Line #59 Recap/StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_savage_curtain.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Season 3 was ''weird,'' people.]]
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4	'''Original air date:''' March 7, 1969
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6	JustForFun/TheOneWith UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]
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8	Another day on the ''Enterprise'', another new planet to explore. Excalbia will be explored from afar due to excessive amounts of volcanic activity. Kirk asks Spock if he detects any life forms. He actually detects a few, though there should be none. Oh well, obviously a computer error. Time to pack it in and call it a....is that UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln hovering in space?[[note]][[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer We are not making this up, okay?]][[/note]]
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10	He's posed just like his statue in the Lincoln Memorial, armchair and all. Somehow, he can not only [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace exist in space]] but [[SpaceIsNoisy speak in the vacuum of space]]. He politely requests to be beamed aboard. Kirk beams him aboard with full presidential honors. He realizes there is no logical way this should be the Great Emancipator himself, but he'll play along anyway. Lincoln, still charmingly polite, requests Kirk and Spock to beam down to Excalbia with him. He cannot explain why, only that they must. Bones and Scotty think this is a very dumb idea. So of course Kirk's willing to do it! Spock declares he will accept the invitation too. And so they do.
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12	On beaming down, they meet Surak, a MessianicArchetype from Vulcan history who makes Spock look like a {{Keet}}. They also meet a RockMonster called Yarnek who wants to know if Good or Evil is stronger. To find out, he becomes Teddy Long and makes an 8-person Tag team match, pitting Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Surak against UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, Zora (a MadDoctor from Tiburon), [[GeneralRipper Colonel Phillip Green]] (ecoterrorist and genocidal maniac from WorldWarIII) and Kahless the Unforgettable ([[EvilOverlord Hero of the Klingons]]). Why? Eh, why not?
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14	----
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16	!!The Savage Tropes:
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18	* AllThereInTheScript:
19	** Yarnek is never named in dialogue, but is so named in the script. Even in the closed captioning, he's merely identified when speaking off-screen as "Excalbian."
20	** This episode would get a sequel of sorts in the novel ''Savage Trade'', which develops the mindset of the Excalbians and reveals their true motives for staging this fight, as well as the aftereffects that set in after the ''Enterprise'' leaves.
21	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The rock monsters are stated to be carbon life forms, where silicon based life would make much more sense. Even more baffling is that silicon based life has appeared on the show earlier.
22	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The historical characters, most notably Lincoln, do not look or act much like their real counterparts. Justified, since they are based on Kirk's and Spock's images of these historic figures.
23	* BadassPacifist: Surak refuses to take part in battle, even though Kirk insists the war they're fighting is for a just cause. Still, Surak insists on a peaceful negotiation with Col. Green. Even Kirk is moved to remark to Spock that "your Surak is a brave man", to which Spock replies "Men of peace usually are, Captain." [[DeconstructedTrope Unfortunately, it gets him killed.]]
24	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Sums up the whole episode, with Yarnek the super power who wants to know if Good or Evil is stronger. Ultimately subverted — at the end, Yarnek expresses confusion because the distinction between the two ''isn't'' as clear as he'd been expecting, since Kirk's team ''also'' resorted to violence to win. Kirk explains the difference was in what motivated them: the villains were offered power, while Kirk and Spock were fighting for the lives of the Enterprise crew.
25	* BlatantLies: Green tells Kirk that he would like to peacefully team up with Kirk against their common foe. It's all a deception to attack him when his guard's down.
26	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Yarnek does not understand the concept of good and evil.
27	* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Kirk decides he's going to slug Yarnek for what he put Spock and himself through. Yeah, punch the monster made of lava rocks, Jim. You'll have third degree burns on top of that broken arm!
28	* CaptainObvious: Yarnek tells Kirk "If you and Spock survive, you return to your vessel. If you do not... your existence is ended." Thanks for telling us, Yarnek! That's right up there with [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight "People die if they're killed!"]]
29	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Kahless is based on the Federation's conception of the Klingon hero, and it is (due to the political climate) both not terribly favorable and comparatively ignorant. If this episode were to be made in the era of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Kahless would undoubtedly be on the good side along with Lincoln and Surak. Especially if Worf were one of the participants.[[note]]The tyrant Molor, established as the true BigBad in Klingon mythology, would have been a likely candidate for the evil side.[[/note]]
30	* CombatPragmatist: Lincoln advocates fighting just as dirty as Colonel Green and his friends.
31	* DoorJam: Yarnek disables the ''Enterprise'''s transporter until they show whether good or evil is stronger. This leaves Kirk and Spock stranded on an alien planet without the support of their crew, with only a pacifist alien and Abe Lincoln to aid them in fighting history's greatest villains.
32	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Col. Green expects Surak's peace talks to be a trick. That's what he'd be doing if he tried to talk peace with someone. (In fact, he just did a few minutes ago.)
33	* EvilCounterpart: Each of the core four has their counterpart among the summoned adversaries.
34	** Colonel Green to Kirk - Cunning human officers who easily take charge of their respective packs
35	** Zora to Spock - Alien scientists
36	** Kahless to Surak - each the greatest influencer of his race
37	** Genghis Khan to Lincoln - commanders-in-chief from human history
38	* FamousFamousFictional: Of the six "historical" characters in this episode, only two are known to modern day humans. The others got their characterization expanded on in future ''Franchise/StarTrek'' incarnations, save for Zora. Pity. It would've been interesting to see what a female Josef Mengele of the future would be like.
39	* FauxAffablyEvil: Col. Green seems quite polite and soft-spoken, despite freely admitting to at least some of his bad historical reputation. His good behavior is quickly shown to be a diversionary tactic.
40	* ForcedIntoTheirSundayBest: Bones and Scotty rankle at getting gussied up for someone who is probably not Abraham Lincoln.
41	* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Surak, Spock and President Lincoln have a hard time understanding the motives and actions of the opposing "evil" side. Only Kirk seems to have a grasp of their potential for deceptiveness and duplicity.
42	* HistoricalDomainCrossover: The Hero team is Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Surak of Vulcan. The villain team is Genghis Khan, the Klingon Kahless, Colonel Green and the MadScientist Zora. Everyone except Kirk and Spock are actually alien rock creatures masquerading as humanoids.
43	* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Kirk's idealized picture of Abraham Lincoln is mostly based on the simplistic, idealized version of Lincoln that was popularized up to TheSixties or even into TheSeventies. The dialogue at the end of the episode actually lampshades as Kirk acknowledges that the image of Lincoln was created out of his own idealization of what he wanted the man to be, not necessarily ignorance of actual history.
44	* ImpromptuFortress: Kirk and company find a raised outcrop of rock that he says will be their base of operations, because "it's defensible."
45	* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: While the episode takes place too near to the end of TOS's run to count for anything in terms of that series, its introduction of Surak and Kahless (and to a lesser extent, Colonel Green) would have far-ranging implications for future spin-off shows.
46	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Lincoln casually refers to Uhura as a "charming negress". He quickly apologizes though Uhura isn't offended since bigoted terms like that are now only a thing of the distant past.
47	* InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath: As in in "Arena", "The Gamesters of Triskelion", "Bread and Circuses", "Spectre of the Gun", and "Day of the Dove", Kirk is forced to fight for an alien's amusement.
48	* KirkSummation: Kirk can't punch Yarnek, but he can give him a piece of his mind, demanding "What gives you the right to do this?"
49	* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Kirk and Spock are both pretty honored to meet their personal heroes. Spock even admits to showing emotion at the sight of Surak (albeit some of which was simple shock).
50	* {{Leitmotif}}: When Lincoln is beamed aboard, one of the security officers blows a bosun's whistle and they play a recording of "Hail To The Chief". Lincoln looks around and asks where the band is.
51	* MirroringFactions: Played with. Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Surak represent Good; Colonel Green, Kahless, Khan, and Zora represent Evil. Yarnek complains afterward that he can't see the difference between them; Kirk responds by pointing out that they fought for different things: the evil side fought for power, while he and Spock fought for their ship and its crew.
52	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Colonel Green is UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler dressed in [[Series/MorkAndMindy Mork from Ork's]] [[PropRecycling red jumpsuit.]] Zora also bears a striking resemblance to Josef Mengele, the original trope namer for MadDoctor.
53	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Yarnek insists his method of exploration is no different from Kirk's. That's BlueAndOrangeMorality in action, folks.
54	* PatrickStewartSpeech: Kind of odd to have an example of this twenty years before Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration began, but that's what it is: Yarnek complains that he doesn't see the difference between 'good' and 'evil'; Kirk points out that he and Spock fought to defend life, while the evil side fought to gain power.
55	* RockMonster: The aliens who set up the morality play are made of carbon-based stones.
56	* TheSilentBob: Neither Genghis Khan nor Zora have any dialogue between them, with Colonel Green and Kahless being the only members of the RoguesGallery who actually speak.
57	* TruceTrickery: Kirk points out to Colonel Green that he was notorious for striking his enemies while in the midst of negotiating with them.
58	* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: The Excalbian recreation of Abraham Lincoln asks if they still measure time in minutes, to which Kirk responds that they "can convert to it". (Lincoln consults a pocket watch as he says this.)
59	* VoiceChangeling: The fake Kahless is able to perfectly mimic the voices of both Surak and Lincoln. Possibly {{Justified\|Trope}} in that all three are Excalbian impersonations and thus all their voices are "fake".
60	* WhatTheHellHero: Relatively gently, but Bones and Scotty call out Kirk for being a fawning fanboy over Lincoln and not using common sense.
61	* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Green pulls this and assumes Surak is doing the same.
62	* WhiteMaleLead: Col. Green instantly takes command of the villain team, with no less than ''UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan'' obeying his orders. There seems to be no reason for this except that he's the one white dude. The real Genghis Khan and Kahless (a member of a race that considers humans inferior) would not approve. Of course, their uncharacteristic behavior is slightly justified because they're ''not'' the real Genghis or Kahless.

Context Recap / StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain