup makes Chekov's being shot** is given more weight - and is damn well-acted by all involved as it's rightly chilling, also letting Spock have a moment later on in realizing that history is not repeating itself contrary to the Melkotians' penalty for intrusion into their area?

* Given how tropey TOS was with "Kirk gets the lady", it's refreshing that season 3 lets others have something approaching off-duty things too***, but not going overboard (that gets saved for Kirk to ensure the trope is solidified and, indeed, it's done to better effect when another crewmember gets a possible connection in those stories. Even Uhura's in "The Man Trap" was more compelling than Kirk a lot of the time, back when the show was more ensemble and before the show solidified as "The Big Three"...)​

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** And if that doesn't redefine "Chekov's gun", nothing will, not because the actual name is "Chekhov" but for the sake of a dumb joke you bet I'll tweak it...​

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*** Usually it's left to Wrigley's Chewing Gum Pleasure Planet (renamed or in addition to "Risa") where it's implied planets exist solely for relaxation and/or getting busy... save for Kirk, who just can't get enough... which reminds of yet another completely off-the-wall and mostly-unrelated tangent apart from the phrase:​

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[Dar70]

Love this episode. I know a lot of people are not too crazy about season 3. But I love it..

 

[Ssosmcin]

They could be completely new at that point (6th episode in?). Season 3, for all its budget woes, did the shrewd thing by creating new music cues and those really do work marvels.

Every season had new music, it wasn't so much shrewd as business as usual. They weren't supposed to use music from previous seasons, even though they did. In fact, according to Jeff Bond, as I recall, the tapes were supposed to have been destroyed afterwards. Which they thankfully weren't.

In the third season, 9 episodes had original scores, and a few others had some source cues recorded. And then there were the library cues made to be dropped in wherever - usually just re-recordings of earlier season music.