Original air date: March 23, 1967
Captain’s Log, Stardate 3198.4 en route to Organia.
SYNOPSIS
With a war with Klingons raging, Kirk and Spock attempt to resist an occupation of a planet with incomprehensibly placid natives.
CANON CONTEXT
Story editor D.C. Fontana said she thought the Romulans were much more interesting than the Klingons but the Klingons were chosen as the regular adversaries of the series because they did not need any special makeup like the pointed ears for the Romulans.
RECAP
Now this is a good one. And I personally feel it should be triple dissected, word for word, to better understand how history will always repeat itself, especially (and definitely) in futuristic shows. Space and time will do absolutely nothing for the human condition and desire to conquer, fight, and win. Why is that? This episode has the makings for some serious college dissertation somewhere. But I digress.
Negotiations between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have collapsed, and the USS Enterprise is sent to the world of Organia, a non-aligned planet near the Klingon border, to prevent the Klingons from taking advantage of its strategic location. As the Enterprise approaches Organia, the ship is attacked and destroys a Klingon vessel.1
However, Kirk encounters a group of Organians who seem less than interested in being helped. In fact, they insist they are fine and the Enterprise are the ones who need to leave. The Organians are strictly against violence but they also seem to have no technological advancements or capabilities on their planet to defend themselves once the Kingons arrive to conquer their planet.
Suffice it to say, the Klingons arrive and like Kirk, their leader, Kor, is not pleased with the laid back and passive behavior of the Organians. It leaves them, quite frankly, annoyed. Even when Kor kills 200 Organians to get his point across the council seem unmoved and Kirk becomes exasperated.
With the help of Spock the two men take it upon themselves to rescue the Organians from the Klingons whether they like it or not. Let’s just say they do not like it. In fact, once they learn that Starfleet ships are on their way to attack the Klingon ships that are already orbiting the planet to start an all out war, the Organians feel it necessary to step in.
Yet again, we encounter a being that is all super powerful. But these Organians are different. They are powerful, yes, but only have a millions of years worth of evolution did they become as powerful as they are. They learned that no good can come from a desire for man to always be angry and fight an enemy. In this way, they make all weapons of violence unusable. To the point where Kirk and Kor can’t even throw punches!
The look on their faces at the audacity of the Organians preventing them from fighting each other is hilarious. But as they have no choice, they both return to their mutual corners and leave the area. There will be no fighting here.
Three points stuck out to me about this episode specifically:
The Organians predict (correctly, I might add) that the Klingon Empire and the Federation will become friendly some day.
Kirk realizes how stupid the desire of man to always fight and conquer truly is and it leaves him humbled and embarassed.
In the first few minutes of the episode a ship encounters the Enterprise and opens fire. They fire back one shot and it appears to destroy the ship. What was that ship? Was it Klingon? Nothing more is said about it and because of that lack of information I am intrigued. I wonder if it will come up again in another episode (doubtful as they don’t seem to cross-over every) or in another series?
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
[last lines]
Captain James T. Kirk: I'm embarrassed. I was furious with the Organians for stopping a war I didn't want. We think of ourselves as the most powerful beings in the universe. It's unsettling to discover that we're wrong.
Mr. Spock: Captain. It took millions of years for the Organians to evolve into what they are. Even the gods did not spring into being overnight. You and I have no reason to be embarrassed. We did, after all, beat the odds.
Captain James T. Kirk: Oh, no, no, no, Mr. Spock, we didn't beat the odds; we didn't have a chance. The Organians raided the game.
Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Errand_of_Mercy