Minister Faust
A
0. One of my favourite TOS episodes, and from the much-maligned third season (which, while having many stinkers, also had some of the best episodes in all of Trekdom). Gene Coon wrote it under the pseudonym Lee Cronin. One can make the argument that ...
01:12 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
0A. Coon was simply copying his season one entry "Arena" (itself arising from the Fredric Brown short story "Arena"), but "Spectre of the Gun" is superior, from my perspective, for several reasons:

1. It has a far more lyrical, mythic title.
01:13 PM - Apr 04, 2023 (Edited)
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0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
2. It turns the bug of season 3's low budget into a feature; the production couldn't afford to build a complete Old West town, so the buildings are half- or quarter-made. The script explains that...
01:14 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
2A. ...the Melkot alien judges/executioners are recreating only the basic elements required for their "theatre of the damned" (my phrasing) to unfold. The result is one of the most memorable and...
01:15 PM - Apr 04, 2023 (Edited)
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0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
2B. phantasmagoric production designs in all of US TV (in animation, the parallel is the creepy caverns of Ralph Bakshi's *Spider-Man* and *Rocket Robin Hood*).
01:15 PM - Apr 04, 2023 (Edited)
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Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
3. The exploration of good vs. evil is richer because, unlike the alien Gorn in "Arena," the evil cowboys aren't even *alive*. They're merely *simulations* drawn from Kirk's (and probably McCoy's) recollections of USian history.
01:16 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
3A. More strikingly, these cowboys are actually *the good guys* from the shoot-out at the OK Corral. They're the *law*. And these cops are some of the most terrifying villains in all of US TV, especially ...
01:16 PM - Apr 04, 2023 (Edited)
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
3C. ...as our folks (ironically, rendered as the criminal Clanton gang) are begging for their lives and the chance to avoid being slaughtered.
01:18 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
3D. The Melkot aliens, if I recall correctly, drew these images precisely because they were an ideal way to punish violent humans by using the deified demons of their own blood-soaked history against them (and Gene Coon was ...
01:18 PM - Apr 04, 2023
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
3E. ...aiming that directly at US settler society, which continues to haunt the US even today as spectres of the gun).
01:19 PM - Apr 04, 2023
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
4. The solution to this conflict wasn't mechanical, as it was in "Arena." Spock's gas grenade fails (unlike Kirk's DIY cannon in "Arena"). While I enjoy my share of mechanical solutions in techno-thrillers, mechanical solutions offer no insights into individual psychology or social structures.
01:19 PM - Apr 04, 2023
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
4A. Those solutions say that all humanity needs is to use electricity and duct tape to make problems go away (a gigantic flaw of *ST:TNG*... solve phony science problems with phony science answers). The solution was about fully accepting that this...
01:19 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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Minister Faust
A
4B... Melkot death-dream machine (which itself was US culture) wasn't "real" (i.e., the US didn't *need* to exist in that way; a better world was possible, as with the multiple alternate realities of Philip K. Dick's *The Man in the High Castle*).
In response to Minister Faust.
01:20 PM - Apr 04, 2023
2
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
4C. That culture would kill if you believed in it (not unlike Infinita's power in "Dimensia Five" in *Spider-Man* and "Rocket Robin Hood*).

If you could truly believe in a better world, you could survive the psychological destruction...
01:22 PM - Apr 04, 2023
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
4D... that the deceitful world of violent lies was using to kill you. The solution wasn't mechanical; it arose from the struggle of human hearts and minds, and was therefore emotional, cultural, and philosophical.
01:22 PM - Apr 04, 2023
1
0
Minister Faust
A
In response to Minister Faust.
4C... That culture would kill if you believed in it (not unlike Infinita's power in "Dimensia Five" in *Spider-Man* and "Rocket Robin Hood*).
01:20 PM - Apr 04, 2023
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