"We are of a kind, you and I. [Under other circumstances] I could have
called you friend."
--Romulan Centurion
"[Scotty, you've earnwed your pay for the week.]"
--Kirk (and/or in
"The Doomsday Machine")
PLOT
Kirk matches wits against the Romulan commander, trying to guess his next
moves, after following a shadow into the neutral zone near where some
outposts were destroyed.
Now the Romulans have a cloaking device and superior weapons, but the
Enterprise has superior speed (to the point that they can almost out-run
the photon torpedoes [or were these just Romulan energy disruptors?]!) An
Enterprise crew member (Mr Styles) is prejudiced against Spock when they
see that Romulans look like Vulcans. The two races were once a single race
according to Spock.
FACTS
Astrodidium is the hardest metal known to science.
Enterprise phasers are short bursts like photon torpedoes.
Uhura takes over navigation.
Mr Styles is this week's dork.
Neutral zone outposts 2(?), 2, 4, and 8 were trashed by the Romulan ship
before the Enterprise was able to engage (#4 was the one they saw get
destroyed on the viewer).
Karl says this is the first encounter with the Romulans. I think the
show said it is the first time any Federation people have seen
a Romulan,
but that the Earth and the Federation fought a nuclear war with
the Romulans 100 years ago (before they had viewer screens).
The "Bridge Crew" at Princeton think it is the first encounter between
the species to occur in several decades.
OPINIONS
Would have been better without Styles, but it introduced a good enemy, new
technology, and a further look into Vulcan history.
