78. The Savage CurtainFORMULA: Spectre of the Gun + Arena + ¼(Space Seed + Devil in the Dark + Amok Time + Errand of Mercy)
WHY WE LIKE IT: Some really intriguing glimpses into Vulcan, Klingon and human history.
WHY WE DON'T: Some truly horrendous fight scenes, and a pretty silly premise.
REVIEW: The Savage Curtain, AKA "Abraham Lincoln in space", has some nice things going for it, but execution lets in down. I like the Excalibians as this truly alien-looking life-form, much more gestural than we might have expected. The test they set up between good and evil using historical figures pulled from the minds of the crew is reminiscent, some might even say derivative, of Spectre of the Gun and before that, Arena. Unfortunately, instead of the great triumph experienced at the end of Arena, it's all a bit limp. I do appreciate that the Excalibian doesn't "get it" - I really like that - but it's all so "ok, goodbye, see ya later" without so much as a warning buoy left behind (as in The Cage). Seems so irrelevant.
Matters aren't helped by the terrible fight scenes that make up this conflict. I thought I'd seen some bad ones over the course of the last three seasons, but nothing this bad. Spock, in particular, has a lot of trouble, spending half his time with Zora on his back and totally unable to use his super-strength or nerve pinch. Did they get left behind on the transporter pad with the phasers? The villains are rather wasted, with the two non-speaking roles being particularly dull and uninspiring. Kahless is as treacherous as a Romulan (it's the crew's idea of Kahless, not the Klingons'), but not very engaging or exceptional in battle. Colonel Green has more of a voice, but the show is very humano-centric (even americanocentric) in making him the leader. These serve to tantalize with brief details of Star Trek history, but do no more at this point.
President Lincoln and Surak are much better however. Lincoln is immediately charming, and we share in Kirk's admiration of him. The crew's reactions to him are fun for the most part, and the use of Uhura is interesting here. Surak is a more stoic character, incredibly strict about showing emotion (he agrees that Spock was emotional about seeing him, but it's not really visible to our eyes, for example), but even more than Lincoln, a great stand-in for Roddenberry's philosophies. Both characters get some good lines and get to sacrifice their "lives" for good reasons.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the science fantasy "magic" that has now become the norm for the show. There's a lot of hand-waving here even if you accept that the Excalibians can rearrange matter. For example, if they don't understand good and evil or human(oid) nature, how can they create such realistic simulations of historical figures that exemplify those traits? If they can reach into the minds of the crew, why can't they get their information there? How do they interfere so specifically with the transporters? It makes the all-important suspension of disbelief necessary for this kind of series all the more difficult.
LESSON: If Khaless' new empire hadn't worked, he could've had made a fair living doing impressions.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: If you want a complete picture of the history leading up the Star Trek universe, this is a key episode. Enterprise fans in particular can compare it to more recent stories, but TNG has also mined from it. Unfortunately, the story is an uninspired retread of better "alien test" episodes.
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