I have watched all of the Star Treks with you guys, enjoyed it for the most part. I have heard you make comments about Sulu not being there. He was probably filming the Green Berets with John Wayne! you guys are killing me not knowing who Wyatt Earp is. Deforest Kelly played Morgan Earp in the Major Motion Picture Gunfight at the OK corral (1957) featured Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, Lee Van Cleef and Dennis Hopper. Giant actors! (Michael Douglas's Dad) Kirk Douglas died in 2020 at the age of 103.
@@ronchapman4112 Somebody had to be in charge of the ship while the three or four most senior command officers were away. Assuming they had really gone down to the planet, and not just been made to believe that they had.
Well, Josh, I have been watching TOS since I was old enough to turn on a television set, and I have concluded that if we could see all of the Melkots through the fog, they would have a body like a sauropod like brontosaurus or diplodocus, but about the size of an elephant. And, you could see they did not have a mouth, at least not for talking like Earth creatures. Maybe they had a “mouth” for eating at the base of their necks, or some other place.
@@blanetalk Yep. Science fiction was a complete turnaround for him. It's ironic that he's known for one role in scifi and not for all those others in Westerns.
When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite episodes. I love how the producers turned a minus (the show’s reduced budget) into a plus by building only partial sets, reflecting Kirk’s partial knowledge of the old west. It also makes the look of this episode very stylized, as if it’s a play or a dream.
@@targetaudience This episode is one of the most visually interesting episodes of any television shows ever. To speak to the references, the whole Tombstone thing was probably better known in the 1960s than it is now.
The surreal set was a deliberate creative choice and not because of budget. Remember, Paramount had easy access to all sorts of complete backlot Western sets.
@@Warped9 In their book "Inside Star Trek," executive Herb Solow and producer Bob Justman say the stylized set was "a cost-saving concept" to avoid having to "junk the script." I had the same thought: Why didn't they just use the Paramount backlot? Maybe it wasn't available. In any case, it also works creatively.
A bit of trivia: The harmonica parts were performed by a master harmonica player named Tommy Morgan. Lol, I only know this because he was a friend of my father who was also a musician.
I like that they actually let the bullets pass through and hit the boards behind them. They could have gotten real lazy and just showed them shooting at them with nothing happening. But they went through the trouble of showing the bullets splitting the wood and putting holes in them after passing through.
I'm reminded of that infamous scene in _Robocop_ where the ED209 is machine gunning that guy in the boardroom. The windows behind him don't shatter from the bullets, they shatter from the guy backing into them.🤣
I agree, and how the bad guy (I can't keep their names straight) was just _Absolutely Astounded_ when kirk knocked him down and picked up his own gun to shoot him! ➡ "😰"
It was interesting that Kirk, et al, were the Clantons and McLaurys as most would consider them to be the bad guys in Tombstone, but then that is what the Melkotians them to be. In real life, Doc Holliday actually was a dentist but by that time in his life he was mainly a gambler. He also was slowly dying from tuberculosis for which there was no cure at that time. One detail they got right is that Holliday was carrying a shot gun during the OK Corral fight.
When I was a kid in the 70s, the "gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in Tombstone, Arizona was a story everyone knew about, though I'm not sure why. I assume there were references to it in other tv westerns, as well as movies and even cartoons. So this episode works with that assumed cultural knowledge, as well as the immense popularity of television westerns in the 60s and 70s. I remember liking this episode specifically because of the ending gunfight, and the whole idea that the situation was real only because they believed it was real.
It is amazing how much of American culture has disappeared. No fault to him, it just is not talked about anymore. Even pearl harbor is faded I watched a ww2 gaming video and the man doing it could not pronounce Mount Suribachi correctly. When I was a kid it, and the name Iwo Jima, were only spoken in hushed reverent tones
@@BenDowdyWhile there's likely some truth to that, I think television taught our generation a hell of a lot more than we ever gave it credit for. I've seen soooo many reactors with huge gaps in their knowledge. Information I took for granted everyone knew. After all, virtually everyone in my generation (and those who came before) _did know._ Like *@Orphu88,* I knew these references when I was a kid (also in the 70's). TV provided us historical knowledge as well as cultural references from past to present and from all over the world Clearly television viewing habits have changed substantially over the years. And I believe this is why generations like theirs, and those going forward, will simply not have the same amount of exposure as those of us who grew up on _"regular television"_ had.¹ Given the time in which we grew up, our generation basically watched *_everything that was ever made_* since the start of motion pictures, and the start of television broadcasting. Heck, I remember eating breakfast before going to kindergarten and watching reruns of the original _Mickey Mouse Club,_ from the 50's. Of course this was 20 years after its original run. And yet, I didn't realize it was 20 years after the fact until I was a little older. 😏 While we were known as a generation that would play outside, that wasn't always an option. We would also watch whatever was on television. I'm finding it a slightly odd thing to even explain. Perhaps this will help explain it… Our generation (Gen X, for me btw) grew up on the likes of _Laurel and Hardy_ and _The Twilight Zone,_ just as much as on _Starsky and Hutch_ and _The A Team.²_ Another notable difference is how these later generations have a world of information at their fingertips, *but* appear to be exposed to the things they're interested in (somewhat of a closed loop). Whereas we grew up watching whatever was on, because _that's all there was._ As a result, we were exposed to a great many things we might not have otherwise chosen ourselves. 📺 ··•●✺●•·· ¹ ─ That's one reason our generation and older generations have this vast wealth of knowledge. Both from the substantial to the trivial . . .i.e., how folks would tie a string around their finger as a way to remind them of something. *EDIT:* This was seen in _It's a Wonderful Life,_ but the many reactors I watched didn't know what it meant. ² ─ _Laurel and Hardy_ made films primarily in the 20s and 30s while _The Twilight Zone was '59 to '64. And _Starsky and Hutch_ were a crime fighting duo in the 70s, and _The A Team_ aired first in the 80's. Not to mention all of the films from the beginning of Hollywood to the time a more modern film was available for broadcast. They were always shown on television at various times throughout the day and night.
@@CaesiusX Well said! I think you really hit the proverbial nail in the head with why so many young reactors don't know what we believe everyone should know.
Exactly. Even i as a german am familiar with this story. The 1957 movie run on german TV every two or three years. Interesting that there are americans nowadays that never heard of it. 🤔
I absolutely love when Spock makes the point "Didn't Billy Clayborne survive the gunfight?". It was one of those that I didn't know that at the time, but it felt like a mind blowing twist, that they're not reenacting it, they're living through it as their own individuals
And to that point I don't think that's the case that Billy survives it was actually Ike who in the middle of shooting threw up his hands begging for mercy do to being unarmed and was tossed aside.
Oh you two absolutely have to watch _'Tombstone.'_ When I found out that one of my coworkers hadn't seen the film, I bought it on DVD for him. That is how highly I regard the film. It should be in everyone's collection.
What so many people forget, criticizing the third season, is that yes, it's worse than the other two seasons, but it's STILL STAR TREK - meaning, it's still 1/3 of one of the greatest achievements television has ever seen (and one of the most indelible acts of mythmaking in 20th Century culture).
According to IMDB: "According to James Doohan, NBC executives told him to comb his hair back for the third season. Doohan hated wearing his hair this way and stopped doing so during Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968). "
My grandfather was an artist. He introduced me to modern art and painters such as Salvador Dali. This episode, with it's minimalism set design, reminds me of Dali's surrealism paintings. This is my favorite 3rd season episode.
Absolutely, westerns completely dominated television during the time of TOS. Not an exaggeration to say 3/4 of the viewing audience knew about the OK Corral when this episode first aired. I know, I was part of that audience. I’m sure the show’s writers wouldn’t have had to work too hard to educate the audience on what’s going on with this episode
This episode has grown on me over the years - as someone else noted, the lack of a budget resulted in real brilliant minimalistic direction and production.
This episode has grown on me over the course of reading these comments! I always understood it was a budget issue but didn't really give it a lot of credit as a creative solution that dovetailed so well with the theme. But it's getting a lot of love here.
This is my favorite episode of Season 3 and probably the best of Season 3. The surreal aesthetic of this episode also fits well with another popular TV show at the time "The Wild, Wild West". I also love the actors who they have for the Earp gang and the sheriff. And the final shot of them getting shot in the O.K. Corral TV Cinema excellence. Strange that you guys don't know the entire O.K.Corral story as it's part of American history. I'm a 100% born Canadian and I know it.
Westerns definitely weren’t my thing, and all I knew about the history was that there was a real “gunfight at OK corral“ that happened in Tombstone, Arizona, that involved Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holiday. I felt like that was all I needed to know, since our characters were being forced to reenact the losing end of a famous gunfight in history. I’ve grown to appreciate it more as an adult. What sells it for me is the nightmarish absurdity of the setting against the absolute realism of the guest actors. It’s a fever dream; it’s a play; it’s the Twilight Zone - but guess what? You’re still dying at 5:01pm. That’s the nightmare.
Man ,Scotty is not only a hardcore drinker but he also knows how take a killer rip off a bong. "Aye deeply!" indeed. All of the extras are from TV and movie westerns which were still popular back then. FUN FACT: Deforest Kelly was in the 50's version of "Gunfight of the OK Corral". Which is a good version of the story but so is "Tombstone" (both versions) and "My Darling Clementine" and "Hour of the Gun" and "Wyatt Earp" and "Doc" and "Frontier Marshal" and a few more I haven't seen.
Spectre of the Gun is one of my favorite episodes of the entire original series. It looks cool. It's well paced. It has great tension. And it's another example of how ethics and ideas of justice can be woven into the story.
BTW, Star Trek's Original title was "Wagon Train to the Stars", Westerns were very popular in the 50s/60s, including the immensely successful "Bonanza"
I don't know about a title, but it was definitely Roddenberry's sales pitch to make it resonate with the suits. "I've got a horse and you've got a horse and he's got a horse BONANZAAAAAA...! I just had to.
The movie Tombstone is a must watch. Deforrest Kelley acted in many westerns before this, including Gun Fight at the OK Corral (1957) where he played Morgan Earp.
I LOOOOVE it! When I first saw this as a kid in reruns, I didn't know the history of Tombstone Arizona and Wyatt Earp either!! Watch the movie Tombstone. It's the most historically accurate of any other films about the events of those days, especially the famous Gunfight at the "OK Corral". Great film, and my FAVORITE western!!! I got the chance to talk with Michael Bien, who played Jonny Ringo in that movie and he said Val Kilmer and him actyually got to choreograph that scene THEMSELVES!! Great piece of history that they don't teach in school.
This episode marks the 3rd (and literally most outlandish) time DeForest Kelley acted in a retelling of the Tombstone story in either a movie or TV show. De Kelley did _a lot_ of westerns, so this episode was almost like a homecoming for him. I was fortunate enough to get to hear him speak at a Trek convention in the mid 90's maybe only 2 or 3 years before he passed away, and he brought up this episode as one of his personal favorites. My dad was a really big fan of western movie star Audie Murphy (and real life WWII hero having received *every* U.S. combat medal for Valor awarded at the time and was even awarded some medals for valor by France and Belgium). I'm not a western guy, but I was into Star Trek before I was even into Star Wars, I started watching it with my mom when I was like 3... So one time when I'm in my teens I'm walking past my dad who's watching an Audie Murphy movie on TV and he points to Murphy on the screen and asks me, "Do you know who that is?" I look and had no idea who Audie Murphy was so I say "Nope, but I know who that guy is!" and point to the guy Murphy is talking to, it's DeForest Kelley. First time I ever saw him in any other role besides Dr. McCoy and it was interesting because even playing a different character there was still a lot of Dr, McCoy I was seeing. This also reminds me of, there was one of the beta canon Star Trek novels I read once where Kirk and company end up in the past in the actual 1800's in the United States. The meet up with a woman whose last name was 'Hatfield' and I was really looking forward to seeing what would happen when she me Dr. McCoy (one of the most infamous stories of the 1800's is of a feud between two families in the Appalachia region of the U.S., the Hatfields and McCoys, it got so bad it became like a little war going on in the area. ) When Dr. McCoy eventually met the Hatfield lady...nothing happened. Not even a tongue-in-cheek reference. I felt cheated! 😡 Best Regards!
The minimalists sets were done because the budget was being cut but I imagine that if they really wanted to, they could've filmed at the standing sets for, say Gunsmoke and saved money that way. But the sets really helped make the whole thing dreamlike and creepy. If you look at the episode again, notice how the "lightning" makes shadows of the trees on the set backdrop. Deforest Kelley was in a 1960's film about the gunfight at the okay corral.
DeForest Kelley played Morgan Earp in the Oscar-nominated 1957 hit, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which also starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Lee Van Cleef, and Dennis Hopper. Future TV stars Martin Milner, Jack Elam, and Earl Holliman also appeared, as well as Whit Bissell, who played the Space Station K-7 manager Lurry in "The Trouble with Tribbles," and was a regular on Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel.
One thing that was very good about the writing of this episode was that the crew exhausted all options including simply leaving town. Many of the other episodes had plot holes that could have resolved the plot complication with minimal effort.
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was one of the most popular TV Western series at a time when Westerns were all the rage (in 1959, 30 Western shows were on TV in prime time). Hugh O'Brien played the title character for six seasons from 1955 to 1961, culminating in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the second to last episode of the series.
It was a blown opportunity to have a regular named McCoy and not conk him on the head in one episode and have him wake up in the middle of the Hatfield/McCoy feud.
Being on a western set was like second nature for DeForest Kelley. In westerns of the time he played some bad dudes. He wasn't a doctor in those...he was the reason you needed a doctor.
Originally, they planned to shoot the episode on a Western backlot (like, say, "Bonanza:, another NBC show). But the budget had been cut so much that they couldn't afford it (considering all the location money they'd spend on "Paradise Syndrome"). So, they went with a surreal approach indoors. There were some in the cast & crew who were doubtful about this idea, but it's now looked on as a good choice for the story.
Oh, one thing you didn't mention was Jerry Fielding's fine musical score, which sounds like a typical Western score while being a bit off-kilter, like the story. And next week it's "Day of the Dove", another good one, with Michael Ansara guest-starring.
Strictly speaking, the money they were about to spend on "Paradise Syndrome" -- "Spectre of the Gun" was the first Season 3 episode filmed, even though it aired sixth.
It’s been a bit of a jolt to my head to realise that many people now are unaware of pop culture references that I previously thought were universal. Star Trek obviously is one of these, as is Star Wars and even The Princess Bride which an old codger like me thinks of as fairly recent 😂 Kinda what this channel is about!
@@targetaudiencethis is an actual historical event which I learned about in class when I was about 12. The West actually happened it isn't just a genre of fiction. I would suggest you learn about this period in history. Here is a brief article from the internet on the historical period. "The American frontier, also known as the Old West, popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as "manifest destiny" and historians' "Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity.
Yes, if I was born in the 90’s I wouldn’t know many of the historical references of this episode either, but that’s not the main point I want to make. You guys have mostly been pretty good about recognizing the show’s primary audience of when an episode first aired, never lose sight of that when you react to other shows and movies. The time period the audience is watching the original episode or movie is EVERYTHING. Not surprising this would be one of the episodes I liked much better than you guys would. I grew up watching Westerns. Reminds me a lot of Requiem for Methuselah, which is one of my favorite episodes. What is really interesting watching your reactions is how much a viewer’s interest and personality affects how the show is received. I’m a history buff, so I found an episode based on a 6,000 year old man very intriguing, but I can understand someone not liking it, especially if history is not your thing. Keep up the good work guys. I’m a diehard Trek fan. Really enjoying your reactions to TNG
The famous gunfight at the OK Corral was and still is well known. Especially now with movies like Wyatt Earp and Tombstone (more recent movies) as well as other movies from the past it is surprising there are still many that are unfamiliar at least the basics of this historical event. Love the episode! One of my favorite episodes. Good reaction guys!
I love the set design in this episode. Like TOS never had that much of a budget, it kind of just worked with whatever they had. By season 3 they had even less. From what I heard they did not have enough budget to create a full western set, so they just made these half-sets. Which is way more interesting in my opinion then any cheap western set. I think it is a lot of fun and makes the episode way more visually unique and it really adds to the uneasiness of the episode.
Also, it feeds into the idea that the Melkotians were taking the western aesthetic from the crew's brains, not reality. So the fact that everything is piecemeal also tracks.
This surrealism episode is probably the best of any trek show. The others tried to duplicate it but failed miserably. Enjoy this episode it's completely unique!
Westerns were really big in the 60s. Star Trek was actually pitched to the networks as a space western, "Wagon Train to the Stars." The story of the gunfight at the OK Corral was well known in that time from movies like "My Darling Clementine" (1946), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957 - which had DeForest Kelley in it!) and "Hour of the Gun" (1967). If you want to familiarize yourselves with the story, I highly recommend the 1993 film, "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliot, which was a really good film and very period accurate. Trivia: In most films, the Earps are made out to be the "good guys" and the Clanton gang is made out to be the "bad guys" (although actual history is a bit fuzzier), which made this episode an interesting switch-up, putting the Enterprise crew in the "bad guy" roles.
This one always stuck with me as a kid for some reason. Westerns were big at the time, and Star Trek's weird, trippy take on it was fun. I love how the buildings are just facades and the kind of dreamy feel. It's also kind of hilarious 😂
I love this episode because it's so different.... there was nothing else that I can remember seeing quite like this... just the clock hanging on nothing... so cool. Don't worry if you didn't know the references to Tombstone; think how Chekov must have felt! Of course, when Star Trek was made, EVERYTHING that was incredibly popular was Western in theme (Gunsmoke ran from 1955 to 1975, for example). One of the things Roddenberry used to sell Star Trek to Desilu was when he called it "a Wagon Train to the Stars" and a "Western in Space." When he presented "The Cage" pilot, the studio felt cheated. You will notice in "The Man Trap," the phaser has a ricochet sound in one scene. This episode effectively delivers on the "Western in Space" promise but is totally trippy.
Saw this as a kid. My first exposure to the story of the gunfight at the OK Corral. Since this treated Wyatt Earp etc as the villains, it was a little strange watching "Tombstone" many years later, and seeing him and his companions portrayed as heroes.
I'm laughing because I do have a t-shirt with the favorite shot your talking about. I've had it for about 15 years. It's a black and white picture (the shirt is black). I totally agree it is a great shot. 😀
This was one of my favorite episodes when I was young as well. It was officially the Halloween episode I was really drawn to he surreal dream nature of the story, And myfavorite part of the episode is the trees casting shadows on the backdrop which was intentionally lighted to create those shadows to make it more unsettling and surreal 4:06
Great watch guys. Vincent McEveety directed Season 1's Miri, Dagger of the Mind, Balance of Terror (the episode that introduced the Romulans); Season 2's Patterns of Force (the Nazi episode) and The Omega Glory (the nearly outright Vietnam War episode). Also, this episode was up his alley, as he has directed numerous episodes of the western tv show, Gunsmoke. This was the last Star Trek episode McEveety directed. I thought he was still alive, but he died at age 88 about 5 years ago.
I basically learned about the OK Corral from this episode, so don't think you missed anything it was pretty much all in there, except it happened in Star Trek.
Honestly the true history of that event is far more interesting than this episode truly gives ut credit. Truly the Gun Fight at O.K. was when things really started to heat up.
My favorite westerns are Silverado, Once Upon a Time in the West, and The Outlaw Josie Wales. I also recently rewatched The Magnificent Seven and highly recommend that one. There are a number of movies that cover the event mentioned in this episode. Among them are Gunfight at the OK Corral, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp. Clint Eastwood westerns are always entertaining. Aside from the Leone films, I like High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider (which are kind of different sides of the same coin), and the often overlooked Two Mules for Sister Sara.
Finally, someone mentions *_Silverado!_* While I certainly understand people recommending *Tombstone,* or the _Sergio Leone_ films, I always felt *_Silverado_* should also be included, as somewhat of a counterbalance to the heaviness found in some of the others. *EDIT:* Those others films are iconic and should be held up. But IMO *_Silverado_* is almost the _ideal_ western film. 😏
If you'd like to see a sci-fi remake of _The Magnificent Seven,_ checkout _Battle Beyond the Stars._ The late Robert Vaughn played a similar character in both films, plus James "The Wrath of Khan" Horner did the score.
@@zoppie at the time, it was the most expensive film Roger Corman ever produced. He reused the effects in some later films. James Cameron worked on the special effects team.
When this first came out, westerns had been a huge thing for decades. They had very much been a staple of early television. Remember that Roddenberry sold "Star Trek" as "Wagon Train in Space". Everybody and their dog knew about The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It was definitely a trope - if not a cliche. 60 years later, times are very different.
The actress who played Sylvia in this episode was a good friend of Bob Dylan. This definitely has to rank as probably one of the most popular episodes of the third season!
"The Magnificent Seven" is a western that you should really check out if you want to get into the genre. It's an American interpretation of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" which makes it one of the most archetypal hero stories in all of film - a concept that is alluded to and redone in many many further works. It helps that it has an all-star cast for the 1960's and one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time by the legendary Elmer Bernstein.
Barring the production problems surrounding this episode, I loved it. I'm 50 and as a kid I had seen many westerns on TV about the ok shootout. Way before the 90s TOMBSTONE or WYATTE EARP movies. This episode has some problems but it's Spooky. Loved that part.
I learned about the gunfight at the OK corral from seeing this episode as a kid. Audiences at the time were probably more perceptive to his episode because at the time Hollywood was still producing a lot of westerns on TV and in movies.
The Melkotians seem to have similar mental powers like the Talosians from Talos 4, except the recreation of Tombstone is incomplete, and the Melkotians were warning and testing the ‘aliens’ instead of keeping the crew as part of a zoo or breeding program like the Talosians. The nod to the similar episode The Arena was a grey catch too.
The mind-melding scene was so haunting and poetic. Interestingly, irl the Clantons were the very, very bad guys; they were a walking crime wave and the Earps were just trying to maintain law and order.
The Earps are almost always depicted as the good guys in dramatizations of the story, perhaps partly because Wyatt lived into the early era of Hollywood and was friends with some of the well-known silent Western actors. It's interesting that this episode shows the opposite perspective (as is necessary for the plot, of course).
@@anthonybernacchi2732 Like everyone in the old West, I don't think either of them were saints, but from what I understand the Earps (harsh as they could be) were the lesser of the two evils.
Very true if you look into the history of the event Waytee Earp ultimately does go down a pretty dark path but that's after the famous gun fight occurred. In fact looking at the history that path was taken when a person was pushed way too far.
@@donovanbradford8231 One of the reasons I found Clint Eastwood's Western "Unforgiven" so fascinating is that the movie had no clear-cut good guys or bad guys; every character was a different shade of gray. And given the rough life of 1800s wild west, that's probably true of life back then.
Another great reaction from you guys. If you want to see just the one Western, I'd highly recommend, 'Tombstone' from 1993, there are many good ones, but I feel that this one is particularly good, plus it covers the event of this Star Trek episode too.
It's funny how you mentioned at the beginning (when the disembodied voice was speaking in different languages) what if Scotty came in and said "It was speaking Scottish", cause truth be known the disembodied voice was done by "James Doohan", who did several different accents. He also did a lot of different voices of different characters like Sargon in return to tomorrow. It has been noted that he did voice overs for over 40 different characters,
The audiobook version of _Star Trek: Best Destiny_ is read by Doohan. Because of his vocal talents he makes it sound like you're listening to a radio show with a full cast rather just one guy reading a book.
@@zoppie In a few months the guys will be getting to TAS, in which (except for special guests like Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd) Doohan plays nearly all the male guest characters, as well as playing Scotty and a new character added to the regular cast. The show sometimes comes across as virtually a starring vehicle for Doohan rather than Shatner, which is great.
Watched this episode for the first time in 1975 on my family's first color television as a small child. The vivid red sky and the scary wind and situation made a real impression on me. Crazy that I am in my 50's and still find this interesting.
Always one of my favorite episodes. Just trippy and a feeling of being trapped and hopeless. The gunfight at the OK Corral was a real historical event that was well known to people in the 1960s. Even though the facts were off, it was taught to us in school history classes back in the day. I visited the real OK Corral back in 1973 and recall them having wax statues of the characters and an attached museum. Maybe it’s not as well known now? I’m not sure. Either way, love this weird Twilight-Zone-style episode!
I can't believe you guys don't know about the gunfight at the OK Corral? Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday? This is such an iconic American tale from the wild west that even non-Americans are familiar.
And there you have my favorite Kirk-Fu move. I think Shatner got a kick (pun intended) every time he got to use his karate training. 😁 Seriously, even though he had a stunt double (Paul Baxley, who also appears onscreen as a crewman sometimes--he's sitting at the table with Chekov & Scotty before the barfight in The Trouble With Tribbles)--I don't think there's been a captain/lead actor on any of the subsequent Trek series who got to do as much of their own stunts as Shatner did...and that was probably a combination of their choice and the studio's. Plus, most of them were already older and/or less athletic than Shatner at the time they had those roles. I love how Wyatt Earp looks up at Kirk after his beatdown like "WTF kind of demon are you?" 😆
I really like this episode. It introduces some interesting concepts and, as you mentioned had some of the best set design, camera angles and lighting, giving it a great dream-like sequence. I also really enjoyed the supporting cast performances. "Tombstone" is a great movie. If you're short on time, you could always watch one of the reaction videos. 😂
I enjoy this episode still, but far more as a kid when I was all about Westerns (which were everywhere then; comics, movies, paperbacks, toys and sooo many TV shows). What a great surprise it was when suddenly my favorite sci fi show suddenly became part of my favorite genre. And the Shootout at the OK Corral was THE number one part of Wild West lore for me and many. Only Little Big Horn and the death of Wild Bill Hickock came close. That said, I really (at the time) wished we could have gotten it as a time travel episode so we could've seen a full set (they had tons to choose from) and a fish out of water situation. But nowadays I appreciate the whole dream/nightmare-like quality of the half-set and eerie red background.
Glad you liked the scenes and dreamlike quality of the telepathic experiences. 50 years ago, Westerns will still front and center in the American zeitgeist, so most everyone was familiar with the Gunfight at the OK Corral, the Earps vs the Clantons (Cowboy/Red Sash gang). Many movies were made about it before and since, so it is well worth investigating further.
The entire episode is a deliberate exercise in surreality. Even the characters’ recollections of the actual event is off in some parts (believable given many today are ignorant of history). The incomplete sets are not due to lack of budget, but a deliberate creative choice to underline the dream like aspects of what his happening.
Interesting to me that you guys are only a little younger than me, but don't know the cultural references of the Gunfight at the OK Corral? Even as a kid while I may not have known the exact players until I saw movies like Tombstone, the events of it are referenced so often in movies/TV/cartoons/etc. that it was just one of those cultural moments in history - like the sinking of the Titanic or the like. But yeah, this is a favorite of mine for a number of reasons - our heroes are thrown every disadvantage but still try to be smart and think of any way the audience might think - try to leave, try to stop the fight before it happens, try to convince the townspeople to join them, try to use their advanced knowledge to give them the advantage in the fight, but it all fails. It ratchets up the tension when common sense and good thinking fail them at every turn, requiring a radical reassessment of their approach. The title itself is wonderful - not only evoking a western feel, but also relevant to the actual plot without being obvious about it. The Malkotians are a truly alien design that we don't get to see very often in TOS and the surreal half-sets create a very haunting atmosphere. Add in good dialogue and memorable cinematography and it all just comes together well. I do recommend checking out Tombstone sometime - very quotable movie with an amazing cast, particularly Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
Fun fact: Ron Soble, who played Wyatt Earp in this episode, was the same actor in _The Cincinnati Kid_ , who attacked Steve McQueen with a switchblade, in the first scene of that movie.
Terriffic reaction and even better analysis after the viewing. I'm an old time 62 year old Trekkie and your analysis covered some stuff i've never considered. great stuff gusy! BTW, the gunfight at the OK Corrall is actual history, but I'm sure that's already been mentioned in the comments. I'm surprised you guys weren't aware of that, and if you were I can't recall you guys mentiong it.
I’ll recommend The Searchers. The American Film Institute (AFI ) named it the greatest western back in 2008. It’s an amazing movie with the most beautiful cinematography of Monument Valley and really should be seen on the big screen
I adore this one because of the atmosphere is so creepy. I know it’s because of the very limited budget, but i almost feel like if this was either done on a full set or on location, it wouldn’t be quite as unique as it was.
A well written story paced with the crew exhausting every possible solution. Westerns were hugely popular in 1960s in movies & TV. The Earp, Doc true story was well known then. John Wayne met the famous gunslinger Earp in the 1930s and modeled his persona in his western movies.
I don't think you really need to know the story of Tombstone to appreciate the episode. You may indeed feel like you should when you watch it, but you really don't. It helps create some of the unease, because you have ignorance of the situation. (That's part of what makes movies like "The Shining" so effective.) That said, the shoot out in Tombstone is probably the most famous Old West true event, and it is played out well and faithfully in the excellent movie "Tombstone," which you should see. As for this episode, "Spectre of the Gun," to me it stands out among all Star Trek episodes for its handling of the nature of reality. It's almost like a mystical read of the scene with Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharata, or the story of Neo in "The Matrix." And if you guys haven't seen that movie, you will want to put it on the list.
By 1959, there were 30 Westerns on TV. In the '60s, the Western had begun to fade in popularity, but there were still plenty of Westerns to choose from. The viewing public knew a lot of Wild West lore when Star Trek aired, so we, including myself at 9 yrs old, knew what was being referenced in this episode. Glad you enjoyed it, despite not knowing the historical references. By the way, there are a multitude of great Western movies. One of my favorites is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," which was released in the early '60s, but was in B&W, as an homage to the early Westerns, and starring John Wayne and James (Jimmy) Stewart. It straddles the line between the new cinema of the '60s and the classic films of the '40s, and has become a beloved classic with real emotional undertones. The film has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. You'll love it.
The whole family watched this episode in 1968 and I remember how my dad laughed when the Melkotian appeared in the mist. Because of "Lost in Space", everyone was tired of paper mache monsters with light bulb eyes. I now realize that the Melkotian was deliberately fakey looking, just like everything else in this episode. The paper mache dummy was just a proxy - a stand-in; or a simple point of reference for the landing party. Abraham Sofaer was the voice of the Melkotian.
The movie Tombstone is about the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and also Wyatt Earps' Vendetta Ride afterwards. Most movies just end with the Gunfight. It's very well done and fairly accurate. The costumes and set design are really well done according to the period. I am a big fan of Westerns. Tombstone, Unforgiven and Open Range are high on my list. Though nothing can beat the TV mini series Lonesome Dove IMHO.
This one is in my top ten. When I originally saw this, I was a little kid who didn't watch westerns, so I knew nothing about the gunfight at the OK Corral. I learned about the history later which just made it better for me.
It helps to know the story of Tombstone but even without that, there's enough basics given to still enjoy it. Especially like the scenes with the mind meld and the final gunfight, and the sets gave it a dream-like quality.
As for westerns definitely check out Tombstone starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. One of the best modern westerns of all time. There are a slew of great westerns from the 1950s that you could check out too but I would say start out with that one as a modern Western.
Westerns were huge in the late 60s. This is one of the most interesting S3 episodes. However, we see a flaw here that pops up a lot in Star Trek especially as new writers were brought in late in the run. Guns have been a part of multiple episodes but suddenly the characters have to explain what one is to other characters like it's new, likely because the writers have watched little to no prior episodes.
Director Vincent McEveety directed many of the TV shows of the 60's, 70's and 80's. You name a show and he directed them including 45 episodes of "Gunsmoke" and 6 "Star Trek. So he knew his way around a doing westerns for this one.
"A slow burn in a good way." Agreed. A very good episode, I think. I could tell you were both preparing yourselves from the start for disappointment, but Specter of the Gun is a pretty damn entertaining episode for my money. And unique. Great reaction!
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I have watched all of the Star Treks with you guys, enjoyed it for the most part. I have heard you make comments about Sulu not being there. He was probably filming the Green Berets with John Wayne!
you guys are killing me not knowing who Wyatt Earp is. Deforest Kelly played Morgan Earp in the Major Motion Picture Gunfight at the OK corral (1957) featured Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, Lee Van Cleef and Dennis Hopper. Giant actors! (Michael Douglas's Dad) Kirk Douglas died in 2020 at the age of 103.
McCoy: Spock, are you saying we can dodge bullets?
Spock, No Dr. McCoy. I'm saying when you're ready, you won't have to.
If you are interested in checking out westerns, Tombstone is actually considered one of the best ever.
@@ronchapman4112 Somebody had to be in charge of the ship while the three or four most senior command officers were away.
Assuming they had really gone down to the planet, and not just been made to believe that they had.
Well, Josh, I have been watching TOS since I was old enough to turn on a television set, and I have concluded that if we could see all of the Melkots through the fog, they would have a body like a sauropod like brontosaurus or diplodocus, but about the size of an elephant.
And, you could see they did not have a mouth, at least not for talking like Earth creatures. Maybe they had a “mouth” for eating at the base of their necks, or some other place.
DeForest Kelley played Morgan Earp in the 1957 movie "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"
DeForest Kelley also appeared in many Western shows of the time.
Dee was definitely known as a "western actor" before Star Trek.
@@blanetalk Yep. Science fiction was a complete turnaround for him. It's ironic that he's known for one role in scifi and not for all those others in Westerns.
My favorite movie version of the most famous gunfight in the wild west history and obviously the one this episode references.
There's an episode of _The Lone Ranger_ where he plays a sheriff. It's on YT, somewhere.
When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite episodes. I love how the producers turned a minus (the show’s reduced budget) into a plus by building only partial sets, reflecting Kirk’s partial knowledge of the old west. It also makes the look of this episode very stylized, as if it’s a play or a dream.
Definitely enjoyed the dream aesthetic!
@@targetaudience This episode is one of the most visually interesting episodes of any television shows ever. To speak to the references, the whole Tombstone thing was probably better known in the 1960s than it is now.
@@bfdidc6604 Yeah, westerns were still pretty popular at the time.
The surreal set was a deliberate creative choice and not because of budget. Remember, Paramount had easy access to all sorts of complete backlot Western sets.
@@Warped9 In their book "Inside Star Trek," executive Herb Solow and producer Bob Justman say the stylized set was "a cost-saving concept" to avoid having to "junk the script." I had the same thought: Why didn't they just use the Paramount backlot? Maybe it wasn't available. In any case, it also works creatively.
A bit of trivia: The harmonica parts were performed by a master harmonica player named Tommy Morgan. Lol, I only know this because he was a friend of my father who was also a musician.
That’s awesome.
I like that they actually let the bullets pass through and hit the boards behind them. They could have gotten real lazy and just showed them shooting at them with nothing happening. But they went through the trouble of showing the bullets splitting the wood and putting holes in them after passing through.
It's a really clever use of forced perspective to pull off. Brilliant!
I'm reminded of that infamous scene in _Robocop_ where the ED209 is machine gunning that guy in the boardroom. The windows behind him don't shatter from the bullets, they shatter from the guy backing into them.🤣
I agree, and how the bad guy (I can't keep their names straight) was just _Absolutely Astounded_ when kirk knocked him down and picked up his own gun to shoot him!
➡ "😰"
It was interesting that Kirk, et al, were the Clantons and McLaurys as most would consider them to be the bad guys in Tombstone, but then that is what the Melkotians them to be.
In real life, Doc Holliday actually was a dentist but by that time in his life he was mainly a gambler. He also was slowly dying from tuberculosis for which there was no cure at that time. One detail they got right is that Holliday was carrying a shot gun during the OK Corral fight.
When I was a kid in the 70s, the "gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in Tombstone, Arizona was a story everyone knew about, though I'm not sure why. I assume there were references to it in other tv westerns, as well as movies and even cartoons. So this episode works with that assumed cultural knowledge, as well as the immense popularity of television westerns in the 60s and 70s. I remember liking this episode specifically because of the ending gunfight, and the whole idea that the situation was real only because they believed it was real.
Nowadays they don't teach kids nuthin'. 😠
It is amazing how much of American culture has disappeared. No fault to him, it just is not talked about anymore. Even pearl harbor is faded
I watched a ww2 gaming video and the man doing it could not pronounce Mount Suribachi correctly. When I was a kid it, and the name Iwo Jima, were only spoken in hushed reverent tones
@@BenDowdyWhile there's likely some truth to that, I think television taught our generation a hell of a lot more than we ever gave it credit for. I've seen soooo many reactors with huge gaps in their knowledge. Information I took for granted everyone knew. After all, virtually everyone in my generation (and those who came before) _did know._
Like *@Orphu88,* I knew these references when I was a kid (also in the 70's). TV provided us historical knowledge as well as cultural references from past to present and from all over the world
Clearly television viewing habits have changed substantially over the years. And I believe this is why generations like theirs, and those going forward, will simply not have the same amount of exposure as those of us who grew up on _"regular television"_ had.¹
Given the time in which we grew up, our generation basically watched *_everything that was ever made_* since the start of motion pictures, and the start of television broadcasting. Heck, I remember eating breakfast before going to kindergarten and watching reruns of the original _Mickey Mouse Club,_ from the 50's. Of course this was 20 years after its original run. And yet, I didn't realize it was 20 years after the fact until I was a little older. 😏
While we were known as a generation that would play outside, that wasn't always an option. We would also watch whatever was on television. I'm finding it a slightly odd thing to even explain. Perhaps this will help explain it…
Our generation (Gen X, for me btw) grew up on the likes of _Laurel and Hardy_ and _The Twilight Zone,_ just as much as on _Starsky and Hutch_ and _The A Team.²_
Another notable difference is how these later generations have a world of information at their fingertips, *but* appear to be exposed to the things they're interested in (somewhat of a closed loop). Whereas we grew up watching whatever was on, because _that's all there was._ As a result, we were exposed to a great many things we might not have otherwise chosen ourselves. 📺
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¹ ─ That's one reason our generation and older generations have this vast wealth of knowledge. Both from the substantial to the trivial . . .i.e., how folks would tie a string around their finger as a way to remind them of something. *EDIT:* This was seen in _It's a Wonderful Life,_ but the many reactors I watched didn't know what it meant.
² ─ _Laurel and Hardy_ made films primarily in the 20s and 30s while _The Twilight Zone was '59 to '64. And _Starsky and Hutch_ were a crime fighting duo in the 70s, and _The A Team_ aired first in the 80's. Not to mention all of the films from the beginning of Hollywood to the time a more modern film was available for broadcast. They were always shown on television at various times throughout the day and night.
@@CaesiusX Well said! I think you really hit the proverbial nail in the head with why so many young reactors don't know what we believe everyone should know.
Exactly. Even i as a german am familiar with this story. The 1957 movie run on german TV every two or three years. Interesting that there are americans nowadays that never heard of it. 🤔
I absolutely love when Spock makes the point "Didn't Billy Clayborne survive the gunfight?". It was one of those that I didn't know that at the time, but it felt like a mind blowing twist, that they're not reenacting it, they're living through it as their own individuals
And to that point I don't think that's the case that Billy survives it was actually Ike who in the middle of shooting threw up his hands begging for mercy do to being unarmed and was tossed aside.
Oh you two absolutely have to watch _'Tombstone.'_
When I found out that one of my coworkers hadn't seen the film, I bought it on DVD for him. That is how highly I regard the film.
It should be in everyone's collection.
I watch it a few times a year and whenever it's on TV!
Absolutely!
Chiming in to agree. Tombstone is great.
Thanks for agreeing.
Hopefully Alex and Josh will see the recommendation and add it to their viewing list.
Agree. I saw it in the theatre 7x. I've lost count how many times I've seen it. Greatest group of actors ever assemble for a film.
What so many people forget, criticizing the third season, is that yes, it's worse than the other two seasons, but it's STILL STAR TREK - meaning, it's still 1/3 of one of the greatest achievements television has ever seen (and one of the most indelible acts of mythmaking in 20th Century culture).
According to IMDB: "According to James Doohan, NBC executives told him to comb his hair back for the third season. Doohan hated wearing his hair this way and stopped doing so during Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968). "
My grandfather was an artist. He introduced me to modern art and painters such as Salvador Dali.
This episode, with it's minimalism set design, reminds me of Dali's surrealism paintings.
This is my favorite 3rd season episode.
The only thing is, the clock wasn't melted! 😆
@@mikejankowski6321 Lol 😆
You have to remember that in 1969, these characters would have been as familiar to an audience as Luke Skywalker is to you. Westerns were huge.
Absolutely, westerns completely dominated television during the time of TOS. Not an exaggeration to say 3/4 of the viewing audience knew about the OK Corral when this episode first aired. I know, I was part of that audience. I’m sure the show’s writers wouldn’t have had to work too hard to educate the audience on what’s going on with this episode
The hilarious part is how familiar Spock is with the battle at the OK corral.
This episode has grown on me over the years - as someone else noted, the lack of a budget resulted in real brilliant minimalistic direction and production.
Same. I appreciate this episode so much more now than as a kid wanting spaceship fights
This episode has grown on me over the course of reading these comments! I always understood it was a budget issue but didn't really give it a lot of credit as a creative solution that dovetailed so well with the theme. But it's getting a lot of love here.
My favourite episode as a kid in the ‘70s. The scene of them just standing there, bullets passing through, mesmerized me.
This is my favorite episode of Season 3 and probably the best of Season 3.
The surreal aesthetic of this episode also fits well with another popular TV show at the time "The Wild, Wild West".
I also love the actors who they have for the Earp gang and the sheriff.
And the final shot of them getting shot in the O.K. Corral TV Cinema excellence.
Strange that you guys don't know the entire O.K.Corral story as it's part of American history. I'm a 100% born Canadian and I know it.
Westerns definitely weren’t my thing, and all I knew about the history was that there was a real “gunfight at OK corral“ that happened in Tombstone, Arizona, that involved Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holiday. I felt like that was all I needed to know, since our characters were being forced to reenact the losing end of a famous gunfight in history. I’ve grown to appreciate it more as an adult. What sells it for me is the nightmarish absurdity of the setting against the absolute realism of the guest actors. It’s a fever dream; it’s a play; it’s the Twilight Zone - but guess what? You’re still dying at 5:01pm. That’s the nightmare.
Man ,Scotty is not only a hardcore drinker but he also knows how take a killer rip off a bong.
"Aye deeply!" indeed.
All of the extras are from TV and movie westerns which were still popular back then.
FUN FACT: Deforest Kelly was in the 50's version of "Gunfight of the OK Corral". Which is a good version of the story but so is
"Tombstone" (both versions) and "My Darling Clementine" and "Hour of the Gun" and "Wyatt Earp" and "Doc" and "Frontier Marshal" and a few more I haven't seen.
Spectre of the Gun is one of my favorite episodes of the entire original series. It looks cool. It's well paced. It has great tension. And it's another example of how ethics and ideas of justice can be woven into the story.
BTW, Star Trek's Original title was "Wagon Train to the Stars", Westerns were very popular in the 50s/60s, including the immensely successful "Bonanza"
I don't know about a title, but it was definitely Roddenberry's sales pitch to make it resonate with the suits.
"I've got a horse and you've got a horse and he's got a horse BONANZAAAAAA...! I just had to.
Want a great western, check out "Blazing Saddles"
@@tomtortolani8082 Never Give a Saga an Even Break!
The movie Tombstone is a must watch. Deforrest Kelley acted in many westerns before this, including Gun Fight at the OK Corral (1957) where he played Morgan Earp.
I LOOOOVE it! When I first saw this as a kid in reruns, I didn't know the history of Tombstone Arizona and Wyatt Earp either!! Watch the movie Tombstone. It's the most historically accurate of any other films about the events of those days, especially the famous Gunfight at the "OK Corral". Great film, and my FAVORITE western!!! I got the chance to talk with Michael Bien, who played Jonny Ringo in that movie and he said Val Kilmer and him actyually got to choreograph that scene THEMSELVES!! Great piece of history that they don't teach in school.
This episode marks the 3rd (and literally most outlandish) time DeForest Kelley acted in a retelling of the Tombstone story in either a movie or TV show.
De Kelley did _a lot_ of westerns, so this episode was almost like a homecoming for him. I was fortunate enough to get to hear him speak at a Trek convention in the mid 90's maybe only 2 or 3 years before he passed away, and he brought up this episode as one of his personal favorites.
My dad was a really big fan of western movie star Audie Murphy (and real life WWII hero having received *every* U.S. combat medal for Valor awarded at the time and was even awarded some medals for valor by France and Belgium).
I'm not a western guy, but I was into Star Trek before I was even into Star Wars, I started watching it with my mom when I was like 3...
So one time when I'm in my teens I'm walking past my dad who's watching an Audie Murphy movie on TV and he points to Murphy on the screen and asks me, "Do you know who that is?"
I look and had no idea who Audie Murphy was so I say "Nope, but I know who that guy is!" and point to the guy Murphy is talking to, it's DeForest Kelley. First time I ever saw him in any other role besides Dr. McCoy and it was interesting because even playing a different character there was still a lot of Dr, McCoy I was seeing.
This also reminds me of, there was one of the beta canon Star Trek novels I read once where Kirk and company end up in the past in the actual 1800's in the United States. The meet up with a woman whose last name was 'Hatfield' and I was really looking forward to seeing what would happen when she me Dr. McCoy (one of the most infamous stories of the 1800's is of a feud between two families in the Appalachia region of the U.S., the Hatfields and McCoys, it got so bad it became like a little war going on in the area. )
When Dr. McCoy eventually met the Hatfield lady...nothing happened. Not even a tongue-in-cheek reference. I felt cheated! 😡
Best Regards!
The minimalists sets were done because the budget was being cut but I imagine that if they really wanted to, they could've filmed at the standing sets for, say Gunsmoke and saved money that way. But the sets really helped make the whole thing dreamlike and creepy. If you look at the episode again, notice how the "lightning" makes shadows of the trees on the set backdrop. Deforest Kelley was in a 1960's film about the gunfight at the okay corral.
DeForest Kelley played Morgan Earp in the Oscar-nominated 1957 hit, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which also starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Lee Van Cleef, and Dennis Hopper. Future TV stars Martin Milner, Jack Elam, and Earl Holliman also appeared, as well as Whit Bissell, who played the Space Station K-7 manager Lurry in "The Trouble with Tribbles," and was a regular on Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel.
One thing that was very good about the writing of this episode was that the crew exhausted all options including simply leaving town. Many of the other episodes had plot holes that could have resolved the plot complication with minimal effort.
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was one of the most popular TV Western series at a time when Westerns were all the rage (in 1959, 30 Western shows were on TV in prime time). Hugh O'Brien played the title character for six seasons from 1955 to 1961, culminating in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the second to last episode of the series.
It was a blown opportunity to have a regular named McCoy and not conk him on the head in one episode and have him wake up in the middle of the Hatfield/McCoy feud.
True
Tombstone is absolutely a great gateway movie for westerns
Being on a western set was like second nature for DeForest Kelley. In westerns of the time he played some bad dudes. He wasn't a doctor in those...he was the reason you needed a doctor.
Originally, they planned to shoot the episode on a Western backlot (like, say, "Bonanza:, another NBC show). But the budget had been cut so much that they couldn't afford it (considering all the location money they'd spend on "Paradise Syndrome"). So, they went with a surreal approach indoors. There were some in the cast & crew who were doubtful about this idea, but it's now looked on as a good choice for the story.
Oh, one thing you didn't mention was Jerry Fielding's fine musical score, which sounds like a typical Western score while being a bit off-kilter, like the story. And next week it's "Day of the Dove", another good one, with Michael Ansara guest-starring.
Strictly speaking, the money they were about to spend on "Paradise Syndrome" -- "Spectre of the Gun" was the first Season 3 episode filmed, even though it aired sixth.
Holy moly! How can you not know about the gunfight at the OK Corral? You seriously need to remedy that.
Born in the 90s 🤷🏻♂️
It’s been a bit of a jolt to my head to realise that many people now are unaware of pop culture references that I previously thought were universal. Star Trek obviously is one of these, as is Star Wars and even The Princess Bride which an old codger like me thinks of as fairly recent 😂
Kinda what this channel is about!
@@targetaudiencethis is an actual historical event which I learned about in class when I was about 12. The West actually happened it isn't just a genre of fiction. I would suggest you learn about this period in history.
Here is a brief article from the internet on the historical period.
"The American frontier, also known as the Old West, popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as "manifest destiny" and historians' "Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity.
Yes, if I was born in the 90’s I wouldn’t know many of the historical references of this episode either, but that’s not the main point I want to make. You guys have mostly been pretty good about recognizing the show’s primary audience of when an episode first aired, never lose sight of that when you react to other shows and movies. The time period the audience is watching the original episode or movie is EVERYTHING. Not surprising this would be one of the episodes I liked much better than you guys would. I grew up watching Westerns. Reminds me a lot of Requiem for Methuselah, which is one of my favorite episodes. What is really interesting watching your reactions is how much a viewer’s interest and personality affects how the show is received. I’m a history buff, so I found an episode based on a 6,000 year old man very intriguing, but I can understand someone not liking it, especially if history is not your thing. Keep up the good work guys. I’m a diehard Trek fan. Really enjoying your reactions to TNG
The famous gunfight at the OK Corral was and still is well known. Especially now with movies like Wyatt Earp and Tombstone (more recent movies) as well as other movies from the past it is surprising there are still many that are unfamiliar at least the basics of this historical event. Love the episode! One of my favorite episodes. Good reaction guys!
I love the set design in this episode. Like TOS never had that much of a budget, it kind of just worked with whatever they had. By season 3 they had even less. From what I heard they did not have enough budget to create a full western set, so they just made these half-sets. Which is way more interesting in my opinion then any cheap western set. I think it is a lot of fun and makes the episode way more visually unique and it really adds to the uneasiness of the episode.
Also, it feeds into the idea that the Melkotians were taking the western aesthetic from the crew's brains, not reality. So the fact that everything is piecemeal also tracks.
This surrealism episode is probably the best of any trek show. The others tried to duplicate it but failed miserably. Enjoy this episode it's completely unique!
It's a good thing no one was thinking of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man when the Melkotian looked into their mind.
J. Edgar Hoover would have been even worse.
The red cyclorama, floating clocks & paintings and the minimal flats & doorways is pretty cool actually 😎
Westerns were really big in the 60s. Star Trek was actually pitched to the networks as a space western, "Wagon Train to the Stars."
The story of the gunfight at the OK Corral was well known in that time from movies like "My Darling Clementine" (1946), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957 - which had DeForest Kelley in it!) and "Hour of the Gun" (1967). If you want to familiarize yourselves with the story, I highly recommend the 1993 film, "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliot, which was a really good film and very period accurate.
Trivia: In most films, the Earps are made out to be the "good guys" and the Clanton gang is made out to be the "bad guys" (although actual history is a bit fuzzier), which made this episode an interesting switch-up, putting the Enterprise crew in the "bad guy" roles.
This one always stuck with me as a kid for some reason. Westerns were big at the time, and Star Trek's weird, trippy take on it was fun. I love how the buildings are just facades and the kind of dreamy feel. It's also kind of hilarious 😂
I love this episode because it's so different.... there was nothing else that I can remember seeing quite like this... just the clock hanging on nothing... so cool. Don't worry if you didn't know the references to Tombstone; think how Chekov must have felt! Of course, when Star Trek was made, EVERYTHING that was incredibly popular was Western in theme (Gunsmoke ran from 1955 to 1975, for example). One of the things Roddenberry used to sell Star Trek to Desilu was when he called it "a Wagon Train to the Stars" and a "Western in Space." When he presented "The Cage" pilot, the studio felt cheated. You will notice in "The Man Trap," the phaser has a ricochet sound in one scene. This episode effectively delivers on the "Western in Space" promise but is totally trippy.
Saw this as a kid. My first exposure to the story of the gunfight at the OK Corral.
Since this treated Wyatt Earp etc as the villains, it was a little strange watching "Tombstone" many years later, and seeing him and his companions portrayed as heroes.
Read up on his real life he was the hero.
@@reesebn38 I'm sure he was.
Kind of an odd choice to make him the bad guy in this episode.
@@Chou-seh-fu Not so much as a "bad guy", but more like an inexorable force that cannot be avoided like a horror movie monster.
I'm laughing because I do have a t-shirt with the favorite shot your talking about. I've had it for about 15 years. It's a black and white picture (the shirt is black). I totally agree it is a great shot. 😀
This was one of my favorite episodes when I was young as well.
It was officially the Halloween episode
I was really drawn to he surreal dream nature of the story,
And myfavorite part of the episode is the trees casting shadows on the backdrop which was intentionally lighted to create those shadows to make it more unsettling and surreal 4:06
Great watch guys. Vincent McEveety directed Season 1's Miri, Dagger of the Mind, Balance of Terror (the episode that introduced the Romulans); Season 2's Patterns of Force (the Nazi episode) and The Omega Glory (the nearly outright Vietnam War episode). Also, this episode was up his alley, as he has directed numerous episodes of the western tv show, Gunsmoke. This was the last Star Trek episode McEveety directed. I thought he was still alive, but he died at age 88 about 5 years ago.
I basically learned about the OK Corral from this episode, so don't think you missed anything it was pretty much all in there, except it happened in Star Trek.
Honestly the true history of that event is far more interesting than this episode truly gives ut credit. Truly the Gun Fight at O.K. was when things really started to heat up.
Two outstanding Clint Eastwood westerns: “The good, the bad, and the ugly” and “ Unforgiven”.
My favorite westerns are Silverado, Once Upon a Time in the West, and The Outlaw Josie Wales. I also recently rewatched The Magnificent Seven and highly recommend that one.
There are a number of movies that cover the event mentioned in this episode. Among them are Gunfight at the OK Corral, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp.
Clint Eastwood westerns are always entertaining. Aside from the Leone films, I like High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider (which are kind of different sides of the same coin), and the often overlooked Two Mules for Sister Sara.
Finally, someone mentions *_Silverado!_*
While I certainly understand people recommending *Tombstone,* or the _Sergio Leone_ films, I always felt *_Silverado_* should also be included, as somewhat of a counterbalance to the heaviness found in some of the others.
*EDIT:* Those others films are iconic and should be held up. But IMO *_Silverado_* is almost the _ideal_ western film. 😏
@@CaesiusX it somehow manages to be a traditional and non-traditionsl western at the same time. Terrific score.
If you'd like to see a sci-fi remake of _The Magnificent Seven,_ checkout _Battle Beyond the Stars._ The late Robert Vaughn played a similar character in both films, plus James "The Wrath of Khan" Horner did the score.
@@zoppie at the time, it was the most expensive film Roger Corman ever produced. He reused the effects in some later films. James Cameron worked on the special effects team.
When this first came out, westerns had been a huge thing for decades. They had very much been a staple of early television. Remember that Roddenberry sold "Star Trek" as "Wagon Train in Space". Everybody and their dog knew about The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It was definitely a trope - if not a cliche.
60 years later, times are very different.
One of my top 3 favorite episodes, the westen aesthetic and creepy alien look was the best
Wow. When I was young, everyone was at least aware of the Gunfight at the OK Coral.
The actress who played Sylvia in this episode was a good friend of Bob Dylan. This definitely has to rank as probably one of the most popular episodes of the third season!
I LOVE this episode. Very goofy but you can still somehow take it seriously.
"The Magnificent Seven" is a western that you should really check out if you want to get into the genre. It's an American interpretation of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" which makes it one of the most archetypal hero stories in all of film - a concept that is alluded to and redone in many many further works.
It helps that it has an all-star cast for the 1960's and one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time by the legendary Elmer Bernstein.
Barring the production problems surrounding this episode, I loved it. I'm 50 and as a kid I had seen many westerns on TV about the ok shootout. Way before the 90s TOMBSTONE or WYATTE EARP movies. This episode has some problems but it's Spooky. Loved that part.
I learned about the gunfight at the OK corral from seeing this episode as a kid. Audiences at the time were probably more perceptive to his episode because at the time Hollywood was still producing a lot of westerns on TV and in movies.
Not to mention those of us watching _STAR TREK_ reruns in the 70s also got reruns of those the westerns from decades before. 📺
The Melkotians seem to have similar mental powers like the Talosians from Talos 4, except the recreation of Tombstone is incomplete, and the Melkotians were warning and testing the ‘aliens’ instead of keeping the crew as part of a zoo or breeding program like the Talosians. The nod to the similar episode The Arena was a grey catch too.
The mind-melding scene was so haunting and poetic. Interestingly, irl the Clantons were the very, very bad guys; they were a walking crime wave and the Earps were just trying to maintain law and order.
The Earps are almost always depicted as the good guys in dramatizations of the story, perhaps partly because Wyatt lived into the early era of Hollywood and was friends with some of the well-known silent Western actors. It's interesting that this episode shows the opposite perspective (as is necessary for the plot, of course).
@@anthonybernacchi2732 Like everyone in the old West, I don't think either of them were saints, but from what I understand the Earps (harsh as they could be) were the lesser of the two evils.
John Wayne met Earp around 1930 and modeled his persona for his western movies.
Very true if you look into the history of the event Waytee Earp ultimately does go down a pretty dark path but that's after the famous gun fight occurred. In fact looking at the history that path was taken when a person was pushed way too far.
@@donovanbradford8231 One of the reasons I found Clint Eastwood's Western "Unforgiven" so fascinating is that the movie had no clear-cut good guys or bad guys; every character was a different shade of gray. And given the rough life of 1800s wild west, that's probably true of life back then.
Same guy (Gene Coon) wrote "Arena" but used a different name here since he was under contract with a different studio for the third season of Trek.
Another great reaction from you guys. If you want to see just the one Western, I'd highly recommend, 'Tombstone' from 1993, there are many good ones, but I feel that this one is particularly good, plus it covers the event of this Star Trek episode too.
It's funny how you mentioned at the beginning (when the disembodied voice was speaking in different languages) what if Scotty came in and said "It was speaking Scottish", cause truth be known the disembodied voice was done by "James Doohan", who did several different accents. He also did a lot of different voices of different characters like Sargon in return to tomorrow. It has been noted that he did voice overs for over 40 different characters,
Also Alex doesn't think "Scottish" is a real language. 🤣
The audiobook version of _Star Trek: Best Destiny_ is read by Doohan. Because of his vocal talents he makes it sound like you're listening to a radio show with a full cast rather just one guy reading a book.
@@sirbruce70 He needs to hear Robin Williams doing the invention of golf!
@@zoppie In a few months the guys will be getting to TAS, in which (except for special guests like Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd) Doohan plays nearly all the male guest characters, as well as playing Scotty and a new character added to the regular cast. The show sometimes comes across as virtually a starring vehicle for Doohan rather than Shatner, which is great.
Watched this episode for the first time in 1975 on my family's first color television as a small child. The vivid red sky and the scary wind and situation made a real impression on me. Crazy that I am in my 50's and still find this interesting.
Always one of my favorite episodes. Just trippy and a feeling of being trapped and hopeless.
The gunfight at the OK Corral was a real historical event that was well known to people in the 1960s. Even though the facts were off, it was taught to us in school history classes back in the day. I visited the real OK Corral back in 1973 and recall them having wax statues of the characters and an attached museum. Maybe it’s not as well known now? I’m not sure.
Either way, love this weird Twilight-Zone-style episode!
I can't believe you guys don't know about the gunfight at the OK Corral? Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday? This is such an iconic American tale from the wild west that even non-Americans are familiar.
And there you have my favorite Kirk-Fu move. I think Shatner got a kick (pun intended) every time he got to use his karate training. 😁 Seriously, even though he had a stunt double (Paul Baxley, who also appears onscreen as a crewman sometimes--he's sitting at the table with Chekov & Scotty before the barfight in The Trouble With Tribbles)--I don't think there's been a captain/lead actor on any of the subsequent Trek series who got to do as much of their own stunts as Shatner did...and that was probably a combination of their choice and the studio's. Plus, most of them were already older and/or less athletic than Shatner at the time they had those roles.
I love how Wyatt Earp looks up at Kirk after his beatdown like "WTF kind of demon are you?" 😆
I really like this episode. It introduces some interesting concepts and, as you mentioned had some of the best set design, camera angles and lighting, giving it a great dream-like sequence.
I also really enjoyed the supporting cast performances.
"Tombstone" is a great movie. If you're short on time, you could always watch one of the reaction videos. 😂
Oddly enough, _Dr. Who_ also did a Gunfight at the OK Corral, more than two years earlier than this.
Need to watch “Tombstone “ with Val
Kilmer and Kurt Russell
Best Western Ever! .... "Tom Mix Wept! "
I have the "four lined up" shot on a fridge magnet
📺 🖖🏻 💓
I enjoy this episode still, but far more as a kid when I was all about Westerns (which were everywhere then; comics, movies, paperbacks, toys and sooo many TV shows). What a great surprise it was when suddenly my favorite sci fi show suddenly became part of my favorite genre. And the Shootout at the OK Corral was THE number one part of Wild West lore for me and many. Only Little Big Horn and the death of Wild Bill Hickock came close. That said, I really (at the time) wished we could have gotten it as a time travel episode so we could've seen a full set (they had tons to choose from) and a fish out of water situation. But nowadays I appreciate the whole dream/nightmare-like quality of the half-set and eerie red background.
"High Plains Drifter," starring Clint Eastwood, was written by John D.F. Black.
Black also wrote the Star Trek episode "The Naked Time."
Glad you liked the scenes and dreamlike quality of the telepathic experiences. 50 years ago, Westerns will still front and center in the American zeitgeist, so most everyone was familiar with the Gunfight at the OK Corral, the Earps vs the Clantons (Cowboy/Red Sash gang). Many movies were made about it before and since, so it is well worth investigating further.
I wonder what you guys would make of The Prisoner?
"What's with the Chinese weather balloon?"
@@buffstraw2969 It was a show ahead of its time.
15:15 if that had been alec baldwin instead of shatner we'd have had a year-long murder investigation.
The entire episode is a deliberate exercise in surreality. Even the characters’ recollections of the actual event is off in some parts (believable given many today are ignorant of history). The incomplete sets are not due to lack of budget, but a deliberate creative choice to underline the dream like aspects of what his happening.
Interesting to me that you guys are only a little younger than me, but don't know the cultural references of the Gunfight at the OK Corral? Even as a kid while I may not have known the exact players until I saw movies like Tombstone, the events of it are referenced so often in movies/TV/cartoons/etc. that it was just one of those cultural moments in history - like the sinking of the Titanic or the like.
But yeah, this is a favorite of mine for a number of reasons - our heroes are thrown every disadvantage but still try to be smart and think of any way the audience might think - try to leave, try to stop the fight before it happens, try to convince the townspeople to join them, try to use their advanced knowledge to give them the advantage in the fight, but it all fails. It ratchets up the tension when common sense and good thinking fail them at every turn, requiring a radical reassessment of their approach.
The title itself is wonderful - not only evoking a western feel, but also relevant to the actual plot without being obvious about it. The Malkotians are a truly alien design that we don't get to see very often in TOS and the surreal half-sets create a very haunting atmosphere. Add in good dialogue and memorable cinematography and it all just comes together well.
I do recommend checking out Tombstone sometime - very quotable movie with an amazing cast, particularly Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
The saloon girl, who kissed Chekov, was Bonnie Beecher, who sang, 'Come Wander with Me', in that Twilight Zone episode....
Fun fact: Ron Soble, who played Wyatt Earp in this episode, was the same actor in _The Cincinnati Kid_ , who attacked Steve McQueen with a switchblade, in the first scene of that movie.
Terriffic reaction and even better analysis after the viewing. I'm an old time 62 year old Trekkie and your analysis covered some stuff i've never considered. great stuff gusy! BTW, the gunfight at the OK Corrall is actual history, but I'm sure that's already been mentioned in the comments. I'm surprised you guys weren't aware of that, and if you were I can't recall you guys mentiong it.
Realize the the roots of The Matix lay in this episode. The idea that your mind controls your reality within a dream.
The Gunfight at the OK Corral is a true story. Although it's not 100% accurate, Tombstone is still a VERY close approximation of the true event.
This episode is a solid favorite of mine. And as a fan of westerns it's a nice way to keep things interesting.
I’ll recommend The Searchers. The American Film Institute (AFI ) named it the greatest western back in 2008. It’s an amazing movie with the most beautiful cinematography of Monument Valley and really should be seen on the big screen
I adore this one because of the atmosphere is so creepy. I know it’s because of the very limited budget, but i almost feel like if this was either done on a full set or on location, it wouldn’t be quite as unique as it was.
First episode to be filmed from S3. A trippy but worthwhile entry!
A well written story paced with the crew exhausting every possible solution. Westerns were hugely popular in 1960s in movies & TV. The Earp, Doc true story was well known then. John Wayne met the famous gunslinger Earp in the 1930s and modeled his persona in his western movies.
I think a red sky in American West was also a very surreal touch. Half alien and half historical.
I don't think you really need to know the story of Tombstone to appreciate the episode. You may indeed feel like you should when you watch it, but you really don't. It helps create some of the unease, because you have ignorance of the situation. (That's part of what makes movies like "The Shining" so effective.) That said, the shoot out in Tombstone is probably the most famous Old West true event, and it is played out well and faithfully in the excellent movie "Tombstone," which you should see. As for this episode, "Spectre of the Gun," to me it stands out among all Star Trek episodes for its handling of the nature of reality. It's almost like a mystical read of the scene with Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharata, or the story of Neo in "The Matrix." And if you guys haven't seen that movie, you will want to put it on the list.
By 1959, there were 30 Westerns on TV. In the '60s, the Western had begun to fade in popularity, but there were still plenty of Westerns to choose from. The viewing public knew a lot of Wild West lore when Star Trek aired, so we, including myself at 9 yrs old, knew what was being referenced in this episode. Glad you enjoyed it, despite not knowing the historical references.
By the way, there are a multitude of great Western movies. One of my favorites is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," which was released in the early '60s, but was in B&W, as an homage to the early Westerns, and starring John Wayne and James (Jimmy) Stewart. It straddles the line between the new cinema of the '60s and the classic films of the '40s, and has become a beloved classic with real emotional undertones. The film has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. You'll love it.
Awesome choice!
TV Westerns were everywhere during this time. I remember William Shatner being on an episode of The Big Valley.
The whole family watched this episode in 1968 and I remember how my dad laughed when the Melkotian appeared in the mist. Because of "Lost in Space", everyone was tired of paper mache monsters with light bulb eyes. I now realize that the Melkotian was deliberately fakey looking, just like everything else in this episode. The paper mache dummy was just a proxy - a stand-in; or a simple point of reference for the landing party. Abraham Sofaer was the voice of the Melkotian.
The movie Tombstone is about the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and also Wyatt Earps' Vendetta Ride afterwards. Most movies just end with the Gunfight. It's very well done and fairly accurate. The costumes and set design are really well done according to the period. I am a big fan of Westerns. Tombstone, Unforgiven and Open Range are high on my list. Though nothing can beat the TV mini series Lonesome Dove IMHO.
Scotty probably would have heard Scottish Gaelic
This one is in my top ten. When I originally saw this, I was a little kid who didn't watch westerns, so I knew nothing about the gunfight at the OK Corral. I learned about the history later which just made it better for me.
It helps to know the story of Tombstone but even without that, there's enough basics given to still enjoy it. Especially like the scenes with the mind meld and the final gunfight, and the sets gave it a dream-like quality.
As for westerns definitely check out Tombstone starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. One of the best modern westerns of all time. There are a slew of great westerns from the 1950s that you could check out too but I would say start out with that one as a modern Western.
Love the set. It is the way a community theater would have a set.
Love the Tranquilizer.
I haven't watched the video yet. I'm just posting to say I will never unsee that thumbnail.
Westerns were huge in the late 60s. This is one of the most interesting S3 episodes. However, we see a flaw here that pops up a lot in Star Trek especially as new writers were brought in late in the run. Guns have been a part of multiple episodes but suddenly the characters have to explain what one is to other characters like it's new, likely because the writers have watched little to no prior episodes.
Director Vincent McEveety directed many of the TV shows of the 60's, 70's and 80's. You name a show and he directed them including 45 episodes of "Gunsmoke" and 6 "Star Trek. So he knew his way around a doing westerns for this one.
"A slow burn in a good way." Agreed. A very good episode, I think. I could tell you were both preparing yourselves from the start for disappointment, but Specter of the Gun is a pretty damn entertaining episode for my money. And unique. Great reaction!