Battle Analysis!! Balance of Terror - Animated
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2018
- One of the best battles in Star Trek; we will breakdown the battle between the Enterprise and the Romulan Bird of Prey, as seen in the original series episode, Balance of Terror.
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I always got the impression that the Romulan Commander was one of their best, perhaps their 'Kirk' equivalent.
I like the commander in the TOS diane duane novels, Ael t'Rllaillieu
And then his doppelganger turned out to be Spock's father!
Definitely. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been given command of that particular starship, armed with a new and devastating plasma weapon. It’s equivalent to being the first captain of the USSR’s first nuclear ballistic missile submarine, the Hotel class K-19.
I always thought he was Spocks reincarnated father.
Holy shit rewatching this after watching Strange New World’s Finale!!! Wow so much insight
Balance of Terror is still, to this day, Trek's finest hour. It was the episode that really cemented the show in the eyes of the audience and even after endless viewing, the tension and drama is still felt tremendously. It's a brilliant episode.
For all the cheesiness of many TOS episodes, there is the occasional gem like this episode that guarantees Trek's place as one of the greats of science fiction.
“Balance Of Terror” might be my favorite TOS episode, besides “Mirror Mirror” and “Doomsday Machine”.
Can't forget Trouble with Tribbles!
@@Restilia_ch Or City On The Edge of Forever...
I love this fan-made episode that's meant to be a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror", aptly titled "Fairest Of Them All."
ua-cam.com/video/dJf2ovQtI6w/v-deo.html
Corbomite Maneuver
City on Edge, Balance, Space Seed
As a submarine vet and Star Trek fan... well done.
Roger that
Which boat, might I ask?
Fast attack or Boomer?
I think Starfleet uses German manufacturing for its phasers. After all Germany is famous for overengeneering.
Slow attack. USS Trepang SSN-674
Remember that the Romulan commander's centurion, who was killed, pointed out that Decius had powerful friends in the Romulan government. Decius's "request" for the "glory of the kill" was a thinly-veiled threat as to what the consequences for the commander would have been had he not ordered finishing off the Enterprise. So his decisions were influenced not just by war-weariness, but by politics.
@M Hu He had no choice...
_Pigs can sniff out truffles with their snouts._
The Romulan crew seemed to have trouble following their commander's orders. 1stly the 1 in control of the cloaking device received no permission to deactivate it. He argued TWICE when told to activate it. Decius disobeyed orders by breaking radio silence. Plus only the commander of the vessel could order silence to be broken. Both of these crewmembers would have faced court martial charges if they reached home port.
@@williamhaynes4800 Decius was the Romulan equivalent of a political officer/high patronage.
@@this.is.a.username
No, I believe he was a regular crewman. His Commander reduced him 2 steps in rank, remember. He could not have done this to a political officer without him threatening to once again inform the Praetor. Also he did not respond as political officer when the Commander said, "perhaps we can yet save your Praetor's pride for him."
My all time favorite episode of TOS, I was impressed by SNW's "tribute" final episode.
Brilliant episode, both TOS and SNW alter reality.
I got "The Enemy Below" in a bargain bin in the mid-2000's. After watching it, I thought, "this is reminds me of 'Balance of Terror.'" How little did I know until years later that this great WW2 classic starring Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens as rival captains inspired this episode where their roles were played respectively by William Shatner and Mark Leonard.
inspired? The show runner stated the writer stole the story and it was TV no cared
I was a freshman in high school when TOS debuted, but I had already seen "The Enemy Below" (my dad was a "tin can" officer so naturally we had watched it when it came on "Saturday Night at the Movies"). I recognized the parallels during the original airing back in 1966!
Hate to be the grammar nazi, but there's no O in "Lenard" 😬
@@_BLACKSTAR_ misspelling someone's name isn't a grammatical error.
@@sonybell6774 Fact!
I think what the writer had in mind was this. The Romulan Commander was war weary, and dreaded a new war. He knew that if he destroyed the Enterprise and returned victorious, a war was inevitable. Further, the blood lust of his subordinates disgusted him. When the Enterprise was playing dead, the Romulan had gained enough of a handle on Kirk's character to strongly suspect a trap. He knew pushing an attack at that moment was risky. But Decius insisted. So the Romulan Commander realized that the only way to avoid the war was to openly walk into the trap. He did so. Note that the Romulan ship decloaked but did NOT immediately fire. That was what gave Spock time to return to the phaser room and fire the weapons. Otherwise...In essence, the Romulan Commander committed suicide deliberately to avoid the war.
Romulan commander: He's a sorcerer that one...he reads the thoughts in my mind.
I appreciate the OP's analysis that hesitating might have been the Romulan Commander's downfall, but by the same token, withdrawing would have saved his ship. Kirk was in fact laying a trap...he was playing dead to draw them in, so by that perspective, the Romulan Commander's call was correct, especially given the state of his own ship, which was heavily damaged and critically low on fuel. It's implied that pressing that last attack would make it almost impossible to get home as it would have depleted the last of the Romulan ship's power.
The Romulan Captain had just lost his first officer and lifelong friend in this conflict. A conflict, a war which he already dreaded playing out to its logical conclusion.
Compared to, say, _Wrath of Khan_ ... Kirk was a broken man after Spock's death ... he probably wouldn't have been able to win the battle if it had continued past that point.
Feasible!
I'm surprised that Decious or any of the other senior Romulans didn't fire on the Enterprise as soon as it decloaked regardless of what their commander would've done. Their hesitation not only gave Spock time to fire but prevented them from firing off any plasma torpedoes.
You should definitely do a follow-up on this one for, "A Quality of Mercy" from SNW. A side by side analysis would be quite intriguing!
Balance of terror is a brilliant episode for so many reasons. The strategic back and forth between two exceptional captains, the anguish of their burdens. The introduction of both the Romulan nemesis and Mark Lenard, hands down the best guest star of all time. And the scene between Kirk and McCoy "...and in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us. Don't destroy the one named Kirk." Awesome. Just awesome stuff.
This has aged quite well since the finale of Strange New Worlds.
SNW brought the Romulans back to its roots of being Savage and about duty
This was really good. That episode has always been one of my favorites. Mark Lenard was such a great great actor
I met him once at a convention in 1989 when I was 14. A very pleasant, soft-spoken man.
One of my favorite episodes and why I still love Romulans. This was back when Romulans were the honorable warroirs and klingons were the treacherous untrustworthy backstabbing ones. Before they got switched.
It seems to me that it's the Romulan politicians who're untrustworthy for the most part while the military commanders have a general code of honour to them. One most remember that the Romulan military's job is to protect their people and to do anything to advance the Empire's interests on the field even if it means doing iffy things.
If you recall, a Romulan military commander complained in Season 6 of TNG how the military was being made to do iffy things by the government and the Tal Shiar. Also in Season 3, Romulan Admiral Jarok when he defected and revealed who he was, he complained about how his superiors were being reckless and over the top with their antics.
I think one of these old romulan ships was shown on an episode of the Picard series. The bird artwork on it looks pretty nice.
Despite liking both TOS and TNG, I always liked this style of Romulans more than the point shouldered ones in TNG.
@@revinar5838 the hazards of a series that started in the 80s - big shoulder pads....
@@willc1294 *shivers in fear*
The Plasma torpedo and the Cloaking Device were both prototypes in Balance of Terror. This was stated by the Romulan Commander. Also the Romulans had comparatively primitive Warp Drive compared to the Klingons and the Federation, that's why they bought several Klingon D7s from the Klingon Empire. And the Romulan subspace message was audio only. Mr Spock was able to use the transmission to somehow get a look at the Romulan Bridge.
I think the explanation in the documentary solves a real problem I've had with the episode where Scotty says the Romulans power is pure impulse. As the documentary states, if that was the case, how would they do interstellar travel. (BTW, given the time references in episodes, I believe impulse drives were capable of FTL travel, just not very fast FTL travell, perhaps limited to Warp 1 or equivalent.) Obviously, while using the cloaking device, they cannot use warp power, thereby both reducing their speed and limiting their power to feed the cloaking device. I'll bet there was a scene and dialogue where Scotty says "Their power is simple impulse, while they use that cloaking device." and that line was shortened to just "Their power is simple impulse" to save screen time. Star Trek TOS did a lot of that.
@@PaulByzan Impulse are sub-light only. "Full Impulse" is 0.5 (1/2) Light Speed. That's because impulse drives are just that - straight drive systems. They don't create a warp bubble around a vessel, lowering its mass enough to allow it to travel at superluminal speeds.
One the great appeals of this episode was the character building dialog and the mistakes both sides were making. Our heroes and villains were flawed. And that makes a GOOD story!
"...We are creatures of duty...I have lived by it all my life...just one final duty to perform..."
"In another reality, I might have called you friend."
that is the difference between this battle, and most others that happen throughout sci-fi and even Star Trek. In this battle, the two commanders develop a respect for each other through their conflict, and never actually treat the other as a "villain" per-se. The only one expressing hatred was Lt. Styles, and perhaps Decius. Even as the Romulan Commander fumes "He's a sorcerer, that one. He reads the thoughts in my brain!", he isn't really angry at his opponent as much as he is angry at himself for having the disadvantage. He probably even realized he made a mistake at that moment.
indeed, the one serious miscalculation the Romulan Commander made was moving in too quickly when the Enterprise gave off a signal. Had he considered they would back off and fire upon realizing their position was given away, the Commander could have waited a few moments until after Enterprise gave off its desperation shots.
Or even if they didn't move at all and just let the Enterprise fire away, Enterprise would still have the disadvantage with no sign of their opponent, and would have likely been forced to break off their pursuit and leave the neutral zone. The Romulan Commander then returns with the conclusion that the cloak was not fully effective under motion, and modifications could be (and indeed were) made.
There are many reasons why this is my favorite episode: realistic characters; memorable lines; the remarkable battle of wits between two instinctive survivors; the contrast between joy (the wedding) and despair (death); and much more. I have watched it a dozen times, and it just never gets old.
The tired old soldier was perhaps eager to get it overwith and go home. He must also have felt pressure from his underling who taunted him, and wanted "the glory of the kill" for himself.
there were so many intriguing factors at play. That is what made it such a great episode
The plasma bolt getting entangled by the Enterprise warp field? Great idea! It closes a couple of plot loop holes with a very simple explanation
It's a terrible idea since we have never, ever seen or heard of such a thing happening in all of Trek, regardless of which timeline or anything else. It also fails to explain why the Romulan BoP is able to travel itself at FTL speeds during the *whole* chase, not just when decloaked.
It's not a bad explanation. Only other one I think is that at the core of the blast is a smart torpedo. The torpedo, for maximum damage, normally restricts itself to low speeds to spend it's fuel on damage instead. However, when tracking a moving target, it speeds up to try and overtake the target, but even here is somewhat conservative, not using its maximum speed unless necessary as it draws from the weapon yield. In this case the enterprise had just a slight speed disadvantage, and accelerated fast enough to not be overtaken instantly. This caused the torpedo to have to use the majority of its fuel on propulsion instead of weapon yield. Just a thought though.
The torpedo does track the Enterprise. Remember that when BoP fires it off, the ship is out of plane with the Enterprise and the torpedo over time tracks downwards towards center and moves towards the ship. A great analysis can be found here:
www.st-v-sw.net/STSWromplasw.html#III
And the Enterprise, contrary to Resurrected Starships' portrayal of the battle, goes straight away into full astern emergency warp and never changes that through the whole chase.
The plasma weapon is a completely experimental weapon that we never see in use after this episode. It's bound to have some quirks and unusual properties until the Romulans refined the design.
And yes, I know that the visuals of the plasma weapon were used again in "The Deadly Years". But given that the Enterprise was hit multiple times in that layer episode, it is clearly not the same weapon.
Nowhereman10 Why is it an issue that the BOP can travel at FTL when cloaked? Nothing in the episode said this was impossible.
Although the episode was rather vague about speeds in general, TBH. In fact, with what's shown on screen you could interpret the whole chase being STL and taking place on the edge of the Romulan solar system
First off, the weapon likely is the same one, just detuned or being used at extreme range in "The Deadly Years" and there is mention much later on in Deep Space Nine to plasma weapons. The weakness of the original version is that it is too powerful and cannot be used very well against highly mobile targets, only against fixed installations. A version that is weaker but fast and mobile to quickly catch starships fits the bill until the Romulans obtain or regain disruptor technology from the Klingons.
Second, you misunderstand. The video implies heavily that the BoP was only at STL when cloaked and yet there is indeed nothing that indicates that was the case. The evidence that the BoP is at warp or some form of FTL the whole time is based on the actual evidence as shown and gone into in great detail here:
www.ditl.org/article-page.php?ArticleID=12&ListID=Articles
The graphic shown at the beginning of the episode clearly shows the area and how fast at full warp the Enterprise is able to traverse it in several minutes time. The BoP would have to be going low warp nearly the whole time, the exception being when Romulan commander attempts to trick the Enterprise in thinking his ship is destroyed with the fake debris and 'running silent' by cutting power and propulsion.
So mainly his theory about the plasma weapon fell apart badly because the BoP is already demonstrating FTL and the weapon took two or more minutes to reach the Enterprise at high warp speed, and on top of that, the warp field of the Enterprise isn't anywhere near large enough to snag anything over the vastly greater initial starting distance. Warp fields are shown, as you well know, to hug tightly around the starship generating them, except in very, very unusual circumstances, like when the Enterprise-D extends its warp bubble to encompass a moon in order to move it.
One of my favorite episodes. A chess match between two equally capable captains.
"Impulse power" is synonymous with nuclear fusion. I think Scotty meant that the Romulan ship didn't have matter/antimatter power. Fusion can power warp engines just fine, they're just much slower ships.
Perhaps the complex containment fields and energy released from matter/antimatter reactions would be too hard to cloak. In the TNG era they portrayed the Romulans as never having mastered matter/antimatter reactors to the extent the other major powers had, preferring other methods of power generation like artificial singularities. However it's possible that the tiny black holes were just for their biggest capital ships, and that they used m/am elsewhere.
Fusion reactors, as we learned in ENT, were used on the first few Warp ships. Another time, and I honestly forget which series or source book, it was either mentioned or explained that the Impulse Engine's fusion power plants could power a ship to low warp. So, my guess is, Romulans never had a steady supply of all-important Dilithium, Deuterium, or the ability to make Anti-Deuterium - and perhaps seeking a source of this is what they did in the century after the Earth-Romulan War, expanding the RSE by conquest to find it, but never finding enough to power a whole fleet of ships.
So, they decide, may as well use fusion power - though the power source would be drained quickly, and limited the range of their vessels, if they forged their entire combat tactics around a very large number of smaller ships, they could take advantage of a weakness, in a sense, and use swarm and ambush tactics to take down larger vessels. Or, "Death by a thousand cuts" to paraphrase Sun Tzu. Hence also why they developed the Plasma Torpedo weapon - a shortish range, high destructive power weapon primarily intended to be fired en masse from 5-10 ships against a single target - if the target dodges a few, so what? Just one hit would be devastating. Two should be fatal. Or, they can finish them off with disruptors.
Refuelling would have to be readily available after each battle - fusion power cores easily dumped of their waste and refuelled quickly, while the base material used for the plasma torpedo refuelled or replaced if they use torpedo casings as we understand them. So, behind each swarm of Murder Hornets, there's a mobile hive full of honey.
They probably had a whole grand strategy set up in the event they thought they could face the Federation - they'd honed the technology they had to a fine edge, they had the Cloaking Field Generator, they had a virtual superweapon, all they needed to know was if the enemy was their equal or their inferior. The shock was, they found, the Federation was technologically superior in several key areas, and beat the snot out of their hand-picked ship and crew.
given that the enterprise crossed between the outposts at high warp and it still took a fair bit of time to reach between them, the outposts have to be a couple light years apart.
and the romulan ship was also crossing between outposts, just not quite as fast. so the romulan ship had to have warp drive. *and* the ship had to be able to cloak while at warp otherwise the enterprise would have seen it.
so i second the "they had warp, they just lacked M/AM reactors." we know from dialog that the enterprise can reach low FTL speeds even on impulse power (from the 2nd pilot, and discussions of about the USS constellation, etc) so the idea that fusion power can run warp drive at a lower speed is certainly reasonable even in TOS. add in the ENT stuff and it becomes very viable. heck, in TNG "booby trap" the Ent-D finds a Promellian battlecruiser, and it is said to use "lang cycle fusion engines" for its power, and that ship was clearly warp capable. so fusion power is definitely viable as a source of power for warp drive.
It is also possible the romulans already were using singularities for their warp cores at that point, and the Enterprise sensors just didn't notice (perhaps unable to tell the difference between a singularity's output and sideffects of the cloaking system in the brief time they could detect the BoP. so they picked up the impulse engines it was using at the time, and scotty just assumed from the lack of M/AM outputs that they didn't have anything else. a singularity system would probably be very inefficient early on (compared to the ones in use nearly century and a half later in TNG), and might well guzzle down fuel fast if it is having to power both cloak and warp for a prolonged period, like the attacks on the outposts.
@@glitterboy2098 Well said. I also recall TNG shuttlecraft are fusion powered, and can do low-warp speeds if so equipped. It seems that some shuttles of seeming the same model (or at least same exterior chasis) were warp capable, and some were not. Makes sense, since you'd have to stock fewer different kinds of spare parts for more similar varients of the same craft. Some shuttles are for zipping around a local star system, and some are for just ferrying stuff and/or people to and from orbit. No warp drive could mean more room/weight allowance for cargo.
with the new SNW episode "A Quality of Mercy", we need a follow on analysis of the alternate timeline version of these events, since some of the details seen in that put the events of the TOS episode into context.
What for me was interesting was, in Discovery, Georgiou chose the path of "We come in peace" to greet the Klingons, and got a war... and Pike chose the path of "Let's try diplomacy" and got war. Maybe the Vulcan Hello is the only way to go.
@@carnotantonioromero3024The big issue with both situations is that both the Klingons and Romulans clearly were gearing up for a fight and while uou may not want a war the quickest way to end a war is have such a show of power that your enemies realize going to war would be a mistake. And that was something Captain's Kirk, Picard, and even Sisko and Janeway had in spades. Basically the right people to send that know when to talk abd when to fight.
This episode of TOS was a masterpiece.
I liked this description for all the variations we see of the phaser special effect in the various Star Trek shows. The explanation works well to show the versatility (and sophistication) of phasers compared to simpler weapons like disruptors. And I completely forget they really do say that the phasers were set to proxmity burst mode, well done!
Watching old movies with my father is some of my best memories of him. I watched "BoT" with my Dad during the 1975 syndication run. Battleground was why I enlisted in the 101st (6 years INF ;-) ). So when we saw "The Enemy Below" my eight year old mind was sure I had seen it before. Bingo! Dad figured it out AND when we caught "BoT" again, it held up to Dad's never gentle critique. This was way back when you only had a couple TV channels. Anyhow, he would have LOVED this video. Well done!
The one thing that cracked me up, was when Capt. Kirk told his men to work quietly, as if sound could travel across the vacuum of space. 😄
This is the direct parallel to The Enemy Below. Yes, not accurate, but at the time a lot of viewers would have been WWII vets and understood the concept from their own true war experience.
Well, the acoustical sensors can catch fluctuations in the static subspace field, you see, multiplied by the quantum vector of the lepton array and... :-)
Andrew Gilbertson I stand corrected. I had totally neglected to apply Glomms axiom of lepton particles effect on the polydihedral actions of neutrino dispersion fields in relation to acoustical dynamics. Thanks for reminding me. ;-D
Let us also not forget the nature of superflous nadion entanglment as it vibrates within the tensor membrane of subspace, detectable by chroniton detection arrays, and BY PROXY, triolic radiation as well, causing flatulant tendencies among genetically enhance emu's which were in the Enterprises hold at the time in stasis for the New Oz colony in the Klackdorn cluster.
My compliments on all the technobabble. It's pretty funny. I have to admit I used to interpret the command to work quietly in the same way. However, inspired by the idea of the plasma weapon being entangled in the Enterprise's warp field, it made me to reconsider the order. Perhaps the order isn't for the men not to talk loud, but for them not to make any test transmissions or activate any RF or radiating equipment. It might be normal procedure during repairs to test the gear in modes that would make a signal. So his order to work quietly might mean, no signals. Spock's action breaks that order, and Stiles is all set to go be a dick about it. But judging Kirk's reaction, he seemed to realize that the only way to know the phasers are repaired is to do that final test. That's why he tells Stiles to back down.
3:08 In the original episode you got the impression that the Romulans had been stagnating, not expanding elsewhere. That's why they tried to provoke an incident. This episode also gives the only real insight into what Vulcans were like before they adopted Logic as their primary philosophy. A classic.
Or perhaps they had their own version of the Golden Rule. Do unto others before they do unto you.
If you recall in the next episode, he Neutral Zone, the Romulans showed up in cloaked Klingon D-7 Battle Cruiser, which was not a plot error. The backstory was the model for the Romulan Battle Cruiser that they were going to use was either stolen or destroyed three days before the shooting of the episode. With no other choice, they decide to use the Klingon D-7 as the Romulan battle cruiser. The writers added the back story of the Klingon Romulan Alliance where the Klingons get cloaking device and Bird Prey technology. The Romulans get the D-7 Battle Cruiser and warp drive.
Very nicely done! Balance of Terror happens to be one of my favorite episodes, along with The Doomsday Machine and The Immunity Syndrome. Very good acting in that episode. To find out Spock and the Romulans shared a common ancestry was a shock. (I was about seven at the time). Well done, and thank you!
You forgot to mention Kirks brilliant decision to play opossum after the nuclear blast. That strategy worked on Khan as well
Could you do a battle analysis of the battle from The Doomsday Machine?
1987MartinT play Pac-Man for 3 minutes.
T R lmao
LOL at Pac-Man
1987MartinT that would be a great one!
… Easily one of my favorite episodes simply because it shows the absolute brilliance of actor William Windom … “Don’t you think I KNOW THAT ???”
ALWAYS my fav episode of TOS! When I first saw those ears on the Romulans I said to myself, "WOW! Vulcans with attitude!" Always broke my heart this episode never made the top ten list.
Says who? This is a favorite of many.
That top ten list was incomplete then.
Trek loves its naval references. From the ranks, the general ship classes (and sometimes names), the metaphors and ceremonies (captains get to perform weddings), and so much more.
OtakuMage well starfleet is a fleet
Which is odd because Roddenberry actually based things on how WW2 Bombers operated - the crews had a high ratio of officers-to-enlisted. By 1945, for example, B-17's were 50/50 Officers to Enlisted, though by that time, Roddenberry was a crash investigator. This is why the vast majority of actors that had speaking lines, or were on away missions, were officers - Roddenberry was something of an elitist in this regard.
Just watched Strange New World Ep10 how it could have happened if Pike was in command of the Enterprise ... fascinating!
Absolutely fantastic, and great video and gfx. Bravo. Fantastic summation of one of the best Trek episodes ever. Thank you.
This episode is head and shoulders above almost any other episode. Fantastic.
Nicely done. Your writing is in a clear, conversational style that's easy to listen to. That's becoming rare on UA-cam.
As engineer, I would say the Star Fleet technology were "under-engineered". Over-engineer means the item is more robust than the actual operational need. For example, the B52 airframes were over-engineered (a.ka. over-designed). The bomber first flew in 1955, and they are will be flying until the 2030s, which is over eighty years with upgraded engines and avionics.
Exactly. The B 52 was designed and built for continuing avionics and weapons upgrades, for decades to come. A brilliant engineering feat with both tactical and strategic advantages, especially for the nuclear triad.
Features over-engineered, reliability not
@@jacobwiens659 Are you saying the B52 is NOT reliable? How is the operational readiness (reliability) when compared to other U.S. military airplanes?
Well done: good background, good analysis and good graphics. And I totally appreciate The Enemy Below references.
Das Boat is also a good early 80's movies about a German U-Boat in 1945. It seems like a Klingon Bird of Prey's perspective taking on a larger group / task force of Starfleet ships.
Here's a fun bit of trivia for you. As soon as the filming of Das Boot was done with the full-sized submarine "prop" used for exterior shots in the dock and out on the water etc, the production of Raiders of the Lost Ark "borrowed" it for use as the submarine that intercepts Indiana Jones and which he supposedly hitches a ride on to the Nazi sub base. Just a bit of repainting here and there and voila! :D
the german version with the subtitles.... the dubbed one is just wrong
What? The "Raiders" U-boat was the prop from Spielbergs "1941", made 2 years earlier.
Das Boote - an excellent, nail biting war story, as a Brit it was fascinating to watch the "enemy" point of view when I first saw it.
Excellent analysis. As a miltary historian, naval historian and aviation fanatic. Favorite episode off all time is the Doomsday Machine.I
My favorite TOS episode is The Doomsday Machine, BUT Balance of Terror comes in a close second... awesome awesome episode...
You have to love that a TOS-era Connie was apparently able to withstand a shot or two from a planet-killer. That's a shield feat you don't see in many IPs.
i am a big fan of star trek and this episode is one of if not my favorite and i loved the way you showed it good job
Any active scanning by the Romulan would have given away their position. So even if Cloak's don't completely blind you, they would compel you to only use passive measures, or negate the who objective of the Cloaking Device.
From memory, the reason no signals came from outposts 2 and 3 is because they were hit immediately with shields down, so they were incinerated with the first blast. However, outpost 4 had their shield at full power, and so they barely survived the first salvo to report that they were under attack, then the Romulans made another pass and with the shields down outpost 4 was incinerated.
Just like hiding in the dead of night but turning on a flashlight so you can see. (Just had to do a simple analogy to explain a complex situation)
Precisely.
"Jamming" can be done remotely. Just drop a jamming buoy. Active scanning isn't the same.
Also makes sense that they didn't do that in the fight with ENTERPRISE, they deployed all their buoys against the outposts.
I remember as a kid thinking that the Enterprise's weapons system sure was complicated. "Over-engineered" is a term I had never heard until many years later. In the meantime, as I grew older and re-watched the episodes, I just accepted that it was part of creating an exciting story.
There was a nod to Star Fleet over engineering things in DS9 when Kira compares the Cardassian and Federation phaser rifles.
I'm getting the impression the writers of SNW may have came across this and watched it while researching the episode for their episode.
It's probably the best battle scene in Star Trek in years
@@DogsRNiceNo the main writer for the show admitted he full on ripped it off. Granted he put his own spin on it but when the actor who plays Pike asked if this was Balance of Terror tge writer nodded his head.
I loved this breakdown.
This episode, along with Arena, ranks among the best episodes of ToS.
It ranks among the best in the entire Trek universe.
Excellent video. This is my favorite TOS episode.
Mine is The Doomsday Machine, but after watching this, Balance of Terror has moved up pretty close!
I agree, it is,
by far the best TOS episode
Aside from not ramming the ship, this reminded me of "The Enemy below".
Can you please do a Battle Analysis breakdown of the Battle in The Mutara Nebula from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?"
You should check out a similar and very nice video called "Blueprints and Particles: Star Trek 2: A 35th Anniversary Tribute" for that space battle. It features no explanation like this video, but is quite impressive in its own right.
That’s a great idea! Would love to see a tactical analysis of the doomsday machine scenario, complete with the Constellations initial encounter.
@@MrAndyBearJr I strongly agree.
Maybe when the Romulan officer Decius sent that message it was no mistake. The Centurion mentioned that the junior officer had friends in high places. He could have been acting on instructions from a faction in the Romulan leadership that wanted all-out war with the Federation.
I was thinking relative theories on why. He Decius may have just been trying to start mutiny and wanted to have a clear and immediate battle!
or the Tal'shiar.
@@Citrakite The name Tal'Shiar is derived from the Vulcan Tal'Shayá; merciful execution (in the pre-logic time, swiftly breaking the neck was considered a better way to die than by the executioner's axe). In Greek, the term would be Eumenides, the Kindly Ones, a euphemism for the Furies, divine punishers who meted out swift and cruel justice upon those guilty of moral offenses. One episode of TNG had a Terran who went over to the Romulans stating he was wooed by their "steadfast moral compass," and so theirs is a very authoritarian streak that hearkens to the time when the Vulcans were faced with the decision to follow the teachings of Surak that decried what he considered the stumblings blocks of "law, instinct, and emotion" or to continue with what made them a strong and powerful warrior race. Indeed, they could not stifle those primitive urges as the time of Ponn Farr and survival trials like the Kaz Wann were considered necessary evils.
@@thomasizaguirre600 Not sure why your felt like we need that lore dive but ok.
@@Citrakite The Tal'Shiar have their mits into alot of the Romulan political system. Some of the book series for TNG hints at how characters like Commanders Tomalak and Seela interacted with the institution either with trepidation or fervor in order to maintain or advance their careers.
Although they are almost always displayed together being roughly equal in size, the Romulan Bird of Prey is actually a surprisingly small vessel - smaller than the Enterprise's saucer section.
Not in OS
The constitution class is pretty small to begin with.
I've watched that episode a dozen times, but I still enjoyed your breakdown of it. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for your efforts in creating this post. This was also one of my favorite episodes.
Pretty good analysis. The plasma ball getting caught up in the warp bubble is interesting. I only have two disagreements with what you present. First Kirk ordered full reverse, whereas you had the ship turn around, with nothing in the episode to indicate that. It is also possible that traveling in reverse, the ship cant go as fast allowing the plasma ball to catch up. Secondly, and this is not any mistake on your part, but rather a dialogue issue, Photon torpedoes would have been the weapon more analogous to depth charges. Even the SPFX visual in the show was torpedoes. I think you tried to hard to fit the dialogue and over engineer the phasers to unrealistic capabilities, rather than concede that in an otherwise great episode, the writers made a goof and never thought it would be analyzed to the extent that Trekkies do even 50 years later.
It would have made more sense to make it be torpedoes that were used as proximity weapons, and that's been harped on quite a bit for a variety of reasons. TOS often "over-engineered" their own tech, though. Consider that in "Obsession" there was a reference to a "Disruptor-B" setting for a hand phaser, which many take to mean that a phaser can emulate the effects of a disruptor. Or how they used a stun setting from the orbiting Enterprise on a sizable portion of a city in "A Piece of the Action". These were also one-offs for the phaser technology which were not seen or even referenced ever again. In light of that, I don't personally find it too unreasonable that, in context, the phasers could also produce a blast at a predetermined range after being fired. It would be somewhat analogous to the "plasma torpedo" weapon which was something of a misnomer as it's really just a jacketed ball of highly concentrated plasma with no physical, machined components at all - yet it's able to behave like such a weapon.
I remember at the time,(1970's) popular head cannon was that Federation photon torpedoes were a direct response to the Romulan plasma weapon in this episode.
In several Star Trek role playing sources the Romulan plasma ball is sustained through a torpedo of sorts, not unlike a photon torpedoes. Therefore it would have warp sustainment drives and means of propulsion. This would allow it to stay at warp speeds by riding the warp field it is in.
@@manofcultura
I agree. Beta canon certainly suggest that the Romulan torpedos are indeed powered in flight with trans light abilry
"You and I, are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend"
- Romulan Commander
Such a shame Jar Jar didn't see this episode, maybe we wouldn't have a blown up Vulcan, a rehash of Kahn and rock music saving the universe....At the very least, blowing up Vulcan could have lead to peace. After all, it was their home, too. Seems like the kind of thing that would hit them pretty hard. They wanted to conquer the Federation, not annihilate it.
This analysis and animation was fantastic! Wow. Brought the episode to life in my head all over again. This is tv quality, rivaling similar types of WWII analyses I've seen on the History Channel.
As Cinema Sins would say: ST:TOS followed the "Prometheus School of Running Away From Things." I always wondered why, if an energy ball without any external guidance or steering mechanisms is fired at you, then why not move tangentially to its flight path, letting it pass by? Your idea of it's entanglement with the warp field feels so natural. Nicely done.
This is great. Love the way you explained the photon torpedo effect and behavior when they say phasers (a result of it being an early episode where things weren't developed yet), as well as your explanation for why they can't escape the plasma discharge. That was always a problem for me (kind of like Prometheus - just turn away from it), but I love your take.
The effort that went into this. Well done. I'm gobsmacked
Really nice analysis on a number of levels. I enjoyed this breakdown of one of my top 3 Trek episodes. Thanks man. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have in mind next.
That's an awesome very clear analysis of this episode! The best I've ever seen!! Keep it up!!
Want to buy me a coffee so I can keep working on this stuff? Hit the super-thanks button above and send me a special comment which I WILL reply to!
Great video! Your time and effort was well-spent! I hope to see more battle simulations like this in the future!
Great job. Balance of Terror is probably my favorite Star Trek episode of all time and I really like the way you broke the entire episode down along with your excellent use of animation. As a combat vet, Star Trek board and miniature gamer and a student of history I love your entire presentation and commentary. I too want to echo the submariner's compliments from earlier. Well done and keep the videos coming.
Great video man! Good narration, good presentation and great explanation and analysis for all the things that have happened. AND you picked my favorite TOS-episode.
We need more animated battles like this.
Also, I think Eckharts ladder would be jealous of this a bit lmao.
Fine! I am jealous of his amazing ability to put out videos! And he knows a lot; he was churning them out long before i took YT seriously. But I cannot be him and probably visa versa. :D
@@resurrectedstarships While I have great respect for Eckharts Ladder, that channel has never demonstrated careful analysis, research, or comprehensive understanding concerning Star Trek. Rather, it specializes in Star Wars. You have EL beat in this regard and I commend you for it.
This video is a lot of fun. And, yes, Balance of Terror is my favorite episode.
'Say, Spock...that Romulan looks just like your dad!"
(the Romulan commander and Spock's father, Sarek, were both played by Mark Leonard)
That had been my thought. Spock is looking at the viewscreen and thinking "oh god, it's Dad..."
dude GREAT breakdown of this awesome episode!!!!!! you were very thorough and as "techy" as you needed to be without being overly "geeky" and your references to "the enemy below" was spot on and perfectly timed!! all in all a FANTASTIC job and you have a new subscriber for sure!!!!!
If the outposts along the Neutral Zone maintained some sort of constant communication, then Outpost 4 may have put itself on alert once its neighbors began disappearing. That might be why #4 was able to get out a distress signal.
Larry Stovall Also wanted to say I wish there had been more battles in the series for you to provide an excellent analysis such as this. Perhaps something from the Dominion War?
Larry Stovall That is so my bad, and I apologize. This is why I should never post messages early on a Saturday morning.
The story sets up Outpost 4 as more heavily fortified than the other outpost due to random chance (large iron asteroid). Outpost 4 survives the initial attack and still has working deflectors. The story implies the other outposts did not.
HANSEN [on viewscreen]: Enterprise, can you see it? My command post here. We're a mile deep on an asteroid. Almost solid iron. And even through our deflectors, it did this. Can you see?
KIRK: Affirmative. You're visual, Hansen. What do you have on the intruder?
HANSEN [on viewscreen]: No identification. No answer to our challenge. Only a glimpse of it. Then they fired something at us, some form of high-energy plasma. Fantastic power. And then the whole vessel disappeared. But it's out there somewhere. Our sensors show that much. Enterprise, something coming on our viewing screen, coming at us fast.
James P With respect, I'm not entirely satisfied that Outpost 4 was more heavily fortified than its neighbors. Spock comments on how the outposts were constructed on asteroids. I've been presuming that all the outposts were similar to #4.
Also: Outpost 2 was the first outpost to go silent, and then Outpost 3. The Enterprise arrives on the scene when Outpost 4 is attacked. So from this I could presume that the Romulans began attacking #2 and started moving up the line. But this begs the question of why #8 went offline. Thoughts?
It's an interesting question that doesn't have a good answer. It's entirely possible that the Romulan ship attacked 8 first, then decided to test response times by shifting down the line and rolling up the outposts from there. Or (more interestingly) there was more than one ship...
this is my favorite episode of all star trek (eat your heart out Best of Both Worlds Part 1)
This is such an excellent video ! I enjoyed this tremendously ! Thank you for your hard work and great content !
Fantastic analysis. Thank you for clearing up a few questions I had about this episode this one is my all-time favorite
When Kirk and the Romulan Commander talk on the viewscreen, the Commander states his intention to self destruct to which Kirk offers a full naval salute. Although that bit was clipped from the final episode, you can see Kirk's arm twitch a little and the Romulan giving a little bow of the head
Thats fascinating, it wouldn't have fit with Star Trek but it is fascinating.
I have a nice screen shot from a "behind the scenes and lost footage" thing I saw a few years ago if you'd like me to send you the picture
The romulan commander actor later was spocks father
Nope. All that happened was Kirk was about to say something then decided against it because he knew the romulan was determined to self-destruct. a sign of respect maybe but there was no salutations.
@@larky368There was - would you like the link to see it?
Excellent video and great tactical analysis of my favorite Star Trek episode. You only made one mistake. When the Romulan ship begins to decloak to fire the plasma energy weapon at the Enterprise, Kirk orders "FULL A STERN! EMERGENCY WARP SPEED!" There wasn't any period of time where the Enterprise could have turned around and the viewscreen showing the plasma torpedo is obviously facing forward (lack of warp nacelles in the viewscreen) so the Enterprise had to be going in reverse the whole time (you show it turning around and going "Full ahead instead a full a stern as Kirk had ordered).
Very well done! Extremely well thought out and executed video. No rambling or getting off topic. Just a well crafted video that went into detail about each scene of the engagement between the Enterprise and the Bird of Prey.
I loved this. Your animated infographics explaining a battle most have gleaned past now looks epic. Now subscribed I hope you have other starship battles to view. Thank you!
Read Diane Duane's "Spock's World". One of the best insights into the Vulcan Mind, which also sets up the Division that created the Romulans.
Love it, that one along with The Romulan Way. :D
"We're the Romulans! And You've Gotta DEAL WITH IT!"
I really liked this, both the animation visuals as combined with the clarification of the story. Excellent work Resurrected Starships!
Cool vid. Great graphics. Your tactical analysis in its own way is a nice tribute to a great classic Trek episode that will be remembered forever!
Y'know... now we're gonna need ya to give us some of your analysis on that Pike version. Right?.....?
"Coolant leak! Coolant leak everybody!"
Geordi rolls under dropping door.
"Bridge, we have a coolant leak and I can't shut it down!"
Damned coolant always leaking.
I estimate 2 minutes to a warp core breach!
Thanks for posting. Geat analysis. One thing that really brings this home is the writing and how the battle is played out in Kirk's head, as well as the Romulan commander. It is not something elaborated on, but you can tell by certain things said. Something, which is lost in today's writing. Other shows which exemplify this, "the Deadly Years", "Elaan of Troyius" The second deals with the Klingons.
Also, therer was a series of comics, written by John Byrne, which prefaced this battle by letting us see and know the characters, from the Romulan view point.
My favorite episode! This was excellent. Made me want to watch the episode again for the 3rd time this year already. Thank you.
Nice video. Got to say how about calling this series "Starfleet Academy Starship Tactics. "
and make more like this!
What scotty was refering to simple impulse he is refering to impulse fusion reactor.. If you go to the episode the Doomsday Machine Kirk talks of overloading the impulse engines, Spock comes back with the 97.435 megaton Fusion explosion.
One of my favourite episodes and I love the way you have captured the whole story. Very Nice.
Okay, since you asked for a what-if-scenario - here i go :D
We know that the Constitution class cruisers are, by the time of ToS, the peak of shipbuilding in the federation. Although other starfleet classes aren't shown until the second movie, we can assume there are some older vessels serving deeper within federation space and maybe on less dangerous borders.
We have no valid data from canon about the romulan tech level, so I assume the warbird shown in this episode is also peak of romulan shipbuilding, but already a common and proven technology. This would fit in the strategy of testing federation defense. Wether it makes any sense to test the defenses with less then your best weapon, nor with an experimental prototype you do not have in the numbers needed to overcome the enemy.
Since both vessels where pretty balanced overall, with individual strenghts and weaknesses on both sides, a follow-up war would have been highly expensive on both sides. Due to the cloaking device, the romulans would have achieved some successful attacks on federation installations in the beginning, before starfleet would have gathered forces at the front bringing the romulan advance to a stop. The following years of war would have been basically stagnation, with both sides waiting for the enemy to make a mistake while trying to overcome the other's advantage and/or the own flaws. Basically a space version of WW1 ground warfare between germany and france. Without the introduction of revolutionary new technologies, or new alliances forming giving one side a major advantage, both sides would bleed out slowly, ultimately leading to a peace treaty reinstating the status quo ante. If we assume this outcome, at this point both sides would have been weakened to a point where the klingons could easily conquer them one by one. Considering both sides would have suffered heavy losses, especially in personnel, it's unlikely federation and romulans would join forces, especially if the klingons attack romulus first - the romulans might know they're next on klingon list and therefore be more willing to help defend the federation then vice versa. Therefore, by the time of TNG, Worf would be leader of the house of Mogh and at least commanding his own klingon cruiser, if not an entire battle group smashing the last of federation's forces around the cardassian border.
if you want infomation on this look up Starfleet Battles Tactical Manual
Very well stated Noral ! (30 August 2018 0111 hours)
Most martial cultures have a code of conduct and honor while what actions allowed and duties required vary in each code varies from culture to culture there is always a code.
If the romulans had been 100% successful in their mission other ships would have followed up the attack.
One of my favorite episodes. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
That was a very well done and informative video I loved the tactical analysis and p.I.p inserts well done
This video is fantastic! Simply loved it! Great job!
They tactfully avoid ever mentioning that its Spock's dad commanding the Romulan bird of prey.
It was actually the other way around. "Balance of Terror" was Season 1, Episode 14. "Journey to Babel", where we meet Spock's parents, was Season 2, Episode 10.
@@robertperry8392 So, Kirk could have said, "Ambassador, I once encountered a Romulan ship...it's captain could have been your twin"
@@robertperry8392 yes indeed. So when Sarek appeared on the Enterprise, Kirk really should have socked him on the jaw and shouted for security!
Spock's Dad does not command the Romulan Bird of Prey. Both characters are played by the same actor, but are DIFFERENT characters.
@@markgraham2312 yeah, absolutely nobody knew that until you mentioned it.
Loved this analysis. Seeing both ships like pieces on a chess board really helps in understanding their manoevres.
My favourite episode of Star Trek: TOS, and a brilliant analysis of the battle that dominated it.
Your conclusion about the comment by Scotty that the Romulans only had impulse propulsion is new to me, and really is the best explanation I've heard, so kudos to you for that!
All in all, a really enjoyable video and thanks for posting it.
Strange New Worlds just explored the What If question: what if Pike has been captaining the Enterprise instead of Kirk during this encounter.
Something I was always curious about: If the Enterprise had lost and had been at the brink of destruction and the Romulan Commander would have offered aid, would Kirk have taken it, or would he also have initiated self-destruction?
The Federation prefers to spare the lives of their men, if possible.
@@Idazmi7 Sure. but if Romulan captivity is the alternative....
@@wjzav1971
That's true, but it's _also_ true that the Federation didn't know much about Romulans yet
Excellent breakdown, this deserves many more views. Thank you for a excellent video.
This was an excellent expose of one of my favorite TOS episodes. Thanks for creating this one.