Spectre of the Gun

I watched "Spectre of the Gun" last night and while I know the episode fairly well, this time I gave extra attention to Jerry Fielding's score. Love the harmonica bit, and the entire effort sounds like Star Trek piped through a folksy Fielding funnel. There are maybe traces of The Wild Bunch but on the whole it often sounds Waltons-ish. Warmhearted Americana, despite our heroes' peril.

I also enjoyed the arty direction by Vincent McEveety who used some interesting angles during the final confrontation. The actor who played Wyatt Earp, Ron Soble, seemed to be channeling Tom Skerritt and it was Soble's performance and vocal style that I was impersonating before I even put the DVD in.

Is Shatner actually performing that jump kick? I love that, stuntman or no! I also need to memorize Spock's Vulcan "pep talk"/conditioning speeches to Scotty, Bones, and Kirk-it'll give me something to do...

Love the sparse sets used as the Western town and the red sky, all accompanied by that otherworldly drone that's always present on those soundstage planets.

All in all, an excellent third season episode and one that doesn't get much attention (at least my searches here turned up nothing).

 

I like some of the Trek episodes that have a surreal, Sapphire & Steel quality. I much prefer this episode to the Empath. The music and premise in that one just annoy me.

 

That background "alien planet drone" is particularly effective in "Spectre". And I think this particular sound effect is unique to this episode --although it may be a reworking of the "hummming leaves" effect from "The Cage". (Has anyone compared them?)

"Spectre" is definitely a third-season highlight. I suspect that it was probably originally intended to make use of location shooting on one of the studio's back-lot western sets, but none were available --or they didn't have the money. But I love what they came up with.

They took a shortcoming and turned it into a strength!

 

I thought that audio effect was almost always heard whenever they beamed down to a "soundstage planet." Either that or the concept made quite an impression on me that I just associated the sound with TOS.

I'll just have to listen more carefully the next time I watch the entire series.

 

I don't think that effect is heard on all "soundstage planets" --certainly not to the degree that it is in "Spectre".

Someone out there must know the answer, though: Is this effect exclusive to "Spectre"?

 

"Spectre of the Gun" seems to fall into its own category, though I'm not sure which. It's not universally derided like "Spock's Brain", nor is it idiotically over-the-top hokum like "A Piece of the Action", and it's not a trainwreck like "Patterns of Force" and "Requiem for Methuselah." I think it's a solid episode, regardless of budget and the "stigma" of being a third-season episode.

 

As I've said before, "Spectre of the Gun" is a triumph of style over substance. Weak story, but I love the theatrical, minimalist sets and the surreal atmosphere.

One nitpick: Scotty orders half a gallon of Scotch? I hope he wasn't planning on an all-day binge!

 

Patterns of Force? Trainwreck?

 

Now that I got your attention, let's discuss "Spectre of the Gun"...

 

One of my all-time faves for reasons stated above. Cool. Quirky. ["Patterns o' Force" represents the S2 nadir of "K&S go to the ___ planet and get out of trouble."

 

I tend not to like those "theme planet" episodes: the Nazi planet, the Rome planet, the Gangster planet etc.

I love Kirk's scene with Bill Zuckert, who played Sheriff Johnny Behan in SotG. Zuckert was the kind of sturdy, dependable character actor who could steal a scene right out from under a leading man if the latter didn't watch himself. His scene with Shatner is fantastic and both actors do a great job in a powerful exchange.

 

"Kill 'em any way ya can!"

Agreed. The scene with the sheriff is a great moment. (I always thought Zuckert sounded almost Irish when he delivered the line above!)

 

The scene between Kirk and Ed the barkeep is another classic.

"Feel the material in my shirt..."

 

Nice review. I was going to challenge your statement regarding who's channeling whom, but looking at IMDB, I see that Skerritt was 35 by the time Spectre was produced, and he was on many Western TV shows dating back to 1963.

Doug

 

Skerritt's seemingly been around forever, hasn't he? You may have a point about who's channeling whom because I can't recall too many 1960s-era performances from Skerritt where he has his vocal mannerisms that we know so well. More often than not, he plays the foolhardy brother or dopey suitor of some prairie flower in many a Western; he's always fun to watch.

Skerritt certainly has his trademark style by 1974, in his Kolchak: The Night Stalker role as a politician who (literally) makes a deal with the devil in the episode "The Devil's Platform" (now sing that title to Beck's "Devil's Haircut"!).

 

This was actually one of the last episodes of the original series I got to see (a good ten years after I was a fan), and I agree that the score is one of the best in the series.

 

Although I kinda wish they'd been able to film it on location, Spectre is still one of my very favourite TOS episodes. The Space Western and Traditional Western meet on equal terms and it works brilliantly, with as others have said the score being a highlight.

 

I noticed this years ago, I just thought it was deliberate on the part of the director.

 

Never noticed that! Thanks (I think) for pointing that out.

SotG has a lot of that "arty direction" present in the third season, which I've always enjoyed, but I'm inclined to believe that it's a continuity error.