2.19 — “A Private LIttle War”

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13 responses to “2.19 — “A Private LIttle War””

1. 

   Kevin Black

   January 13, 2014

   The episode on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/1675j8/weekly_episode_discussion_tos_2x19_a_private/

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2. 

   R. Alex Reutter

   January 17, 2014

   Once-peaceful natives have muskets, and Spock is shot.  That is not a good place to be bleeding, but he’s not dead because of Vulcan physiology.  Nice touch.

   Creepy native shaman lady!  The actress is absolutely amazing, even in the bad costume.

   Oh… we’re reminded again that Nurse Chapel likes Spock.  Hunh.  So on the planet, Kirk gets healed and is supposedly in the power of the one who healed him; on the Enterprise, Spock gets healed and Chapel is told to do whatever Spock says.  Interesting.

   Overall, this is extremely well plotted and written, right up until Nona runs off with Kirk’s phaser to betray Tyree.  I don’t quite believe that.  I even survived Kirk and McCoy’s overwrought tete-a-tete in the cave over “balance of power”.

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3. 

   Randi Cohen

   January 17, 2014

   Ugh.  OK, Nona is sexy.  I’ll give you that.  And perhaps I can forgive her horrible costuming, the awful writhing-moving-ginger scene, and multiple references to gang rape (of her and some other unknown woman) on that basis.  Maybe.

   However, the bigger problem is that this episode makes no sense.

   Firstly, would a woman as cunning as Nona actually try to sell a phaser to the enemy without testing it first? REALLY?

   Secondly, whatever happened to the “interstellar war” that was going to occur if the Klingons armed the peaceful natives???  Is the Enterprise planning to even do anything about the Klingons???  Also, am I the only one that has a problem with the phrase “interstellar war”?  It is not stars that are fighting each other.

   Thirdly, it is an obvious option to remove the weapons and the raw materials since they are not being produced on-planet anyhow, then everyone is back at square one.

   Fourthly, it is a second obvious option to beam up the weapons and the offending villagers and transport them to an uninhabited planet on which to wreak their now-misguided ways, rather than sacrifice the entire planet to endless warfare on basis of one village.  

   Or, how about putting up some kind of force field between that village and the rest of the planet?  Let the savages fight each other to extinction.  Really, can Kirk think of none of these things?

   Oh yeah, or how about a pow-wow between the head villagers, as in Piece of the Action?  It’s like Kirk’s brain flew out the window as soon as Spock was out of the picture.

   The one true redeeming aspect of this episode is that it brings up an interesting point about whether passing through a “mindless bloodshed” phase of history is necessary, i.e. can you survive as a people when others around you are employing weapons and a “might makes right” philosophy without doing so yourself?  I am not sure of the answer to this one, and wish it could have been explored in a more nuanced and intelligent way.  

   Rating: 2.5 out of 5 doomed land wars in Asia. 

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4. 

   Kevin Black

   January 17, 2014

   I don’t see the alternatives as being so simple. Nona was in a hurry, because not having killed Kirk, she feared pursuit. And perhaps she encountered the other villagers before she was ready.

   The aspect about the political situation I think is answered by the parallels to the political situation that inspired it–the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which of course was still going on when this was made  (U.S. involvement started in 1962, the Paris Peace Accords were signed January 27, 1973). The Federation and the Klingon Empire are the superpowers, and this planet is the proverbial backwater where they can exercise their mutal aggression/animosity without raising the stakes high enough to trigger direct warfare. The Federation is not going to go to war over technical treaty violations at this location–it will lodge a diplomatic complaint, which will be greeted by an official denial, and the wheels will grind on, with the planetary natives caught between the spokes. Kirk has personal reasons to feel strickened by this–but his superiors are likely to say they deplore the situation also, but you have to put it in perspective and take action through prudent channels. Maybe the Federation will decide to covertly arm Tyree’s village, as Kirk is tempted to do (although I read his decision as a despairing one borne of desperation, with an awareness of the likelihood of futility, and that either way the “remarkably peaceful and tranquil” society that capitvated young Kirk enough to write in his official report “Inhabitants [are] superior in many ways to humans. Left alone, they undoubtedly someday will develop a remarkably advanced and peaceful culture” will be lost). At least in a figurative sense, there’s no reason this should be easier for the Federation to resolve than the Vietnam conflict was for the U.S., which is not to say that the U.S. could not or should not have behaved differently than it did, a subject about which I definitely have no expertise. 

   The difference between this situation and “A Piece of the Action” is that there was no imbalance of power on that planet, just a lot of chaos. On this planet, the side with the flintlocks has no reason to negotiate, nor has the civilization evolved the municipal structures that would support, say, a non-force-based common democratic government. The Enterprise could use its techological might to vaporize the inhabitants of the corrupted village, or just transport them offworld, but the Klingons would still be around, and the non-interference directive would still be a dead letter. I’m not saying that I don’t think there’s anything else Kirk could have done, but it’s not an easy situation. He was already exceeding his brief by transporting back down to the planet with McCoy (at which time there was no hard proof of Klingon interference, just strong circumstantial evidence). Wouldn’t Spock have said “I see no alternative but to report the situation to Starfleet, and await further orders or depart the area?”

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5. 

   Randi Cohen

   January 18, 2014

   I think you are attributing more intelligence to the plotting and script than they actually had, since all of what you suggest could have easily been explicitly shown on-screen and was not, and it would have certainly made for a better episode if it had.

   Regarding the federation not going to war over technical treaty violations, perhaps, but certainly at the beginning of the episode Kirk thought it was possible they would.  And whatever it is that convinced the Klingons to make peace with the Federation in the first place would cause them to back down if Kirk called their bluff directly, I would think, even if they did not admit to prior wrongdoing.  Posting a ship to watch the planet in clear visibility of the Klingons would most likely do the trick.

   Furthermore, if Starfleet’s philosophy is indeed superior to that of the Klingons, they could have done a far better job of advocating for it rather than joining in at the first available opportunity.  For instance, transporting the corrupted villagers to an island somewhere on the planet where they can only wreak havoc on themselves and then revealing themselves to the Klingons and having Federation post a watch ship to guard against future cultural tampering would be one possible solution.  I don’t like seeing an episode of Trek that advocates doing the bloodthirsty foolish things that humans are already doing.  I don’t think that is generally what Trek is about.

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6. 

   Kevin Black

   January 18, 2014

   I think you make good points. I don’t understand where you see advocacy of bloodthirsty, foolish things (Torie at The Viewscreen also made similar comments). Kirk decides against this course of action at the end of the episode, after the reasons for not arming the natives are well articulated by McCoy and to some extent by Spock and Tyree. Surely it’s not a weakness of the episode that Kirk forcefully articulates the balance of power philosophy that animated the Cold War on so many fronts before rejecting it_?

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7. 

   Randi Cohen

   January 20, 2014

   He rejected it?  Did I miss something?  I am confused.  I just think he ought to be respecting Tyree’s pacifist stance and actively supporting it.  Also I would hope that a student of history in the time of Star Trek would not be learning that Viet Nam was the result of unavoidable circumstances but rather that it was something like how we look at the Crusades today — a ton of lives lost in a very misguided and doomed attempt to “save the world”.  Not that I know the first thing about history, so the details of that could be a little wrong, but I just think Star Trek is generally trying to show us that a “better way” exists.  And that “balance of power” is not it.  Kirk should know better than anyone that true leadership involves a battle for the hearts and minds of those who are led more than a straightforward comparison of armaments.  Even his Klingon adversaries are aware of this, and proposing in fact to train the villagers to be more bloodthirsty by positive reinforcement.  Kirk’s efforts could have more profitably been spent infiltrating the villagers’ camp and sowing discord against the might-makes-right philosophy, for instance, or maybe he could consider capturing and converting a village woman who then might go back and recruit the other women to steal and destroy the firearms.  That would make this a truly feminist episode.  There are a zillion ways to work this that are wiser than what Kirk chose.  The problem calls for creativity so perhaps Spock would not have thought of them, but most times Kirk is just a better strategist and deeper thinker than he seems to be in this episode.

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8. 

   Kevin Black

   January 20, 2014

   Yes, when Kirk belays his order to Scott to manufacture flintlocks and calls them serpents instead, he has clearly abandoned this course. He will not help his friend wage war, although it likely means Tyree’s death.

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9. 

   Randi Cohen

   January 20, 2014

   Hmmm.  I didn’t interpret it that way.  What did others think this meant?  I thought he was just making a frustrated cynical joke but that he intended the order to actually be carried out.  I think I actually even dislike the ending you thought happened more!  To abandon Tyree with no explanation or offer of some alternative plan is even more lame, in my opinion, than going with the whole “might makes right” philosophy.   Also, if indeed he was changing his mind, I would think this would have been fleshed out a little more.  

   Sorry to be so unhappy with an episode you clearly loved!  I remember taking a fairy tale lit class and finding out my favorite short story of an unlikely redemption was most likely an allegory for extinction… I was much happier before I found that out… 

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10. 

    Kevin Black

    January 20, 2014

    That scene is key. Kirk realizes he has met a Kobayashi Maru–although he’s retconned in ST2 into someone who doesn’t believe in no-win scenarios.

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11. 

    Kevin Black

    January 20, 2014

    I suppose the scene can be seen as ambiguous, although it doesn’t seem even slightly ambiguous to me–since Kirk has obviously spent the last 10 minutes feeling obviously tortured that his words are empty and agonizing about how this predicament goes against everything he hoped for and believes. Memory Alpha describes the scene this way:

    Kirk asks Scotty to construct 100 flintlock rifles for the people. Scotty is confused about the request, but Kirk changes his request to, “Serpents, serpents for the Garden of Eden.” He adds, “We’re very tired, Mr. Scott. Beam us up home.”

    The author of the synopsis at Wikipedia seems to think Kirk still intends for Scott to manufacture flintlocks, however: 

    In the end, Tyree demands more “fire stick” weapons to avenge his wife’s death. Kirk reluctantly orders Mr. Scott to manufacture and beam down a hundred of the flintlocks and ammunition for the tribesmen. This would put them on an even footing with their enemy, which might satisfy the terms of the Prime Directive, but Kirk is ruefully aware of the arms race that he would begin. Mr Scott questions the order, seeming to misunderstand why Kirk would want flintlocks. Kirk then says he wants “100 serpents for the Garden of Eden.” The episode ends with the Enterprise pulling out of orbit, leaving Kirk to struggle with the decision he has just made.

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12. 

    R. Alex Reutter

    February 12, 2014

    I keep meaning to come back to comment on this, but never find the time, so here’s a quickie: I should amend my earlier statement that I liked it “right up until Nona runs off with Kirk’s phaser”.  Actually, there’s a serious problem before that, when Kirk starts showing Tyree’s people how to use the flintlock.  The entire point of infiltrating the other village was to obtain evidence of Klingon tampering, and yet as soon as they get back to Tyree’s village, Kirk begins his own tampering instead of reporting what the Klingons are doing.  This is completely contrary to his earlier goal, so it makes absolutely no sense why he’s doing it now, and worse, it’s completely unnecessary to get to the point where Nona tries to steal a phaser (though it still makes no sense as to why she’d betray Tyree; as a powerful personality, I’d see her using the phaser herself).

    Regarding Kirk’s orders to Scotty, it is not at all clear that Kirk is countermanding his earlier order to produce flintlocks with “Serpents, serpents for the Garden of Eden.”  As it played out, it sounded more like a “clarification” of the order that (darkly humorously) doesn’t help Mr. Scott at all, but brings the episode to a close.

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13. 

    Randi Cohen

    February 12, 2014

    Yes!  Thanks for pointing out that the plot went awry at that point!  It bothered me but I wasn’t able to quite put my finger on why…

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