Reacting to Star Trek TOS S1 E14 "Balance Of Terror" - The Sci-Fi Dog Lady
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Hello everyone!
Finally! I have watched this episode which you guys have voted the most! I enjoyed this episode very much. It was exciting and has introduced the Romulans, which I remember from the new films.
Thank you for voting this episode and I hope you enjoy my reaction as well as some changes I've made to some technical issues.
Thank you so much for watching! I'll really appreciate if you subscribe. - บันเทิง
She was sobbing because Rodenberry wanted to show that we as humans are VERY different in the future.
The battle was like the U-boat vs Destroyer battles in WWII movies. It is a lot like "The Enemy Below". The Romulan subordinate, in breaking "radio silence" in the end caused the destruction of their ship. A similar thing happened to the KMS Bismarck where the task force commander, after losing the shadowing ships in a brilliant maneuver, sent out a transmission of no significance. This helped the Royal Navy reacquire the Bismarck. Jettisoning as much as you can spare and creating an oil slick is an attempt to convince the enemy commander he has sunk the submarine. Jettisoning a dead body would make the ruse more credible. Someone less thorough than Mr. Spock may have overlooked checking if there was sufficient mass. Really enjoyed your reactions. Bigotry was one of the mid-20th century social issues addressed in Star Trek episodes.
in this galaxy there is a mathematical probability of 3 million earth type planets. and in all of the universe, three million million galaxies like this. and in all of that and perhaps more, only one of each of us.
This was the ninth episode produced, including The Cage as episode one. Also, so many quotable lines, such as “soon enough for even the Praetor’s taste.” “You and I are of a kind in a different reality. I could have called you friend.”
I love the briefing room scene especially when Kirk asks Spock about comet Icarus IV and at the same time pushes ''The Big Book O' Comets'' toward Spock, who pushes it back to Kirk and provides his description without consulting the book.
"The Big Book O' Comets"
Wouldn't think of going a day, without that book displayed on my coffee table.
I think that whole, "Sir, we may have Romulan spies aboard the ship!" thing was some lingering drama based around the late 50s Red Menace. That sense of paranoia was deep, and it surely didn't just disappear with a new decade..
The Red Menace, the interment of the Japanese-Americans in WWII, (If you don't know, ask Sulu), and a hundred other acts of racist xenophobia in times of stress. Once again, the language of racism passes unnoticed, or at least unnoted, as humans are the pure bloods, and everyone else is a mixed half-something.
@@Boomerbox2024 Except that communist isn't a race... and the Soviet spies WERE a thing. There were at least a few dozen Soviet agents infiltrating the Pentagon and the State department. The FBI declassified their intercepted communications with the Kremlin in the early 90s. Long story short, Joe McCarthy was 100% right, each person he questioned, did later turn out to be in violation of the Hatch Act, if not an actual spy. But hey, his name is smeared to this day by historical ignorants for being the only person on Capital Hill to do his fucking job, because we don't want too much focus placed on the House Un-American Activities Committee, who are the ones who actually did the shit that he gets blamed for.
This is one of the top 5 episodes of the entire franchise. Not only is this episode itself awesome, the events in this episode are directly relevant for the entire rest of the entire franchise, across all incarnations!
There are many things to like about "The Balance of Terror". I think what I like most is that the Romulans are not portrayed simplistically as evil villains: they are portrayed as intelligent and creative thinkers with a strong code of honour (perhaps a different code from our human code, but strong in any case).That makes them fascinating.
I think their code of honour is absolutely understandable considering the context. Like using the centurion's body. You understand the battle is more important than a body, and it fits their culture perfectly.
I’m really enjoying your reviews. I’ve seen every episode of Star Trek dozens of times, so it’s nice to get a fresh perspective on them. This particular episode is an interesting mirror of the time it was made in. This was when the United States was in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. One misstep could have brought us to nuclear war. I think you see that with Kirk, he knows he has to stop the Romulans, but is wary about how far to push it. Rod Serling once said that a Martian can say things that a Republican or a Democrat can’t say. Star Trek used that philosophy to discuss a lot of the social problems of the day.
This series was filmed and broadcast in the mid 1960s during Vietnam and the Civil rights movement. In sci-fi they can cover topics that other shows can't because of the use of metaphor.
This episode is essentially an adaptation of the 1950’s film “The Enemy Below.”
I was waiting for you to get to this one. Now you're introduced to one of the most important players in Star Trek the Romulans.
Your reactions are great. This is my second favourite of this season after The Naked Time. It was my late uncle's favourite episode of all.
During a lot of the early 1st season episodes the producers used the role of the navigator to introduce a new character to bring drama to the episode. It was the way the show was pitched. Even though they were always out in space, the ship was so large and had such a big crew that stories could be built around random crew members appearing as guest stars rather than being forced to use the same set of 5 or 6 characters every week. Fortunately this style of story building was left behind as the core characters began to develop enough that the writers felt comfortable building the drama around them rather than a guest star. McCoy would later fill the role of the angry guy on the bridge in most episodes when needed and Spock would later never stand for such behavior from a lowly navigator. And why was this guy in the briefing room anyway?
Love how you connected the use of color on the Romulan ship with Roman times. The Romulans were basically conceived to answer the question of "what if the Roman Empire survived long enough to go into space?" Note that the Romulan home planets are named Romulus & Remus, and they mention ranks such as "Praetor" and "Centurion".
Yes, I did notice the name of the Planets and the ranks' names. The costumes resemble Roman togas and their helmets look a bit like gladiator battle helmets.
I always thought it interesting that the Romulan ships had a bird of prey painted on their ships while the Romans carried an eagle standard called an Aquila at the front of their armies.
LOL You noticed that, too. The navigator in season one tends to be a trouble maker.
For the first season. After they bring Chekov in in the second season, they stop the merry-go-round / trouble maker roles of the navigator (replaced by his humorously trying to say the Russians in-wented everything!
13:11 Romulans are Vulcans, they left Vulcan about 2 millennia prior, when the Vulcans embraced logic, and these Vulcans did not want to lose their emotions. The writer's son was obsessed with the Roman empire, and thus made these guys like Roman empire in space.
Lol
I love your comment about the person next to Sulu is always causing trouble!! That made my day 🖖
The Balance of Terror is one of my favorite episodes. I liked your review and assessment. The burden of command is what it's mostly about and you understood it well. Great job! Just a little Star Trek trivia. The Romulan people were Vulcans that left Vulcan 1000 years ago during the time of The Awakening( planetary nuclear war and the eventual teachings of logic by Surak ). Anyways, thanks again for posting. 😊
I love your knowledge and sense of humor. Best reaction so far!😊
Thanks!
Similar and close to this episode was "Corbomite Maneuver". I always liked this episode because the tension is almost all happening on the bridge, and also because it demonstrates that there was an actual actor beneath all of the later "Shatning".
He's actually pretty subdued and nuanced here, and it works really well.
Romulans used to be Vulcan in a distant past, they fled the laws of Logic and founded their own empire with the burning desire to ultimately reconquer Vulcan.
One century earlier, Romulans tried to prevent Earth from forming the Federation of Planets but ultimately failed, one last hope weapon that was used was the eletromagnetic effect of the nukes to disable enemy ships.
Fun fact in a later episode, Mark lenard who played the Romulan commander also plays Spock's father, don't be confused, those are NOT the same characters. Mark lenard will return in movies as Sarek, Spock's father several times. Sarek also happened to be a Federation ambassador, he will also appear in a couple of episodes of TNG, one century later as Vulcans live twice as long as humans do. Capt Picard will refer to him as the greatest Federation ambassador ever to exist.
Until Balance of Terror, Vulcans didn't really know who the Romulans were, they had only vague suspicions as Romulans tend to keep their identity a secret outside their borders to control things from the shadows (because they started very small and so used manipulation more than sheer strength).
Vulcans developped Logic after a terrible war that nearly ended their entire civilization, Surak help them to rebuild and "awaken" as an enlightened species. "Those who advance beneath the raptors wings", the other clan left Vulcan with the little space tech they had and arrived to Romulus to start anew. Romulans are passionate and arrogant, quite what Vulcans were before embracing Logic and meditation. They are proud and think of themselves as superior in every way to anybody else, yet their small ressources led them to deceit tactics to divide potential oponents to keep leverage.
And ever since the Romulans had contact with humans, even informally, they were fascinated by them, just as Vulcans were in a way.
So since the soon to be Federation back then taking out Romulan fleets despite suffering many losses, Romulans learned to respect humans ability for tactical thinking and honor in combat. A good Federation commander must have more secret Romulan admirers than Klingon admirers...And since the, Romulans regularly poke in to test humans progress in tech and tactics, to assess their next moves, like a chess game.
The Federation knows about losses against Romulans, the early Earth Romulan War saw Earth fleet lose 3/4 of their ships and manpower to achieve victory and couldn't have had victory at all without their allies who will form the core worlds of the Federation later on.
Sadly, Romulans won't play a big part in TOS and despite being depicted as a reccurent villain in TNG, they won't have their deserved screentime except for a few gems, and played by wonderful actors at that.
In another reality I could have called you friend.
This could have made for a good sequel in the newer newer movies/Calvin timeline. Since it is basically a different reality.
This is Based on a WW II Film "The Enemy Below"! .... And Excellent Submarine Movie a cat and mouse tale about an American Ship tailing a German Sub.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the original series. I enjoyed watching you watch it for the first time. It reminded me why I considered this episode great--it was not only well-written, they made great use of lighting...
She was an officer in the military. She was destroyed on the inside, but she had to keep her control.
Love your comments as usual, always insightful! You mentioned how the Romulan Commander differed in the treatment of his subordinate by reducing him in rank. There's a line of dialog between the Commander and the Centurion at one point. The guy who's insubordinate has powerful connections and the Centurion tells him to be careful. I think that's why the Commander decides to be strict with him to show him that he won't be pushed around that way. Also, I like the Romulan Commander / Centurion characters. It would have been interesting to see more of them in other episodes! It is an interesting mirror for Kirk and their culture was interesting.
I did notice he did not care about his connections. I thought that was fair.
This channel is lovely and thank you! I hope when you finish your journey through ST:TOS you will watch the first 6 films.
I do have planned to watch the movies.
@@TheSciFiDogLady That's great news, I was hoping you would. A few of them are excellent and hopefully you'll enjoy them. It's like 6 bonus episodes once you finish the series :-)
YES!!!
That is wonderful to hear!!!
Within the films I love the trilogy of movies II, III, and IV even more than I love the original Star Wars trilogy!
And VI is the PERFECT coda for the entire original cast.
I must prepare you for the first film though. Many people say it is boring and that is understandable. However, I see it more as looking at a beautiful piece of art while listening to a fine symphony orchestra.
Go into the movie thinking like that and expecting a very, very slow plot you still may find the enjoyment in it like I do.
Trek V however is terrible. I think skipping it makes the movies have an even better continuity and there's nothing in it necessary to see.
The first movie had production issues.
The fifth movie made some odd choices.
@@loganjburbank335 no, like o said before, I've already watched them.
This is one of my favorite episodes. It was well written.
I think the inspiration for this episode was the 1958 submarine war movie Run Silent, Run Deep.
great movie
Actually, it was en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_Below
@@westlock you're right got em mixed up myself. Seen both of them. Enemy Below there is even an ending very similar (wont spoil for anyone) to this.
Another interesting thing which I never thought of until just now, is the way both this episode and "The Hunt for Red October" both used different colored lighting to give each of the submarines a different look and feel.
Gene Roddenbery served in the Pacific war, the show borrows a lot from WW2, like when you see a ship with the name maru attached to it. This episode was essentially submarine warfare, opponents who at times couldn't see each other.
Angela Martine is not crying bcz she's a Starfleet officer and she's tough as nails. She just needs some time in the non-denominational chapel and a few words from that man on the bridge.
Yeah, just look at Michael Burman... wait. She broke down in tears after receiving a, frankly mild, dressing down as the consequences of her own actions.
Hmm... I don't like Discovery.
I always thought that Kirk was a kind of father-figure in that grief scene in the Chapel, even though he wasn't that much older than the young woman grieving.
This lady has a guitar! The reactor noticed how close Yeoman and came to Kirk in the moment of danger. Thumbs up! 👍
That's my dad's actually:P
Realize that in comics, vibranium wasn't first introduced until later in the same year this episode aired and adamantium didn't come in for another two years so Star Trek had to invent it's own elements.
Vibranium and Adamantium are a marvel comics creation so Trek writers would not have used it any way. Regardless if they were mentioned before the writing of this episode.
@@dirus3142 Stealing other's ideas isn't exactly a new thing. Thankfully The Original Series didn't do it though (looking at you TNG and DS9). There actually is a real-world vibranium that a company made and Marvel doesn't own the copyrights to either word so far as I can tell. Back in 1967, most people wouldn't have even realized that either word was Marvel created, even if they had used them.
I loved the Romulan weapon. "Full astern"
Yeah she took well at the end there. I do not know why she was not more upset.
It's called maturity, stoicism, accepting the consequences of her profession, and not acting like an emotionally indulgent female stereotype.
Mark 5:45. They are aboard a starship, yet dust debris falls from the ceiling like they are in London during the Blitzkrieg as seen in so many old movies set during WW2. Either no one dusts aboard that ship, or their ceiling is made of old bricks, or something like them? 🤔
A few clips survive of a deleted moment just as the ship blows up. Kirk salutes the commander.
Your reaction to this was awesome.
7:35 She's a starfleet officer, she knew stuff like this could happen. Exploring the galaxy can be dangerous. None of the crew's fault her would be hubby died.
Besides, she can break and throw stuff in her room.
I actually lol'ed at your last line
There is that shared history between Romulan and Vulcan.
It's kind of surprising that Sci-Fi Dog Lady didn't realize the Romulans weren't Vulcans by the fact they the Romulans always showed emotion. Also by the fact that Vulcans would never have a warship, or call it a "Bird of Prey". And the reason Angela didn't show much emotion in the final; scene, after loosing her fiance, is because it's 200 years in the future. Gene Roddenberry figured that in the future, we wouldn't wallow in emotion like we do now. That we'd accept losses and move on. But, who knows, maybe she threw an emotional fit AFTER the scene in the chapel.
I can't see why it surprises you. I only saw the actor for a few seconds without much emotion when I assumed he was Vulcan. Not like I could analyze much there.
Closest thing to "Indestructable" in Star Trek is Neutronium a real susstance, however exaggerated properties in Star trek.....
I think the women who's fiance died wasn't shock and couldn't really process everything yet
Why you necessarily expected a violent reaction from her? We are all different, and we all react differently to trauma. At this point, she probably is in state of shock. Probably she will destroy her quarters, later, in private. Not in front of the captain of the ship. Recall that they are military on duty (sort of). In an exploratory five-years mission. Mostly in uncharted regions. Against potentially hostile beings/races all the time. As Kirk stated in another episode, "risk is our business". In this job, sad events like this are not unexpected.
7:00 because she is not you. She's a military officer. She knows the risks of serving in the military and in deep space. She's been trained to except loss. Not everybody grieves by throwing a temper tantrum.
Because she's an officer and it's a starship i think she's learned to order herself on a starship. I'm sure Kirk wouldn't have cared if she was a sobbing mess or had a fit.
the creator of the series, Gene, liked to sneak in things you couldn't address on tv back then. This one also touched on racism and prejudice.. No show in the 60s would dare run shows talking about how it was wrong for humans to judge someone based on their skin color or where they are from. But,, make it about someone with 'green' blood or skin and from another 'planet' its acceptable to show how wrong this is. The bit of Yeoman Rand getting close to find comfort from the captain was when they were still toying with the idea of a "will they" , "wont they" tease in the episodes.
The woman Angela getting married, kneeled at the alter.
Excellent analysis and comments on this episode!
I want to warn you about something Star Trek does and I figure now is a good time. Trek LOVES to use the same actors (usually guest actors) over and over as different characters. You have already seen this with Number One and Nurse Chapel, you are going to see it a lot more. So if you see the same actor pop up as a different character, don't read anything more into it than it's just the same actor playing a different character.
Jeffery Combs star of the horror B movies played the most characters in Star Trek.
Diana Muldaur played two characters in TOS, and Dr. Polaski in TNG.
It may interest you to know, that actor Mark Lenard, is credited with being the first person to play the three primary aliens in, "Star Trek". Romulan, Vulcan, and Klingon! 🖖
Excellent review! It's a great episode and I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's episodes like this one that is the reason people still watch the series even after 50 plus years. I hope you will reconsider watching the last episode of season one. "Operation Annihilate" is a really great episode. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll just say we see a close family member of Kirk's. There are also many great scenes with Spock, McCoy interaction and really creepy creatures. It's an episode that gets overlooked, but it's a really good one.
If you haven't watched it yet but watch Space Seed
As far as the bride to be reaction to her fiancé's death, etc. It was 60s television. Certain emotions and reactions were very muted and almost clinical. It was all about emotions in control, very unrealistic but it was the ideology of the day.
I wish you had a patreon
I have a Patreon!
👋👋👋👋👋👋
A couple of notes:
This episode was based on the WWII movie _The Enemy Below_ which is about a Y.S. destroyer stalking a German U-Boat
Mark Lenard returns in another role
Spoiler Alert!
Spock's father, Sarek
He is also the Klingon Captain in The Motion Picture.
Being that the same actor played spocks father, the Vulcan SAREK...it books and other media, the romulan commander here is (yes I am aware of the differences between alpha and beta canon)...officially named KERAS
Am I meant to use ear buds to better be able to hear the audio? 🤔
You think Mark Leonard is playing a Vulcan? Don't be absurd.
(If you're going to reuse an actor, at least put them in different makeup. That's what they did with William Campbell, and even then he was totally recognizable. (DS9 did a better job of making him less recognizable despite the fact he was playing the same character))
You should compare this to ST: Strange New Worlds S01E10 "The Quality of Mercy".
You mean a bad attempt at a copy? I don't know why so many people like the show and why they like that episode. If I want to watch Balance of Terror, I'll watch Balance of Terror, not a cheap copy made by writers who claim to respect Trek history while trashing it all at the same time.
4:00 "no vibranium no antimanium" this isn't a marvel comic. Star Trek is not owned by marvel, it was an invented by marvel and it is not a comic book series! It was created by Gene Roddenberry and his group of writers for this television series. Stop comparing this to modern day crap.
Listen. I appreciate your comments. I also appreciate having the freedom to do my channel whatever way I like it. I will do references, jokes, comparisons and such because that is how I react. If you think other things are crap, well that's your opinion. I am more the kind that enjoys everything without making my heart bitter. Have a good one :)
Wit all the racial stuff going on today you should review the episode Let that be Your Last Battlefield. It is also a good commentary on politics. half the country can't stand the other half
Introducing Mark Lenard who would also play Sarek, Spock's father. 🖖
(You are beautiful, BTW. 🌹🌹🌹)
Thanks!
You think these guys next to Sulu so far are a problem? Wait'll Chekov takes that position permanently. What a dweeb.
Very thoughtful comments on this episode. I hope you will eventually react to my all-time favorite episode, "The Doomsday Machine."
The guitar is a nasty distraction. It's in the same location as the picture in picture.
So, everyone sitting next to Sulu loses his sh*t! --LMAO! All these years and I hadn't thought of that, but it's kind of true!...That is until Chekov joins the cast as a full time regular in season two. Oh wait. He loses his sh*t a couple of times, too! Sulu is using some powerful cologne or something. Oh my!
The Romulans are an interesting "villain" species. Thousands of years ago, they left Vulcan, as Vulcan was essentially destroying itself in global warfare. These Vulcan dissidents went searching for a new home and founded the Romulan Star Empire. If there had been an "Enterprise," season 5, it would have continued to build towards the Earth-Romulan War described in "Balance of Terror," which took place a century prior (i.e. during the era of Captain Archer's "Enterprise"). The Romulans will continue to be a problem for the Federation throughout the TNG/DS9 era--although they do become reluctant allies of the Federation during the Dominion War (DS9). They are also the central focus of "Star Trek: Picard."
Why do people on this channel constantly feel the need to spill practically everything that happens in future things that she hasn't seen yet? Just let her watch the show and find this stuff out for herself. You wanna blow how the second movie ends too while you're at it? We're starting to look worse than Breaking Bad fans.
@@chrisnichols9840 - Spoiler: the movie ends with rolling credits. Not very original, but that is how it ends.
@@MoonjumperReviews Wow I'm actually shocked that apparently there are some things you won't spoil considering you so freely just blabbed reveals about so much else. Why is it so difficult to just let her discover all this stuff on her own? I've honestly told reactors not to react to Star Trek on TH-cam just because people like you spill out WAY too much information and think it's ok.
@@chrisnichols9840 - I’m not sure “Romulans are a thing” quite counts as being a spoiler. I’m not convinced you understand the word “spoiler,” but you clearly understand trolling. So have fun! 👍
@@MoonjumperReviews A spoiler is revealing a plot detail which will lessen the surprise for a first-time viewer. Apparently you don't know the meaning of what it is to troll someone. To troll someone means you're trying to provoke someone into an angry response. I'm generally annoyed with people like you and listing my grievance. Just because a person yells at you, doesn't mean they're a troll. So educate yourself first before you try to "defend" yourself. Now if you had simply said, "The Romulans are a thing in the future," I would've let that slide, but no, you revealed a huge plot point in DS9 that, not only does a war occur, but that the Romulans join sides with The Federation. That's a shocking moment when it occurs.
Why isn't the fiancee shrieking and crying and rending her garments in grief? It's an Anglo cultural thing of the time it was made. We were brought up to grieve quietly, to try to maintain the appearance of dignity and decorum, kind of like Spock's description of Vulcan decorum when he loses control towards the end of "The Naked Time." We *could* tell our mothers we loved them, and express other emotions, but White Anglo-Saxon Protestant society around us expected us to demonstrate quiet strength and determination in grief.
She is a naval officer, trained to exercise self-control, just like astronauts today.
@@westlock She has better training and self-control than the captain and his yeoman. Trained command officers don't embrace frightened yeomen on the bridge when the ship is under attack. Perhaps Angela should be running the ship.
Because she's a professional
I'd maybe buy this answer if it wasn't for the biggest fact that Martine is Catholic.
@@dngillikin And yet she practically jumped into Kirk's arms at the end of the episode. You can see she's been crying before Kirk enters the chapel. The only thing Kirk couldn't control was his sex drive.
It would be great if you watch the Star Trek episode, Space Seed then watch the second movie, The Wrath of Khan.
Don't worry. Soon they will give Sulu a Chekov.
Your cuts for this particular episode, were very poorly done, if anyone watching this had not seen this episode before, your choice of editing would not tell anyone much of anything about what your reacting to, to show any interest. I've seen this episode many times myself, but the way this episode has been cut , makes me unable to watch this video in it's entirety.
Thank you for your input. I was still learning to edit with very limited resources back then. I hope to have made an improvement from those videos to my newer ones.
You’re missing STAR TREK DAY
You should shorten your video by 29 seconds.
Why?
The Sci-Fi Dog Lady do the math
The Sci-Fi Dog Lady 17:01
@@mem1701movies I want my channel to grow.
busi magen come on