Time Lord patreon

Balance of Terror, Gallifrey Gals Get Warped! Classic Edition

🕑 Added 2021-11-16 18:01:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

Norman Dixon

If for no other reason the whispering gets across the tension of trying to hide from the enemy.

Norman Dixon

That is so true. I'm always noticing something new in TOS even though I've seen the episodes repeatedly. In my last viewing of this episode I noticed that Tomlinson took Angela's hand when they left the chapel to report to battle stations. It's small human moments like that they give more weight to the show.

Raja

Haven't played Star Trek Online, but I recall previous games like Starfleet Academy where the plasma weapon did have a guidance system that chased you regardless of any evasive maneuvers. Only option was to outrun the plasma as long as possible til it ran out of steam.

Chris Davies

Yes indeed, the old romulan plasma torpedoes had some homing capabilities, were very powerful but the energy dissipated quickly so the longer you can outrun them the less damage they will do if they hit you. But they didn't really show that here

Bluefox

The presumption I guess was that it had some sort of homing aspect. Still, yes, trying to out maneuver it would make sense: that's what "evasive maneuvers" are. However, maybe they couldn't do both that and run away as fast as possible. (A straight line is the fastest you can go, after all. Evasive maneuvers would mean a less straight line.)

Bluefox

Yes, definitely. The implication was that they were just injured, not killed.

Bluefox

Not "practically." It's where the term originates. They called themselves Kirk/Spock or "Kirk slash Spock." Hence the term "slash fiction." So much of the things we take for granted of the modern concept of fandom began with Star Trek.

Mark Chrisco

Love this episode, but, have to ask, when the Bird of Prey fired their weapon at the Enterprise, why didn't they just change course to avoid it?

Raq Miller

Just a note on the use of 'casualties' at 45:35, it's only somewhat recently that 'casualties' has come to mean 'deaths' to the average person. It really means people killed, injured, or disabled by whatever event, which is why their tones are a bit casual and Bones says "mostly radiation burns" and "could've been much much worse", and later says they only lost one crewman. I think the word casualties is used in a similar way in TNG a few times as well, to mean injuries as well as deaths.

Shawn Gates

I always forget how Shakespearean Roman the Romulan's are when first introduced. The first exchange between the Captain and the Centurion could be right out of Julias Ceasar or Titus Androincus

Brett Whittaker

It’s pretty much a submarine duel. Staying quiet the phasers are more like depth chargers

Brad Ireland

Also pops up in an episode of Voyager

Thontor

I believe the helmets were a way for them to avoid having to do prosthetic ears on everyone.

Thontor

It absolutely was. Clearly evident with the whole idea of needing to stay quiet and whisper.

Joe Concepts

The blonde woman was Yeoman Rand, who was part of the first season as a love interest for Kirk, until they decided they didn’t want that to be part of the show after all, and she just disappeared off the show. She does pop up very briefly in a few of the movies.

Henchman Twenty1

We didn't see the full dress uniforms until a little bit later on in the series and only for the main characters.

JXTN

Boo, more episodes first! If it was up to me they'd watch basically all the good ones before the movies (Hell, even a few of the animted ones!). It's probably a lost cause, unfortunately.

R. Chang

I hadn't seen the episode before, but it was great. Felt very much like it was inspired by submarine combat.

Joshua Gosdin

"War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing."

JXTN

People in the military often wear their uniforms on formal occasions.

Hok'Tar

Hey Gallifrey Gals.You need to watch Mark Lenard as Sarek in the TOS episode Journey to Babel

Raja

Aside from Mark Lenard's dual roles of Sarek and the Romulan captain, you might also recognize the insubordinate Romulan soldier who was "reduced two steps in rank". Lawrence Montaigne also played Stonn, the Vulcan who'd wanted to challenge Spock for T'Pring's hand in "Amok Time". The Romulan helmets that Katrina noticed were used by several Vulcans in that episode too.

Chris Lane- Venturi 3D

Agreed, reminds me of when Geordi took the captain's chair in S1 of TNG...that was also a cool moment

Mark Chrisco

An East coast actor, the Romulan Commander was Mark's first Hollywood credit. He was one of the few guest actors who was embraced by fandom as a member of the Star Trek "family."

Mark Chrisco

I've also seen it proposed the phasers were modulated for short bursts in order to produce a more effective spread of concentrated fire.

Mark Chrisco

An interesting note is during the just viewed TNG episode "Redemption," Picard asks for reports from the Neutral Zone outposts for Romulan activity near the border,

Andrew Pulrang

My favorite episode of TOS! I’m so glad Paula and Katrina noted how quickly we come to care about the Romulans. Also, I’ve sene this dozens of times, but in this viewing I noticed something for the first time. The Romulan captain had his own version of Stiles … the younger Centurion who kept pressuring him to be more aggressive. Every time I watch TOS I notice something “new.”

Firefly24601

Every time I watch this episode I always think of the moment when they find out the Romulans look like Vulcans, and the instant change in attitude towards Spock by Styles. It reminds me of what George Takei said about the USA's Japanese-American internment in WWII. They were outcast and put in camps "merely because we looked like the enemy."

Jay Fleming

Honestly a perfect episode for the break considering Part II of Redemption (no spoilers)... also may I draw attention to the Uhura in this episode. What a small but amazing moment she gets when she takes over the helm. Remember this is the main weapons counsel of the Constitution class ship, meaning that she is not only a proficient comm officer, but is able to take over the weapons position with ease at a time of deadly serious combat. It showed clearly that this woman was not window dressing, that she not just there, but the captain trusted her with his life and that of the entire ship. IT's moments like this that matter in sci-fi. While it doesn't seem like much today, in 1968 when this was made seeing people of color in positions of such importance was huge.

Henchman Twenty1

Picard's dialog officiating Miles and Keiko's wedding was indeed taken virtually word for word from this episode. However, in reality, ship's captains have never had the authority to actually perform weddings. I was actually disappointed to hear that as I had thought it was neat that they were seemingly carrying on an age old tradition, hence the "days if the earliest wooden ships" part. Some of those voyages could be pretty long after all.

LonghillAndy

I wonder if now Paula and Katrina know the main tos cast and their dynamics better they might skip to divulging in to some movie reacts of the tos movies?

Henchman Twenty1

Phasers fire. Nuclear charge explodes. Ship tilts one way. Uhura tumbles the other way. Also, as this was early in the series I don't believe they had yet come up with the concept of photon torpedos yet. That's probably why the phaser fire here more closely resembles that of torpedo fire than the straight-beam we later see with phaser fire. Also, also, 22 people didn't die. Just the groom. "Casualties" can also mean wounded.

Shelly

When Kirk was saying "it never makes any sense", I was thinking about the City On The Edge of Forever and how he loses his love. Even though she had a "reason" to die, it didn't make it make sense to him. That's at the end of this season so it hadn't happened yet but Kirk will feel her pain.

Henchman Twenty1

Spock locks onto image of Romulan bridge. Romulan commander turns toward screen. Everyone looks shocked. Spock: "Dad?!" Romulan Commander: "Hello, son. I have something to tell you." [Dramatically} "I AM YOUR FATHER." Spock: [Unimpressed] "I know that. What are you doing there? I'm telling mom!"

Sal Sanchez

Mark Lenard was one of the first Trek actors to play multiple roles. He played the first Romulan Commander. He played the first updated Klingon in the first Star Trek feature film and, of course, played Sarek in the show and movies.Lawrence Montague (?), who played Desius, was also "Stonn" in Amok Time

EricH86

So casualties refers to both injured and dead. So when McCoy says 22 casualties mostly radiation burns, he means 22 injuries.

Joe Concepts

Shipping Kirk and McCoy? The big ship over the years has been Kirk and Spock. They practically invented "slash fiction" for them.

Corum Hayes

This episode reminds me a lot of the movie The Search For Red October. I'd love to watch you all react to that if you haven't seen it.

Brad Barter

Mark Leonard was an amazing actor who potrayed 3 (no spoilers on what the 3rd alien race is) different alien characters and made each different and unique to that race. It makes one wonder what other people or species he could've portrayed if given the chance. Very much like Jeffrey Combs and Suzie Plakson also did as numerous characters.

Mark Steckel

I was a little kid when this first aired, and I remember being glued to the TV. My favorite stories at that time (from some of my friend's dads) had to do with submarine warfare in WWII. My favorite book was "Up Periscope." This episode was very much based on the kinds of submarine tactics used back then. Right down to the "silent running," which of course makes no sense in space, but it made total sense to my young brain. lol. Silent running in a submarine was essential though, because water conducts sound very well. Even the ejecting of debris was a common tactic among submarines undergoing depth-charge attack, to trick the attackers into thinking they had destroyed the sub. Great episode, and great reaction.

Angelus-1701

Easily one of my favourite episodes of TOS. The whole silent section is like the old submarine movies when they couldn’t make any noise otherwise the enemy would know where they were