The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a colony but finds no sign of them; it is as if there were no colony. Shortly afterwards a Klingon vessel arrives and suffers damage without the Enterprise firing a shot. A Klingon landing party, led by Kang, confronts Kirk on the planet and blames him for the attack on his ship while Kirk accuses him of wiping out the colony. Kang intends to take the Enterprise by forcing Kirk to beam them up; his plans fail and he is the one captured. Things don't stay that way for long though, a strange entity appears to be playing one side against the other. It turns the crew's phasers into swords and similarly arms the Klingons; fights ensue but injuries soon heal no matter how serious and the hatred is magnified as each side's distrust grows. If they are to avoid an eternity of fighting they will have to come to an understanding; something that won't be easy.
This is a solid episode with an interesting central concept; a being that feeds on violent, negative emotion. This nicely brings the crew of the Enterprise back into conflict with their most famous enemy; the Klingons. The fact that to win they must persuade the Klingons that they can be trusted serves to make it more interesting and the conflict before than involves some enjoyable sword fighting action. We also get Chekov ranting about wanting revenge for the death of an imagined brother and even the doctor is demanding revenge. The regular cast do a solid job but it is Michael Ansara's strong performance as Kang that stands out; this performance enables us to believe Kang would torture Chekov to death in an early scene and also believe he would agree to a truce when he saw their fighting had no purpose. Susan Howard also puts in a likable performance as Kang's wife, Mara, without whom the peace couldn't have been established. The only real flaw was the fact that nobody seemed to notice the alien entity as it moved around the ship but once they sensors revealed its presence they appeared to be able to see it. Overall though another enjoyable episode.
This is a solid episode with an interesting central concept; a being that feeds on violent, negative emotion. This nicely brings the crew of the Enterprise back into conflict with their most famous enemy; the Klingons. The fact that to win they must persuade the Klingons that they can be trusted serves to make it more interesting and the conflict before than involves some enjoyable sword fighting action. We also get Chekov ranting about wanting revenge for the death of an imagined brother and even the doctor is demanding revenge. The regular cast do a solid job but it is Michael Ansara's strong performance as Kang that stands out; this performance enables us to believe Kang would torture Chekov to death in an early scene and also believe he would agree to a truce when he saw their fighting had no purpose. Susan Howard also puts in a likable performance as Kang's wife, Mara, without whom the peace couldn't have been established. The only real flaw was the fact that nobody seemed to notice the alien entity as it moved around the ship but once they sensors revealed its presence they appeared to be able to see it. Overall though another enjoyable episode.