Ep. 9 Balance of Terror

"Balance of Terror" opened with the first Star Trek wedding. Two officers walked down the aisle to "Here Comes the Bride", until, as would become tradition on Star Trek, an emergency interrupts. The red alert klaxon blares. As it would become a running gag on all incarnations of the show, it's fun to see the first instance. And, of course, one of the couple died shortly before the ending credits. Tears. The rest of the episode was a very serious game of cat and mouse between the crew and the previously unseen by humans Romulans.

It is reminiscent of a number of movies, most involving submarines, where enemy commanders hunt in the dark for a hidden enemy. It also invokes the Cold War, with a long stand off between two powerful enemies. It was a drama-packed, great episode. I did find some bizarre occurrences, though. For instance, everyone knew they were at the Neutral Zone, and so should have familiarized themselves with human-Romulan relations. Yet Spock gave everyone on the ship a lesson over the intercom. Of course Spock (or in The Next Generation Data, etc.) had to give this lesson to the viewer, but the whole crew? Really? If anything, just telling Kirk would have sufficed, though the elementary info he gave should have already been known by the entire crew, especially Kirk. Also, the Enterprise was able to outrun an energy weapon? Really? Just how fast can it go? And lastly, was there enough reaction shot to Mark Lenard's reveal? Yes, I know the crew sees for the first time that Romulans look like Vulcans, but it still felt a bit much. I like to pretend that maybe they all noticed the striking similarity to the Romulan commander and photos they had seen of Spock's father, as they were the same actor, but I doubt it, as Spock's father had yet to appear on the series, and it wasn't mentioned. Still, it was a fun time.

RECURRING CHARACTERS:
DeForrest Kelley as McCoy
James Doohan as Scotty
George Takei as Sulu
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Grace Lee Whitney as Rand
Barbara Baldavin as Ensign Angela Martine

NOTABLE GUEST STARS:
Mark Lenard as Romulan Commander
John Warburton as Centurion
Paul Comi as Lieutenant Stiles
Stephen Mines as Lieutenant Robert Tomlinson

Quote:
"I hope we won't need your services, Bones."
"Amen to that." ~ Kirk and McCoy