{"id":4475,"date":"2014-05-19T04:06:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T04:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/322-The-Savage-Curtain"},"modified":"2014-05-19T04:06:12","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T04:06:12","slug":"322-the-savage-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/19\/322-the-savage-curtain\/","title":{"rendered":"3.22 — \u201cThe Savage Curtain\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

3.22 — \u201cThe Savage Curtain\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> During a survey of a lifeless world, the image of Abraham Lincoln appears on the viewscreen of the Enterprise<\/em>. The 16th President then asks to come aboard. The crew meets Lincoln, whose life turns out to be a special interest of Kirk. Then Lincoln convinces Kirk and Spock to beam down to the planet surface. This turns into a melee between famous historical figures, for the edification of all-powerful aliens made out of rock. During this process, Honest Abe does<\/em> judo throw a Klingon, but does not<\/em> yell “sic semper tyrannis!” while doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> This episode presents so many things to ponder. Like, how high would I have to be to truly enjoy it? “The Savage Curtain” is is just an adventure story; it doesn’t seem to have any ambition other than to amuse. If only the action were better staged and the pacing of the second half was faster. This episode reminded me less of Star Trek, and more of the \u201cSeven Little Super-Heroes\u201d episode of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends<\/em> (1981-1983).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The episode trivia at IMDB and Memory Alpha is more interesting than anything I have to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From IMDB:<\/strong> (http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0708477\/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colonel Green’s uniform was recycled into the spacesuit worn by Mork in his appearances on Happy Days (1974) and Mork & Mindy (1978).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The Savage Curtain” introduces Klingon founding father Kahless and Vulcan founding father Surak to the Star Trek universe. Kahless’ history played an important role in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) (where he is regarded as a force for good, contrary to the sentiments expressed here), and Surak’s history was crucial to the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) which also gave a little bit of backstory to Colonel Phillip F. Green. Zora of Tiburon is the only “historic” figure introduced here who was not further developed in a later Star Trek series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Memory Alpha:<\/strong> (http:\/\/en.memory-alpha.org\/wiki\/The_Savage_Curtain<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode includes two further contributions to the ambiguous time period that the series is set in, establishing that “Lincoln died three centuries ago,” indicating a mid-22nd century time period, while at the same time establishing, more ambiguously, that the 21st century was “centuries ago.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Me again.)<\/strong> Apparently, the introduction of Surak inspired a lot of fan mail. I just wish they\u2019d cast a more interesting performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The actor who played Lincoln was okay, but they should have used more of Lincoln’s real words as dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kirk\u2019s dress uniform doesn’t fit as well as it used to <\/snark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, the writer who made Shatner end the episode by narcissistically comparing Kirk’s personal disappointment with the sacrifice necessary to achieve final peace on Earth didn’t do him any favors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I told you I didn’t have much interesting to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1 out of 5 floating armchairs in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Edit:<\/strong> Post-season, I’m retroactively bumping this up to 2 stars. It’s Abraham Lincoln versus a poop monster, for chrissakes.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Savage_Curtain<\/a>