I thought this was a good, if simplistic episode, with one major flaw.
The set-up is good: Kirk comes across a Federation outpost in the outskirts of known space, where an alien race has massacred everyone except for one survivor who confirms their brutality. Kirk decides to seek vengeance, pursuing the alien ship. They come within range of some advanced civilization (the "Metrons") that deems both sides "uncivilized" and has Kirk and the captain of the other ship (the race is Gorn, a reptilian species of great strength, but slow moving) to fight it out on a nearby planet or asteroid; the winner is to be allowed to leave; the loser will be killed and his ship destroyed.
The episode consists primarily of Kirk figuring out how to build a viable weapon with the limited resources on the planet surface, while being pursued by a more powerful, but slow moving, enemy. Predictably, Kirk eventually triumphs after a long and difficult struggle, and has the Gorn captain at his mercy. But he declines to kill him. The aliens are impressed that humans have the 'advanced' trait of mercy and so allow them to leave.
Okay, so the message was simplistic enough, but not a bad one-- the Gorn may have attacked the Federation outpost because they viewed it as an incursion on their own space; Kirk perhaps shouldn't have jumped to conclusions but should have attempted negotiations out of respect for other sentient life forms. I'm not 100% convinced that the Gorn's excuse was sufficient or valid, but there was at least an argument that could be made that Kirk shouldn't have immediately leaped to violence as the solution.
The flaw comes from the fact that the Metrons were utter hypocrites-- willing to utterly destroy one of the two ships for having the 'nerve' to commit violence in their vicinity. Umm, how is that any different from just letting them fight it out? Shouldn't the Metrons have just neutralized the conflict and transported both antagonists far out of their space, and from each other, if they were going to intervene at all? Otherwise, why even interfere, since they were going to destroy one of the ships anyway? Even at the end, the Metron who speaks to Kirk offers him the chance to destroy the Gorn ship, which he declines to do.
I agree that the Metrons are worth negotiating with in the future-- but only because of their vastly superior technology, not because of their lofty ethics. Their 'morals' seem no more upright than those of the Federation.
The set-up is good: Kirk comes across a Federation outpost in the outskirts of known space, where an alien race has massacred everyone except for one survivor who confirms their brutality. Kirk decides to seek vengeance, pursuing the alien ship. They come within range of some advanced civilization (the "Metrons") that deems both sides "uncivilized" and has Kirk and the captain of the other ship (the race is Gorn, a reptilian species of great strength, but slow moving) to fight it out on a nearby planet or asteroid; the winner is to be allowed to leave; the loser will be killed and his ship destroyed.
The episode consists primarily of Kirk figuring out how to build a viable weapon with the limited resources on the planet surface, while being pursued by a more powerful, but slow moving, enemy. Predictably, Kirk eventually triumphs after a long and difficult struggle, and has the Gorn captain at his mercy. But he declines to kill him. The aliens are impressed that humans have the 'advanced' trait of mercy and so allow them to leave.
Okay, so the message was simplistic enough, but not a bad one-- the Gorn may have attacked the Federation outpost because they viewed it as an incursion on their own space; Kirk perhaps shouldn't have jumped to conclusions but should have attempted negotiations out of respect for other sentient life forms. I'm not 100% convinced that the Gorn's excuse was sufficient or valid, but there was at least an argument that could be made that Kirk shouldn't have immediately leaped to violence as the solution.
The flaw comes from the fact that the Metrons were utter hypocrites-- willing to utterly destroy one of the two ships for having the 'nerve' to commit violence in their vicinity. Umm, how is that any different from just letting them fight it out? Shouldn't the Metrons have just neutralized the conflict and transported both antagonists far out of their space, and from each other, if they were going to intervene at all? Otherwise, why even interfere, since they were going to destroy one of the ships anyway? Even at the end, the Metron who speaks to Kirk offers him the chance to destroy the Gorn ship, which he declines to do.
I agree that the Metrons are worth negotiating with in the future-- but only because of their vastly superior technology, not because of their lofty ethics. Their 'morals' seem no more upright than those of the Federation.