"Star Trek" Balance of Terror (1966)

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Writers:

Paul Schneider (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

15 December 1966 (Season 1, Episode 14)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Enterprise must decide on their response when a Romulan ship makes a destructively hostile armed probe of Federation territory.

Plot Keywords:

Urban Legend Vector | Canceled Wedding | Federation | Space | Starship

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 19

6:00 AM

TVLAND

Balance of Terror

#1.14

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Mark Lenard	...	Romulan Commander
Paul Comi	...	Stiles
Lawrence Montaigne	...	Decius
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Yeoman Rand
George Takei	...	Sulu
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Stephen Mines	...	Tomlinson
Barbara Baldavin	...	Angela
Garry Walberg	...	Hansen
John Warburton	...	The Centurion

Runtime:

50 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The first time in "Star Trek" to have the ship's captain perform a marriage ceremony for his crew. Although 20th century naval captains were prohibited from doing this, the writers may have gotten this idea from The African Queen (1951). (see the Goofs section and "Data's Day" of Star Trek: TNG)

Goofs:

Continuity: When the nuclear device is detonated and Enterprise crew members are thrown about the bridge, Lt. Uhura is "thrown" in the opposite direction of all the other crew.

Quotes:

Romulan Commander: [speaking of his opposite number, Captain Kirk] He's a sorcerer, that one! He reads the thoughts in my mind!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Data's Day (#4.11)" (1991)

"The Enemy Below"

Nearly ten years before Desilu Studios chanced Star Trek, Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens were up on the big screen showing the progenitor to one of Star Trek's more famous episodes in the form of a US Navy DDE (destroyer escort) matching wits with a German U-boat in the South Atlantic. This observation was not my own, but made by a good friend who works for another man that publishes a game based on the classic Star Trek franchise.

Classic Roman society is used as a template for Vulcan cousins, and are assigned a nationalistic and expansionist philosophy, again not unlike Nazi Germany post the Imperial regime from which the Kaiser abdicated power after the first world war.

The episode brings a flavor of the classic U-Boat sub hunt to the science fiction audience, and, remarkably, uses a then recently declassified (and still experimental) technology developed by the USAF; the cloaking device. The idea was to mask bombers (notably the B-51 Hustler if I recall correctly... which I may not) as they drove deep into enemy territory to deliver their payload. It was an airborne mimicry of the submarine concept. It's technical details are too lengthy and esoteric to place in this post (that, and I don't recall all of them now :-)), but the concept, down to its actual name, was used in this episode. And, if memory serves, in Lucas's "The Empire Strikes Back" in a throw away line just after the asteroid chase sequence.

The episode, like the movie upon which it borrows, is rife with tension. One mind is pitted against another in a struggle for life and death. Each is duty bound to vanquish the other. They must act upon their orders to ensure their sides victory. Unlike the feature film, Trek's "Balance of Terror" has a definitive victor. I'll let you guess who it is ;-) But there's more than just a simple WW2 tale put into space operating here. Note the title. Note the period in which this episode and show were made; the Cold War. Marry the two, and keep in mind the various proxy wars both US and USSR waged across the globe, and you'll start to see the larger theme.

Yet, with all this high mindedness, with all the military tactical tension, there are personal costs on both sides. It's not the primary focus of both film and episode, but a reminder of the cost of such conflict among fellow living creatures.

Definitely worth seeing again.

Enjoy.