Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun

Episode: "Spectre of the Gun"
Series: Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3, Episode 6
Original Air Date: October 25, 1968
via Memory Alpha
Most of the American television audience wasn't quite ready for Star Trek in the late 1960s.   Westerns, on the other hand, were huge.  Two of the great small screen leviathans of that or any era were Bonanza, weighing in at 14 seasons, and Gunsmoke at 20 plus 9 on radio.  Only The Simpsons has been on prime-time television longer than Gunsmoke.  Therefore, it is no surprise that Trek - never shy about cheesy costume dramas - devoted one of its third season episodes to the Old West.

The Enterprise and her crew are sent to make contact with the Melkotians.  When their prospective friends shoo them away, Kirk orders our heroes to push onward.  Miffed, the Melkotians grab the landing party and punish them by placing them in an O.K. Corral dreamscape as the ill-fated Clantons.  Toss in the Earps and Doc Holliday and the outlook is not great for our favorite galactic travelers.

While several of the Trek's principal actors had western appearances on their resumes, none had better credentials than Deforest Kelley (Dr. McCoy).  He had, in fact, already appeared in two other versions of the O.K. Corral story.  In 1955, he played Ike Clanton in an episode of You Are There.  He was Morgan Earp in the 1957 film, Gunfight at the OK Corral.

The Western set has a surrealist feel, using only the facades of buildings.  The choice, however, was driven by an effort to keep costs down rather than by artistic inspiration.  The vermilion red sky however, must have been a deliberate choice and I found it delightfully unsettling.

*****
via Memory Alpha
Charles Maxwell (Virgil Earp) was a veteran of television westerns.  He was born December 28, 1913 in Long Island, New York.  He made ten total appearances on Bonanza, four on Gunsmoke and four on Rawhide among many others.  His was also the (uncredited) radio announcer voice on Gilligan's Island.  Maxwell died in 1993.

18 comments:

  1. I remember really liking that episode when I was a kid.
    Hey, even The Prisoner had a western episode.

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    1. Westerns were so huge for so long. Scifi sort of replaced them, though it took a while.

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    2. Of course, some of what makes sci-fi popular is space westerns.
      heh

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    3. Well yes, Star Trek for starters. Roddenberry pitched it to network execs as "Wagon Train to the Stars."

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  2. Cheesy (enjoyably cheesy) as it was, Squid, one of my favorite Spock lines was generated by this episode:"Physical reality is consistent with universal laws. Where the laws do not apply, there is no reality." It is an observation I have accepted as axiomatic. Excellent review and synopsis!

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  3. The whole episode did have a surreal feel which worked for the episode they were trying to tell Squid.

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  4. Really liked this one. But I live in the land of western.
    Fun is Fun.

    cheers, parsnip

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  5. That episode was surrealistic in all its components, and I loved every bit of it.

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    1. One review I read put it well. A lot of the dreamy tricks that fell flat in other episodes worked for this one.

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  6. I don't remember seeing that episode. It sounds like it would be memorable. Glad the effects worked well in this one. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. They did and some of them very basic editing choices, cutting from one scene to the next.

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  7. I've never thought much about the other roles the Star Trek actors did--you always assume they were just born to play those roles! When I was a kid, I saw Devil's Rain starring William Shatner. I was terrified...but I think I was 6? We rented it to watch when i was grown and OMG it's HORRIBLE. If you ever get a chance, watch it for laughs!

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    1. Before Trek, Shatner had a reputation as an actor who would take anything just to get work. I have a feeling there are a lot of painful films from his early career.

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  8. What an amazing sky color, although it would disturb me in real life.

    I don't like it when sets look fake.

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    1. Somehow, it adds to the creepy for this one. The original script called for shooting on location but they didn't have the money for it.

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