Star date: 3198.4
Summary: When negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire break down, the Enterprise is dispatched to the planet of Organia to prevent it from falling into Klingon hands, which would provide the Klingons with a significant tactical advantage.
Kirk and Spock beam down to the surface to find a relatively primitive planet, with a culture similar perhaps to Europe in the dark ages. They explain to the Organian Council of Elders and their leader, Ayelborne, that the Klingons are on their way with the intent to occupy the planet and enslave the Organian people. They insist that the Federation be allowed to take up a defensive position on the planet to keep the Klingons out, but the Organians refuse the offer, insisting that they reject all violence and that they are in no danger from the Klingons. Frustrated, Kirk continues trying to explain the danger to them until the Klingons arrive in full force, driving the Enterprise away from the planet to go seek reinforcements, and leaving Kirk and Spock under Klingon control, along with the rest of Organia.
For a brief time, Spock and Kirk masquerade as Organians, but after they blow up a Klingon munitions dump, they are caught. In an attempt to prevent Kirk from being subjected to a Klingon "mind-sifter" which can read minds --- and in the process, destroy them --- Ayelborne tells Kor, the Klingon commander, about Kirk's true identity. Spock and Kirk are arrested and given 12 hours in prison to consider the alternatives: either tell the Klingons everything they know about Starfleet's military secrets, or Kirk's mind will be destroyed by the Klingon machine, and Spock will be killed and dissected.
Before the 12 hours is up, Ayelborne rescues Kirk and Spock from prison, simply walking in and opening the door, when it appears the Klingon guards have disappeared. Although the Organians want to protect Kirk and Spock from Klingon violence, they still refuse to engage in violence against the Klingons themselves. So Kirk and Spock undertake a desperate suicide mission to capture or kill Kor on their own. They make it as far as Kor's office, and are just about to go out in a blaze of glory against Kor and his troops when suddenly everyone's phasers turn red hot, leading everyone to drop his weapon on the ground. Hand-to-hand combat is also out of the question, as a burning sensation occurs whenever someone moves to strike his enemy. Kirk, Spock and all the Klingons are thus unable to commit any violence to their opponents. Ayelborne and another elder then appear to explain that they are preventing the violence, and not only that, they have also shut down the full military of both the Federation and the Klingon Empire wherever they are in the galaxy, explaining that while they find interference in the affairs of others "disgusting", they cannot allow the Federation and Klingon Empire to go to war.
Both Kirk and Kor strongly object to this action, insisting that the Organians have no right to interfere. But the Organians are steadfast in their position, and insist that Kirk, Spock and the Klingons leave their planet. In the end, we learn that the Organians are really beings of pure thought and energy, who have only presented themselves in corporeal form so that outsiders might understand them better.
The Star Trek writers are now officially on a roll. The past two episodes ("The Devil in the Dark" and "This Side of Paradise") have been good but not great shows. Good, because they don't have a ridiculous premise and lots of plot holes, but not great because they are still flawed in some way. And while Errand of Mercy has one or two flaws as well, they are easy enough to overlook for the payoff --- a powerful indictment of a war mentality.
Before discussing the positives of this show, I want to mention the one somewhat glaring negative I saw. Early in the show, Kirk and Spock are stranded on Organia, masquerading as Organians under Klingon rule. Even though they know the Enterprise will be returning soon with reinforcements, they decide to try to rally the unreasonably placid Organians around them by blowing up a Klingon munitions depot.
Really? Ironically, Kor has selected Kirk to be his majordomo with the Organian people; his job is to make sure they toe the Klingon line as if his life depends on it (which it does). Since the Organians have no desire to use violence against anyone, ever, this would seem to be the easiest job in the history of military occupations. And given the Klingons' reputation as ruthless warriors, Kirk has to know that any act of rebellion will be punished with disproportionate retribution. But instead of laying low until Sulu arrives with the cavalry, he chooses instead to stir the hornet's nest, which results in the capture of himself and Spock, and the supposed killing of 200 Organians (although as we learn later, no one really died).
Just the same, a military leader like Kirk should know better than to give the Klingons an excuse to make an example of a bunch of peaceful, innocent Organian citizens.
That said, that bit of the script was a fairly minor detail in the grand scheme of things. And otherwise, the writers set up the final reveal at the end quite nicely, leading us to believe that the Organians are committed, if somewhat dimwitted pacifists, with a possible streak of cowardice. And the conflict between the Enterprise officers and the Klingon occupiers encourages the viewer to see the story as Kirk and the "good guys" against Kor and the "bad guys" until the end --- when it becomes painfully clear that Kirk and Kor are both the bad guys. It all comes down to the final scene with Kirk, Spock, Ayelborne and the Klingons:
Ayelborne: As I stand here, I also stand upon the home planet of the Klingon Empire, and the home planet of your Federation, Captain. I'm going to put a stop to this insane war.
Kor: You're what?
Kirk: You're talking nonsense.
Ayelborne: It is being done.
Kirk: You can't just stop the fleet. What gives you the right?
Kor: You can't interfere. What happens in space is not your business!
Ayelborne: Unless both sides agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities, all your armed forces, wherever they may be, will be immediately immobilized.
. . . (snip) . . .
Kor: You are liars. You're meddling in things that are none of your business!
Kirk: Even if you have some --- power that we don't understand, you have no right to dictate to our Federation . . .
Kor: Or our Empire . . .
Kirk: . . . how to handle their interstellar relations! We have the right . . .
Ayelborne: To wage war, Captain? To kill millions of innocent people? To destroy life on a planetary scale? Is that what you're defending?
Kirk: Well, no one WANTS war. But there ARE proper channels. People have a right to handle their own affairs. Eventually, we . . .
Ayelborne: Oh, eventually you will have peace. But only after millions of people have died.
Kirk and Kor both grow so frustrated with Ayelborne that Kor even hints at joining forces with Kirk to attack him. The real contrast in this show isn't between human and Klingon; it's between warrior and pacifist, and the warriors don't come out looking too good. This point is driven home in Kirk's final conversation with Spock on the bridge, when he admits: "I was furious with the Organians for stopping a war I didn't want."
That said, this episode fails utterly to point out that in real life, a pacifist perspective such as the Organians usually leads to a lot of suffering, since in real life, most pacifists don't have the ability to magically halt violence on a galaxy-wide scale. But hey, what do you want? It's a sci-fi show, and it's only 50 minutes long.
Other observations about this episode:
This is the first time we see Klingons, and they don't look the way we've come to expect Klingons to look. The bony ridge along the center of their heads is missing. I believe an explanation about this absence gets retconned into a TNG episode.
The Moral of the Story: War is not the answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment