tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post8180060604342159152..comments2024-03-28T17:08:01.559-04:00Comments on Doux Reviews: Star Trek: Spectre of the GunBillie Douxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17141769005175631213noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-13046236365119661372023-09-21T07:52:20.882-04:002023-09-21T07:52:20.882-04:00I kind of file this one with the first Doctor stor...I kind of file this one with the first Doctor story, The Gunfighters, although this one isn't a musical comedy like the Doctor's was. I'm not a huge fan of the old west, despite it being more prominent in my childhood than it is these days, but this one had an interesting concept that elevated it a bit for me. <br /><br />Middle of the road to be sure. A few tweaks (and a bigger budget), could have elevated it a bit higher, but the ideas are both sound and interesting, and I do love me some cross-genre stuff when it's done competently or better, as it is here.Morellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08852528242739450099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-43434295446870250692016-07-23T08:43:04.096-04:002016-07-23T08:43:04.096-04:00Loved this episode when I was younger. Best line ...Loved this episode when I was younger. Best line now I am an adult?<br /><br />"You shouldn't have come back to town, Billie. Morgan'll kill you because he wants me."<br /><br />(Snigger) "With his outdated weapon?"<br /><br />I enjoyed the staged facades and. let's face it, when Lars von Trier tried it with "Dogville" using Nicole Kidman in 2003, it was called 'avant-guard cinema. When I watch that film, I always think of this episode.<br /><br />tinkapusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09741716703254697998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-84977412645337641132011-12-04T22:14:11.784-05:002011-12-04T22:14:11.784-05:00Oh - I forgot to mention Chekov's large presen...Oh - I forgot to mention Chekov's large presence in this episode.<br /><br />When Star Trek was renewed for a third season, after the famous Million-Letter Writing Campaign, the show was going to be aired at 7:30 Eastern Time on Mondays, right between "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Laugh-in". <br /><br />With that in mind, the producers decided they were going to put more emphasis on Chekov, since the audience at that time of the evenign was going to skew younger. There was even some talk of elevating Walter Koenig to co-star status along with Bill, Leonard, and DeForest.<br /><br />This episode was clearly written with Chekov's "star status" in mind. It was, in fact, the first episode produced in the 3rd season, although of course NBC opened with "Spock's Brain" instead.<br /><br />Unfortunately, "Laugh-in" refused to be moved from 8 to 8:30 to accomodate Star Trek, and had a lot more clout, being a top-rated show at the time, so NBC reneged on the 7:30 time slot and put Star Trek on Friday nights at 10:00, a time slot which Bob Justman pointed out was watched only by "Aunt Ida, who wouldn't watch Star Trek if we had performed it live in her living room."<br /><br />So much for Walter's co-star status, and so much for Star Trek's third season. Sigh.Jerry Modenenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-90355029541368517552011-12-04T22:04:50.284-05:002011-12-04T22:04:50.284-05:00I've always liked this episode.
A few tidbit...I've always liked this episode. <br /><br />A few tidbits - it was indeed budget problems that forced them to use the minimalist set. Apparently Justman came up with the idea to do that.<br /><br />The original title of the episode was "The Last Gunfight". Don't know when or why it was changed.<br /><br />Nice point about Kirk's fight with Earp, after they've just made a big deal about the bullets not being real. I read once a description of this scene suggesting that Kirk should have just told Spock, "Just eliminate the bullets, so I can have a big fistfight with the Earps."<br /><br />Cross-casting notice: Rex Holman, who played Morgan Earp in this episode, also played J'onn in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. And I remember seeing Ron Soble (Wyatt Earp) around 1971 in a Shasta Root Beer commercial set in the Old West, dressed much as his Earp character.<br /><br />I should point out that it was cool seeing a presentation where the Earps are the bad guys; usually, in dramatic presentations of Tombstone and/or the O.K. Corral, the Earps are the good guys.<br /><br />Speaking of dramatic presentations... DeForest Kelley was in the 1957 "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral", playing Morgan Earp. He once said he wished the crew had been put into cowboy suits for this episode, so he could have worn a white hat at least once in his career (DeForest made a lot of Western movies and was inducted some years ago into the Western Movie Hall of Fame (or some such organization).)<br /><br />Finally, speaking of Tombstone... I visited Tombstone back in 1980, when I was visiting my parents in Tucson. There was a marketing class from the University of Arizona there that day, doing a survey, and one of the questions was "Why did you come to see Tombstone"? <br /><br />I answered, "because of the Star Trek episode." The student laughed and said, "You have no idea how many people have told us that today!"Jerry Modenenoreply@blogger.com