(by Collin R. Skocik, adapted for this article)
Long ago, on his very first planet survey, young Lieutenant James T. Kirk visited the planet Neural and stayed with a hunter named Tyree. He was impressed with the peaceful planet and felt that its primitive civilization was in many respects superior to humans. Now, many years later, he returns to Neural to find it uncomfortably transformed. The Villagers and the Hill People, who lived together in harmony, are now at war. The Villagers are armed with flintlocks—far ahead of the technology they had during Kirk’s visit. The presence of a Klingon battlecruiser in orbit solidifies Kirk’s fears that the Klingons are interfering in this planet’s development. The question: what to do about it?
Before All In the Family, before M*A*S*H, Star Trek was defying convention and television standards by brazenly putting discussions of real-world affairs on screen. Fortunately, being a science fiction series, and network executives being rather stupid people, they got their message past the censors because, as far as anyone was concerned, this was all just make-believe. Yet it’s impossible to miss the fact that this episode is talking about the Vietnam War. Kirk even explicitly mentions “the Brush Wars on twentieth century Earth on the Asian continent…two major powers involved, much like the Klingons and ourselves, neither side felt it could back out.” McCoy answers, “Yes, I remember. It went on bloody year after bloody year.”
How in the galaxy did they get this on television? Well, the answer is…Nona! Tyree’s wife, a mystical Kanutu woman who cures Kirk of the poisonous bite of the vicious Mugatu, Nona is by far the most openly sexual woman ever to appear in Star Trek! Good lord! Nancy Kovack knows how to use her body! Eat your heart out, Buck Rogers; I don’t think Erin Gray or Pamela Hensley hold a candle to her! Male members of the audience really ought to watch this episode with a kleenex in hand to dab their foreheads, because this woman is…yeesh. Let me get back to you after my cold shower…
…Okay. That’s better. Yeah, the script to this episode had her even more over-the-top sexual than she is in the finished episode, so while the censors were going ape over Nona, the writers squeezed their Vietnam references in without notice. Clever! And boy, does it make this episode fun to watch!
Also, before Planet of the Apes or 2001: A Space Odyssey, I think the makeup on the Mugatu is pretty darn convincing, and with its high-pitched screech, it really is genuinely scary when it first leaps out of nowhere. When Nona cures Kirk of the Mugatu bite, Nancy Kovack is not only titillating as she writhes over Kirk, but she gives a compelling performance that evokes the sense of someone who believes she’s dealing in occult powers. The superstition that Kirk can deny her no wish seems even to have some truth, as he does seem to be under a sort of spell when he’s with her. More likely he’s affected by a drug she’s given him, as she uses such techniques on Tyree all the time.
Juxtaposed with that is Spock’s treatment aboard the Enterprise for a gunshot wound. He’s treated by the super-sophisticated futuristic medicine of the twenty-third century, and attended to by Dr. M’Benga, who interned in a Vulcan hospital. M’Benga will only show up once more in Star Trek, but he’s a welcome addition to the show. It makes sense for an expert on Vulcans to be aboard the Enterprise, and I suspect he joined the ship at McCoy’s request after “Journey to Babel.”
Kirk’s solution to the problem on Neural is to arm the Hill People with flintlocks—and if the Klingons give the Villagers something more advanced, “then we arm our side with exactly that much more—a balance of power.” For a war as historically unpopular as Vietnam, Kirk draws the conclusion that “the only solution is what happened back then.” McCoy strongly disagrees, but when Kirk presses him for a “sober, sensible solution,” McCoy says, “I don’t have one! But furnishing them with firearms is definitely not it.” I must admit, I have to agree with Dr. McCoy. I’m not sure what the solution is, but Kirk is, as McCoy observes, “condemning this planet to a war that may never end. It could go on year after year, massacre after massacre.”
Perhaps a better solution would be for the Enterprise simply to attack the Klingon ship. Kirk fears this could mean interstellar war, but haven’t we been down that road before? Won’t the Organians stop it, and the problem will be solved all around?
The episode ends sort of unresolved. Kirk orders Scotty to manufacture a hundred flintlocks, but then, at the end, we see the Enterprise leaving the planet. Has Kirk gotten the Federation and the Klingons involved in a long, Vietnam-like war on Neural? Will other starships be coming by to arm the Hill People with ever-more-advanced weapons? McCoy tells Kirk, “You got what you wanted.” Kirk protests, “Not what I wanted, Bones. What had to be.” But is it? Was this really the only solution?
Kirk asks, “What would you have suggested? That one side arm its friends with an overpowering weapon?” Well, actually, yes. As long as it’s not a doomsday weapon, yes. Many people feel that was the mistake the U.S. made in Vietnam; incremental buildup instead of overwhelming victory. Walk into the village with phasers and force Apella to terms. Would that be a bigger violation of the Prime Directive than what Kirk is already doing?
Or, perhaps an unpalatable solution given Kirk’s love for this planet—stay out of it. Don’t get the Federation involved in small planet’s civil war. Kirk and McCoy have proof of the Klingons’ interference—take the problem to the Federation Council and the Klingon High Command and let the diplomats have at it.
Like the Vietnam War itself, this is a sad, pointless episode. Nothing is resolved. And indeed, for a show that advocates tolerance, nonviolence, respect for all life forms, and progress toward a better future, Star Trek takes a stance here in favor of the endless quagmire in Vietnam. Weird.
It’s my opinion that the proper role of science fiction is to look to the future; leave it to mainstream fiction to comment on the present day. But Star Trek nevertheless had a lot of courage tackling this subject considering the standards of television at the time.
(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 