The Good: Good acting, General ideas of the plot, Themes
The Bad: Hammy stuntwork/fight scenes, Predictable plot twists, Moments of typical conceits.
The Basics: When the Enterprise finds a planet where Rome did not fall, Kirk, Spock and McCoy become embroiled in a very predictable cultural-contamination storyline.
From the way Star Trek," the original series and the franchise in general, approaches the issue of slavery, a historical analyst looking back at the late 20th Century might well suspect that the United States had issues with utilizing slave labor. From the Star Trek franchise, there are debates over what constitutes slavery and the ethics of using it, most notably in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Measure Of The Man." But back in the original Star Trek, Gene L. Coon and Gene Roddenberry himself penned an issue that dealt with slavery vs. freedom issues and couched it in a setting of Ancient Rome . . . sort of.
The U.S.S. Enterprise is searching for the S.S. Beagle when it come to a planet that is remarkably Earth-like and might be where the Federation citizens ended up. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to find a group of escaped slaves fleeing the Roman Empire as they are being persecuted for their beliefs. The kindly folk take the trio in, though they are all soon captured by the Romans. These Romans exist at a 20th Century technological level and are selling cars and broadcasting gladiator matches using television. Compelled to fight for their lives for the amusement of Proconsul Claudius Marcus, the slaves exhibit a willingness to die rather than fight and Kirk soon recognizes the Proconsul's new advisor; the captain of the Beagle! Eager to escape, Kirk and his team find themselves in dire straits and must rely on their cunning and prowess in the ring to survive!
Anyone who knows the episode will note that I've made one of the details rather vague in my plot description. The freed slaves are called "Children Of The Sun" and once or twice in the episode, Kirk notes that for sunworshippers, they do not seem to show any real reverence to their local star. The final moments of the episode have Uhura chipping in with her two cents and it is one of the most unremarkable plot ideas that it's shocking the Genes bothered to put it in the episode. It's an idea that comes up early in the episode, that the slaves are being persecuted for their beliefs and desires to be free and that they live like brothers, but the episode neglects the idea and becomes an exploration of political machinations and an all-out gladiator fightfest for the latter half, completely ignoring the elements of who the slaves might actually be for that whole half. In other words, it's a poorly developed and executed footnote for the episode.
"Bread And Circuses" is probably worse in the context of the second season of Star Trek than as a freestanding episode. After all, later in the season almost the identical plot is used (Rome is replaced with Nazi Germany) in "Patterns Of Force." What pushes "Bread And Circuses" up into average territory is that it does have decent themes when the episode bothers to explore them. Before it becomes yet another hand-to-hand fight for life, the episode is intriguing enough to keep the viewer interested. When Merikus enters the episode as a twisted would-have-been captain, the episode turns intriguing.
The instantaneous friction between Merikus and the Proconsul - who berates him constantly - is somewhat obvious and sets up a series of predictable plot and character events that make the episode fairly obvious to anyone who is a fan of drama. So, too, is the subplot that puts a woman in front of Captain Kirk for a scene to seduce before she disappears. Sure, Drusilla has a great costume, but as far as women who have actual chemistry or anything remotely resembling a relationship with Captain Kirk, she's gotta be in the bottom three. But hey, it's the '60s, love the one you're with, right?
"Bread And Circuses" is characterized by good acting all around (see the exception below) with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan all giving solid performances easily within their characters' range. From the regular cast, it is DeForest Kelley who shines brightest, even though he is a supporting player in the episode. Kelley is emotional and doctorly and when McCoy is put in the gladiator ring, Kelley plays him with a fierce determination to not fight. Kelley place menaced quite well and with a convincing amount of fear in his eyes.
Guest actors William Smithers and Logan Ramsey perform well as Merikus and Claudius Marcus, respectively. Ramsey, especially performs as a despot with beautiful ease.
The problem both Smithers and Ramsey as well as Rhodes Reason, who plays ex-gladiator turned slave on the run Flavius, face is that they play cookie-cutter characters. They are types more than actual characters. The result is a disappointing mix of generic characters reacting to their circumstances as Generic Villain, the Double-crosser, and the Reluctant Hero.
The only acting issue comes in the many fight sequences, which occur in the episode because of the gladiator contests that Spock, McCoy and Flavius are forced to compete in. These are some of the worst fight sequences in cinematic history. Indeed, Gladiator would never have won Best Picture if the fights had been this bad!
The problem with "Bread And Circuses" is that we do not learn anything new about our main characters that we did not already know. So, for example, we know they are antislavery so they have some empathy for the slaves who are looking only for freedom. The other issue, the need to not overly influence the culture of the people of this planet is also something that has been done ad nauseam even in Star Trek by this point. We understand the Prime Directive issues and once Kirk realizes that Captain Merrik has gone over to the dark side and become Merikus, the only purpose that guides Kirk is getting him and his people off planet with Merrik. Again, this does not stretch any of our principle characters even remotely.
"Bread And Circuses" might appeal to those who like science fiction in general, but fans of Star Trek are likely to feel like they've seen this episode before (several times) and be less likely to be grabbed by it. Fans of straightforward dramas might actually enjoy this, but I can't recommend it, even to them.
On the balance, this is a thoroughly average episode in almost every respect.
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the second season by clicking here!
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5/10
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© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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