Balance of Terror

Kirk and the Enterprise encounter a Romulan ship near the neutral zone.

This is one of the most enjoyable episodes of the original series with a great plot, fantastic character moments and a number of memorable performances.

I have seen Balance of Terror several times and it never fails to grip me. As others have referenced, it is based on the 1957 war film 'The Enemy Below' and wonderfully applied within the Start Trek universe. The tension created throughout the tactical battle between Kirk and the Romulan Commander is some of the best in the franchise.

Written during the sixties, it is full of highly relevant themes of the era, such as the Cold War tensions between two opposing superpowers and the personnel serving at the front lines. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of command and the pressure of decisions that could provoke conflict. Racial tensions and xenophobia are also in focus in some of the most emotive scenes.

Several of Star Trek's most memorable character moments are seen in this episode from both regular and guest characters. Spock, Bones and Lt. Stiles have strong moments of dialogue, antagonism and heroic action, whilst Kirk is the tower of strength holding it all together. On board the Romulan vessel Decius and the Centurion are equally compelling with their Commander brilliantly mirroring the same strengths as Kirk.

All cast performances are excellent, but William Shatner and Mark Lenard command the screen as much as their ships and crew.

For me it is one of the greatest Star Trek episodes and if it was a more original story I would consider it a perfect episode of television. I rate it as a 9.5/10, but I round upwards.

Despite all the hoopla about THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES episode, THE BALANCE OF TERROR might just be the best episode of the series. And, while I have always loved A PIECE OF THE ACTION because it is so much fun, I really do have to cast my vote as this Romulan episode as being the very best.

The episode interestingly enough, is really like a WWII submarine movie in that it bounces back and forth between the cloaked Romulan ship and the Enterprise as it seeks to destroy the Romulans before they sneak back across the Neutral Zone after a raid on Federation outposts. In so many ways, the show is much like the film THE ENEMY BELOW--where the American Captain (Robert Mitchum) and the German Captain (Curt Jurgens) are shown in counter-point as they both try to outwit the other--and in the process develop a grudging respect for their foe.

Interestingly enough, the episode is confined to the Enterprise--and this is amazing because an episode on board ship could easily have been static and dull. But, because the writing was so fantastic and the main characters written and acted so well (Shatner and Mark Leonard as the Romulan leader). Overall it's very tense and exciting. Oddly, for the die-hard Trekkers out there, they'll recognize Leonard as the same actor who later played Spock's father.

The bottom line is this is simply a great and extremely engaging episode that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Things start out on a happy note in this Star Trek episode. A couple of young of the younger members of the Enterprise crew are getting married and William Shatner notes he has the happy duty afforded ship's captains from earth of performing marriages. But a red alert brings everyone to battle stations as a Romulan war bird with functioning cloaking device starts destroying Federation outposts on asteroids near the neutral zone.

We never know what the intention is, to provoke a shooting war or just test the earth alertness. But the Enterprise is the ship on the scene and Shatner enters a battle of wits with a very shrewd Romulan commander Mark Lenard.

Watching these two circle around and try and guess the other's intentions shows us a pair of evenly matched adversaries. Lenard too as does Shatner in every episode shows the strain of command. Both know they're not facing fools. The respect for each other as a representative of a different culture also grows.

In another century Humans and Romulans would still be at each other's throats in Star Trek Next Genertion and Deep Space Nine.

When the phasers and disrupters start firing the tension never lets up.

A science-fiction version of the 1957 WWII film The Enemy Below, in which an American destroyer stalked a German U-boat, Balance of Terror pits Captain Kirk and his crew against a Romulan warship (armed with a high energy plasma weapon and a cloaking device) that has launched attacks on several Earth outposts. A tense game of cat and mouse ensues, as Kirk and the Romulan commander (Mark Lenard) take it in turns to try and out-maneuver and out-guess their enemy.

After the quite dreadful The Conscience of the King, Star Trek is back on track with this excellent episode that delivers suspense, excitement, action, and a classic foe in the form of the Romulans, whilst delivering a poignant message about the futility of war and bigotry. Kirk proves himself a great leader and military tactician, intelligent, cunning and calm under pressure, more than a match for the crafty Romulans, but when all is said and done, there is no clear winner in this conflict: the Romulan ship is destroyed, but it is the innocent who have really suffered, several Federation outposts obliterated and the only Enterprise fatality a young man who, in the episode's opening scene, was about to be married.

At face value, 'Balance of Terror' is as straightforward as they come; this is a classic submarine movie, complete with cat-n-mouse and silent running. Enterprise faces off with a Romulan warbird on the edge of the Neutral Zone; it's uncomplicated, but makes for some tense television.

But then there's the sympathetic opponent, less a villain and more a like-minded captain on the opposite team from Kirk (Mark Lenard plays this well, and I can see why they brought him back to play Spock's father; the two don't seem all that far apart). These are two evenly-matched adversaries sizing each other up. This episode focuses on the profound responsibility of being a starship captain, the immense weight of some of these tactical decisions; and it's a great example of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic as they hash this thing out from all angles.

In the end, it's just a riveting episode from start to finish; the grudges run deep, the conflict's great, and it's one of the more accessible episodes I've seen.

9/10