Great Outdoor Fight 1931

From The Great Outdoor Fight

While a minor entry in the laudable annuals of the Great Outdoor Fight, the three days of 1931 are among the most well-known in popular culture due to it being featured in a 1969 episode of Star Trek (TOS). The episode was called "The Great Out-Temporal Fight" and centered on Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, and Doctor McCoy traveling back through time to ensure an errant ensign doesn't muck up the proper flow of history.

[edit] Description of the Episode

The Enterprise encounters a being named Forsytha on the otherwise uninhabited world of Vagos IV. Forsytha is obsessed with Earth History, and has chosen the Great Outdoor Fight as being the most typical event of human development. Kirk and McCoy protest that the Great Outdoor Fight is "a part of our history, but one we have outgrown." Mister Spock, on the other hand, feels that the Fight represents "violence, a driving need for honor even at the cost of human life, and a delight in carnage: truly, the very essence of humanity."

One man, Ensign Mick Cooper, uses Forsytha's equipment (used to observe the Fights as they actually happened) to travel back in time to the 1931 Fight. There, he tries to talk a group of brawling men down, but then ends up actually fighting. Kirk, Spock and McCoy, seeing their man in trouble, have to use Forsytha's equipment to both rescue the man and preserve the integrity of the timeline. There, they encounter Dylan Berkheimer, the historical winner of the Fight. He is tired of fighting, but feels he can't escape his destiny. The Enterprise crewmembers locate Ensign Cooper, but a sneak attack by members of Tor Babcock's army causes Cooper to be killed and Spock to be knocked out and therefore eliminated. McCoy and Kirk, still inside, ally themselves with Berkheimer's army -- to ensure that history will continue as it must, with Berkheimer's victory. They survive to day 3. McCoy gives Kirk a hypo spray, and tells him that if need be, he should use it. Berkheimer sees the spray and demands to know what it is, since "weapons aren't allowed on the Acres." (Technically true, since the rules revision allowing anything on the grounds of the Acres to be used as weapons came into play in 1932.) Before they could explain, the three are attacked. Tor Babcock is knocked out in the scuffle, as is Doctor McCoy. Kirk, realizing that Babcock was traditionally supposed be 2nd last man standing, 'defects' from Berkheimer's side and takes over Babcock's remaining army. With Spock, McCoy, and Babcock watching from Tower One, the fight comes down to Berkheimer and Kirk. They fight, and it looks like Kirk might win, when Kirk surreptitiously injects himself with the hypo spray McCoy gave him. The compound -- a muscle relaxant and sedative -- makes Kirk logy and uncoordinated, allowing Berkheimer to defeat him without Kirk seeming to actually throw the Fight.

Berkheimer gives a speech on the honor of men who stand their ground, and the Enterprise crew return to the future. Forsythia is delighted and gives 'the noble warriors' a feast. Kirk and Spock debate the ethics of the Fight. Spock continues to maintain the Fight is barbaric, but Kirk expresses a barely disguised admiration for "men who stand their ground." The episode ends with Kirk being treated for his wounds (including several mugs to the camera by Shatner, and McCoy's sardonic assessment of Kirk's injuries).

[edit] Criticism of the Episode

Many criticize this representation of the GOF as being overly bloodless and unworthy of the title. They feel that Tor Babcock was unfairly portrayed as an honorless villain to create a contrast with the noble Berkheimer. They also objected to the inclusion of Young Jude Surrency as an active fighter in the Fight, played for comedic effect by Ken Curtis very closely to his "hillbilly" potrayal of Festus on Gunsmoke. Surrency, they argued, didn't ever enter the fight until 1933, the year he actually won -- and as a martial artist and strategist, Surrency not only comported himself with far more dignity than Curtis allowed but showed vastly more competence than Curtis implied. Finally, they claimed that Dade Waters, who played Berkheimer, was far too stiff as a fighter to properly convey the technical brilliance Berkheimer showed in his victory. Finally, they objected to the idea that the Fight was "barbaric."

Fans of the episode respond to these criticisms by explaining that at that point in history, television couldn't depict the kind of blood and gore that would do the Fight justice. Babcock's villainous portrayal was dramatically necessary, they also contended, because the audience needed a reason to root for Berkheimer beyond the esoteric demands of history. They admitted that Surrency's inclusion wasn't necessary, but as Surrency was a well known (and 'feisty') figure in Fight history, his inclusion added verisimilitude -- and Ken Curtis was a genius, so they shouldn't take issue with his portrayal. (Surrency, it should be noted, was only upset until he was invited to tour the Gunsmoke set and appear as an extra in one scene. No fan of television normally, Surrency made an exception for "good ol' Marshall Dillon," and was content with the Star Trek episode afterwards).

As for the charges that the Fight was 'barbaric,' fans countered that from one point of view it was. On the other hand, Berkheimer was meant to represent all the good sides of the fight and Kirk's grudging admiration of the Fight, afterward, could show that while the 23rd Century Starfleet officers were none too impressed with the Fight in abstract, when they got to know it they liked it.

Besides, they say, James Tiberius Kirk could take any of their fancy-schmansy "champions" with one hand tied behind his back.

That's when things get ugly.

[edit] Trivia

• 1931 Fight Champion Dylan Berkheimer was portrayed on the show by Dade Waters. Mister Waters, having had some criticism from Fight Veterans about his portrayal of a Fight Champion (it was felt Waters was 'stiff' and didn't 'carry himself with authority') qualified for and entered the 1971 Fight. He was eliminated on day 2, 1181st left standing, and was considered a respectable if not outstanding fighter.
• The show was penned by Jacob Stoltz, an amateur Fight historian.
• Following Young Jude Surrency's visit to the Gunsmoke set, where he met Ken Curtis and James Arness, Gunsmoke did an episode (eponymously titled "The Great Outdoor Fight") where Festus (also played by Ken Curtis, and the role he is known best for) decides to take place in the Great Outdoor Fight up at "Ol' Ken Crandall's farm." Marshall Dillon, amused and mindful of Festus's well being, goes along with and the pair take part in the fight. The fight in question was mostly fictionalized, but Edwin Rose was included to largely comedic effect (given Rose's habit of eating all of Crandall's produce during the Fight). That would place the Fight in question in 1856, which doesn't really match up, time wise. However, Fight fans (including Surrency) generally feel that the Gunsmoke episode casts the Fight in a good light and as several Fight veterans (including former Champion Stanley "Grip" Brown were included as extras, discussion of the episode lacks the same vitriol that plagues discussion of the Star Trek episode.