Writers: Gene Roddenberry & Gene L. Coon
Director: Ralph Senensky
Producer: Gene L. Coon
What to say about an episode like "Bread and Circuses"? It's clever, it's well written, it's got great character moments, it speaks to a lot of the best elements of Star Trek. So why have I never been able to fully embrace it?
Is it because it's made up a very large collection of cliches? You've got the "failed starship captain" Kirk knew at the Academy; you've got the less advanced world he crashed on where we have to wary of the Prime Directive, but he wasn't; you've got the perfectly parallel Earth, this time a parallel 20th century Rome; you've got the Main Trio imprisoned in a jail cell; you've got Kirk and The Babe; it's all very paint by numbers. But then, what splendid paint is being used! These may be Trek cliches, but they're being written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon, the two writers who had probably done the most to define everything about what the show was up to that point (with Dorothy Fontana in a close third).
In his original network proposal for Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry created something referenced here as Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development: the idea that in an infinite universe, if a planet developed with Earthlike conditions, it follows it would develop humanoid races, and if it developed humanoid raices, it follows they would have humanlike social structures, and therefore it was probable you could find planets that could be easily cobbled together out of whatever backlots and leftover costumes were available. "Miri" in season one was a particularly egregious use of this idea, with an exact duplicate of 20th century Earth, but "Bread and Circuses" is similarly hard to swallow. "20th Century Rome" is a fascinating notion, but it's a hard pill to swallow as an alien world. A time paradox premise might serve it better. But "it's just another planet" does get us there faster.
Once on the planet, we get five interesting plot threads. One is Merrick, Kirk's former classmate who went "native" when his ship crashed here, and offers Kirk's crew the same option - join Roman society, or die in the arenas. What's interesting is while Merrick has joined the society of Proconsul Claudius Marcus, he was a failed Captain, and the Proconsul sees this when comparing Merrick to Kirk. William Smithers gives a good performance as Kirk's foil in this regard. This leads to the second interesting thread - the idea that Kirk would indeed make a good Roman. This continues the show's longrunning implication that Kirk is perhaps a bit more of a "barbaric" human than an "evolved" one, if not for his compassion and empathy.
The third plot thread is that the show uses "20th Century Rome" to satirize "20th Century America", specifically the television industry. When Spock and McCoy are sentenced to die in the games, it's televised - the arena a set on a soundstage. The television satire is perhaps the element of the story that feels the most like Gene Coon, as it takes stabs at the industry he slaved for -- a keeper tells a gladiator, "you bring this network's ratings down, and we'll do a special on you!"
The thread that feels the most like Gene Roddenberry, is a little underdeveloped subplot about slaves who have revolted and are hiding in caves, spreading a philosophy of brotherhood and resistance. They apparently worship the Sun, but in a cheap little twist at the end, Uhura informs the confused bridge crew that they worship not the Sun, but the Son -- as in of God, as in Christ. There seems to be an implication that Christianity is the natural opposing and victorious philosophy versus Imperial Rome, which is not only a real rose colored view of history but just a straight out inaccurate one. Aside from the basic premise of a Roman planet, this bit of Christian proseltyzing, which really is very removed from the rest of the story, is perhaps my biggest problem with the episode.
The best thread in this episode, one which feels like the perfect melding of the two Genes, is it's exploration of the Trinity - Kirk, Spock, McCoy. A near perfect scene features McCoy and Spock caged, Kirk taken elsewhere, and McCoy starts in on his usual ribbing of Spock, but this time things turn serious, until McCoy realizes that Spock's not afraid of dying because he's "more afraid of living!" In response to this, Spock raises an eyebrow, "Really, doctor?" To which Bones replies "I'm worried about Jim, too." It's great.
All the character beats in this hour are really top notch, even if the plot isn't. Merrick ultimately proves the rescue to the cast, stealing a communicator to try and get himself beamed up, then tossing it to our heroes when the Proconsul stabs him in the back. It's a tight, well constructed hour - even the shifts between social satire and socio-religious theorizing don't jar as much as you'd think. It's a testament to what good writers the two Genes were, even if arguments over this episode apparently led to the disintegration of their relationship.
I dunno, I don't like a Roman planet and I don't like the Space Jesus stuff, but the rest is good, so perhaps it's time I let go of my irrational dislike for this installment.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4
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