It never ceases to amaze me how often Kirk and the gang manage to run into old associates of Kirk at random spots in the galaxy. You have to wonder if Kirk ever wonders why so many of his old buddies are busy waging war, forming their own totalitarian society or facilitating slavery.
I first noticed the equivalent phenomenon on Miami Vice in the 80s, because it soon became obvious that literally *all* of Sonny Crockett's old friends and ex-partners, showing up for one episode each, were either corrupt, evil, insane, or just plain doomed. If I were Rico Tubbs, I would have quit the Miami police force and gone to find different work up in Alaska before the first season was done.
You just remined me of running into Isaac Asimov at a convention where he was wearing a button that said, "Incorrigible Punster. Do not incorrige." Ah, those were fun times.
One reason we got the same plot over and over was the fact that the network kept demanding "more planet shows", which apparently they liked better than shows that took place mostly aboard ship. But "planet shows" were much more expensive to make, so Desilu used as many tricks as they could to minimize that extra cost. That meant using the existing studio backlot as much as possible. But guess what -- the sets on the backlot looked remarkably like places on Earth. Hence the need to keep using the parallel Earth scenario.
That info makes me feel slightly better about these parallel-earth stories, which always make no sense unless you buy into the "every decision creates an alternate reality different initially only with respect to that decision" theory. This is both unprovable, but also I can't figure out where the almost infinite amounts of energy and matter necessary to create all these alternate realities come from.
Which would have been fine if it had been integrated into the story in any way. It seems instead that he thought any old adventure tropes would serve so long as they took up enough airtime before the big ending reveal. It never gelled since the Roman Empire and TV satire elements didn't really factor into the surprise ending.
Ten thousand percent, yes. It has the feeling of a writer who had an ending, and then backfilled a story to meander to that ending somehow. I've been guilty of exactly this sort of writing where in my head, something is a huge part of the story because I know it's in the end. So I "cleverly" avoid overplaying it. And as a result the audience is like, "why are they treating something that wasn't in the story as the thrilling conclusion of something?" Why Roddenberry wrote a Christianity story, I have no idea. I guess he just got it in his head that the network would like it and that he could do it better than anybody who actually cared about or was interested in that topic.
@@guaposneeze Without these Space Christians it's kind of a downer ending. All our heroes managed to accomplish was getting Flavius and Merik, who both seemed like ok guys, killed.
The "yay Jesus!" coming from Gene Roddenberry - an atheist so intense that Richard Dawkins would've told him to chill - is probably the most insane part of this episode. Well, that, and the weird line from Spock when he realizes the Romans are speaking English for... reasons?
Explicitly establishing that the aliens speak English, in the second season of a show where all the aliens have always spoken English, feels a little unnecessary. I think the idea was that this world is SO SIMILAR to Earth that the inhabitants are even speaking an Earth language. But, it's Rome, so wouldn't they be speaking Latin?
@@NovaSaber Frankly, it's easier just to assume that the locals were saying their word for Son the whole time, but the translator turned it into future-English in the Starfleet characters' ears -- and they just assumed they were hearing Sun because, hey, primitive religion, right?
Interesting to say the Romans never worshiped the sun, since we're coming up on the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, a major celebration in the later Empire, which is why Christmas is celebrated when it is.
Not the best episode, sure, but McCoy's line to Flavius yelling at him "At least defend yourself!" by saying, with great indignation, "I AM defending myself!" always gets a laugh from me.
At a science fiction convention some decades ago, I was able to procure (quite inexpensively) a copy of a 'final draft' of Bread and Circuses. But it was quite different from the episode as filmed-I think Roddenberry did a substantial late rewrite. Most notably, the Enterprise intervened on the planet and the Feds basically took over. The 'sun/son' thing at the end was there, but lacked Kirk's speech. There are silly things about the episode, but it was much improved from the draft script.
I love that the Proconsul is wearing William Shakespeare’s coat of arms. I’d love to think that it ties in with all the Shakespearean titles of so many TOS episodes, but I expect the sparkly cardigan came from the costume shop that way.
Ordinarily I'd think SOMEONE in the production team screwed that up, but on checking, this ep was #25 of season 2. Shatner got himself into shirt-ripping shape over the summer break, and past the midpoint of the production year, the lack of regular gym time led to his belly becoming a shape he no longer wanted to flaunt on national TV.
Septimus is played by Ian Wolfe, who later played Mr Atoz He also played the snarky butler, Hirsch on WKRP He was always fun to watch This episode is way better than Omega Glory Very few episodes are not better than Omega Glory
I'll say this much for Captain Merik...he integrated into their culture without changing it. Unlike most of the other parallel earth episodes. So yes he violated the prime directive...or did he?
Merik made the procounsel aware of the capabilities of starships and this allowed the PC to gain an upper hand on Kirk for much of the episode. Merik did save their lives at the end and died on the process, so he arguably redeemed himself.
I've heard the sun/son pun used unironically by preachers. I was about 9 when I realized preachers say a lot of stupid things, and that was one of them.
the church I was forced into attending as a child had a "son-rise" service held at the ass crack of dawn on easter sunday. i hated every second of it, mostly because i had to wake up early and listen to terrible puns.
Yeah, you're right, Steve... this was one of the less-than-remarkable ST episodes. But... any STOS episode, to me, is like a soft, warm blanket remembered from childhood. I've seen each episode many times but I always derive some semblance of comfort and familiarity from watching them. They remind me of carefree times.
I've always wondered about the remaining Federation people, from the first ship, who were left behind. Were they all killed before the Enterprise arrived? Except whats-his-name... Merrick?
When I was a kid we had VHS tapes with random episodes of TOS on them and this was one of a dozen or so episodes I was able to watch over and over so it has a special place in my heart. Looking at it more critically now actually reinforces just how special the chemistry was between the original characters because I could not get enough of it, even if it was watching the same mediocre episodes over and over on my tiny TV off a fuzzy VHS tape. There was just something special even with the bad episodes
The first time I saw this episode, I thought the son/sun revelation was one of the cleverest plot twists I had ever come across. I think I was about eight years old. Steve is obviously too old for Star Trek.
That part where uhura told them it's not the sun up in the sky. It's the son of god. Always brought a tear to my eye. It really got me. On a visceral level.
It is interesting that a lot of people don't like this episode. I think it is good fun. I like the part when Spock and McCoy are in the arena and Marcus boasts as to what a spectacle his games are, and Kirk replies, "Proconsul, in some parts of the galaxy I have seen forms of entertainment that makes this look like a folk dance!" Kirk is such a boss. The original series did such a good job hinting with dialog of the grander universe it was set in and that is what made me a fan.
B. 1953. I was raised by the tv. Watched ST as mindlessly as everything else. I never got deeper than “I like this” and I don’t like that”. Don’t give two craps for it or the endless iterations. But, you are lots of fun! My opinion. I was a Paladin/Rod Serling type gal. Dark, me.
Fun little bit of trivia, the book 'Autobiography of James T Kirk' makes another reference to this episode while simultaneously throwing Star Trek V under the metaphorical bus, by making the events of The Final Frontier a movie written by a son of Drusilla that's heavily implied to be Kirk's kid.
And it could be rather easy to explain why Scotty intervenes when he does: just have him watching the show! (Or do they make it clear they had interrupted the show or not started broadcasting at all? It's been a while since I saw that).
9:55 It's like Roddenberry was trying to do his own version of "Mission: Impossible" with "Patterns of Force" and "Bread and Circuses", with Kirk and crew trying to infiltrate the Nazi government or the Kirk, Spock, McCoy trio trying to get away from the ruthless Romans.
Suppose that the ‘revelation’ at the end is not only a silly pun, but meant to get us to recognize that Uhura was monitoring the 20th Roman airwaves constantly, and ergo Scotty’s timing with the power-outage was NOT coincidental..? Doesn’t make it a better episode, but may have been a last minute editing choice.
I didn’t interpret the “sun”/“son” reveal as a huge twist, but rather as more meaningful element to cap a less-than-meaningful episode. I’d always assumed this was another non-Roddenberry bit of ideology intruding (like Kirk’s “We find the one god sufficient” in response to Apollo), so it’s odd to me that Roddenberry would have written or signed off on this.
When as a kid I saw this when it first broadcast I was disappointed as I thought there would be a fight to find the missing crew members & instead nothing happens & they just get out of dodge.
It's distinctly odd that these unfortunate Federation guys who've been turned into gladiators just get forgotten. It makes our heroes look very unheroic. Fridge cowardice you could call it.
Three outsiders escaped the grasp of the empire aided by the First Citizen during a slave uprising. This could very well qualify as a tipping point. The days of the Proconsul and the empire itself would seem to be numbered.
This runs opposite to the general feeling in the comments, but I loved Uhura's explanation of "son." It just makes me wanna go "awwww." The fact that no one else got it, in my view, coincides with Roddenberry's atheism.
My favorite line of the show was when McCoy was trying his best against a clearly unmotivated Flavius, who was giving the doctor pointers in a desperate attempt to make it look like he wasn't totally going easy on him. Finally the director has had enough, and tells Flavius that if he doesn't get on with it, "we'll do a SPECIAL on you!" Suddenly, Flavius is making a lot more of an effort to at least make it look good, which is when Spock takes care of his opponent and nerve-pinches Flavius.
All right, "Spectre of the Gun"! It's better than "Arena" (with a similar premise) and more importantly it's Eddie Murphy's favorite episode! (Seriously, he mentions it an old Playboy interview from the 1980s.)
I love that the universal translator has difficulty distinguishing "sun" and "son" which just happen to be homophones in Romulan... I mean... Space Latin? Whatever. The language of the Roman planet. By the way, Doctor Who did an episode in 2005 where reality TV was used to subdue the human race and harvest their bodies to build an army of Daleks.
The last time I saw this episode was in grad school, and I was struck by the uncanny resemblance between the proconsul and my school's evil Dean of Arts & Sciences who was trying to gut all of the arts & humanities programs while using university money to pay his life coach, and was simultaneously facing several Title IX harassment complaints.
Is there a single starfleet officer that crash lands on an alien planet and is just normal about it? Maybe goes to work in a shop or something? Every one of them is like "welp. No way back now 🤷 time to build a society around Sonic the Hedgehog or something"
I felt like the son-sons are there basically to say that this messed up society will reach some sort of new, better equilibrium, since they tend to resolve problems or improve things by the end usually. This is a timed belief explosion, I guess
The part about wishing we saw more of the media of this society made me realise that’s exactly why I savoured their flipping through the magazine. They can do a lot more with limited budget in print! Of course even that is mostly hollow commentary on consumerism, but it still provides a slightly wider window into what this society values besides a news bulletin and reality TV.
The high point of this episode is when the Proconsul tells Kirk something like "One platoon from your ship could defeat the entire army of the Empire--but that would be a violation of the Prime Directive." And you can see Kirk think "Damn; I guess I can't do that." (The Sun/Son reveal at the end is the low point. I always figured it was some sort of nod to Easter that was a month after the original airing of the episode.)
Ah, the episode of the series I paused the most because one of the three stock footage establishing shots for the planet is a drive-by shot of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland, something my mom picked up on since she used to work there.
The whole "son of god" thing at the end of this episode and the way they seemed to revere christianity REALLY turned me off. This is my least favorite TOS episode because of that. It's not the fact that they were christians, but the way the characters acted toward it.
Bread and Circuses seemed to me to have a very progressive message. The way in which this society keep a population enslaved by handing out minor concessions, making false promises they have no intention of keeping and distracting everyone with spectacle... hence the title of the episode. The need for those enslaved to find the courage to fight for their freedom, the way Merrick was finally able to find his own courage. It's actually one of my preferred episodes.
The only show I can think of that can pull off with multiple episodes with the same setup in the same season would be Dr. Who, though it would break it up with Daleks and Cybermen between episodes. Also: can you do a video talking about the Star Trek Crossover comics like Dr. Who or D.C.?
I have an ancient one titled, The Doctor and the Enterprise, IIRC. Tom Baker era, and of course the Doctor and Spock clash at first before becoming great buds.
...The landing party didn't arrive properly attired as they still wore their light-duty pajamas. And before, they were watching planet-side TV, so they knew the looks!!!
I’d forgotten that Scotty didn’t know about what was happening; I thought he’d tuned in to the TV. And I’d thought the Children of the Son helped in some way. And I don’t know what the last episode in this series will be but I think Who Watches the Watchers is an interesting twist on the premise. It’s not a duplicate *Earth* but it’s played as though it’s a duplicate Vulcan (even though Vulcan was violent and emotional at that stage of their history).
It was the '60s, everything on TV was corny. Trek was actually pretty revolutionary. In retrospect it does seem simplistic. I think you could probably pick apart every episode for not being Star Wars but back then, we thought it was Space Shakespeare.
So I love watching your reviews sometimes I agree sometimes I don’t, this time I didn’t I remembered loving this episode, and the sun/son pun i thought was so revealing, but that was when I was a child before TNG, so upon this review I rewatched, and OMG you are absolutely right, it really isn’t as great as I remembered. Its funny how much my perspective has evolved right along with the Star Trek evolutions as newer series were produced. I used to absolutely love the stand alone episodes but now I seem to desire more of the canon driven story arcs.
I was always disappointed by the unquestioning assertion that Christianity was responsible for everything good that happened after the fall of the Roman Empire and was moreover singlehandedly responsible for it. Also I didn't like how Uhura's impassioned delivery seemed to indicate that even by Federation standards (supposedly science-based) these people had finally found "the true light." I do like the criticism of tv, however shallow, and as an 8-year old critical of the religious message, I was not as critical of tv itself and was blown away by seeing those Batman-labeled soundtrack knobs. I lost my innocence that day. Add "tv is fake" to the "Everything I need to know I learned from Star Trek" shirt.
After watching bread and circuses it seemed intellectually insulting to think that in the space Romans language, Sun and Son were easily confused. In spanish (a romance languagw) sun is Sol and son is iho, big differencw. It was just weird having a Jesus allegory story in star trek. It felt more like watching Davey and Goliath then anything else.
Even though I rewatched this just 3 years ago, I don't remember much of it all. I think it's just one of those episodes that is just so weak that repeated watching doesn't form memories.
I see your point. Having just done a watchthrough recently with a much younger friend, 'Bread and Circuses' is pretty weak, and seemed thrown together from leftover costumes and props from other episodes. Now, knowing there's no love lost between yourself and Voyager, I need to look up your review of "The 37's" and the absolutely lukewarm way that episode tied up. Almost as bullshit as giant Salamander Janeway.
If I remember the story correctly, wasn't the Son of God supposed to either still be alive or have just recently died on that world? It matters because beings with godlike powers existing in Kirk's time on Star Trek were usually revealed to be energy beings or suchlike.
That's a happy thought. This Alien Jesus was a benevolent alien who didn't feel bound by anything like The Prime Directive. And I'd say good for him, since this society was very nasty.
When I first got into Star Trek, I was really into Ancient Rome and stuff, so I really liked this episode. I have since realized that it really isn't all that great, but I guess I will always have soft spot for it. The "sun/son" thing is even dumber when you first experience it in German by the way, just in case you wondered.
Hahahaha, I've been waiting for this one. I guessed the sun/son thing was slipped in because the ep originally aired in Dec. It was their Xmas ep lol. But nope, according to wiki, it aired in March. Easter? They definitely went out of their way to cast a guy to play Pro Consul who looked a lot like Nero. TOS was big on the Enterprise crew being captured & forced to fight in an arena. Also hot alien ladies that looked like cocktail waitresses/go-go dancers from a theme bar. Definitely of its time in oh so many ways...
Good point about the unfortunate convergence of ‘parallel earth’ stories at this point in TOS, which I previously hadn’t considered. Nevertheless, I’ll part company with you on this one, rating it higher than anything else on that list with the possible exception of “A Piece of the Action.” That’s mostly due to the biting satire of 20th century American television, but “Circuses” has a few other things going for it as well, including some fairly witty dialogue and Logan Ramsey’s Claudius Marcus, who may be one of my all time favorite Trek guest villains. I suppose that as a lifelong agnostic I should find the whole Sun/Son reveal to be purile if not offensive, but given the constraints of the era consider it mostly harmless (and way less problematic than the conclusion of “The Omega Glory”). This episode was the only credited collaboration between the two Genes, and while it won’t make anyone’s Top Ten listing, I wish there had been more.
I once heard a plausible argument that pre cable explosion shows were all much broader appeal and so less sophisticated then more recent TV especially new sophisticated dramas (The Sopranos, Breaking Bad etc.). I'm not sure it is true, but as I say it feels plausible to me. Although that's not inconsistent with more recent shows being even more lowest common denominator in that within a niche audience shows can be much more pandering then they were in pursuit of far narrower rating gains.
Lower Decks did a much better job of satirizing television in "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place," and that was just a cute little subplot taking up maybe two minutes across the episode.
I did like the over-the-top bitchiness of the Proconsul, Stanley Adams, and William Smithers also had a unique delivery- he was also memorable as a gangster in Mission:Impossible across the street.
that son/sun of god thing blurted out at the end just felt weird. you're right i never thought about it the whole episode so didnt care for that reveal
I always thought Merrick didn't break the prime directive in this episode. - Except for the Proconsul, no one knew where he came from. Further he joined the society, rather than influence it. - Much like McCoy wanted to join the society in 'For the World is Hollow and I have touched the sky.' Yes he was a bad captain, or maybe he had no choice, because he couldn't get material to repair his ship - we are never told. -- Nor do we know how many of his crew survived. It would have be interesting to see someone put on trial for breaking the prime directive. -- Someone we know can't necessarily be cleared of the charges. -- like Kirk in Court Martial.
Hey, look! It's the real Mr. Atos! Now we know where he time-traveled to. And named himself Septimus? Oh well ... I wonder if he is still irritated with Kirk. Wouldn't that have been an interesting TOS movie concept: The Wrath of Atos. Of course, when has any Star Trek series ever reused character actors? I'll bet never, am I right?
As a non-American non-Christian viewer, Omega Glory and Bread and Circuses are my two least favourite episodes. It's the utopian far future! But, just in case you were wondering, America is still the best country and Christianity is the best religion. We'll go back to doing metaphors next week, pinky promise.
This is only one of two episodes that directly mentions Christianity. The other is Who Morns For Adonais (when Kirk says we "find the one god sufficient") But in many other episodes, what stands in for conventional organized religion is depicted as bad (usually a computer running the planet and stymying social development)
It never ceases to amaze me how often Kirk and the gang manage to run into old associates of Kirk at random spots in the galaxy. You have to wonder if Kirk ever wonders why so many of his old buddies are busy waging war, forming their own totalitarian society or facilitating slavery.
Or framing him for their own murder.
I first noticed the equivalent phenomenon on Miami Vice in the 80s, because it soon became obvious that literally *all* of Sonny Crockett's old friends and ex-partners, showing up for one episode each, were either corrupt, evil, insane, or just plain doomed. If I were Rico Tubbs, I would have quit the Miami police force and gone to find different work up in Alaska before the first season was done.
You just remined me of running into Isaac Asimov at a convention where he was wearing a button that said, "Incorrigible Punster. Do not incorrige." Ah, those were fun times.
One reason we got the same plot over and over was the fact that the network kept demanding "more planet shows", which apparently they liked better than shows that took place mostly aboard ship. But "planet shows" were much more expensive to make, so Desilu used as many tricks as they could to minimize that extra cost. That meant using the existing studio backlot as much as possible. But guess what -- the sets on the backlot looked remarkably like places on Earth. Hence the need to keep using the parallel Earth scenario.
Seems pretty much on point . Kinda like how so many places across the universe on Dr.Who resemble endless gravel pits with the obligatory corridors.
That info makes me feel slightly better about these parallel-earth stories, which always make no sense unless you buy into the "every decision creates an alternate reality different initially only with respect to that decision" theory. This is both unprovable, but also I can't figure out where the almost infinite amounts of energy and matter necessary to create all these alternate realities come from.
I always got the feeling that Roddenberry started with the Sun/Son bit first and worked his way backwards.
Which would have been fine if it had been integrated into the story in any way. It seems instead that he thought any old adventure tropes would serve so long as they took up enough airtime before the big ending reveal. It never gelled since the Roman Empire and TV satire elements didn't really factor into the surprise ending.
I think that's some brilliant speculation, admanios. I bet you're right.
And interesting that Roddenberry was not a big fan of Christianity.
Ten thousand percent, yes. It has the feeling of a writer who had an ending, and then backfilled a story to meander to that ending somehow. I've been guilty of exactly this sort of writing where in my head, something is a huge part of the story because I know it's in the end. So I "cleverly" avoid overplaying it. And as a result the audience is like, "why are they treating something that wasn't in the story as the thrilling conclusion of something?"
Why Roddenberry wrote a Christianity story, I have no idea. I guess he just got it in his head that the network would like it and that he could do it better than anybody who actually cared about or was interested in that topic.
@@guaposneeze
Without these Space Christians it's kind of a downer ending.
All our heroes managed to accomplish was getting Flavius and Merik, who both seemed like ok guys, killed.
The "yay Jesus!" coming from Gene Roddenberry - an atheist so intense that Richard Dawkins would've told him to chill - is probably the most insane part of this episode.
Well, that, and the weird line from Spock when he realizes the Romans are speaking English for... reasons?
Explicitly establishing that the aliens speak English, in the second season of a show where all the aliens have always spoken English, feels a little unnecessary. I think the idea was that this world is SO SIMILAR to Earth that the inhabitants are even speaking an Earth language. But, it's Rome, so wouldn't they be speaking Latin?
Maybe it's because it has to be English for the son/sun thing to make sense?
@@NovaSaberyeah, in this case Roddenberry's plot logic AND atheism both ended up playing second fiddle to a really lame pun. 🙄
@@NovaSaber Frankly, it's easier just to assume that the locals were saying their word for Son the whole time, but the translator turned it into future-English in the Starfleet characters' ears -- and they just assumed they were hearing Sun because, hey, primitive religion, right?
It felt so clumsily tacked-on to me that I've always assumed it was something the network forced him to add.
Interesting to say the Romans never worshiped the sun, since we're coming up on the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, a major celebration in the later Empire, which is why Christmas is celebrated when it is.
If we really _had_ to have kept ancient deities around, we’d have been better off with Sol Invictus 😅
Sol Invictus!
@joearnold6881
Looks like you'd enjoy Raised by Wolves.
Not the best episode, sure, but McCoy's line to Flavius yelling at him "At least defend yourself!" by saying, with great indignation, "I AM defending myself!" always gets a laugh from me.
Near the end of Duck Soup, Groucho Marx says, "Remember men, we are defending this woman's honor. Which is probably more than she ever did."
Best Line "You put these network ratings down, and we'll do a SPECIAL on you!"
The Die Hard, machine gun joke hidden in the middle of a review a classic Star Trek episode is exactly what I wanted for Christmas.
That was pretty droll.
At a science fiction convention some decades ago, I was able to procure (quite inexpensively) a copy of a 'final draft' of Bread and Circuses. But it was quite different from the episode as filmed-I think Roddenberry did a substantial late rewrite. Most notably, the Enterprise intervened on the planet and the Feds basically took over. The 'sun/son' thing at the end was there, but lacked Kirk's speech. There are silly things about the episode, but it was much improved from the draft script.
I love that the Proconsul is wearing William Shakespeare’s coat of arms. I’d love to think that it ties in with all the Shakespearean titles of so many TOS episodes, but I expect the sparkly cardigan came from the costume shop that way.
"I am the sun... and the air... No wait, let me do that again: I am the son... and the heir... of a shyness that is criminally vulgar"
But how did Kirk manage to keep his shirt from being half ripped off in an episode about gladiatorial fighting?
Ordinarily I'd think SOMEONE in the production team screwed that up, but on checking, this ep was #25 of season 2. Shatner got himself into shirt-ripping shape over the summer break, and past the midpoint of the production year, the lack of regular gym time led to his belly becoming a shape he no longer wanted to flaunt on national TV.
By this time in the series Shatner was probably looking, "less ripped", shall we say.
It wasn’t his shirt. They gave him a stronger Roman shirt ;)
That sun/son reveal got me pretty good when I first saw this episode. I was 7
Septimus is played by Ian Wolfe, who later played Mr Atoz
He also played the snarky butler, Hirsch on WKRP
He was always fun to watch
This episode is way better than Omega Glory
Very few episodes are not better than Omega Glory
Spock's Brain is about the only TOS episode that's not better 🤣🤣
@@calebleland8390Nope. “And the Children Shall Lead” is way not-better than anything.
Ian Wolfe was also in a an episode of scarecrow and Mrs. King in the '80s in the episode, the pharaoh's architect.
I loved Hirsch!
I love that Uhura gets something to do other than just woman really loud.
I'll say this much for Captain Merik...he integrated into their culture without changing it. Unlike most of the other parallel earth episodes. So yes he violated the prime directive...or did he?
Merik was that rare Federation captain who didn't try hard ENOUGH to violate the Prime Directive.
@@edwardphilibin3151Well, he was a Star Fleet Academy wash-out.
Merik made the procounsel aware of the capabilities of starships and this allowed the PC to gain an upper hand on Kirk for much of the episode. Merik did save their lives at the end and died on the process, so he arguably redeemed himself.
I've heard the sun/son pun used unironically by preachers. I was about 9 when I realized preachers say a lot of stupid things, and that was one of them.
the church I was forced into attending as a child had a "son-rise" service held at the ass crack of dawn on easter sunday. i hated every second of it, mostly because i had to wake up early and listen to terrible puns.
Possibly a nod to Gregory The Great, who had a fondness for horrible puns.
Well, the precedent has been set. All future episodes must begin with an on topic song. It is decided.
Make it so, number one.
I do think the "slave" T-shirts with the stylized chainlink logo are a pretty cool design. Budget-conscious too!
I would unironically wear those slave T-shirts. I think they're neat.
Yeah, you're right, Steve... this was one of the less-than-remarkable ST episodes. But... any STOS episode, to me, is like a soft, warm blanket remembered from childhood. I've seen each episode many times but I always derive some semblance of comfort and familiarity from watching them. They remind me of carefree times.
I've always wondered about the remaining Federation people, from the first ship, who were left behind. Were they all killed before the Enterprise arrived? Except whats-his-name... Merrick?
It's annoying that this plot thread is just left dangling considering that the disappearance of these guys was the inciting incident.
When I was a kid we had VHS tapes with random episodes of TOS on them and this was one of a dozen or so episodes I was able to watch over and over so it has a special place in my heart. Looking at it more critically now actually reinforces just how special the chemistry was between the original characters because I could not get enough of it, even if it was watching the same mediocre episodes over and over on my tiny TV off a fuzzy VHS tape. There was just something special even with the bad episodes
The first time I saw this episode, I thought the son/sun revelation was one of the cleverest plot twists I had ever come across. I think I was about eight years old. Steve is obviously too old for Star Trek.
That part where uhura told them it's not the sun up in the sky. It's the son of god. Always brought a tear to my eye. It really got me. On a visceral level.
It is interesting that a lot of people don't like this episode. I think it is good fun. I like the part when Spock and McCoy are in the arena and Marcus boasts as to what a spectacle his games are, and Kirk replies, "Proconsul, in some parts of the galaxy I have seen forms of entertainment that makes this look like a folk dance!" Kirk is such a boss. The original series did such a good job hinting with dialog of the grander universe it was set in and that is what made me a fan.
B. 1953. I was raised by the tv. Watched ST as mindlessly as everything else. I never got deeper than “I like this” and I don’t like that”. Don’t give two craps for it or the endless iterations. But, you are lots of fun! My opinion. I was a Paladin/Rod Serling type gal. Dark, me.
Fun little bit of trivia, the book 'Autobiography of James T Kirk' makes another reference to this episode while simultaneously throwing Star Trek V under the metaphorical bus, by making the events of The Final Frontier a movie written by a son of Drusilla that's heavily implied to be Kirk's kid.
And it could be rather easy to explain why Scotty intervenes when he does: just have him watching the show! (Or do they make it clear they had interrupted the show or not started broadcasting at all? It's been a while since I saw that).
I always assumed that. I don't remember if they showed it, but the limited budget might have kept them from.making it clear they were watching.
"Bread and Circuses" is my favorite of the alternative earth episodes.
9:55 It's like Roddenberry was trying to do his own version of "Mission: Impossible" with "Patterns of Force" and "Bread and Circuses", with Kirk and crew trying to infiltrate the Nazi government or the Kirk, Spock, McCoy trio trying to get away from the ruthless Romans.
Suppose that the ‘revelation’ at the end is not only a silly pun, but meant to get us to recognize that Uhura was monitoring the 20th Roman airwaves constantly, and ergo Scotty’s timing with the power-outage was NOT coincidental..?
Doesn’t make it a better episode, but may have been a last minute editing choice.
The visit from Drusilla is sometimes used by fanfiction writers to give Kirk a Magna Roman child. One has to wonder how many children he actually has.
Speaking of puns, here's one for the holidays. I don't do sit-ups; they're a waist of time.
Yay, really enjoying the Other Earths series of yours Steve. 🙂
I didn’t interpret the “sun”/“son” reveal as a huge twist, but rather as more meaningful element to cap a less-than-meaningful episode. I’d always assumed this was another non-Roddenberry bit of ideology intruding (like Kirk’s “We find the one god sufficient” in response to Apollo), so it’s odd to me that Roddenberry would have written or signed off on this.
Do you need my help doctor ? WHAT EVER GAVE YOU THAT IDEA 🤯
When as a kid I saw this when it first broadcast I was disappointed as I thought there would be a fight to find the missing crew members & instead nothing happens & they just get out of dodge.
It's distinctly odd that these unfortunate Federation guys who've been turned into gladiators just get forgotten.
It makes our heroes look very unheroic.
Fridge cowardice you could call it.
I write lyrics professionally, and that was a pretty solid verse you got there, Steve. Can't wait till that track drops.
I seem recall that even when I still called myself a Christian that I found the sun/son reveal to be a complete work of hackery.
Just to clarify: I say that as someone who says you should intend your puns!
"If they refuse to move out on cue, screw them!" The only thing I remember this episode for.
That is only in the blooper reel! What he says on the show is, "If they refuse to move out, skewer them!"
Three outsiders escaped the grasp of the empire aided by the First Citizen during a slave uprising. This could very well qualify as a tipping point.
The days of the Proconsul and the empire itself would seem to be numbered.
This runs opposite to the general feeling in the comments, but I loved Uhura's explanation of "son." It just makes me wanna go "awwww." The fact that no one else got it, in my view, coincides with Roddenberry's atheism.
My favorite line of the show was when McCoy was trying his best against a clearly unmotivated Flavius, who was giving the doctor pointers in a desperate attempt to make it look like he wasn't totally going easy on him. Finally the director has had enough, and tells Flavius that if he doesn't get on with it, "we'll do a SPECIAL on you!" Suddenly, Flavius is making a lot more of an effort to at least make it look good, which is when Spock takes care of his opponent and nerve-pinches Flavius.
All right, "Spectre of the Gun"! It's better than "Arena" (with a similar premise) and more importantly it's Eddie Murphy's favorite episode! (Seriously, he mentions it an old Playboy interview from the 1980s.)
I love both episodes. And Lois Jewel ("Drusilla") was quite the stunning young woman in 1966.
That the one with Spock hypnotizing his crewmates to ignore the imaginary bullets?
I love that the universal translator has difficulty distinguishing "sun" and "son" which just happen to be homophones in Romulan... I mean... Space Latin? Whatever. The language of the Roman planet.
By the way, Doctor Who did an episode in 2005 where reality TV was used to subdue the human race and harvest their bodies to build an army of Daleks.
Becoming my favorite channel.
The last time I saw this episode was in grad school, and I was struck by the uncanny resemblance between the proconsul and my school's evil Dean of Arts & Sciences who was trying to gut all of the arts & humanities programs while using university money to pay his life coach, and was simultaneously facing several Title IX harassment complaints.
Is there a single starfleet officer that crash lands on an alien planet and is just normal about it? Maybe goes to work in a shop or something?
Every one of them is like "welp. No way back now 🤷 time to build a society around Sonic the Hedgehog or something"
I felt like the son-sons are there basically to say that this messed up society will reach some sort of new, better equilibrium, since they tend to resolve problems or improve things by the end usually. This is a timed belief explosion, I guess
Ok we need more of that song, that was awesome
I was maybe 10 years old when I first saw this ep and was like oh what a twist at the time
The part about wishing we saw more of the media of this society made me realise that’s exactly why I savoured their flipping through the magazine. They can do a lot more with limited budget in print! Of course even that is mostly hollow commentary on consumerism, but it still provides a slightly wider window into what this society values besides a news bulletin and reality TV.
The high point of this episode is when the Proconsul tells Kirk something like "One platoon from your ship could defeat the entire army of the Empire--but that would be a violation of the Prime Directive." And you can see Kirk think "Damn; I guess I can't do that." (The Sun/Son reveal at the end is the low point. I always figured it was some sort of nod to Easter that was a month after the original airing of the episode.)
"Slavery, eh? What if I said you could find freedom in my pants?" -Kirk to Drusila
So that's what he named it!😉
🔔 I wonder if this episode provided any of the inspiration for the "American Gladiators" TV show. 🤔
"Son, son, son, here it cmes.." 😀
O Drusilla, we've had enough of gladiators,
O Drusilla, we need a better TV show...
Ah, the episode of the series I paused the most because one of the three stock footage establishing shots for the planet is a drive-by shot of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland, something my mom picked up on since she used to work there.
The whole "son of god" thing at the end of this episode and the way they seemed to revere christianity REALLY turned me off. This is my least favorite TOS episode because of that. It's not the fact that they were christians, but the way the characters acted toward it.
Bread and Circuses seemed to me to have a very progressive message. The way in which this society keep a population enslaved by handing out minor concessions, making false promises they have no intention of keeping and distracting everyone with spectacle... hence the title of the episode. The need for those enslaved to find the courage to fight for their freedom, the way Merrick was finally able to find his own courage.
It's actually one of my preferred episodes.
The only show I can think of that can pull off with multiple episodes with the same setup in the same season would be Dr. Who, though it would break it up with Daleks and Cybermen between episodes.
Also: can you do a video talking about the Star Trek Crossover comics like Dr. Who or D.C.?
I would love to hear Steve's thoughts on the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossovers. I loved seeing 11 dealing with the TNG crew
I have an ancient one titled, The Doctor and the Enterprise, IIRC. Tom Baker era, and of course the Doctor and Spock clash at first before becoming great buds.
Scathing and half assed is how I live my life!
but... but... the slaves had t-shirts with a little chain on them!
...The landing party didn't arrive properly attired as they still wore their light-duty pajamas. And before, they were watching planet-side TV, so they knew the looks!!!
I’d forgotten that Scotty didn’t know about what was happening; I thought he’d tuned in to the TV. And I’d thought the Children of the Son helped in some way.
And I don’t know what the last episode in this series will be but I think Who Watches the Watchers is an interesting twist on the premise. It’s not a duplicate *Earth* but it’s played as though it’s a duplicate Vulcan (even though Vulcan was violent and emotional at that stage of their history).
The Sun/Son pun kind of reminds me of the "Save Martha" line from BVS.
So did they even rescue a single member of the lost crew? That was the whole point of the mission wasn't it?
It was the '60s, everything on TV was corny. Trek was actually pretty revolutionary. In retrospect it does seem simplistic. I think you could probably pick apart every episode for not being Star Wars but back then, we thought it was Space Shakespeare.
So I love watching your reviews sometimes I agree sometimes I don’t, this time I didn’t I remembered loving this episode, and the sun/son pun i thought was so revealing, but that was when I was a child before TNG, so upon this review I rewatched, and OMG you are absolutely right, it really isn’t as great as I remembered. Its funny how much my perspective has evolved right along with the Star Trek evolutions as newer series were produced. I used to absolutely love the stand alone episodes but now I seem to desire more of the canon driven story arcs.
LMAO! Subscribed at the 3 minute mark. Well done!
I was always disappointed by the unquestioning assertion that Christianity was responsible for everything good that happened after the fall of the Roman Empire and was moreover singlehandedly responsible for it. Also I didn't like how Uhura's impassioned delivery seemed to indicate that even by Federation standards (supposedly science-based) these people had finally found "the true light." I do like the criticism of tv, however shallow, and as an 8-year old critical of the religious message, I was not as critical of tv itself and was blown away by seeing those Batman-labeled soundtrack knobs. I lost my innocence that day. Add "tv is fake" to the "Everything I need to know I learned from Star Trek" shirt.
I'm with Steve, anyone who doesn't love puns isn't any friend of mine -- and besides, a good pun is its own reword!
After watching bread and circuses it seemed intellectually insulting to think that in the space Romans language, Sun and Son were easily confused. In spanish (a romance languagw) sun is Sol and son is iho, big differencw. It was just weird having a Jesus allegory story in star trek. It felt more like watching Davey and Goliath then anything else.
Even though I rewatched this just 3 years ago, I don't remember much of it all. I think it's just one of those episodes that is just so weak that repeated watching doesn't form memories.
I see your point. Having just done a watchthrough recently with a much younger friend, 'Bread and Circuses' is pretty weak, and seemed thrown together from leftover costumes and props from other episodes.
Now, knowing there's no love lost between yourself and Voyager, I need to look up your review of "The 37's" and the absolutely lukewarm way that episode tied up.
Almost as bullshit as giant Salamander Janeway.
There should be a "if you haven't seen this... Spoilers ahead" mini prerecorded intro you insert every episode
If I remember the story correctly, wasn't the Son of God supposed to either still be alive or have just recently died on that world? It matters because beings with godlike powers existing in Kirk's time on Star Trek were usually revealed to be energy beings or suchlike.
That's a happy thought.
This Alien Jesus was a benevolent alien who didn't feel bound by anything like The Prime Directive.
And I'd say good for him, since this society was very nasty.
When I first got into Star Trek, I was really into Ancient Rome and stuff, so I really liked this episode. I have since realized that it really isn't all that great, but I guess I will always have soft spot for it.
The "sun/son" thing is even dumber when you first experience it in German by the way, just in case you wondered.
I like it it's kinda wierd. Lots of fun the mccoy spock stuff! 🎉😅
I really liked this episode. I liked bread and circuses.
Maybe I just can't get enough of the production design, I don't know. Love those slave chain t-shirts.
When i was 5 watching reruns i thiught it was profound, today i agree with you
I've watched each episode of the OT like 30 times each. But I never really thought about the fact that its always always always a missing ship. lmao
But the Children Of The Son, are also hippies of the 1960's
Hahahaha, I've been waiting for this one. I guessed the sun/son thing was slipped in because the ep originally aired in Dec. It was their Xmas ep lol. But nope, according to wiki, it aired in March. Easter? They definitely went out of their way to cast a guy to play Pro Consul who looked a lot like Nero. TOS was big on the Enterprise crew being captured & forced to fight in an arena. Also hot alien ladies that looked like cocktail waitresses/go-go dancers from a theme bar. Definitely of its time in oh so many ways...
Good point about the unfortunate convergence of ‘parallel earth’ stories at this point in TOS, which I previously hadn’t considered. Nevertheless, I’ll part company with you on this one, rating it higher than anything else on that list with the possible exception of “A Piece of the Action.” That’s mostly due to the biting satire of 20th century American television, but “Circuses” has a few other things going for it as well, including some fairly witty dialogue and Logan Ramsey’s Claudius Marcus, who may be one of my all time favorite Trek guest villains. I suppose that as a lifelong agnostic I should find the whole Sun/Son reveal to be purile if not offensive, but given the constraints of the era consider it mostly harmless (and way less problematic than the conclusion of “The Omega Glory”). This episode was the only credited collaboration between the two Genes, and while it won’t make anyone’s Top Ten listing, I wish there had been more.
Merik's actor looks so much like Pvt. Drake from Aliens (played by Mark Rolston)
I once heard a plausible argument that pre cable explosion shows were all much broader appeal and so less sophisticated then more recent TV especially new sophisticated dramas (The Sopranos, Breaking Bad etc.). I'm not sure it is true, but as I say it feels plausible to me.
Although that's not inconsistent with more recent shows being even more lowest common denominator in that within a niche audience shows can be much more pandering then they were in pursuit of far narrower rating gains.
Clicked “like” based on that intro alone.
Lower Decks did a much better job of satirizing television in "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place," and that was just a cute little subplot taking up maybe two minutes across the episode.
I did like the over-the-top bitchiness of the Proconsul, Stanley Adams, and William Smithers also had a unique delivery- he was also memorable as a gangster in Mission:Impossible across the street.
that son/sun of god thing blurted out at the end just felt weird. you're right i never thought about it the whole episode so didnt care for that reveal
I always thought Merrick didn't break the prime directive in this episode. - Except for the Proconsul, no one knew where he came from. Further he joined the society, rather than influence it. - Much like McCoy wanted to join the society in 'For the World is Hollow and I have touched the sky.' Yes he was a bad captain, or maybe he had no choice, because he couldn't get material to repair his ship - we are never told. -- Nor do we know how many of his crew survived.
It would have be interesting to see someone put on trial for breaking the prime directive. -- Someone we know can't necessarily be cleared of the charges. -- like Kirk in Court Martial.
It should be said that Princeps (First Citizen) was one of Augustus' imperial titles so handing that moniker to a random alien is a tad confusing.
L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds (Leon Rippy) has a more than passing resemblance to Proconsul Claudius Marcus (Logan Ramsey). #StarTrek
you just made my day
Hey, look! It's the real Mr. Atos! Now we know where he time-traveled to. And named himself Septimus? Oh well ... I wonder if he is still irritated with Kirk. Wouldn't that have been an interesting TOS movie concept: The Wrath of Atos. Of course, when has any Star Trek series ever reused character actors? I'll bet never, am I right?
As a non-American non-Christian viewer, Omega Glory and Bread and Circuses are my two least favourite episodes. It's the utopian far future! But, just in case you were wondering, America is still the best country and Christianity is the best religion. We'll go back to doing metaphors next week, pinky promise.
Love the diddy!
The children of the son should come to Earth in an attempt to recapture Jerusalem by the time Disco after Season 3 comes around.
This is only one of two episodes that directly mentions Christianity. The other is Who Morns For Adonais (when Kirk says we "find the one god sufficient") But in many other episodes, what stands in for conventional organized religion is depicted as bad (usually a computer running the planet and stymying social development)