"Star Trek" A Private Little War (1968)

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (teleplay)
Don Ingalls (story)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

2 February 1968 (Season 2, Episode 19)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Kirk returns to the planet Neural which he had spent time 13 years before. A friend of his from his previous visit is now leader of his people...

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Vulcan | Computer

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Nancy Kovack	...	Nona
Michael Witney	...	Tyree
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Ned Romero	...	Krell
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Chapel
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Booker Bradshaw	...	Dr. M'Benga
Arthur Bernard	...	Apella
Janos Prohaska	...	The Gumato
Paul Baxley	...	Patrol Leader
Gary Pillar	...	Yutan

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

The Mugato was called The Gumato in the original script. But DeForest Kelley kept mispronouncing it so it was changed. The closing credits still name the creature as The Gumato.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Spock is shot and they rendezvous with McCoy and beam out, there is an error in the 'optical.' Not all of the equipment 'sparkles' with the beam out - one piece just dissolves, clearly missed by the technicians in post-production.

Quotes:

Capt. Kirk: Tomorrow... in the palm of her hands.
Dr. McCoy: Well, you got what you wanted.
Capt. Kirk: Not what I wanted, Bones. What had to be.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: William Shatner/Lone Justice (#12.8)" (1986)

War isn't a Good Life, but it's Life (and a Mugato)

This is the serious attempt to present the impact and ramifications of interfering with the natural progression of a culture (the comedic take was "A Piece of the Action" a couple of episodes earlier). In this case, the culprits are (surprise!) Klingons: on a peaceful planet, the Klingons supply one side, Villagers, with flintlocks/rifles, while the Hill People, led by an old friend (Tyree) of Kirk's, continue to use bows & arrows. The balance of power has been upset, not to mention that Kirk's memories of a 'Garden of Eden' world have been corrupted. This is actually an interesting glimpse into Klingon strategy: they build up one side of a civilization as a puppet kingdom, to be a part of their growing empire. See also "Friday's Child" for the previous Klingon-Federation conflict over a planet. What this episode was soon known as by Trekkers is as the 'Vietnam' parable of the series.

This allusion to Vietnam doesn't stay subtle - Kirk even makes reference to the 20th century 'brush wars' on the Asian continent to spell things out to the audience. There's a sometimes preachy tone and flowery references to serpents (the rifles) which overlooks the awful true impact of war, that being widespread bloody death. McCoy addresses this as best he can, but Kirk merely waves away such dire consequences with a trite comment about what war is. Despite a rather simplistic 'kill or be killed' theme for such a politically charged episode, it does drive home the point well that once something like flintlocks are introduced into such a civilization, you can't just take them back. Pandora's Box, such as it is, has been opened and it's too late to close it. And there are no easy solutions. McCoy represents the liberal side here with his protests and he offers no other solution. Kirk is the conservative view - Klingons started this and it's out of his hands now. As such, they have one of their more intense arguments in this episode and neither wins.

Then we have the Mugato. It's a white apelike animal with a lizard-like spine and tail. The monster suit was probably effective in the sixties; now it looks like some goon escaped a Halloween parade to chase Shatner and Kelley around the wilderness (OK, it did scare me a bit when I was eight years old). Add to this the whole witch-woman routine by Tyree's wife and we're in unintentional amusement territory. However, quite intentionally, this episode also presents a 'B' storyline up on the Enterprise, where Spock is recovering from a gunshot wound. My favorite scene is Nurse Chapel slapping the bedridden Spock as Scotty runs in, quite alarmed. This all explains another facet of the Vulcan mystique and physiology. Rather inspired.