Spectre of the Gun

Season 3, Episode 6, Aired
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Episode Summary

When coming to an exaphobic isolationist planet, Captain Kirk and his landing party are punished for trespassing. They are sentenced to death in a surreal recreation of the Gunfight at the OK Corral with the landing on the losing side.
7.7
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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

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  • Once you get past the fact it's a Western...

    9.2
    "Superb"
    By Gislef, Jan 31, 2011 Report Abuse
    This is another of those third season episodes that belies the generally held opinion that the third season is garbage. Yes, it's what they call "high concept": "What if Kirk went to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral?"

    You get another alien/alien race in the third season, though. The Melkots sharing some mild similarities with the Medusans, Excalbians, and Vians. This is another race that is unfamiliar with humanity and are really "alien." You can't really say the idea of executing someone with their memories is dumb because... well, that's human thinking. The Melkot have their own alien ideas about how to dispose of intruders and that's what they do. They're not interested in experimenting on humans or getting along: they just want to get rid of them and move along with their lives.

    There's the usual clever Gene L. Coon dialogue along the way, and the episode is filled with all kinds of cute little quotes and asides like McCoy and Holiday as fellow doctors, and Chekov flirting with a local even in the middle of an execution. The sets add an appropriate surreal touch to the whole thing and neatly goes from a general sense of the unureal, to the cold hard fact of Chekov's death, to Spock figuring out the whole thing. Spock saving the day third-season style is a bit irritating, as this is another of those "Spock can do anything" third season plot resolutions. Still, the guest cast has fun with this mini-Western, and Kelley no doubt had fun comparing it to his own appearances in a Earp/Clanton movie years earlier.

    So overall a good episode to watch, and it stands up well in any season. It's just regrettably one of those that gets buried in with some of the third season muck.moreless

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  • The Enterprise landing party is sentenced to death for refusing to wear cowboy hats

    5.7
    "Mediocre"
    By hrtonslv, Jan 31, 2011 Report Abuse
    I thought the Melkot's test was quite poor. (That was Doohan's voice by the way) It reminded me a bit of "The Savage Curtain" which actually came later. I thought an "Arena" like test would be better. You see the "You did not kill?" is an interesting topic. It did not come out that well here. It's almost like the whole OK corral thing lead the script instead of the idea and lesson of the episode leading the story as it should have.moreless

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  • Kirk and other members of the Enterprise crew find themselves on a world surrealistically mirroring the old west, where they are meant to be killed in the famous gunfight at the O.K Corral.moreless

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Celedorian, Dec 17, 2010 Report Abuse
    This a "western" episode that was the victim of a severe budget cut, but the script was cleverly rewritten and directed to turn the lack of sets into cool, little surreal episode. (It's also nice that the episode was given original score one of the best instead of relying on tracked music from previous episodes.) Because of the sparse, fragmented sets, Spectre of the Gun comes across almost like a stage play which augments the talents of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, and Doohan. I also like how the ending, which could have easily been dues ex machina, is not mindless or predictable but thoughtful and interesting.moreless

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  • Punishing the Enterprise for trespassing, an alien being puts Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Chekov in a re-enactment of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which they are on the losing side. Not as much fun as it should be...moreless

    7.5
    "Good"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Dec 15, 2010 Report Abuse
    Although shown a few episodes in, 'Spectre of the Gun' was the first episode to be produced for the third, final season of the Original Series.

    By now, the series had seen many stories that played with various stages from Earth (particularly America)'s past. Some use the infamously over-used "parallel Earth" plot device, and others are to do with alien beings creating the surroundings. This is an example of the latter.
    As such, the episode does somewhat feel like a retread of some earlier stories, adding to the 'tired' feel that generally goes with the third season anyway.

    It is maybe an obvious setting for an episode, as in many ways the series can be described as a "Western space opera". But the story comes off with mixed results.

    Setting-wise it is one of the more interesting of the third (and weakest) of the show's three seasons.
    But the episode's main flaw is that it looks so darn cheap. I can go along with the incomplete buildings (apparently a creative decision due to budget limitations), but everything just looks so cheap and flimsy, and not all that nice to look at.

    The plot is also mixed. It feels like it should be an awful lot of fun, but winds up as a so-so offering. The concept of Kirk and co. being put into a re-enactment of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in fact, the whole Western setting in general should be great fun, but things come off as average at best.

    It is one of the more interesting and memorable settings of the third season, but that's not really saying much.moreless

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  • A really good episode...if you can suspend belief, but hey its science fiction!

    7.7
    "Good"
    By neligan, Sep 23, 2006 Report Abuse
    As I say you need to leave your scientific analytical brain eldewhere to really enjoy this. Yes, you can pick lots of holes in it but I don\'t think that was ever the point here. Star Trek is basically a western set in space, remember the western genre was very popular back in the sixties when this was made. In fact this is a parody on the whole series. I liked the crew interaction especially the scene where Scotty unsuccessfully tries the knock out gas and experiments with the whiskey. Spock as usual is the hero and it was interesting not to see the scene where the mind meld is broken. A very good 'switch off and enjoy' episode.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Although the Earps and Doc Holliday walk four abreast, and even in a march (synchronized steps), the positions of the men in the line shift from scene to scene. Doc Holliday, for example, starts at the left end (as you look at them), moves one position right, and is on the right end as the four gunmen arrive at the Corral. Edit
    • Maybe the whole thing is some weird test, but if the Melkotians' whole illusion thing can be dispelled by disbelief of the setting's realism... why is the whole thing so... unrealistic? Buildings have no wall, physical laws don't apply, etc. You'd think the Melkotians would want to make the setting as realistic as possible so the Enterprise people wouldn't disbelieve it and prevent their execution. Edit
    • The gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place behind the O.K. Corral, not in it. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Originally it was intended for the role that Chekov played was to be played by another crewman and doesn't come back to life in the end. Edit
    • Rex Holman, who plays Morgan Earp, would later appear in the fifth Trek movie as J'Onn. Edit
    • DeForrest Kelley gets to play both sides of the fence - in the 1957 movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral he played Morgan Earp. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Spock: True telepaths can be most formidable. Edit
    • Spock: Captain. This afternoon you wanted to kill. McCoy: But he didn't kill, Mr. Spock. Spock: But he wanted to, Doctor. Kirk: Mr. Spock, you're exactly right. Spock: Mankind... ready to kill. Kirk: That's the way it was back in 1881. Spock: I wonder how humanity managed to survive. Kirk: We overcame our instinct for violence. Edit
    • Spock: Physical reality is consistent with universal laws. Where the laws do not operate, there is no reality -- we judge reality by the responses of our senses. Once we are convinced of the reality of a given situation, we abide by its rules. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • McCoy: Taos Lightning There actually is such a thing - according to one recipe it was made with two quarts alcohol, a few burnt peaches, and a plug of black tobacco (rattlesnake heads added according to preference), all put together in a keg and filled with five gallons of water and left to sit. Yum. Some accounts say it was whiskey rather than bourbon though. Edit
    • The Earps: Triplet Brothers
      In one interesting regard, this episode is actually more historically accurate then most movies revolving around the famous shootout - the Earp brothers were practically triplets, and this resemblence further bosltered their almost supernatural reputation. Deliberately or not, the three actors who play the Earps here, Rex Holman, Charles Maxwell, and Ron Soble, all bear a strong resemblence to each other. Edit

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