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Spectre of the Gun (episode)

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This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
"Spectre of the Gun"
TOS, Episode 3x01
Production number: 60043-56
First aired: 25 October 1968
Remastered version aired: 19 July 2008
← 57th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 61st of 80 released in TOS →
← 77th of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 61st of 726 released in all →
Written By
Lee Cronin

Directed By
Vincent McEveety
4385.3 (2268)
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Intent on making contact with the Melkotians, the Enterprise ignores a warning buoy and proceeds to their homeworld. Angered, the Melkotians sentence Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Chekov to death by forcing them to re-enact the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Contents

[edit] Summary

On a mission to establish contact with the reclusive and xenophobic Melkotians, Kirk ignores the message of a space buoy which warns the Enterprise to immediately leave Melkot space. Kirk tries to contact the Melkotians, but there is no response to his message.

When Spock, Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and Chekov beam down to Melkot, they materialize in a fog bank not recorded by ship's sensors. Their tricorders and communicators do not function. The landing party encounters a Melkotian who informs them that they are "outside," a disease that must be destroyed. Their trespassing is to be punished by death, and that the pattern of their death will be taken from Kirk's mind, since it was he who ordered that the Melkotians' warning be disregarded.

The landing party finds itself teleported to a facade of an 19th century American frontier town. All of their equipment is gone, and instead each now has a gunbelt and a revolver. They observe the curious "incompleteness" of the town. Buildings with only a front wall, open to the air on the sides and back. Signs and clocks hanging in mid-air. Kirk reads from a copy of the Tombstone Epitaph, a newspaper with the date of October 26th, 1881. A man with a sheriff's badge greets them, acting as though he knows them well. He refers to Kirk as Ike, Spock as Frank, Scott as Billy, and McCoy as Tom. Recognizing the sheriff's name, Johnny Behan, Kirk quickly puts the names together. Ike Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, Billy Claiborne and Billy Clanton. He further recalls that the Clantons were one of two factions who fought for control of the town of Tombstone; the other being the Earps: Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil, who were the town marshals, and "Doc" Holliday. Spock notes that a gunfight (he called it a "Battle") occurred on October 26th, 1881, at the O.K. Corral, in which the Clantons lost. Kirk warns that the antique guns they all are carrying can be as deadly as phasers at close range.

They witness the shooting of a bar patron by Morgan Earp, and conclude that death is one thing that is real. Inside the bar, Chekov is accosted by a woman named Sylvia who claims to know him. Both Kirk and Chekov narrowly avoid a gunfight with Morgan Earp over the incident.

Kirk tries to convince Ed the bartender that he is not Ike Clanton, but to no avail. Kirk then attempts to make peace with the Earps. When this too fails, he and the landing party try to leave town, but they are stopped by a force field. McCoy and Spock cooperate to build a tranquillizer gas grenade which will incapacitate the Earps. McCoy encounters the town dentist, "Doc" Holliday, while acquiring the chemicals needed for his tranquilizer.

Meanwhile, Chekov has fallen in love with Sylvia. When Morgan picks a fight over the girl, Chekov is shot and killed. Spock is puzzled by this, since William Claiborne survived the battle at the O.K. Corral. Kirk takes it to mean that the outcome of the conflict does not necessarily correspond with the historical outcome. Kirk tries to get the sheriff to call off the shoot-out, but finds that Behan is more interested in having the Clantons kill the Earps. With time running out, Scotty volunteers to test McCoy's gas grenade. Despite McCoy's careful preparation, it does not work. Spock realizes that nothing around them is real, that the entire scenario is taking place in their minds.

Kirk vows not to leave the bar, but finds himself and the others teleported to the O.K. Corral. The corral is encircled by a force field so that escape is impossible. Spock tries to convince the others that if they recognize that the situation is not real, they will not die. Kirk observes that any doubt would be enough to kill them, just like Chekov. Using a mind meld, Spock convinces everyone else that nothing around them, including the bullets, is real. The Earps arrive and open fire on the ersatz Clantons, but the bullets pass right through them. When the Earps deplete their ammunition, Kirk attacks Wyatt Earp and beats him. Kirk seems about to shoot him, but upon seeing the abject terror in Wyatt's eyes, Kirk releases him.

The landing party finds themselves back aboard the Enterprise. Chekov is alive and well, and Kirk suggests it is because the only thing that was real to him was the girl. The Melkotian buoy, once again directly in front of them, emits M waves and then disintegrates. The Melkotians, impressed that Kirk did not kill, extend an invitation to establish relations with the Federation.

[edit] Log Entries

  • Captain’s log, stardate 4385.3. We have transported down to the Melkotian planet and have encountered conditions which are completely contrary to what we were prepared for.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"What can I do, Captain? You know we're always supposed to maintain good relations with the natives."

- Chekov


"I've always said you was yellow."

- Virgil Earp to Kirk


"All those western cossacks had were poisonous snakes and cactus plants."

- Chekov


"Gentlemen there is one thing which requires the immediate attention of all of us; specifically our future"

"But not this minute Spock it takes us… a little longer."

"I understand the feeling Captain"

"You talk about another man’s feelings! What do you feel Spock?"

"My feelings are not subject for discussion, Doctor"

"Because there are no feelings to discuss!"

"Mr. Spock, Chekov is dead. I say it now and I can hardly believe it but you work closely with him. That deserves some memorial."

"Spock will have no truck with grief, Scotty. It’s human."

"Bones. Scotty."

"Captain. It’s quite alright. They forget I am half human."

- Spock, McCoy, Scotty and McCoy


"Physical reality is consistent with universal laws. When the laws do not operate, there is no reality."

- Spock, to McCoy


"Draw!"

- Wyatt Earp

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story and Script

  • Story outline "The Last Gunfight" 19 April 1968. Revised final draft 14 May 1968, filmed late May. James Blish's adaptation has title as "The Last Gunfight". Among the differences is that in the adaptation, the tranquilizer is delivered via darts; in the episode, it is in the form of a nerve gas.
  • The episode originally aired just one day before the anniversary of the original gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
  • Wyatt Earp, despite the sign in this episode, was not the marshal of Tombstone. His older brother Virgil was. Wyatt and Morgan were deputy marshals. Also, in reality, the actual gunfight took place outside Fly's Photographic Studio, a good distance from the O.K. Corral. These inaccuracies can be attributed to Kirk's romanticized conceptions of the Old West.
  • Kirk remembers that the real-life Billy Claiborne (the role assigned to Chekov by the Melkots) survived the O.K. Corral gunfight, but apparently does not recall that his own character, Ike Clanton (who was unarmed during the gunfight), also survived the shootout. Some other historical errors as pertains to the historical gunfight: Morgan Earp is referred to by Kirk as "the man who kills on sight" when the real life Morgan by most reliable accounts was an even-tempered lawman who used his gun only when he was forced to. The gunfight in the Melkot scenario is treated as a pre-arranged event when in actuality it was more or less a spontaneous affair. The gunfight took place near the hour of three o'clock as opposed to five o'clock as stated in the episode. Finally, although it may have seemed that Chekov's Billy Claiborne was the youngest one there (Claiborne turned 21 the day before the gunfight), Billy Clanton, the role Scotty played, had that distinction. He was 19.[1]
  • Star Trek characters would revisit the Old West in TNG: "A Fistful of Datas".
  • This is the only episode to end with the Enterprise heading toward a planet.

[edit] Costumes

  • For the third season, the velour uniforms from the first two seasons have been replaced by better fitting, but cheaper looking polyester ones. Reportedly, the fabric was the same nylon-based material used in professional baseball uniforms. The switch was made because the original velour shrank every time it was dry-cleaned. This was a problem because union rules required that costumes be cleaned before each use.
  • Chekov is the only member of the landing party who wears a two-holstered gun belt.
  • Mike Minor was the designer of the Melkot mask.

[edit] Sets and Props

  • The original script specified filming the episode on location in an outdoor Western town. However, due to budget restrictions, filming was confined to the regular studio stages. To avoid having to build a complete Western town set, the concept of an incomplete town, put together from "bits and pieces" out of Kirk's mind, was developed, thus allowing the episode to be filmed within budget. (Star Trek Compendium)
  • Kirk's chair now has a pad on its base, made from the same material that covers the rest of the floor of the bridge.
  • This is TOS's only foray into surrealism, with unique set designs by Matt Jefferies.
  • The sign that says "sheriff" has an identical font to the main titles of the show. [1]

[edit] Cast and Characters

[edit] Production

  • A very subtle change in the third season was the use of new sound effects for the pushing of buttons on the bridge.
  • Another difference this episode brings is the "singing plant" background noise from "The Cage", used for nearly every planet in seasons one and two, is replaced here by a new, warbly sound. This will be used intermittently throughout season three - for example, in "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky".
  • Jerry Fielding's unique score adds atmosphere to this episode. When we see the villains in the saloon, Fielding has the piano play stereotypical "menace" notes and a bizarre rendition of "Buffalo Gals". Fielding's other Star Trek contribution was his score for "The Trouble with Tribbles".
  • A funny photo taken on the set of this segment, and reproduced in the paperback book A Star Trek Catalogue, shows Kelley looking in puzzlement at a revolver that he is holding incorrectly.
  • A short clip in the third season blooper reel shows the Melkotian head wearing a fake mustache and horn-rimmed glasses. Writing in an issue of the fan magazine Enterprise Incidents, James Van Hise said that the glasses belonged to co-producer Robert H. Justman.

[edit] Other Information

[edit] Production Timeline

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also Starring

[edit] With

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

American frontier; apothecary; Arizona; baking soda; bourbon; bullet; Buntline Special; cactus; cattle; chloroform; Claiborne, Billy; Clanton, Billy; Clanton, Ike; Colt; cotton; corn whiskey; Cossack; English; Fast Draw; force field; gallon; gas grenade; gun; horse; lead; M-rays; marshal; Melkot(ian); Melkotian homeworld; mortar and pestle; OK Corral; OK Corral, Battle at the; Russian; scotch; snake; stomach; Swahili; Taos Lightning; telepathy; Tombstone; Tombstone Epitaph; tranquilizer; United States of America; venom; Vulcan language; Vulcan mind-meld; yard.

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"Assignment: Earth" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3 		Next episode produced:
"Elaan of Troyius"
Previous episode aired:
"Is There in Truth No Beauty?" 		Next episode aired:
"Day of the Dove"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Cloud Minders" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Empath"
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