IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN

 

Episode Title:  Spock’s Brain

Air Date: 9/20/1968

Written by Gene L. Coon

Directed by Marc Daniels

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Marj Dusay as Kara         James Daris as unnamed creature         Sheila Leighton as Luma         Pete Kellett as Morg Guard         

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Sigma Draconis VI

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise encounters a strange but highly advanced alien vessel.  Scotty is practically salivating over the ION-propulsion that the vessel is using.  All of a sudden, a strange woman transports on to the Enterprise’s bridge.  Captain Kirk attempts to communicate but then the woman presses a button on device attached to a bracelet on her arm.  This causes everyone aboard the ship to suddenly pass out.

As the crew wakes up Kirk notices that Mr. Spock is not on the bridge.  He then gets a desperate call from Dr. McCoy demanding that he come down to sickbay right away.  Kirk heads down there and when he arrives, he finds Spock lying on a bio-bed attached to life-support systems.  That is when McCoy gives him the bad news: Spock’s brain is missing it had been surgically removed!  McCoy has managed to get his body on life support but if it is not returned within 24 hours then Mr. Spock’s body will die.

Targeting a brain!

Lt. Sulu was able to pick up a trail from the mysterious ship and the Enterprise follows to it until it goes dead in the Sigma Draconis system.  This system has three planets none of them seem capable enough to have made a starship as advanced as they just encountered.  Kirk goes over the options with Sulu, Chekov and Uhura.  After discussing it Kirk feels the energy signatures from the ice planet makes it the option worth exploring despite that planet having the least technological development. 

Mr. Spock is missing a brain!

Kirk beams down to the planet with a landing party consisting of Scotty, Chekov, and a few security personnel.  They run into some primitive and large local men and have a brief battle that ends with the Enterprise crew stunning one with phasers and the rest running away.  No red shirts were killed. While questioning their prisoner he gets confused when Kirk mentions a woman who came aboard his ship.  This person acts like he has no idea what woman even is.  He doesn’t understand who Kirk and his crew are either but he knows they are not the “others.”  The “others” who are the givers of pain and delight. 

A man who has no idea what a woman is.

Chekov uncovers a cavern with food and Kirk concludes it is a trap.  He decides to spring the trap and sends for Dr. McCoy who comes down with Spock’s body now under remote control.  With that Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Spock’s body spring the trap and are sent to an underground facility. When they land and the door opens and another woman dressed like the one from before sees them.  Captain Kirk gets into a quick draw with her that he wins.  She is stunned and when she comes to Kirk begins to interrogate her.  She is very confused and doesn’t understand much of what Kirk is saying.  She notices that these strangers are neither Morg nor Eymorg.  However, she doesn’t explain what that means.  After engaging with her the landing party suddenly find that they can use their communicators to contact Spock’s conciseness.  It appears Spock’s brain is being used to run this whole apparatus. 

Spock on remote!

They come across the woman who had come aboard the Enterprise earlier.  Kirk is now in another quick draw situation but this time he loses as the woman hits the button and they all drop cold. While unconscious Kirk decides to enter one of his famous captain’s logs.  After he finishes with his log he returns to consciousness.  He and the other members of the landing party, including brainless Spock, now have belts on that will allow the women, whose leader we learn is named Kara (not Superman’s cousin), to inflict pain without knocking them out. 

Quick on the draw!

The audience learns that the Morg and the men who live on the surface and the Eymorg live in the advanced society below.  Occasionally the Eymorg capture some Morg and use them to move the heavy furniture, serve as guards, and mating I assume.  Every time Kirk tries to question her about Spock and his brain, she acts like she has no idea what he is talking about.  She doesn’t even remember being on his ship.  As Kirk tries to object, she gives him some pain.  

Please give me Spock's brain!

The Eymorgs leave the landing party with a few Morg guards.  However, Captain Kirk using his supreme fighting skills and Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott using their okay fighting skills, beat up the Morg guards.  As they get out Kara sees them and uses the pain belts.  Using the remote-controlled Spock, who is immune because he doesn’t have a brain, Kirk takes away the device from Kara and frees his team. 

Since it had become clear Kara had no idea what was going on Kirk uses his communicator to discuss it with Spock’s conciseness.  They then learn that Kara got the skill to remove Spock’s brain from a device called “the teacher” that houses all their civilization’s knowledge before it collapsed.  When one uses “the teacher” they gain its knowledge temporarily.  They have Kara use it again but as soon as her smarts are back, she pulls a phaser on Kirk and Scotty.  This threat doesn’t last long as Scotty fakes fainting and Kirk uses the distraction to disarm her.  Nevertheless, they need her help to restore Spock but she refuses as his brain is needed to run the device that controls their civilization. 

Spock's brain in a machine!

McCoy then decides that he will try “the teacher.”  Since he already has medical knowledge, he has something to base it on.  He also hopes to retain some the wisdom.  McCoy uses it and with his new genius begins restoring Spock’s brain back in Spock’s skull.  There is drama however as McCoy loses the information he gained.  Kirk explains in his captain’s log that as an alien to the device he can’t use it a second time.  The good news is Spock has retained some of the knowledge that he gained in the Eymorg’s computer system and is able to talk McCoy through the rest of his operation. 

McCoy in the thinker!

Spock is restored and Kirk lets Kara know that the Federation will help start their society over. Spock then goes on to explain how this gender-separated society formed leading McCoy to regret re-connecting his vocal cords.    

Spock with brain restored!

  

Additional thoughts: The funny thing is even though this episode has Spock’s name in the title and Spock’s situation is the subject the whole episode, the episode really isn’t about him.  This adventure focuses on Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy.  That is an interesting formula to have an event be all about Spock but really be a Kirk/McCoy adventure with help from the supporting cast, I wonder if they will ever try that again.

So why Spock?  That is never explained in the entire episode.  The planet’s society needs a living brain to run all their operations and they are able to preserve these brains for a thousand years or so.  But why did they target Spock?  Yes, I realize Spock is smart and all but how did they hear of him and know to seek him out?  When she is on the bridge of the Enterprise, Kara clearly knows who she is going for. This could have used an explanation. 

So, what is up with our universal translator that it can’t decipher “Morg” for “man” and “Eymorg” for “woman?”  That seems easy for me and I only speak English.  I am going to make a guess here that in the mind of the natives of this planet “Morg” isn’t just a term of gender but a reflection of their tribalistic identity therefore the translator became confused.

So, when McCoy started to forget why didn’t Kirk or Scotty throw “the teacher” on and try to take over?  That would have made more sense than Spock assisting in his own operation.  Also, since when does Spock have more medical knowledge than McCoy? I am assuming that Spock gained some extra knowledge of brain extracting procedures from his brain being the machine.  It struck me as unnecessary added drama considering how quickly it was resolved. 

This has to be the strangest captain’s log to date.  Giving us an update while knocked out.  I thought during the duel of Trelane or almost getting murdered in the mirror universe was odd timing.  At least Kirk was awake for those.

I know Leonard Nimoy did not care for this episode and I can’t blame him for there is nothing interesting for him as an actor to do.  I however found this episode surprisingly enjoyable.  I really liked how we were able to hear more from the supporting cast.  I liked his bridge staff helping Kirk brainstorm. 

Lastly one my early exposures to Star Trek came seeing this episode parodied on the Wonder Years.  It was quite funny. 

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

WHEN YOUR IMAGINARY FRIEND ISN’T IMAGINARY AND ISN’T YOUR FRIEND

 

Episode Title:  And the Children Shall Lead

Air Date: 10/11/1968

Written by Edward J. Lakso

Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Louie Elias as unnamed Crewman              Paul Baxley as unnamed Crewman      Dick Dial as unnamed Crewman                 Jay D. Jones as unnamed Crewman       Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Craig Huxley as Tommy Starnes         James Wellman as Professor Starnes         Melvin Belli as Gorgan         Pamelyn Ferdin as Mary        Melvin Caesar Belli as Steve           Mark Robert Brown as Don               Brian Tochi as Ray               

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Triacus

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins as the Enterprise is heading to the planet Triacus to answer a distress call from the science expedition that was sent there.  When the landing party beams down, they find all the scientists are dead.  The only survivors are the children who strangely enough don’t seem to care that their parents are all dead.  This must have given Kirk flashbacks to when he meets Miri and her friends on that fake Earth.  All the children want to do is play and they try to get the new adults to play too.  The leader of the kids is named Tommy.  He is the oldest and tallest one.  The sight of Tommy must have made Kirk think of his nephew, to whom Tommy bears an uncanny resemblance.  Sort of like Sarek and the Romulan Commander.  McCoy thinks the children’s behavior may be explained by trauma. 

Children who are happy with dead parents!

They bury the bodies of the late scientists but the children aren’t interested in any service for their dead parents.  To the children’s disappointment Kirk sends all of them up to the Enterprise while he and Spock investigate. While looking around Spock does pick up some strange energy readings and Kirk starts to feel dread.  So much dread that it almost becomes overwhelming.  Spock is puzzled by the Captain’s reaction but he respects it.  They return to the but they are not yet done with this planet and plan to return.

Trying to have a funeral

Nurse Chapel is caring for the children and arranged for them all to have ice cream.  Captain Kirk even stops by to join them.  However, the children get upset when they ask for more ice cream and Kirk warns them that it would spoil their dinner.  When the children are alone, they engage in a chant that summons a “friendly angel.” It is obvious to the reader that this is the bad guy.  He wants the children to help him direct the Enterprise to the planet Marcos XII, there the entity can take advantage of the population and get new “friends.”

Tommy tires to get Kirk to change course willingly claiming to have family there but Kirk is determined to bring them to Starbase 8.  So, the kids take matters into their own hands.  They get up to the bridge and using magic fist pumps force Lt. Sulu and Ensign Chekov to unknowingly plot a course to Marcos XII.  The children also make it so Sulu and Chekov to continue seeing the planet Triacus as if the ship is still orbiting it.  Lt. Uhura sees what is happening and objects but a few magic fist pumps put her on board with her collogues.  In the auxiliary control room, another one of the children uses their magic fist pumps to make the operators as unaware as the bridge crew.  Mr. Scott comes down and sees what is going on and tries to correct it.  However, the engineering team won’t obey their chief and actively resist him.  Scotty tries to fight back but he doesn’t have the fighting talent that Captain Kirk does and he is swiftly defeated.  He is then brought under their spell.

magic fist pumps

Kirk sends down a few security guards to check out the planet below.   After the two men beam down it is clear something is wrong because they are not checking in.  Spock checks the controls and discovers the Enterprise is not orbiting the planet is it in fact in warp.  Realizing that he just set the record for sending a red shirt to their death he and Spock head to the bridge. 

Gorgan

On the bridge Kirk finds Tommy in captain’s chair, he then challenges his bridge crew to snap out of their funk.  However, the kids summon their angel who Kirk is somehow able to identify as Gorgan despite the fact its name had not mentioned at this point.  Gorgan tells the children their plan has been discovered but with effort the whole bridge crew is given new illusions to be terrified of.  Sulu sees giant swords flying at them while Uhura sees in her re-flection herself as old and near death.  The children use their magic fist pumps on Kirk and Spock forcing them to retreat from the bridge.  Fortunately, Kirk and Spock overcome the magic fist pumps by just being awesome.

old home vidoes

The question is what to do about the threat.  Spock points out that the creature Gorgan is dependent on followers to survive.  His earlier research had shown that Triacus was once home to a great spacefaring civilization that had been brought down by unexplained internal conflict.  In addition to that the science party, they discovered earlier, had all died of a mass suicide.  If they get to Marcos XII it could create a threat big enough to effect the entire Federation.  Spock suggests they may have to kill the children.  While they are arguing this Chekov shows up with a security team in attempt to arrest Kirk under “orders from Starfleet.” Kirk and Spock use their supreme fighting skill to defeat Chekov and his men. 

Kirk then comes up with a plan to eliminate the threat.  On the bridge Kirk exposes the children to the recordings of their parents when they were still alive.  Kirk basically shows them a bunch of home movies.  This causes the kids to realize they killed their parents and they start to cry.  Gorgan shows up but since the kids don’t like him anymore, he quickly dies. With that the adventure is over and they head to Starbase 8.

Bad guy gone kids now know they're orphans 

Additional thoughts: For starters I think Captain Kirk gave up on the poor redshirts too quickly.  According to quick internet search it takes 15 seconds to die in the vacuum of space.  So, I thought they should have at least tried to beam them back.  To be fair they were at warp at the time so that probably factored into it.  That however was one plot hole I had a hard time accepting.  How could the ship be at warp and the crew not be aware of it?  The ship just left orbit and took off, the internal dampeners of a 23^rd century starship weren’t so good that they wouldn’t notice going to warp.  Those poor redshirts should still be alive.

One part I did really like is how both Kirk and Spock managed to overcome Gorgan’s influence by just being awesome.  We have seen this from them before where the entire crew is stricken with an element that they need Dr. McCoy or someone else to cure but Kirk and Spock already cured themselves by being awesome.  We saw this when the naked virus stuck and when dealing with the happy planets.

In the end this episode was just okay.  It wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad.  Just okay with some good character moments.

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5

KIRK THE JERK AND SUPER SEDUCTIVE SPOCK SWINDLE A LADY ROMULAN OUT OF HER CLOAKING DEVICE

Episode Title:  The Enterprise Incident 

Air Date: 9/27/1968

Written by Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by John Meredyth Lucas

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli       Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Robert Gentile as unnamed Crewman              Richard Compton as unnamed Crewman      Joanne Linville as Romulan Fleet Commander             Jack Donner as Subcommander Tal          Mike Howden as unnamed   Romulan Guard          Gordon Coffey as unnamed Romulan

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, two unnamed Romulan D-7R class ships, one unnamed Romulan Bird of Prey

Planets:  none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode opens in a unique way, instead of a Captain’s Log entry from Kirk explaining their mission we hear from Dr. McCoy’s Medical Log.  What McCoy is complaining about is Captain Kirk himself.   Kirk is acting like quite the jerk lately.  He is unnecessarily critical of poor Mr. Chekov, and apparently he has been snapping at most crew members in the same way.  

Kirk being mean!

Kirk orders Sulu to do a course correction.  Sulu is horrified when Captain Kirk tells him coordinates that will take them past the Romulan Neutral Zone and into Romulan space.  They haven’t seen orders that crazy since a wacky commodore did that trying to save time heading to his command.  Kirk saved them that time but now Kirk is the one giving the wacky order.  Sulu obeys and the Enterprise heads into Romulan space.   The Enterprise is quickly surrounded by three Romulan warships.  Two D7-Rs and one Bird-of-Prey make up the Romulan fleet.  The fleet was on top of them without any warning from their ship’s sensors.  It becomes apparent that the Romulans have developed a more efficient cloaking device. 

The Enterprise is surrounded!

The Romulans establish contact with the Enterprise and Kirk comes face to face with Subcommander Tal; he claims to represent his Commander.  He apparently knows quite a bit about Starfleet as he is able to identify the ship as the Enterprise and knew the name of the Captain.  He demands they surrender or be destroyed.  Kirk states that he will sooner destroy his own ship than surrender it.  Tal, being extremely generous, gives Kirk and his crew an hour to consider their fates.

Subcommander Tal

Kirk summons a meeting with his senior officers.  They go over the scenario and they conclude the only reason the Romulans haven’t destroyed them already is they have something that the Romulans want.  Scotty concludes that this is the Enterprise herself.  If the Romulans could get their hands on the ship they would know all of Starfleet’s technical secrets.  Kirk then points out how they have been caught in such surprise.  The only way the Romulans could do that is if they have developed a more advanced cloaking device.  This could alter the balance of power therefore capturing it will be even more important than survival.  Spock also takes time to point out that they would not have been in this situation if Kirk had not deliberately flown their ship straight into Romulan space.

The Romulan Fleet Commander

The Romulans make contact with the Enterprise again before Kirk can respond to Spock’s challenge.  The Romulans now want Kirk and Spock to come aboard their ship to negotiate with their Commander.  At first they refuse but the Romulans offer up two hostages in their place.  This is agreed and the two parties beam over to the other ship at the same time.  Although the Romulan hostages had their weapons they found themselves quickly surrounded by Enterprise security.

The Commander has an interest in Mr. Spock

 Kirk and Spock are brought in to see the Commander of the Romulan Fleet.  The Commander it turns out happens to be a very attractive woman.  In this situation Kirk would turn on his seductive powers but it is clear from the start that the Commander has the hots for Mr. Spock.  The audience notices this the moment the Commander becomes aware that Spock is a Vulcan.  She even goes so far to apologize to him when she insists that she must speak to Captain Kirk alone.  

Spock hearing the Commander's pitch

When alone with Kirk she demands to know what they entered Romulan space to which Kirk responds by explaining it was a technical failure with his ship’s navigation equipment that they didn’t notice until they were already across the Neutral Zone.  The Commander has a hard time believing this story and calls in Spock to verify it.  She is operating under the common myth that Vulcans never lie.  The first thing Spock does is lie when he confirms to her that the myth is true.  When she asks him to confirm Kirk’s story Spock refuses to say anything.  This is enough to convince her that Kirk is lying.  She announces that Kirk will undergo enhanced Romulan interrogation techniques.  Kirk will not survive but they will discover the truth.  With that threat made Spock agrees to talk, he states that over the last few months the Captain’s mental state has been in sharp decline and he is becoming irrational. Spock says that Captain Kirk entered Romulan space with no orders from Starfleet but instead was recklessly seeking his own glory.  Kirk is enraged with Spock’s confession and the Commander is satisfied.

The Vulcan Death Grip

With this new information the Romulan Commander contacts the Enterprise to let them know she has the information from Commander Spock about Kirk’s crime and demands they surrender at once.  Scotty tells the Romulan Commander to go pound sand.  Fortunately for the crew of the Enterprise the Commander is no rush to crush them as she is more interested in having a date with Mr. Spock.  On their way to dinner Spock even gets information on the whereabouts of the cloaking device itself as they come to an area that is forbidden to all but loyal Romulans.

Spock finds love!

While Spock is having dinner and discussing his future with the Romulan Commander, Kirk decides to make an escape attempt.  It is a rather dumb one, almost as dumb as move into Romulan space.  He throws himself up against the force field of his cell injuring himself in the process.  Dr. McCoy is then brought over from the Enterprise to treat him.  Spock and the Romulan Commander go to see how McCoy is progressing.  When they arrive Kirk, who is still enraged by Spock’s betrayal, attacks him.  In defending himself Spock uses instinctively the Vulcan Death Grip and kills his captain.  McCoy with a few choice words to Spock leaves the Romulan flag ship with the Captain’s body.

In sickbay Nurse Chapel is given a shock when the dead Captain Kirk wakes up!  The whole thing has been a ruse.  There is no such thing as a Vulcan Death Grip.   Kirk and Spock are playing a dangerous game in order so Starfleet can get its hands on the new Romulan Cloaking Device.  Scotty, who has been having just the worst time of his life, is somewhat surprise when McCoy calls him away from the bridge and into sickbay.  However trusting in McCoy’s character he heads down there.  As soon as he sees Captain Kirk all his troubles seem to go away.  Kirk has now been surgically altered to look like a Romulan.  They take the uniform of one of their Romulan hostages, who Scotty threw in the brig after the arrest of Captain Kirk, and gives it to the Captain. 

Kirk discovers some Romulans aren't smart!

Kirk beams over to the Romulan ship and explains to the first person he sees that he is the Centurion who was sent over as a hostage and he has escaped.  Spock’s date is getting intimate and the Romulan Commander heads to another room to get changed so she can be sexier for Spock.  Spock uses this time to communicate to the Captain and informs him of the cloaking device’s location.  Spock then resumes his date with the Commander. 

Kirk stealing the device!

Kirk finds his way to where the cloaking device is located.  He encounters resistance along the way, but as the greatest fighter this side of the galaxy, Kirk makes short work of them.  Fighting with such speed and grace his Romulan opponents are left totally befuddled.  Also using some impressive engineering skills he manages to detach the cloaking device—which oddly enough looks almost exactly like Nomad—without damaging it and gets it back to the Enterprise.   

Kirk showing off his new look to his crew!

 

On the Romulan Bridge Subcommander Tal is informed of unauthorized transmission coming from the Commander’s quarters.  They go down with a security team and Spock confesses on their arrival.  This probably is the worst date the Romulan Commander has ever been on.  They quickly discover the cloaking device has been stolen.  Spock invokes the Romulan Right of Statement to make his confession.  This gives the crew of the Enterprise more time.  With that time Scotty starts to install the cloaking device onto the Enterprise, which is quite a feat considering it is alien technology.  They beam over Mr. Spock and because Spock was too sexy to let go the Romulan Commander latches on and Kirk gets two for the price of one! 

The Enterprise then hightails it out of there at the very dangerous warp 9!  The Romulans give chase, Kirk tries to use the Romulan Commander to get them to fall back but she just orders them to fire.  As they get into weapons range Scotty gets the cloaking device working and the Enterprise disappears from Romulan sensors.   With that and some great zig-zagging the Enterprise escapes.  Big win for Starfleet they have the enemy cloaking device and they have a high-ranking commander.  Spock and the Romulan Commander have one last moment together as one heads back to his duty and she her POW status.  

    

Additional thoughts: After it was revealed that Kirk’s jerk act was just part of a ruse it caused me to wonder about what its purpose was.  I can understand why Kirk was acting that way in front of the Romulan Commander but why was it necessary for him to act like that with members of his own crew?  However after I thought about it for a little bit I figured out the reason.  If at some point the Enterprise was captured and the crew taken prisoner they would be able to answer honestly in interrogation that Kirk was reckless and acting without Starfleet authority.

This episode is also a reminder of the supremacy of production order for the Original Series.  If you watch it in that order in the previous two episodes Kirk was involuntarily drug addicted to the Dolhman of Elas, then he suffered from amnesia and spent two months in the arms of Miramanee before losing her tragically.  It would make some sense to have the Captain lose control of himself seeing as how his mind had already been messed with.

Although we saw the Romulans again in The Deadly Years that episode wasn’t truly about them.  This episode however gives us the true sequel to the classic first season episode The Balance of Terror.  Two of the themes that were introduced in “Balance” are brought up in this episode.  The continuing threat of the cloaking device now deadly than ever, where before they could tract a cloaked ship’s movements but I could not get a visual or pinpoint its location.  They knew something was out there.  Now they Romulans can get the jump on them whenever they want and had Kirk’s prior opponent had that advantage the battle might have gone the other way.  Considering how much the Romulans were clamoring for war with their first cloaking device armed with the improved one war may become inevitable.  The second “Balance” theme revisited is the kinship between Vulcans and Romulans.  The discovery that the Federation’s oldest enemy is the same species as the Vulcans with the only difference being their political philosophy, certainly presents a wild card.  In “Balance” we only saw how the Enterprise crew reacted to this.  As far as we knew the Romulans never knew about their kinship with the Vulcans.  How did they find out?  Did the Federation tell them?  Regardless it leads to a strong Romulan interest in Spock.   

The Romulans seemed rather well informed about a number of things.  For example not only were they able to correctly identified the Enterprise but they knew that the captain is Kirk.  How do they know this?  And if they know this do they also know that it was Kirk commanding the Enterprise that resulted in the destruction of the Praetor’s Flagship?  Do you know that it was this ship that flew into the Neutral Zone, and out again thumbing their nose at the Romulan ships?  If they do then capturing the Enterprise would have one more added benefit of soothing the Romulan ego.

Old style

I normally don’t comment on about graphics on my reviews.  I did for The Doomsday Machine because how could I not.  The Doomsday Machine was always great but I did note how much I loved the new remastered edition.   In this episode I also felt that the new remasters created a great improvement, particularly in terms of series continuity.  When the Romulans first appear the crew is shocked to see a traditional Klingon designed ship in front of them.  The director, John Meredyth Lucas, did this because the model for the Romulan Bird of Prey had been lost.   The appearance of a Klingon-ship being used by the Romulans is where production order once again shows its superiority as if you were watching the classic special effects the audience had not even scene a Klingon ship yet, as one did not appear into Elaan of Troyius.  The audience who watched this episode when it premiered must have been awfully confused.  The remasters make this better by adding the Klingon ships to episodes such as Errand of Mercy, Friday’s Child, and The Trouble with Tribbles.  This way regardless of what order you view it, a new audience should be able to identity what they see as a Klingon ship at the same time Scotty does.  The remasters also place in this episode the classic Bird of Prey design from The Balance of Terror.  It wasn’t possible that week in 1968 but having it in there draws a connection to the Romulans’ first appearance. 

New Style

I did feel bad for the poor Romulan Commander, sure falling for the enemy first officer probably wasn’t the best choice but you can’t choose who you fall in love with.  To be fair while Spock was exploiting her feelings and their newly established relationship for the good of the Enterprise she herself was trying to manipulate Spock into reveling critical information about the ship and its crew.   At this point she had good reason to assume she was being successful with this as Spock had already turned on Captain Kirk. Her strategy is one that Captain Kirk has done many times in the past a good example is with Lenore Karidian in The Conscience of the King.  There both Kirk and Lenore were generally interested in each other while at the same time both had ulterior motives.  Kirk was trying to bring her father to justice, while Lenore was trying to eliminate anyone who could bring that about.  Kirk is lucky the show is called “Star Trek starring William Shatner” so he can always win, where our poor Romulan Commander is not in a show called “Star Empire starring Joanne Linville” meaning she is going to lose.

This romance is not working out!

On a short note I was wondering a little into some Romulan titles.  In The Balance of Terror the Romulan leader played by Mark Lenard is known simply as “The Commander” that is also Linville’s character’s title.  However she commands far more shouldn’t she be a fleet commander or something.  Tal’s rank is subcommander is he second-in-command of a single ship or the whole fleet.  If it is the later shouldn’t he also have a higher title? 

On the subject of Tal I really like his character.  A true officer who is all business he reminds me a little of both Mark Lenard’s commander and Decius who often annoyed his commander.  I especially like how when the Enterprise goes to cloak he doesn’t let that stop him from trying to catch them.  Too often later in this series people will treat cloaking like it makes their opponents completely undetectable and intangible, giving up the chase the moment the cloak field turns on.  However Tal orders his bridge to calculate where the Enterprise would be at the speed it was traveling the moment it disappeared.  Kirk however anticipates this and alters the ship’s course the moment the cloak is fully on.  Tal might have won if he wasn’t facing Captain Kirk. 

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5