"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (1968)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Ralph Senensky

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (written by) and
Gene L. Coon (written by) ...

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

15 March 1968 (Season 2, Episode 25)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

While searching for the crew of a destroyed spaceship, the Enterprise discovers a planet whose oppressive...

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
William Smithers	...	Merik
Logan Ramsey	...	Claudius
Ian Wolfe	...	Septimus
William Bramley	...	Policeman
Rhodes Reason	...	Flavius
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Bart La Rue	...	Announcer (as Bart Larue)
Jack Perkins	...	Master of Games
Max Kleven	...	Maximus / Achilles
Lois Jewell	...	Drusilla

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

The title refers to "Bread and circuses", an ancient Roman metaphor for people choosing food and fun over freedom.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: During the first fight in the arena, Flavius is struck twice, vigorously, by a bull whip, and yet on subsequent shots from Flavius' rear, there's no evidence of any kind of wound whatsoever on his back, which there surely would have been.

Quotes:

Capt. Kirk: Proconsil, in some parts of the galaxy I have seen forms of entertainment that makes this look like a folkdance.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Star Trek (2009)

The Romans have always been the Strongest

By this point, we begin to see a pattern in Roddenberry's approach to Trek science fiction; he's not interested so much in cosmic concepts as he is in addressing social & political concerns of the present day through the filter of the Trek universe. He's not concerned with believable science fiction concepts in presenting other worlds which should have very different evolutionary stages from our own history. Hence, we've had the virus-stained 'Satan Bug/Omega Man world' ("Miri"), 'gangster world' ("A Piece of the Action" - admittedly a comedy), Nazi world ("Patterns of Force") and 'World War III world' ("Omega Glory"), all just like our own Earth except for a shift in their history to differentiate them. The proper way was to present stories in a parallel universe, but this was a space travel show, so Roddenberry was kind of stuck by his own premise (he includes a brief mention of 'Hodgkin's Law' here to explain the parallel development). Now we have 'Roman Empire' world, a rather effective precursor to the films "Westworld" and "Rollerball" - the title refers to keeping the populace, the mob, satiated with blood sports.

On this world, the Roman Empire never fell, as if continuing for several hundred more years rather than falling apart as it did on our Earth in the 4th - 5th centuries. Gladiatoral combat is on display again (not as silly as in "Gamesters of Triskelion"), now shown on TV rather than the old-time arenas. Cops or Centurians run around with machine guns, wearing motorcycle helmets (see also "Soylent Green" in 1973), but still have swords for the sake of tradition. Slavery has evolved, as well, with most slaves complacent due to an extension of some meager benefits over the centuries (again, a more effective presentation than the cheesy "Gamesters..."). Quite a few concepts were thought out, including some commentary on religion, and most of it comes across as a serious, adult approach. Indeed, there's a coarseness to much of this episode, an edge, reflecting the cruelty of the culture - this empire was a much earlier version of the brutal Nazi regime, after all.

As we've become accustomed to by now, the main trio (Kirk,Spock,McCoy) are the ones who beam down to muck about in this intriguing yet dangerous culture. What comes as a surprise is that they actually adhere to the precepts of their Prime Directive in this one and it shows how tough this directive can be - ironic as this was the time I was kind of hoping Kirk would decide non-interference be damned (again) and lay waste to a city or two in teaching that fat proconsul a lesson in power; the episode succeeds in repelling the viewer to such an extent with all the unpleasantness on this planet that you wouldn't mind the Enterprise 'going Roman' on a few key establishments. The edginess extends to the Spock-McCoy relationship, in that fateful scene when McCoy spells out Spock's fear of living in their jail cell (both appear to accept that death is inevitable for them this time - it is that grim); McCoy's verbal attack appears to be a personal triumph for him but is he so successful at it because he knows what a death wish is like? The scene recalls their tension in "The Immunity Syndrome."