1.10 — “The Corbomite Maneuver”
This is a big episode. Facing the unknown, with nothing but peaceful intentions, the Captain’s resolve is tested, bluffing from the bridge, overmatched and outgunned, the fate of the crew depending on his temperament, judgment, and essential decency. “TCM” is very important to defining the soul of the show and its captain. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it has been frequently parodied for the same reason.
There’s the main plot, with the cube and the ship based on the model made from ping pong balls, which looks gorgeous in the remastered CGI. What I like best about this episode, however, is the subplot with Lt. Bailey. I love it that Star Trek makes the question of whether Bailey was promoted too fast just as important to the safety of the ship as anything else that happens. Kirk and Bones’ exchanges about how to deal with him are really interesting. They’re both right, but Bones is a little more right, so Kirk changes his mind. This subplot about proper temperament may actually be the main plot in disguise, for it seems to say everything important about Gene Rodenberry’s vision of the future. Rodenberry wanted us to know, above all, that we don’t need to be ruled by our fear of the unknown. Beyond fear lies understanding.
To not overreact is perhaps the most important theme of the episode. You see this from in the beginning with McCoy’s laugh-out-loud line, “If I jumped every time a light came on around here, I’d end up talking to myself.” This leads to the scene in the turbolift, where Kirk decides to go to his quarters and change clothes before rushing to the bridge, after clearly considering both the doctor’s words and the impact of the Captain’s behavior on crew morale. It’s further dramatized in the many reprimands of Lt. Bailey. The “don’t overreact” principle comes into play when Kirk decides to do nothing–to take time to study the cube, wait, and put off the decision to use force (in the form of the first firing of the ship’s phaser banks) until the last moment, when it is the last recourse to save the ship from deadly radiation.
Kirk’s sense of calm is not just important to prevent the spread of panic among the crew, but crucial to help him make the right decisions. Fear leads to intemperate, angry, violent responses. “TCM” wants very badly to show us that the most manly thing to do (manly in the sense of Rudyard Kipling’s poem , “If”) is to keep the phasergun in its holster for as long as possible. Kirk is at his best when he relies on his wits and trusts his compassion. And it’s true–you have to stop and take some breaths before you can let your true nature, the part that loves, guide you to a place of understanding and reconciliation.
As a student of poker, I like the bluff at the heart of this episode, and appreciate the poker versus chess analogy. Perhaps the bluff doesn’t sound convincing, but if you think about it, it changes the whole decision tree for Balok. If you thought there was even a 1% chance that swatting a fly would somehow cause a chain reaction that blows up your whole house, would you do it? Even if you hate houseflies? No–you’d find another answer, as Balok does. Ultimately Kirk discovers that Balok had been bluffing as well. It’s necessary to jump to a higher level of thinking to see this, and to achieve the results Kirk achieves. In fact, the whole episode is about jumping to a higher level of thinking.
“TCM” is also about forgiveness. Despite our best intentions, most of us are more likely to behave like Lt. Bailey than anyone else on the bridge. We see Bailey not only get a second chance, however, but arguably the greatest reward in the end. It’s too bad he never comes back to the show–I’d like to know what he learns aboard the Fesarius. Perhaps if _Star Trek_ had been supported by the network, and had gotten a fourth or fifth season, we would have seen his return. That would have been an awesome episode.
We end with “You have been tested.” (There are three tests–first how do you confront a weaker force, then how do you react to a stronger force, and finally how do you treat a vanquished enemy.) What, again? The idea of being tested by a superior technology is an old saw with Star Trek, which notably comes up again in “Encounter at Farpoint,” the first episode of The Next Generation. Quaint? It makes me nostalgic. Remember when we thought we knew what standards we were supposed to live up to, and there was some public consensus about the direction that progress, God willing, would be taking us? It is the utter abandonment of this ethos which, above all, renders J.J. Abrams’ efforts unrecognizable as Trek.
“TCM” was the first episode produced after the two pilots, which explains why the costumes are still in transition to their final forms, and was also the first episode filmed with the characters of Rand, McCoy, and Uhura. Look how good DeForest Kelley is, in his first show! For whatever reason, they delayed airing “TCM” until the 10th episode of the season. Finally, it’s good to know they still drink coffee in the future.
Leave a Reply