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macnoel
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Have Gun - Will Travel: Fight at Adobe Wells (1960)
Invisible hand of the writer
I like this episode of Have Gun - Will Travel because Palidin once again shows his consistent moral stance. Unlike many western heroes, Palidin is at once a dark figure (a mercenary) and an enlightened, educated man. By his mind alone, Palidin resolves this conflict and comes out clearly superior to those who focus too much on immediate grudges or immediate gain. Of course, in this episode the conflict is also two-way: on one hand, he's in physical conflict with Parker and on the other hand his principles make him despise the Commodore who is paying him a huge sum for protection.
Song writer Johnny Western's theme song features the line, "a knight without armor in a savage land" - which perfectly describes Palidin's superior moral stance within a lawless environment.
The writer, Samuel Peeples, would go on to write the second pilot for Gene Rodinberry's Star Trek (1968). Its speculation but no stretch to think that Peeples' participation with Rodinberry in writing Have Gun scrips and his penchant for moral characters led to the their later collaboration on Star Trek. Thus these "invisible hands" - the writers - were setting a moral tone for the whole culture during their careers.