Captain Kirk is performing a wedding ceremony. A lucky crewman is marrying a space girl, or at least he would be if there wasn’t a red alert going on. Panic!
It’s an exciting episode. The Romulan Empire exists right next to good ol’ British Earth space. After a long war, space was divided up and a series of outposts were set up. We learn that despite the long history, no human has ever seen a Romulan. What? How did they negotiate the different territories if they‘ve never seen each other. Oh well, never mind.
A Romulan ship has violated the neutral zone between Romulan and Earth space and is destroying the outposts. After a big build-up the Romulan vessel appears, blasts an outpost to smithereens, and then vanishes. Spock tells the crew that invisibility is theoretically possible. Which explains why I can never find my car keys.
Styles, a particularly racist member of the crew (shouldn’t they screen for this at the academy?) suggests that there could be Romulan spies on board. The Enterprise manages to tap into the Romulan ship’s webcam and they finally discover what the Romulans look like. They look like… Vulcans!
All eyes turn to Spock.
Inside the Romulan ship, some of the crew wear pumpkins on their heads. It must be Hallowe’en.
The Enterprise crew discover that the Romulans out-gun them by a mile, and that their weapons turn the hardest known substance into wafer. However, the price of their weaponry is that they cannot fly quickly.
As the story develops, Kirk has to make some tough decisions. Starfleet Command had ordered that no ships should ever enter the Neutral Zone, and that the Enterprise should not engage in combat with the Romulans, even going as far as to say that the Enterprise is expendable. For Kirk, however, rules are made to be broken, and much of the rest of the episode is a cat and mouse game between the two ships.
The Enterprise starts to figure out the Romulan vessel’s weaknesses. Their weapons have limited range (and the Enterprise can outrun their weapons. Handy.) The Romulans have to de-cloak in order to fire, making them vulnerable. Kirk damages them with a burst of phaser fire.
Then the Romulans start to turn things around. The captain remembers that they have an old-style nuclear weapon lying around. Oh yeah – I forgot about that rusty old thing! He nukes the Enterprise!
Styles and Tomlinson (the man who was to be married at the start of the episode) go to repair a leak. Spock offers to help but is sent away for being a dirty Vulcan! However, it’s all smiles after Styles and Tomlinson are knocked unconscious and Spock saves the day and fires a direct hit upon the Romulan vessel.
Sadly, Tomlinson died, meaning there’s one space girl still available at the end of the episode, and thanks to a Kirk-Cuddle™, she’s alright!
Cast:
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
Guest Cast:
Mark Lenard as Romulan Commander
Lawrence Montaigne as Decius
Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand
Paul Comi as Lt. Andrew Stiles
John Warburton as Centurion
Stephen Mines as Spec. Robert Tomlinson
Barbara Baldavin as Spec. 2/C Angela Martine
Creative Staff:
Director: Vincent McEveety
Written By: Paul Schneider
Official Episode Guide
hah, that was hilarious!
pumpkins on their head, must be halloween! <–lol