Star Trek 1x09 Balance of Terror

I’ll bet you look beautiful in it.

That would be me. Yeah. Me.

Requires clarification.

Or pictures. Pictures would work.

so what time are we starting the next one?

Anyone need a break?

What I liked about this episode (didn’t make the live frak party, sorry!) was that Stiles is proof (albeit unpleasant proof) that, back in the day, Gene Roddenberry’s protests notwithstanding, humans of the 23rd century could still be imperfect, and you could still have real dramatic conflict among the crew.

And speaking of… Kirk having a heart-to-heart with McCoy, second-guessing himself? This just shows that the stereotype of Kirk as full-steam-ahead, I’m-so-awesome machismo was not always the case, either.

Also interesting that Angela’s “I’m all right” at the end makes no sense unless you take her apparently devout religion into account. Probably one of the few times religion was shown in at least a neutral light in any Trek.

This is a great episode – far better than I remembered. Good stuff.

Thanks for stopping by, Mike. This was a landmark episode for Star Trek. Everything that made Star Trek great were in it.

Human fraility and ability to overcome our fears (Kirk’s vulnerablity scene)

Bigotry VS. Understanding (Stiles and Spock / Kirk and the Romulan Commander)

Great stuff.

I was also intrigued by how much “canon” about the Romulans actually wasn’t established in this episode. While Spock speculates that the Romulans are “offshoots of [his] Vulcan blood,” he doesn’t definitively say it is so (“and I think this likely” is as close as we get). Also, he speculates they may have “retained their savage ways,” but there is nothing of a division of Vulcan at the time of Surak’s reforms, etc. Also, note that though Kirk says “Romulus and Remus” in his captain’s log, the star chart says “Romulus and Romii.”

Anyway, was the Romulan backstory established in “The Enterprise Incident,” or not until much later on-screen, like sometime in TAS or TNG?

So that’s our first glimpse of the Romulans.

It wasn’t what I expected.

However, I really enjoyed the episode, it reminded me of some of my favorite later Trek (and how the Romulans have changed… or not).

It’s one of the best Original Series episodes and a favorite of mine.

Me too. Romulan Commander character is great. He’s no “black hat” villain.