THE PLOT
When the Enterprise is given a scientific mission to a primitive planet, Kirk is enthusiastic about returning to the site of his very first planetary survey, 13 years earlier. He remembers a peaceful world, where the inhabitants use their very basic weapons only for hunting and never for fighting. But he soon discovers that this ideal world has changed over the past decade. The people from the village are now armed with flint-locks, which should be impossible. When Kirk sees the villagers preparing to ambush a party of the Native American-like hill people, led by Kirk's old friend Tyree (Michael Witney), he intervenes - and Spock is shot.
While Spock is treated on Enterprise, Kirk and McCoy learn that the villagers have been supplied these weapons by Klingons, who hope to install the villagers as puppet rulers of the planet. Tyree refuses to fight under any circumstances, while his ambitious wife Nona (Nancy Kovack) wants the advanced Starfleet weapons that Kirk has access to in order to claim absolute power over the villagers. Kirk now must find a way to re-establish an equal technological footing among the planet's people, hopefully while keeping his old friend alive!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Though not immune to Nona's influence, the extent to which he prizes the Prime Directive keeps him from agreeing to her demands, even under the influence of her "spells." He does agree to provide weapons once he realizes that the Klingons are behind the villagers' development of flint-locks. But his solution is one that appalls McCoy, as his plan is to match the Klingons' weapons advances for the villagers exactly, and to continue exactly matching weapons development. In effect, Kirk creates an ongoing civil war. He counters McCoy's outrage by observing that this maintains the spirit of the Prime Directive, with Starfleet interfering only to exactly balance out the Klingon interference. He adds that while "war isn't much of a life... (at least) it's a life," as opposed to the slaughter the hill people will suffer otherwise.
That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Shot by a primitive flintlock, Spock is in very serious condition, with the ship suffering from a lack of Vulcan biological stores to treat him. Fortunately, one of the ship's doctors, Dr. M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw) has experience treating Vulcans. When Spock orders Nurse Chapel to strike him repeatedly, using the pain to return himself to full consciousness, M'Benga recognizes that this is actually appropriate and acts to forestall interference from Scotty. Once Spock has regained full consciousness, he allows himself no time for recuperation, immediately returning to the bridge to see the situation to its conclusion.
Dr. McCoy: When Kirk is attacked by a Mugatu, a native creature with poisonous fangs, McCoy uses his medical knowledge to keep Kirk alive until Tyree's wife can cure him. He gets a particularly strong scene in which he argues against Kirk's solution to the Klingon interference. McCoy observes that Kirk's idea of supplying Tyree's people with the same weaponry as the villagers, and advancing those weapons to match every advance the Klingons provide, will result in a civil war that will go on for "year after year, massacre after massacre!" DeForest Kelly excels at playing McCoy's outrage at the thought of such a protracted and bloody war.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Nona (Nancy Kovacks) is ambitious and ruthless. What she wants most is power for herself. She probably married Tyree in the first place because she saw his status among the Hill People as her best path to power. When she sees McCoy using his phaser to heat the rocks to keep Kirk warm, she pounces on the idea of Tyree's men having those weapons. As Kirk persists in refusing to give her what she wants, she eventually abandons the idea of loyalty to Tyree. She first attempts to seduce Kirk into doing as she wishes, then steals his phaser and offers it (and, presumably, herself) to the leader of the villagers so that she can rule once they win the conflict. Kovacks provides a very good performance, emphasizing both the character's sensual nature and her ruthlessness. She effectively is Lady Macbeth, only with more sex and less conscience.
The Klingons: In Errand of Mercy, the Klingons were simply conquerors, fighting their enemies directly while ruling their conquered lands with brutality. Here, we see a refinement of the (ineffective) use they were put to in Friday's Child. They are working covertly to set up puppet governments, picking a side in a civil war and making sure that their side wins, while not giving their side a level of technology that would actually make them troublesome to the Klingons. The Klingons actually aren't much seen, they are more memorable here than they were with "Inept Klingon!" in Friday's Child.
When the Enterprise is given a scientific mission to a primitive planet, Kirk is enthusiastic about returning to the site of his very first planetary survey, 13 years earlier. He remembers a peaceful world, where the inhabitants use their very basic weapons only for hunting and never for fighting. But he soon discovers that this ideal world has changed over the past decade. The people from the village are now armed with flint-locks, which should be impossible. When Kirk sees the villagers preparing to ambush a party of the Native American-like hill people, led by Kirk's old friend Tyree (Michael Witney), he intervenes - and Spock is shot.
While Spock is treated on Enterprise, Kirk and McCoy learn that the villagers have been supplied these weapons by Klingons, who hope to install the villagers as puppet rulers of the planet. Tyree refuses to fight under any circumstances, while his ambitious wife Nona (Nancy Kovack) wants the advanced Starfleet weapons that Kirk has access to in order to claim absolute power over the villagers. Kirk now must find a way to re-establish an equal technological footing among the planet's people, hopefully while keeping his old friend alive!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Though not immune to Nona's influence, the extent to which he prizes the Prime Directive keeps him from agreeing to her demands, even under the influence of her "spells." He does agree to provide weapons once he realizes that the Klingons are behind the villagers' development of flint-locks. But his solution is one that appalls McCoy, as his plan is to match the Klingons' weapons advances for the villagers exactly, and to continue exactly matching weapons development. In effect, Kirk creates an ongoing civil war. He counters McCoy's outrage by observing that this maintains the spirit of the Prime Directive, with Starfleet interfering only to exactly balance out the Klingon interference. He adds that while "war isn't much of a life... (at least) it's a life," as opposed to the slaughter the hill people will suffer otherwise.
That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Shot by a primitive flintlock, Spock is in very serious condition, with the ship suffering from a lack of Vulcan biological stores to treat him. Fortunately, one of the ship's doctors, Dr. M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw) has experience treating Vulcans. When Spock orders Nurse Chapel to strike him repeatedly, using the pain to return himself to full consciousness, M'Benga recognizes that this is actually appropriate and acts to forestall interference from Scotty. Once Spock has regained full consciousness, he allows himself no time for recuperation, immediately returning to the bridge to see the situation to its conclusion.
Dr. McCoy: When Kirk is attacked by a Mugatu, a native creature with poisonous fangs, McCoy uses his medical knowledge to keep Kirk alive until Tyree's wife can cure him. He gets a particularly strong scene in which he argues against Kirk's solution to the Klingon interference. McCoy observes that Kirk's idea of supplying Tyree's people with the same weaponry as the villagers, and advancing those weapons to match every advance the Klingons provide, will result in a civil war that will go on for "year after year, massacre after massacre!" DeForest Kelly excels at playing McCoy's outrage at the thought of such a protracted and bloody war.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Nona (Nancy Kovacks) is ambitious and ruthless. What she wants most is power for herself. She probably married Tyree in the first place because she saw his status among the Hill People as her best path to power. When she sees McCoy using his phaser to heat the rocks to keep Kirk warm, she pounces on the idea of Tyree's men having those weapons. As Kirk persists in refusing to give her what she wants, she eventually abandons the idea of loyalty to Tyree. She first attempts to seduce Kirk into doing as she wishes, then steals his phaser and offers it (and, presumably, herself) to the leader of the villagers so that she can rule once they win the conflict. Kovacks provides a very good performance, emphasizing both the character's sensual nature and her ruthlessness. She effectively is Lady Macbeth, only with more sex and less conscience.
The Klingons: In Errand of Mercy, the Klingons were simply conquerors, fighting their enemies directly while ruling their conquered lands with brutality. Here, we see a refinement of the (ineffective) use they were put to in Friday's Child. They are working covertly to set up puppet governments, picking a side in a civil war and making sure that their side wins, while not giving their side a level of technology that would actually make them troublesome to the Klingons. The Klingons actually aren't much seen, they are more memorable here than they were with "Inept Klingon!" in Friday's Child.
THOUGHTS
OK, Nona's "cure" for Kirk has to be commented upon. With her undoing his shirt, then thrashing around over him while moaning out her incantations, it was impossible for me to keep a straight face during that scene. As close to a sex scene as 1960's Trek could have come, complete with Nona having an apparent orgasm at the end of the "treatment."
A few adolescent giggles aside, this is a thoughtful and interesting episode. The parallels with the then-escalating Vietnam War are quite obvious, but Kirk states his case for matching one puppet army with another - essentially fighting a human/Klingon war by proxy - in such a way that it's persuasive. Of course, the situation is deliberately loaded. The Klingons have clearly interfered before Kirk ever got here, and the hill people are obviously doomed without assistance. But it's still a compelling presentation of a situation not dissimilar to that which would come to dominate too much of foreign policy (for East and West alike) for far too long a time.
Tyree, the pacificist who must be made to see the necessity of war, could be a compelling character. Unfortunately, the actor is bland and he is given very little interesting material. His final scene, in which he picks up the gun and determines to use it, renders his pacifism a fairly shallow value, a position to be abandoned the instant someone dear to him is killed. Making him into a true, Gandhi-like figure might make his story more tragic and compelling, if even at the end he refuses to fight and is clearly doomed to be an early casualty. As it stands, he's a straw man, arguing foolishly against a necessary conflict, his arguments there only to be toppled by The Wisdom of Kirk.
The blandness of Tyree keeps the episode from being all it could be. But there are some truly memorable scenes: the Spock/Chapel slapping scene, the Kirk/McCoy argument, and Kirk's sadness at a solution that he knows is far from perfect, all make this an episode that lingers in the mind. Marc Daniels proves again why he was Trek's best director, and the script is well-paced and intelligent. Not one of Trek's greats, as it might have been, but still very good.
Rating: 8/10.
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