Oh, dear lord, this episode is stupid. It just makes no sense. There is an attempt to explain everything away in the last moments with a brain in a vat theory, but it is misinterpreted. Plus, if it were a brain in a vat and the “bullets weren’t real,” why would punching the baddies be real? And what was left on the editing room floor that everybody just shows up back on the bridge of the Enterprise at the end? And Chekov is just hanging out, after being dead? So. . .if this is so awful. . .why the two insignias? Well. . .I really like the look of this episode. Playing to the strengths of being low budget, the Tombstone, Arizona set has an oneiric quality to it. I especially like the clock, clearly hanging on fishing wire, dangling in a void. I also like, for camp reasons, Kirk’s meltdown in front of the Sherrif. “I won’t! kill! him!!” Classic.
“I won’t (extra long shatner pause here) kill him”
LOL
You almost expect him to say SPaaaaaaaakkkkk! Why…don’t the bullets …..hurt…at this time???
You could believe Spock punching him out and saying. “It is logical that you die horribly for your stupid acting.”
As with many in this third season, there seem to be some solid sci-fi ideas (the idea of “brain in a vat,” which I’m guessing was much less tired in the late 60s than today, Spock mind-melding to grant the others certainty, the idea of it all being a test, etc.), but the execution is quite problematic to say the least.