This was an interesting show that could have been handled better. Really, did we have to see Abraham Lincoln appear in this episode on the side of 'good' only to see him later killed! Talk about history repeating itself--or a predictable ending. The producers could have chosen better scripts like the forthcoming 'All Our Yesterdays', and that episode would have been much more believable. Instead we got this somewhat cartoonish episode. Who couldn't guess that Spock, Kirk, the Vulcan philosopher Surak and Abraham Lincoln would team up against the evil Colonel Green, Zora, the Klingon Kahless, and Genghis Khan under the watchful eye of the Excalbians? But at least the Excalbians have a reason for the contest: they are curious to see which side would triumph if good was pitted against evil...even if they are willing to destroy the Enterprise in order to compel Kirk to carry out his part in their contest.
There is no moral tale here except the now generic story line that good will triumph over evil. I'm afraid by its 77th episode, Star Trek was on its last legs and the many prior poor outings of season 3 only emphasise this point. However, my gripes aside, this episode was a decent show: both Lee Bergere and Barry Atwater were perfectly cast as Lincoln and Surak and they together elevate this episode to slightly above average in my view. The classic scene of this show occurs onboard the bridge of the Enterprise, when Lincoln absentmindedly calls Uhura a negress due to her race and then apologizes for his comments and says to her that they were made without malice. Uhura's reply--that she wasn't offended by the term because in her time (the 23rd century) we've learned not to fear words--was Classic Trek at its very best. While this one scene does not redeem an entire episode, it was nice to see Kirk and Spock plan different military strategies against their infamous enemies. Surak himself was very sharp and direct as a Vulcan: he immediatedly detects emotion emanating from Spock when the latter first sees him--and chides Spock for it since Vulcans were supposed to have evolved emotion out of their psyches. However, he gently forgives Spock saying that given the circumstances of their meeting--on an alien planet--Spock's reaction was understandable. That was a very classy touch. It shows that some of the TOS producers still knew what made Star Trek work. I wish we got to see more of Surak.
The strange thing about season 3 of Star Trek TOS is how it rebounded in quality for its final 3 episodes after the string of subpar shows which were produced after The Tholian Web especially The Way to Eden, That Which Survives and The Lights of Zetar. The Savage Curtain was eminently watchable compared to many other season 3 shows. A rating of 7 out of 10 is not at all unreasonable.
There is no moral tale here except the now generic story line that good will triumph over evil. I'm afraid by its 77th episode, Star Trek was on its last legs and the many prior poor outings of season 3 only emphasise this point. However, my gripes aside, this episode was a decent show: both Lee Bergere and Barry Atwater were perfectly cast as Lincoln and Surak and they together elevate this episode to slightly above average in my view. The classic scene of this show occurs onboard the bridge of the Enterprise, when Lincoln absentmindedly calls Uhura a negress due to her race and then apologizes for his comments and says to her that they were made without malice. Uhura's reply--that she wasn't offended by the term because in her time (the 23rd century) we've learned not to fear words--was Classic Trek at its very best. While this one scene does not redeem an entire episode, it was nice to see Kirk and Spock plan different military strategies against their infamous enemies. Surak himself was very sharp and direct as a Vulcan: he immediatedly detects emotion emanating from Spock when the latter first sees him--and chides Spock for it since Vulcans were supposed to have evolved emotion out of their psyches. However, he gently forgives Spock saying that given the circumstances of their meeting--on an alien planet--Spock's reaction was understandable. That was a very classy touch. It shows that some of the TOS producers still knew what made Star Trek work. I wish we got to see more of Surak.
The strange thing about season 3 of Star Trek TOS is how it rebounded in quality for its final 3 episodes after the string of subpar shows which were produced after The Tholian Web especially The Way to Eden, That Which Survives and The Lights of Zetar. The Savage Curtain was eminently watchable compared to many other season 3 shows. A rating of 7 out of 10 is not at all unreasonable.