The Enterprise Incident

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"The Enterprise Incident" is a third-season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. The episode first aired on September 27, 1968 on the NBC Network. Written by D.C. Fontana. Directed by John Meredyth Lucas

Plot summary[edit]

Captain Kirk has been behaving restless and irrationally of late, as noted in McCoy's medical log. Kirk then inexplicably orders helmsman Sulu to take the USS Enterprise across the Romulan Neutral Zone and into Romulan space, where it is quickly surrounded by the Romulans – who are now using Klingon-style vessels.

Kirk instructs Lieutenant Uhura to contact Starfleet Command and transmit all log entries. Via ship-to-ship communication, the Romulan Sub-Commander Tal demands the immediate surrender of the Enterprise. Kirk says he will blow up the Enterprise if any Romulans attempt to take it. Kirk then receives one hour to surrender the Enterprise from the Romulan Tal.

In an exchange of hostages, Kirk and Spock transport aboard the Romulan vessel, where they meet Tal's superior, a female commander. Kirk is accused of invading Romulan space in an attempt to steal a newly developed cloaking device for study by the Federation.

The Romulan commander threatens to torture Kirk until he confesses his crime – or dies. Spock, however, testifies that Kirk was not under Starfleet orders; he is mentally unstable and has ordered the Enterprise across the Romulan Neutral Zone himself. An enraged Kirk, spattering emotions of betrayal towards Spock in front of the Romulans is taken to a holding cell.

Romulan commander attempts to persuade Spock to side with his Romulan "cousins," take command of the Enterprise and accompany the commander back to Romulus.

Bringing the flag ship of the federation (Enterprise) to Romulus would be considered a great achievement as the Romulan Commander reminds Spock. In the process, she attempts to coerce him, which Spock appears to find appealing to his Human – and emotional – side. Spock then attempts to walk down a forbidden corridor within the Romulan ship, but respects the commander's wish that only loyal Romulans walk down it.

Meanwhile, Kirk injures himself when he is transferred to a holding cell aboard the Romulan ship. McCoy beams aboard to examine him. McCoy reports to the commander that he is mentally incapacitated, which seems to corroborate Spock's testimony. She proclaims Spock to be the commander of the Enterprise. This leads to an altercation between Spock and Kirk, in which Spock uses the Vulcan death grip on him. Spock used this so-called "Vulcan death grip" on Captain James T. Kirk as a means to fool the Romulans into believing Kirk was dead, so as to bring Kirk back on board the USS Enterprise without causing suspicion. Spock claimed to the Romulan's that he had used the death grip instinctively, in response to an unexpected assault from Kirk. Dr. Leonard McCoy angrily reacts to Spock saying, "Well, at least your instincts are still good, Mr. Spock. The Captain is dead!"

Kirk is brought back aboard the Enterprise and is revived by McCoy; the "death grip" is revealed to be a simple nerve block. Another truth is learned: Kirk and Spock are working under Federation orders to steal the cloaking device. Kirk asks McCoy to surgically alter him to appear Romulan. Nurse Chapel and Scotty are brought into the conspiracy.

Wearing the uniform from one of the Romulan prisoners, Kirk transports aboard the Romulan battle cruiser. While the Romulan commander is changing, Spock contacts Kirk with his communicator and speaks low. Spock reveals the location of the cloaking device. Their transmission is detected on the Romulan bridge. While Spock and the commander proceed with their intimate time together, Kirk makes his way to the forbidden corridor within the Romulan vessel encountering a centurion guard at the door and attacks him for entry. Sub-Commander Tal interrupts the commander and Spock, saying through the door that the matter is urgent. The commander reluctantly allows him to enter, where he informs her of the source of the alien transmission: It's at this moment, Spock is discovered. All security personell proceed urgently to the cloaking device.

Kirk manages to remove the cloaking device from its control panel in the Romulan and has Scotty beam him with it back to the Enterprise.

Scotty takes the cloaking device and installs it into the deflector shield from engineering onboard the enterprise.

While making his final statement, Spock is beamed back aboard the Enterprise – with the female Romulan commander holding onto him. Brought to the bridge, the commander orders Tal to destroy the Enterprise, leaving Kirk to prepare to fight in case Scotty 's efforts to ativate the cloaking device fail. Scotty succeeds, and the Enterprise is officially a cloaked vessel disappearing away from the Romulan ship preparing to fire and destroy the Enterprise.

Production background information[edit]

Academy Award-nominated, Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage, who wrote the main title theme, returned to compose the music for this episode. Later in the season, Courage also composed music for "Plato's Stepchildren", his last score for Star Trek. In the second season, Courage composed about a half-hour of musical cues and conducted some music for the series.

The Romulans use Klingon disruptor pistols in this episode and from the very first draft, the script had the Romulans using Klingon ships. The series had a lot of money invested in the Klingon model and needed to get its money's worth.

This episode is also the first to feature a female starship commander. This was the last live-action appearance of the Romulans in the "Star Trek" franchise until 20 years later in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season one finale titled "The Neutral Zone" in (1988).