The Savage Curtain

DVD, Star Trek S3 (The Savage Curtain)

This was something of a disappointment for me. I knew it featured the rock-like Excalbians, the last iconic alien build of the original series. I knew it had the introduction of important cultural figures in Surak of the Vulcans and Kahless of the Klingons (and to a lesser extent Colonel Green of Earth). And I knew Abraham Lincoln was in the mix too. Maybe I expected too much, maybe the first half of this season spoiled me into complacency so that I scoffed at the view that Season Three wasn't very good. But the second half of the season supported that view, and this episode was another in a long line of episodes which could have been great, but were in execution, a bit pointless.

The first part of the story took so long to go anywhere, with a fake Lincoln that we know is fake, that Kirk knows is fake, and which the crew knows is fake. Yet the charade of showing the great man round goes on far too long, even if (like other parts of the episode), there were times when it justified itself, such as the exchange with Uhura, a chance to illustrate how life has changed in the future. And actually, these ship-bound scenes do at least give the ensemble crew chance to have some lines. Even that was a little strange though. I'm sure Kirk calls a redshirt Mr. Leslie early on, but it wasn't him! And we get a whole new character (Dickerson) in charge of the security escort. It would have been better to have someone like Kyle be promoted and shown.

The transporter room scene was a nice one, with music ('Taped?' asks Lincoln, bemused at such things), and a bit of naval tradition with the whistle and phaser greeting. Another moment in the episode where we got some sense of protocol and internal consistency (aside from the great dress uniforms getting another outing), was when Kirk and Spock have been beamed down, and Scotty's still in the transporter room. On the bridge the Captain's chair is filled by command number four, Sulu, which has been established in previous episodes. And yet I was still thinking 'but why isn't Scotty in charge since he's on board?' - just the usual little niggles that people like me notice. But then Scotty arrives on the bridge and you see Sulu was in command while Scotty was dealing with the transport, and now he's come to the bridge Sulu relinquishes the chair and command. Excellent!

Something else that deserves high praise is the Excalbian costume, and the effects. It seems to melt out of the rock and uncurl itself, even the voice has rock noises in it. And you get a steady steam erupting from it's magma-like body. Very nice! Even, to begin with, the new characters pique the interest. But while the guile and cleverness is played af first, the episode soon degenerates into a rather poor scrap, with such dignified and regal personas, as have been just introduced, reduced to hand to hand fighting. They cut away as the Enterprise crew watches on the viewscreen, but you can't get away from the inconsistency of the fight.

It's not a good one, and they can do a well-choreographed action scene, we know. Spock has trouble wrestling a wild woman called Zora (and 'Legend of Zelda' players will be wondering where the Deku Scrub is since we also have the Goron-like Excalbian! Mind you, old Genghis looks a bit like a Scrub with all his furs on...), Lincoln gives as good as he gets, yet Surak can still be thrown around. Not to mention the fact he later refuses to fight on principle. There's no consistency to the varying strengths that should be portrayed by the different races, even if they are created by the Excalbians, they read as human, Vulcan, etc, so they should behave like them physically.

You can tell they put a lot of effort into the planet set, with saplings, and tiered rock faces, but no matter how good, it can't disguise the artifice. When you look back at an episode like 'Arena' or 'Friday's Child', both similar in tone, with adversaries to be fought or escaped from, you see how much better they were at making the action more exciting. Making it more dangerous. Instead we get characters talking slowly through the situation, without any urgency or fear or anything to make us care. So when we see the characters doing things, naturally any tension or empathy is lost. I guessed Surak wasn't really the one crying out, but it was quite sad to see him slumped against the tree, and that led to one of the only great moments - when Lincoln hears a mockery of Surak's voice, turning to see Kahless performing it.

Kirk's rugby tackle was good, but again, no matter how hefty Khan was (Genghis, that is!) Spock should still have been able to lift him off or use his nerve pinch. And the baddies just run away, thus somehow ending the scenario, but only because the episode's time was up. I speculated that it could have been a two-parter since the first bit with Lincoln on the Enterprise could have sustained an episode, and if the good versus evil thing on the planet had been expanded into trials and tests beyond mere brawn, it might have been improved. The ending is also somewhat abrupt, with Kirk ordering them to move onto the next assignment as if nothing had happened. I suppose it was all in a day's work for him.

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