“I Spy” was a very popular TV series that appeared during the run of Star Trek: The Original Series and for exactly the same number of years. During that time period, there were a number of other spy series that appeared on TV such as “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and “Mission: Impossible”. There were others that were spy series but not quite the same such as the comedy “Get Smart” or the western series “The Wild, Wild West.” The popularity of these shows was driven by a number of spy movies that appeared in the 1960s, the most famous being the ones that featured “Bond, James Bond”.
All these TV series contained the usual spy thriller ingredients: clandestine missions that were carried out on their own; amazing devices that were beyond imagination; women that used their sexuality to lure agents to the other side; disguises that allowed the main character to fit in and complete their mission; betrayal of a friend, deception and so on. Most of all, plot twists kept the viewers wondering if the heroes would be able to complete their mission; yet it was not until the last few moments of the story and usually in the most amazing ways did they survive. Being a “child of the 60s” (as we old folks like to say) I got to watch these movies and TV series first run and it was marvellous.
However, to my knowledge, sci-fi never was a part of the mix until the third season of Star Trek.
As we all know, Star Trek survived near cancellation after the second season, yet a fan letter-writing campaign made the network reconsider and allow a third and final season of Star Trek to occur. What were we rewarded with…”Spock’s Brain”? Really? This article is about “The Enterprise Incident”. If or when a review of one of the worst episodes in any of the three seasons is needed, “Spock’s Brain” might be the winner. Yet, by hanging in there for one more episode, we were rewarded with “The Enterprise Incident”.
As with a good spy thriller, we open with deception. Our hero, Captain Kirk is not acting his usual self. In a voice-over, kindly Dr McCoy was heard recording into the ship’s log his comments on the recent actions of his good friend. Was Kirk crazy? Or was he crazy like a fox? We did not know from the outset, but he did instruct Sulu to send the Enterprise directly into Romulan territory and soon, as expected, the Enterprise was surrounded by three Romulan vessels.
Flashback, we have to do this now before it gets too late.
In season one of Star Trek, we were treated to one of the better episodes “Balance Of Terror”. In it, a Romulan vessel attacks a number of Star Fleet outposts along the Neutral Zone which was established nearly 100 years earlier after the end of the Romulan War. Using a newly developed plasma weapon and the ability to cloak themselves to the point of invisibility to the TV viewer, the Romulans looked like they had the upper hand. In the end, after an exciting nerve and tactician-driven battle, Kirk and his crew defeat the enemy and survive to live for another episode.
Again, this is not a review of “Balance Of Terror” however if not for that episode could “The Enterprise Incident” have occurred? Might I also add, the 10th episode of Strange New Worlds would not have happened as well? If you have not seen the 10th episode of Strange New Worlds stop right here and watch it. Heck, watch all the prior nine episodes as well. This series is, simply put, the best Trek since Enterprise. I’ll leave someone else to write a review of Strange New Worlds since I need to get back to “The Enterprise Incident”.
Where were we? Oh yes, the Enterprise is surrounded by what looks like Klingon warships. In notes about the episode available when watching on Prime Video, the original model of the Romulan ship from season one was lost and so the production team had to make do with Klingon crafts in replacement. I am sure the script writer D C Fontana was not happy when she had to do a rewrite of the dialogue to explain why Klingon ships had to be used. Being the excellent writer she was, she came up with a good reason for their existence.
Back to the story…Captain Tal demands that Kirk and the Enterprise surrender to him and his forces. The Romulans used that same cloaking device from “Balance Of Terror” (and so the tie-in) to get the drop on Kirk once the Enterprise entered Romulan territory. A mistake by Kirk or a plan from the beginning? We don’t know for sure. The Romulan Commander, who uses that as her name throughout the episode (never revealing her name to anyone except Spock in a whisper) requests Kirk and Spock come aboard her ship leaving everyone’s favourite Scotty in command.
Upon arrival on the Romulan ship, the Romulan Commander accuses Kirk of espionage and in his usual bravado, says it was navigation errors that caused them to cross into Romulan space. Now the betrayal occurs. Spock claims that Kirk has lost his mind and it he and he alone directed the Enterprise. This leaves Star Fleet out of the picture and Kirk is put into the brig while Spock is left to do is part of the plan.
Historical note if you don’t mind? In additional notes about the episode, D C Fontana indicated that the events surrounding the USS Pueblo incident were the basis for this episode. The USS Pueblo was captured in what the US military considered international waters in 1968. The North Koreans said otherwise, saying that the ship was spying on them and Russia. For 11 months, the crew was held in prison demanding that they admit to what they were doing, even though they never would do so. In 1973 an excellent made-for-TV film was released called “Pueblo” which I watched the first run. What made it so interesting, besides that the story was used for “The Enterprise Incident” is that for the first time on network TV, actors playing Navy sailors displayed “The Bird” (aka “The Finger) to their North Korean captors. I believe this was a first for network TV. Not knowing what this meant, the American sailors said it was a Hawaiian good-luck sign and once the Koreans learned of its true meaning, the crew was tortured. Even though the crew was released, the ship remains in North Korean. Back to the episode.
Did Kirk suffer like the captain of the Pueblo? Well, if you consider “Vulcan Death Grip” a bad thing, then yes? When Spock and the Romulan commander visit Kirk in the brig, Spock says Kirk is unstable and Kirk attacks him. Spock applies the “pinch” and Kirk collapses to the floor. Oh no! Are we or the Romulan Commander to believe that Spock could kill his best friend and captain? Ah, deception once again. McCoy is asked to examine Kirk’s limp body and declares him dead. None of the old McCoy lines like: “it’s worse than that, he’s dead Jim” because it’s Jim!
In the next scene, Kirk is back in the Enterprise, lying on a bio-bed as dead as dead can be…or is he? With lovely Nurse Chapel at his side, Kirk’s eyes open. Hooray, our hero is alive! McCoy has learned of the plan to get Kirk and Spock on the Romulan ship. That they were to find the cloaking device, and steal it from the Romulans so that once again, a “Balance Of Terror” was maintained on both sides—espionage at its best.
While this is happening, our other hero, Spock is doing something a beautiful blond would do to James Bond, seduce him into a false sense of security. Spock, seduce? In his stoic style, he convinces the Romulan Commander that he is willing to give up Star Fleet and join her at her side since there is long-term compatibility between Vulcans and Romulans. This was established back in the episode “Balance Of Terror” (once again, you cannot have one without the other). She falls for it hook, line and sinker.
Back on the Enterprise, Dr McCoy gets to do what’s expected in any episode of “Mission: Impossible”. He uses his surgical skills to alter Kirk’s likeness to resemble a Romulan, giving him the same up-swung eyebrows and pointy ears that both races contain. Kirk now has to tell Scotty what the true meaning of the mission was. With Romulan soldiers in the Enterprise brig, swapped when Kirk and Spock went to the Romulan ship (did I not mention before about prisoner swaps are always a part of a spy thriller?), Kirk dresses in one of the uniforms and transports over to steal the cloaking device.
As a note: in the Enterprise book “The Good That Men Do”, Trip, instead of dying in the last episode, is transformed into a Romulan and begins the most amazing undercover work. If you have not read this book, I thoroughly recommend it. Especially if you hated the last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Spock, using the seduction of the Romulan Commander, gives Kirk time to find the device. However, Spock is caught making a call to Kirk to let him know where the unit is maintained. Kirk finds it all by himself and after fighting two Romulans with karate chops and judo kicks (always seen in a good spy story) steals the device and Scotty transports him before he is caught by the Romulans. Story over? Not yet.
Spock is charged with espionage and spying; he admits to his guilt and involvement. He asked to be given time to make a deposition of his crimes and all the while this gives Scotty time to do his magic, to install the cloaking device on the Enterprise.
I don’t know if you ever tried to mate an alien device to another device of human origin, to make it happen, Scotty is your man. If you have travelled to a European country and tried to plug in a US-made electronic device into an electrical outlet without the proper adapter, well too bad. They don’t fit. Yet, Scotty is able to mate the cloaking devise into the engineering systems of the Enterprise. Does it work…not yet.
First the Romulans, in a fit of pique, decided to attack the Enterprise. Never will the cloaking device make it to Starfleet! As Kirk gives the order to Sulu to go to Warp Factor 9 (does the Enterprise even go that fast?) the Romulans follow. And as they begin to catch the Enterprise (does a Romulan ship go faster than Warp 9? I guess so) Kirk asks Chekov to scan for Vulcan life signs on the Romulan ship so that they can transport Spock back to the Enterprise. Chekov gets to say one of my favourite lines in all of Star Trek, “got him, sir!”, I love the way he says it, maybe even more than “newcleur wessles” (that’s about as phonic as I can be). Seeing that Spock is in transport mode, the Romulan Commander grabs ahold of him and she ends up on the Enterprise. Silly girl.
Kirk calls Captain Tal and says “I got your boss here” yet she commands Tal to attack no matter what. She will go down with Kirk’s ship before she allows the cloaking device to fall into the enemy’s hands. It looks like the end…or is it? Remember Scotty is the master technician and he presses the go button and…it works! The Enterprise disappears from the screen and they make their escape. Hurray.
What’s left, is only for Spock and the Romulan Commander to have one last moment as he takes her, not to the brig, but to her quarters. Isn’t Star Fleet so nice and accommodating, much to her surprise? We are the good guys, remember? And with that, Dr McCoy reminds Kirk he has an appointment to have his “ears bobbed”. Kirk leaves the bridge, rubbing his pointy ears for a last time, while the bridge crew all are in smiles, as it should be.
As you can see, this episode filled in all the blanks for a great spy thriller, only done in deep space. I’m sorry “Moonraker”, even though it was a Bond film, it could not fill the shoes of this episode of Star Trek.
Season Three of Star Trek was not the quality of the first two seasons. Lack of interest by the studio, Gene’s feeling that he had been mistreated by the networks for sticking Star Trek on Friday nights to die an untimely death due to lack of viewership. In the end, the love of Star Trek was resurrected on syndicated TV and in six movies. To this day, Star Trek lives on with new TV series on Paramount+ and alternative timelines with the JJ Abrams films. Gene passed away on October 24th, 1991, before he could see just how gigantic Star Trek would become.
