The Savage Curtain - Like it, love it or hate it?

[johnnybear]

I've always thought that the Kahless we see here was probably nothing like that even in the original TOS reality. The image was probably taken from Kirk's mind just like his memories of reading about Colonel Green and Genghis Khan! Similarly to Spock's mental images of Surak I'm guessing to!
JB

 

[Valenti]

Great sci-fi. If you don't love this and episodes like the Return of the Archons, both being Gene's opus, you don't like Star Trek.

 

[johnnybear]

Wonder why they didn't have the season two fighting music for this episode?
JB

 

[Balok's Decoy]

It's definitely campy, but I enjoyed it. Not one of the stronger season 3 episodes, a season I find extremely underrated, but it's solid.

 

[Marsden]

It's one of my favorites. I don't have a numbering system, but I'd guess I have about 50 favorite episodes of Star Trek, then maybe 20 more that I just like and the rest will be with "And the Children Shall Lead"

 

[Spock's Barber]

It's definitely campy, but I enjoyed it. Not one of the stronger season 3 episodes, a season I find extremely underrated, but it's solid.

Yes, it's funny how each of the 3 seasons has its own distinct 'personality'.

 

[Lost Archon]

For me, it falls in the category of ‘don’t love it & don’t hate it’. For those types of episodes, I really try to look past what I’m seeing and focus more on what they’re saying, idea-wise.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I like it. It does some clever, casual world building that has inspired later ST writers. Particularly introducing Surak and Kahless. They may not be accurate interpretations of those historical figures, but it opens up the thought process on the history of their respective cultures

Well they (Surak and Kahless) were first on the creative line, so accuracy would need to be the concern of any writer who used or referred to the characters in the decades that followed.

The Excalbians are interesting, with their great power yet alarming naivete. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember liking the design of the rock-creature that interacts with the landing party. The flashing light in-time with it's speaking pattern maybe doesn't make sense, but I like the visual.

Agreed. Contrary to stale stereotypes about TOS, once again we see a unique alien design, truly pushing the boundaries of using regular actors with minor costume/make up details. In this seaso alone, add the Melkotian from "Spectre of the Gun", and you have Star Trek certainly outclassing the Irwin Allen productions of the 60s, where silver and/or gold grease paint & costumes meant "alien"/"spacey", and in many ways The Next Generation where the Westmore make up is best known for being described as the "forehead / forehead bump of the week" instead of anything truly inventive.

The episode has an interesting idea in terms of exploring which is going to be a more effective set of guiding principles to live by, good or evil. The episode doesn't delve into a more nuanced examination of it, but it makes the episode more interesting to reason that the Excalbians really are lost in terms of conceptualizing this dichotomy, they can't design an experiment very effectively, and (to my mind) they end up coming to a conclusion that is simplistic and wrong.

Its a fascinating profile for a species, as they cannot be reasoned with, since the foundation for their beliefs were sociopathic in nature, so there was no way to reach a moral middle ground with them. It always made me wonder how they could have lived so long with no sense of good or evil--even if only to stand in opposition to one side or the other.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I watch Savage Curtain just to see more of my Trek babe, Zora.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I watch Savage Curtain just to see more of my Trek babe, Zora.

This is one of the things I'm not crazy about in The Savage Curtain. I vote that, going forward, when Spock wrestles a woman he should win.

 

[F. King Daniel]

A fun, goofy episode. Space Lincoln!!

 

[Spock's Barber]

A fun, goofy episode. Space Lincoln!!

Almost as funny as Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter.

 

[Terok Nor]

Things I loved

- The premise of good versus evil
- Seeing the crew's interpretation of historical figures
- Lincoln was brilliant
- Surak was good
- Colonel Green was deliciously evil
- Kirk's innacurate misconception of Kahless is funny in retrospect
- Zora seemed interesting

What I didn't like

- Uhura's last episode
- The Excalbian looks like a streaming pile of

 

[Spock's Barber]

- Zora seemed interesting

IIRC, neither she nor Genghis Khan uttered a single word during this episode. That was bizarre.

 

[Terok Nor]

IIRC, neither she nor Genghis Khan uttered a single word during this episode. That was bizarre.

I'd like to see at least an episode dealing with Zora and her atrocities.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

- The Excalbian looks like a streaming pile of

Not too long after I saw this episode as a little kid I remember telling my mom when she asked where I had been for so long that I had just made an excalbian. She wasn't too happy when I explained it to her. I didn't remember Yarnek's name, that would have sounded better.

 

[Terok Nor]

Not too long after I saw this episode as a little kid I remember telling my mom when she asked where I had been for so long that I had just made an excalbian. She wasn't too happy when I explained it to her. I didn't remember Yarnek's name, that would have sounded better.

 

[Tenacity]

Episode gave Nichelle Nichols a nice scene.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

I enjoy it because it reminds me of Rudolph's Shiny New Year, where our favourite reindeer must save the New Year's Baby with the help of a caveman, a knight, and Ben Franklin. Even the sets look the same.

 

[plynch]

That's amazing.