Ep. 23 A Taste of Armageddon

The Enterprise goes on a diplomatic mission, but is warned away from the planet. Kirk, Spock, and a small landing party beam down anyway, and are told that the Enterprise has been destroyed in their war, fought on computers, and the crew must report to disintegration chambers to die. Kirk refuses, and is locked up. The planet first tries using Kirk's voice to get the crew down, then fires on the ship, then tries to trick the ship into lowering its shields. None of that works, of course, thanks to Scotty, though the ambassador does manage to beam down. On the planet, Kirk escapes, then is recaptured, before freeing himself and destroying the war computer, making the other planet in the battle think that the first one would begin attacking for real, escalating the war.

This was a fantastic episode, don't get me wrong. It was an intriguing, dramatic story with some great acting. Removing the horror of war, war wages indefinitely. Cool concept, beautifully executed. That being said, this episode had more plot holes than just about any other I have seen. Another starship went missing, as one did in the last episode, and the Enterprise finally goes to investigate, though that is not their primary mission. Does Starfleet not care about their missing ships? A century later there was a massive hunt for Voyager, but in this time, they only have a ship check it out if they happen to be in the area? Really? What was up with Spock using telepathy through a wall to convince a guard to come inside? He never did that again that I can remember! That is one handy skill. How come he didn't reuse it? I also don't understand why Spock and Kirk attacked the disintegration chamber instead of sending the security guard they had with them. Why else would security go if not to engage in offensive or defensive procedures? And since when can the Enterprise not use full phaser power with the shields up? That seriously hinders their ability to fight. Weird. Then Fox left the bridge after giving a few orders, in the middle of the crisis. That made no sense. And why did Kirk set out through the base by himself instead of taking Spock and the security guards with him? Not that I have only complaints. Kudos to Scotty, however, figuring out the plan and thwarting it. That was by far the coolest thing he has done so far in the series. Yay for Bones for backing him up. It was thrilling to see the ship without the two main characters still functioning heroically with the third and fourth in command in charge. And overall, as I said before, fantastic episode.

RECURRING CHARACTERS:
DeForrest Kelley as McCoy
James Doohan as Scotty
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Sean Kenney as DePaul
David L. Ross as Lt. Galloway

NOTABLE GUEST STARS:
Gene Lyons as Ambassador Fox
David Opatoshu as Anan 7
Barbara Babcock as Mea 3

Quote:
"Sir, there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder." ~ Spock, distracting the guard