“Balance of Terror” is written by Paul Schneider and
is directed by Vincent McEveety. It was
filmed under production code 9, was the 14th episode of Star Trek
Season 1, and was broadcast on December 15, 1966.
It is always important when engaging with any piece of
media to pay attention to the time period in which it was made as that will
always inform how it is presented and the context in which it was made. “Balance of Terror” is perhaps the perfect episode
of Star Trek because of this: Paul Schneider provides a tense, one hour
thriller set on the Enterprise exploring the worldbuilding of Star
Trek’s universe. A century before
the show the human race had begun their expansion into the galaxy, coming
across the Romulan empire and through subsequent wars, peace only came with the
establishment of a Neutral Zone and a line of human Federation outposts
guarding one side. At the beginning of “Balance
of Terror” there hasn’t been any contact with the Romulan empire, humans have
forgotten what they look like and the Enterprise has been called in when
the outposts start going dark. A Romulan
ship has breached the Neutral Zone, destroying several of the outposts in an
attempt to bait the Enterprise into breaking the treaty to begin a war. The Cold War becoming hot was always a
possibility and Star Trek was put into production only three years after
the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a decade after Joseph McCarthy’s New Red Scare.
“Balance of Terror” includes a cold open with two crew
members attempting to be married before the Enterprise comes under fire
and the tension of the episode begins. While
it isn’t a long scene and these two characters are single episode characters, it
does go a long way to show a sense of normalcy for the ship in a story where
the danger comes not from exploration, but from an unprovoked source. Reflecting the Cold War scenario, the
conflict between the Enterprise and the Romulan Bird of Prey is a battle
of the minds. The first act of the episode
doesn’t give us a view of the Romulans, just the destruction of one of the
outposts and the death of a survivor to make the viewer completely on the side
of the Romulans. There are hints that a
spy on the Enterprise may have given them information about their weapons,
and when it is revealed that the Romulans as a species are clearly related to
the Vulcans, it is Spock who is believed to be the informant. A lesser script would have an actual
informant, but Schneider errs on the side of being unfounded paranoia, we have
already spent nearly half a season with Spock and know that he would not put
the crew in danger. There is this underlying
bigotry from Stiles, one of the navigators of the episode who lost family in
the previous conflict, and the way the episode is directed at points makes the
viewer question, if only for a moment, if there isn’t a point that Stiles is
making. There is a moment where the Enterprise
powers down and circuits have broken that Spock is fixing and the tension as
he accidentally turns on the power, revealing their position to the Romulans,
briefly, but enough for them to attack. The
second half of the episode is dominated by two performances, William Shatner as
Kirk and Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander.
The exploration of the Romulans as warlike intentionally juxtapose the
peaceful Federation and the Commander and Kirk, while not sharing the screen
for the majority of the episode, create this intense relationship as one
attempts to outthink the other. Lenard’s
final monologue in particular casts this reflective mirror to who Kirk is as a
person, he’s the one making the decisions without the approval of those above
him as a signal sent had not been replied to until the very end of the episode.
Overall, “Balance of Terror” is the second example of
what Star Trek can really do when it is at its best, providing a harrowing
thriller whose one casualty may just be there to have a death that punctuates
the fact that people get hurt. It’s an
episode of suspicion and barely making it out without a scratch and holding up
a mirror to Star Trek’s lead to show that Kirk can go to some very dark
and interesting places. 10/10.
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