1.26 — “Errand of Mercy”
Plot: Klingons! Negotiations with the Klingon Empire having broken down, the Enterprise is ordered to the planet Organia. The strategic importance of its location makes it a natural target for use as a war base, and Kirk must prevent their occupation. He finds the inhabitants to be curiously passive, refusing offers of help while offering no resistance to the Klingon war party that soon arrives. Meanwhile, Kirk and Spock are stranded on the planet, and must find a way to undermine the Klingons while avoiding discovery.
Thoughts: I wrote very few notes about this episode. I enjoyed it immensely.
This episode is so different. Suddenly, we discover that the Federation is preparing for galactic war, and that part of the Enterprise’s mission is to conduct military maneuvers and die, if necessary, for Starfleet. Other than “Balance of Terror,” there has been scarcely a hint of this in the 25 previous episodes. Another reminder that Star Trek is not just one thing, but has many aspects.
This is the first mention of Klingons, one third of the way through TOS. I understand they were intended to be one-shot villains, but when the producers discovered how cheap it was to do their makeup (compared to the Romulans–all those Vulcan ears!), they decided to bring them back six more times (not until Season 2, however). I think they look great–even if they’ve been using Oil of Olay on the bumps on their foreheads. John Colicos, who played Commander Kor, also portrayed Baltar in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979). Colicos had a hand in designing the look of the Klingons (going for a Ghengis Khan look), who were just described as “hard-looking Asian types” in the screenplay. We probably have Kor’s distinctive look to thank for the recurrence and enduring popularity of the Kingons, as much as Colicos’ performance.
I enjoyed Kirk and especially Spock in their native Organian dress. Spock looks strangely like an 8-bit D&D elf.
Here’s what I liked about this episode: first, the mystery, drama, and suspense. Kirk, the Organians, and Kor provide strong contrasts to play off each other and keep the story moving, and Kor is a great villain. But most of all, it was the outside perspective offered by the Organians on Kirk and the Federation’s outlook.
Kirk and Spock think of themselves as so superior to the Klingons as to be a different class of being. But to the Organians, there is little difference. Condemnation of the Klingons is used as a justification to use similar tactics. Meanwhile, neither recognize the strength in the Organians or the value in passive resistance, lionizing instead pridefulness and destruction. The Federation’s holier-than-thou perspective is shown to be illusion. So much for righteous war, wars to end wars, and other such nonsense.
The writers conceive of evolution as a change in perspective. To avoid being stuck, you can’t just expend more effort on the same plane, you must move to a higher level of thinking.
Not even the Organians turning out to be all-powerful magical light fairies could ruin it for me. Does their power really extend throughout the galaxy? How long does the effect last? Do the Organians care whether civilizations go to war in general, or only when it happens near their planet?
I admit the similarity between the story of “Errand of Mercy” and the Vietnam War escaped me on first viewing. I was born in 1973, after all. The trivia section for the episode at IMDB says that the episode is “[p]opularly known as “The Vietnam Story”, for its obvious allusions to Vietnam and its abuse by the colonial powers.” In retrospect, this must be one of the bolder comments made by the series on current events during its original run.
5 out of 5 condescending moral harangues.
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