The Enterprise traces the wreckage of a long-lost merchant ship to a pre-Warp planet modeled after ancient Rome, yet enjoying technology equivalent to Earth in the 1960's. After intercepting a television transmission that shows one of the missing ship's crew being killed in a gladiator contest, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down (in full uniform, with full gear!) to see if they can find any other survivors of the crew - all while being careful to obey the Prime Directive, of course.
It isn't long before they are captured and taken to the city, where they discover that Merik (William Smithers), the captain of the derelict ship is now First Citizen, enjoying a life of luxury after having sold out the members of his own crew to Procounsel Claudius Marcus (Logan Ramsey). Marcus knows exactly who Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are, and demands Kirk accede to the same terms that Merik did. When Kirk refuses, Marcus attempts to force his hand by making him watch Spock and McCoy fight for their lives in the arena. With the Prime Directive blocking Kirk from ordering a rescue, it is left to Scotty to find another way to improvise without actually interfering with the planet's culture...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Continues to defy his fan image of a reckless maverick who only stuck to the Prime Directive when it suited him. Here, we see that the value Kirk places on the Prime Directive is such that he is willing to sacrifice himself and his friends to uphold it, even when - as Marcus observes - his ship could easily rescue him from people who are comparative savages. Though he may be willing to sacrifice himself, he's not eager to, and does seize upon efforts to escape. He seems to hold Merik in as low regard as Marcus does, not even bothering to mention Merik's acts to save him in his final log entry... which oddly makes me think a bit less of Kirk.
Mr. Spock: Leonard Nimoy has a particularly good scene in the prison cell, in which he confesses his fear of revealing his own emotions. Despite his lifelong battle to suppress them, he isn't quite the master of his own "humanity" that he would like to be. His Vulcan strength and coordination allow him to hold his own in the arena without harming his opponent - though he does incur Marcus' ire when he "breaks the rules" to save McCoy from his opponent.
Scotty: Mr. Scott is one of the few characters outside of "The Big Three" who has actually been better-used in Season Two than in Season One. Scotty understands why Kirk issues the "Condition Green" order, and respects and obeys it. But he isn't content to simply accept helplessness, and insists on finding a solution to get the captain, Spock, and McCoy off that world rather than leaving them to their deaths.
Hot Roman Babe of the Week: Lois Jewell is Drusilla, the slave girl Marcus uses both as a "courtesy" to Kirk before his execution and, despite Marcus' claims to the contrary, a last-ditch hope on the procounsel's part at securing Kirk's cooperation. The tinfoil "slave girl" outfit is ludicrous, not terribly enticing despite the amount of skin shown. Hint to costume designers everywhere: tinfoil is not sexy, no matter how little of it you use. Jewell is, however, more than lovely enough to fill out her role as Kirk's, ah, present. It is somewhat disturbing that, given a sex slave for the night, Kirk's response is to enjoy his present and thank his captor for it, rather than make any attempt to free her. Still, it is Kirk we're talking about here...
Villain of the Week: Though it's virtually impossible to see him in anything now without thinking of his role from the MASH episode The Incubator, Logan Ramsey was a mainstay of television villainy in the '60's and '70's with good reason. His frame, voice, and bearing all speak of corruption even before he bothers giving a performance. It helps that his performance is rather good. Marcus is a villain through and through, but he's also quite shrewd. He knows exactly which buttons to push when dealing with Kirk. His open disdain for Merik betrays his fatal flaw - arrogance. By needling Merik over and over about how much of "a man" Kirk is and how weak and spineless he considers Merik to be, he probably helps prompt Merik's action at the show's end.
ZAP THE REDSHIRT!
Although a Roman gladiator arena would seem ready-made for a Trek Redshirt-palooza, I am disappointed to report that no redshirts were harmed in the making of this episode. I'm starting to think that, post-Apple, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Redshirts stepped in and insisted on some kind of probationary period for poor old Kirk. No matter - I'm sure he'll contrive to get some more redshirts gruesomely killed any episode now.
THOUGHTS
The first-produced of Season Two's "parallel Earth" episodes. I gather these episodes became so common in the latter half of Season Two that they became to it what superbeing episodes became to Season One, which is probably why this episode (the first-produced but last-aired of the "parallel Earth" bunch) tends to earn rather middling regard. After the Planet of the Chicago Mobsters, the Planet of the Nazis, and probably a few others I'm not remembering offhand, the Planet of the Romans seemed stale. "Another planet just like a past Earth culture? Yawn."
Viewed in production sequence, that isn't a problem. I found it quite easy to enjoy Bread and Circuses. It wasn't a great episode. There are several logic gaffes, notably that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy happily beam down to a pre-Warp planet in their uniforms, with their weapons and communicators. Surely they should be trying to blend in with the citizenry, not stand out from it? I'm also not sure that mounting a rescue of Kirk and company would have actually constituted cultural interference, but I'll give the episode that much simply because there is no show without that (somewhat contrived) conflict.
As with Doctor Who's Vengeance on Varos, the episode gets some mileage from being set substantially in a television studio. This allows for a bit of commentary on the part of co-writers Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon on the nature of networks in building ratings by going for the lowest common denominator of violent bloodsports, and even to use such TV studio standbys as canned applause.
Though hardly first-rank Trek, this episode is better than it's probably held up to be. It has a decent pace, a pretty good villain, and some good scenes for the main regulars. Not one I'd rush to re-watch, and I only barely remembered it at all. But it's solid, and suffers only by comparison with some of the truly strong episodes surrounding it.
Rating: 6/10.
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