The Savage Curtain (S03E22)
Airdate: March 7th 1969
Written by: Arthur Heinemann & Gene Roddenberry
Directed by: Herschel Daugherty
Running Time: 50 minutes
The final season of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) is often dismissed as a period of decline, a time when the show’s foundational vision began to fray under the pressures of network scrutiny and the limitations of its time. However, this season, which aired in 1968, is not uniformly a disaster. While many episodes of the final season are widely regarded as underwhelming, several stand out as moments of unexpected quality or as pivotal precursors to the broader Star Trek universe. Among these, The Savage Curtain—an episode that originally aired near the end of the series—holds a unique place. Though it is not a masterpiece, it is a rare example of a TOS episode that managed to lay the groundwork for future Star Trek stories, even if it fails to meet the high standards of its own era.
The plot of The Savage Curtain begins with the USS Enterprise exploring the volcanic planet Excalbia, a world where the crew notices strange, carbon-based life forms that defy known science. The episode’s twist comes when the ship’s screen displays a startling image: President Abraham Lincoln (played by actor Lee Bergere), materialises in space and is beamed aboard the Enterprise. Kirk, a man who deeply admires Lincoln, treats the apparition as a real historical figure, even going so far as to have his crew don dress uniforms. However, not all crew members share this view—McCoy, for instance, suspects Lincoln is an impostor.
The episode’s central conflict arises when Lincoln, after a brief interaction with the ship’s crew, leads Kirk and Spock to the surface of Excalbia. There, they meet Yarnek (voiced by Janos Prohaska), a rock-like inhabitant of the planet, and Surak (Barry Atwater), a Vulcan spiritual leader from ancient history. Yarnek explains that the Enterprise is in danger: the planet’s inhabitants, who are highly advanced, have devised a test to determine whether the “Good” is superior to the “Evil.” The Enterprise will be destroyed unless Kirk, Spock, Lincoln, and Surak fight a team of legendary historical figures: Kahless the Unforgettable (a Klingon Empire founder, played by Nathan Jung), Genghis Khan (a Mongol chieftain, played by Robert Herron), Zora of Tiburon (an evil scientist, Carol Daniels Dement), and Colonel Green (a 21st-century Earth genocidal militia leader, played by Philip Pine). The stakes are clear: the outcome of this “gladiatorial” contest will determine the fate of the planet and, by extension, the Enterprise.
This setup, while ambitious, is marred by inconsistencies and a lack of narrative cohesion. The episode’s origins are as intriguing as its execution. Originally conceived in 1964 by Gene Roddenberry, the episode’s outline was inspired by a Greek philosopher, Socrates, visiting the Enterprise and engaging in a philosophical battle with historical figures. However, as the show’s cancellation loomed, the script was rewritten to take on a quasi-satirical tone, echoing the “bread and circuses” mentality of NBC programs of the time. The final script, re-written by Arthur Heinemann, stripped away the original philosophical depth, turning the episode into a spectacle for entertainment. This evolution is evident in the final product: the episode’s premise is a parody of the “ultra-powerful aliens force Kirk to fight gladiatorial combat” trope that defined many TOS episodes, including Arena.
The episode’s opening is a baffling cold open: Lincoln floating in space, a scene that seems more like a joke than a serious narrative device. The mystery of Lincoln’s apparition is quickly resolved, and the episode veers into a rehash of the “gladiatorial combat” formula. The fight scenes, while visually staged with some flair, are underwhelming and lack the tension or stakes of earlier TOS episodes. The resolution, in which Kirk’s team defeats the antagonists, is predictably in his favor but feels anti-climactic, as if the episode’s creators were more concerned with spectacle than storytelling.
Despite these flaws, the episode has its moments. The performances by Lee Bergere and Philip Pine stand out. Bergere’s Lincoln is a charismatic, idealistic figure, embodying the 1960s Boomer audience’s view of the “Great Emancipator” as a symbol of progress and freedom. Pine’s Colonel Green, meanwhile, is a nuanced portrayal of a duplicitous, authoritarian figure, adding depth to the episode’s otherwise formulaic structure. However, these performances are not enough to salvage the episode’s central conflict, which is undermined by its anthropocentric focus. Four of the eight participants in the fight are human, a choice that feels at odds with Star Trek’s broader themes of exploring non-human life and the limits of human morality.
The episode’s portrayal of Kahless, Surak, and Green also reflects the biases of its time. Kahless is depicted as a villain, a role that aligns with the TOS era’s anti-Klingon sentiment, but his character is largely expendable, much like Zora or Genghis Khan. The latter’s portrayal as a genocidal icon is a problematic one, and it would not resonate with Trek fans in Mongolia. Similarly, Surak, a Vulcan spiritual leader, is given a role that is more symbolic than meaningful.
Nevertheless, The Savage Curtain is significant in that it introduces these characters into Star Trek canon, even if their portrayals are not entirely accurate. Kahless, Surak, and Green would later be reinterpreted in later series, with Kahless, for example, becoming a more sympathetic figure in The Next Generation and beyond. This suggests that the episode, despite its flaws, was a step in the right direction, laying the groundwork for a more nuanced exploration of these characters in the future.
The Savage Curtain is a mixed bag. While it is not a standout episode of TOS, it is a reminder that even the show’s final episodes had moments of merit. Its blend of historical references, flawed characters, and underdeveloped stakes reflects the challenges of creating a sci-fi series in the 1960s, when the balance between entertainment and philosophical depth was often uneven. Yet, for all its shortcomings, the episode is a curious artifact of Star Trek’s evolution, a testament to the show’s ability to push boundaries even as it faltered under the weight of its own limitations.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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