Errand of Mercy

"Errand of Mercy"

"Errand of Mercy" is an episode of Star Trek. It was originally broadcast on March 23, 1967. It is episode #26, production #27, written by Gene L. Coon and directed by John Newland. This episode marks the first appearance of the Klingons.

Overview: At war with the Klingons, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock attempt to sway the incomprehensibly placid population of a planet to their side.

Plot

On stardate 3198.4, relations between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have reached the breaking point, and recent negotiations have collapsed. The USS Enterprise has been sent to the world of Organia, a non-aligned planet near the Klingon border, in fear that the Klingons will try to annex it.

As the Enterprise approaches Organia, it is attacked by a Klingon vessel, which it destroys. Kirk warns the Organians of the Klingons, but the Organians are completely unconcerned. Instead, they insist that it is the Enterprise and her crew which are in danger. A Klingon fleet appears, forcing the Enterprise to withdraw, and stranding Kirk and Spock on the surface.

The Klingons seize control of the planet without resistance from the Organians and install the ranking Klingon officer, Kor, as the military governor of Organia. The Organians disguise Kirk and Spock but refuse to do more to resist the occupation. Kirk and Spock start guerrilla operations of their own, over the objections of the Organians.

When the Klingons confront the Organian ruling council and threaten to torture Kirk and Spock as suspected insurgents, the Organians reveal Kirk and Spock's true identities and allow them to be arrested. After preliminary interrogations, Kirk and Spock are imprisoned. Shortly thereafter, the Organians effortlessly free the pair and hide them in the council chamber.

While Kirk and Spock try to comprehend the natives' contradictory actions, Kor retaliates for the escape by ordering mass executions. Still, the Organians continue to protect Kirk and Spock, but the Organians remain otherwise unperturbed by the Klingons' actions, leaving the Federation officers and the Klingons alike baffled and frustrated.

As Federation and Klingon fleets converge on the system, threatening to turn it into a war zone, Kirk and Spock execute a daring raid on the Klingon headquarters in hopes of rousing the population into resistance. They prove surprisingly successful, capturing Kor and preparing to make a last stand while the fleets ready to clash.

At that point, the Organians reveal their true nature. They instantly incapacitate both sides, not only around the planet, but everywhere. They are not primitive humanoids; rather, they are highly advanced and extremely powerful energy beings, so far beyond the Klingons and the Federation that they were never threatened by either side. The Organians force the humans and Klingons to make a truce, the Organian Peace Treaty. Both sides protest, but the Organians predict the two rivals will get along far better in the future than they presently imagine.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk admits his embarrassment at his own initial disappointment with the forcible ending of the war and the imposed peace treaty.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was re-mastered in 2006 and was first aired May 12, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered version of "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and was followed a week later by the re-mastered version of "Patterns of Force". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

• Klingon ships have been added to the opening and ending battle scenes where originally, only explosions and weapon fire were shown. This change now marks "Errand of Mercy" as the first time Klingon ships are shown in series if following the original episode order.
• The planet Organia was given a digital face lift with more realistic features.
• The visual effects of the Organian transformation from humanoids to beings of energy was enhanced.

Notes

• John Colicos was set to reprise his role as Kor in the third-season episode "Day of the Dove", but he was unable to find the time, so the role of Kang was created instead and played by Michael Ansara. Both actors would reprise these roles (along with William Campbell reprising his Koloth character from "The Trouble With Tribbles") decades later in the Deep Space Nine episode "Blood Oath".
• The Organians are explored again in a Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "Observer Effect", set well before this episode.
• The Organians have an extended role in the Star Fleet Universe where their disappearance is explained. They eventually return by using the Interstellar Concordium in a war of pacification against the galaxy.
• In one of the few occasions of reference from one episode to another in the original series, Captain Koloth mentions the Organian Peace Treaty in the second season episode "The Trouble with Tribbles."
• The novel Sacrifices of War (2009), Book 3 in the Errand of Fury trilogy, is essentially the episode "Errand of Mercy" verbatim from Chapter 14 onward. It connects the two and half novels of backstory to this episode.
• D.C. Fontana's graphic novel Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment continues the stories "The Enterprise Incident" and "Errand of Mercy".
• A sample of Spock saying the phrase, "pure energy" in this episode was used by synthpop group Information Society in their hit 1988 single "What's On Your Mind".

External links

• Review of the remastered version of "Errand of Mercy" at TrekMovie.com
• "Errand of Mercy" screenshots before and after remastering
• "Errand of Mercy" at Memory Alpha
• "Errand of Mercy" at the Internet Movie Database