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Star Trek - Spectre of the Gun
episode 3.6
Raumschiff Enterprise - Wildwest im Weltraum
USA 1968
produced by
Fred Freiberger, Gene Roddenberry (executive) for Norway Corporation, Paramount/NBC
directed by Vincent McEveety
starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Ron Soble, Bonnie Beecher, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman, Sam Gilman, Charles Seel, Bill Zuckert, Ed McCready, Abraham Sofaer (voice)
written by Gene L. Coon (as Lee Cronin), created by Gene Roddenberry, music by Jerry Fielding
TV series
Star Trek, Classic Star Trek, Star Trek (original crew), Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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The Enterprise want to enter orbit of Melkot, a so far unexplored
planet, but are warned off by a telepathic voice (Abraham Sofaer), as
apparently the Melkotians think humans are warmongering creatures. Of
course, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and company won't listen, so
suddenly he and his landing party - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest
Kelley), Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig) - find
themselves in a half-built Western town, and all their modern gadgets are
gone and their fazers replaced with handguns. A little investigation
reveals to them that they're in Tombstone, where everybody thinks they're
the Clantons - with Chekov being Billy Claiborne -, and the Wyatt Earp
(Ron Soble) and his brothers (Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman) and Doc
Holliday (Sam Gilman) are zeroing in on them for the legendary gunfight at
O.K. Corral - which is to be this very day. Now this is worrying as our
heroes figure one can't change history - even if they're obviously in a
mock Western town - and the Clantons lost the gunfight. So of course, Kirk
and company are concerned, and they even try to talk the Earps out of
things, but to no avail. Only one of the crew isn't worried, Chekov, who
has a romance going on with a bargirl (Bonnie Beecher) - and as a result
of that, he's shot dead by the Clantons. This is of course tragic, but
also gives the others hope, because Billy Claiborne did actually survive
the gunfight at O.K. Carrol to live another day - which means history can
be changed. The problem is of course how, because when McCoy tries to
build a tranquilizer bomb, it fails to work, even though even Spock
confirms there's no reason this shouldn't work. But this gives Spock an
idea, if the tranquilizer doesn't work, then maybe it isn't real, thus
bullets might not be real either - and thus he hypnotizes the others into
not believing in bullets, so at the gunfight, the Clantons and Holliday
empty their guns in vain, and ultimately, Kirk gives Wyatt Earp a good
beating but refrains from killing him - which in turn convinces the
Melkotians that the humans are not as warmongering as thought and have
good in them, and thus not only are human welcome on the planet, also
Chekov's restored to life again. A fun episode for sure, as
seeing the familiar faces of Shatner and company in historic enviroments
trying to figure out a puzzle to avert certain doom is always a good
premise, and despite the occasional plothole or inaccuracy it's handled
very well here, mainly because the story uses the characters to good
effect and despite glimpses of humour it doesn't go all goofy. And the
sets - a mock only half-finished Western town in front of permanently red
skies - are rather impressive, especially knowing that they're actually a
compromise since an outside shoot would have been outside of budget
restraints, as would have been a fully built Western town on a soundstage.
But the town as it is gives the episode an almost allegorical quality. An
entertaining watch for sure, and deservedly a fan favourite.
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