Balance of Terror // Star Trek: The Original Series Reaction // Season 1

This episode is top tier Trek. It really isn’t afraid to give the audience a few things to think about. It’s easily in my top 5 TOS episodes.

Shatner's acting in the episode may have been his finest hour on television.

This is my absolute favorite episode from the Original Series. Favorite line: "In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

McCoy's speech to Kirk was telling Kirk he was unique ("3 million, million galaxies", "and in all of that only one of each of us". Every person in all the universe is unique and therefore precious, so "don't destroy the one named Kirk." Basically, telling Kirk to not be hard on himself. If you'd been having a tough day, McCoy would have said, "don't destroy the one named BunnyTails."

Kirk walking out of the chapel and down the hall like a boss is one of my favorite Trek closing scenes.

This is a quintessential episode in the history of The Original Series. Great acting from the cast, and from Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander.

Bigotry and Paranoia was a huge part of the politics of that era . Star Trek always has a message underneath it and this one had a huge one hidden under one of the best episodes that Star Trek ever had !!!!!!! Great action you get to learn how good a Captain Kirk was when the battle is at hand !!!! Plus a giant Smoke ring never was a better weapon !!!!!

This is my favorite episode of any trek. It really highlights Shatner's acting. I love the scene where Styles is glaring at Spock and Kirk walks to the front of the helm and raps on the control panel. No words. No speech.

This is a fantastic episode. I always enjoyed watching this one growing up. It’s essentially a remake of the film, “Enemy Below” which was a World War Two submarine film with very similar themes. The characterizations in this episode are terrific and set the tone for much of the series.

I had actually met Mark Lenard at a Star Trek Convention in Montgomery, Alabama and he was just as down to earth any personable as could be

The helmsman steers the ship after the navigator plots the course. Love the necklace.

Actress Barbara Baldavin who played Angela the bride just passed away on March 31, 2024 at the age of 85.

Glad to see she especially noted Uhura taking over as navigator. Fifty plus years after B of T, we learn Uhura, like all starfleet cadets are highly trained for a number of ships functions - in her case not just linguistics.

This episode shows that it wasn't all happy flowers exploring space in peace and harmony. Sometimes the aliens don't want to play nice.

Run Siulent, Run Deep was a popular submarine WWII suspense thriller movie in the fifties. This episode borrows heavily from that film. It was one of a few classic submarine adventures. The Germans made a terrific submarine film in the eighties called Das Boot - The Boat, which has a very sad ending.

This is easily one of the best episodes of TOS. Seeing the Enterprise in combat, the perspective of the enemy, the theme of morality vs duty in regards to war, dealing with prejudices... Looking back, it's so interesting how certain aspects introduced here impacted later stories. You'll see how eventually.

What makes this episode great is the fully developed characterization of the Romulans and in particular their commander. In lots of sci fi or even regular shows and movies, the villain is often just a 2-dimensional character presented as simply evil. Here we see an enemy commander who is weary of war, skeptical of his leader's ambitions, trapped nevertheless the politics of his world, confiding in an old friend and sparring with an ambitious junior officer. And yes, showing mutual respect to his adversary. And it highlights the folly of war with the line "In another reality, I could have called you friend". On the "good guy" side, it shows the humanity of Kirk and the stresses of dealing with life and death consequences. No to mention the subtext of bigotry and the emotional loss of a crew member. And again, I first saw all this at the age of 9 or 10 in 1975 on re-runs where it left a lasting and important impression. That is why the show is so treasured by so many of my generation.

The romulan commander is one of the most fascinating characters from Star Trek and actor Mark Leonard played him brilliantly.

This is possibly my favorite episode of Trek ever. It’s such brilliant storytelling.

Mark Lenard, the Romulan commander, one if a handful of actors to play multiple roles in TREK, one role happens to be very iconic.