Spectre of the Gun
The Enterprise is on a mission to establish contact with the Melkotians. The crew come upon a warning buoy telling them to withdraw from Melkotian space. Kirk continues on course and beams down with a landing party on Melkot. There, confronted by a Melkotian they are to be punished for not listening to the warning buoy.
Taking an event from Kirk's mind and recreating it, the landing party find themselves in the old west. Each crew member becomes on of the Clanton's, one of two factions fighting for control of the town of Tombstone. Their enemies are the Earp's and no amount of convincing them the crew are really Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc appear to work.
Things don't go so well for the landing party as Chekov is shot and all of the plans devised by Spock & McCoy don't work - even when they should. Spock realises that nothing they are experiencing is real and it must be in their minds. Facing the Earp's at the O.K. Corral for a shootout, Spock uses a mind-meld on each crew member to convince them the bullets are not real. With this mental discipline in place, they are able to survive the Earp's attack.
With their ammunition gone, Kirk attacks the lead Earp but does not kill him. The crew are returned to the Enterprise, including Chekov who is unharmed. The Melkotian buoy destroys itself and a message from the Melkotians is received, complimenting Kirk for not killing Earp when he had the chance and extending an invitation for the Federation to establish relations.
A fun episode to return to the Wild West, even with partially finished scenery which gets around the budgetary constraints placed on the third season. Chekov gets the girl again in this episode, but dies for it! There are some humourous moments, including some odd acting by the Earp's, maybe that's how it was done in those days - it just seems a little corny by today's standards.
You would have to wonder if after all that effort, are the Melkotians really a race to be associated with the Federation?
Overall Rating: 5/10
Day of the Dove
Responding to a distress call the Enterprise investigates Beta XII-A. On the surface the landing party find no colony or debris from any that might have existed until the Enterprise is approached by a Klingon Battlecruiser that mysteriously explodes in orbit.
A Klingon landing party beam down to Kirk's location and their leader, Kang takes claim to the Enterprise for destroying his ship and over 400 crew. Kirk gains the upper hand with a delayed transport that allows him to have a security team on hand when they beam up. Unknowingly, they also bring a strange entity aboard ship that feeds on the anger of people.
Detained, the Klingon's plan to take over the ship, but Kang's wife and science officer, Mara believes that 40 vs 430 will end badly for the Klingons. Suddenly, nearly 400 of the Enterprise crew become trapped, all electronic weapons are turned into swords and other ancient weaponry and the Klingon's are able to make their move.
Spock is eventually able to track the entity aboard the ship, but not before Kang takes control of engineering and the Enterprise is sent hurtling out of the galaxy at high warp. While a battle to the death seems inevitable, Kirk attempts to convince Mara, captured by an influenced Chekov that the entity exists and that both crews need to work together to remove it from the ship.
Using the Original Series' only example of intra-ship beaming, Kirk and Mara beam directly to Engineering to convince Kang. A fight breaks out, but eventually good spirits and happy thoughts banish the entity out of the ship, just before the dilithium crystals were to be depleted.
Good conquers over evil is the obvious message in this episode. It's a good Klingon episode with Kang returning in a later Star Trek series. Some events aren't explained, such as why did the Klingon ship explode on its own (unless it was caused by the entity, but the entity was on the planet) and was there really a colony on Beta XII-A? If so, surely Kirk and crew would know about it? The opening scene is echoed in TNG's Season 3 episode 'The Best of Both Worlds' in some ways.
I'm happy to give a reasonable episode rating for a change,
Overall Rating: 7/10
The Enterprise is on a mission to establish contact with the Melkotians. The crew come upon a warning buoy telling them to withdraw from Melkotian space. Kirk continues on course and beams down with a landing party on Melkot. There, confronted by a Melkotian they are to be punished for not listening to the warning buoy.Taking an event from Kirk's mind and recreating it, the landing party find themselves in the old west. Each crew member becomes on of the Clanton's, one of two factions fighting for control of the town of Tombstone. Their enemies are the Earp's and no amount of convincing them the crew are really Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc appear to work.
Things don't go so well for the landing party as Chekov is shot and all of the plans devised by Spock & McCoy don't work - even when they should. Spock realises that nothing they are experiencing is real and it must be in their minds. Facing the Earp's at the O.K. Corral for a shootout, Spock uses a mind-meld on each crew member to convince them the bullets are not real. With this mental discipline in place, they are able to survive the Earp's attack.
With their ammunition gone, Kirk attacks the lead Earp but does not kill him. The crew are returned to the Enterprise, including Chekov who is unharmed. The Melkotian buoy destroys itself and a message from the Melkotians is received, complimenting Kirk for not killing Earp when he had the chance and extending an invitation for the Federation to establish relations.
A fun episode to return to the Wild West, even with partially finished scenery which gets around the budgetary constraints placed on the third season. Chekov gets the girl again in this episode, but dies for it! There are some humourous moments, including some odd acting by the Earp's, maybe that's how it was done in those days - it just seems a little corny by today's standards.
You would have to wonder if after all that effort, are the Melkotians really a race to be associated with the Federation?
Overall Rating: 5/10
Day of the Dove
Responding to a distress call the Enterprise investigates Beta XII-A. On the surface the landing party find no colony or debris from any that might have existed until the Enterprise is approached by a Klingon Battlecruiser that mysteriously explodes in orbit.A Klingon landing party beam down to Kirk's location and their leader, Kang takes claim to the Enterprise for destroying his ship and over 400 crew. Kirk gains the upper hand with a delayed transport that allows him to have a security team on hand when they beam up. Unknowingly, they also bring a strange entity aboard ship that feeds on the anger of people.
Detained, the Klingon's plan to take over the ship, but Kang's wife and science officer, Mara believes that 40 vs 430 will end badly for the Klingons. Suddenly, nearly 400 of the Enterprise crew become trapped, all electronic weapons are turned into swords and other ancient weaponry and the Klingon's are able to make their move.
Spock is eventually able to track the entity aboard the ship, but not before Kang takes control of engineering and the Enterprise is sent hurtling out of the galaxy at high warp. While a battle to the death seems inevitable, Kirk attempts to convince Mara, captured by an influenced Chekov that the entity exists and that both crews need to work together to remove it from the ship.
Using the Original Series' only example of intra-ship beaming, Kirk and Mara beam directly to Engineering to convince Kang. A fight breaks out, but eventually good spirits and happy thoughts banish the entity out of the ship, just before the dilithium crystals were to be depleted.
Good conquers over evil is the obvious message in this episode. It's a good Klingon episode with Kang returning in a later Star Trek series. Some events aren't explained, such as why did the Klingon ship explode on its own (unless it was caused by the entity, but the entity was on the planet) and was there really a colony on Beta XII-A? If so, surely Kirk and crew would know about it? The opening scene is echoed in TNG's Season 3 episode 'The Best of Both Worlds' in some ways.
I'm happy to give a reasonable episode rating for a change,
Overall Rating: 7/10
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