“Shoot Out / Kirk Wins!” by Jerry Fielding

Back in 2023, I talked about how “Big Fite” from “The Trouble with Tribbles” was one of my favorite TOS tracks. Rather than repeat myself for this prompt, I’m going to go with another score by Jerry Fielding, this time for the Season Three episode “Spectre of the Gun.”

I’ve always thought that “Spectre of the Gun” is one of the most criminally underrated episodes of TOS, particularly in Season Three. I tend to enjoy surrealism in my science fiction, and I’ve always been drawn to the story and the odd, half-finished western sets1 of this one.

While Jerry Fielding had originally been hired to score Season Two’s “The Trouble With Tribbles” on the strength of his comedic work on Hogan’s Heroes, he was also no stranger to westerns, having worked on the Shane television show and been about to receive an Oscar nomination for his score to THE WILD BUNCH. Fielding’s score for “Spectre of the Gun” is stylistically similar to “Tribbles” at times, but he also throws in western elements like a prominently featured harmonica and some more avant-garde, atonal scoring that feels almost more akin to Leonard Rosenman’s STAR TREK IV score.

While I love the entire score to this episode, I’m focusing on the climax for today’s prompt, where, having attempted every way possible to avoid the infamous Gunfight at the OK Corral, Kirk and company find themselves forced to play out that fateful duel with the Earps, naturally in the roles of the losing Clanton Gang.

The bullets are unreal. Without body. They are illusions only. Shadows. Without substance. They will not pass through your body, for they do not exist.

Spock, to McCoy

Fielding’s score in these scenes, from which I’ve combined three tracks, features a primary western theme highlighted by the harmonica and a foreboding march-like motif with snare drum as the Earps gather and walk towards the corral.

Fielding also uses mallet percussion and tone clusters along with the harmonica to highlight the sequences where Spock mind-melds with the others.

After an unscored sequence where the Earps open fire on Kirk and company only to have their bullets pass harmlessly through their bodies2, a flurry of toms and snare drum reminiscent of “Big Fite” kicks in as Kirk deploys his patented flying drop kick. The avant-garde western scoring returns as Kirk drops his gun rather than shoot Wyatt Earp who then disappears along with the others.

I’ve also tacked on the ending cue to round out the clip, which features the traditional Kirk/Spock/McCoy moral lesson of the week scene accompanied by a return of the harmonica theme and the transition to Enterprise flying off to its next assignment.

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