Star Trek TOS: Balance of Terror

[Dan From Smithville]

This was and continues to be one of my favorite episodes from Star Trek. I remember first watching it when I was very small and couldn't really understand what was happening.

But on later viewings, one thing that seemed clear was the Kirk must have been one of the luckiest Starfleet captains there ever was. On several occasions, he's shooting at a cloaked Romulan ship, firing blind, yet hits him every time.

An interesting side bit in this episode is that it starts off with two crew members about to get married in the Enterprise chapel, with Captain Kirk officiating and Scotty giving away the bride. Two crew members from the forward phaser room - which is strange because in other episodes, they fire phasers directly from the bridge. There is no "forward phaser room."

Another character in this episode who figured prominently was Lt. Stiles, who only appeared in this episode, though his character appears in some works of fan fiction. This was also Mark Lenard's first appearance in Star Trek, playing the role of the Romulan captain.

But Kirk was awfully lucky, when you really look at it.

Kirk was definitely lucky in many ways. Except tribbles. They overwhelmed him.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

One of the best episodes and perhaps my favorite DS9 episode involves the Romulans. "In the Pale Moonlight" is when Sisko conspires to get the Romulans into the war against the Dominion. Romulan ships have much improved at that point.

I think that was one of the best episodes of the entire corpus...

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I was just rewatching this episode last night, and I didn't think about it before, but there's a scene where Captain Kirk is lying on his bunk in his quarters. Yeoman Rand just walks in, without ringing the door chime, and asks if he wants something from the galley. Then Dr. McCoy just walks right in afterward. I remember reading somewhere that the writers didn't want a relationship between Kirk and Yeoman Rand in order for him to be free to pursue all of his alien love interests. But they always seemed to have these moments. I also heard that Grace Lee Whitney left the show because of Gene Roddenberry.

As a boy, she was a character that attracted my interest.

I was reading that her departure (contractual release) was due to substance abuse. Roddenberry seemed to lament the loss.

Janice Rand - Wikipedia.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I think that was one of the best episodes of the entire corpus...

I thought it was a very good story and would be so regardless of the military setting. Sisko compromising his values in order to win the bigger picture is something many people have faced in this world. That it ate at him while being pleased with the result at the same time was believable and well performed situation.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This may be one of the nicest threads I've read in a while. We should have Star Trek threads more often perhaps.

You all have a good evening. This old man has to get some sleep.

 

[Stevicus]

Kirk was definitely lucky in many ways. Except tribbles. They overwhelmed him.