Star Trek Retro Review: "Spectre of the Gun" | Other Earths

[@euansmith3699]

I liked the theatrical setting in this episode. This series might be about other Earths; but this episode was about other Earps. "I'll be your huckleberry."

[@spikeoramathon]

other Earps! love it.

[@josephsdsu1]

Isn't it, "I'm your huckleberry"? The present tense is so much more powerful and direct than the imprecise future continuous.

[@bradcsuka5054]

Ba dum, tssss!

[@StormsparkPegasus]

This episode was brilliant in its use of sets. They were able to get away with a hilariously fake and generic old west town set, by justifying it in the story. It's also sort of an actor allusion to Deforest Kelley, who was mostly known for westerns before Star Trek. He played Morgan Earp in a 1957 movie based on the OK Corral event. I noticed the surreal, almost dreamlike feel too. Quite a few TOS episodes had a similar feel (althought his one had it MUCH more), it was due to the use of interior sets to represent being outside on alien planets.

[@spikeoramathon]

Love the song at the beginning! You've got a nice voice. And the lyrics are really clever. Filk at its best. And I don't care about repetition, I'll listen to you sing whenever. :) I loved this episode when I was a little one, because of the surreal spooky atmosphere and the big clock just hanging there, the incomplete buildings, the red sky. When I grew up (insofar as I ever grew up!) I noticed but did not mind the gaping plot holes because it was a beloved ep from my past and had too many fond memories. For me, a lot of the less-well-written Trek (yes, including Voyager) is like that - it's a threadbare teddy bear of my mind, missing bits and all and I'll still love it. But, dude, sing all you want. You have a fine baritone and nothing to be ashamed of. And this is years of music school talkin'.

[@justinb2824]

The Earp/Holliday actors were fantastic. Filming their scenes in such a way that it leaves no doubt these are not humans, they're constructs meant to walk and talk like humans but their purpose is only to murder the Enterprise officers in an entertaining fashion, is genius. The Earp faction is the highlight of the episode, they are creepy AF.

[@insilencea4599]

When I first saw this episode I wondered if the budget was so tight that week they wrote a way to just build part of a set scrounged from another soundstage. 😂 I have a soft spot for this one because of a single second of it, which is one of my favorite in all of Star Trek. It's the one time, as far as I recall, that Spock pays McCoy a complement, and McCoy's face in that instant is just priceless. He does not know how to react, and we're moving on before he has to.

[@mgscheue]

From what I've read about it in various books, I think that's exactly the case. They didn't have much of a budget and ended up using that to their advantage. I definitely like this episode more than Steve. A high point in a mostly pretty bad season 3, IMO.

[@greenmonsterprod]

@@mgscheue The original script idea was to film it on the backlot. But, as you noted, the budget didn't allow for it, so they went with a surrealistic approach that works very well. And the build-up to the gunfight is tense and well-edited, with great music from Jerry Fielding. I agree that it's one of the better Season 3 stories.

[@allanolley4874]

I don't find Spock's conclusion that nothing is real (it is all in the mind) that weird given everything that leads up to it. Arguably that should have been their working assumption from the start. The tranquilizer not working is arguably just the final confirmation of what he was already thinking. I don't know if it was bad or boring I don't remember disliking it, but can't say I particularly liked it either. Best joke was Scotty taking some whiskey before being tranquilized even after McCoy says it is not necessary.

[@coinsilver3]

They didn't need to disbelieve the bullets when it was proven by Scotty not getting KOed by the gas when he was expecting to.

[@uvp5000]

@@coinsilver3 Agreed, but given how easy it is to believe a threat, and prudently so, the plot works better with the added emotional/mental bolstering of a mind meld. Despite some folks' level of emotional and mental evolution, there are still thousands of years of DNA that arise through any training to tell us something else when faced with a potential danger.

[@harrybehemoth2751]

When I was a little kid, this was one of the more thrilling episodes.

[@catherinewood948]

Thanks!

[@eme.261]

I appreciate your dulcet tones, sir. A spoonful of honey helped to make the medicine of "Spectre of the Gun" go down smoother.

[@koretmulder6316]

I really loved the theatrical facades, because it made sense in the context.

[@stevenhandzel5929]

One other bright spot for this episode is the original score by Jerry Fielding. Very underutilized throughout the rest of the series for its unique “western” sound. Very effective and compliments most of its surreal atmosphere.

[@host_theghost507]

It's amazing. It feels both familiar and eerie all at the same time. My favorite cut is the warped version of "Buffalo Gals" as they enter the saloon.

[@RobertDocSalvagerWatson]

I always liked this episode for it's direct juxtaposition of the "heroes" from my two favorite genres. Looking back, I think it may have been instrumental in beginning what has become a core value of mine of always being ready to look at things from the opposite viewpoint... a core value of Star Trek. The stage-like set was my introduction to using my imagination to accept the "icons" of set pieces and focus on the story... the message. By being clearly only representations, those facades faded into the background of my attention and allowed me to more deeply focus on the story. Many years after seeing this episode for the first time in the 60s, I got involved in community theatre. There I learned how you have to exaggerate how a line is delivered or a scene constructed in order for the audience to distinguish it from the "background noise" of the sets, props and other actors. Spectre of the Gun does this exceptionally well. Thus, I think this episode does a good job of focusing the audience's attention on the messages... "Good" and "bad" can be a matter of perspective. Though often the obvious solution, killing is usually not necessary in the long run. What we perceive is often not factual reality and thus we can change OUR reality with enough mental effort. As Spock gives us many years later, "As long as there is life, there are always possibilities." And its Star Trek corrilary... "Dead" can be temporary in the world Star Trek.

[@DawnDavidson]

Agreed! It’s a very theatrical episode, in a most literal sense. Most of it could easily be staged. For me it also foreshadows West World a little bit, the first version of which is only a decade or so in the future at this point, IIRC.

[@shanesnyder6473]

Steve, loved your opening cowboy ballad! You are quite the showman, always revealing hidden talents and other intriguing surprises. Keeps me coming back!!

[@peterschairer488]

The first time I saw this episode as a kid I didn't know anything about the Earps or Tombstone. I thought the Earps were the villains until I learned otherwise.

[@karahughes7074]

Actually Ike Clanton did try to take Wyatt Earp to court both sides were shady as hell, but the Warps came out smelling like roses...

[@Razielchan666]

I actually like this episode a lot, mostly for the sets and the mood - it feels a bit like a nightmare, with lapses of logic, sudden scene changes and warped yet familiar locales so typical of a dream.

[@garysouza95]

The Earps, being constructs by the Melkotians from the minds of the officers, maybe from the library computer, are appropriately wooden. Also the half formed town.

[@KokoMulder-b7g]

You may be surprised, but this is in my top ten Original Series episodes. Pacing aside, it was precisely the eerie dream-like quality that stood out for me. The half-finished staging nailed their experience. It really did feel like they were walk through a dangerous dream.

[@indetigersscifireview4360]

This is a great episode because the aliens way of thinking is well portrayed. With telepathic aliens anger and killing can be a contagious disease. The test the aliens set up is too see if the humans can control their thoughts well enough not to be a violent "disease" carrier. There was a similar episode in Voyager where B'Elanna is caught off guard thinking a violent thought in a world of telepaths and she is arrested for it.

[@Jayk129]

I know you said next weeks episode is the last in this batch but I think there is one more episode you need to add to this run of “Other Earths.” Because you did Spectre of the Gun and this episode shares a lot in common with Spectre. They’re both set on a clearly alien world, the away team is surrounded by fog when they beam down, then a mysterious pocket of old timey Earth suddenly appears in the middle of no where. Oh yeah and one more thing they’re both horrible. That is a little episode from the 2nd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “The Royale.”

[@jpolowin0]

This was the first Trek episode I ever saw, when I was 9. My family was visiting friends for a Christmas dinner, and at some point this show came on. I saw some guys in weird outfits in a Western, and in the big gunfight, they didn't get hurt because they believed that the bullets weren't real. It wasn't until a few years later, when I read the Blish adaptation in my school library and connected it to those memories, that I finally learned what the episode was really about.

[@wtspman]

I expect it was likely important that this episode originally aired the week before Halloween. In my mind it shares some similarities with Catspaw, the Halloween episode from season 2. You even get a character named Sylvia in both episodes.

[@ospero7681]

This episode's German title translates to "Wild West in Space", and that pretty much sums it up.

[@kellyloganme]

An interesting angle that could have been added in could have been that the aliens were so evolved past violence that they couldn't use it properly. That's why they had to pull a violent end from Kirk's mind and that's why the Earp's were so mechanical when it came to actually coming to kill them. Those and the fact the aliens communicated with telepathy and the fact physical laws seemed to be suspended could have helped make a better case for Spock's conclusion, or lead to alternate endings based on understanding the alien's not understanding violence.

[@uvp5000]

Nicely reasoned out.

[@GregStachowski]

BTW DeForest Kelley played Morgan Earp in the 1957 Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral".

[@vine1313]

I remember when I was growing up watching this with my father. He had watched this when it first aired, I was watching it in reruns. It was one of my favorite episode when I was a child. Although that may be because I was a fan of westerns, or it could be I was watching these out of order, so I saw this one before any of the others that had a similar message.

[@KimKutey-ds3rx]

One of my all time favorites from childhood. It still holds a special place in my old cobwebby mind.

[@snakebitcat]

Kirk was disappointed that the people of Tombstone couldn't simply see by his outfit that he wasn't a cowboy.

[@SteveShives]

This is an excellent comment and I'm proud to have it beneath my video.

[@DawnDavidson]

😂😂😂

[@alanpennie]

​@@SteveShives I prefer Streets of Laredo when it comes to the surprising subgenre of songs sung by dying cowboys.

[@ttintagel]

It does make a certain sense for the Federation's expansionism to ve punished by making the landing party relive a chapter of violent expansionism in Earth's history. And I totally agree about McEveety's direction; he had a couple of westerns under his belt already and would come to do a lot more. If you keep spoiling us like this, we're going to start expecting a song with every video!

[@DawnDavidson]

I am all for more Steve-songs! 🎉

[@Gzeebo]

That high baritone vibrato got me all tingly.

[@Saugerdees]

Really liked your impressions of the directing and set design!

[@dannywebb8718]

I always thought that the "turtle head" alien looked like Oscar the Grouch.

[@jackalovski1]

Seeing the four gunmen together reminded me of the award winning episode of Red Dwarf episode gunmen of the apocalypse and makes me wonder if Steve has ever watched red dwarf. I know Patric Stewart was a fan of the show, nearly suing them for ripping off Star Trek before he realised it was a sitcom.

[@DawnDavidson]

That - RD - is such a great show, and one of my favorite episodes. ❤

[@anionhero]

I would like to point out that apparently someone either in the writer's room or in the production of the show really, really hated Chekhov because it is usually the person who is wearing the red shirt that gets killed. So, Scotty should have been the person shot. But instead, it was Chekhov that was shot even though he is wearing a yellow shirt.

[@MattMcIrvin]

This is another one of those cheeser cheeser episodes that nevertheless seems to be remembered by everybody who talks about Star Trek: TOS. The whole idea of protecting yourself from the imaginary bullets by not believing in them made a big impression on kids.

[@Framed-Naraht]

so, I see the set as being cause the Melcosians (or however you spell it) - are doing this from pulling the idea out of their minds, and so it has this dream like, well, we need all these places, but there isn't a lot here to tell us what these places are. Things only get fleshed out as needed, because the crew starts thinking more about it.

[@J-_-]

"Coward fence" is something the Klingons should use to refer to shielding, haha.

[@host_theghost507]

I almost never disagree with Steve-but for my money, this is not only the best episode of Season 3 (a low bar, I'll admit) but one of the best in TOS. First, they actually make the low-budget Our Town treatment work: the Melkot didn't bother filling out the sets, they just needed enough to complete the "pattern of their deaths." It's a lot more menacing than if they had a backlot set. Second, the performances of the large supporting cast-a rarity for TOS-were spot on, particularly the guys playing the Earps. Those guys are just stone cold. It's also way ahead of its time in making the Earps the bad guys. Third, Jerry Fielding writes some amazing theme music. Fourth, it's a rare episode where all of the principal cast in the landing party get a moment to shine. The worst episodes of TOS are the ones where Shatner gets all the good lines, gets to make out with the hot alien babe, gets the big speech at the end. All of that is shared more or less equally. Finally, this is definitely the "smart good Kirk" who does his duty and lives by his principles, not the "stupid bad Kirk" of the third season who falls in love with androids and rants about being Kirok. The point of the ending isn't that the bullets can't kill you if you don't believe in them. It's that if you give in to your instinct for violence, you will almost certainly wind up being destroyed by it. Kirk passes the test not because he learns to see through the illusion, but because he resists the urge to kill even after he's come to see that the Earps aren't real. It's only at this point that the Melkot stops the test.

[@Alexander-me9zu]

I’m surprised you take issue with the writing. I think it’s an excellently written episode! The characters keep coming up with different ideas on how to solve their problem, and at least one of those ideas is pretty creative- and the writers avoid the obvious payoff of rewarding the characters for their efforts. The ending is almost meta. “The bullets can’t really kill us because it’s not real! It’s just as if we were in a TV show!!” Not a direct quote, of course, but the pure fantasy of the situation is the point rather than just the setting.

[@brad9189]

I have to admit, Spectre of the Gun has a weird appeal to me, although I agree with all of your criticisms, Steve. It's definitely not one of the better episodes of the original series, but I guess I just like the overall surreal feel of it--the set design, the portrayals by the actors playing the Earp brothers, the gunfight at the end, and yeah, the actress who played Sylvia. Lucky Chekov.

[@alanfike]

While a nice historic reference to have Doc Holliday to be a dentist, because he was, I don't think he practiced as one in Tombstone. By the time of the showdown at the OK coral, I think he sustained himself as a gambler. I enjoy the hell out of just the vision of cowboys firing at the landing crew of the Enterprise and the crew simply standing there, really cool, while the bullets fly by.

[@catherinewood948]

I was privileged to attend an acting class taught by Leonard Nimoy at Illinois State University circa 1972. He had to work because none of the actors got residuals for Star Trek. He also complained about the tight shooting schedules and not being able to artistically adjust shots for best effect.

[@DawnDavidson]

Lucky you! :)

[@kariannecrysler640]

You have a beautiful voice ✌️💗🤘 Happy shortest day of the year!

[@edwardrobinson9765]

I have to admit that Star Trek Continues might be one of the best Star Trek series ever produced.

[@digitalevolution167]

While I do agree with your breakdown of the episode from academic perspective… I can only see the episode through the eyes of my 10th at old self who loved every minute of it … was it great television when it originally aired in the 1960’s, I don’t know but in 1986 it was awesome!

[@sejembalm]

And for those who like the classic 1952 Gary Cooper Western movie, High Noon, should watch this film set on Jupiter's moon of Io in a titanium mining facility in the Sean Connery 1981 sci-fi movie, Outland.

[@DawnDavidson]

Is it any good? I love me some Sean Connery, but he did act in some stinkers!

[@alanpennie]

​@@DawnDavidson It's not bad at all. Though Pauline Kael really didn't like it.

[@alanpennie]

"Do not forsake me Ms Sternhagen, These corporate goons are really bad..."

[@alanpennie]

"Do not forsake me Ms Sternhagen, These corporate goons are really bad..."

[@alissapyrich1891]

You have a nice singing voice. Keep serenading us!

[@bobbun9630]

"The pattern of your deaths will come from you. Just don't think about the Stay-Puft marshmallow man."

[@DawnDavidson]

😂

[@MarcColten-us2pl]

One of the things that bothered me, even when I saw this for the first time, was Spock telling the others that the character Chekov was playing survived the Gunfight. I mean what was he doing with all this earth knowledge? This seemed to vague for him to know about.

[@alanpennie]

I guess he reads/watches a lot of Westerns in his leisure time. If you're in Space Wagon Train it's The logical thing to do.

[@samcarlson9625]

I always had a soft spot for this episode, I feel it gets overlooked. I agree that the sets and shots are unique for the show and the hero/villain reversal was a neat twist. I really liked the extremely alien look of the Melkosians, intimidating and blurry. The surreal appearance of the sets was a great artistic choice. Star Trek is my first tv memory, the Gorn Captain specifically. The hissing voice and obviously superior strength, slow but methodical and intelligent, an perfect adversary for Kirk in that episode. It was the early 70's and I was about 4 years old. I've been a life long fan, I've got an award winning portrait of Spock tattooed on my chest. The show made points that have stuck with me. I really enjoy your viewpoints about Star Trek. Actually, I have watched many hours of your stuff, about a wide variety of topics, so thanks. As a genx, d&d player, sci fi, fantasy, metal head, ultra leftist progressive guy from central Mass; it's very encouraging to find intelligent people are out there.

[@christopherwilson3754]

A couple of years before this episode Doctor Who aired the story The Gunfighters also set in Tombstone where , among other shenanigans, the first Doctor is confused for Doc Holiday. Hilarity ensues.

[@skug9bob]

The Melkotians: the Talosians if they had learned how to make robots or something rather than needing slaves? I imagine the Melkotians got to know humans better with time, and therefore decided that no, they didn't want to be part of the Federation after all. I certainly can't recall them showing up anywhere else in Star Trek media. (Which I suppose some members of Starfleet regret. Having some folks onboard capable of trapping people in full sensory hallucinations over interstellar distances would be rather useful at times.)

[@Mallory-Malkovich]

If only Chekov had said "Я твоя черника" before he died (yes, I Google-translated "I'm your huckleberry" into Russian).

[@seraphonica]

it's a shame there's not more foreshadowing in this episode. it seems like a "Chekov's gun" reference would almost make itself.

[@DawnDavidson]

Right??? 😂 Maybe they felt it was too obvious.

[@caihah.1404]

I first saw this episode when I was around 5, and this was the first time I ever heard about the Gunfight at the OK Coral. Consequently, I believed, well into my 20's, that the Earps and Holiday were the villains of the story.

[@koretmulder6316]

I didn't expect to ever make *this* comment on your channel. Been subscribed on content for a while now. But Steve? Honestly, you actually have a very solid singing voice. Seriously, who knew?

[@patrickdodds7162]

I showed the ending of this episode to a a friend of mine who did pro bono hypnosis for me seven and half years. He loved the metaphor and I eventually did a large pencil drawing for him from the scene when Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty are standing confidently against the Earps. The episode is a great metaphor for the therapeutic use of hypnosis.

[@dawnday2666]

While I’ll agree with most of your points about this episode it is a very memorable one and one of the earliest (for me) I remember watching as a kid

[@ironchef8000]

I love these episode reviews. I know how much you liked Chain of Command. I’d love to see a review of TNG’s The Wounded, which is too often overlooked but one of the best episodes of TNG imo.

[@noop1111]

Kirk should have thought of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

[@pauldueffert2749]

Disagree on the bottom line. From the time I was a kid I always put this episode in the top 25% of TOS episodes. The staging and surrealism is so well done, and so unusual and edgy for TV series of the time, that the whole thing has always been a standout in my mind.

[@JanetDax]

Liked it so much I wrote a parody. "Gunfight at the Mary Sue Corral." It was for Wesley Crusher fans.

[@JonathanEzor]

Thank you for this latest installment, Steve.

[@Klunkyman]

This episode must have saved SOOO much of the budget

[@UnicornClone]

Actually Spectre of the Gun is one of my favorite episodes.

[@murkeyhollow]

You should start every review with a cowboy song "I've got bat'leths that gingle jangle gingle" "Don't Tholian Web me in" etc.

[@williamjones6031]

This story always reminds me of my dad who love to watch westerns on tv. Spock to the rescue AGAIN. 😎

[@willadeefriesland5107]

Famous feuds? No Hatfields, just a McCoy...

[@hadorstapa]

"Which is repetitive but I don't care" is somewhat the theme of this series of episode reviews. Edit: by which I don't mean Steve, I mean the Star Trek writers doing "Earth-twin" stories every other episode for a while.

[@patrickdodds7162]

Steve, I want to say I am thankful that you use screen capture of TOS from the original versions instead of those horrible George Lucas-ized "special editions" they did for the HD release.

[@ShinGallon]

I've never seen "My Darling Clementine", but I've seen the MASH episode where they watch that movie and the projector keeps having issues at least half a dozen times so I feel like I got the gist of it.

[@davidsamet6969]

I like how I thought you were referring to Chekhov’s gun and not the character

[@simonbyrd6518]

It's always fun to see the actors in the "bad guy" roles, like Ron Soble, in other shows where they CAN show emotion..

[@robinburt5735]

A fistful of datas would also be eligible for a cowboy song intro. Or that voyager one. EDIT: I heard once that it was Wyatt Earp that wrote Sparticus, is that true?

[@SteveShives]

I'm not sure when I'll get around to reviewing "A Fistful of Datas," but when I do, I've got the cowboy song for the intro all picked out.

[@robinburt5735]

@@SteveShives More spaghetti western i'm guessing with an Ennio Morricone vibe with lots of whistling and "boing" noises hehe

[@augiegirl1]

2:21 It’s like the start of “A Taste of Armageddon”, except in that episode, when Kirk tries to turn around, the person giving the orders to continue is PERSONALLY on the bridge to overrule him. 19:55 If the Melkotian planet is considered an Alternate Earth when it’s only partially Earth-like, why isn't Excalbia (from “The Savage Curtain”)?

[@patrickdodds7162]

Spectre of the Gun > Arena (Come get me, world.)

[@garysouza95]

No. Way.

[@michiganderryan5293]

I've only made it three minutes in and this is already the best episode of Retro Review of all time.

[@Waffletigercat]

I agree that the plot and pacing have problems in this episode, but maaaaaaaaan the set design is so unique and cool. And that shootout scene with the fence splintering behind our heroes is awesome. I can’t help but like this one, even if I will agree that it isn’t a top tier episode.

[@seantlewis376]

Spectre of the Gun was an episode that I enjoyed even more reading the James Blish novelization. On screen, it seemed a bit lazy. The ending with Kirk throwing away the gun and being forgiven by the all-powerful aliens was just too much like the ending of Arena, as you said. It was almost a remake of Arena, but with a different setting. When it comes to "whacky western episode", I think TNG's A Fistful of Datas was done much better, and was more fun to watch.

[@sstavlo]

I often forget about this episode, and shortly after watching, forget about it again. What greater sin can an episode have, than being easily forgetable?

[@morlockmeat]

I always somehow thought that if they had a bigger budget that week, they would have filmed this episode on location in one of the western town studio lots.

[@logiciananimal]

The original title seems to suggest more promise: "The Last Gunfight" - which brings up more of the anti-violence theme.

[@DawnDavidson]

Interesting tidbit. Thanks!

[@ZipplyZane]

Wow. That singing was quite good. I could have sworn I'd heard you sing before, and it wasn't this good. Very folksy, Southern sound for someone in Maryland, BTW. Edit: and apparently I've missed a video. Sorry.

[@michaelcherry8952]

I would agree with you that the actual shooting and staging of the episode is much better than the story. I found the "Our Town" stage set, the weird lighting, the interesting framing and camera angles to really create an "uncanny valley" sensation, almost like a nightmare. It's just too bad it was wasted on a fairly mediocre script. There were a couple of good lines. I particularly remember Scotty downing a glass of bourbon before trying out the tranquilizer "to kill the pain". After McCoy tells him "But it's painless", Scotty says "Should have told me sooner". Methinks Mr. Scott was acquiring a taste for bourbon!😉

[@fallenmango8420]

You have a really nice singing voice!

[@Xiaolaoshu621]

Padding seems to be a common problem with these episodes. They might have been great animated episodes since they half length.

[@SteveShives]

Padding is a problem in a LOT of TOS episodes. There are so many that have awesome premises, and some very strong scenes throughout, but drag terribly in between. And yeah, a 30-minute format instead of 60-minutes may have helped in many cases.

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

I appreciate what they were trying to do here, but Val Kilmer was the best Doc Holliday ever, FIGHT ME. This guy was NOT my huckleberry.

[@illwill1991]

This episode is a VERY interesting portrayal of the gunfight at the ok corral. Most media based on that fight portray the Earps as the "good guys" and the Clantons as the "bad guys." I mean, after all the Earps were lawmen and the Clantons and McLaurys were criminals. This is really the only piece of media that I've ever seen that portrays the Earps as the "bad guys" and the instigators. Who were really the good guys? As it is often in real life, there really weren't any good guys or bad guys in this situation. Except for maybe Virgil. People who were in tombstone that day describe Virgil Earp as spending the entire day running back and forth, trying to keep the peace between both sides and trying to settle the dispute between Ike and Doc Holiday that started the whole thing. Ike supposedly spent that entire day severely drunk, which is probably why Virgil didn't have much success.

[@yuuzyerbrejn9603]

I look forward to Far Beyond the Stars, maybe my favorite ST episode of all and a definite Other Earth. Is anyone cooler as an actor than Avery Fkn Brooks? In TOS one thing I very much like is the 60s-feeling acid-tripiness they sometimes used to simulate "alien". Yeah, trippy man. "Coward Fence"- best description I ever heard for Faux News.

[@cowbelltv4865]

Thanks for this review. This is not a great episode, but may be in the top half of season 3? It did lead me to believe that Wyatt Earp et al were bad buys until I saw Tombstone (and or Costner’s Wyatt Earp) in the 90s a realized they were not evil. 19:58

[@rmeddy]

An episode about Other Earps

[@christopherdeangelis2954]

I think the anti-violence theme is implicit in depicting the “heroes” of the OK Corral as bloodthirsty villains. This story preaches non violence by not letting the surviving victors in US mythology write history

[@tobiasscheffel3168]

One of my favourite episodes… not as dull in my opinion.

[@jonathanstewart4999]

"Coward Fence" 😂 I love it and at the same time I'm thinking, the Enterprise crew ain't no cowards, kinda like the Doctor Who episode Family of Blood. They were trying to run away to be kind 😂

[@j72ashley]

And this is why I love ya Steve!

[@dressinggownsessions7296]

I've recently been putting a spreadsheet together combining polls of the series - a lot of whole series polls, and some top and bottom 10/20 articles. I've scoured the internet for as many of these as I can find, and put them together to not only come up with as definitive a ranking order of the episodes but also identify which are the most controversial. Spectre Of The Gun is currently the 3rd most controversial episode on this spreadsheet. Measuring controversy might not sound like something you can do on a spreadsheet, but if you know some basics about statistical analysis, you'll have heard of a property called Standard Deviation, which is the property I use to measure an episode's controversy. The higher the standard deviation, the more controversial an episode. So the more universally loved and hated episodes will have lower SD. The City On The Edge Of Forever tops so many of these polls that at present its mean ranking is 2.8 (there are some polls where it doesn't come top after all), and its SD is 3.7 - which is the lowest SD of any episode. Indeed, the ten "least controversial" episodes are all in either the top 10 or bottom 10 on this composite poll (however I sort the data, and I have about 3-4 different methods which yield fractionally different results). The more controversial ones are all episodes that average out in the middle of the polls because there is both that much love and that much hate for them. Which brings me back to this episode. Spectre Of The Gun is currently the 3rd most controversial episode, according to my spreadsheet. And given that 1st is Assignment: Earth, which by its very nature of being a hidden pilot for another series makes it very difficult to review fairly, and 2nd place is Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, which is so in-your-face about prejudice that it's almost impossible not to have a strong emotional reaction in either direction, this is one of those times where the bronze medal is equivalent to a gold under normal circumstances. Spectre Of The Gun is actually a combination of multiple episodes from earlier in the series' run. You mentioned Arena in this clip, and that's definitely there - hardly surprising as both episodes were written by Gene L. Coon (SotG using his pseudonym Lee Cronin) - but this episode also has shades of The Corbomite Maneuver (an episode that I've always thought would have benefitted from Coon's touch), and also the "acting within a known unreality" element owes something to the original pilot The Cage (although until recently I was saying Shore Leave). So maybe it's not that original but it's still a good mix of the familiar.

[@johncattley5919]

It’s refreshing to hear criticism of the pacing and creativity of some of these episodes. Unusually I just feel guilty for not appreciating the classics more.

[@kirsinurmio9441]

I really liked the song!

[@Tolly7249]

Damn Steve, your singing voice is wonderful!

[@allwinds3786]

You missed your calling!🥰

[@garysouza95]

Talos IV all over again. They learned just enough to quarantine the Melkotians upon penalty of death.

[@uvp5000]

Good point.