The Savage Curtain 

Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, "good vs. evil".

Director:

Herschel Daugherty

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Gene Roddenberry (teleplay by)

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Capt. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Lee Bergere	...	Abraham Lincoln
Barry Atwater	...	Surak
Phillip Pine	...	Col. Green
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Arell Blanton	...	Chief Security Guard
Carol Daniels	...	Zora (as Carol Daniels DeMent)
Bob Herron	...	Kahless (as Robert Herron)
Nathan Jung	...	Ghengis Khan

Storyline

The Enterprise's sensor readings indicate a planet unsuitable for any carbon-based life at the level of a developed civilization. Suddenly they get an apparition in space from someone who looks like and claims to be Abraham Lincoln. He insists on them checking him out and coming over to a small part on the planet surface (which has suddenly developed a perfect atmosphere for humans). He is received with full presidential honors and Kirk and Spock agree to beam down with him, but as they do, phasers and tricorders fail to dematerialize with them, and communicators won't work. There they meet Surak, the greatest Vulcan of all time, equally convincing. The quartet is greeted by a creature consisting of molten rock who presents them to notorious historical villains Ghengis Khan, Colonel Green, Zora and the Klingon Kahless the Unforgettable. They're told the teams represent good versus evil and must battle to the death against each other to teach the creature their concept. When Kirk ...

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Plot Keywords:

starship | u.s.s. enterprise ncc 1701 | helmsman | male lieutenant | human being | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 1969 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television,Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

51 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the final episode of the series to feature the entire ensemble cast of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov. As a result, this episode also marks the final appearance of Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) in the series.

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Goofs

The creature tells Kirk that, unless he agrees to the battle, the Enterprise and crew will be destroyed within 4 hours. Suddenly it's 2 hours later and Kirk and Spock haven't done anything to prepare - no weapons, no defensive strategies or places found to take cover. But Kirk does agree that they are running out of time.

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Quotes

Captain James T. Kirk: What gives you the right to hand out life and death?
Yarnek: The same right that brought you here: the need to know new things.

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Connections

Referenced in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

User Reviews

appropriate honors to each..

Star Trek

A cultural hub and by far one of the most loved and respected tale, Star Trek is created by Gene Roddenberry who wrote this brilliant concept, ahead of its time and is probably why it still doesn't fail to entertain us after these many years. It was written "for the future" in many aspects as it even though is smarter, wiser and powerful it still seeks for emotion and the force that binds it all. The relation between Spock and Kirk; despite of its premise, is the most human thing in this majestic tale where the adventures are endless. Encountering this original series, at this stage makes the execution look petty and a bit loose (the small technical aspects can be negotiated) but the writing is smart, gripping and hence completely overpowers it. The series didn't seem to mature as it should have but definitely has improved on terms of implementing smarter approach, parallel plot lines and thought provoking concept.

Season 03

Contrary to expectations, second season failed to project the essential character development which would have give a perfect arc to the series and instead focused on different cases. In this final season the expectations are still higher as they have somehow glued their audience with their gripping screenplay and innovative imagination that doesn't flinch on pushing the boundaries.

The Savage Curtain

The writing is dull and exhausting as it doesn't offer much on terms of originality and walks on a crooked path in which it fumbles a lot addition to that the physical sequence too doesn't come off as anticipated which shows weakness on execution.