Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun Rewatch
September 19, 2015 11:20 AM - Season 3, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Having been found trespassing into Melkotian space, Captain Kirk and his companions are sent to die in a re-enactment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
"Spectre of the Gun" (originally titled "The Last Gunfight") was first broadcast on October 25, 1968, and repeated on April 4, 1969. This show was the last episode to air on NBC at 10 P.M. on Fridays. It is episode #61, production #56, and was written by former producer Gene Coon (under the pen name of Lee Cronin) and directed by Vincent McEveety.
Memory Alpha Link
Tor.com Review
Doux Reviews
The episode can be viewed on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
"Spectre of the Gun" (originally titled "The Last Gunfight") was first broadcast on October 25, 1968, and repeated on April 4, 1969. This show was the last episode to air on NBC at 10 P.M. on Fridays. It is episode #61, production #56, and was written by former producer Gene Coon (under the pen name of Lee Cronin) and directed by Vincent McEveety.
Memory Alpha Link
Tor.com Review
Doux Reviews
The episode can be viewed on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Ain't makin' no big claims about it. Jes' so happens.
posted by Herodios at 3:20 PM on September 19, 2015
posted by Herodios at 3:20 PM on September 19, 2015
I think this is my least favorite episode of the entire series.
posted by briank at 5:44 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 5:44 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
It occurs to me that this episode is the primordial model for all railroaded D&D games. "You try to do something ingenious? It doesn't work. You try to run away? It doesn't work. You try to make piece it...OK, roll Diplomacy. A crit? It...doesn't work."
posted by happyroach at 7:35 PM on September 19, 2015
posted by happyroach at 7:35 PM on September 19, 2015
I really like this one and think it's one of the strongest of the third season. They make a virtue of the slashed budget, going for a kind of avant garde, minimalist approach. The sets barely exist, and they don't pretend otherwise. There's real tension in the plot, the way they keep trying sensible, smart things and every single effort ends in failure. The whole "it can only hurt you if you believe in it" thing is pretty effective too. It makes you wonder: if somebody was going to point an imaginary gun at you that could only kill you if you believed it existed, could you actually will yourself not to believe in it and survive or would you end up bleeding to death from imaginary bullets?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:32 PM on September 20, 2015
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:32 PM on September 20, 2015
This is the only episode that deals in outright surrealism.
We've had eps that were unrealistic, absurd, illogical, nonsensical, non sequitur . . . We've seen humans granted god-like powers and we've visited and been visited by god-like non-human beings. . . . We've seen time travel, telepathy, telempathy, telekinesis, mind-sharing, body-swapping, shape-shifting . . . We've been transported to bottled environments created and controlled by powers beyond ken* . . . We've experienced manufactured illusions on a planetary scale . . .
But never before or since have we seen clocks and pictures hanging on non-existent walls. With very few exceptions, nothing exists in "Tombstone" that doesn't directly pertain to the plot -- either the dramatic plot or that of the Melkotians.
Ii's a fine example of making a virtue of necessity.
------------------------------
* or Barbie for that matter.
posted by Herodios at 8:02 AM on September 21, 2015
We've had eps that were unrealistic, absurd, illogical, nonsensical, non sequitur . . . We've seen humans granted god-like powers and we've visited and been visited by god-like non-human beings. . . . We've seen time travel, telepathy, telempathy, telekinesis, mind-sharing, body-swapping, shape-shifting . . . We've been transported to bottled environments created and controlled by powers beyond ken* . . . We've experienced manufactured illusions on a planetary scale . . .
But never before or since have we seen clocks and pictures hanging on non-existent walls. With very few exceptions, nothing exists in "Tombstone" that doesn't directly pertain to the plot -- either the dramatic plot or that of the Melkotians.
Ii's a fine example of making a virtue of necessity.
------------------------------
* or Barbie for that matter.
posted by Herodios at 8:02 AM on September 21, 2015
Wasn't there a TNG episode that has Picard and Data and maybe a couple other cast members (Worf?) trapped in some bizarre hotel that they can't leave? I vaguely recall it, and thinking that this episode was the justification for its existence. (It's a callback to Spectre of the Gun!)
But I also recall thinking that episode was at least... eh, not so bad, whereas this one is just horrid.
Very early in Star Trek fandom there was a fan story - it was collected in a professionally published anthology of fan-written stories sometime in the 70s I think - that had to be the ultimate fan service story. Due to the usual outrageous transporter malfunction, Kirk, Spock and McCoy switch places with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley. So we get to watch a bunch of actors try to pass for their characters and run a real starship while the crew of the Enterprise discover they are suddenly making a TV show about themselves.
I mean if you had to make an episode with no budget, why not just do that? It would have been Citizen Kane compared to this episode.
I really do not like this episode.
posted by Naberius at 11:43 AM on September 22, 2015
But I also recall thinking that episode was at least... eh, not so bad, whereas this one is just horrid.
Very early in Star Trek fandom there was a fan story - it was collected in a professionally published anthology of fan-written stories sometime in the 70s I think - that had to be the ultimate fan service story. Due to the usual outrageous transporter malfunction, Kirk, Spock and McCoy switch places with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley. So we get to watch a bunch of actors try to pass for their characters and run a real starship while the crew of the Enterprise discover they are suddenly making a TV show about themselves.
I mean if you had to make an episode with no budget, why not just do that? It would have been Citizen Kane compared to this episode.
I really do not like this episode.
posted by Naberius at 11:43 AM on September 22, 2015
Wasn't there a TNG episode that has Picard and Data and maybe a couple other cast members (Worf?) trapped in some bizarre hotel that they can't leave? I vaguely recall it....
But I also recall thinking that episode was at least... eh, not so bad....
Your vague memory is being far far too kind to "The Royale." I'd probably rank it among the bottom three TNG episodes, were I making a list. (Although I don't know whether it's a deliberate reference to SotG or just happens to have a similar plot.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:55 AM on September 22, 2015
But I also recall thinking that episode was at least... eh, not so bad....
Your vague memory is being far far too kind to "The Royale." I'd probably rank it among the bottom three TNG episodes, were I making a list. (Although I don't know whether it's a deliberate reference to SotG or just happens to have a similar plot.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:55 AM on September 22, 2015
The Royale is okay if you put it in the context of early TNG. The first couple of seasons are really, really rough, and in the context of episodes like Angel One or the pilot, The Royale is competent and has an interestingly wacky, TOS-style premise. It's very Roddenberry-y.
I'm surprised by the hate for Spectre, and I'm honestly not seeing what's so awful about it. With most episodes people hate I can at least see the problem, but this one seems to work well to me. Is it just the funky sets?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:04 PM on September 22, 2015
I'm surprised by the hate for Spectre, and I'm honestly not seeing what's so awful about it. With most episodes people hate I can at least see the problem, but this one seems to work well to me. Is it just the funky sets?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:04 PM on September 22, 2015
Very early in Star Trek fandom there was a fan story - it was collected in a professionally published anthology of fan-written stories sometime in the 70s I think - that had to be the ultimate fan service story. Due to the usual outrageous transporter malfunction, Kirk, Spock and McCoy switch places with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley. So we get to watch a bunch of actors try to pass for their characters and run a real starship while the crew of the Enterprise discover they are suddenly making a TV show
That'd be two stories - "Visit to a Strange Planet", where Kirk goes to Earth, and "Visit to a Strange Planet Revisited", where Shatner goes to the Enterprise. I think the anthology was "Star Trek: The New Voyages" or something like that. Oh, to be able to professionally publish my fanfiction....
posted by Mogur at 4:58 PM on September 22, 2015
That'd be two stories - "Visit to a Strange Planet", where Kirk goes to Earth, and "Visit to a Strange Planet Revisited", where Shatner goes to the Enterprise. I think the anthology was "Star Trek: The New Voyages" or something like that. Oh, to be able to professionally publish my fanfiction....
posted by Mogur at 4:58 PM on September 22, 2015
Oh, to be able to professionally publish my fanfiction....
Seriously, just change the character names and the title to something that's not quite the original but very obviously based on it, and publish 'em as eBooks. Maybe you'll be like those ladies who made a mint with their NOT-QUITE-TWILIGHT book. (Actually, maybe you could just call your books NOT Star Trek and label them as parodies. Seems to work fine for the porn folks.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:24 PM on September 22, 2015
Seriously, just change the character names and the title to something that's not quite the original but very obviously based on it, and publish 'em as eBooks. Maybe you'll be like those ladies who made a mint with their NOT-QUITE-TWILIGHT book. (Actually, maybe you could just call your books NOT Star Trek and label them as parodies. Seems to work fine for the porn folks.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:24 PM on September 22, 2015
Star Trek couldn't leave the Wild West alone and all three episodes are poor.
posted by zadcat at 12:41 AM on September 23, 2015
posted by zadcat at 12:41 AM on September 23, 2015
Huh. I've always found A Fistful of Datas to be a little over-cute, but I thought it was a fan fave. I don't even remember the Enterprise "ancient West" episode. Maybe I should re-watch that series sometime, because I mostly remember it as a pleasant but disappointing follow-up to the other Treks and maybe it's better if you look at it as its own thing. I suspect it's still rather bland though. DS9, it was not.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:40 AM on September 23, 2015
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:40 AM on September 23, 2015
Ursula Hitler, Enterprise was not DS9 but it was better than Voyager. I finally got around to watching all of Enterprise not long ago and was agreeably surprised. No Q, no holodeck, only the faintest whiff of the Borg, no child actors with any lines, only one Ferengi episode, and very little mysticism – all good things. They never did find gripping themes to drive their plot arcs (the Temporal Cold War never added up to much, and the Xindi never felt like anything but an "enemy goes here" placeholder) but individual episodes are sometimes fine. But Enterprise revisited both the Ancient West and the Nazis, which the old show also did.
I don't think anyone but Kirk's crew ever got to Sigma Iotia II though, more's the pity.
posted by zadcat at 6:49 AM on September 23, 2015
I don't think anyone but Kirk's crew ever got to Sigma Iotia II though, more's the pity.
posted by zadcat at 6:49 AM on September 23, 2015
Feel I should note that "Visit to a Strange Planet Revisited" appears to be the uncredited basis of Galaxy Quest. I once corresponded via proxy with the author on this and she stated that the filmmakers had not contacted her but that she wasn't going to do anything about it, in part because she liked Galaxy Quest so much.
posted by mwhybark at 10:54 PM on September 23, 2015
posted by mwhybark at 10:54 PM on September 23, 2015
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by happyroach at 1:04 PM on September 19, 2015 [3 favorites]