tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post8558346628856920981..comments2024-03-29T04:57:26.162-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Star Trek 50th Anniversary Blogging: "Bread and Circuses" (March 15, 1968)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-58956603285817203592017-03-15T15:24:40.929-04:002017-03-15T15:24:40.929-04:00Correction of above: "Far too many people vie...Correction of above: "Far too many people view Star Trek by working backwards and attributing to the show and to Roddenberry *a point of view* which characterized neither it nor *him* at the time of the show's creation."<br /><br />How I hate it when I revise a remark and mess up the cut-and-paste before I post it!Sherinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-21898365033335227812017-03-15T01:31:51.997-04:002017-03-15T01:31:51.997-04:00"Bread and Circuses" is the best lampoon..."Bread and Circuses" is the best lampoon of TV network brass in the whole history of television, bar none, especially since it is not ostensibly about that subject! It takes the audience's understanding of the issue as a given, wasting no time setting up and explaining it, and simply punctures it harshly. This is similar to Orson Welles' devastating lampoon of the officious-sounding, backwards-talking "March of Time" newsreel narrations in Citizen Kane: they're hilarious precisely because they just assume audience familiarity and get on with satirizing the subject in extremely punchy style. <br /><br />I have to draw attention to Logan Ramsey's tremendous performance as Marcus. How wonderfully slimy and unctuous he is! Of all the fine guest-star performances on this series, Ramsey's is one of the most fun. He has some of the sharpest lines in all of Star Trek as he repeatedly (further) emasculates Merik throughout the episode.<br /> <br />I quibble, John, with your characterization of the ending as "controversial", as it certainly wasn't any such thing when it aired. I also would note that at the time, Gene Roddenberry himself wasn't, or didn't claim to be, an atheist; if anything, he was more an evolving secular humanist, and he wasn't particularly anti-religious. Only after the march of time did he come to claim atheism. Far too many people view Star Trek by working backwards and attributing to the show and to Roddenberry which characterized neither it nor he at the time of the show's creation.<br /><br />No, if there was any controversy about this episode, it was among the NBC suits, who knew this episode was directed at them.<br /><br />I want that Jupiter 8!<br />Sherinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-28727024711065413902017-03-14T19:44:21.583-04:002017-03-14T19:44:21.583-04:00John,
I've often pondered that, if episodes su...John,<br />I've often pondered that, if episodes such as "Bread and Circuses," "A Piece of the Action" and "Patterns of Force" were made by the Star Trek - The Next Generation crew, the humanoid inhabitants of their respective worlds would probably have French fry noses, oddly-shaped foreheads and spotty necks to differentiate them from humans repeating Earth cultures on various other planets.<br />With respect to your observation regarding Christianity: I never felt that Uhura was espousing a religious point of view, but was merely commenting on the fact that this world is so similar to ours that they've even developed the same religion for themselves. Faith in humanity seems to be the dominant orthodoxy of the 23rd Century, but they recognize and appreciate the ancient religions and their place in the development of humans into the enlightened beings we would become.<br />This episode also led to one of the best chapter titles of any book I've ever read: "If they give you any trouble, Screw them!" from Inside Star Trek. Jack Perkins, who played the whip-toting Master of Games, ended up on the blooper real for his inability to say the line "If they give you any trouble, skewer them" - always replacing the word "skewer" with "screw." You'll note that this line does not appear in the final episode.<br />At the time, the fate of the series was up in the air, and when the blooper reel was played at the annual Christmas Party, "screw them" got the most laughs because this was how the entire cast and crew felt towards NBC, who was keeping them all in suspense regarding a third season. More than a treatise on Earth history and religious implications, all involved were very much aware that the overt point of "Bread and Circuses" was a statement about television, its goofy system of ratings over quality, and a society that ate it up in the same way Romans loved their lions eating gladiators for entertainment.<br />The fact that they got away with it, and this episode is still being shown over 50 years later, validates their belief that they were ahead of their time in every possible way.<br />SteveAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13101722769411384962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-5344363671896117802017-03-14T15:56:46.163-04:002017-03-14T15:56:46.163-04:00John, very thoughtful review of “Bread and Circuse...John, very thoughtful review of “Bread and Circuses”. <br />The “parallel world” element is fascinating and the driving narrative of the parallel Earths of Sliders(1995-2000). McCoy was cruel towards Spock, but I think it was valid because Kirk, Spock and McCoy are like brothers. McCoy's attacking Spock was his way of dealing with being helpless to protect Kirk. McCoy's cruelty was his way of venting this with Spock that he knew would realize this and forgive him.<br /><br />SGBSGBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07137406272001346149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-43195818422929958732017-03-14T13:37:48.435-04:002017-03-14T13:37:48.435-04:00I love all things Rome, but somehow this episode w...I love all things Rome, but somehow this episode wasn't very good in that category. Still one of the top 50% of TOS episodes.<br /><br />-T.S.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com