My favourite episode of Star Trek is "Balance of Terror".
There are any number of excellent episodes in the three-year run of the adventures of Kirk and Company and, to be honest, even more really bad ones. But, for me, "Balance of Terror" stands out.
Based on the 1957 Robert Mitchum WWII film, "The Enemy Below", "Balance of Terror" is a taut, exciting and intellectually sophisticated drama that provides our first introduction to the Federation's most interesting and enduring enemies, the Romulans.
Like the Mitchum movie, "Balance of Terror" takes the time to establish the character, the humanity of the enemy in an effort to raise the stakes in the drama. These are not simply faceless, cold-blooded killers --these are people who believe as strongly in the rightness of their cause as we believe in ours.
And, in a theme that is later picked up much more powerfully in "Arena", the possibility is raised in "Balance of Terror" that we may, in fact, be in the wrong.
The episode also introduces us to the talents of actor Mark Lenard, who portrays the Romulan Commander. Lenard, as we all know, became a fixture in both Star Trek and TNG as Spock's father, Sarek.
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