Balance of Terror

So, yeah. It's been a few weeks. How about we just jump right in then with another of my TOS favorites?

"Balance of Terror" is a remake of the WWII film The Enemy Below, starring Robert Mitchum and future-Bond villain Curt Jurgens. The basic plot is that an American destroyer is engaged in a deadly battle of wits with a German U-boat, something that happened all too often during the war. As Star Trek is something that uses real life events in its storytelling, a submarine story is not all that out of possibility. After all, space is an ocean (3D, not 2D) and the show does have a fairly strong naval emphasis (well, depends on whether or not Gene was writing that week).

As neither of you are wearing red uniforms,
may I wish you a long and happy life together.

The episode opens with Kirk and company in the ship's chapel. It's long before Gene decided that humanity becomes a race of atheists. Personally, I think all the major religions of today survive, but as a way of instilling a form of moral conduct. After all, the existence of aliens would more or less disprove the notion of the Judeo-Christian God, but why not keep those parts of the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur'an that teach tolerance and love, especially when you're trying to have humanity not be complete pricks anymore? Back from my ramblings, Kirk, as the ship's master and commander, is officiating a wedding between two of his crewmen. One of them is hinted to be Catholic, as she genuflected before the altar. This goes back to Gene's vision of an idealized future where black women, Asian, and now even Catholics (minorities who were not that popular with 1960s America) would work together on Earth's flagship.


Just before the wedding, Kirk gets a message from Spock that two Starfleet outposts on the Neutral Zone have gone silent. In the middle of the ceremony, red alert is sounded and all hands go to battlestations. Another outpost is under attack. Time for all crew to actually run to their stations and not jog lightly!

Damn, the viewscreen is in window mode!

The next scene mostly serves as exposition, and I'd like to say it's handled well, but Spock's line "As you know from your history books..." kind of ruins it. Anyway, he recounts the history of the Romulan hostilities with Earth (it's still before TOS established the existence of the Federation). The way he paints the Earth-Romulan War is...fairly graphic. He says that the ships of those days were "primitive space vessels with primitive atomic weapons" and had "no ship-to-ship visual communications" that allowed no quarter. Considering "no quarter" is outlawed by the Hague conventions, this war must have been brutal. Of course, Enterprise more or less ruined all of this by having the NX-01 appear more advanced that the NCC-1701, armed with photon torpedoes and not nuclear missiles, and equipped with a viewscreen that the Romulans "clearly" did not yet invent. Seriously, the Romulans on Enterprise had warp drive, but couldn't come up with two-way visual communications?


Kirk declares that, for the sake of preserving the treaty and the Neutral Zone, the ship and crew are expendable. Not just the redshirts, mind you. All of them. Even Kirk himself, one of Starfleet's best. Anyway, the navigator, Lieutenant Stiles, tells Kirk that because the Romulans have clearly violated the Neutral Zone and should be destroyed while they're still on the Federation side. Kirk follows-up and learns Stiles' family history, particularly that he had nearly a dozen ancestors who fought and died during the Romulan War. He concludes with a sign of his awesomeness, by reminding Stiles that it was their war. Meanwhile, Spock scans the outpost asteroids that went silent, finding them to have been pulverized. They catch up to the nearest intact outpost, which is quickly attacked again by the Romulan ship and destroyed.


Remember what I said about the introduction of the Cardassians? Well, I must say that the Romulans also get a grand introduction. Sure, they use modern Earth ranks (and even a Roman one), but still we do get a sense that they are a force to be reckoned with. The Earth outposts are described as being so heavily defended, yet a single burst can obliterate them. After destroying it, the Romulans leisurely head back to their space and after some Red Scare-paranoia from Stiles, we get our first look at them, with a shocking twist: the Romulans are nearly identical to Vulcans!


Fun fact: the Romulans were initially slated to be the primary foe of the Federation, Gene's equivalent to the Soviet Union. Oddly, it turned out their make-up was too much, so they went with the easier Klingons later. Who would have thought that twenty years later, the Klingons would have the most extensive make-up job? Back to the episode.

It's a long way to Tipperary...

Naturally, Stiles becomes paranoid of Spock, giving the non-subtle hint that Spock might be a Romulan spy. You know, if Earth had no idea what Romulans look like, then Spock would have no idea they were an off-shoot of Vulcans. The look of surprise on his face is quite priceless. Anyway, following a beautiful underbelly shot of the ship, we get our first look at the new villains. The Commander, played by Mark Leonard (who will play Spock's father), is cynical about the mission and wishes destruction upon the ship before they return home, as he knows returning with proof of Earth's weaknesses will just bring about a new war. Yes, it's nearly twenty years before it was made, but he is very much like Jurgen Prochnow's captain in Das Boot.


On the Enterprise, Spock inspects the "hardest substance known to science" (I wish I had a nickel for every time they say it's the hardest substance...). Kirk discusses the matter with his officers, asking if they can engage with a reasonable shot at victory. Scotty says that it's probable, as the Romulans are at impulse. I must applaud this line, as it goes back to the U-boat story. For those who don't know, a U-boat's top speed while surfaced was about 20 knots. When submerged, their top speed was a mere fraction of that. Of course, the Romulans would have warp drive in order to cross the vast interstellar distances. But while cloaked, it won't work.


They come across a comet, and of course, in deep space far from any stars, a comet has a stunning tail. The Romulans head into it with the intent of turning back on the Enterprise while Kirk goes to the far side of its tail to trap the intruder. However, neither plan truly works and Kirk is forced to blindly shoot at the Romulans, killing the ship's Centurion. Then...possibly the only flaw of the episode. The Romulans get a plasma shot off at the Enterprise and Kirk orders full reverse...at warp speed. Even though we never again see them reversing at warp (except maybe in some more TOS), Kirk does not alter course to dodge the plasma! When a destroyer captain saw a torpedo coming towards him, his first impulse was to turn away from it, not go full reverse and hope it would run out of power to its motor! Though, even WWII torpedoes weren't as reliable at times...


So, the Romulan commander tries to jettison debris, including the dead body of the Centurion, in an attempt to fool the Enterprise into thinking they're destroyed. Of course, because of his levels of awesomeness, Kirk is not fooled. For several hours, the Enterprise plays dead to lure the Romulans in for attack. The Romulans do the same. In his quarters, Kirk and McCoy play out a scene almost identical to one from the original pilot "The Cage", where Kirk goes on about doubting himself. McCoy seems to have had all his whiskey, but still provides Kirk with advice: in all the universe, there is still only one of each of us. Pretty nice words.

Yeah, don't ask why Uhura's at the nav-console.

Naturally, the episode has to end. We get a pretty intense showdown between Enterprise and the Romulans. Even with all his trickery, the Romulan commander is still out-gunned. He opens visual contact briefly, and there's a nice bit where he and Kirk respect each other. I always love it when enemy commanders are able to salute each other. The Romulan even says that "in a different reality, I may have called you...friend". With that, he blows up his ship. In spite of the attacks, there is only one fatality. No, it's not the bigot. It's the guy who was going to get married! Tell me you didn't see that coming!


Overall, I love this episode. It has a good steady pace, the action is very engaging, and we get some good character moments from Kirk, particularly when he doubts himself. I also loved the bit between him and the Romulan commander, like what would have happened if Montgomery and Rommel ever directly contacted each other (but not Patton, because Patton never commanded directly opposite Rommel). It's one of those few times in which the "recycled plot IN SPACE!!!" works extremely well. I say that having watched "The Enemy Below", and found this episode to be an improvement.


Final Score: 10/10

The City on the Edge of Forever

Of all the episodes of the original series I've seen, City on the Edge of Forever is the one I've probably seen the most times. I have absolutely no idea how. Is it that Kirk and Spock are the only ones we see for the majority of the episode? Is it that this episode deals with the question of "should you change the past for your own reasons" (to which Voyager sadly said, "Yes! To hell with the consequences")? Let's take a look back at one of TOS' most remembered episodes.

We open with the Enterprise heading towards the planet of the week. Red alert is sounded. As it turns out, they are passing through ripples in time to investigate a disturbance they found in a sensor scan. At this moment, Sulu's console explodes and he is knocked out. I'll take a moment to address this. Some people believe that the consoles exploding adds to the cheesiness factor of Trek. Taking on inspiration from Linkara in his Power Rangers videos, I think there is a reasonable explanation: because the ship's systems are powered by plasma, they overload when they are struck in the wrong place. In combat, wouldn't most shots be taken at the bridge of the enemy?

I accidentally inject myself, and I
jiiiiizzed in my pants. 

Bones arrives on the bridge and injects Sulu with some red medicine. However, another time bump hits and Bones accidentally injects himself with a full dosage. He becomes paranoid, believing everyone is going to kill him. As security searches for him, Bones storms a transporter room, knocks out the British transporter chief, and beams off.

Heading down with Spock, Scotty, Uhura, and two security guys whose names do not matter, Kirk commences a search for Bones. They discover a large Stargate-like device in the middle of ancient ruins. Without even looking at his tricorder, Spock is able to identify the gate as the source of all the time displacement, which makes him 150 times more competent than the entire crew of the USS Voyager.

I'm frightened! I think I'm revealing
characterization!

The gate introduces itself as the Guardian of Forever, which has stood around for four billion years waiting for a question. Spock determines (once again without needing the tricorder) that it is a gateway to other times and dimensions. Obviously, Spock is too primitive to understand the concept of wibbly-wobbly...timey...wimey...stuff. They soon find Bones and Spock knocks him out with the Vulcan nerve pinch. Rather than doing something sensible, like beaming away a crazy maniac who happens to be right next to a portal through space-time, they leave Bones right where he is, unrestrained and he jumps through the gateway as it replays Earth history. Seconds later, all contact with the Enterprise is lost and Scotty determines (again, WITHOUT using the tricorder) that there's nothing wrong with it. The Guardian reveals that history has been altered. Duh-duh-DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!!!

Luckily, Spock happened to be recording his tricorder when Bones jumped through and might be able to get himself and Kirk back to the point in history Bones changed. Before leaving, Kirk orders Scotty, Uhura, and the No-Name Brothers that if they fail, to jump through the portal and at least be alive somewhere else. Damn. Where's a Weeping Angel when you need...oh crap, WEEPING ANGELS?!! RUN!!!

Kirk and Spock jump through the portal and land in 1930 New York City. Spock calls the Great Depression a rather "barbaric period" of history. I do not believe the Great Depression counts as a barbaric period. Granted, it DID contribute to the rise of Hitler, but the Depression itself was people being unemployed and starving. Still, with World War III and rise of the Federation, it should be no surprise that they view pre-21st Century as barbaric. Maybe that's why they call it "ancient"...

Quickly realizing their uniforms are out-of-place in this time period, Kirk and Spock go to steal some clothes in order to blend in. This is followed with, quite frankly, one of Star Trek's funniest scenes:

Kirk and Spock flee, ending up in a soup kitchen. Spock proposes the idea that time is like a river and the currents have delivered them to the same location McCoy will arrive at; they really need to start teaching Wibbly-Wobbly Temporal Physics at the University of Shi'kahr. There...they meet Edith Keeler, played by Joan Collins. You can see Kirk's bed-o-meter going off as she walks down the stairway like an angel...

Ahem, sorry.

The two are able to secure payment and lodging, as Spock determines he might be able to figure out what Bones did if he can access the library on his tricorder. Of course, with 1930s tech, he will need to work diligently to make use of the materials at hand. This demonstrates that the cast of TOS is what happens when you clone MacGyver and assign those clones to the command staff of a starship.

Damn, I'm...never this slow when...courting a woman.

Kirk and Spock go upstairs for dinner. Edith proceeds to give a speech about how life is worth living. She also reveals she's a fan of science fiction, and postulates the ideas of mankind harnessing atomic energy and travelling to other planets where they will get all the food they need and live in a universe of peace. Sadly, her optimism is not to last. Even in the 23rd Century, while hunger and sickness have been solved, there are people out there who despise the idea of peace. Like, Klingons! So, Edith is pleased with their work in cleaning the basement and gives the two a place to sleep.

A few days later, Spock has started work on his device that will harvest the energy of lightning to reanimate the body he made from a hosh-posh of corpses dug up from grave...oops, wrong thing. Spock is able to explain away what his device is to Edith in his usual alien monotone. Following this, we get the blooming of romance between Kirk and Edith. You know, for a woman who predicts atomic power, she seems a bit slow to realize that Kirk is from space when he says that a hundred years from now, there will be a great novelist from Orion who will reinvigorate the words "I love you". Even Gillian from Star Trek IV worked it out over pizza.

And...over there is where...an augment and his followers
will be left to form a new society. His name will be...Khan.

Back to work, Spock repairs enough of the tricorder to see an obituary for Edith. However, when he shows the display to Kirk, it shows a headline of Edith and FDR having a meeting (no, not that kind of meeting; Edith doesn't seem to be FDR's type). At that moment, the circuitry explodes. They realize that Edith has two possible futures, and Kirk must know whether she is supposed to live or die. After all, he is at Step 5 of Kirk's Long Term Romantic Plan.

Meanwhile, Bones finally shows and startles one of the bums from the soup kitchen. He's still crazy and begins to break down upon thinking about 20th Century medicine, when people were "cut and sewn like garments" (which he'll later see in Star Trek IV). Hey, Bones, no offense, but while it wasn't the best medicine possible, it was still all we had! After he passes out, the bum takes his phaser and accidentally kills himself. Just goes to show how stupid American bums are. Around this time, German bums were hired by the mob to track the child killer Peter Lorre on the streets of Berlin!

In what you'd expect, Bones heads over to the same soup kitchen Kirk and Spock are at. He's taken away by Edith just as Spock enters the room. After that, Spock reveals the true extent of what happens if Edith lives. Her peace movement will influence President Roosevelt and thus delay America's entrance into World War II. Without American involvement, Germany will have enough time to complete the atomic bomb and with the V2 rockets, the Nazis will conquer the world. Before I continue, I'd like to point out that there is a novel out there about McCoy's life after he gets trapped and realizes his mistake when America doesn't enter the war; he ends up getting killed by Japanese occupation forces.

I'd like to say that this scenario is fairly far fetched. One, America did not cause Germany's defeat; it only accelerated it. Hitler lost the war the moment he decided that invading Russia would be a good idea. Two, even if Hitler completed his nukes, the resolve of Churchill and Stalin was so great that (assuming they were at some conference when London and Moscow were destroyed) they would only bide their time while they completed their own nuclear weapons and nuked Berlin in response. Three, the V2 rockets carried a warhead that weighed 2200 pounds. Little Boy, the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, weighed 9000 pounds. As they were first used in 1944, it would have taken a year or two to adapt the rockets to carry a heavier payload (even longer to complete the V3 intercontinental rocket), and with no landing at Normandy, more resources would be sent out to hold the Eastern Front. Unless, of course, Hitler was getting help from aliens and they gave him advanced weapons like plasma rifles...

Some might argue that because the US had "peace negotiations", Nazi Germany did not start the war until they were technologically advanced, but the line "enter the war" means it was going on without US intervention.

So, Kirk reveals to Spock that he is in love with Edith. It must be love, as he has yet to have sex with her. So, there you have it. Does Kirk let her live, and allow the Nazis to potentially win (unlikely) World War II, or does he let her die?

Wait...aren't movies solely for porn?

Meanwhile, Bones starts to get better and decides that while he might still be hallucinating, he's decided that Edith isn't part of it. She says she'll be pleased to help him out later, but her "young man" (oh, 30s talk) is taking her to see a Clark Gable movie. Bones surprises her by not knowing who Clark Gable is. Fun fact: Clark Gable was not an A-List actor in 1930. The shooting script originally said "a Richard Dix movie", but at the last minute they decided that no one would probably remember who he was.

Kirk and Edith head out to the movie theater. He surprises her by not knowing who Clark Gable is either. I'll need to nitpick this scene. When I watch it, I assume he says "what?" because it was noisy outside. Besides, when they made plans for their date, wouldn't Edith have said she wanted to see the "Clark Gable movie"? But still, it's the 60s; most animated shows are based on one or two jokes and over on some British show, they built the most evil creature with a salt shaker and a toilet plunger.

Upon hearing McCoy's name, Kirk runs back across the street and calls out for Spock. At that moment, Bones comes downstairs. Bro-hugs all around! However, Edith seems lost in a trance as she walks across and gets hit by a truck. With history restored, Kirk, Spock, and Bones are returned to their original time (a few seconds after they left). The Guardian offers more adventures across time...and SPACE!!! But, the Guardian should learn that you never cheat Kirk out of sex. He orders them to leave and the Guardian is neeeeeeever brought up again (probably a good reason).

So, how does City on the Edge of Forever hold up? Well, the dialogue can be a bit cheesy at times and if you have the original version, there's the 60s era production feel to it. But still, I feel this episode is part of the original series at its best. It tackles a fairly deep issue: do you alter history to save someone you love, even if it will mean the deaths of millions? Bill and Leonard turn in solid performances (so much YOU forget...about Kirk's...pauses when SPEAK...ing), and provide some wonderful humour in the policeman scene. I strongly recommend this episode if you're looking for a quiet night of classic Trek in its prime.

Score for the episode: 9/10