Another good episode with no Shatner mockery score worth mentioning.\u00a0 In this episode, the Enterprise is operating close to the Romulan Neutral Zone and has to come in aid of the border surveillance bases that the Federation maintains there.\u00a0 The Romulans have been quiet since a war fought a century ago but a distress call reveals that an invisible ship has destroyed three of the bases.\u00a0 Surveilling the mystery ship at a distance Kirk discovers that the Romulans have a cloaking device that makes their ship almost indetectable and they have a super weapon that no shield can stop.\u00a0 But he also finds their weaknesses.\u00a0 While cloaked the ship cannot use its weaponry and the Romulan ship does not possess warp drive but must proceed at the slow speeds of an impulse engine.\u00a0 While eavesdropping on a Romulan transmission they discover that Romulans look like Vulcans and are indeed an offshoot of Mr. Spock\u2019s home planet.\u00a0 And he informs Kirk that these people are not like the modern logical peaceful Vulcans but instead are fearsome warriors.<\/p>\n
Kirk and the Romulan commander play a cat and mouse game in which each tries to anticipate the actions of the other and get the advantage needed to survive.\u00a0 There are several twists and turns and also tension within the Enterprise as an officer whose family was decimated during the century old war with the Romulans suspects Mr Spock of loyalties toward his distant kinsmen.<\/p>\n
For fans of old WW II submarine movies, you\u2019ll see some of the same tactics used here.\u00a0 At one point the enemy jettisons some materials as debris to fool the Enterprise into thinking the Romulan ship had been destroyed.\u00a0 In another scene silent running is used to fool the enemy into thinking the Enterprise is incapacitated.<\/p>\n
The whole episode is very capably scripted and the acting is some of the best seen in the series.\u00a0 The actor who plays the Romulan Commander, Mark Lenard went on to play Spock\u2019s father in a later episode and in several of the movies.\u00a0 The interplay between Kirk and the Romulan Commander is the highlight of the show and the final conversation between them is an excellent set piece that Shatner performed admirably and in an unusually understated style.\u00a0 No exaggerated emoting going on.<\/p>\n
This is a 9\/\/0 episode.\u00a0 Well done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Another good episode with no Shatner mockery score worth mentioning.\u00a0 In this episode, the Enterprise is operating close to the Romulan Neutral Zone and has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,4,244,2149,240],"tags":[2274,2150,38,1355,44,309,265,1691,293,154,1692,837],"class_list":["post-9658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-star-trek","category-tv-reviews","tag-balance-of-terror","tag-gene-roddenberry","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-sci-fi","tag-sci-fi-tv-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-sff-tv-show-reviews","tag-star-trek","tag-tv-review","tag-tv-reviews","tag-william-shatner"],"yoast_head":"\n