A Taste of Armageddon
A Taste of Armageddon (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is a thought experiment about what would happen if we didn’t listen to General William Tecumsah Sherman:
War is cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
The people of NGC 321 have reformed their war so that it is clean and efficient; simulated bombs tick off casualty counts, and the “dead” report to disintegration chambers. The culture lives on.
This episode is completely uneven. The concept is fantastic. The execution is problematic. The acting is great in some scenes, but can’t get over the lame dialog in other scenes. But in those great scenes, we get some great stuff:
Spock: There is a certain scientific logic to it, Captain.
Anan 7: I’m glad you approve.
Spock: I do not approve; I understand.Spock: Sir, there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder. [Nerve pinch!]
Scotty: The best diplomat I know is a fully-activated phaser bank.
McCoy: Well, Scott, now you’ve done it.
Scotty: Aye, the haggis is in the fire, for sure.Anan 7: What kind of monster are you?
Kirk: [With flair] I’m a barbarian. You said it yourself.
And some terrible stuff:
- Spock: Limited telepathic capabilities are inherent in Vulcanians, captain.
Kirk: Do your best.
[Spock proceeds to mind-control some guy through a wall]
This is the first time they mentioned the “United Federation of Planets,” but at this point it’s just some group this ambassador belongs to. His order supersede Kirk’s, so there’s obviously something there, but it’s ill-defined.
All in all, this episode has great promise and largely fails to live up to it. It drops one entire plot half-way through (Mea 3, where are you?). But it tries really, really hard, and I’m going to reward the effort.
Grade
B-
