Balance of Terror

For the Cold War policy, see Balance of terror.

"Balance of Terror"

"Balance of Terror", written by Paul Schneider and directed by Vincent McEveety, is a first-season episode of the original Star Trek series that first aired on December 15, 1966. The episode is a science-fiction version of a submarine film; writer Paul Schneider drew on the films Run Silent, Run Deep and The Enemy Below, casting the Enterprise as a surface vessel and the Romulan vessel as a submarine.

This episode introduces the Romulans. Additionally, Mark Lenard, playing the Romulan commander, makes his first Star Trek appearance. Lenard later played Spock's Vulcan father, Sarek, in several episodes and movies, and appears as the Klingon commander in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. These roles made Lenard the first actor to play characters of three prominent Star Trek races.

On September 16, 2006, "Balance of Terror" became the first digitally remastered Star Trek episode, featuring enhanced and new visual effects, to be broadcast.

Plot

The starship USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk is inspecting a line of manned Federation outposts, only to find they are being destroyed by an unknown enemy. The latest to fall is Outpost 4 near the Romulan neutral zone. Lieutenant Commander Spock explains that the neutral zone came into being following the Earth-Romulan War treaty a century earlier. (The map of the neutral zone displayed Romulus as well as a second planet called Romii, despite Kirk's spoken reference to Romulus and Remus). Due to the lack of use of visual communications, the two races have never seen each other and only communicated over subspace radio. Kirk fears the Romulans are preparing for another war.

Kirk discovers that the attacker is a lone Romulan Bird of Prey equipped with a cloaking device. The cloak is not perfect; the Enterprise can track the ship, which is returning home to report on weaknesses in the Federation's defenses. The Enterprise taps into the Romulans' internal security camera, revealing that the Romulans appear identical to Vulcans. Lieutenant Stiles, who had family fight and die in the Earth-Romulan War, begins to suspect the Vulcan Spock of treason.

During a briefing over the Romulan ship's capabilities, Stiles suggests the Enterprise attack the Romulan vessel before it can reach the Neutral Zone. Spock agrees with Stiles' suggestion, believing the Romulans are likely an offshoot of the Vulcans from their age of savage warfare- before the philosophy of logic took hold. Spock reasons that if the Romulans retained Vulcan's pre-logic martial philosophy, they would surely infer weakness in the lack of response from the Federation and launch a full scale war.

A cat-and-mouse game ensues with each ship having its strengths and weaknesses. The Enterprise is faster and more maneuverable, while the Romulan ship has the cloaking device and an arsenal of immensely destructive plasma torpedoes, but their range is limited and firing them requires so much power that the ship must decloak temporarily. The two commanders are soon locked in a battle of wits; at one point the Romulan commander refers to Kirk as a "sorcerer" who can read his thoughts.

In the final act the Romulans, almost beaten, dump a nuclear weapon along with other debris in hope that the Enterprise will get near enough to the weapon to be destroyed. However, Kirk suspects a trap and orders a point-blank phaser shot that detonates the bomb. The Enterprise is badly shaken by the blast; Kirk decides to use this to his advantage, ordering operations to work at minimal power to exaggerate the apparent damage. Although the Romulan ship's fuel is running low, a member of the crew with connections to the Romulan praetor convinces his commander to finish off a seemingly helpless Enterprise. When the Romulan ship decloaks to launch a torpedo, Kirk tries to spring his trap, but an equipment failure leaves the phasers off-line and Mr. Stiles incapacitated. Spock rescues Stiles and fires the phasers in time for the Enterprise to disable the Romulan ship.

Kirk hails the crippled vessel and at last communicates directly with his counterpart, offering to beam aboard the survivors. The Romulan commander declines, saying that it is "not our way" to accept such assistance. The commander expresses regret that he and Kirk live in the way that they do, pointing out that "In a different reality, I could have called you friend". Then, with "one more duty to perform," the commander triggers his ship's self-destruct, preventing its crew and technology from falling into Federation hands.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was digitally remastered in 2006 for high definition television and first aired September 16, 2006 to mark the 40th anniversary of Star Trek's premiere. It was followed next by "Miri" which some network affiliate stations chose to air directly afterward. Aside from remastered video and audio and the newly created all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that are standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode include:

• CGI refinements of the Bird of Prey, showing individual hull plates.
• Phaser bursts and plasma torpedoes have been reworked, and light from the weapons reflects against the Enterprise's hull.
• The comet has been updated, making it look more realistic.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, describing the episode as "one of TOS's strongest, introducing us to a new alien race, as well as providing us with a very important piece of Trek mythology" and noting that "watching Kirk out-maneuver his enemy, even to the point of earning that enemy's respect, is very cool".

Continuity

IDW Publishing published a prequel, Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Romulans and a sequel Star Trek Romulans: The Hollow Crown.

External links

• Balance of Terror at Memory Alpha
• Comparisons of the new "remastered" visual effects
• Script Review
• Balance of Terror screenshots before and after remastering
• Balance of Terror at IMDB