10 Best Star Trek The Original Series Episodes
2. Balance Of Terror
Balance of Terror is just a wonderful piece of television, and one of the all-time greatest Star Trek episodes too.
Centred around a stand-off between the Enterprise and a Romulan vessel on the edge of the neutral zone, Paul Schneider's episode drew direct inspiration from The Enemy Below, a wartime film that revolved around an encounter with a Navy battleship and a submarine lurking beneath the waves. It's a tense affair, and while the Romulans have been beaten out by the Klingons in terms of capturing the public's imagination the most, there's no denying they featured in one of The Original Series' very best storylines.
The true brilliance of the episode, however, lies in the dynamic shared between Shatner's Kirk and Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander. Two opponents pitted against each other, the juxtaposing scenes featuring both vessels are some of the series' best, with both officers navigating a situation neither truly wishes to be in.
The episode was more than just a tense and dramatic affair though. Interwoven throughout is a subplot featuring one Lieutenant Stiles overcoming his own prejudices against the Romulans and, by extension, Vulcans too. It's a fantastic piece of television, and an episode often cited by Trekkies for being one of if not the greatest Trek episode of all time.