15. Balance of TerrorWHY WE LIKE IT: The Romulans are cooooool.
WHY WE DON'T: A botched last appearance for Grace Lee Whitney's Yeoman Rand.
REVIEW: Like The Corbomite Maneuver, this is a shipboard episode dealing with first contact with an alien species, again featuring a navigator that has problems with the Captain's orders. Despite these similarities, it all turns out very differently.
The introduction of the Romulans to the series is excellent. The basics are there: a culture based on glory, ambition and politics. The invisible ship and destruction of 4 outposts speaks to their treachery as well. The Romulan Commander, brilliantly played by Mark Lenard, is an oddity among Romulans. He's actually an honorable man. We really feel for this soldier ordered to do a duty he finds repugnant, who loses a friend during the battle and must make the ultimate sacrifice by the end.
The revelation that the Romulans are Vulcanoid makes more sense than all the humanoid species in the galaxy, since Vulcans had space travel long before humans did, and it sets up Stiles' prejudice. Kirk immediately jumps to his friend's defense in a great moment. Here, there's no room for prejudice - an interesting mirror to Kirk's later attitudes towards the Klingons.
The commitment to showing shipboard life is still in effect, with the well-remembered wedding ceremony, and thanks to the unlucky couple, the weapons room operations. Kirk's walk down the corridor as the credits start to roll after he's spoken with Martine is a strong, subtle handling of the captain dealing with casualties and the pressures of command. Sulu comes off as a respected adviser and Uhura shows she can hold the navigator's position.
Too bad that Yeoman Rand couldn't have been as effective (even Scotty gets to walk a girl down the aisle), especially since this is her last aired episode. The most she does here is give Kirk an inappropriate hug on the bridge. Where's the sharp character I actually liked and respected in Charlie X?
But that's minor, as are any problems with this tight military thriller. The physics are bizarre and often dictated by the parallels to submarine warfare (they run silent as if voices could be heard across the void, their phasers are really torpedoes to give the effect of depth charges, the Enterprise outruns a plasma blast as if it were a torpedo, etc.), the Romulans are awkwardly based on the Roman empire, and I've never really understood the title. You forget all that when you watch it. Great acting, good model shots, and a real chess game between the commanders makes you disregard the flaws.
LESSON: It's quite ok for a superior officer to hug or marry you. He's quite a catch, after all!
REWATCHABILITY - High: It's really too bad the Romulans so seldom returned in the original series and movies, but what makes them great here is their commander, a definitely atypical member of the species.
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