Errand of Mercy (Star Trek TOS - S1E27)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]
Kirk and Spock beam down expecting a war zone… and instead get the calmest, creepiest planet in the galaxy.

In this episode of Treks and Tangents, we break down Errand of Mercy—from the Organians’ suspiciously chill attitude to that very unsettling door that just… opens and closes on its own like it knows something we don’t.

Is it hospitality? Is it surveillance? Is it judging you?

Plus: Klingons arrive, tensions rise, and the “simple villagers” might be playing a much bigger game than anyone realizes.
[End Transmission]

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Healing Frequencies Open and welcome aboard Treks and Tangents. I'm your co-host Brian.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And I'm your co-host Jackie. I'm the Star Trek movie who checked off on tangents.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode, and this week we watched Star Trek, the original series, season one, episode 26, Errand of Mercy.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Welcome back. We're gonna jump straight into the episode this week and revisit last week's Turbolift tease. That was where we gave Jackie the title of this week's episode, and Jackie, with no other information, tried to guess the plot of this week's episode. So, computer. What was Jackie's guess last week?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Jackie's TurboLift tees last week was sometimes I think that they are going to focus more on just what is happening on the Enterprise, and we are going to be introduced to a new member of the crew. They have done something naughty, but Kirk is making them do another errand on the Enterprise because we have to learn more about them. I'm sure there are other stages. So in order to get into good graces, this new character has to do something very important.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

So, Jackie, how accurate do you think your guess was?

SPEAKER_02 1:28

I'm gonna say like 20%. I mean, we meet a new member, not of the crew, but a new important person.

Initial Impressions

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Okay, it's a bit of a stretch. This is the first episode where we are introduced to Klingons and the Klingon Empire. So we can quibble over whether that's 20% or not later. So what were your initial impressions of the episode? What did you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:54

I was so surprised it was over when it was over. I had to just like go back and watch it again to see what I missed, because I was it was fun. I enjoyed it, and it was a surprise at the end, and I e I swear the main councilman was in that Shakespeare episode, but no, I was wrong. But his face just looked like it.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Nope, just uh another generic old white actor, dude.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Well, it was really good, and then then I was wondering, you know, for later for when your fancy tidbits say know that there is a Klingon named Worf, and he looks way different than these Klingons.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, it's a bit of a quandary, and we'll just get it out of the way at the top of the episode. Yes, the Klingons from the original series end up looking drastically different than the Klingons from all the other Star Trek series. The simple answer to that is just the way the show was filmed. And they filmed the original series and they filmed the characters that were Klingons one way, and then we jump forward to the next generation, and they decided to add all the prosthetic makeup to the actors playing Klingons. That's the short answer. It's the same reason why, if you jump back to the origin and the introduction of the Romulans in that one episode, half of them were wearing the helmets because they just didn't feel like putting ears on all of them.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Interesting. I mean, they still have the the same essence, like like mean and gurr.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

But yeah, it's like evolution over time.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, and so for the official reason as to why Klingons in the Star Trek lore look different, that's a whole topic that can be an entire episode. So we're not gonna get into it.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Oh, we'll put that on the list of maybe in the future.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

For our Patreons.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yes, maybe a bonus episode of our Star Notes or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Okay, all right. I took this off one enough. Let's get back on trick.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah. So it's a my thoughts, it's a weird episode for me. It's a great episode because it introduces the Klingon Empire, and they obviously are going to be huge characters and and a huge part of the Star Trek universe. But it's a weird episode because it's not like the episode where they introduce the Romulans and it's a focus on the conflict between the Federation and the Klingons. You have to throw in these other aliens, these other creatures on the planet, and that whole plot point to be introduced into it. And the the pacing is just so weird. It's an occupational wartime story, but the entire time you just know that there's something different about the natives to the planet, you know there's something weird. It never goes away, but it's also never fully explored or confronted by the characters until the reveal at the very end. I don't know. It's just all over the place for me.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

At least they're happy with their smiles, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Well, happy, completely removed from reality, existing on a different plane.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

They're just hoping that the humans and I mean, are Klingons even kind of humanoid at all? Like, can they maybe they're hoping they will come to peace on their own.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Well, it's an interesting topic to bring up. Are the Klingons humanoid? Are the Organians humanoid before they're revealed to be creatures of energy when we think that they're just people living on the planet? I think for simplicity's sake, we have to make the definition that humanoid is anyone that is bipedal and has a passing resemblance to what a human looks like. They're not human. The definition of human would be someone of a species that originates from Earth. And there's a couple points in the episode where that kind of comes up and gets played with a couple times, where Kor refers to Kirk as human versus humanoid. And so it comes down that kind of pulls back the plot a little bit because he doesn't think Kirk is a human from Earth. He thinks he's an Organian, and the Organians are not human because they're not from Earth. So it's it's part of why the episode's all over the place for me, because it's there's just points that aren't very consistent with some of the dialogue. Also, I'll point out throughout the entire episode, many times when Kirk and Core are conversing and having their intense dialogue and intense debates, the way they choose to frame the camera where it's directly facing whoever's speaking head on, like they're talking into a webcam, like they're having a Zoom meeting and they're just cutting back and forth between frames.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

No, I completely agree with you on that. That was really weird, especially at the end when they're like focusing on Core's face, and he's like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, and don't get me wrong, the actor who plays Core does a fantastic job. A plus. And maybe that was I don't know, but maybe that was the purpose of that camera decision to focus in on his face to show off his facial expressions, to sell the dialogue and to sell the character. True. I think it was just the wrong choice.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Do they come in future episodes for the original series? So we'll see this again.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

So the actor who plays Core, they were supposed to have him in an episode in the second season and an episode in the third season. However, the actor ended up not being available. So they ended up writing new Klingon characters for those episodes. Then they were gonna try again in season four to bring him back as core, but of course the show was canceled after three seasons.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

That really sucks because he did such a great job.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Definitely, I think the spotlight of the episode is that character, that actor, for sure. It almost makes me, I guess that's part of my problem, is I really kind of wish that as much as the episode focused on him and his character, it really feels like it muddles the water at the very end when they introduce this plot point to wrap up everything. The Organians is these creatures of energy thrown in at the last minute. And I think that overshadows core in the episode and and where the character goes at the very, very end, where they're objecting to being forced into coexisting and to be at peace, he no longer is this calm and collective military commander. He almost becomes like this brooding and temper tantrum throwing child.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yeah, the end kind of goes wild altogether.

Treking Through the Episode

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah, it's a messy ending to the episode. So it's it's all over the place, but why don't we just dive right in? And Jackie, why don't you walk us through the episode?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

We are on the Enterprise at the opening, and Spock hands a card to Kirk that contains a coded directive for Enterprise. It looks like those little three by five discs, but it's red, and uh discussions with Klingons are failing, and Enterprise will need to go to this planet called Organia and ensure that Klingons cannot take it as a base, like because the Klingons want to use it as a base for their military.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Right. For reference, this is going to be the second time that the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been at war in this moment. And back in the first war, it it's muddled, and I don't know the exact history, but I believe during the first war this planet Organia was also a pivotal um planet that they wanted control over.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

So Spock explains that the uh people of Organia are human-like, but they're kind, yet live very primitively. And Kirk calls their planet like weak innocent. Like they totally downplay the people, almost calling them like slow, kinda.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, more just technologically in advance, definitely a system or a group of people that don't have technology, don't have basic machines, definitely on the level of agriculture and animal husbandry, as we will see in a moment.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

But Sulu interrupts them because he's had to put the deflector screen deploy. He's he's had to deploy it just before because they've been attacked. And then Kirk has Enterprise Return Fire and it harms the attacker.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

It doesn't just harm them, it blows them up. Boom.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Kirk does announce over the loudspeaker for everyone to report um any damage and then also to do the protocol for damage control. And then with those reports, Sulu reports that the other ship is just drifting debris. And Spock is able to tell Kirk that on the Enterprise decks 10 and 11 have glass damage and just a light casualties. Yura tells them Starfleet Command reports the attack was code one, thus making this the beginning of a war. Quote, we didn't want it, but we got it.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

And I don't necessarily know that the attack the code one is to classify the attack or if it's just the way to describe the message that Uhura gets from Starfleet, but yes, this is the opening to this episode is definitely showing the last little breakdown of negotiations have failed, or last attempt at p at some resolution to the conflict is broken down, and you can expect an attack, which of course they then just experience. So the war between the Federation and the Klingons has officially begun.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

So Kirk replays that war or no war, they still have a job to do. And Kirk tells Sulu to head to the planet, and then we have our intro.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah, and if it seems like this is I don't know for anyone else that watched the episode, but for me, if it seems like it's an extremely long opening to the episode before the intro credits, I went back and I timed it. It from the time that the episode starts to the time that the opening credits begin, it's three minutes and fifteen seconds, which seems painfully long to try to cram in all this information before the official start of the episode. It's one of the weaker openings or the weaker type of openings to a Star Trek episode where they try to introduce a lot of plot points and try to hold your hand through, walk you through a setup to the episode. I like the ones that are more 30 seconds to a minute, where they just give some kind of teaser, some kind of mystery. They don't try to explain anything, and in fact, they leave the viewers going into the opening credits questioning everything. Those are better openings to television shows in general from this era, I think. Star Trek and Sci-Fi in particular, not the strongest opening to a Star Trek episode here.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

I completely agree. Like we already know what like what the plan is. And so, of course, we have a log entry from Kirk, and he just basically says, We have reached Organia in its orbit, and we do not see any signs of hostiles in the area yet.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yet.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

But then, of course, Yehura does tell Kirk that there have been sightings of Klingons, so you know be careful. And Kirk tells Sulu that he'll be in charge while Kirk and Spock are away.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Right. Just a fun little chain of command fact read online. People questioning why is Sulu being put in charge instead of Scotty being put in charge, because in the chain of commands, Scotty would outrank Sulu. One, Scotty doesn't appear in this episode. Two, it makes sense if they're on high alert expecting an attack, it would be more efficient for Sulu to be in command on the bridge and Scotty to remain in engineering, to man the engineering stations during the attack, if one were to come.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Oh, that answers the question that I was gonna ask you. So perfect. And Kirk also tells Sulu that if there are Klingons and you know there's a a little problem that Sulu needs to leave. And tell Starfleet, and then if he has enough backup, then he can come back.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

But do not come back until uh, you know, he has enough that yeah, don't put the Enterprise in danger while myself and Spock are down on the planet because you think you're gonna save us. If you fall under attack and there's any question, just take off so that you can warn Starfleet. We will be fine on the planet, just leave us behind. He obviously follows the order, says he'll follow the order, seems kind of not happy about it, but again, we've already done this in arena.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So with these exact same players for the exact same situation, you're under attack, you're being overwhelmed, take off and come back later, just leave us. Don't know why it was such a surprise to him.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

It's like, remember when?

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

So Kirk then calls the Spock and they head on down to the transport room to beam down to Organia. We now arrive on to the planet Organia in the middle of like the city, and there's tons of people walking around, and nobody is looking at them.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Right. No one is reacting to two strangers wearing strange clothing beaming down and appearing out of thin air amongst them. And I'm so glad that the episode addresses that, or at least verbalizes that that's unusual. Obviously, it sets it up for the rest of the episode, but again, watching it back from the beginning, as they're beaming down and they're not reacting, that was the very first thought that entered my head. So I'm glad that it's addressed in that moment. So right.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

I was like, is the person with the dyed shape going to go uh say hello?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

The dyed isn't colorful, they were green and blue. Yeah, they were green and purple, I thought. But yeah, tie-dyed tie-dyed sheep and tie-dyed animals. And obviously, I don't know, it didn't look like they dyed them, it looks like they just had some kind of like blanket draped over them.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

True. Well, they're probably wool sheep, which that's they're very important. Pricey, pricey wool for those guys.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

So and then Spock is like, wow, look at that huge giant ruin over there. It could be a castle. And then Kirk's like, oh yeah, cool. And then nothing more. So then they start to walk around and a man I'm gonna butcher his name, Ileborn.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Sure, we'll go with that.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Okay. He's in like a purple robe. He approaches Kirk and Spock, welcoming them to Organia. And then Kirk asks to speak to someone in charge. So assuming of him, the man tells them there isn't any, but he is chairman of the council. And then on the way to the council, Spock asks to wander the village while Kirk takes care of the council meeting.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Right. And totally calm and relaxing vibes from everyone. The the man, Aylborne, is just very accommodating, and our village is your village, and do whatever you want, and look around, there's no secrets. Definitely with what we know now about their true existence hiding in plain sight.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yes, and always with a slight smile.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

And so now we're in the council building, and we see like there's five of them at a table, including our friend in purple.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

And definitely I noticed as Kirk is when they walk in, there's like three of them, and then Kirk starts to talk to them, and as Kirk is talking to the three of them, that they slowly sit down to engage in conversation with Kirk and listen to him, and then one more guy wanders in and sits down, and then the fifth guy wanders in and sits down. Almost like this isn't their normal protocol, this isn't their normal mode of operation, that they don't normally engage in this kind of government leadership.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

So Kirk tells the council that his government is showing signs that Klingons are wanting to make Organia a home base against the Federation, which is Kirk and Starfleet. And Kirk wants to ensure that the Klingons cannot do this. It is funny how the council says it's either Federation or Klingons that they'll have to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

When in fact they won't have to deal with either.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

And then Kirk ensures that with Federation help they'll have a choice and help you know with their planet. They'll be forced to be slaves under Klingon and with no choice in what happens to them at all.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Right. But also important to point out, Kirk is, I think, trying to imply that your choice is you can either accept our help and avoid falling under Klingon rule, or you can ignore our help and you will be forced to be under Klingon rule. But that's not really the choice that he's presenting. It's he's choose he's presenting the choice of either help us and we'll keep you out of from being under Klingon rule, and join us is kind of the choice, or just fall into the Klingons. He's not really offering the option for them to remain independent. He's really kind of saying, you get to choose, it's you're going to fall under someone's empire, either the Klingons or Starfleet. And he then he tries to draw the difference between the two so that they choose, okay, well, we'll let we'll be under Starfleet from now on. And I think ultimately that's part of the reason why the or the Organians decide to kind of force the two of them to stop fighting, because they kind of realize you both are trying to take us over. That makes sense. Much sense. Because it really doesn't make sense for Kirk and Spock to even go down to the planet to begin with. There's there's no point. They the Organians don't really have any means to stand up to the Klingons, even if they wanted to, at least from Kirk and Spock's perspective, of them being a technologically not advanced culture.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

So primitive.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

A primitive culture. So what's the point? They beam down and they they go, we need your help to fight back and to keep the Klingons distracted and to throw them off the planet with what? Pitchforks? Well, we didn't see any, so they might not have any yet. They they I mean they don't have phasers, they don't have electricity, they don't have any sort of technology that can stand up to the Klingons. So what is the point of Spock and Kirk beaming down to the planet except to kind of get their permission to be like, hey, we're just gonna the Starfleet's gonna take over this planet so that we can save you? Because again, the mission is not to save the Organians, the mission is don't let the Klingons get a foothold. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Now Spock arrives after his village tour, and he explains that the planet is not progressing to a world of mechanics, but it actually is stagnant.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

And completely flatlined in making advancements, they're not working toward evolution, they're not working toward upgrading their society, they're not moving forward in any sort of technological advances. They've been at this level for eons.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

For like thousands of years.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Right. Also, did you notice when Spock returned from his little village tour, the doors open without anyone touching them?

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yes, like welcome.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

And then not like pressure doors where they slowly close, they wait for Spock to fully enter the room, and then they start to close seemingly at random.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

There are many clues that you have to catch.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, it's kind of a it's kind of a giveaway at that moment of something else is going on.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

So I just thought it was a weird door that the air pushed it. I had no idea what was happening.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah, I don't think this is intentional in any way of the show. I think this was someone in set design going, Well, yeah, we're just gonna have these doors open and close automatically, and didn't think past the idea of wait a minute, this is supposed to be a primitive culture. They wouldn't have this type of technology, the doors would have to be open and closed by someone.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Well, but it was like a saloon door.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

I that's probably what they were going for.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

He even calls it a laboratory specimen of an arrested culture. Like they stop. And then Kirk thinks this is actually useful. I mean, so they go back to where the council is seated and they try to start talking, but the councilmen are like, let me start first. And I say that they are secure, there is no danger, all is good, thanks for stopping by. And we don't need your help. And he even, you know, kind of suggests that Kirk and Spock go back to the enterprise so they can be the safe ones.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

But Kirk goes on to plead like more of what the enterprise and the fleet can do for them. They can help with infrastructure. Uh, specialists and technicians can be provided to help anywhere else that's needed. And then he goes on a long monologue about feeding thousand people in place of one, grow fields, build schools, and the the council just continues that Kirk doesn't understand how the planet works. They're just like, we're done.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Right. And again, what is he offering? Why is he offering this? He's not offering it to them in place of their armed service to throw off any Klingon invasion because they don't have that ability. He doesn't need their permission to just fly around in orbit in the Enterprise and shoot at Klingon ships. He can do that anyway.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

I think he's trying to bribe them.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

But what is the re what does Kirk and the Starfleet get in trade for all of these services? Again, I think it is we then absorb you into Starfleet and you become part of the United Federation of Planets and all that it entails. We offer protection, but and we improve your planet and we show you how to do all of these technological agricultural advancements, but now you're feeding a thousand people instead of just one in place of one. So you have 999 extra parcels of food that we're going to take for feeding our other colonies and so forth. Again, I think this is a situation where they're trying to absorb this into Starfleet. The Organians recognize that, and that's part of the reason why they just kind of go, just leave us alone. We don't, we're not in danger, we're fine, just take off. We will deal with the Klingons when they get there. Ultimately, we don't care about this planet.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

I also think that Kirk doesn't think these people are smart.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Neither Kirk nor Korr, the Klingon commander, think these people are intelligent.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

While that is all happening, Sulu calls down and says, Hey, we are being attacked. And then we cannot beam you up. Kirk's like, uh, I told you to leave. We're fine. Go. Bye. And then I saw that we meet another one of the councilmen whose name is like Trey Fei. And he's talking that there's eight other vessels in the orbit that have activated transmission units.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Kirk looks to Spock and says, Are you picking up that on your tricorder? That's not anything Sulu just said over comms. And and so this is the first moment where it kind of paints the picture. We all know there's something going on with the Organians up to this point, but this is the first real revealing moment that the answer to the questions of who these people are is more than just naive, primitive natives to the planet. There's something more going on with them.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

And then Trey Fei continues on that the people have come onto the planet too.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Several hundred have come onto the planet.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

How did he know this? Like, what's up? And then the original gentleman, Aylborne, says, Oh well, Trey Fein is quite intuitive and can feel these things. Meanwhile, Spock and Kirk have changed into Organian clothing that has been supplied to them.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Right. Interesting enough to point out Kirk's clothing is yellow, the color of his uniform. I noticed that. Spock's clothing is less obvious, but ultimately it is mostly it's a darker blue, but it's still blue, the color of his uniform.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

I actually thought he looked like one of the sheep every time I looked at him. Because they have like wool feet, boots. Right. I don't know. I thought it was cute. And his cape. Okay, sorry. Back on track. So they changed his clothing, hoping that the Klingons don't notice that they are from Enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Right. Because at least the Organians look, again, we're gonna get into it, they look human. So Kirk can blend in. Spock can't. I don't know why they can't give him a hat or a hood, but they come up with the story that he's a Vulcan trader and he's there to trade materials that would be common for someone a merchant to be trading. Two interesting points. One, why do the Organians know about Vulcans and Vulcan traders if they're so primitive? And again, we're just at this point still supposed to believe that they're just an incredibly plateaued civilization when it comes to technology, but for some reason they're still getting all of these visitors that come to them. Because again, we still don't know the true nature of who they are at this point. So we're supposed to believe they know about Vulcans, they know about space traders, they know about starships, and they're fine with advanced technology of people just beaming down, like it happens all the time, fine. Two, problem with Spock's little cover story, where's Spock's trading ship? It's hiding around a rock. If he's supposed to be a merchant and he's supposed to be trading, and Vulcans are not native to this planet, there's no Vulcan outpost, so he had to come in a ship. Are we supposed to believe that he was just beamed down by the merchant ship and they said, Oh, just go ahead and negotiate a deal, we'll be back in a week to figure out how you did. Or no, his ship would still be in orbit somewhere. So why didn't the Klingons question where his ship was? Why was that never covered?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

My brain is rolling around trying to figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

And then of course Kirk is like, is all this stuff true that he's saying? And Spock is like, yes, we Vulcans can be merchants and we trade wherever we want to.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Right, there's a basis for the backstory, but there's some holes in it.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

And we also learn that Kirk's name is Barener, and he's a leading Organian citizen, just so you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Again, backstory with lots of room to poke holes in it.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

So now the Klingons, as we know, are on the planet, and Kor and his crew walk on in to the building that everyone is in, that we're gonna call the council office, and he calls himself the military governor of Arganya. Like he already took it over.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Right. And and not an uncommon theme in Star Trek for these types of things. This is gonna be something that is, if you dive deeper into when we get to Deep Space Nine and the Cardassian occupation force of Bajor, this is very similar what happens. A military-based empire goes to a planet that has resources or strategic value that they want, and they just feel entitled to it, so they just set themselves up as the occupying force. Also, many examples of this in our human history.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

That's wild. And the Organian Council is just sitting at the table smiling as they welcome them to the planet, but they're just smiling.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Welcoming's an interesting way to describe it. They're definitely not resistant to them.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

They definitely make it very clear that they will comply with the Klingon force and offer no resistance. They never cross the line, I don't believe, to saying, we welcome you, we're happy you're here. They accept the occupation, but they don't encourage it.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Aylborn introduces Kirk, which makes Korr question if he has a tongue, or or does you know Aylborne have to answer all the questions for him?

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Right, because when Korr entered the council chamber with his little entourage, Kirk and Spock are there in native clothing, but they weren't able to slip away. Again, dumb. They're just yeah, they're just standing there as if they were like like suspicion because they're there supposedly having an audience with the ranking government of the planet. So they must be of some importance. What would have been smarter is put them in clothing and squirrel them away in someone's house and lay low until Starfleet arrives to try to push the Klingons back. But that's not what happens.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Then Kor goes on to say, look at Spock and say, Wait, Vulcans are part of the Federation. And then of course Kirk speaks up and says, uh, he is no spy, he is, you know, they trade with Organia also.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Right. I think he says Spock is his friend or he knows him personally. Again, dumb. Should have gotten Spock a hat, would have solved a bunch of stuff, should have kept him hidden away, but I could I I can point that out a dozen more times in this episode.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Or we need to find a way that we can like pin his ears back. Not hard. Right. I'm just saying. So um Cora goes on to the council and he just tells them that there's gonna be a list of rules, and if they aren't followed, you'll be punished by death. And then when Kirk's like Aura is giving off this weird hatred, and he finds it odd, I find it odd that Kor thinks Kirk's quote cool, honest hatred is refreshing.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Well, I th so Klingons when you when the characters and the species are fully developed out in Star Trek, they are a conquering warlike species that will eventually cool off a little bit, but they definitely also fight with a code of honor. And so they are someone who actually recognize that they're conquering a group of people that have no warrior instincts and don't fight back, so there's no challenge in it, so there's no real honor. If you want to go even further deeper, this is not an honorable post for core to be presiding over because they're passive, they're not gonna fight back, and so there's no challenge to it. So it's not so much a victory for Kor because he didn't have to do anything to take it over. There was no great battle, he didn't win any accolades in this, so it's really not that great of a of a victory for him. That's why he finds Kirk a little bit refreshing because he does have attitude, he does push back, and he does resist Kor, even on a passive level. I think that's why Kor has some intrigue for Kirk.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Well that makes sense when he chooses Baroner slash Kirk as an a la as a liaison to the people of Organia and his people so that everyone is on the same on the same, you know, level and know what's happening. And then Kirk doesn't want it, but Kor didn't ask him if he wanted it, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Yeah. I think this is also one of the first scenes, again, just to tie back to my first thought at the beginning of the episode where Korr refers to describing Kirk as human. And I can't give the exact quote, but he uses a lot of language, Kor uses a lot of language to describe Kirk as human. He describes the Organians as human, and it's just kind of a little weird and just a little throws me off a little bit because again, they're not human. Humans are from Earth. Organians are humanoid, just as Klingons are humanoid, but I don't think Kor would refer to Klingons as human. So as he's referring to Kirk as human and using those types of terms to describe Kirk, I have to wonder how much does Kor suspect Kirk is a spy in these initial scenes and these initial moments before it's revealed. Maybe he's tipped off and it ties him to Kirk or ties him to Spock, but I it I don't know if it's just whore language written into the dialogue, or if it's supposed to imply that Kor is a little bit suspicious of Kirk being a human spy from the Federation, even from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

So at the end of the scene, Korr has taken Spock to go through this polygraph-like exam where they're basically trying to figure out if Spock is in fact a merchant or is he working for the Federation. And then Spock comes back and he passes it. Yay! And so they're very proud of their weapon, and then Spock just calls it an interesting experience.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Now that Spock has been cleared of any suspicion of being a Federation spy, or at least there's no proof of it, they're free to wander the compound because now Kirk has these duties as the liaison between the population and the Klingons. So they're wandering around the compound talking. Spock explains that yes, it's probably a dangerous device to someone like Kirk, but as a Vulcan, Spock has these mental abilities to block it out. That's how he was able to conceal the truth from the Klingons during their interrogation.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

So as Kirk and Spock are wandering around the planet because they're waiting for this quote list of rules so they could be posted.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Oh, they're already posted. As you watch as they're walking around, if you watch them walk up the stairs, there's already a sample, or there's already one that's posted.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Oh yeah. So Well, they find a all of the Klingon boxes of supplies, and in it they find a grenade. And so they decide, you know, why not play? And so they throw the grenade into the supply and run away.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Right. Little little simplistic explanation. They decide to do this under the cover of darkness, so some time does pass, they plan it out. But again, it leads to the question, why are they doing this?

SPEAKER_02 40:31

I mean, it only brings more attention to them, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Correct. There's no evidence that this would inspire the population to rise up. They're grossly outnumbered. I mean, even at the very beginning, they said that there was like seven or eight hundred Klingons beaming down from those eight ships that were attacking the Enterprise. So there's a full occupying force. There's eight ships in orbit with even more people and more supplies. What is blowing up an ammo dump really going to do? Why didn't Kirk and Spock again just hunker down because they know that there's a very high probability that Starfleet is coming with more ships to try to push the Klingons back before they can establish a full entrenched base? It makes no sense to engage in this resistance guerrilla warfare.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

But then we wouldn't have this episode.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

I'm okay with that. I'm okay with the Klingons being introduced to Star Trek through a completely different plot point that has nothing to do with Organia.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

So now we're back in the council room, and Kirk is trying to still get the Organians to understand this is bad for your people. Like, listen to me. And the Organians are not a fan of violence, and they don't understand that Kirk doesn't understand that. But Kor has listened the whole time because he has like these intercom, he's like input his himself in the intercoms and can listen to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Right. Which is another problem for the episode plot in a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Well, I still don't know when he when he did that, but he's special.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Yeah, there's some time jumping going around. I'll be honest, I don't think we can accurately say exactly how long the occupational force happens. We know it takes place at least there's overnight because they destroy the ammo dump, but we don't know if later when they're on the run, when they're we know that they give 12 hour a 12-hour timeline to provide information. We know they're in the in the cell for six hours at least. So I'd like to think it takes place over the course of a couple days. So in and amongst that time with seven to eight hundred people, not that hard to put in a Klingon calm system and listening device so that Core can overhear what's going on in the council chambers. Also a little naive that Spock and Kirk don't really think of that as a possibility.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

And so Korr tells Aylborne that, you know, everyone the ones that fight are always the first to die, so he should love his life even more, you know, since he's just sitting there smiling.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

I will say the Organians' little approach to this whole thing of being passive and going with the flow and just accepting whatever happens, ultimately, on the surface, up to a certain point, has kept everyone alive and has kept the status quo. Just point that out.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Aylborn very much does not want Kirk to go into the mind scanner for some like he's all about it and says, Don't go there. Like, please be on the good side of things.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Right. To the point where when Kor storms into the office after overhearing. Kirk trying again to convince them, which reveals to Korr that Kirk is from Starfleet, or at least he's a saboteur and uh part of a underground resistance. It is ultimately Aylborne who reveals to Kor in this moment that he is James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise, which of course Korr knows exactly who he is by name. Oh yes, he's like super happy. Right. And it does save Kirk ultimately from going to the mindscanner, because Kor recognizes that the only way that he'll get any information is to use too much force, which would permanently damage Kirk's mind. And Korr recognizes that Kirk is more valuable to him with his mind intact.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

So he's like, awesome, we're going to lock up Spock because obviously he is not a merchant.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

They recognize that Spock is his first commanding officer to Kirk.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

And Kirk is going to go with him to the office because he has a lot of information to divulge.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Right. And we get an interrogation scene in Korr's office where Korr is trying to get information from Kirk. There's a lot of fantastic dialogue lines where Kor is speaking to him of respecting Kirk as an adversary. He tries to offer him a drink, and there's no sabotage to that. He's meeting with Kirk on a somewhat of a level of equals. Two military commanders. Obviously, Korr has the upper hand because he's occupying the planet and does view Kirk as a prisoner, but it's a prisoner of war, and it dates back to earlier wars in our history, like the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, when officers were captured, they were treated with respect, they weren't thrown automatically thrown in terrible conditions, dungeons, prison cells, and so forth, at least not immediately. And that's kind of what Kor is extending in this moment. Whether it's deception to try to get Kirk off his guard or actual genuine respect is up for debate. I think at least on some level, Kor respects Kirk as an equal military commander.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

I agree with you, especially since he calls the Organians a planet of sheep and that they are tigers who are testing each other's will for survival.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Right. Again, showing that Kor views this assignment of occupying the planet and subjugating the Organians as beneath him.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Yeah, except I mean if he wanted to, he could just kill Kirk right there and then spawk after that.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

So since Kirk refuses to do anything, like uh Kirk tells him to go climb a tree when asked about Starfleet, and then Kirk is like, What? We didn't blow up your supply box when Kor is like, come on, dude, you did this too. So Kirk gets to be thrown in jail with Spock.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Right. And so we get the scene of Kirk getting tossed in the jail cell. Love the moment where they toss him in and you can see he falls onto a tumble mat instead of a solid stone floor. I couldn't find proof of this anywhere. It really looks like the repurposed dungeon jail cell from the Return of the Archons episode. Different camera angles, maybe they move some of the walls around, but it looked very familiar. Also, we're not going to go on a huge tangent on this, but I'll just ask the question: why do the Organians have a jail? If they're 100% peaceful and there's no problem and that's their way of life, why do we have a giant dungeon already built?

SPEAKER_02 47:50

I mean, maybe it was for like sheep or like, you know, a calving station for their cows.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Crap, that's not a calving station. That's a dungeon.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Well, they have 12 hours to give in to Kor, or else.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Or else Core will use the mine scanner on both of them and use enough force with the mind scanner that it will permanently damage their brains.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

And then six hours has passed, and uh, we should probably create a plan to figure out how to get out of here. But Aylborn saves the day by unlocking the door and says, Why don't you come with me? Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:29

And super calm, no answers, but just yeah, come on, let's go back to the council chamber. All is well, all is good. No mention of where the guards are, no mention of how he was able to slip past all the Klingons to free them. No explanation as to how they're able to slip back to the council chambers, but they do.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

But why are we believing him?

SPEAKER_01 48:50

They don't have a choice. I mean, I think that's what they say in that moment. Kirk questions his motives, and Aylborne says, You don't really have a choice. If you don't come with me, you just stay here for another six hours, and then you get to face the mind scanner.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

So they're back in the office where all the councilmen are still smiling, and a young guard of the Klingons tells Kor that their prisoners have escaped. And as they're talking in the council office, Kirk, Spock, and the Organians, Kor is over the intercom saying, you know, you have crossed the line, keep doing that, and oops, 200 Organians just died in the courtyard.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Right. They were mass executed by the Klingons as punishment and a show of force, and Kor says over the intercom, again, the PA system to the settlement, which had to have been installed by the Klingons, couldn't have been something that the Organians had. He tells them over the PA system they have two hours to turn over Kirk and Spock, or another 200 people will die. Again, here's my problem with this uh calm system that they install that Kor previously used to listen in on the council chamber. Why is Korr not using it again? Because if he had and was eavesdropping in the council chamber even before they killed the 200 people, or after, he would hear Kirk and Spock in the Council Chamber again planning, debating with the Organians and so forth.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

I think it was more a again another show of I'm better than you. So look what I did.

SPEAKER_01 50:36

Fine, then he could kill the 200 Organians out in the town square and then rush the council chamber and capture them. He honestly did not know that Kirk and Spock were in the council chamber in this moment.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

So Kirk and Spock are like, we need to have our phasers, we need to go and fight, we need to save this planet. Where are they? Because the Organians have taken their phasers when they changed into their plain clothes.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Yes. I assume phasers and the communicators. Right, I was gonna say the communicators, because I don't know if he's taken the communicators from them. They're not a weapon. They definitely have them by the end of the episode, but I don't know if they get the communicators with the phasers or if they always had the communicators. I'm going to they would have to have had taken the communicators away with the phasers all the way back when they changed clothing, because if they had the communicators on them when Kor arrived and Spock is taken off to the mine scanner and Kirk is taken away by Korr to be explained his duties, they would have found the communicators and the gig would have been up at that point.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

So after they are given them back, they're just in the little cabinet behind them. Mike, why don't you look?

SPEAKER_01 51:53

The Organians certainly wouldn't have put up much of a fight.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

And then Kirk again tells them, I just want to show you that there are some things worth dying for, even if it's hopeless, as Illborn says. So the two leave to fight against the Klingon army, and the Organians stand just inside the door discussing how dangerous and foolish they're being, and then they bounce back and forth on how stopping them would be bad, but if it's done in darkness. And then our man Tracephane explained that things will be terrible and savage.

SPEAKER_01 52:29

Right. And there's a tone to this whole conversation amongst the councilmen when they're in private. One, again, weird camera choice. It's a conversation that lasts about 30 seconds, maybe 20 seconds. Yeah. But the whole time they're staring at the door that Spock and Kirk just left from. So from a camera's point of view, we're just staring at the back of their heads while they have this whole conversation. Very odd. But two, there's a tone to this conversation that implies we haven't wanted to step in and we haven't wanted to stop this, but we are going to have to because we won't have a choice after this.

SPEAKER_02 53:07

Right. It's like, man, why are they doing this? They're acting foolish.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

So now Kirk and Spock are outside and nighttime has come. They have their phases now and they put it on stun, so they're able to shoot two guards that are guarding work horse offices, so they run over into the building, and as they're going, they come up to another person, and Kirk uses his rope from his special clothing and just strangles the man. Pretty fancy. So Spock tells them that they have been able to now find Kor's office and they barge into his office. Spock tells them that some of your men aren't in working order, but Starfleet is on its way, so why don't you just you know not do anything? So Kurt goes to grab his weapon and oh my gosh, they are super hot and unable to be used. This is when Ayloborn and Trey Lane arrive and they say congratulations! Every weapon of violence has now become super hot at 350 degrees. No violence. That includes um Starfleet and the other Klingon planes attack what are Klingon ships called?

SPEAKER_01 54:35

Ships?

SPEAKER_02 54:36

So no item of violence can be used unless you want to get burned.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

And this is the big reveal to the episode. This is the wrap-up to the plot or how they're going to tie everything together in a bow. It shows that the Organians have a ton of power. Big time. I mean, we're gonna kind of condense a lot of what happens at the end for time, but the Organians are basically going to force the Federation fleet and the Klingon Empire fleet to a ceasefire and eventual truce, making all these weapons and consoles on the ship too hot to touch and too hot to handle, so they can't engage in war. Imagine the scope of that, because they're able to do that everywhere. I mean, Aylborne says in a very ominous tone that he is both there, present on Organia, but he's present at Starfleet headquarters, and he's present on the homeworld of the Klingon Empire, and he's doing all of this with his mind, with his powers, because it's not just in the immediate vicinity of the planet Organia, it's everywhere in the universe. He's basically telling them, you guys don't have a choice. We have taken control of everything that is Starfleet and everything that is the Klingon Empire, so you have to come to terms with peace. That's on the level of some of the most powerful aliens ever in Star Trek ever.

SPEAKER_02 56:15

I mean, and even with that truth, Cor and Kirk are like, How dare you interfere? This is our war.

SPEAKER_01 56:23

Right, which again is why I think the episode didn't do a good enough job, but it was painting the picture of Kirk's message to Organia and their council was you can either be subjects of the Klingon Empire or you can be subjects of Starfleet. And now Organia has flipped the script and they've said, or you can be subjects to us and just be happy that all we want is for the two of you to come to peace and coexist.

SPEAKER_02 56:48

That's why they had that smirk little smile on their faces.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

I mean, I guess that's the reason for the smile and the smirk is because deep down they knew none of it matters. I mean, even to the point where they explained the 200 Organians that were quote unquote killed or executed by the Klingons weren't, because they're not people. They're not entities or aliens bound by physical existence. They're when we get the transformation of the Organians to their true selves, which is just these little balls of light. Spock. Spock meant it's bright as hell. Spock mentions that they're beings that exist as pure energy. So, yeah, maybe the smile the whole time is we know something you don't know, and we are above all of you.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

And Spock says that their evolutionary scale, they are as far above where they are as humans are to amoebas. Like that is mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_01 57:49

Right. And in a similar way, I think at the beginning of the episode, Spock and Kirk and the Klingons viewed the Organians in the same way, just flipped. You guys are a backwards culture that can barely put food on the table by growing it in the ground. So it's the one good quality of the episode that I like.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Well, I mean, also the conversation is great when Kirk and Korr discussed how it was a shame they couldn't have a war, and then Kore responds that it would have been glorious. Like that actor delivers his lines perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 58:29

Right. Which again, I think, is another plus to the episode: establishing the Klingons as a culture that is more complicated than what we saw with the Romulans. They're a culture that is driven by conquest not so much by greed. Honor. They fight by a code of honor, they do feel that they are superior to other cultures and such, but they're not doing it simply to take over for resources. They're doing it because they feel on a different level. And certainly they when they conquest and they go to battle, they don't want to fight and ruthlessly slaughter people who aren't worthy warriors. They want to only engage in battle and only engage in conquest and fight cultures and people that are equal in their combat power and skills to them, so that it is an honorable and somewhat equal fight that they can conquer.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

So now we're on the Enterprise on its bridge, and we hear chatter that the crewmen are all checking on everything because you know everything was super hot. And Spock checks in with Kirk since Kirk has been super like restrained and quiet since leaving the planet. And Kirk just says he's embarrassed. He wanted to have a war. Like that's that's embarrassing. And I mean humans or the you know, Kirk and his crew are supposed to be the most powerful beings and you know know what's right, and them being wrong and disembarrassed was unsettling. And then I mean Spock with his mind of wonder just says it takes time to evolve into a god, but at least they beat the odds because during the whole episode they keep going, oh this odd, this odd, just like the last episode and with the with our mama or their mama bear. But Kirk shoots back that with all that the Organians raided the game.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

So Kirk pointing out that no, they really didn't succeed in anything. They never would have, because the ultimate endgame was I don't really think Kirk and Spock were in any kind of real danger.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:57

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

I think the Organians would have eventually at some point, even if in other parts of the episode, I think the Organians knew that Spock was be was going to be able to resist the mindscanner. They realized Kirk wasn't going to, and they did their little subtle things to keep him away from it, but ultimately, if it came down to a choice, they would have revealed themselves much earlier to prevent it. I think there's a lot more to talk about with the Organians. I think that's gonna be our star note topic for the week. I think that's a great idea. So we'll do that, our bonus episode over on our Patreon. But um the and anyway, that's kind of the end of the episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:41

Yeah, it ends so abruptly, like they raided the game and then Spock's like uh Yeah, they did it, didn't it?

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

Yeah, and roll credits. So, Jackie, what did you think about season one, episode 26, Errand of Mercy? Quick final thoughts. I really, really liked it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

I don't really get the title. I mean, probably I get it after I think about it, but I haven't been able to like it doesn't match in my head, but I really liked it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:11

Okay. It's an okay episode for me. It's mediocre, it's meh, it's got a lot of problems to it. I think it's a weird coincidence that the Klingons are introduced to Star Trek in this episode. I almost, again, want to see this broken up into two different episodes. I would have preferred that the plot points be broken up. I would have preferred to see the Klingons and the Enterprise get into a fight, even if they go to a planet to fight over some resource other than what we see. And then a separate episode where we're introduced to the Organians, because I like the overall plot of the Organians flipping it on its head at the very end and going, We are superior to you, we are more powerful than you, and we're not going to abuse that power, and we're gonna, in a small way, teach you a lesson because you came here to basically subjugate us, whether it was the Federation or the Klingons, you both came here to kind of rule us, and we just kind of ignored you because it was beneath us until we couldn't anymore, because we ultimately didn't want to see you guys destroy each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:23

So they two episodes to introduce two separate species?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

I yeah, I would have I would have liked to see this because we also we kind of see this with Arena and the Metreons, you know. That's part of my problem with the episode also at the very end, where Kirk is talking about how he's just so in shock to have encountered the Organians such a powerful life form. How many times have we seen them do that in this short period of time in Star Trek history? We saw the Metreons in Arena, we saw Tremaine in The Squire of Gothos, and any other number of examples where they would have encountered these fantastical aliens with fantastical superior powers to Starfleet. Also just kind of weird. So it's a middle-of-the-road episode, it's just kind of a weird it it doesn't sit right with me ultimately. But we'll uh we'll wrap it up with uh our final favorite quote to the episode. Jackie, what's your favorite quote from the episode?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

See, I had two, but I think since I'm gonna go with the agriculture me. And since at the very beginning, Kor refers to all the Organians as sheep because they want to talk, and then Kirk stood up for Spock and the rest of them and saying, you know, w what he thought. You know, he has a tongue. And Korra says, Oh, have we a ram among the sheep? And I think he's meaning that, you know, as a ram, uh, he does whatever he wants. He's the leader, he does, you know, rams don't care what happens, they're just there and do what they want. So I think that's what Korra was implying, trying to get more information, but he failed, but still.

Tribble Tidbits

SPEAKER_01 1:05:14

Yeah, no, and it's a good example of the kind of dialogue that we get with Kor, and definitely one of the highlights of the episode is the character core and how he speaks. My favorite quote, we talked about at the very end, it's Kirk to Spock when Spock tries to imply, oh, at least we won, we beat the odds, and we came out on top, and Kirk acknowledges and corrects Spock to say, Oh no, Mr. Spock, we didn't beat the odds, we didn't have a chance. The Organians raided the game. I like, and I chose that quote as my favorite quote because it really is my favorite part to the episode when you break it down is that end reveal. Even though it doesn't really fit the whole episode, I like the idea at the very end of the Organians. Ghanians, the resolution to that mystery, why are they so passive? Why do they not care? Why are they just going along with the flow of things? To flip it on its head to be like, because we always had the upper hand this entire time, and you guys just refuse to look past your noses to see it. So that's gonna be my favorite quote. I do have a couple triple tidbits, what we refer to as our fun facts, and why do we call them triple tidbits, Jackie? Because they're the best. Because Jackie has no idea what a triple is yet. So uh first airing March 23rd, 1967.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:37

That's almost a late birthday present for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:40

Yes. It's also almost two weeks after the last episode would have aired. It was late to television because it was of production delays. So something we don't see in modern television, even ignoring streaming when we look at live television shows, nothing ever really we don't ever really get a skipped week for a TV show because of production delays. Everything's already recorded and produced, re-run, edited, yeah, and ready to go so that it is continuous. That's not how it was back in the 60s. So they were just like one week, hey, sorry, we don't have an episode this week. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:20

Well, they were busy cleaning up bronks.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

Yeah. And balls. As mentioned, this is the first appearance of Klingons in the Klingon Empire and Star Trek. Klingons are named after Gene Roddenberry's friend, Bob Klingon. That's awesome. The original broadcast in 1967 did not include any shots of the Klingon ships. They were only added to the 2006 remaster version. So all of those scenes that had the the like pinchy ch the pinchers. Yeah, they did not have it. They only showed the original episode, only showed the Enterprise firing into space and being attacked and the bright flashes of light. The scenes with the ships were added in 2006. It's most notable after the very first attack from the Klingon ship, and they start firing back, you get a sh you get a half two-second shot of the view screen from within the bridge, and you see the phasers or the weapons being fired from the Enterprise going out into space, and there's no ship there. They just didn't add a ship to that one little scene. So the sash that's worn by Korr as part of his costume, his uniform, is just burlap sacking painted gold.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:41

I mean, their uniforms were crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:44

Yes. It will be reused later by Wharf in the next generation. It'll be reused before he gets his You know my questions about that. Yeah, we'll get to that. Uh the buckles of the Klingon belts are just bubble packing material painted silver. So the little parts that look like rivets are just bubbles on bubble bubble uh popping bubbles. I mentioned it earlier, another I'll just bring it up again. The self-opening and closing doors to the council chambers would have been unnatural and would have acted to give away the true nature of the Organians. It's never questioned in the episode why the doors are opening and closing on their own when they're a quote-unquote primitive culture and don't have any technology. We'll get into more of that and some facts related to the Organians and some other kind of contrary parts to the episode over on our Star Note over at Patreon this week. Uh free to all members of our Patreon, so go check it out. But that's gonna be our Tribble Tidbits.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

The costume department, I I love these people, like so creative. This entire team uh writers too. I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:55

Yeah, I like the Klingon uniforms. I like the introduction of the Klingons to Star Trek. Their uniforms are consistent, they do a good job with the uniforms, they don't cut any corners, they have their own unique phasers, which is cool, and they don't do any shortcuts to the uniform, even though there is the problem that the cling the consistency of the appearance of the Klingons between the original series and the next generation is is a problem. But they don't take any shortcuts in the original series with their appearance, they're simplistic enough. We don't see what they did with the Romulans with the gold helmets that eventually never come back, but yeah, no, great costumes all around this time.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:41

And the color on I'm sure I know it's remastered, but the color on the faces, the sk the hair placement, I it's phenomenal. I I think though the pants, they make them kind of waddle, but I mean they're probably wearing netting.

Episode Ranking

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

This is where we'll share our episode ranking where we pretend the episode is a member of our crew and we assign it a Starfleet rank. A higher rank means we found the episode more entertaining, and we consider the episode a more important, vital member of crew for our starship. And the lower rank is of course the opposite. We did not find the episode as entertaining, and we find them to be a more disposable member of the crew. Our ranking system is divided into enlisted members at the bottom, ensign, lieutenant junior grade, lieutenant, which would be about a four or a five out of ten. And then we have our officers, we can have seven lieutenant commanders, five commanders, one captain, which would be a ten out of ten, and we do have a rank of admiral where we can have one episode that we consider a ten plus out of ten, an above and beyond episode for the season. If none of that makes any sense, we will post an updated graphic to our rankings over at our Patreon, free for all to look at, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. It will post Wednesday, the day after this episode goes live. But Jackie, for this episode and for your starship this season, the USS Galactic Glitter Bee, what rank do you give this week's episode?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:24

Alright. I'm going to have to shuffle some people around. Well, you know, one. Sadly, my gals mud's women. I'm going to just drop them down one to a lieutenant. Like no, but no bad feelings, girls. And then I am going to in their space put Errand of Mercy.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:49

Okay. Ultimately, why are you going to put Errand of Mercy as a lieutenant commander? And why do you think it deserves to be there above Mud's women?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:59

As I have been watching and learning more about Star Trek and all that is growing and happening, I felt that this episode showed more thought and more like creativity, not whimsy, but like wow, I didn't even see that coming. Whereas Mudd's women, I kinda knew what was happening from but from the get-go because of Mr. Mudd. I mean, he's a phenomenal actor, but he was the one carrying the episode, and the girls were just like wandering around.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:43

No offense.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:44

Love you. Well, for my starship this season, the USS Cosmic Shark is gonna be a much easier choice for me. This is gonna be a lieutenant rank for Errand of Mercy. Again, it's just kind of a meh okay episode. It's middle of the road, it's not above average, which is why it's gonna keep it down in the lieutenant range. I've just ultimately got issues with it. It just doesn't sit right with me. Again, I want it to be two episodes. I want the plot to be broken up into two separate stories. I think that would have been better. There's too many plot holes in the episode, there's too many inconsistencies, there's too much time watching the episode where I'm questioning why Kirk and Spock are motivated to do what they do, question why things are happening, which ultimately is just too much of a distraction from the fantastic acting and character that Kor brings to the screen, the iconic introduction of the Klingon Empire to the show, unfortunately just overshadowed by too many problems. So, lieutenant for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:51

We'll have to tell uh Mr. Wardenberry he needs to work on two parters.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:56

I will get a shovel and we'll dig him up and we'll tell him.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:59

I mean, you have the capabilities.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:00

Yes. And again, if none of that makes sense, you can go to our Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. We will post an updated graphic to that tomorrow, the day after this episode records and airs. As of this recording on IMDB, Errand of Mercy is receiving an 8.1 out of ten. Again, I think that rating is driven a lot by the fact that the Klingons are introduced in this episode, but that's just my own thought.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:30

Well, the general public probably isn't sitting there with like you and going, whoa, what's that? They're more like me, going, look how fun it is.

Turbolift Tease

SPEAKER_01 1:15:39

Right. Well, we'll be back. That's gonna wrap up this week. We'll be back next week to trek through another episode, but before we go, we'll give our turboliftees or elevator pitch to next episode's plot. This is where I give Jackie the title of the next episode that we'll go over next week, and Jackie, with no other information or context or really clue what the episode's about, she'll give a brief pitch or guess to the plot. Jackie, next week's episode is entitled The Alternative Factor.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

One of the crew members has been harmed very gravely, and McCoy has been able to learn a new procedure that is going to be able to mend this crew member. And although it's not what everyone would do, he does decide that he's going to use this specific twist on this procedure, and it's gonna find out that it works great, and they just might add it to his repertoire.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:45

And tune in next week to see if Jackie's correct. That'll be your homework. Go watch next week's episode, and then you can follow along as you listen to our podcast to what your thoughts are. If you want more show information, you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. Again, I think this week's star note that we'll record shortly after we're done recording this main episode, we'll just get to do a deeper dive into the Organians, kind of talk about some of those plot holes we started to cover. They're an interesting topic, and I think they deserve their own little star note. So, but wherever you listen to this podcast, be sure that you like, comment, subscribe, share. Really sharing helps the podcast grow, and commenting. Leave a comment again wherever you're listening to this. What are your thoughts to this week's episode? What were some topics that you agree with? What are some topics that you disagree with? That's part of the fun about Star Trek. Everyone gets to have their own opinion about Star Trek and the episode, the characters, the themes. Would love to hear what you guys think, where we got it right, where you think we got it wrong. Feel free to leave a comment anywhere that you listen to this podcast. You can also follow us on x.com at treks underscore tangents. We're also on Instagram and Blue Sky at Trex and Tangents. Jackie, where can people find you? And what are you up to?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

I am mainly on Instagram these days, but I have a goal to reach a thousand followers. I am super close. You can find me as jaboom, j I B B O O M. I should make a jingle. And on my Instagram, I have so many things that include my music. Do you know how to play the tuba? Uh fashion, makeup, disability advocacy, uh, service dog training. And then I'm also rebooting my whatnot shop. And I also have items just available in the shop already, but hopefully I'll have live shows again. And I'll be able to see you soon. So be sure to check out my shop. It's called Glitterbow Boutique, and that is also on my Instagram, which you can just click it and go to the shop.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:04

And you can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv slash piratepoundtown. On YouTube I post video games and other random content on my main channel, PiratePoundtown. And you can find coin collecting and other hobby content over at Pirate Treasure Hunting also on YouTube. I post socially on Blue Sky at PiratePoundtown, and every once in a blue moon, I'll post something over on Instagram under Pineapple Cannibal. Links to all social media mentioned can be found in the episode description. Thank you everyone for tuning into this week's episode. We hope you had fun like we did, and we will see you all next week.