Star Trek: Start to Finish

The Enterprise Incident

The Enterprise Incident (Memory Alpha; HD Video) finds Kirk taking our favorite starship deep into Romulan territory because he was bored. They are immediately surrounded by Romulans.

This episode is incredibly predictable, and continues the long line of episodes where a woman in a major role neglects her duties because she’s smitten. The woman in this case is the Romulan fleet commander, and her neglect lets our heros win the day, but only because they play the woman’s emotions against her. If a Romulan woman came aboard the Enterprise, Kirk would see through the same trick so quickly it wouldn’t be worth building an episode around.

This is all the more shameful because Joanne Linville plays a very interesting Romulan; a warrior and an executive, wanting passion but ambitious. But her bounds as a character shrink with every line she utters. The gender stereotypes slowly eat away at what starts as a command performance until there’s nothing left by my retrospective sadness that this show that was so progressive in so many ways was still held hostage to Gene Roddenberry’s personal vices.

Awesome Dialog

Commander: How could you do this to me? Who are you that you could do this?
Spock: First Officer of the Enterprise.
[She slaps him]
Spock: [Unflinching] What is your present mode of execution?

Two technical notes: First, the Enterprise here goes Warp 9, which should blow the ship up. Second, this episode features a lot of beaming onto and off of shielded ships, which should be impossible.

Grade

D

The Balance of Terror

Balance of Terror (Memory Alpha; HD Video) is the first episode to show the Romulans and the first to show space combat. It feels much more like a modern-day show, with a brisk pace, action, and a serious B-Plot. It is easily the best episode since The Naked Time.

My friend Gabe talks about his racial sensitivity class at work being taught using a Star Trek episode, and this is that episode. Here the Enterprise crew gets humanity’s first glimpse of the Romulans, and to their surprise, they look like Spock. In the episode this causes all sorts of suspicions, and I can see how it would inform a good class, because that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do.

But better is that the Romulans are treated as a worthy enemy. They are not the usual mad scientist or creepy weirdos; they are a race of honorable warriors who follow a call of duty, much like the TNG representation of the Klingons.

The episode proper is a chase with fight scenes interspersed throughout. There are tactics and tricks and discoveries, and it’s got a nice rising tension.

But what made it really good was the B-Plot, about two crewmen whose wedding Kirk is to officiate. Their story adds a new humanity to the crew of the Enterprise beyond just the command staff, and makes you remember that there’s over 400 people aboard.

Grade

A+