A Taste of Armageddon

Ambassador Fox wins my award for the stupidest, most belligerent Federation representative ever to come aboard the Enterprise. This guy is so full of himself, he's willing to ignore Code 710 and risk the Enterprise (and perhaps interstellar war) simply because he's convinced his diplomatic capabilities can overcome any obstacles. Despite the high probability that Kirk and the landing party have been taken hostage, and despite an obvious attack against the Enterprise from Eminiar VII, Fox ignores the sound advice of Scotty and the rest of the bridge crew and storms ahead with his ill-fated attempt at negotiating a treaty to secure a spaceport.

All in all, I find this episode very entertaining. Anan 7 seems pretty ruthless, Ambassador Fox has you throwing tomatoes at the screen whenever he's visible, and I always like it when Kirk and company are stealthily sneaking around blasting everything in sight. And the idea of a war fought totally by computers gets you thinking. We're really not that far away from that type of reality, where the ease of waging war makes it easy to forget the horrors behind it. I'm giving "A Taste of Armageddon" a B+ grade and setting up my own disintegration machine to help motivate my kids to get their homework done.

Enterprise visits a planet on a diplomatic mission.

This is an entertaining episode with solid character moments. It is based on a rather silly but still fairly enjoyable concept.

I found the plot to be relatively formulaic, with a similar structure to 'Return of the Archons'. The idea of what constitutes warfare is an interesting idea, but does require major suspension of disbelief. Particularly the 500 years of tradition, which is a real stretch. If you demand plausibility, you might struggle with it. However, if you go along with the plot as I did, the many decent character moments make it worthwhile.

Kirk is fairly no-nonsense and aggressive in his dealings with the people of Eminiar VII and this is entertaining to watch. Although he gains control of one situation in a ridiculous fight scene, this for me is all part of the charm of the original series.

Scotty has his first opportunity to shine in command of Enterprise and he does so with a number of memorable moments, such as standing up to the hideously annoying Ambassador Fox and admirably handing the threat from Anan 7.

Anan 7 is a credible villain and whilst part of an implausible situation he is watchable. Less can be said for Mea 3, who is poorly written and feels like a excuse to have an attractive female for Kirk to save.

There is plenty of memorable dialogue is this episode, particularly from Kirk, Scotty and Spock.

The visuals are strong, especially on Eminiar, which has some lovely cinematography with nicely lit and colourful sets. The costumes, such as the hats, worn by the guest characters are spectacularly fun.

All performances are solid as ever, with William Shatner, James Doohan, David Opatoshu and in particular Leonard Nimoy on top form. Nimoy delivers some brilliant dialogue in his typical dry humorous way.

Okay, almost the entire show takes place in a sterile-looking compound, so this is guaranteed to be a rather bland-looking episode. But, despite this and the lack of a lot of action in the show, it stands out as one of the best episodes because it is so well-written and has an intriguing message. It seems that the Enterprise visits a new planet while they are being attacked by their enemies on a nearby planet. However, despite the landing party hearing the warnings, the see, hear and feel no evidence of attack. It turns out that the attack is a computer simulation and the ship (but not the landing party) are determined by the computer to be casualties in this bizarre game. However, despite not being real, this really is no game. You see, the two planets completely hate each other and would have completely annihilated each other with their high-tech weapons countless decades before had both sides not agreed to stop fighting a conventional war and begin fighting a computerized one. The logic was that BOTH societies could be preserved and the "victims" could be humanely euthanized to make the war more tolerable!!! This sick arrangement seems natural to the planet's inhabitants and they cannot understand why the crew of the ship refuse to report to the disintegration chambers in order to preserve the precarious balance and avoid a real all-out war!!!! The episode is exciting, thought-provoking and features an excellent performance by guest-star David Opatoshu--an exceptional character actor who was a frequent guest on TV (such as his great role in one of the hour-long TWILIGHT ZONE episodes).

While on a diplomatic mission to Star Cluster NGC321, Kirk and his landing party encounter a civilisation on Eminiar VII that claims to have been at war with neighbouring planet Vendikar for 500 years, although there is no sign of any conflict. It transpires that the two planets have a treaty and that the war is now controlled by computers that simulate attacks and calculate the number of human casualties, the victims of each simulation reporting to disintegration chambers; in doing so, they have made war neat and painless, clinical but also endless.

When it is reported that The Enterprise has been 'destroyed' in one such simulated attack, the Eminiar's hold Kirk and his party captive and try to trick the remaining crew into beaming down to the planet so that they can be disintegrated.

A Taste of Armageddon is a well-written, intriguing and thought-provoking episode that argues that it is the very real horrors of war -- death, pain, destruction, famine, and disease -- that often prevent it from happening. Of course, there is a much more preferable outcome that Kirk attempts to instigate -- peace -- but to do so he must kick some Eminarian ass!

8.5/10, rounded up to 9 for Scotty, who tells arrogant Earth Ambassador Fox where he can stick his diplomatic orders, and for Spock's hilarious line, 'Sir, there's a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder.'

The few reviews of this episode have given it a dismissive treatment, and for some very superficial reasons.

Consider; the "aliens" are ostensibly Anglo North Americans who speak perfect North American English, the computers are from the age of vacuum tubes, there's little in the way of cultural adornment, and the production values, even for a classic Trek episode, seem to be a little on the low side.

But, if one merely looks at it for its gloss, then the viewer is missing the larger theme of this very profound episode (as many classic Trek episodes tend to be).

In years past when two factions contended over resources, they fought man to man. There was a sense of personal jeopardy when engaging in combat. There was a stake involved on all levels; national, communal, and personal.

In "A Taste of Armageddon", we're shown the pitfalls of automating international conflict; i.e. warfare. Or, in this case, interplanetary warfare. We're shown a society that's become heartless by trying to preserve it's social life at all costs. And this is where the episode should hit the most astute of viewers.

Today, in the United States, we live in a push button society. At the click of a mouse we can call up any fantasy we want via the computer. In the real world this kind of mechanical symbiosis is taken to the next level by calling up death with the click of a mouse by a seaman in a submarine or a remote control pilot firing a hellfire missile from a predator drone. We now pick and choose our targets, almost seemingly on a whim.

The idea is to minimize death and destruction. A kind of jujitsu approach to warfare via defanging the opposition. Anon 7 states the reasons for this approach to warfare, but Kirk reminds of what it is he and the rest of his people are afraid of.

The speech delivered at the end by Captain James T. Kirk is typical Shatner-esquire drama. The words he delivers should strike home for anyone who's ever thought of organized warfare on any level. This is the heart of the story. This is the message, and a warning for future generations.