'Star Trek' Episode Review: 'Specter of the Gun'
Pros: Gene Coon has some good ideas. McEveety's direction. Cons: Gene Coon has some bad ideas. Low budget look and feel. Spectre of the Gun Stardate 4385.3 (Earth Calendar Date: 2268) Episode Production Number: 056 Episode Number (aired): 61 Original Air Date: October 25, 1968 Written by Gene L. Coon (as Lee Cronin) Directed by Vincent McEveety On Stardate 4385.3, the starship USS Enterprise, commanded by Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) enters a star system inhabited by the isolated Melkotians. Its mission: to establish first contact with this cloistered civilization on behalf of the United Federation of Planets. For Kirk and the 430-strong crew of the Enterprise, this assignment is one of the reasons why they’re on a five-year mission to “explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.” To the xenophobic Melkotians, however, the Federation’s intrusion...