The Savage Curtain
- Episode aired Mar 7, 1969
- TV-PG
- 51m
Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a co... Read allKirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, "good vs. evil".Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, "good vs. evil".
- Zora
- (as Carol Daniels DeMent)
- Kahless
- (as Robert Herron)
- Lieutenant Hadley
- (uncredited)
- Lt. Lemli
- (uncredited)
- Yarnek
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Yarnek
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLincoln tells Kirk, "There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war, except its ending." This speech, written by the Star Trek screen writers, has become so popular that some people mistakenly believe it to be something the real Abraham Lincoln said.
- GoofsMr. Lincoln asks Captain Kirk, "Do you still measure time in minutes?", to which Kirk replies, "We can convert to it, sir." Hours and minutes are used regularly in the Trek Universe.
- Quotes
Abraham Lincoln: [interrupting] What a charming negress. Oh, forgive me, my dear. I know that in my time some use that term as a description of property.
Uhura: But why should I object to that term, sir? You see, in our century, we've learned not to fear words.
- Alternate versionsSpecial Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
- ConnectionsFeatured in Bring Back... Star Trek (2009)
In the episode Roddenberry nicely illustrates this by using two Lincoln's. Surak is the newly elected Lincoln, a President significantly more moderate and conciliatory than most of his party. Someone who arrived in Washington fully convinced that the union could be preserved peacefully.
And during his first couple months in office many Unionists began to question whether they had put the right man in the White House for the unprecedented crisis faced by the country. They feared he lacked iron and would be unable to rise to the occasion.
Colonel Green appears to be a blend of John Floyd (Buchanan's outgoing Secretary of War) and Brigadier David Twiggs (Army commander of Texas); who had specialized in especially deceptive (and unnecessary) acts of treason following Lincoln's election. Aggressively abusing their positions of trust and violating their oaths of office; all in the service of gaining a short-term advantage. From the devious actions of opponents like these Lincoln learned that pro-Union people would be increasingly vulnerable should they expect the old rules to still apply.
As occurred in history, the Surak Lincoln is only briefly a part of the equation. Replaced by the Lincoln who when finally compelled by events to accept the gravity of the situation, worked extra-legally to prevent the secession of Maryland and Missouri. In the episode this Lincoln states: "We fight on their level with trickery, brutality, and finality".
In the end the creature poses the same question often posed by students of the American Civil War: if good and evil use the same methods toward the achievement of the same results, what is the difference between them? Of course, Roddenberry has already answered it; Kirk is fighting for the lives of his crew and in a bigger sense his mission of advancing civilization. His opponent is fighting for the rewards of power, fighting to gain an advantage over others.
Kirk and Spock's final confrontation with the evil forces is deliberately listless; representing secession as the retreat of evil when forcibly confronted. As in 1865, evil retreats to preserve itself - knowing there will be less direct ways to protect its advantaged status.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
- aimless-46
- Mar 19, 2013
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