Star Trek 28: Assignment & Spectre of [DVD] [1969] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

As the end of Star Trek's second season approached, it became increasingly clear to cast, crew & producers that the show would be canceled. Gene Roddenberry, wishing to salvage what he could from Trek, came up with an idea for a new series. Assignment: Earth, as the new show would be called, was envisioned as a sort of futuristic Mission: Impossible. It also created the tantalizing possibility of occasional guest appearances by Trek characters. The result was this very unusual Trek episode, in which the guest star, Robert Lansing, receives more screen time than the series regulars. For all that, it is an engaging and entertaining adventure story, with the relevant social commentary fans have come to expect. In another example of Trek's unsettling prescience, Spock notes that "an important assassination will take place today" in an episode which aired just a few days before the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered. Watching this episode almost serves as a history lesson for the younger set, and a glimpse of one of the most agonizing years in American history, 1968.

As it turned out, NBC rejected Roddenberry's Assignment: Earth idea. But all was not lost. Thanks to Bjo Trimble's letter writing campaign, the bean-counters at NBC were persuaded to change their minds, and Star Trek was renewed for a third season. But there were caveats: the budget was slashed, Fred Freiberger was brought in as producer, and Roddenberry's role was reduced. As a result, more episodes would be confined to the ship to eliminate the cost of set construction. There was also a shift in tone away from serious, thought-provoking stories, and toward straightforward action adventure, and even camp-humor. While it is true that many third season episodes contained much of what was great about Classic Trek, just as many stories from that season were pitifully weak.

Spectre of the Gun demonstrates both sides of the issue. While the story deals with the issue of mind control, the limitations of the budget forced the producers to make compromises (the real reason for the half-completed sets). This episode comes off as being a mix of The Cage and Gunfight at the OK Corral--without the originality of either film.

The picture and sound have never been better.

ASSIGNMENT: EARTH was the season finale of the second season. Essentially it was a pilot for a proposed series by the same name. At the time Star Trek was going to be cancelled and it was quite apparent that Roddenberry developed this to have something to fall back on once the network had made their decision. I'm assuming Roddenberry was planning to have Robert Lansing and Terri Garr as the main charcters in this new series and have the Star Trek cast make various guest appearnaces. Anyways as it turned out Star Trek managed to stay on for a further season and Roddenberry and the network ditched the whole 'Assignment:Earth' idea. All we were left with was this strange episode of Star Trek (which makes you wonder if the show had been cancelled and Assignment:Earth had been accepted by NBC). The episode finds the Enterprise crew travelling back to 1968 (at the time this was aired: modern day earth). Upon arrival they cross paths with Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) and he has come to earth in order to slow down it evolutionary process to put a stop to destroying themselves. He does this by sabotaging U.S. rockets and Kirk feels he will change the course of time. However Seven insists he is doing this for the good of mankind. The episode is rather strange and complicated as most of the screen time is given to Lansing rather than Shatner which is quite a change. The rest of the episode involves Kirk and Spock chasing Seven around trying to stop him. In the end everything turns out fine as usual and the course of time is not affected but many viewers may be left scratching their heads after this episode is over. It is good but rather hard to follow. Terri Garr makes one of her first appearances as Roberta Lincoln a hip chick who applies for a secretary job for Mr. Seven. The casting was great in this one (Both Lansing and Garr are excellent) and perhaps Roddenberry should have salvaged the Assignment: Earth idea after Star Trek was cancelled in June of 1969? Sadly this was never done.

The other episode here is SPECTRE OF THE GUN which kicked off Star Trek's inconsistant third and final season. There is such a big change between this and ASSIGNMENT:EARTH. It's amazing that Star Trek was able stay on for a third season but it's obvious that the production budget was way tighter (which explains the true reason why there are incomplete sets in this episode). Still this is one of the better episodes in Star Trek's haphazard final season.
The Enterprise is abducted by a mysterious alien race called the Melkotians Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Chekov beam down to their planet only to end up in a situation where they are the Clampetts in the middle of the historic 'Gun Fight At The OK Corral' against the Earp's. This episode is ironic because Deforest Kelley did play Morgan Earp in the classic 1957 film. Despite being another bizarre Star Trek outing SPECTRE OF THE GUN is an awesome episode of Star Trek in my opinion especially for the majority of lackluster scripts submitted in the third season. Besides the casting of the Earps is impressive and the gunfight at the end is kinda cool.

Overall a bizarre pair of episodes but both are wonderful and interesting in their own ways. SPECTRE OF THE GUN is more enjoyable to watch than ASSIGNMENT:EARTH in my opinion but they are both special. Highly recommended.