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Old 12-15-2016, 03:54 PM
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December 15th, 1966, "Balance of Terror"

The fiver (by Zeke)
Memory Alpha Page
Transcript

The episode:

* I understand that exposition on the Earth/Romulan War had to be given, but did Spock really have to give a Powerpoint presentation to the entire crew? Couldn't a Captain's Log have covered the brunt of the exposition, followed by the senior staff discussion in the conference room?
* In this instance I can understand why an external character like Stiles was needed; having Sulu (for example) suddenly becoming suspicious of Spock would be really weird.
* How could the Enterprise have Romulan spies aboard? Sure, technically Klingon, Romulan, Orion, etc. spies could be on board at any time, but paranoia can be dangerous.
* Kirk should've kicked Stiles off the bridge and reprimanded him immediately upon the first word of suspicion toward Spock. It will take millennia if ever to eliminate generic cultural prejudice, but "Spock looks like the enemy" equals "Spock IS the enemy" goes beyond that into "ban this guy from starship duty forever" behavior.
* I'll save discussion of the name of Mark Lenard's character for later in this post, but I'll state in this section confusion that neither Romulan commander was named. Every speaking Klingon character, no matter how minor, was given a name. People who had a tenth of Mark's lines have names, and he doesn't? That's hooey.
* I wish the Romulan plasma weapon could've been seen more often. Surely the mechanism could've been built into the Klingon cruisers seen later under Romulan control, and the few new shots could've been reused endlessly.
* I hope Scotty was wrong in saying that the Romulans had no warp drive. Anyone who would say that had no concept of the vastness of space.
* Rand is on the bridge to record the crew's actions. Odd, since we already know a camera is on the bridge for communications purposes.
* I always loved McCoy's speech on the vastness of space and the importance of the individual. I'll have to find a clip of that for the YouTube section.
* I always thought the resolution of the Stiles/Spock conflict rather forced and arbitrary. Ugh.

The Fiver:

Spock: It's gone again. The Romulans must have found a way to render their ship transparent.
Kirk: Clearly.
Spock: (glare) Fortunately, our motion sensor is still picking up a faint blip, making the whole thing rather pointless. We should be able to pursue them.
Kirk: Perfect! Stiles, set a course that mimics their movements. We're just a blip to them too, so they should think we're just a harmless space bee playing follow the leader.
Spock: That logic is unsound, Captain. An invisible ship may still be able to see other ships, just as a man with his hands over his eyes is still visible.
Kirk: (gasp) You can see me when I do that?

Gasp!

Commander: There's room for two ships in here? This must be, like, the biggest comet ever.

Indeed.

Commander: Centurion!
Centurion: You are... a child... of Valen... GAK!
Commander: That was just confusing. And vengeance-inspiring! Strike them down! Kill them! All of them! No mercy!

I had to look this one up. Valen is a Bablyon 5 character. Um, yeah, I think my disregard for B5 is on record, so let's move on...

Spock: Unfortunately, we cannot fire phasers again until our first three shots leave the screen.

That sounds like a video game reference, but which one?

Stiles: Warp 14... Warp 15...
Spock: The enemy shot has reached Warp 40!
Kirk: That's just ridiculous. Ideas? Anyone? Uhura?
Uhura: We could separate the saucer at warp, then turn around and surrender.
Kirk: Ahh, so there is a reason I don't talk to you.

"Encounter at Farpoint" reference, that's unexpected.

Decius: The humans have gone mad! They're firing at random!
Commander: Hmmm... maybe we can trick them. Load up some debris and the centurion's body and fire them into space. And then clear out your desk, you're fired.
Decius: The commander has gone mad! He's firing at random!

Ugh, that punchline. My sides, how they ache...

Kirk: Rats! Well, I won't let myself be distracted again. Where's the enemy ship?
Spock: We've, um, lost the signal. Now I know you'll be mad, but LOOK OVER THERE!
Kirk: WHERE?

Should've gone the Princess Bride route and used "What in the world can that be!"

Commander: Well, that worked out nicely. Let's go home.
Decius: We're not going to finish them off? Lame.
Commander: Yes, I know they're crippled, but --
Decius: That was also lame.

There go my sides again...

Memory Alpha:

* I do like that the words Kirk used during the wedding were reused by Picard during the O'Brien wedding in "Data's Day."

Memory Beta:

* The Star Trek Trading Card Game gives the Romulan Commander the name "Keras", an anagram of Sarek. Most other sources, including the excellent Romulan comics by John Byrnne, leave him unnamed just like Number One.

YouTube clips:

* The climax, including the Romulan's final speech.
* McCoy's "don't destroy the one named Kirk" speech.
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