"Balance of Terror - Analyzed" Topic

One of the best battles in Star Trek; we will breakdown the battle between the Enterprise and the Romulan Bird of Prey, as seen in the original series episode, Balance of Terror.

YouTube link

Reminded me of an old WWII movie with Robert Mitchem as a US Destroyer Cpt vs. Kurt Jurgens as a U-Boat Cpt. Forget the name … The Enemy Below … maybe ? Pretty good … both the movie and that ST episode. In all the ST series they needed a little more of that sort of plot/storyline.

Seems to me Star Trek Enterprise had a lot more of those types of episodes. And they even had a military unit called MACOs. That were kind of like Space Marines/Starship Troopers/ODST.

Balance of Terror was, I understand, based on The Enemy Below.

As an exploration Star ship, all guns blazing (armed soldiers) would seem counter productive. Although Kirk may have missed that lecture at the academy.

I think the episode supports the theory that tv is better without all the rush rush, gabble gabble. Many modern scifi writers and characters would not have a clue what silent running is (not just a great film!), where you have long moments of stillness and silence.

Balance of Terror was, I understand, based on The Enemy Below.

I thought so !

As an exploration Star ship, all guns blazing (armed soldiers) would seem counter productive. Although Kirk may have missed that lecture at the academy.

Yes, in Enterprise, as the journey went on they found out that the galaxy is a tough neighborhood. Not everybody wants to be your friend. Even in Enterprise some of the senior leadership mentioned that the ship should have been better armed, etc.

As we see historically with the Europeans landing and exploring the "New World". Not all the locals saw them as explorers but invaders. And in most cases they would have been right.

To peacefully coexist all sides need to agree on it … Again as we saw thru out history and even currently in many places on the globe.

It's analogous to the Age of Exploration on Earth from the 15th- early19th century, when such vessels were heavily armed and often did double duty (or triple duty) as explorers, warships, and diplomatic representatives. The response of natives could be hostile and war against other exploring powers might occur without effective notice. In those days, the captain was, in effect, the government's representative on the spot, and needed to be able to decide between peaceful action or active warfare on a moment's notice, without any possibility of direction from distant authority. Kirk is in a similar situation, tasked with a similar responsibility. The ability to both defend his vessel and project the power of the Federation (if necessary) is indeed essential to his mission. Just because one has arms, doesn't mean one has to use them— but better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.

Although, for the show, it's better to need them and not have them. Writers had to keep taking away their communicators and phasers as it is. Just imaging if they had an army.

"Where is my army?"
"Sorry captain, they have all cone down with an alien fever"
Or "Their uniforms are infested with troubles"
Or "They were caught in a space phenomenon beaming down, and will be stuck in the transporter buffer for the next 45 minutes"

Which is why in this episode the phasers do indeed dramatically malfunction at suspenseful times…

but better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.

Very much so …

Yeah, exploration voyages would be more like those of Captain Cook rather than Captain Kirk. And end the same manner.

Trekkie! Trekkie! Trekkie! Oi! Oi! Oi!