Spectre of the Gun
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 25 October 1968
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- 4385.3
- DIRECTED BY
- Vincent McEveety
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 56
WRITTEN BYWritten by Lee Cronin
Lee Cronin was a pseudonym used by Gene L. Coon.
Punished for ignoring an alien warning, Kirk and his landing party find themselves in a ghostly Wild West town, cast as the losing side in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Ignoring a warning buoy, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Chekov beam down to contact the reclusive Melkotians. Condemned for trespassing, they find themselves in a fragmentary Wild West town. Their phasers have become old revolvers, and everyone treats them as the Clanton gang, who are due to face the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday at the O.K. Corral, as happened in 1881. Every attempt to escape, negotiate or change history fails. Chekov, drawn to a local girl, Sylvia, is shot dead by Morgan Earp. Spock concludes that the town is unreal and that its bullets can only harm those who believe in them. With a mind meld he gives his crewmates his own total conviction, and when the Earps open fire, the bullets pass harmlessly through them. Kirk overpowers Wyatt Earp but refuses to kill him. The Melkotians, impressed by his restraint, welcome the Enterprise, and Chekov is found alive.
- 01The tight budget ruled out a full Western set, so director Vincent McEveety used a stylised street of false building fronts with no sides.
- 02DeForest Kelley had played Morgan Earp in the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, making this his third trip to the famous gunfight.
- 03Walter Koenig named it his favourite episode, the one he most enjoyed making.