TOS - 1.24 - A Taste Of Armageddon

The Enterprise is on a diplomatic mission to Eminiar VII only to discover that it is in the midst of a centuries long war with a neighbouring planet. There is a surprise to Kirk and his crew, since there is no evidence of this. It turns out that the war is being fought by computers which calculate the effects of virtual attacks in terms of the number of casualties within the population who then willingly submit to disintegration. This arrangement allows the war to be fought whilst leaving the civilisation intact. Kirk becomes directly involved when the ship is deemed to be a casualty of the latest attack and the Eminians demand that the crew surrender and be killed.

This episode is certainly built around an intriguing concept and it is interesting that it comes shortly after the Federation’s Prime Directive of non-interference has been established. I can very much imagine a Next Generation version of the episode in which Picard grapples with finding a way of saving his crew whilst avoiding direct interference in the affairs of the planet. But that’s not what happens here – Kirk makes his distaste for what is going on very clear and he is soon doing his best to stop things, first destroying disintegration chambers and ultimately threatening to destroy everything on the planet (I was expecting this to be a bluff but this seems not to be the case since Scotty seems to know exactly what General Order 24 involves and there has been no opportunity for him to pre-arrange a deception with Kirk). It turns out that Kirk is right in his theory that the computer war is making things too easy and the two planets have had no reason to seek peace and so his actions could end up saving thousands of lives in the future, but his actions all do seem somewhat heavy handed. Given that the episode was made in the midst of the Vietnam War and whilst the Cold War was intensifying, it does manage to avoid being overwhelmed by its anti-war sentiments. I think a lot of this comes from the fact that, despite the huge stakes, the episode features its fair share of humorous lines in the midst of the drama (such as Spock’s reaction when bursting into the council chamber to rescue Kirk only to find that the captain has already gained the upper hand). We do end on another big speech from Kirk at the end, about how humans must understand that they are killers and decide not to follow these instincts, but I actually found this one very effective.

After “The Return Of The Archons”, it is nice that we get a proper science fiction society with the Eminians rather than some unexplained Earth history throwback. It is interesting that all of the Eminians that we meet have a name with a number, which seems to be illustrative of a dehumanising element to the society and making people more compliant when submitting to suicide. Unfortunately, there are some questionable design choices on the planet – the men have odd costumes with different covered legs that makes them look reminiscent of Thunderbirds puppets (with added silly hats for the guards) whereas Mea-3 appears to be wearing something made out of a curtain, albeit one that is positioned to barely maintain her dignity.

It is interesting that Kirk faces two antagonists within the episode, both of which actually survive and go on to grow as characters. Anan-7, the Eminian leader, is a suitably devious foe, doing whatever he can to maintain the status quo but it is difficult not to sympathise with his position, at least at first. This contrasts with Ambassador Robert Fox, another stubborn civilians who orders Kirk around without and is very much cut from the same cloth as High Commissioner Ferris from “The Galileo Seven”. However, Ferris did at least have a point in the earlier episode. Fox is particularly here unlikeable since he doesn’t seem to have a clue what he is doing, but he is at least humbled when he realises that he has been wrong about the Eminians is rescued from absorption by the Enterprise crew.

This is a particularly notable episode for Scotty, with the Chief Engineer having a number of good moments, particularly showing his intelligence in working out that the communications from Kirk have been faked, and then later standing up to Ambassador Fox. James Doohan certainly makes the most of being let out of engineering and we can see him becoming a much more important member of the cast.

Planetary Gazetteer

Eminiar VII: The principal planet in star cluster NGC 321. It is an advanced civilisation that has had space flight for several centuries but its inhabitants have never left their own star system, presumably due to the distractions of the war that it has been fighting for 500 years. It is ruled by a High Council that is headed by the First Councilman.

Vendikar: The planet with which Eminiar VII is at war. It is the third planet in the Eminiar system and it was originally established as colony by the Eminians. The origins of the war are never explained.

Starship Spotting

The USS Valiant made contact with Eminiar VII fifty years previously but it then disappeared. It is implied that it was a casualty of the war.
General Observations

• Three Stardates are given in the episode – 3192.1, 3192.5 and 3193.0. The last of these is notable since it is in a log by Scotty rather than Kirk or Spock.
• This is the first episode to give the full name of the United Federation of Planets, expanding from the mention of the Federation in “Arena”.
• Sulu does not appear in the episode; the fact that Scotty is left in command implies that he isn’t even on the ship at this point. Sulu’s position at the helm is taken by Lt DePaul with Sean Kenney reprising the role from “Arena” (where DePaul was a navigator rather than helmsman). Another returning character is Yeoman Tamura (played by Miko Mayama), who had appeared briefly in "The Return Of The Archons" (although the character had not been named there). She appears to be part of the security team that accompanies Kirk and Spock in the landing party, along with Galloway and Osborne. Yet again, all of these red shirts survive the episode indicating that that particular cliché has not yet taken hold.
• The episode gives Spock another intriguing ability in which he is seen to be able to mentally influence an Eminian guard to get him to open the door to the crew’s cell. He again refers to himself as a “Vulcanian” (rather than Vulcan as we later become established).
• I’m unclear how Ambassador Fox and his anonymous companion are able to beam down to Eminiar VII since this is still the point at which Scotty is refusing to drop the Enterprise’s shields and the Eminians are waiting for him to do this so that they can shoot the starship down.