(by Collin R. Skocik)
David Gerrold described Star Trek as “science fiction on training wheels.” In other words, it’s not really true science fiction, but it’s enough to indoctrinate the uninitiated to go out and pick up science fiction at the bookstores. Well, in my opinion, Star Trek is often more than that. Often watching Star Trek really feels like a good science fiction short story, and “A Taste of Armageddon” is one such case.
The Enterprise voyages to the planet Eminiar VII to negotiate a treaty port in a section of the galaxy where many lives have been lost—including the only starship to go to Eminiar VII, the U.S.S. Valiant. Kirk, Spock, and some redshirts beam down, and learn the astonishing truth of Eminiar. The planet has been at war for five hundred years with its neighboring planet, Vendikar. “Once a colony of our world,” Chairman Anan 7 explains, “now a ruthless enemy.” But this is no ordinary war. There are no armies, no bombs, no weapons. Instead, the planets’ computers fight each other. It’s just a big video game. But the catch is, the people who are “killed” in mock attacks are required to report to disintegration stations and be killed.
Like the Valiant, the Enterpriseis “destroyed” in an enemy attack, and the Eminians try to force Kirk to have his entire crew beam down and be killed.
If it sounds unbelievable that people would unquestioningly report to disintegration stations and die when they’re told to, the situation was quite familiar to audiences in 1967, when thousands of young kids lined up to fight in a war they didn’t believe in because their number had come up in a random selection. According to Anan 7, if people fail to report to die, they’ll abrogate the ancient agreement with Vendikar, and both planets will have no choice but to launch real weapons. There will be devastation, destruction, disease, horror, and the entire civilization could be destroyed. But Kirk has an astonishingly simple solution: “You might consider another solution—put a stop to it. End it!”
The idea of a war being fought by computers makes a lot of sense. Today our machines are handling more and more of our wars. The neat and impersonal computer war in this episode rings true to the drone strikes and smart bombs of today. In fact, the cyberwarfare of today sounds a lot like the Eminian computer war.
Like almost all Star Trek villains, Anan 7 is not evil or malicious. In fact, he’s quite a nice guy. His concerns are entirely understandable—he doesn’t want a devastating war that will destroy his civilization. The hard part about war is not dying, it’s living. It’s the chaos and fear and pain and destruction. The Eminians, as Kirk points out, have a very orderly society. But it doesn’t occur to Anan to simply stop the war—because the war has been going on for five hundred years. It’s so much a part of life, telling him to end it is like telling Donald Trump to end capitalism. You don’t just end it. It’s life.
The beautiful Mea 3, played by Barbara Babcock, is determined to do her duty and step into a disintegrator. Kirk is determined to stop her. Their relationship belies Kirk’s reputation as an interstellar playboy. Although there might be some indication of an attraction between them, he makes no moves on her at all.
The disintegration station demonstrates the almost lost art of making something deeply disturbing without being at all graphic. People simply step in, a door closes, a tech presses a button, and the door opens to an empty chamber. “An entrance, but no exit,” Spock observes. “They go in, but they do not come out.”
Kirk threatens Anan, saying, “I can destroy this planet.” Anan scoffs, “You, by yourself, with a disruptor, you can destroy this planet?” But Kirk is quite serious—and he’s right. With one phaser, he destroys the war computers, fulfilling Anan’s fears. Eminiar’s civilization is a house of straw—which makes you wonder if ours is too. How easy would it be to bring down our civilization? All it would take is a nuclear bomb detonated in the upper atmosphere over the central United States; the resulting energy pulse would destroy most of the country’s electrical grid. The results would be as unimaginable as the Eminian war.
Eminiar VII attacks the Enterprise with sonic weapons. How does that work? Sound waves cannot travel through the vacuum of space.
The Enterprise is haunted by another insufferable ambassador, Robert Fox, played by Gene Lyons. Initially he’s abrasive, irritating, inflexible, and stupid. You want to punch him. But you’ve got to give him credit: he admits when he’s wrong. By the end of the episode, I quite like him.
This is the first episode to mention the United Federation of Planets. With that, Star Trek’s world is pretty much fleshed out.
(Collin R. Skocik is a fan of the Star Trek franchise and has written synopses of all 79 episodes of Star Trek’s original series and the first six Star Trek films.)
Principled Thoughts 