WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#9: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 1, episode 14 "Balance of Terror"
Written by Paul Schneider, directed by Vincent McEveety.
Stardates 1709.2 through 1709.6 (December 2266)
"You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could've called you 'friend.'" - Romulan Commander
Earth outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone are suddenly going silent. The Enterprise is rushing to rendezvous with Earth Outpost 4 when it, too, stops transmitting. They manage to send one final message, that they were attacked by an unknown vessel, just before it is completely destroyed. This unknown vessel is strongly believed to be Romulan in origin. It not only possesses a deadly new type of weapon, but can make itself invisible. Captain Kirk must find a way to engage and stop this rampaging ship without jeopardizing the Enterprise and its crew or starting an interstellar war.
Originally released: 15 December 1966
"Balance of Terror" on Memory Alpha
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What did you think?
We need some more commenters on these. 2.3k subscribers, but very few have seen TOS, I take it?
Anyway, not sure what to add about this Top Ten classic, as so many words have already been spilled. The idea of the ep being like a WW2 sub battle appeals to me a lot.
The idea to launch the Romulans as straight up ancient Romans in space is pretty fun, but I guess I understand why they modified that dynamic in TNG, as it could probably get kinda ridiculous with continued usage.
Mark Lenard's performance was certainly magnificent, and too bad they couldn't have brought his commander character back, somehow. Sarek was a very good character of course, but Lenard was even better as the commander IMO.
The very ending, with Kirk delicately consoling the young widow, then striding forward in to the corridor, with horns piercing the air, was both moving and powerful. Spoke volumes to me about war, loss, suffering, and moving on...
I’ve seen all of Star Trek several times.
Und was haben Sie über diese Folge gedacht?
Hier gibt es auch eine gute Übersicht:
https://youtu.be/Wec-1zCRmcI
Oh yeah, that's a nice commentary!
And no, I don't actually speak "Alemagne." But... when I feel my French is strong enough, I really would like to learn as much Deutsche as I can handle. Now, of course much of that flows out of the fact that modern English is almost entirely built out of ancient West-Germanic, with Norman-French layered on top, some centuries later.
It's like... reading and speaking modern English downright teases me with so much French and German in terms of the words, the sentence... just everything. I feel like I must figure out this mystery, some way or the other! lol
Die Folge ist eine der besten aus TOS und auch eine der besten Folgen überhaupt. Sie hat sich einen ikonischen Soundtrack mit einem Motiv, das immer mal wieder verwendet wurde:
https://youtu.be/dshZSN5O3-g