Spectre of the Gun

[Jonas Grumby]

The order in which the Earps are walking from left to right keeps changing in different shots

I noticed this years ago, I just thought it was deliberate on the part of the director.

I did, too. And I thought it was an inspired touch.

On my first viewing of the episode, I didn't specifically pay any attention to the order of the line up; I just knew that, for some reason, those scenes felt vaguely odd and unsettling. I think that's exactly what the director intended.

 

[Unicron]

That could certainly be the case, given the nature of the episode. I've just always found it to be more distracting than anything else, and I think perhaps the sequence would look better if the line up was more consistent.

 

[Steve67]

It's been awhile since I've watched them all, but I'm sure that among third season episodes, "Spectre of the Gun" would be in my top five. But that's for another thread (and if it exists, I'll post that list there).

 

[Willieck]

Just watched this, again. Definitely one of my TOS favourites. (See my TOS revisited thread) Have not noticed the changing order but surely it must be deliberate (?). What I did think was that all the guns did not seem to be firing.

 

[Steve67]

Looks like Shatner's performing this kick!

 

[Roberta Lincoln]

Having just seen all episodes of Sapphire & Steel (I thought they were great, btw), I agree that it has the same feel as Spectre of the Gun.

The musical score in Spectre is great, also.

And it does look like Shatner is doing the jump kick!

 

[Steve67]

As I've said before, "Spectre of the Gun" is a triumph of style over substance. Weak story, but I love the theatrical, minimalist sets and the surreal atmosphere.

That's something I really like about the third season: arty direction and interesting camera angles that would become a trademark of mid-'60s to early-'70s TV shows that all but vanished by the late '70s. After twenty plus years of highly conservative direction, Spectre of the Gun looks positively refreshing (or "positively dated" if you don't share my unabashed love of the 1965-75 timeframe.

 

[Warped9]

I just revisited this episode:

“Spectre Of The Gun” ****

An alien race sentence Kirk and his crew to die...in 1880s Tombstone, Arizona.

When I was younger I was not a fan of this episode. I thought it was just okay and admittedly part of what bothered me was the incomplete sets of the supposed western town that the landing party is dispatched to. But over the years I've learned to appreciate this episode more because I grew to understand the symbolism and surreality involved. And I like the music with the harmonica which really helped set the atmosphere.

Everyone in the story except Kirk and company see everything around them as complete and real. And yet, as McCoy states, the town and buildings look incomplete to the Enterprise landing party. The symbolism is that Kirk and company are in something of a twilight state of mind, much like dreaming, where often the environments in our dreams make little sense to us when remembered while awake, and yet we behave as if those surroundings are real when we're there in our dreams when asleep. And it's that surreality that's the clue to what's really going on long before Spock figures out why their antiquated gas grenade fails to work as expected.

The ending of the episode nails it: the Enterprise never actually passed the Melkot buoy to establish orbit for Kirk and company to beam down planetside. The entire sequence of events was a powerful telepathic fiction of the Melkots. And it all starts with each member of the bridge crew first hearing the Melkotian buoy's message in each of their own language.

"Spectre Of The Gun" is a variation of "The Corbomite Maneuver" in that the Melkot are testing the Enterprise crew in their own way much as Balok tested them by threatening them with certain destruction.

My opinion of this episode and story rose as I learned to better understand how it was all supposed to work. It also speaks of using a budgetary limitation and turning it into an asset...at least as far as this story is concerned. It also delivers what I think is a powerful message: mankind ready to kill...and choosing not to.

It's a cool sounding title too.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Oops I didn't even see this thread when I started that other one last night... (http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=142967)

Anyway, yeah this is my favourite episode. I really like the red sky and just the building facades (and how when inside the building, the sky and outdoor surroundings are still present).... all like an "alien Old West" thing there... very cool effect (esp. since the sparse set was mostly due to budget restrictions, as I recall).

Chekov couldn't die fast enough in this episode in my opinion. Scotty, on the other hand, was hilarious when he immediately ordered "half a gallon of Scotch" upon entering the bar and later:
Scotty (looking at a shot he just poured and at Spock): It's to kill the pain.
Spock (as Scotty downs the shot): But this is painless.
Scotty: Well, you should've warned me sooner, Mr. Spock. Fire away.

(I wonder if they used real alcohol or just colored apple juice or something like that....)

When compared to TNG episodes set in the Old West, I'll take Spectre of the Gun every time.

 

[Warped9]

When compared to TNG episodes set in the Old West, I'll take Spectre of the Gun every time.

TNG's "A Fistful Of Datas" is basically fluff compared to "Spectre Of The Gun."

 

[scotpens]

The scene between Kirk and Ed the barkeep is another classic.

"Feel the material in my shirt..."

KIRK: Feel the material in my shirt. Now feel the material in your own shirt. Do you notice any difference?

BARMAN: Nope.

In James Blish's story adaptation, IIRC, the barman comments that Kirk's shirt feels "a mite cleaner, maybe." Too bad that line wasn't in the script!

 

[ToddPence]

In James Blish's story adaptation, IIRC, the barman comments that Kirk's shirt feels "a mite cleaner, maybe." Too bad that line wasn't in the script!

There's another great line from Blish which wasn't in the episode. In his exchange with Doc Holliday, McCoy in the role of Tom McLaury mentions that he is also from Georgia. Holliday says "Is that a fact? I never knew that. Why, now, that's a cryin' shame, me havin' to kill another Georgia man, what with this place crawlin' with Yankees and all."

Postscript: The real-life Tom McLaury was actually from New York, making him just another Yankee.

 

[Warped9]

There's kind of a neat irony in that DeForest Kelley previously did quite a few western films.

 

[Expo67]

Definately a surrealistic episode, but one that was entertaining. Especially when it had western TV show actors like the late Ron Soble, Rex Holman(who re-appeared in Star Trek V as J'Onn), the late Charles Maxwell, the late Sam Gilman, the late Bill Zuckert, and the late Charles Seel.

As a matter of fact, I used this episode as the basis for the set construction of a stage production I had written in college about the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral. Kudos to the set designers of the Star Trek production crew back in 1968. It certainly paid off then and some twenty-five years later.

 

[ToddPence]

There's kind of a neat irony in that DeForest Kelley previously did quite a few western films.

Including, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"

 

[Gary7]

When compared to TNG episodes set in the Old West, I'll take Spectre of the Gun every time.

TNG's "A Fistful Of Datas" is basically fluff compared to "Spectre Of The Gun."

Agreed! Your writeup on this episode is excellent, Warp9. I can really relate to it. When I was a kid and saw this for the first time, I didn't like it. I wasn't into Westerns to begin with, but the partial sets also put me off. Experiencing it an adult, the value of this episode is really quite strong. Also quite a mind trip to realize that they'd never gone past the space buoy. A major feat to not only do that level of mental manipulation, but to create a group hypnosis of sorts where they can communicate/interact together. Wouldn't the mind meld be fictional at that point? Or, one could say, with everything being imaginary, the placebo effect of the 'virtual' mind meld would be just as effective.

 

[Steve67]

When I was a kid and saw this for the first time, I didn't like it. I wasn't into Westerns to begin with, but the partial sets also put me off. Experiencing it an adult, the value of this episode is really quite strong. Also quite a mind trip to realize that they'd never gone past the space buoy. A major feat to not only do that level of mental manipulation, but to create a group hypnosis of sorts where they can communicate/interact together. Wouldn't the mind meld be fictional at that point? Or, one could say, with everything being imaginary, the placebo effect of the 'virtual' mind meld would be just as effective.

I've always liked the wind machine/thunder-and-lightning effects during Spectre of the Gun's finale, especially as it lights our heroes' faces during the hypnotism scene.

That's the thing about TOS that keeps me interested in it as an adult. As a kid, I could enjoy a show for the phasers, the ships, and Kirk's fighting style whereas now I can take note of the surrealism, political and sociological allegories and of course the phasers, ships, and Kirk's fighting style...I've said this before, but what the hey.

 

[siskokid888]

For me, the interesting thing about this ep is that up until then, when the story of the shooting at the OK corral was portrayed, the Earps and Holliday were the good guys, and Clanton and company were the "bad guys". ("My Darling Clementine", etc). This was the first time that the Earps were marked as the "bad guys". Interestingly, the last 2 portrayals - "Tombstone" and "wyatt Earp" - the Earps are again the "good guys".

 

[Steve67]

For me, the interesting thing about this ep is that up until then, when the story of the shooting at the OK corral was portrayed, the Earps and Holliday were the good guys, and Clanton and company were the "bad guys". ("My Darling Clementine", etc). This was the first time that the Earps were marked as the "bad guys". Interestingly, the last 2 portrayals - "Tombstone" and "wyatt Earp" - the Earps are again the "good guys".

Ever see Hour of the Gun (1967)? James Garner-as-Wyatt was one ruthless SOB, so the revisionism had already started by the time Spectre of the Gun aired.

IIRC, Costner in Wyatt Earp wasn't exactly the typical "good guy", either.

 

[BillJ]

When I was a kid and saw this for the first time, I didn't like it. I wasn't into Westerns to begin with, but the partial sets also put me off. Experiencing it an adult, the value of this episode is really quite strong. Also quite a mind trip to realize that they'd never gone past the space buoy. A major feat to not only do that level of mental manipulation, but to create a group hypnosis of sorts where they can communicate/interact together. Wouldn't the mind meld be fictional at that point? Or, one could say, with everything being imaginary, the placebo effect of the 'virtual' mind meld would be just as effective.

I've always liked the wind machine/thunder-and-lightning effects during Spectre of the Gun's finale, especially as it lights our heroes' faces during the hypnotism scene.

That's the thing about TOS that keeps me interested in it as an adult. As a kid, I could enjoy a show for the phasers, the ships, and Kirk's fighting style whereas now I can take note of the surrealism, political and sociological allegories and of course the phasers, ships, and Kirk's fighting style...I've said this before, but what the hey.