star trek bread and circuses

Bread and Circuses (episode)

1.2 Act One
1.3 Act Two
1.4 Act Three
1.5 Act Four
2 Log entries
3 Memorable quotes
4.1 Production timeline
4.3 Story and script
4.4 Production
4.5 Syndication cuts
4.7 Sets and props
4.8 Continuity
4.9 Reception
4.10 Video and DVD releases
5.1 Starring
5.2 Also starring
5.3 Guest star
5.4 Co-starring
5.5 Featuring
5.6 Uncredited co-stars
5.7 Stunt doubles
5.8 References
5.9 The Gallian references
5.10 External links

Summary [ ]

William Harrison battles Claudius Marcus

Flight Officer William B. Harrison (left) battles Claudius Marcus in black-and-white news footage.

Near the planet 892-IV , the USS Enterprise discovers the wreckage of the SS Beagle , a merchant ship missing for the last six years , and whose commanding officer is R.M. Merik , an old friend of Captain Kirk from the Academy . When the Enterprise enters orbit to look for survivors, it intercepts a 20th century -style television news broadcast, shown on the viewscreen in black-and-white, in which a Roman gladiator defeats and kills a " barbarian ." The casualty is named William B. Harrison , whom Spock identifies as the Beagle 's flight officer . Kirk assembles a landing party to the surface of the planet to investigate.

Act One [ ]

Kirk, Spock , and McCoy beam down, outside the city where the broadcast originated, mindful of their duty under the Prime Directive not to interfere with the society's natural development. Almost immediately after their materialization they are captured by the " Children of the Sun " – runaway slaves who are hiding in caves to avoid recapture. Flavius Maximus , a former gladiator, regards the officers as Romans who should be killed to avoid disclosing the hiding places. But the rebels' leader, Septimus , abhors violence, and Kirk's use of his communicator convinces him they are not with the authorities but are from an "offshore ship." Septimus says the Children of the Sun teach peace and brotherhood but are persecuted for their beliefs.

In a cave, the crew looks at magazines that show astonishing parallels with Earth 's ancient Rome , though with 20th century technology. However, when Kirk mentions the loss of Captain Merik six years earlier, they conclude that he is now Merikus , the First Citizen. Kirk explains to the Children of the Sun that such interference would violate an "important law," for which he needs to be removed for punishment. Septimus orders Flavius to lead them into the city.

However, the group is quickly spotted and captured by the police.

Act Two [ ]

Captain R.M. Merik, now First Citizen Merikus

The captives are taken into the city. Kirk uses their captors' fear of reprisal to angle for a meeting with "Merikus". He is indeed Merik, and he takes them to Proconsul Claudius Marcus , who knows all about their off-world origins. Merik explains that, after the shipwreck of the Beagle , he was forced to beam down all 47 of his crew. They were given two options: "adapt" to their new world or fight in televised gladiatorial competitions for the entertainment of its inhabitants. Kirk sees that Merik has violated his oath and has ordered his own crew to their deaths. Claudius hands Kirk his communicator and tells him to do the same. Kirk initially plans for Spock, McCoy, and himself to be beamed up, but Claudius' guards enter with machine guns pointed at Kirk. Abandoning the attempt, Kirk gives Montgomery Scott the code condition green , a signal that the landing party is in trouble, but forbidding a rescue attempt. Claudius elicits from Merik that Kirk has a starship commission that Merik sought but for which he could not qualify. The livid Claudius dispatches Spock and McCoy to "the games" to die.

Act Three [ ]

On the Enterprise , Scott notes in his log that Kirk ordered him to carry out condition green, which prohibits him from taking any action to save the troubled landing party. Scott orders Ensign Chekov to locate power sources down on the planet and to determine how much their beams will take to overload them. Scott announces that, although he is forced to not take any action on the planet below, there is nothing stopping him from frightening the planet's inhabitants about what a starship's power capabilities truly are.

On the planet, Kirk is forced to watch as Spock and McCoy are condemned to fight Flavius and another gladiator named Achilles in the arena, which is being broadcast ("in color," according to the event's announcer) by the television network Empire TV . Spock holds his own against his opponent, but McCoy is severely outmatched, only surviving because Flavius is reluctant to kill him. Claudius again tries to pressure Kirk into ordering his crew down, but Kirk calmly refuses. Flavius is threatened and whipped to encourage him to attack, whereupon he gives McCoy some tips to make it "look real." Spock overpowers both opponents and incapacitates one with a Vulcan nerve pinch . This violates the rules, and the lives of Spock and McCoy are left in the hands of Merik and Claudius. They spare the two to maximize their influence on Kirk.

Act Four [ ]

Kirk enters Claudius's quarters, and a blonde woman emerges, pouring wine . She tells Kirk that her name is Drusilla and she is the proconsul's slave . Tonight, though, she is Kirk's slave. Kirk yells out to Claudius that this will not work on him and he still refuses to cooperate. Drusilla assures Kirk that they are indeed alone together.

McCoy and Spock seek a way out of their cell – and McCoy seeks a way past Spock's determination to control his emotions, remarking that the Vulcan is not afraid of dying – he is more afraid of living for fear in that one day, his Human half might "peek out", as McCoy puts it. For a moment, Spock appears to admit it but then turns to McCoy and simply says " Really, Doctor? " McCoy then tells him, " I know. I'm worried about Jim too. "

Kirk is eating the food given to him by Drusilla. He finds the food good, and Drusilla informs Kirk that she is here to please him. Kirk tells her that he has been to many worlds with strange customs; perhaps what he is experiencing is torture on her planet. Drusilla does not understand, as she does not wish to see Kirk tortured and gives him a kiss . She asks Kirk to tell her when he feels the first sign of pain, and they continue to kiss. Much later, Kirk wakes up alone and Merik tells him that the crew of the Enterprise will eventually come down to the planet's surface, but Kirk still refuses to cooperate.

The Enterprise intercepts broadcasts announcing Kirk's execution in the arena. Scott, though forbidden to mount a rescue because of the Prime Directive, devises a way to disrupt the execution and warn the city through the power demonstrated by the Enterprise .

Claudius tells Kirk that his night with Drusilla was a favor to a condemned man rather than an attempt at interrogation, in the process dealing an insult to Merik. Kirk is taken to the arena for his execution, one that Marcus promises will be swift. On the way, Merik has a change of heart; he is too late to save Kirk, but tells him he will try to save the other two. The execution, however, is interrupted by Flavius, and by a power blackout induced by beams activated by Chekov from the Enterprise . Flavius is killed by the guards's machine guns during Kirk's execution, but the captain escapes and runs to free Spock and McCoy from their cell.

The Romans intercept Kirk's rescue attempt from both sides, and therefore draw swords rather than firearms to avoid crossfire. During the fighting, Merik signals to the Enterprise with a stolen communicator just before he is stabbed by Marcus. The dying Merik still manages to toss the communicator to the feet of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Locking onto the signal, Scott beams them back aboard, just as the Roman guards open fire.

On the bridge , Spock muses about the remarkable parallels between Earth during the time of the Roman Empire and the planet 892-IV – except that Rome had no sun worshipers – at least none that well organized; Spock points out that sun-worshiping cults tend to be more primitive and superstition-oriented. But Lieutenant Uhura , who has been monitoring the planet's broadcasts, that what the Children Of The "Sun" are worshiping is not the planet's sun but the "Son Of God." Kirk is astonished. The planet 892-IV had had both a Caesar and a Christ , and its evolution will proceed, implying that Rome will fall, in due time.

Log entries [ ]

Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268
Ship's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Once, just once, I'd like to be able to land someplace and say, 'Behold, I am the Archangel Gabriel!' " " I fail to see the humor in that situation, Doctor. " " Naturally. You could hardly claim to be an angel with those pointed ears, Mr. Spock. But say you landed someplace with a pitchfork… "

" What do you call those? " " I call them ears. " " Are you trying to be funny? " " Never. "

" May the blessings of the Son be upon you. "

" Medical men are trained in logic, Mr. Spock. " " Really, Doctor? I had no idea they were trained. Watching you, I assumed it was trial and error. "

" Are they enemies, Captain? " " I'm not sure they're sure. "

" I know you, Flavius. You're as peaceful as a bull. "

" My world, Proconsul, is my vessel, my oath, my crew. "

" You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you! "

" We believe men should fight their own battles. Only the weak will die. "

" The games have always strengthened us. Death becomes a familiar pattern. We don't fear it as you do. "

" Fight, you pointed-ear freak! " " You tell him, buster! Of all the completely… ridiculous… illogical questions… I ever heard in my life! "

" I'm trying to thank you! You pointed-eared hobgoblin! "

" Do you know why you're not afraid to die, Spock? You're more afraid of living! Each day you stay alive is just one more day you might slip and let your Human half peek out. "

" You're a Roman, Kirk, or you should have been. "

" You may not understand because you're centuries beyond anything as crude as television. "

" They threw me a few curves. "

" I pity you, Captain Merik. But at least watch and see how men die. "

" Caesar and Christ. They had them both. And the word is spreading only now. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ].

Treatment by John Kneubuhl , based on an idea by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon : 5 March 1967
Revised treatment: 17 March 1967
First draft teleplay "The Last Martyr": 12 April 1967
Second draft teleplay: late- April 1967
Revised draft "Bread and Circuses": 2 May 1967
First draft teleplay by Coon: 21 July 1967
Final draft teleplay: 9 August 1967
Revised final draft: 15 August 1967
Additional page revisions: 24 August 1967 , 5 September 1967
Second revised final draft by Roddenberry: 11 September 1967
Third revised final draft: 12 September 1967
Additional page revisions: 13 September 1967 , 14 September 1967 , 20 September 1967
Filmed: 12 September 1967 – 20 September 1967
Original airdate: 15 March 1968
First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 8 June 1970
First UK airdate (on ITV ): 20 February 1983
Remastered airdate: 2 June 2007
The title, " Bread and Circuses ", " panem et circenses " in Latin, comes from a line by the Roman satirist Juvenal , and refers to the practice in ancient Rome of providing a regular free bread (or grain) dole to the lower classes and free entertainment in the city's arenas and circuses, both of which had the effect of preventing civil unrest in the populace. Juvenal also provided the title of " Who Watches The Watchers ".

Story and script [ ]

Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon wrote this episode's teleplay from a story by playwright and television writer John Kneubuhl . However, Roddenberry and Coon received sole writing credit for the episode. Roddenberry's and Coon's bitter arguments over its tone, coupled with the fact that Coon was suffering from the throat cancer of which he died in 1973, is believed to have hastened Coon's departure as operating producer; he recommended John Meredyth Lucas to take over by suggesting the idea to him directly, noting Meredyth Lucas's work on Ben Casey, The Fugitive, and other series programs.
Roddenberry revised the shooting script as the episode was being filmed. Director Ralph Senensky remembers picking up the day's script pages when arriving to the set in the morning. [1]

" You bring this network's ratings down and we'll do a special on you! "

The episode parodies the television industry in several ways. Fake applause and catcalls are used to simulate a studio audience, and the race for high television ratings is lampooned several times. The TV station manager (Master of the Games) threatens the now-pacifist runaway slave that he had better fight convincingly: " You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you! " Later, the proconsul sneers at Kirk about the captain's impending death, to be televised from the arena, by telling Kirk that " You're centuries beyond anything as crude as… television. " Kirk replies, " I've heard it was… similar, " an oblique reference to the series' own ratings difficulties. Comic relief is in the scene where McCoy and Spock heckle each other on the TV stage during the gladiatorial duels.

Production [ ]

The caves where the Children of the Son hide out are one of the most-used locations in television and movies. In addition to being the entrance to the Batcave , they are also seen in Invasion of the Body Snatchers , Kung Fu , and various police and western shows. They are located right below the famous Hollywood sign.
During the location shooting for this episode, the new producer John Meredyth Lucas visited the set, accompanied by Gene Roddenberry . Lucas was struck by the tension and bad atmosphere among the cast. " Shatner came around the corner, and when he saw Gene, he turned around and went the other way. And the cast was fighting too. All the actors complained to me about all the other actors. " ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 354)
The newsreel scene of the arrest was filmed in front of an office building at Paramount Studios. [2] Paramount production buildings were also utilized for location filming in " Patterns of Force " and " Assignment: Earth ".
One of the shots of the planetary capital (in the opening of Act II), the last one, is of the Great Dome at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose words can be read (somewhat) above the pillars. The first shot shows the Legion of Honor on the Left Bank in Paris; its motto honneur et patrie is not Latin but French. The middle shot shows a drive-by view of the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland.
This is one of only two TOS episodes featuring dialogue in act one before the title of the episode appears on-screen. The other episode is " A Private Little War ".
Jack Perkins had a line which was supposed to read, " If they refuse to move out on cue, skewer them " but instead said, " Screw them! ". After viewing that take in the dailies, Gene Roddenberry wrote a memo to director Ralph Senensky , suggesting that all dialogue should be "carefully enunciated in the future". ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 370)
Ted Cassidy appeared out of nowhere dressed as Injun Joe from his work on The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and carried Shatner off just before he was going to shoot the lock off of Spock and McCoy's cell. While he was being carried, Shatner yelled out " Hey, I don't know about you, but this is not the way it should work! I want you to know! " This was the first scene to be filmed that day, and when Cassidy visited the set, the cast and crew came up with this small prank to start the day's work in a happy mood. Everyone on the set knew about it, except Shatner. [3]
As the police closed in on the landing party after they escape their cell, one of the extras slipped and fell; this is the reason there is a quick cut before the policemen reach the main corridor.

Syndication cuts [ ]

The VHS box for the episode, referencing the cut McCoy-Spock dialogue

Although this episode officially received no syndication cuts, many local television stations were known to cut the " You're more afraid of living " speech which McCoy gives to Spock when the two are alone together in the Roman jail. The reason for this was that the dialogue was not considered essential to the plot, and local stations often used the extra time to insert extra commercials to boost advertisements. This practice was so widespread that the VHS box for the episode stated, " Contains one of the finest McCoy/Spock dialogues ever, usually cut in syndication! " (Viacom-CBS) In addition, the opening log entry of Kirk, where he laments on the Roman buildings (including an obvious stock footage shot of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ), was likewise frequently cut by local television stations to add more advertising time.

George Takei ( Sulu ) does not appear in this episode. He was shooting The Green Berets at the time.
Voice-over artist Bart LaRue makes one of his two on-camera appearances in the series in this episode. The other is in " Patterns of Force ".

Sets and props [ ]

Claudius Marcus' insignia

Proconsul Marcus' insignia is not a Roman symbol (a legionary eagle or a fasces), but rather the coat of arms of the English playwright William Shakespeare .
The automatic weapons that the Roman guards wield are Danish Madsen M-50 sub-machine guns.
A number of costumes and props were recycled from Paramount 's storage vaults, including the Roman guards' outfits. Many of these items were originally made for Cecil B. DeMille 's epics such as The Sign of the Cross , Cleopatra , and The Crusades . ( Star Trek: The Original Series 365 [ page number? • edit ] )

Continuity [ ]

This is the only TOS episode in which it is explicitly stated that the planetary natives are speaking in English . (This was perhaps done to make the characters' misinterpretation of "Son Worshipers" as "Sun Worshipers" more plausible, as "Son" and "Sun" would likely not be homophones in another language; they are not in either Latin or Greek , the two main languages spoken in the Roman Empire.)
Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development was used to explain the close similarities to Earth but the writers were very inconstant with it; the most blatant is " Patterns of Force ", which at episode number 52 was after this, which was number 43, and so it makes even less sense if the episodes are watched in production order.
The names of the Roman gods mentioned in the episode all mirror Earth counterparts which were based on earlier Greek counterparts. Kirk and crew had actually encountered the god Apollo prior to this point, although Captain Kirk shows little reaction to the Roman gods when he learns of them. ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")
McCoy remarks that "Rome had no sun worshipers," but this is inaccurate; the cult of Sol Invictus ("the Unconquerable Sun") was prevalent in ancient Rome around the same time as the emergence of Christianity.
Two different characters have the same name in this one episode: the primary Claudius Marcus is the proconsul, while his namesake is mentioned as the gladiator who slew William B. Harrison , the last of the barbarians.
This episode marks the final appearance of Kirk's second season light green wrap-around tunic. Beginning with " Assignment: Earth ", the next episode that followed in airdate order and when the series returned for its third and final season, Kirk resumes wearing his standard gold and black V-neck tunic full time.
Spock states that six million died in Earth's first world war , eleven million died in the second , and thirty seven million died in the third . The actual real-world numbers are much higher for World War I and World War II: fifteen to nineteen million and fifty to more than eighty million, respectively.

Reception [ ]

Most reviewers cite the satire of network television and the race for ratings (the main adversary of Star Trek during its original three-year run) as the high point of this episode. Allan Asherman notes in The Star Trek Compendium : " In the hands of Star Trek 's dominant Genes [Roddenberry and Coon] this episode also becomes a marvelous satire of the television industry. " (p. 87)
Director Ralph Senensky claims that the tight schedule resulted in the episode turning out to be of lower quality than it could have been under better circumstances, especially regarding the arena scenes. " The scenes in the arena are the part of "Bread and Circuses" most harmed by the time restrictions imposed by the new management. The sequences were literally shot on the run. The satiric look at live television was there, but the spectacle of the Roman arena was far less than it should have been. (…) There was so much more that could have been done that would have been exciting and entertaining, but it required the time to stage and rehearse, with necessary care taken to avoid injury to the actors involved. That set piece should have been the highlight of the production; but those bloodhounds in black suits were nipping at our heels. " [4]
When first screened in the United Kingdom in 1970, the BBC edited much of the televised fight and Drusilla's encounter with Kirk. The episode was first screened uncut in 1993. [5]
The advertisement for the Jupiter 8 automobile depicted in the magazine The Gallian states that it comes equipped with, among other things, "super-grip white sidewall tires". The photograph, however, clearly shows black tires.
McCoy's claim that " Rome had no sun worshipers " is incorrect. Rome, in fact, had several cults that revered sun gods including Helios Apollo and Sol from the Greeks, Mithras from the Persians, and Elagabalus from the Syrians. In addition, from the 3rd century on there was Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun"), which may have been a new sect or a revival of an old one. Therefore at least two of these gods would have been called "Sun" in English.
According to The Autobiography of James T. Kirk , the slave woman Drusilla gave birth to James Kirk's natural son Eugenio. The Enterprise -A later returns to the planet to find that Eugenio has become a movie director, and they watch his film The Final Frontier .
The Roman planet, known as Magna Roma to its inhabitants according to some published Star Trek reference material, is revisited in the novel The Captains' Honor set a hundred years after the encounter by the original Enterprise crew. The novel details how the alternate Rome conquered their world and explains that one hundred years after the events of "Bread and Circuses" the Romans are now Federation members and are participating in galactic affairs utilizing at least one Constitution -class starship, the former USS Farragut , renamed the USS Centurion ( β ), and run according to their own methods and principles rather than those of Starfleet .
According to the novel The Poisoned Chalice , the people of Magna Roma were descended from Humans transplanted from Earth by the Preservers . By 2385, a Magna Romanii named Atia served as first officer of the USS Lionheart .

Video and DVD releases [ ]

Original US Betamax release: 1986
UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 23 , catalog number VHR 2358, 2 April 1990
US VHS release: 15 April 1994
UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.5, 5 May 1997
Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 22, 24 April 2001
As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection
As part of the TOS-R Season 2 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest star [ ]

William Smithers as Merik

Co-starring [ ]

Logan Ramsey as Claudius
Ian Wolfe as Septimus
William Bramley as Policeman
Rhodes Reason as Flavius

Featuring [ ]

James Doohan as Scott
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Walter Koenig as Chekov
Bart LaRue as Announcer
Jack Perkins as Master of Games
Max Kleven as Maximus
Lois Jewell as Drusilla

Stunt doubles [ ]

Allen Pinson as stunt double for Leonard Nimoy
Unknown performer as stunt double for DeForest Kelley

References [ ]

3rd century ; 19th century ; 20th century ; 2262 ; 892-IV ; 892-IV cities ; 892-IV large city ; 892-IV native ; advice ; afternoon ; " all right "; amateur ; Amity Commander wallet; amount ; amplitude modulation ; amusement ; angel ; anger ; annoyance ; antimatter nacelle ; archangel ; arena ; arena bait ; arena games (aka gladiator contest or gladiatorial game ); army ; atmosphere ; atomic power ; audience ; authority ; automobile ; automatic transmission ; barbarian ; battle ; Beagle , SS ; blackout ; boasting ; body ; broil ; Brother of the Son ; brotherhood ; bull ; bullet-ridden ; buster ; butcher ; Caesar, Augustus ; Caesar, Julius ; cage ; car ( unnamed ); carbon monoxide ; carbon steel ; cave ; cave dweller ; century ; chance ; " checks and balances "; chief engineer ; Children of the Son ; Christ, Jesus ; City Arena ; City Prison ; civilization ; class 4 stardrive vessel ; class M ; clothing ; coast ; coat of arms ; colloquial term ( colloquial ); color ; commendation ; commercial ; communicator ; condition green ; confidence ; contamination ; corpse ; creature ; crowd ; custom ; day ; dealer ; death ; debris ; demonstration ; density ; despotism ; device ; diameter ; disobedience ; dissident ; distance ; door ; ear ; Earth ; Earth history ; efficiency ; emperor ; emotion ; emotional need ; Empire TV ; enemy ; Engineering Officer ; English language ; engineering officer ; entertainment ; equator ; era ; evening ; evidence ; evil ; execution ; existence ; explanation ; fact ; false god ; Federation law ; feeling ; First Citizen ; First World War ; fish ; flight officer ; folk dance ; fool ; " for your sake "; foul ; freak ; friend ; freedom ; French language ; frequency modulation ; frustration ; Gabriel ; Gallian, The ; garum ; gladiator ; gladius ; gram per cubic centimeter ; gratitude ; hand ; heat ; heaven ; hiding place ; historian ; hobgoblin ; Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development ; hospital ; hour ; Human ; humor ; hydrocarbon ; idea ; identification ; infatuation ; " in full force "; " in just a moment "; insecurity ; internal combustion engine ; iridium ; joke ; Jupiter ; Jupiter 8 ; land ; landing party ; land mass ; language ; law ; leader ; lecture ; liar ; life ; light ; line of fire ; load factor ; location ; logic ; Lord of the Games ; love ; Mars ; Mars Toothpaste ; medical men ; medicine ; Merchant Service ; Merikus ; message ; meteor ; Milky Way Galaxy ; million ; mind ; mission ; moons ; murderer ; name ; Name the Winner ; navigator ; Neptune ; Neptune Bath Salts ; news broadcast ; night ; nitrogen ; oath ; ocean ; " of course "; old age ; opinion ; orbital bombardment ; order ; ore ; outbreak ; " out of your head "; overload ; oxygen ; pain ; parsec ; peace ; pension ; percent ; petty thief ; phaser ; phaser bank ; philosophy ; pitchfork ; place ; planet ; pointed-ear ; political strongman ; pollution ; Praetorian Guard ; Prime Directive ; proconsul ; professional ; province ; psychosimulator test ; quarters ; question ; radio communications ; radio wave ; rags ; ratings ; rebellion ; recon party ; reference ; religion ; report ; rescue party ; result ; reunion ; right ; risk ; road system ; roast kid ; Roman ; Roman Empire ; Rome ; rule ; rumor ; running ; screen ; Scots language ; sea ; second ; Second World War ; senator ; shape ; ship ; ship's surgeon ; sky ; slave ; slavery ; smog ; social development ; society ; Son ; sound effects ; space ; Space Academy ; spaceship ; sparrow ; special ; speed ; spokesman ; sports ; standard orbit ; " stand by "; star ; Starfleet regulations ; starship ; story ; stranger ; subject ; sun worship ; superstition ; surface ; survey vessel ; survivor ; sword ; System 892 ; System 892 sector ; System 892 sun ; television ; television channel ; television network ; television program ; term ; thing ; Third World War ; thought ; toothpaste ; torture ; " to that effect "; training test ; transmission ; transmission beam ; transporter room ; treason ; trial and error ; trick ; tricorder ; truth ; uniform ; victory ; video ; Vulcan ; Vulcan neck pinch ; war ; water ; weapon ; wine ; word ; worry ; worship ; year

The Gallian references [ ]

American Fork ; California ; Camillo (aka George Kirgis ); general ; gold ; London ; Miss Snider ; New Helvetia ; Sutter ; " Tigers Are For Jungles "; United States

External links [ ]

" Bread and Circuses " at the Internet Movie Database
" Bread and Circuses " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
" Bread and Circuses " at Wikipedia
" Bread and Circuses " at MissionLogPodcast.com
2 Daniels (Crewman)
3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

More to Explore
Series & Movies

Published Mar 20, 2018

"Bread and Circuses" at 50

Q: What is the major linkage between the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “ Bread and Circuses ” and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games book trilogy?

A: Both of them drew inspiration from this section of Juvenal’s Satire 10 :

“…iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses. ‘perituros audio multos.’”

OK, for all of you (including us) who are unable to read transliterated Latin, running the above through the universal translator yields this approximate conversion to Earth English:

“Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things, Bread and Circuses/Games! 'I hear that many are to perish.'”

More simply, this portion of Juvenal’s work refers ominously to an elite “government” appeasing an uncaring population by appealing to its basic needs for food and morbid entertainment.

Sound familiar? It should, because it’s a major plot element of both The Hunger Games trilogy and “Bread and Circuses,” both of which essentially concern affluent citizenry selecting not-so-affluent people to fight mortally in an arena for their amusement. (Note that the name of the TOS episode, “Bread and Circuses,” comes from one popular translation of panem et circenses while the name of the nation in The Hunger Games trilogy, Panem, comes from the Latin word for bread that’s in it.)

“Bread and Circuses,” TOS ’s 54th broadcast episode, was written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon from a story by John Kneubuhl. In addition to its “what-if” plot focusing on a modern Roman culture replete with slaves, the episode also presents satirical commentary on organized religion and the television industry of the 1960’s. Since last week was the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of this episode, we thought we’d celebrate it by doing something a little different. For this article, we thought we’d go behind the scenes and… volunteer to give tribute… to the arena and some of the places where the episode was shot.

Above: The March 9-15, 1968 TV Guide showing the listing for the premiere of “Bread and Circuses.”

Exterior Shooting at Paramount Studios

In the teaser for “Bread and Circuses,” the Enterprise learns about the fate of one of the S.S. Beagle ’s crew by intercepting and watching a crude television broadcast (if we can use the colloquial term) from planet IV of system 892. When that video starts, it shows the Roman police recovering dissident, well-treated slaves.

Above: (Top left and right) The footage of the Roman police capturing the slaves was originally shot in color and then printed to black and white for insertion into the bridge’s main viewing screen. Note the car in the foreground in these shots—referred to as the Jupiter 8 in the episode—which, in real-life, was built by Gene Winfield and called the Reactor. (Bottom left) This entire sequence was filmed in front of an area known as the Dressing Room (highlighted in the white box in this modern photo) that’s located on Avenue M of the Paramount Studios lot. Incidentally, the building behind the Dressing Room, with trees around it, is the Schulberg building that doubled as the Ekosian chancellery in “Patterns of Force.”

Location Shooting at Bronson Canyon

The rocky terrain of planet 892-IV that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beamed onto at the beginning of Act I was located in the Bronson Canyon area of Los Angeles.

Above: Exterior filming at Bronson Canyon occurred on August 12 and 13, 1967. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the high temperatures for those days were 97-F and 100-F, respectively.

Sound Stage Shooting at Paramount Studios

The gladiatorial games in “Bread and Circuses,” televised to the inhabitants of 892-IV, were fought in a studio fabricated on Paramount’s stage 32.

Above: The set was decorated with assorted paraphernalia including studio television cameras (not shown here), Greek/Roman architectural elements, and Paramount/Desilu lights.

Above: (Left) The background for the arena games, shown in this bridge main viewing screen shot that used black and white footage for the optical, was a backdrop painting. (Right) The backdrop was a Paramount property that was also used in some of their other productions, including Bonanza .

And with that, we come to the end of this article and bid… valete. As one of Mr. Spock’s ancestors used to say: May the odds be ever in your favor!

Biographical Information

David Tilotta is a professor at North Carolina State University and can be contacted at [email protected]. Curt McAloney—an accomplished graphic artist—resides in Minnesota and can be reached at [email protected]. Together, Curt and David work on startrekhistory.com . Their upcoming book, Star Trek: Lost Scenes (due out in August 2018 from Titan Books), will be filled with hundreds of carefully curated, never-before-seen color photos that they use to chronicle the making of the original series, reassemble deleted scenes left on the cutting-room floor, and showcase bloopers from the first pilot through the last episode.

Get Updates By Email

Bread and Circuses (Episode)

Stardate 4040.7 : Spock and McCoy are forced to fight in Roman-like games.

Captain Kirk , Mr. Spock , and Dr. McCoy visit planet 892 IV , after they discover the wreckage of the S.S. Beagle , a Federation vessel. On the surface they meet a band of primitively-dressed people who claim to be sun worshipers before their capture by a group of well-armed individuals. Kirk and crew learn that the planet is technologically on par with 20th-century Earth , though the world's civilization closely resembles that of ancient Rome, as it might have been if the Roman Empire had lasted that long. Kirk meets Captain Merik , the commander of the destroyed Beagle, and discovers that Merik betrayed his crew, instructing them to beam down so that they could die in the arena. The Beagle's captain is now known as First Citizen Merikus, and the empire's proconsul , Claudius Marcus , is using him to convince Kirk to do the same with the Enterprise crew. McCoy and Spock are sentenced to die in the arena, and Kirk's execution seems imminent. Sensing that something is wrong, Scotty cuts off the planet's electrical power, enabling Kirk to free Spock and McCoy. Merik saves the trio, giving Kirk a stolen communicator before the proconsul stabs him. Back on the Enterprise, Uhura realizes that what Kirk thought were sun worshippers were actually calling themselves the Children of the Son : that planet's counterpart of early Christians .

Image Gallery

Surface of 892 IV

gladiatorial games

Roger Lemli

Flavius Maximus

Claudius Marcus

Master of Games

sound effects person

machine gun

The Gallian

television set

Related Data

Created by Gene Roddenberry

Starring William Shatner

Also Starring Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Written by Gene L. Coon & Gene Roddenberry

Directed by Ralph Senensky

Produced by Gene L. Coon

Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry

Associate Producer Robert H. Justman

Guest Star William Smithers as Merik

Co-Starring Logan Ramsey as Claudius Ian Wolfe as Septimus William Bramley as Policeman and Rhodes Reason … Flavius

Featuring James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Walter Koenig … Chekov Burt LaRue … Announcer Jack Perkins … Master of Games Max Kleven … Maximus and Lois Jewell … Drusilla

Script Consultant D.C. Fontana

Assistant to the Producer Edward K. Milkis

Theme Music by Alexander Courage

Director of Photography Jerry Finnerman

Art Director Walter M. Jefferies

Film Editor … Fabien Tordjmann Unit Production Manager … Gregg Peters Assistant Director … Phil Rawlins Set Decorator … John M. Dwyer Costumes Created by … William Ware Theiss Photographic Effects … Vanderveer Photo Effects Sound Effects Editor … Douglas H. Grindstaff Music Editor … Jim Henrikson Re-Recording Mixer … Elden E. Ruberg , C.A.S. Production Mixer … Carl W. Daniels Script Supervisor … George A. Rutter Casting … Joseph D'Agosta Sound … Glen Glenn Sound Co. Makeup Artist … Fred B. Phillips , S.M.A. Hair Styles … Pat Westmore Gaffer … George H. Merhoff Head Grip … George Rader Property Master … Irving A. Feinberg Special Effects … Jim Rugg Key Costumer … Ken Harvey

A Desilu Production In Association With Norway Corporation

Executive in Charge of Production Herbert F. Solow

Prime Timeline
23rd Century
Privacy policy
About Trekipedia
Disclaimers
Login / Create Account

Star Trek: The Original Series

Bread and Circuses

Cast & crew.

William Smithers

Rhodes Reason

Logan Ramsey

William Bramley

Policeman 1

Information

Accessibility

Internet Service Terms Apple TV & Privacy Cookie Policy Support

Show Spoilers
Night Vision
Sticky Header
Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS2E25BreadAndCircuses

Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses" » Recap

Original air date: March 15, 1968

After coming across the wreckage of the S. S. Beagle , Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to the surface of the nearest planet. This planet is a class M planet remarkably like Earth down to the land/water ratio. Atmosphere and radio signals hint a technological advancement equal to 20th century Earth. They beam down to a part of the wilderness close to city limits, thinking it deserted when they're taken captive by slaves on the run. After Kirk impresses them with his communicator, they take him in and tell him about the Empire. Apparently, they get very angry when slaves worship a different god. Kirk and company gather the runaway slaves to be "sun" worshipers. It seems the civilization on this planet is a reflection of a modern day Earth where Rome never fell.

When the landing party is captured and taken to the city, they find out what happened to the crew of the Beagle . Merik was convinced by a local not to spread knowledge of their people, and was offered a life of luxury as First Citizen in return for selling out his entire crew to fight in the gladiator pits.

Tropes and Circuses:

30-Second Blackout : Scotty causes one to help Kirk, Spock and Bones escape.
Affably Evil : Proconsul Claudius Marcus. While he's shown to be annoyed by Kirk's defiance, he never takes it personally, even arranging for a night of pleasure for Kirk with his personal slave girl before his execution the following day. On thinking that Kirk has persuaded the girl to steal back his communicator, Marcus says he won't punish her for that , and he will see that Kirk and his friends are given a swift execution.
Aliens Speaking English : The fact that the locals speak English with 20th Century Earth idioms is noted. Though that doesn't explain why Latin isn't the dominant language instead. It's pretty much just there to make the sun/son homophone work.
Alternate Universe : Though only in the "What if Rome never fell?" sense. Instead of an alternate history Earth, we have a planet so similar to Earth it somehow evolved a Roman Empire, a Christian-like religion, and the Madsen submachine gun.
Ancient Rome : This planet's hat.
Spock claims that about six million people died in WWI and eleven million in WWII. Low-end estimates place the number of dead in the first at about fifteen million, and of the second at an astounding seventy million, with the Soviet Union and China each losing far more than eleven million by themselves. The lowest estimate for Soviet deaths is nearly double eleven million.
Kirk, Bones and Spock all spell out what the Prime Directive is, even though they presumably know what that is.
Scotty also spells out what Condition Green is for his Log.
Bones is about to be killed in the arena, so Spock disables his opponent and comes to his rescue.
Kirk is about to be executed on live television when Flavius charges in with a sword and Scotty kills the power.
Biting-the-Hand Humor : The sequence with the televised gladiator game show gets in a good few jabs at network television and the pursuit of ratings. This episode was made when Star Trek was facing cancellation at the end of the season, and the show's makers were not feeling charitable toward the network.
Blood Sport : Barbarians (i.e., people not of this planet) and slaves fight to the death in gladiator pits. It's treated like Monday Night Football .
Bread and Circuses : Look at the title.
Bronson Canyon and Caves : Bronson Canyon is the place where Kirk and Co encounter the rebel slaves.
Covert Distress Code : Kirk tells Scotty "Condition Green, everything's fine." However, "Condition Green" is their code for "I'm in trouble, but don't do anything to help." Scotty has to figure out a way to help Kirk without breaking the Prime Directive. He does.
Cut the Juice : Scotty has Enterprise overload the power grid as a show of force . Cue the lights going out in the studio giving Kirk a chance to escape.
Deadpan Snarker : When an armed man points at Spock's pointed ears and says "What do you call those?" He calmly replies "I call them ears." When asked if he's trying to be funny, he flatly replies, "Never."
Defiant to the End : Merik's last move is to throw Kirk his communicator.
Discretion Shot : When Kirk and co. are watching a televised gladiatorial combat, the losing gladiator falls to the ground and out of shot just before he's stabbed, so the death blow is not visible. Stands out because of the conflict between the priorities of the real TV network and the in-universe TV network, which would have insisted the camera follow the falling gladiator so the audience isn't deprived of the money shot. While he does fall out of shot, we then cut away to Uhura flinching in horror, so presumably there was an In-Universe close-up of the killing. Uhura also loses the television signal just as Harrison is about to be stabbed.
Does This Remind You of Anything? : Claudius Marcus, proconsul of the slave-owning Roman Empire, has a Southern accent.
Don't Make Me Destroy You : Spock to the gladiator he's fighting, who unlike Flavius is seriously trying to kill his opponent. Spock isn't bluffing either—on seeing Bones is about to get killed, he takes down the gladiator easily so he can rush to defend his colleague.
Dystopia : It's the worst of Ancient Rome combined with the worst of the 20th Century.
Enforced Plug : While looking through a magazine, Kirk notices an advertisement for the Jupiter 8 automobile. Later the gladiator contest Name The Winner is brought to the audience "by Jupiter 8 dealers from coast to coast!"
A Father to His Men : Averted with Merik, who betrayed his own men to save his own life. Those who failed to adapt to Roman society ended up in the arena—the last of them is shown being killed just as the Enterprise arrives.
Famous, Famous, Fictional : Spock: Situations quite familiar to the 6,000,000 who died in your First World War , the 11,000,000 who died in your Second , the 37,000,000 who died in your Third ...
Before Kirk beams down he has a discussion over how the M-class planet is exactly like Earth in some ways, but different in others.
Proconsul Marcus notes that one of the communicators has gone missing, and muses that maybe Kirk persuaded Drusilla to steal it for him . Turns out Merik has it instead.
Forced to Watch : Kirk is handcuffed and forced to watch Spock and Bones (along with Flavius) fight to the death. He annoys the proconsul by refusing to yield and pretending he's not bothered by any of this. Merik turns out to be more affected as it brings back memories of his own men dying.
Flynning : To the point where, during the arena fight, Bones is able to look away from his opponent and hold a conversation with Spock, while his opponent stands there carefully hitting his shield. Justified in that: A) The fight is broadcast for entertainment, and B) his opponent had befriended them earlier and doesn't want to harm them.
Gilligan Cut : Just as Bones and Spock find something to agree about — their concern for their captain — we cut to Captain Kirk eating Grapes of Luxury with a Beautiful Slave Girl .
Gladiator Games : The games are televised as entertainment, with well-known contestants featured in magazines. At one point Flavius isn't fighting hard enough and he's threatened with "We'll do a special on you!"
God Guise : Lampshaded by Bones when he jokes that he'd like to screw the Prime Directive, beam down to a planet and claim to be the Archangel Gabriel.
Grudging "Thank You" : Spock tells Bones to hurry up with what he's trying to say while he looks for a means to escape their cell. "I'm trying to thank you, you pointy eared hobgoblin!" Bones blurts out.
Happiness in Slavery : Previous slave revolts were crushed, but conditions for slaves have improved over the centuries (including medical benefits and pensions) so that slavery has become an institution .
Heel–Face Turn : Merik eventually decides to aid Kirk, redeeming himself, though he has little time to enjoy it.
Heroic Sacrifice : Flavius rushes in to save Kirk from execution at the last minute. He's killed for it, but the attempt is just what Kirk needed to escape (helped by Scotty's blackout of the city) - at the end, McCoy notes that Kirk mentioned his sacrifice in the captain's log .
Hilarious Outtakes : Including one of the guards doing a Prat Fall as he rushes into the room, and William Shatner being abducted on-set by Ted Cassidy as a practical joke.
Hit Me, Dammit! : Flavius is trying to avoid killing Bones and getting whipped for his trouble. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy : I am defending myself! Flavius: Not like that, you fool! Hold your weapon higher!
Claudius Marcus has a touch of this; because he respects Kirk's courage , he feels obliged to give Kirk a proper death, to the point that when his guards have Kirk's team surrounded at gunpoint, he insists they use their swords instead of just gunning them all down on the spot (though at the same time, using their guns would cause more deaths than just their targets; the soldiers are in each other's line-of-fire, Claudius included) .
Marcus also knows that while the Enterprise has the power to rescue their men by force or lay waste to the entire planet, they won't do so because they've sworn to uphold the Prime Directive .
I Have Your Wife : Kirk is told if he doesn't do as Merik did, Bones and Spock will be forced to fight to the death in the gladiator pits. Even threatened with this and with guns to his head, Kirk still refuses. Claudius Marcus is impressed by this show of character. Merik is rightfully ashamed.
Inexplicable Cultural Ties : The Hand Wave we get is something called Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Development.
Involuntary Battle to the Death : What could possess a man to battle another man to the death? Whips! Massive whips!
Killed Mid-Sentence : Merik: Starship, lock in on this. Three to beam— (gasps as a Reveal Shot shows that the Proconsul has just stabbed him)
Laugh Track : In the televised gladiatorial combats, the crowd's cheers and boos are mechanically produced. Bones even looks around in confusion when he hears the canned boos.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal : After Kirk impresses Claudius Marcus with his courage and integrity, Claudius Marcus can't help repeatedly mentioning how much better that makes him than Merik, who betrayed his oath and his crew to survive. Having his nose rubbed in his failings inspires Merik to help Kirk, at the cost of his own life.
Mr. Fanservice : Just look at the damn picture.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine : Claudius Marcus invites Kirk and company to eat with him, before he forces him into a Sadistic Choice at gun point.
No Sense of Personal Space : Marcus is very happy taunting Kirk when the latter is handcuffed and trying to pretend Spock and Bones fighting other gladiators doesn't bother him.
Not Distracted by the Sexy : While they do have a Sexy Discretion Shot later, Kirk initially shows little interest with Drusilla and her telling him she's his slave.
Not So Stoic : Bones says the reason Spock is Not Afraid to Die is because he would no longer have to worry about losing his emotional control. Spock's lack of a snappy comeback implies he's hit a nerve. However when Bones goes on to say he wouldn't know what to do with a genuine feeling, Spock just gives a sardonic, "Really?" and Bones admits that he's worried about Kirk too.
No Such Thing as Space Jesus : A subversion in the literal sense, as the planet is implied to have had an actual Jesus. ( If that's his name. He's called the Son of God, and Kirk calls him Christ note Christ is a title meaning "an anointed one" and implying he's a descendant of King David , but we never hear his real name.) Beyond that, what exactly their version of him did, other than emphasize a commitment to total peace and a philosophy of love and brotherhood, doesn't get much coverage.
The Oathbreaker : Kirk condemns Merik as one because he sold out his entire crew just to save his own life and gain luxuries. Merik doesn't deny a word of this, as he's long-resigned himself to it, although later Kirk's display of character helps bring him out of that... enough that at the end, his last act is to help them escape at the cost of his own life.
Opponent Instruction : Spock and McCoy get forced into the arena to convince Kirk to submit to the villains' plans. Despite preferring a pacifistic approach, Spock keeps his opponent at bay easily, but McCoy , not being a Combat Medic , can barely manage. His opponent, a fairly Nice Guy who doesn't actually want to hurt him, starts trying to coach him during the match. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy : [waving his arms in frustration and leaving himself vulnerable] I am defending myself!
Playing Sick : They try the old faking sick trick. It works okay, despite Kirk not warning McCoy in advance that he was going to be the sick one, but they're quickly recaptured by another set of guards.
Prime Directive : Unfortunately Merik has told Proconsul Marcus about it, so he knows Kirk can't just beam down a hundred men with phasers to blast him out. Scotty however has no problem with Loophole Abuse ; he decides to Cut the Juice as an Intimidation Demonstration , giving Kirk a chance to escape.
Redemption Equals Death : In the end, Merik decides to help Kirk, Spock and McCoy escape, and is immediately killed for it by Claudius Marcus.
Reluctant Warrior : Spock and McCoy are thrown into a death match against gladiator-style warriors on a new planet. While the alien opponent is coming at him with a sword, Spock constantly plays defensive, choosing to dodge the blows while insisting that he "does not want to injure" him, leading to the watching crowd concluding that "the pointy-eared barbarian" is about to get killed. However, when he notices that the much less action-oriented McCoy is in danger, Spock deals with his opponent in the space of a second and darts over to save his frenemy.
Repressive, but Efficient : Though the Pax Romana is apparently worldwide and has lasted for many centuries, and slaves are treated well enough that it's not worth their while to rebel (provided they're not exposed to subversive religions preaching freedom and equality).
Sarcasm Mode : McCoy while in the arena. Spock: Do you need some help, Doctor? McCoy : Whatever gave you that idea?
Schizo Tech : Gladiator fights with swords are broadcast on television.
Sexy Discretion Shot : Kirk makes smoochy face with Drusilla the Sex Slave . Pan up to chandelier. Tilt down to Kirk sleeping alone. A line that was cut had Kirk drinking wine and saying "good," eating something and saying "excellent," and then — "And you?" and Drusilla says "Superb, I'm told."
Shoot Out the Lock : After Spock fails to get through the carbon-steel bars of the prison cell with his Vulcan strength, Kirk shoots out the lock with a submachine gun. Kirk: Obsolete but effective.
Scotty decides to kill the power as a show of force, as per The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) .
Snark-to-Snark Combat : Spock and Bones are at it again! Even in the heat of combat, they manage to snark each other.
Space Romans : The whole planet.
Stern Sun Worshippers : The crew of the Enterprise are extremely surprised to find that the "Children of the Sun" are a peace-loving, egalitarian movement that is persecuted by the Roman Empire government. They discuss that most sun-cults are the exact opposite. The episode closes with the reveal that they are not worshippers of the sun , but rather son (of God), i.e., Jesus.
Stock Footage : Stock footage shots of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco are used to depict the Roman capital. Given the use of Roman architecture in Western civilisation to portray power and authority, it works well.
Sword and Gun : The Proconsul's Praetorian Guard are each armed with a gladius and a Madsen M-50 submachine gun. When they find themselves in a potential crossfire, they resort to their swords instead.
Teleportation Rescue : Averted at first; having been warned about teleporters by Merik, Marcus marches in his guards to hold Kirk at gunpoint before allowing him to complete his transmission to Scotty. Merik later makes the call on Kirk's behalf, and by the time the guards pick up their submachine guns (having put them aside earlier) they're already beaming out.
Think Nothing of It : Spock's reaction to Bones' Grudging "Thank You" .
Thwarted Escape : Kirk tells Maximus to let the First Consul know that his old friend "Jim Kirk" is in prison. Unfortunately it works too well; when they later overpower the guards, they rush out into the corridor and find the First Consul and Proconsul waiting for them, along with all their bodyguards.
Unusual Ears : Which gets Spock pegged as a 'barbarian'.
Villain Ball : Claudius Marcus and Merik take Kirk and company aside and Explain to them that the crew of the Beagle were stranded in the planet after the ship broke up. Merik made arrangements with Marcus to integrate himself and a few willing members of his crew into Roman society, while keeping the secret of aliens from the general populace. The rest of the crew was executed in gladiatorial games, but that's the local culture and the solution is in line with the prime directive, if cruel. It kind of sucks that the planet practices slavery, but Kirk's mission is fulfilled and Marcus broadly agrees with the prime directive and had no interest getting his hands on alien tech. Then, Marcus demands that the Enterprise crew beam down so that they can be killed in gladiatorial games. Why? Because it would make great sport!
Vitriolic Best Buds : Spock and McCoy , as usual. It gets lampshaded when Flavius, after seeing them argue, asks Kirk if they're enemies, and Kirk replies that even they don't know for sure.
We Come In Peace : Flavius' first instinct is to kill these uniformed strangers. Septimus: Keep always in your mind, Flavius, that our way is peace. McCoy : For which we are grateful, for we are men of peace ourselves.
What Happened to the Mouse? ?: Merik said some of his crew were able to adapt to Roman society, but doesn't specify how. Did Kirk just leave them there, without checking to see for himself what their statuses were? There may have been some that wanted to get home, but were now trapped and did what they had to to survive.
Whip of Dominance : Anyone who tries to get out of the gladiatorial combat gets whipped back into action.
Star Trek S2 E24 "The Ultimate Computer"
Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek S2 E26 "Assignment: Earth"

Important Links

Action Adventure
Commercials
Crime & Punishment
Professional Wrestling
Speculative Fiction
Sports Story
Animation (Western)
Music And Sound Effects
Print Media
Sequential Art
Tabletop Games
Applied Phlebotinum
Characterization
Characters As Device
Narrative Devices
British Telly
The Contributors
Creator Speak
Derivative Works
Laws And Formulas
Show Business
Split Personality
Truth And Lies
Truth In Television
Fate And Prophecy
Image Fixer
New Articles
Edit Reasons
Isolated Pages
Images List
Recent Videos
Crowner Activity
Un-typed Pages
Recent Page Type Changes
Trope Entry
Character Sheet
Playing With
Creating New Redirects
Cross Wicking
Tips for Editing
Text Formatting Rules
Handling Spoilers
Administrivia
Trope Repair Shop
Image Pickin'

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening This Week
Top Box Office
Coming Soon to Theaters
Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

83% Speak No Evil Link to Speak No Evil
77% Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Link to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
96% Rebel Ridge Link to Rebel Ridge

New TV Tonight

91% The Penguin: Season 1
90% High Potential: Season 1
86% American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Season 1
67% A Very Royal Scandal: Season 1
100% Tulsa King: Season 2
29% Emmys: Season 76
50% Frasier: Season 2
69% Agatha All Along: Season 1
-- Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Season 2
-- Twilight of the Gods: Season 1

Star Trek – Season 2, Episode 25

Bread and circuses, where to watch, star trek — season 2, episode 25.

Watch Star Trek — Season 2, Episode 25 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

More Like This

Cast & crew.

William Shatner

Capt. James T. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy

DeForest Kelley

Dr. Leonard McCoy

James Doohan

Engineer Montgomery Scott

Nichelle Nichols

George Takei

Episode Info

September 18, 2024 | LeVar Burton, Kate Mulgrew, And More Star Trek Celebrities Line Up For Virtual Harris Campaign Events
September 18, 2024 | Watch Star Trek Stars Face Off With ‘Deadliest Catch’ On ‘Celebrity Family Feud’
September 16, 2024 | ‘Section 31’ And ‘Lower Decks’ Heading Up New York Comic Con Star Trek Universe Panel
September 8, 2024 | Watch Tendi’s Action-Packed Return In ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 5 Clip
September 6, 2024 | First Wave From New Star Trek Starships Die Cast Collection Revealed; Pre-Orders Open Today

Review of “Bread and Circuses” Remastered

| June 7, 2007 | By: Kevin Ganster 36 comments so far

History , TOS

Lost Original USS Enterprise Model From ‘Star Trek’ Returned To Gene Roddenberry’s Son

Walter Koenig joins The 7th Rule podcast

Celebrity , Interview , Podcasts , TOS

Walter Koenig To Join ‘The 7th Rule’ Podcast For ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ Rewatch

Comics , DS9 , TNG

See Sisko Battle Kahless In Preview Of ‘Star Trek’ #5

Collectibles , Review , TOS

Review: The EXO-6 Mirror Spock Is A Star Trek Figure You Should Consider

What is the source of this, and when did Gene say it???

B&C also has the distinction of being the original series episode most preoccupied with religion. Given Roddenberry’s professed secular humanism, it gets surprisingly sympathetic treatment. Roddenberry once wrote: “I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of rational decision, to drain people of their free will—and a hell of a lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.” Well! Not very IDIC of him, is it?

Nicely done review of what was probably, in spite of its many flaws, the best of the “Strange Old World”/parallel earth episodes that seemed to dominate parts of the second season. Let me just further note that the sharply-written taken on 20th century television (“Bring down this network’s ratings, Flavius, and we’ll do a ‘special’ on you!”) took satire in this franchise to heights it has rarely equaled since, and that for all of the sympathetic treatment of the “Sun Worshipers” as principled pacifists (not very reminiscient of even early Christians in that respect, truth be told), the show did not flinch from also depicting them as provincial and blissfully ignorant of the larger universe around them. Very courageous writing for the time, and one of the best examples of Roddenberry’s idea of using science fiction to comment on subjects that couldn’t be approached on network television more conventionally.

Excellent review Kevin and some good insights on the characters and the religious overtones. And I like the shout out to Uhura who gets her Twilight Zone moment reveal on the ‘son’ worshipers

One of my favorite Star Trek episodes. B&C, along with C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, inspired me as a youth to write SF with a Christian bent (something I still do, including two episodes of a direct-to-DVD miniseries now in production). Glad to see it in the first batch of remastered episodes!

The quote from GR is actually two combined extracts from a discussion on religion from pages 118-119 of Gene Rodenberry, The Last Conversation, by Yvonne Fern. Published Pocket Books. The book features an extended conversation with GR before his passing, which reveals his brilliant intelligence and insights into the human condition. I have re-read it several times over the years. I’m very grateful to Ms. Fern for this book!

Should have wrote “Published by Pocket Books…”

It’s great to analyze this one. For all its (minor) flaws, it holds up better than many TV shows made today that are nothing more than stiff actors (David Caruso) connecting splosions and morbid murders beneath heavily processed film and lighting. This episode was written. Thoughts live here. Words are used to great effect. Actors look at the page and clearly can’t wait to get in front of the cameras. Nice review, Kevin. 1 Chris — hit Wikipedia.org and you’ll find lots more of Roddenberry’s anti-relious quotes. I’m not 100% sure he was an atheist, despite his protests. There are so many religious and themes of messiahs, resurrection and redemption in his later pilots, The Questor Tapes, Earth II and Genesis II, and even Earth: Final Contact. Anyone’s welcome to jump on that string… I have no problem if he was. I also giggle when Shatner, a Jewish actor, considers Christ and smiles.

Good review. Roddenberry: the last interview has his views, of course. And ome could ask; Why does everybody in the galaxy speak english? But that’s a necessity of TV. That and how obtrusive carrying universal translators everywhere would be.

UHURA I’m afraid you have it all wrong, all of you. I’ve been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion, but he couldn’t. Well, don’t you understand? It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the son of God.

KIRK Caesar … and Christ, they had them both. And the word is spreading only now.

McCOY A philosophy of total love and total brotherhood.

SPOCK It will replace their imperial Rome, but it will happen in their 20th century.

KIRK Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again?

Enough said.

I think you need to re-read your history of the early Christian martyrs. Nero made human candles of hundreds, if not thousands, after Rome burned. Nero himself is thought to have set the fire as an excuse to slaughter the Christians and their rival allegiance, not to mention to clear land for his building program.

^7 I have long believed that moment to be one of Shatner’s finest. Not only do I think it possible he might truly agree with the sentiment, it points to an age, not so long ago, when it was possible to see the good in all without front-loaded political ideologies as in today’s neo-Leninist Political Correctness.

Christ reformed Rome through his death and set the stage for the world as we know it today. It is a shame that fallen Man could not use this inestimable gift more perfectly, but the world of Bread and Circuses is the world we would have absent Christ’s visit to us some 1,980 years ago. If Paul nee Saul, a killer and proud of it, could be convinced to repent of his bloody ways and preach the Word, perhaps it is possible for the rest of us.

As for Roddenberry’s ever-changing view of religion and Christianity in particular, well it seems self-serving to me. He is a known adulterer; a playboy before it was fashionable; he dabbled in drugs; an ego-maniac by anyone’s standards… Born a Methodist, married in a Budhist ceremony, later a blind, zealous follower of John Dewey’s Secular Humanism, one forms the impression that Roddenberry hated himself more than he hated God, and spent his whole life trying to stick it in God’s eye. In the end, he destroyed only himself and those poor slobs who took their cues from his dreary and banal television programming (e.g., ST:TNG etc.).

As for TOS, it could not help but be infused with the Christian ethos, it being a product of its time. And that is the ultimate irony of the would-be atheistic Gene Roddenberry, The Man Who Would Be His Own God.

On the origins of religious secularism and related issues often seen in Roddenberry Trek: http://www.belcherfoundation.org/programming_the_judicial_machines.htm

Under “Quibble and Bits,” I would add: What about the remainder of the crew of Merik’s ship? Merik states that those of his crew who have adapted to this world are still alive…Maybe Kirk sent a team of red shirts down to pick them up…?

And what about the phasers, communicators, tricorder, medical kit, etc. left behind by Kirk, Spock and McCoy?

Steve Johnson

The beam out is one of my favorite scenes in all of Trek.

I like Kirk’s statement in “Who Mourns for Adonais?”: “Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.”

As a young, Christian teen watching this episode in the 70s, I saw it as a validation of my beliefs.

Later, I realized that for all of Hodgkins Law acting on this one planet, you could look at this episode as rather a repudiation of the truth of Christianity. After all, it doesn’t seem as though Christ appeared on (or at least was an obvious influence on) all the other worlds the Enterprise visited. What conclusion can we draw from that? Christ is only the Son of God on a couple of planets in the galaxy? Christ was only necessary for the salvation of two planets? Earthlings are to preach the Christian gospel to all the planets bereft of God? What?

I realize that religious discussion on a Trek forum is as loaded as political discussion, but discussion of the subtext of this episode is almost impossible without mentioning religion! For what it’s worth, I’m still a Christian, but I respect the rights of all to believe as they choose. I’m not here to proselytize, just calmly chat about Trek.

Scott B. out.

#14 is consistent with IDIC; #10 is not.

I also wanted to say I think this is the best review I have read on this site, and there have been some good ones. It was devoted to the episode and not to an attempt to show the writer’s cleverness or wit. It was respectful of the material while being critical of it; it used criticism in a mind-expanding use of the word. The review shed light on the distinct strengths of the episode, which makes viewing it a better and deeper experience. The review surveyed all the aspects of the episode, from characters, ideas in the story, and production values. All in all a superb review. Thank you Mr. Ganster!

#13, “We find the one quite sufficient”. I thought of the same thing when I read the above review. I hadn’t remembered that line until I saw the episode recently. It’s nice to know that religion (of some monotheistic variety) hasn’t been completely swept away in the future.

I always loved Larry Norman\’s song, U.F.O. – lyrics applicable to some of the above comments:

He\’s an unidentified flying object you will see Him in the air He\’s an unidentified flying object you will drop your hands and stare you will be afraid to tell your neighbors they might think that it\’s not true but when they open up the morning papers they will know they\’ve seen Him, too

He will come back like He promised with the price already paid He will gather up His followers and take them all away

He\’s an unidentified flying object He will sweep down from the sky He\’s an unidentified flying object some will sleep but will not die He\’s an unidentified flying object coming back to take you home He\’s an unidentified flying object He will role away your stone

and if there\’s life on other planets then I\’m sure that He must know and He\’s been there once already and has died to save their souls

He\’s an unidentified flying object you will see Him in the air He\’s an unidentified flying object you will drop your hands and stare He\’s an unidentified flying object coming back to take you Home He\’s an unidentified flying object He will role away your stone

I don’t think it was me – only that last verse, but not the last chorus, was supposed to be bold.

Old-Timey, your armchair psychoanalysis of Gene Roddenberry–not to mention your less-than-(Christian?) charitable assessment of the character of the man who brought so much enjoyment and inspiration to millions, including yourself–is, to put it in terms no more polite than you deserve, a crock.

As for the history, once again I believe you’re rather confused. My point was not that the early Christians weren’t severely persecuted by the Roman authorities–indeed they were–but that they weren’t for the most part the sort of gentle pacifists depicted in “Bread and Circuses.” Indeed, once they converted the emperors Constantine and Theodosius to their cause and established Christianity as the new state religion, followers of the Galilean proceeded to persecute “heretics” (and even each other) in doctrinal disputes that date from the earliest days of the Roman Church, in a manner that would have mortified their gentle Savior, just as it surely would have amused His tormentors. No wonder Julian the Apostate tried to turn Rome back to paganism–as a learned man, schooled in the Bible as well as the greatest works of classical literature and philosophy, he couldn’t abide the hypocrisy of a religious movement that claimed everything of importance lay in the next world while at the same time amassing treasure and state power in this one. A military genius and Rome’s last great general, he won an unbroken series of victories in the field until one his own generals, a Christian, reportedly murdered him.

We’re agreed that what we are now is very much the result of what they did then. I’m just not sure how as a Christian that’s anything for you to be proud of.

Religion was a HUGE part of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bajorans, Klingons, Ferengi… all three races had numerous episodes dealing with their religous beliefs. Even Sisko’s father quotes the bible in one episode. Religion certainly has its place in Trek.

Trek is actually in favour of logic and science. Gods and worship in Trek are often ridiculed, especially in Star Trek the Next Generations ‘Who Watches The Watchers?’.

Favourite Trek line ever comes from ST5

“What does God need with a starship”?

When Trek does delve into religion, science inevitably provides an answe, the prophets were wormhole aliens and gods in general are always powerful (often malevolent) aliens.

I had always assumed that, in Star Trek, that every member of Starfleet carried (or had implanted) a Universal Translator that allowed them to instantly speak and understand most languages. In fact, given the reactions of the crew in certain situations, I had also assumed that the Federation did not speak English. How many times did we see a telepathic species send a message to the bridge, only to see a conversation similar to this:

“Amazing… the message was sent in Vulcan.” “No Mr. Spock. It was perfect English.” “You’re both wrong. It was Swahili.” “But… I heard it in Russian!”

The fact that everyone on board still spoke (and thought) in their mother tongue, and that to hear it (including English) from an alien was a big deal, I assumed that there was a common language adopted by the UFP, spoken by all races, assisted by the Universal Translators.

They allude to this further in ST:VI when Kirk mentions to the alien on Rurha Penthe that, “the Universal Translator’s been confiscated” (indicating he had it with him when he beamed from the Enterprise to Kronos 1). It also appears that while the UTs are effective, that they can be easily identified when in use, which led to the humous Klingon translation scene in that same movie.

So… the citizens of Maga Roma didn’t necessarily speak English… but the crew (and viewers) all understood what they were speaking due to the UTs.

It’s good to have a Babelfish in one’s ear!

#23 — In the unedited version of the episiode, Spock notes not once, but twice, that the inhabitants are speaking English, another example, he says, of Hodgkins Law of Parallel Plantery Development.

I have to admit I was preparied to dislike your review but I have to admit you were right, dead on right on all accounts! This is one of my favorite episodes- in the top 3- and you did it proud, Thanks for a great job.

For the most part, Star Trek has leaned more to the secular humanism (humanoidism?) side than the Christian. The moralistic elements were there (we will not kill, today) at least in the series’ . The movies were a little less concerned with those ideals (I have had…enough…of…you…). Speaking of saviors, Vulcan had its own version of Christ in the form of Surak. Witness Spock’s reaction to his image in “The Savage Curtain.” Surak saved Vulcan from savagery with non-violent logic. It begs the larger question of, if there really are aliens, how this concept applies to them. Does each race have its own version of Christ? Would the aliens be so different that concepts like sin and salvation do not apply to them but only to humans? As far as what language they speaking in Star Trek: In “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, Capt. Christopher states to Kirk: “You speak English.” Kirk says “that’s right”.

This was a superb review, enhancing my enjoyment of the episode. Thanks for the time and effort spent writing it.

Ditto Granger!

Great review of a very fun episode!!!!!!!!

Great review! As for Shatner “agreeing with the sentiment” about being excited about another Christ, Shatner is Jewish so I have my doubts about that.

In either Whitfield’s The Making of Star Trek or Gerrold’s The World of Star Trek there’s a line about there being an assumption that universal translators are “sewn into the pants leg” of uniforms (no idea where they are on Starfleet miniskirts) and are constantly translating alien/foreign languages into something understandable by the crew. Trek at least tried to address this issue but they were inconsistent about it.

I do think the anti-religious bent in TOS and much of later Trek (see TNG’s “Who Watches the Watchers”) is very clear and DS9’s approach was kind of the exception that proves the rule. In any case, this is definitely one of my favorite episodes.

After the Altman “Patterns of Force” catastrophe a couple weeks ago, I admit I was concerned about this review and whether the reviewer would address Trek’s most direct examination of Christianity without diatribes, insults, or political commentary. I am happy to say that Kevin Ganster’s funny, thoughtful, and even-handed review completely assuaged my fears. Bravo.

One wonders how much of the episode Roddenberry actually had anything to do with, given the contrast between B&C’s generally positive portrayal of Christianity and Roddenberry’s supposed anti-religion beliefs. Look at Kirk’s face, the tone of his voice, when he utters the line “Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again?” It’s perhaps the Shat’s best moment as an actor – he conveys an almost startling impression of awe and reverence. Combined with the above-mentioned line from “Who Mourns For Adonis,” it does offer some evidence that the 23rd century may not be as entirely free of faith as some “humanists” may like to think.

It would be interesting to key some of Roddenberry’s famous anti-religion quotes to the specific times in his life when he expressed them, and put them back into the context to get the whole story. Might be illuminating.

I’m assuming Roddenberry came up with the basic story for Bread & Circuses and Coon wrote the script. As for the Who Mourns For Adonais? line, remember that the “we find the one sufficient” was added at the request of the network standards and practices division–the original line was simply “We’ve grown too old for gods.”

This is one of my favorite TOS episodes, but watching it again, I was cringing at the oil lamps used for lighting. Wha? 20th Century Rome with oil lamps? Not very efficient lighting, inconvenient, and dangerous.

Just a nitpick.

Great review and quite an insightful set of comments. This ep plays better than I remember it. TOS could pull something like this off- something Voyager could NEVER get away with.

This is a pretty good episode. Sure, the parallel evolution of a Roman Empire that doesn’t fall is absurd… just as the “Miri” planet with identical continents was absurd. Or a gangster planet that came about from imitating a book.

But it works. They weren’t trying to write a series that would still be cross-examined 40 years later and fit in with a complicated tapestry of future history, they were trying to write an imaginative TV series and incidentally trying to keep costs down by using stuff that already existed on backlots.

Something that struck me was, the slave costumes would be a rather simple and yet subtle touch at a Trek convention. Grey t-shirt with that chain symbol, gray paints, dark shoes, and you’re ready to go! And you could always add a sword to help people “get it.”

“In Trekdom, science always triumphs over religion, and is often ridiculed in a way reminiscent of Roddenberry’s above quote. ”

Star Trek often ridicules science?

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

Bread and Circuses

"Bread and Circuses" was the 43rd episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , the 14th episode of the show's second season, first aired on 15 March 1968 . The episode story was written by John Kneubuhl MA , with teleplay by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon , directed by Ralph Senensky MA and novelized in Star Trek 11 by James Blish .

2.1.1 Episode characters
2.1.2 Novelization characters
2.2 Starships and vehicles
2.3 Locations
2.4 Races and cultures
2.5 States and organizations
2.6 Technology and weapons
2.7 Materials and substances
2.8 Ranks and titles
2.9 Other references
3.1.1 Adaptations
3.2.1 Video releases
3.3.1 Translations
3.4 External links

Summary [ ]

James T. Kirk , Spock and Leonard McCoy find themselves on a 20th century Earth -like planet in which the Roman Empire has not fallen!

References [ ]

Characters [ ], episode characters [ ], novelization characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], technology and weapons [ ], materials and substances [ ], ranks and titles [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ], related media [ ].

TNG novel : The Captains' Honor

Adaptations [ ]

Video releases [ ]

VHS release with "The Doomsday Machine".

Timeline [ ]

Translations [ ], external links [ ].

" Bread and Circuses " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
Bread and Circuses (Star Trek) article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
↑ The character of Clifford Brent was not named in the episode but the same actor, wearing an officer 's Starfleet uniform , was addressed as Brent in TOS episode : " The Naked Time ". The same actor also played the character of Vinci .
1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
2 USS Dallas (NCC-2019)
3 Achilles class

Bread And Circuses Stardate: 4040.7 Original Airdate: 15 Mar, 1968

<Back to the episode listing

Star Trek ® and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc . Copyright © 1966, Present. The Star Trek web pages on this site are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

Cast & crew
User reviews

Bread and Circuses

Contribute to this page.

IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

Patton Oswalt Just Made Star Trek’s Most Beloved Aliens Terrifying

The trouble with hive minds.

You can’t keep a good tribble down. The adorable but troublesome fuzzballs reproduce so quickly that even if you get rid of one, about a thousand will take their place, and they’ve been making Star Trek stories funny and weird since their 1967 debut in “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Since then, the franchise has used tribbles sparingly, and usually as a quick Easter Egg or punchline rather than a serious plot point.

But an under-the-radar Star Trek story just revealed a shocking new detail about tribbles. And once you know what that detail is, you’ll be surprised that it’s taken this long to think up. Spoilers ahead for IDW’s Star Trek #500 comic book.

In a special 500th anthology issue of IDW’s ongoing Star Trek comic book series, a new story called “I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In” tells the story of the tribbles in “The Trouble With Tribbles” from the point-of-view of the little critters themselves.

An interior illustration from IDW's Star Trek #500

The tribbles have a hivemind!

The story, co-written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, is just a few pages long. We start with the perspective of one tribble and quickly learn that it has a thing for Captain Kirk. In its mind, this tribble refers to Kirk as “my golden beloved.”

But that’s not all. When the little tribble can’t find Kirk, it uses “my hive mind network” to locate him, which means the tribble’s consciousness can transfer to all tribbles. At one point, it describes itself as “everywhere,” and we see various scenes from the episode, as well as Deep Space Nine’s time travelers, Captain Sisko and Lt. Dax, when they dropped by in the 1996 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations.” The tribbles aren’t exactly ageless, but their telepathic network does seem to rival Trek’s other famous hivemind race; the Borg.

This makes perfect sense when you think about it. The tribbles are depicted as highly sensitive, and though not complex creatures, they do seem to behave with some shared purpose. And now, assuming this comic is low-key canon, we know that their shared goals are thanks to the fact they all can move their minds between one another at will.

In Deep Space Nine , Worf said the tribbles were once considered an ecological blight, and that the Klingon Empire had regarded them as mortal enemies. This hivemind detail makes that plot point make a little more sense. Not only can these tribbles become obsessed with human beings (again, this one is hot for Kirk), but they can also all decide to feel the same thing simultaneously. Like hunger for Klingon crops.

The trouble with tribbles Kirk Spock Chekov

They may look cute, but don’t let your guard down.

In the Short Treks 2018 episode “The Trouble With Edward,” we learn that Lt. Larkin (H. Jon Benjamin) was at least partially responsible for genetically modifying the tribbles to make them breed at exponential rates. This retcon, however, doesn’t exclude the tribbles secretly being telepathic or part of a hivemind. In fact, what “I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In” asserts is that we’d have no way of knowing what tribbles were thinking because their language and thoughts are all internal.

Although Spock held several tribbles in the classic episode, it doesn’t seem like he ever mind-melded with them. If Spock had telepathically linked with the tribbles, then everything about how that episode plays out would have to be changed. And while Spock probably would’ve favored trying to find a way to live with the tribbles, their hivemind abilities might have freaked Kirk out regardless of how cute they are.

While this new story should be read with a sense of tongue-in-cheek zeal, the ending does show the tribbles' fate. They’re beamed onto the episode’s Klingon ship, where they seem to connect with one Klingon officer. We know the tribbles and the Klingons didn’t team up after this moment, but if they had, they probably could’ve conquered the galaxy.

Star Trek #500 is in comic book stores now and available for digital purchase.

Science Fiction

COMMENTS

"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
A classic sci-fi adventure where the Enterprise crew investigates a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire. See cast, crew, plot, trivia, reviews, quotes, and more on IMDb.
Bread and Circuses (Star Trek: The Original Series)
Kirk and his crew are captured and forced to fight in gladiatorial games on a planet that resembles ancient Rome. The episode explores themes of cultural imperialism, religious conversion and the phrase "bread and circuses".
Bread and Circuses (episode)
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are captured on a planet that resembles the Roman Empire but with 20th Century technology. They are set to die at the hands of gladiators, for the sake of public spectacle on a TV gameshow.
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Find out who directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the Star Trek episode Bread and Circuses, set in ancient Rome. See the full list of cast and crew members, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and more.
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Bread and Circuses Star Trek. Jump to. Edit. Summaries. The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire. While searching for the crew of a destroyed spaceship, the Enterprise discovers a planet whose oppressive government is a 20th-century version of Earth's Roman ...
"Bread and Circuses" at 50
Learn how the TOS episode "Bread and Circuses" was inspired by Juvenal's Satire 10 and The Hunger Games, and see behind-the-scenes photos of its filming locations. The article also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of this classic episode.
Bread and Circuses (Episode)
Bread and Circuses. Stardate 4040.7: Spock and McCoy are forced to fight in Roman-like games. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy visit planet 892 IV, after they discover the wreckage of the S.S. Beagle, a Federation vessel. On the surface they meet a band of primitively-dressed people who claim to be sun worshipers before their capture by a ...
Bread and Circuses
Star Trek: The Original Series Bread and Circuses Sci-Fi Mar 15, 1968 48 min Paramount+ Available on Paramount+, Prime Video S2 E25: Spock and McCoy are forced to fight in Roman-like games. Sci-Fi Mar 15, 1968 48 min Paramount+ ...
S2 E25: Bread and Circuses
The iconic series "Star Trek" follows the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as it completes its missions in space in the 23rd century. Captain James T. Kirk -- along with half- human/half-Vulcan science officer Spock, ship Dr. "Bones" McCoy, Ensign Pavel Chekov, communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu and chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott -- confront ...
Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses" Recap
Kirk, Spock and Bones are captured by slaves on a planet that resembles ancient Rome. They face gladiator games, a sun cult and a network TV show in this alternate history episode.
Bread and Circuses
Bread and Circuses was the twenty fifth episode of Star Trek's second season to air, with an alien world seemingly maintaining a Roman-style culture into the...
Star Trek
Bread and Circuses Aired Mar 15, 1968 Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure CTA ... Watch Star Trek — Season 2, Episode 25 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple ...
Review of "Bread and Circuses" Remastered
September 8, 2024 | Watch Tendi's Action-Packed Return In 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 5 Clip; September 6, 2024 ... Bread and Circuses
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
'Bread and Circuses', production #43 was one of the last episodes made by Gene L. Coon himself who left the second season of Star Trek after 'A Private Little War.' (production #45.) The entire premise of this show was different from other Trek-Earth parallel stories such as 'Who Mourns for Adonis', or the subpar 'Plato's Stepchildren'.
Bread and Circuses
"Bread and Circuses" was the 43rd episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the 14th episode of the show's second season, first aired on 15 March 1968. The episode story was written by John KneubuhlMA, with teleplay by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon, directed by Ralph SenenskyMA and novelized in Star Trek 11 by James Blish. James T. Kirk, Spock and Leonard McCoy find themselves on a 20th ...
The Star Trek Transcripts
Bread And Circuses Stardate: 4040.7 Original Airdate: 15 Mar, 1968. [Bridge] (Everyone on the Bridge is staring at Spock's back, as he analyses some sensor data.) SPOCK: No doubt about it, Captain. The space debris comes from the survey vessel SS Beagle. KIRK: Missing for six years, and now this junk in space.
TOS
This is "TOS - S02E25 - Bread And Circuses" by boutros boutros on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
A Look at Bread and Circuses (Star Trek)
Opinionated Star Trek Episode Guide visits the planet of the Roman Empire, 20th century style! See more videos at https://sfdebris.com
Bread and Circuses
Season 2, Episode 24The Enterprise crew investigates a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.Be sure to check out "30+ Rare Finds From Star Tr...
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Star Trek (TV Series) Bread and Circuses (1968) Leonard Nimoy: Mister Spock. Showing all 15 items Jump to: Quotes (15) Quotes . Dr. McCoy ... Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 | Episodes Ranked from Best to Worst a list of 26 titles created 18 Jan 2023 TV: Star Trek ...
214: "Bread and Circuses"
214: "Bread and Circuses" - TrekCore 'Original Series' Screencap & Image Gallery. Aug 15, 2024 - [HOME] Justin Simien Describes Inspiration Behind TREK Comedy Project. Aug 15, 2024 - [SNW] SNW Season 2 Blu-ray Screencaps: "Subspace Rhapsody". Aug 14, 2024 - [PIC] Second PICARD Season 3 Soundtrack Beams Down on Friday.
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Learn about the parody of the TV industry, the ancient Roman metaphor, and the reused location in this Star Trek episode. Find out how the title and the coat of arms relate to Shakespeare and Juvenal.
Bread and Circuses
A great moment from Star Trek
57 Years Later, Star Trek Canon Just Made Its Most Beloved ...
Star Trek #500 is in comic book stores now and available for digital purchase. Learn Something New Every Day. Subscribe for free to Inverse's award-winning daily newsletter! Submit.

Bread and Circuses (episode)

Summary [ ]

Act One [ ]

Act Two [ ]

Act Three [ ]

Act Four [ ]

Log entries [ ]

Memorable quotes [ ]

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ]

Production [ ]

Syndication cuts [ ]

Sets and props [ ]

Continuity [ ]

Reception [ ]

Video and DVD releases [ ]

Links and references [ ]

Also starring [ ]

Guest star [ ]

Co-starring [ ]

Featuring [ ]

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

Stunt doubles [ ]

References [ ]

The Gallian references [ ]

External links [ ]

Get Updates By Email

Navigation menu

Bread and Circuses (Episode)

Image Gallery

Related Data

Bread and Circuses

Information

Accessibility

Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses" » Recap

Tropes and Circuses:

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Star Trek – Season 2, Episode 25

More Like This

Episode Info

Review of “Bread and Circuses” Remastered

Lost Original USS Enterprise Model From ‘Star Trek’ Returned To Gene Roddenberry’s Son

Walter Koenig To Join ‘The 7th Rule’ Podcast For ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ Rewatch

See Sisko Battle Kahless In Preview Of ‘Star Trek’ #5

Review: The EXO-6 Mirror Spock Is A Star Trek Figure You Should Consider

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

Bread and Circuses

Summary [ ]

References [ ]

Adaptations [ ]

Video releases [ ]

Timeline [ ]

Bread and Circuses

More from this title

Patton Oswalt Just Made Star Trek’s Most Beloved Aliens Terrifying

Star Trek #500 is in comic book stores now and available for digital purchase.

COMMENTS