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Published Jun 29, 2018

Take a Ride in The Jupiter 8

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Direct from StarTrek.com , and in color, we bring you the Jupiter 8, brought to you by “Name the Winner,” premiering live from City Arena, tonight at 7PM Eastern.

And just what is the Jupiter 8, you ask?

Well, it’s the automobile with a performance that’s unexcelled in its field. Keep reading and you’ll see why you absolutely must have one… a real citizen would, or he’d die trying.

In Star Trek: The Original Series , the Jupiter 8, of course, was the futuristic car featured in the episode “ Bread and Circuses .” If you recall, it was first seen on the main viewing screen in the teaser when Uhura intercepted a black and white television signal showing news footage from the planet 892-IV.

And then later in that episode, in Act I, we saw it advertised in color in the pages of the fictitious magazine, The Gallian .

But what was the Jupiter 8 in reality? Was it a real car or was it merely a hollow prop?

Well, it was – and still is – an amazing, award-winning, real automobile called the Reactor. It was built by Gene Winfield, a man who’s known for other significant contributions to TOS , and it’s become a famous star in its own right. Buckle up as we take a brief look at this car and its builder.

Gene Winfield

Robert Eugene Winfield – born in 1927 in the midwestern United States but raised in California – is a car customizer, painter and race car driver who noticed automobiles at a very early age. In fact, his first car purchase – a Model A Coupe – occurred when he was just 15 years old.

Winfield’s interest in customizing cars and building hot rods accelerated in high school and, following a year-long stint in the Navy after graduating (in 1945), he opened a car shop behind his mother’s house in California. It was then and there that Winfield began getting serious about professionally modifying and reshaping cars for both himself and his friends. Shortly afterwards, in about 1949, Winfield began racing his creations, but in 1953, following a tour in the U.S. Army, he married and abandoned that pursuit. At that point, he took up customizing full-time in a shop near Modesto, California.

In 1962, Winfield’s life took a significant turn when he was hired by Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) to design model car kits and full-scale promotional cars in Phoenix, Arizona. The importance of this to Winfield – and to Trek fans – is that his work there introduced him to the Hollywood scene and, as a result, he began making cars and other props for television and movies, including for TOS . He became quite successful at this endeavor, and other shows and movies in which his creations can be seen include The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, Trancers, The Last Starfighter, Star Man, Robocop, Back to the Future , and Blade Runner , to name a few. (A few more will be named shortly.)

Today, Winfield is still active and works from a car shop in Mojave, California.

Winfield’s Other TOS Contributions

As previously mentioned, Winfield made other contributions to TOS . In addition to his Reactor appearing in “Bread and Circuses,” he co-designed (along with art director Matt Jefferies and industrial designer Thomas Kellogg) the Galileo shuttlecraft, and he was also responsible for its fabrication. Additionally, he constructed the master tooling models for the D7 -class Klingon ship that had been designed by Jefferies, one of which was featured in TOS . All of this work was done while Winfield worked at AMT.

The Jupiter 8, AKA, the Reactor

The Reactor (originally named the Autorama Special) was designed by Ben Delphia, for a client, and built by Winfield in 1965. Winfield based the car on a modified chassis from a 1956 Citro?n DS and a flat, 180 horsepower, turbocharged, air-cooled engine from a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa.

Although the Reactor was designed to be a show piece, Winfield also made sure it was engineered to be functional and useful. In addition to the previously mentioned features in its original design and build, others include:

• A hand-formed aluminum body that is painted metallic lime green with dark green shading around its edges• Two seats• Front-wheel drive• Four manual speeds• Three flush mount foot pedals for brakes, gas, and clutch• Electrically-operable lights, doors, hood, and roof• A hydro-pneumatic suspension system so that the car could lower and raise from 4 to 9.5-inches, the latter used for driving• A swivel-mounted handgrip steering mechanism• A weight of ca. 2000 pounds• A 1965 price of $20,000 (allegedly)

Winfield eventually purchased the Reactor and it survives today. It can be seen at car shows and other exhibitions around the country.

The Reactor's Other Roles

TOS was not the Reactor’s first gig. In fact, it was actually one of the last in that time period. Other notable television shows in the mid-1960’s where the Reactor appeared include:• Bewitched , 1967, in the episode “Super Car” where it appeared as the Reactor Mach II• Batman , 1968, in the episode “The Joke’s on Catwoman” where it played the Kitty Car (a dressed up “catmobile”)

(We want to point out that, contrary to what’s been reported in some other sources, the actual Reactor vehicle did not appear in either the 1968 Mission: Impossible episode “The Freeze” or the 1967 The Flying Nun episode “Old Cars for New.”)

David Tilotta is a professor at North Carolina State University and can be contacted at [email protected]. Curt McAloney—an accomplished graphic artist—resides in Minnesota and can be reached at [email protected]. Together, Curt and David work on startrekhistory.com. Their upcoming book, Star Trek: Lost Scenes (due out in August 2018 from Titan Books), will be filled with hundreds of carefully curated, never-before-seen color photos that they use to chronicle the making of the original series, reassemble deleted scenes left on the cutting-room floor, and showcase bloopers from the first pilot through the last episode.

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Gene Winfield's Reactor: "The Jupiter 8"

Discussion in ' Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series ' started by Scott Kellogg , May 5, 2021 .

Scott Kellogg Commander Red Shirt

Hey Folks, The discussion on “Bread and Circuses” got me reading up on the car featured in that episode, The Reactor, built by Gene Winfield, alias the “Jupiter 8” It was built by Gene Winfield, the creator of the Shuttlecraft for TOS. And it’s actually a fully functional car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reactor_(show_rod) The Reactor was an ambitious aluminum-bodied project. It was a mid-engined front wheel drive two seater, with a very low profile due to the Corvair Chevrolet Turbo-Air 6 engine flat six. It showcased a light aluminum body, like the Strip Star, but the technology went far beyond its novel bodywork. Winfield took the 180 hp (130 kW) turbocharged engine from a Corvair Corsa and mated it to the drivetrain from a Citroën DS (the futuristic French sedan), and retained the height adjustable Hydropneumatic suspension of the DS. (There’s conflicting information as to if it was a Citroën DS or a DI) Citroën DS The Citroën suspension allows the car to be raised from 4 inches to 9 & 1/2 inches on a liquid-air suspension. It has a hand crafted aluminum body, sequential taillights, electric doors and hood, four speed front wheel drive transmission. The Reactor was built in 1964 for $20,000, and displayed at the Hartford Autorama. The buyer then sold the car back to Winfield for considerably less. Winfield brought The Reactor to Hollywood in 1966. “I didn’t know anybody” according to Winfield. He managed to show the car to the 20th Century Fox Studios transportation coordinator, and within two weeks the unique car had landed a television role. It appeared in: Bewitched, episode "Super Car" S3 E19 (The entire episode is written around the car.) Star Trek, episode "Bread and Circuses" (as the Jupiter 8) S2 E25 Batman, episode "The Funny Feline Felonies" (as the Catmobile) S3 E16 (With cat ears, nose and tail bolted on) "Mission: Impossible", episode "The Freeze” Recently, the car has been featured at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Gene Winfield’s work can be seen on Get Smart (The Sunbeam Tiger), the “Star Car” from The Last Starfighter, the “6000 SUX” from Robocop, the bubbletop cars from Sleeper, and 25 vehicles for Bladerunner (With Syd Mead.) And of course, the Shuttlecraft from TOS Star Trek. A good article on the car can be found at: https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Reactor  

scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

The car got a write-up in the Fall 1965 issue of Popular Customs magazine. (These pages are excerpted from a longer article about Gene Winfield. Click on image for link to full-size version.) Scott Kellogg said: ↑ . . . It was built by Gene Winfield, the creator of the Shuttlecraft for TOS. Click to expand...

alchemist Captain Captain

According to this article , the Reactor wasn't in "The Freeze."  

alchemist said: ↑ According to this article , the Reactor wasn't in "The Freeze." Click to expand...

Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

scotpens said: ↑ Dean Jeffries' Manta Ray custom car was used in that Mission: Impossible episode. The two cars are somewhat similar in appearance. Click to expand...

scotpens said: ↑ The car got a write-up in the Fall 1965 issue of Popular Customs magazine. (These pages are excerpted from a longer article about Gene Winfield. Click on image for link to full-size version.) Click to expand...

J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

Scott Kellogg said: ↑ To me, somehow the Manta Ray looks like it inspired several Hot Wheels designs from the same era. Click to expand...

J.T.B. said: ↑ I agree, the Silhouette for one, except for the fenders. Click to expand...

Scott Kellogg said: ↑ I was thinking the front end looks like the front end of the Twin Mill. Click to expand...

scotpens said: ↑ The Silhouette was actually a full-size, functional custom car built by Bill Cushenbery in 1963. AMT made a model kit of it and it was featured in the movie Beach Ball (1965). Click to expand...

ItsGreen Captain Captain

The Reactor was used in many tv shows. Here is a montage of some of where it was used. The Dean Jeffries Mantaray was used in the Monkees , Batman, Mission Impossible, Bikini Beach as well as others.  

Strange things you notice: The Aft end of the reactor Kinda bears a resemblance to the back end of: The Pink Panthermobile  

^I'm sure NHTSA-compliant rear bumpers would fit right in on those designs.  

Do you suppose that the Jupiter-8 was in any way named after Star Trek's contemporary main competition?  

See, I always through Trek shoulda rented one of those weird show cars, removed the wheels and put some spacey doohickuss in their place and make it a one or two person shuttle or something.  

Christopher Writer Admiral

Scott Kellogg said: ↑ Do you suppose that the Jupiter-8 was in any way named after Star Trek's contemporary main competition? Click to expand...

publiusr Admiral Admiral

Maurice said: ↑ See, I always through Trek shoulda rented one of those weird show cars, removed the wheels and put some spacey doohickuss in their place and make it a one or two person shuttle or something. Click to expand...

ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

I so regret parting with all my Hot Wheels and Matchbook cars when I was a young man getting rid of "childish things." Stupid!  

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This Is The Only Time Star Trek Ever Showed An Alien-Made Car

Everybody is celebrating Star Trek ’s 50th anniversary this week, and since I hate being out of the loop, I decided it made sense to bring some much needed attention to the only non-human built but still recognizable car ever shown on Star Trek. Even better, that car is pretty fascinating, and kind of a gearhead’s dream in how it’s made. It’s called the Jupiter 8.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying this is the only car seen in Star Trek or anything like that. Just that the other roughly conventional, wheeled, non-hovering cars we’ve seen have so far all been of human manufacture, like that Aptera seen in the background of the 2009 movie or that sand-rail thing Picard tore-ass around that planet in in Star Trek: Nemesis. The Jupiter 8 is a car that was built on another planet, by non-Earth-folks.

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The Jupiter 8 is named after the Roman god Jupiter (if you pray to him in Greek, you probably call him Zeus). I know this because the Jupiter 8 is built on a planet romantically known as 892-IV (the inhabitants call it Magna Roma) , also known as “that planet that’s just like 1968 Earth except for the fact that the Roman Empire never collapsed and now they run the show.”

Yes, the Jupiter 8 was shown in the original Star Trek episode 54, called Bread and Circuses , from March of 1968. I’m not exactly sure if I’ve ever seen the whole thing, if I’m honest. But that doesn’t matter, because I’m here to talk about the car.

Magna Roma has a level of technological development about on par with mid-20th century Earth. You Earthlings out there may recall that we were building plenty of cars, and so are the Magna Romans.

Now, it’s possible some hardcore Trek-geek out there will know of some other alien-built car that drove by in the background of one of the episodes. That’s fine. Because I’m pretty sure this has to be the only alien-built car in all of Star Trek where you actually see the ad for the car, too. Here, look:

Man, that does look like some royal freaking comfort. A Super-Flow slushbox? Check. How’s the glide supension in this thing? Super? You know it. And what about those white sidewall tires? The grip, is it... adequate? No, bitch, it’s super. I’m just not sure why those white sidewalls don’t seem to show up in photographs.

The car isn’t just in the ad; the Jupiter 8 must have been pretty popular, because it shows up in the episode as well:

Of course, many of you are already aware that Star Trek is a work of fiction; the people and aliens on the show are all actually human beings from Earth, utilizing a complex method of lie-telling called “acting” to convey other ideas. The Jupiter 8 is no different, as it is an Earth-built car called The Reactor , and is simply acting like the Jupiter 8. Neat, right?

The Reactor was built by Gene Winfield , who went on to build shuttlecraft for Star Trek , as well as the Spinner flying cars for Blade Runner , and even the legendary 6000 SUX from Robocop.

The Reactor was built in 1965 for an ‘Autorama’ custom car show, and was called the ‘Autorama Special’ at first. The aluminum body was designed by Ben Delphia, and the car was based, incredibly, on a 1956 Citroën DS chassis with a Corvair flat-6 engine.

That’s like a Jalop dream combination right there: hydropneumatic Citroën suspension with a front-mid-mounted air-cooled flat-6!

The low profile of the Corvair engine allowed for the incredibly low, elongated hood, and the car allowed for some pretty exciting entry/exit theatrics, with electrically-powered scissor doors and a flip-up windshield/roof.

Interestingly, the Reactor may be able to make the claim that it was, in fact, the first car with scissor doors. The usual start for scissor doors is usually assumed to be the 1 968 Bertone Carabo concept car, but in looking at these pictures now, I feel like the Reactor may have beaten the Carabo to the punch by a good three years.

The Reactor is still around today, as part of the Starbird’s National Rod & Custom Car museum in Oklahoma , if you want to confirm for a scholarly journal that the doors, in fact, do qualify as the first scissor doors in person.

The Reactor had a pretty impressive TV career – it went on to play a “supercar” in an episode of Bewitched , and was even dressed up with ears and a big-ass furry tail to be the Catmobile in an episode of Batman.

Knowing what we know about the Reactor, it makes a little more sense the Magna Romans were advertising the Jupiter 8 based on comfort – a DS chassis certainly is smooth like an oiled, sexy cloud, and in this context, even the automatic transmission makes more sense.

Still, I don’t know why it’s the Jupiter 8 – the Corvair engine is a flat-6, and there’s no way in hell it’s making 456 HP, like the ad says. Maybe the aliens measure HP differently. With much smaller alien-horses.

Anyway, happy anniversary Star Trek .

• View history

The Jupiter 8 was named after Jupiter , one of 892-IV's Roman gods . Described as "Royal Comfort" and "unexcelled in its field," it had a conventional internal combustion engine with 456 horsepower, a super-flow automatic transmission , a super-glide suspension system, and super-grip white sidewall tires .

One such Jupiter 8 was viewed by the crew of the USS Enterprise in black-and-white television news footage upon entering orbit of 892-IV. The car was parked in front of a building where the Roman Empire police were arresting several dissident slaves .

Later, once on the surface of 892-IV, James T. Kirk was reading an advertisement in The Gallian , which described the Jupiter 8's features. This led the Enterprise landing party to determine that the Jupiter 8's power source was, in part, a cause for the planet 's smog . ( TOS : " Bread and Circuses ")

Background information [ ]

The Jupiter 8 was in reality a custom aluminum show car called " The Reactor ", which was designed by Gene Winfield and completed in 1965 . The Reactor was based on a 1956 Citroën DS chassis and powered by a Chevrolet Corvair engine . The hand-built car featured electronically-operated doors, hood and roof. It was painted metallic green. The car was toured around the United States at various car shows to display Winfield's custom work abilities. The car was later used in the 1968 Mission: Impossible episode, "The Freeze" (which also referenced the drug cordrazine ), the Bewitched episode "Super Car", and on Batman , " in an outlandish disguise " as the Catwoman's car. ( Starlog #53, December 1981 , p. 29)

Its fleeting appearance as the Jupiter 8, warranted the shooting of a number of contemporary publicity shots, published in several automobile magazines, with William Shatner in the guise of Captain James T. Kirk , posing with and in the car. [1] (X)

Not long after building the Reactor and getting into the Hollywood scene, Gene Winfield went to work for AMT , which were contracted to construct the shuttlecraft Galileo and the Klingon battle cruiser models, and for which Winfield was responsible as head of the Speed & Custom Shop , the AMT subsidiary where the construction took place.

The Reactor still exists and was featured in the 2005 Bilsport Performance and Custom Motor Show in Jönköping, Sweden. The actual supercar is now a part of Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Hall of Fame museum in Afton, Oklahoma.

• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

Bread And Circuses Stardate: 4040.7 Original Airdate: 15 Mar, 1968

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS2E25BreadAndCircuses

Recap / Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses"

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Original air date: March 15, 1968

After coming across the wreckage of the S. S. Beagle , Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to the surface of the nearest planet. This planet is a class M planet remarkably like Earth down to the land/water ratio. Atmosphere and radio signals hint a technological advancement equal to 20th century Earth. They beam down to a part of the wilderness close to city limits, thinking it deserted when they're taken captive by slaves on the run. After Kirk impresses them with his communicator, they take him in and tell him about the Empire. Apparently, they get very angry when slaves worship a different god. Kirk and company gather the runaway slaves to be "sun" worshipers. It seems the civilization on this planet is a reflection of a modern day Earth where Rome never fell.

When Kirk and company are captured and taken to the city, they find out what happened to the crew of the Beagle . Merik was convinced by a local not to spread knowledge of their people, and was offered a life of luxury as First Citizen in return for selling out his entire crew to fight in the gladiator pits.

The Fan Nickname for this episode is "The One with the Space Romans ".

Tropes and Circuses:

• 30-Second Blackout : Scotty causes one to help Kirk and company escape.
• Affably Evil : Proconsul Claudius Marcus. While he's shown to be annoyed by Kirk's defiance, he never takes it personally, even arranging for a night of pleasure for Kirk with his personal slave girl before his execution the following day. On thinking that Kirk has persuaded the girl to steal back his communicator, Marcus says he won't punish her for that , and he will see that Kirk and his friends are given a swift execution.
• Aliens Speaking English : The fact that the locals speak English with 20th Century Earth idioms is noted. Though that doesn't explain why Latin isn't the dominant language instead. It's pretty much just there to make the sun/son homophone work.
• Alternate Universe : Though only in the "What if Rome never fell?" sense. Instead of an alternate history Earth, we have a planet so similar to Earth it somehow evolved a Roman Empire, a Christian-like religion, and the Madsen submachine gun.
• Ancient Rome : This planet's hat.
• Spock claims that about six million people died in WWI and eleven million in WWII. Low-end estimates place the number of dead in the first at about fifteen million, and of the second at an astounding seventy million, with the Soviet Union and China each losing far more than eleven million by themselves. The lowest estimate for Soviet deaths is nearly double eleven million.
• Kirk, Bones and Spock all spell out what the Prime Directive is, even though they presumably know what that is.
• Scotty also spells out what Condition Green is for his Log.
• Bones is about to be killed in the arena, so Spock disables his opponent and comes to his rescue.
• Kirk is about to be executed on live television when Flavius charges in with a sword and Scotty kills the power.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor : The sequence with the televised gladiator game show gets in a good few jabs at network television and the pursuit of ratings. This episode was made when Star Trek was facing cancellation at the end of the season, and the show's makers were not feeling charitable toward the network.
• Blood Sport : Barbarians (i.e., people not of this planet) and slaves fight to the death in gladiator pits. It's treated like Monday Night Football .
• Bread and Circuses : Look at the title.
• Bronson Canyon and Caves : Bronson Canyon is the place where Kirk and Co encounter the rebel slaves.
• Covert Distress Code : Kirk tells Scotty "Condition Green, everything's fine." However, "Condition Green" is their code for "I'm in trouble, but don't do anything to help." Scotty has to figure out a way to help Kirk without breaking the Prime Directive. He does.
• Cut the Juice : Scotty has Enterprise overload the power grid as a show of force . Cue the lights going out in the studio giving Kirk a chance to escape.
• Deadpan Snarker : When an armed man points at Spock's pointed ears and says "What do you call those?" He calmly replies "I call them ears." When asked if he's trying to be funny, he flatly replies, "Never."
• Defiant to the End : Merik's last move is to throw Kirk his communicator.
• Discretion Shot : When Kirk and co. are watching a televised gladiatorial combat, the losing gladiator falls to the ground and out of shot just before he's stabbed, so the death blow is not visible. Stands out because of the conflict between the priorities of the real TV network and the in-universe TV network, which would have insisted the camera follow the falling gladiator so the audience isn't deprived of the money shot. While he does fall out of shot, we then cut away to Uhura flinching in horror, so presumably there was an In-Universe close-up of the killing. Uhura also loses the television signal just as Harrison is about to be stabbed.
• Does This Remind You of Anything? : Claudius Marcus, proconsul of the slave-owning Roman Empire, has a Southern accent.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You : Spock to the gladiator he's fighting, who unlike Flavius is seriously trying to kill his opponent. Spock isn't bluffing either—on seeing Bones is about to get killed, he takes down the gladiator easily so he can rush to defend his colleague.
• Repressive, but Efficient : Though the Pax Romana is apparently worldwide and has lasted for many centuries, and slaves are treated well enough that it's not worth their while to rebel (provided they're not exposed to subversive religions preaching freedom and equality).
• Enforced Plug : While looking through a magazine, Kirk notices an advertisement for the Jupiter 8 automobile. Later the gladiator contest Name The Winner is brought to the audience "by Jupiter 8 dealers from coast to coast!"
• A Father to His Men : Averted with Merik, who betrayed his own men to save his own life. Those who failed to adapt to Roman society ended up in the arena—the last of them is shown being killed just as the Enterprise arrives.
• Famous, Famous, Fictional : Spock: Situations quite familiar to the 6,000,000 who died in your First World War , the 11,000,000 who died in your Second , the 37,000,000 who died in your Third ...
• Before Kirk beams down he has a discussion over how the M-class planet is exactly like Earth in some ways, but different in others.
• Proconsul Marcus notes that one of the communicators has gone missing, and muses that maybe Kirk persuaded Drusilla to steal it for him . Turns out Merik has it instead.
• Forced to Watch : Kirk is handcuffed and forced to watch Spock and Bones (along with Flavius) fight to the death. He annoys the proconsul by refusing to yield and pretending he's not bothered by any of this. Merik turns out to be more affected as it brings back memories of his own men dying.
• Flynning : To the point where, during the arena fight, Bones is able to look away from his opponent and hold a conversation with Spock, while his opponent stands there carefully hitting his shield. Justified in that: A) The fight is broadcast for entertainment, and B) his opponent had befriended them earlier and doesn't want to harm them.
• Gilligan Cut : Just as Bones and Spock find something to agree about — their concern for their captain — we cut to Captain Kirk eating Grapes of Luxury with a Beautiful Slave Girl .
• Gladiator Games : The games are televised as entertainment, with well-known contestants featured in magazines. At one point Flavius isn't fighting hard enough and he's threatened with "We'll do a special on you!"
• God Guise : Lampshaded by Bones when he jokes that he'd like to screw the Prime Directive, beam down to a planet and claim to be the Archangel Gabriel.
• Grudging "Thank You" : Spock tells Bones to hurry up with what he's trying to say while he looks for a means to escape their cell. "I'm trying to thank you, you pointy eared hobgoblin!" Bones blurts out.
• Happiness in Slavery : Previous slave revolts were crushed, but conditions for slaves have improved over the centuries (including medical benefits and pensions) so that slavery has become an institution .
• Heel–Face Turn : Merik eventually decides to aid Kirk, redeeming himself, though he has little time to enjoy it.
• Heroic Sacrifice : Flavius rushes in to save Kirk from execution at the last minute. He's killed for it, but the attempt is just what Kirk needed to escape (helped by Scotty's blackout of the city) - at the end, McCoy notes that Kirk mentioned his sacrifice in the captain's log .
• Hilarious Outtakes : Including one of the guards doing a Prat Fall as he rushes into the room, and William Shatner being abducted on-set by Ted Cassidy as a practical joke.
• Hit Me, Dammit! : Flavius is trying to avoid killing Bones and getting whipped for his trouble. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy: I am defending myself! Flavius: Not like that, you fool! Hold your weapon higher!
• Claudius Marcus has a touch of this; because he respects Kirk's courage , he feels obliged to give Kirk a proper death, to the point that when his guards have Kirk's team surrounded at gunpoint, he insists they use their swords instead of just gunning them all down on the spot (though at the same time, using their guns would cause more deaths than just their targets; the soldiers are in each other's line-of-fire, Claudius included) .
• Marcus also knows that while the Enterprise has the power to rescue their men by force or lay waste to the entire planet, they won't do so because they've sworn to uphold the Prime Directive .
• I Have Your Wife : Kirk is told if he doesn't do as Merik did, Bones and Spock will be forced to fight to the death in the gladiator pits. Even threatened with this and with guns to his head, Kirk still refuses. Claudius Marcus is impressed by this show of character. Merik is rightfully ashamed.
• Inexplicable Cultural Ties : The Hand Wave we get is something called Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Development.
• Involuntary Battle to the Death : What could possess a man to battle another man to the death? Whips! Massive whips!
• Killed Mid-Sentence : Merik: Starship, lock in on this. Three to beam— (gasps as a Reveal Shot shows that the Proconsul has just stabbed him)
• Laugh Track : In the televised gladiatorial combats, the crowd's cheers and boos are mechanically produced. Bones even looks around in confusion when he hears the canned boos.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal : After Kirk impresses Claudius Marcus with his courage and integrity, Claudius Marcus can't help repeatedly mentioning how much better that makes him than Merik, who betrayed his oath and his crew to survive. Having his nose rubbed in his failings inspires Merik to help Kirk, at the cost of his own life.
• Mr. Fanservice : Just look at the damn picture.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine : Claudius Marcus invites Kirk and company to eat with him, before he forces him into a Sadistic Choice at gun point.
• No Sense of Personal Space : Marcus is very happy taunting Kirk when the latter is handcuffed and trying to pretend Spock and Bones fighting other gladiators doesn't bother him.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy : While they do have a Sexy Discretion Shot later, Kirk initially shows little interest with Drusilla and her telling him she's his slave.
• Not So Stoic : Bones says the reason Spock is Not Afraid to Die is because he would no longer have to worry about losing his emotional control. Spock's lack of a snappy comeback implies he's hit a nerve. However when Bones goes on to say he wouldn't know what to do with a genuine feeling, Spock just gives a sardonic, "Really?" and Bones admits that he's worried about Kirk too.
• No Such Thing as Space Jesus : A subversion in the literal sense, as the planet is implied to have had an actual Jesus. ( If that's his name. He's called the Son of God, and Kirk calls him Christ note  Christ is a title meaning "an anointed one" and implying he's a descendant of King David , but we never hear his real name.) Beyond that, what exactly their version of him did, other than emphasize a commitment to total peace and a philosophy of love and brotherhood, doesn't get much coverage.
• The Oathbreaker : Kirk condemns Merik as one because he sold out his entire crew just to save his own life and gain luxuries. Merik doesn't deny a word of this, as he's long-resigned himself to it, although later Kirk's display of character helps bring him out of that... enough that at the end, his last act is to help them escape at the cost of his own life.
• Opponent Instruction : Spock and McCoy get forced into the arena to convince Kirk to submit to the villains' plans. Despite preferring a pacifistic approach, Spock keeps his opponent at bay easily, but McCoy, not being a Combat Medic , can barely manage. His opponent, a fairly Nice Guy who doesn't actually want to hurt him, starts trying to coach him during the match. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy: [waving his arms in frustration and leaving himself vulnerable] I am defending myself!
• Playing Sick : They try the old faking sick trick. It works okay, despite Kirk not warning McCoy in advance that he was going to be the sick one, but they're quickly recaptured by another set of guards.
• Prime Directive : Unfortunately Merik has told Proconsul Marcus about it, so he knows Kirk can't just beam down a hundred men with phasers to blast him out. Scotty however has no problem with Loophole Abuse ; he decides to Cut the Juice as an Intimidation Demonstration , giving Kirk a chance to escape.
• Redemption Equals Death : In the end, Merik decides to help Kirk, Spock and McCoy escape, and is immediately killed for it by Claudius Marcus.
• Reluctant Warrior : Spock and McCoy are thrown into a death match against gladiator-style warriors on a new planet. While the alien opponent is coming at him with a sword, Spock constantly plays defensive, choosing to dodge the blows while insisting that he "does not want to injure" him, leading to the watching crowd concluding that "the pointy-eared barbarian" is about to get killed. However, when he notices that the much less action-oriented McCoy is in danger, Spock deals with his opponent in the space of a second and darts over to save his frenemy.
• Sarcasm Mode : McCoy while in the arena. Spock: Do you need some help, Doctor? McCoy: Whatever gave you that idea?
• Schizo Tech : Gladiator fights with swords are broadcast on television.
• Sexy Discretion Shot : Kirk makes smoochy face with Drusilla the Sex Slave . Pan up to chandelier. Pan down to Kirk sleeping alone. A line that was cut had Kirk drinking wine and saying "good," eating something and saying "excellent," and then — "And you?" and Drusilla says "Superb, I'm told."
• Shoot Out the Lock : After Spock fails to get through the carbon-steel bars of the prison cell with his Vulcan strength, Kirk shoots out the lock with a submachine gun. Kirk: Obsolete but effective.
• Scotty decides to kill the power as a show of force, as per The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) .
• Snark-to-Snark Combat : Spock and Bones are at it again! Even in the heat of combat, they manage to snark each other.
• Space Romans : The whole planet.
• Stern Sun Worshippers : The crew of the Enterprise are extremely surprised to find that the "Children of the Sun" are a peace-loving, egalitarian movement that is persecuted by the Roman Empire government. They discuss that most sun-cults are the exact opposite. The episode closes with the reveal that they are not worshippers of the sun , but rather son (of God), i.e., Jesus.
• Stock Footage : Stock footage shots of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco are used to depict the Roman capital. Given the use of Roman architecture in Western civilisation to portray power and authority, it works well.
• Sword and Gun : The Proconsul's Praetorian Guard are each armed with a gladius and a Madsen M-50 submachine gun. When they find themselves in a potential crossfire, they resort to their swords instead.
• Teleportation Rescue : Averted at first; having been warned about teleporters by Merik, Marcus marches in his guards to hold Kirk at gunpoint before allowing him to complete his transmission to Scotty. Merik later makes the call on Kirk's behalf, and by the time the guards pick up their submachine guns (having put them aside earlier) they're already beaming out.
• Think Nothing of It : Spock's reaction to Bones' Grudging "Thank You" .
• Thwarted Escape : Kirk tells Maximus to let the First Consul know that his old friend "Jim Kirk" is in prison. Unfortunately it works too well; when they later overpower the guards, they rush out into the corridor and find the First Consul and Proconsul waiting for them, along with all their bodyguards.
• Unusual Ears : Which gets Spock pegged as a 'barbarian'.
• Villain Ball : Claudius Marcus and Merik take Kirk and company aside and Explain to them that the crew of the Beagle were stranded in the planet after the ship broke up. Merik made arrangements with Marcus to integrate himself and a few willing members of his crew into Roman society, while keeping the secret of aliens from the general populace. The rest of the crew was executed in gladiatorial games, but that's the local culture and the solution is in line with the prime directive, if cruel. It kind of sucks that the planet practices slavery, but Kirk's mission is fulfilled and Marcus broadly agrees with the prime directive and had no interest getting his hands on alien tech. Then, Marcus demands that the Enterprise crew beam down so that they can be killed in gladiatorial games. Why? Because it would make great sport!
• Vitriolic Best Buds : Spock and McCoy, as usual. It gets lampshaded when Flavius, after seeing them argue, asks Kirk if they're enemies, and Kirk replies that even they don't know for sure.
• We Come In Peace : Flavius first instinct is to kill these uniformed strangers. Septimus: Keep always in your mind, Flavius, that our way is peace. McCoy: For which we are grateful, for we are men of peace ourselves.
• What Happened to the Mouse? ?: Merik said some of his crew were able to adapt to Roman society, but doesn't specify how. Did Kirk just leave them there, without checking to see for himself what their statuses were? There may have been some that wanted to get home, but were now trapped and did what they had to to survive.
• Whip of Dominance : Anyone who tries to get out of the gladiatorial combat gets whipped back into action.
• Star Trek S2 E24 "The Ultimate Computer"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S2 E26 "Assignment: Earth"

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Star Trek: Bread and Circuses

9 comments:

I *love* this episode! (Except for the part with Kirk and the slave girl, which I find deeply disturbing. Hasn't he seen Spartacus?!). If the Romans had had television, this is exactly what they would have been doing, I'm sure. (Plus it got me loads of hits on my blog a while back, which makes me love it even more ;) )

Since Juliette is too classy to post a link to her review, I'll post it for her. :) Great review, Juliette. http://popclassicsjg.blogspot.com/2010/03/star-trek-bread-and-circuses.html

Thanks Billie :) I was feeling guilty about mentioning it, but I know my fondness for this ep is partly because I got my 100th post out of it! :)

Yes TV Tropes. I think it's the 1st review with a link to the site. About time hehe. Especially when many of Billie's Ten Rules of Television are actually tropes. Like for example number 2a is Narrowed It Down To The Guy I Recognize and number 10 is Never Found the Body

Patryk, until Ben sent me his part of the review, I'd never heard of TV Tropes. And I still haven't visited the site. Guess I reinvented the wheel.

"Great minds think alike" comes to mind. So no problem. But it's good to know that there is a repisitory of knowledge gathered from works of fiction. :D

Billie, don't look at the TV Tropes site unless you have a spare month to kill. It's extremely addictive and has lots and lots of material, links, and snark. See http://xkcd.com/609/ for an example of this happening, though I would sprinkle the reaction very liberally with laughter.

TV Tropes is a bottomless rabbit hole, so I usually avoid it, despite how amusing and interesting it can be! This is certainly one of the better 'past Earth planet' episodes and I love the twist of the Roman empire lasting to the 20th century but keeping so many of the trappings of the past. Really neat idea, and executed so very well here. I do hope all the slaves have the unions as well as you do, Billie! The idea of being forced to 'perform' in such a fashion is not a pleasant thought. The McCoy/Spock double act is at a peak here! They're generally so good as it is, but when they let them interact like they do here, it's just amazing!

I’ve enjoyed TV Tropes, especially in regard to the Buffy-verse. :). Been wanting to check out Ahsoka when time allows.

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.

10 Best Star Trek Cars

These classic vehicles don’t let the enterprise steal the show.

The Star Trek science fiction franchise may be one of the most unique in show business. With a library of over 800 TV episodes and 13 movies, the discerning auto enthusiast (and sci-fi lover) knows there are plenty of moments when some iconic vehicles make a cameo. We wanted to go a step further and compile a list of the 10 best Star Trek cars (and trucks) to play a role in the Star Trek universe.

10 Best Star Trek Cars And Trucks

Star Trek has been alive as either a live broadcast, syndication, or rerun since the 1960s. The many television series and movies are set between the mid-2100s in the “Enterprise” series to the late-2300s with the newest series “Picard.” Spaceships, shuttles, and advanced technology are the norm from episode to episode and movie to movie, but that doesn’t mean that an automotive gem from our time doesn’t pop up here and there.

1936 Ford Model 67 (Star Trek: Voyager, “The 37’s”, S2E1)

The first episode of the second season of “Star Trek: Voyager,” begins with the crew detecting rust in space. Since it is impossible to have rust in space with the lack of oxygen, they investigate and find a 1936 Ford Model 67 floating in space. The episode is also memorable for its storyline. Spoiler alert: you might just find out what happened to Amelia Earhart.

1977 Volkswagen Type 2 (Star Trek: Voyager, “Future’s End”, S4E8-E9)

This won’t be the only time you see the episode “Future’s End” on the list. For a significant portion of the episode, Tom Paris and Tuvok are on the run with guest star Sarah Silverman in the role of Rain Robinson. The 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 van is Robinson’s personal vehicle which they use to escape a dire situation.

1931 Cadillac V-12 (Star Trek: The Original Series, “A Piece of the Action”, S2E17)

This classic makes its cameo in the second season episode “A Piece of the Action” in which the Enterprise crew discovers a planet that runs itself in some sort of 1920s gangster culture. In this scene, both Captain Kirk and Spock are uncharacteristically clothed in 1920s attire and fedoras driving the 1931 Cadillac V-12.

1971 Ford LTD Country Squire (Star Trek: Voyager, “11:59”, S5E23)

In the fifth season episode “11:59”, Captain Janeway tells the crew about a historic figure in her family’s past — Shannon O’Donnell. She believes O’Donnell helped build a unique historic structure. Most of the episode is set in the past with Shannon O’Donnell and begins with her getting into a fender bender with a 1974 Ford Mustang II. She hits the Mustang with her 1971 Ford LTD Country Squire. The accident sadly cripples her car which will not start, trapping her in the town and setting the stage for the story to unfold.

1995 Dodge RAM (Star Trek: Voyager, “Future’s End”, S4E8-E9)

The second-generation Dodge RAM truck might have been made famous for chasing tornados in the blockbuster movie “Twister” and on the small screen as Chuck Norris’ ride in “Walker, Texas Ranger”, but it also popped up in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. In the episode “Future’s End”, the crew of the Voyager gets thrown back to ’90s Earth. During a dramatic phaser shootout, Tom Paris and Tuvok hide behind the Dodge RAM before it is vaporized by a phaser shot.

Argo (Star Trek: Nemesis)

“Star Trek: Nemesis” isn’t one of the most loved movies of the Next Generation movie era, but it does feature one cool eye-catching, off-road vehicle. The Enterprise crew picks up a signal that is known to only come from androids such as the main character Data. Captain Picard, Data, and Worf head down to the particular planet to find the source of the signal. To complete their mission, the trio hop in a shuttlecraft equipped with this unique off-road vehicle for some driving scenes that are an added bonus.

1975 Chevrolet C-10 (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” is one of the most comedic installments of any series or film in the Star Trek universe. The crew of the Enterprise has to travel back in time to find some humpback whales, and luckily find two at an aquarium in San Francisco. There they begin a strange friendship with the whale biologist. That whale biologist, Dr. Gillian Taylor, picks up Captin Kirk and Spock in her 1975 Chevrolet C-10 to try to save the whales.

The Reactor (Star Trek: The Original Series, “Bread and Circuses”, S2E25)

In the episode “Bread and Circuses” in the second season of the original series, the Enterprise visits a planet based on the Roman Empire, but with 20th-century technology. On this planet, there is a futuristic car called Jupiter 8 . This car was actually a show car from the 1960s called The Reactor which was basically a 1956 Citroën DS chassis powered by a Chevrolet Corvair engine. The vehicle appears in an in episode television broadcast as well as a television advertisement.

1969 Chevrolet Camaro (Star Trek: Voyager, “Vis a Vis”, S4E20)

Voyager’s pilot, Tom Paris, is an aficionado of Earth’s history, and it is only fitting that he works on a special vehicle. In the episode “Vis a Vis,” from the fourth season, a 1969 Camaro plays a supporting actor. At the beginning of the episode, Paris works on the Camaro in a 1960s garage holodeck program instead of taking care of his medical study duties. At the end of the episode, he invites his future wife to spend a romantic evening in the car.

1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (Star Trek 2009)

One of our favorite Star Trek cars has to be this Stingray driven by the most famous captain of all —Captain James Tiberius Kirk. In the first J.J. Abram’s reboot film “Star Trek 2009”, a young James T. Kirk dramatically steals the ’65 Corvette from his stepfather to drive it off the side of a cliff. True Trekkies know, thanks to a deleted scene, that the car actually belonged to his father, George Kirk, who died in the opening scene of the film.

Star Trek Cars: Futuristic Favorites & Cool Classics

So, as you can see, there are plenty of cool vehicles found in the Star Trek universe. “Star Trek: Voyager” seems to have been a hotbed for its vehicles, with several iconic models. “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which debuted the holodeck, only got some love from a specially built off-road buggy.

And this list is just the start. We could have gone on to tell you about the blink-and-you-will-miss-it 2008 Aptera 2e in “Star Trek 2009” when Kirk chats with McCoy about the Kobayashi Maru test. Or there’s the 1967 Dodge Coronet in a particular Star Trek: The Original Series episode. The point is, the Star Trek universe is a car enthusiast gold mine if you know where to look. So keep your eyes peeled the next time you venture into the far reaches of outer space.

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Danny Korecki is a financial analyst by day and a freelance automotive writer by night. His words, photos, or videos have been seen on many well known automotive sites across the web. When he isn't creating content he enjoys loving on his dog and daily driving his BMW E92 M3.

Star Trek : "Bread and Circuses" / "Assignment: Earth"

If the first season of Trek was the Age of the Godlike Being, the second season has been all about the Prime Directive; what it means, what it demands, and what it costs when someone breaks it. It's a fascinating thematic direction for an adventure show to take, advocating detachment and observation over interference, and even though each episode that mentions the PD tends to provide enough narrative loopholes for Kirk to get involved without upsetting the rules, the core concept is never diluted. In fact, by the end of the season, we're fully convinced that the crew of the Enterprise would rather die than violate the PD, and that means something.

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That doesn't stop "Bread and Circuses" from being frustratingly repetitive, though. Once again we've got a planet "suspiciously like Earth" (the number of times Spock reminds us of this fact is bizarre; it seems to suggest something, especially given the stinger at the end of the episode, but that meaning never really becomes clear), with a pre-space travel society. And once again, a space ship captain has beamed down among the locals and becomes involved in things that were better off avoided, in a culture that mimics a familiar one from Earth's history. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy get caught up in things, and have to decide just how much interference is justified when it comes to saving their own necks. The Enterprise comes across the remains of the missing S.S. Beagle (Nooo! Not Space Darwin!) floating around in the vacuum, and then follow it's path of trajectory back to Planet 4 of star system 892. (So I guess the naming committee was working off a vodka-and-more-vodka hangover that day.) While orbiting around the planet, Uhura manages to pick up some video transmissions, and the news isn't good. The government is rounding up "dissidents," always a bad sign, and there appears to be some sort of televised, life-or-death gladiatorial fighting going on. Even worse, the man the bridge crew sees killed during the combat happens to be a guy whose name pops on the crew list for the Beagle . So they probably didn't blow up their ship because they were really happy about everything. The prospect of arena-style fighting doesn't really appeal to me, and things got less interesting after our heroes hit planet-side. They meet up with some escaped slaves (and it's weird here how, despite their heated discussion about the importance of Directivo El Uno, Kirk and the others didn't bother to find local garb before they beamed down), and find out that, shockingly, the former captain of the Beagle , R.M. Merik, has transformed himself into First Citizen Merikus. It's "Omega Glory" all over again, only this time, instead of the Yangs and the Kohms, it's the evil Romans beating up on the hapless, well, we'll get to that in second. So, we've got a teleplay that doesn't seem to have been written as much as paint-by-numbered into existence. Kirk is determined to have a chat with "Merikus," so the escaped slave Flavius leads them into town. Before they get captured, Flavius talks about how he used to be a gladiator himself, but then he heard of the religion that come down from "the sun," preaching peace and brotherhood, and could no longer bear to take up arms against another man. Remember that "sun" business, as it's going to be important by the end. Kirk gets captured, and eventually Merik comes into the picture; Kirk knew him back at the academy, but the guy washed out in his fifth year. The particulars may be different, but none of this is exactly fresh at this point. Lots of shows have familiar patterns, but there's a difference between repeated structures and crutches. Part of the appeal of Trek is that it's potential for storytelling should be nearly limitless; you've got a star ship, you've got universes to explore, so why keep butting your head against the outhouse door? There are budget restrictions, of course, but while I can understand wanting to re-use old costumes and sets, that doesn't mean I want carbon copies of the same tired plots, with "Chicago" scrubbed out and "Roman times" swapped in. Thankfully, "Bread" picks up momentum as it goes, and while it's never exactly great, it was better than I was expecting by the halfway mark. For one thing, we get the implausible-but-clever idea that the Roman trappings we see exist simultaneously with technology that's evolved far enough along to have something like television to support it. The best moment in the episode comes when Merik, and his evil Proconsul Claidus Marcus, show Kirk into the area where the fighting is held. Instead of an arena full of spectators, it's just a TV studio, with cameras and a cheap set, and an audience made up entirely of sound effects run through stereo equipment. Even better, when Flavius starts acting up later in the ep, the guards warn him if the ratings drop, they'll give him his own "special." It's a funny bit of satire, and the episode could've used more of that. The in-studio fighting is "Bread"'s strongest stuff, but there's also some good Spock/McCoy interplay. As Kirk points out, not even Spock and McCoy themselves probably know for sure if they're friends or enemies, and that the series has managed to keep that balance throughout is terrific; the conversation the two of them have in the jail cell after Spock saves McCoy's life is melodramatic, to be sure, but it also plays true, and manages to give insights into both characters without getting maudlin. For once, the Roman culture isn't the result of, say, Merik leaving a copy of I, Claudius lying around, but instead a natural development; which is as ridiculous as the whole Constitution nonsense from "Omega," but it is nice to find a race that can more than take care of itself in the face of Federation personnel. In fact, Merik was actually doing his best to keep a low profile when he arrived on the planet. It was Claudius Marcus who sought him out, Marcus who realized what was happening, and Marcus who decided it wasn't in the best interests of his society for word to get around about a bunch of slave-holding, fight-to-the-deathing Romans with their own planet. He had Merick bring his crew down, and anyone who objected got forced into the games—and died. Now Marcus proposes to do the same for the Enterprise , and in order to convince Kirk to order his men to start transporting, he puts Spock and McCoy's at risk. Too much of "Bread" has a going through the motions feel, from the desultory hot chick that Kirk sort of seduces, to the threat that never seems all that threatening. The Roman society is never as expansive as it should be; all we get are some interiors with columns and stock footage of actual Rome. Obviously we couldn't have gotten Ben Hur , but this is too much of a hodge-podge of good and bad ideas. While the familiar plot-line manages to hold things together to a certain extent, it also stops the episode from breaking past its limitations. If this hadn't needed to follow the arc we've already seen too many times, if it had done more with the television angle… well, there's no way of telling if it'd been good, but it it least might've been more interesting. The ending is curious, though. To the good, once Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam back to the Enterprise ( with Merik dead by Marcus's hand back on the planet), the story basically ends. Since Merik wasn't responsible for any changes on 4, there's no reason for Kirk to meddle. That leaves the escaped slaves to fend for themselves, and while narrative that may seem abrupt, it's satisfying to leave behind a culture that wasn't improved by Starfleet. And then there's the whole "sun" thing. Turns out it was mistranslated, and the ex-slaves aren't worshipping the sun. They're worshipping The Son, as in Of God, which is a development that is at once astonishing in its scope, and blinkered in its imagination. Nobody on the bridge even seems surprised that they've stumbled across the birth pains of a new Christianity, and there's something more than a little upsetting in that. The idea that out of all those universes, all that potential for life, that so many planets are basically just going through the same routine as Earth civilization… Isn't that horribly suffocating? And isn't it exactly the opposite of what Trek should really be about? I'm still not completely sure if I'd seen Season Two before I sat down to review it (I definitely haven't seen anything from Season 3 in years), but I'd definitely seen "Assignment: Earth" before, and I wasn't looking forward to seeing it again. "Earth" was made by Rodenberry as a potential pilot for a new series, and the thumbmarks of compromise cover this piece of crap from top to bottom. It's hackneyed, with an unforgivably draggy climax, and worst of all, it's not even really a Star Trek episode. Kirk and Spock and the rest are reduced to cameos on their own show. The Enterprise has gone back in time to observe the Earth of 1968, an apparently pivotal year in the history of the world. Already things are stupid; given that the last time the Enterprise ended up in Earth's past, they spent a whole episode trying to cover their tracks and not ruin everything, the idea of going back again just to take some notes is absurd. What possible historical information can be gleaned that's worth the potential invalidation of all known life? Time travel is a concept that only works in small doses. The more often it's used, the easier it is to notice the holes, and to use it here, simply so that our heroes can be around to help pimp Roddenberry's latest lame-brain idea, is weak as hell. Before any of the crew can comment on how stupid it is to risk negating one's own birth simply for a chance to catch Yellow Submarine in theaters, the Enterprise accidentally intercepts a strange transporter beam. A man with a black cat materializes in the transporter room, and he's upset, because he was supposed to land on the planet; he has a very special job to do, and Kirk and the others are just getting in his way. There's a fight, the man (Gary Seven, played by Robert Lansing) proves himself impervious to Spock's neck pinches, and Kirk takes him down with a phaser stun. McCoy gives Seven a once over and finds he's a perfect physical specimen (despite looking like a 47 year-old with a history of cigarettes and coal mining), and Kirk gets ready to discuss what they should do next—an then Seven escapes and beams down to Earth. I don't really want to spend a whole lot of time on this one. We never see Gary Seven again, and Roddenberry never got his new series off the ground; and even taken on its own terms, "Earth" is an occasionally campy but mostly just lousy bit of filler. At least we get some quality time with Teri Garr, the human secretary that Seven's predecessor's hired before dying in a convenient car crash. Her presence never makes any sense (why would a group of super-advanced human saviors need a daffy secretary, no matter what her IQ is?), but Garr is a pleasure to watch as always. She's just kind of sweet and friendly, and while I can't imagine wanting to tune in to her and Seven's adventures every week, I do feel kind of bad that the show wasn't picked up, for her sake. But hey, things turned out okay for her in the end, at least. Oh, if you're curious: Gary is part of an elite task force that's been trained for generations by another, superior race (a race from a planet that's too mysterious for even the Enterprise to be aware of) to hang out on Earth and make sure everything goes smoothly. To help him, he's got an advanced computer with a bit of a sass mouth, and a cat named Isis who's briefly revealed to be a human at the end of the episode. His first mission is to sabotage the launch of an orbital nuclear platform that could lead to all kinds of ugliness—and he succeeds. Eventually. (What's weird is that when Kirk recounts some 1968 history, he talks about how the world was threatened by a whole bunch of these platforms floating around in space, offering instant death at the touch of the button. As far as I know, this is not a thing that happened. So did Gary prevent what Kirk was talking about? And if he did, why would he? I mean, Earth obviously survived the danger. And if he did change the future, wouldn't that risk the Enterprise crew as much as them accidentally destroying a plane might have?) Maybe "Assignment: Earth" could've been a decent series; but it's terrible Star Trek . Once Gary hits the planet, Kirk and Spock follow in his footsteps from place to place, occasionally getting in his way but mostly just being superfluous. During the episode's climax, they're reduced to standing in some control room while other people accomplish things, and while Kirk is good at many things, passive observation is not one of them. Gary takes ages to unplug a few wires on the platform, then gets beamed up to the Enterprise and then gets beamed back to his office by Teri Garr. Kirk and Spock follow soon after, and get to watch more as Gary uses the computer to watch some stock footage of rockets and then blow up the platform, "scaring" the US government into shutting down the program. (Of course, since that program was in response to a similiar Russion program… You know what? I don't care.) The worst comes at the end. Kirk and Spock are paying Gary, Teri, and Isis one last visit. Spock's been checking out the computer files to see what's next for Seven (okay, I guess Gary's actions couldn't have changed the past after all, so apparently there was some kind of horrible orbital platform problem in the late sixties), and while he can't tell them exactly what's in store, he can say, "Captain, we could say that Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln have some interesting experiences in store for them." Bad enough that we had to waste an hour being sold something that didn't exist to buy; even worse that Trek' s wisest and best voice of reason has to take part in the shilling. That does it for Season 2. Next week, we're going to take a look at two more Trek movies, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , before starting into Season 3 the week after next. Be there! Grades: "Bread and Circuses": B- "Assignment: Earth": D Stray Observations:

• Mediocre as it generally is, there's a brilliant edit in "Bread" that had me laughing—McCoy and Spock are having a heated talk, and McCoy goes, "I know, I'm worried about Jim, too." And then we immediately cut to Kirk eating and drinking with a hot blond slave. Ah, the life.
• McCoy also gets a great insult in: "I'm trying to thank you, you pointy-eared hobgoblin!"
• I wonder if the words turned to ash in Nimoy's mouth when he delivered that line? He sells it well enough; and I do know he's got a certain IDIC medallion in his near future…
• Again: Star Trek s III and IV next week, and then the week after that, Season 3, with "Spock's Brain" and "The Enterprise Incident."

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Bread and circuses (1968), full cast & crew.

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William Smithers

Rhodes Reason

Logan Ramsey

William Bramley

Policeman 1

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