This episode is top tier Trek. It really isn’t afraid to give the audience a few things to think about. It’s easily in my top 5 TOS episodes.

Shatner's acting in the episode may have been his finest hour on television.

Kirk walking out of the chapel and down the hall like a boss is one of my favorite Trek closing scenes.

This is my absolute favorite episode from the Original Series. Favorite line: "In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

McCoy's speech to Kirk was telling Kirk he was unique ("3 million, million galaxies", "and in all of that only one of each of us". Every person in all the universe is unique and therefore precious, so "don't destroy the one named Kirk." Basically, telling Kirk to not be hard on himself. If you'd been having a tough day, McCoy would have said, "don't destroy the one named BunnyTails."

This is a fantastic episode. I always enjoyed watching this one growing up. It’s essentially a remake of the film, “Enemy Below” which was a World War Two submarine film with very similar themes. The characterizations in this episode are terrific and set the tone for much of the series.

The helmsman steers the ship after the navigator plots the course. Love the necklace.

Bigotry and Paranoia was a huge part of the politics of that era . Star Trek always has a message underneath it and this one had a huge one hidden under one of the best episodes that Star Trek ever had !!!!!!! Great action you get to learn how good a Captain Kirk was when the battle is at hand !!!! Plus a giant Smoke ring never was a better weapon !!!!!

This is a quintessential episode in the history of The Original Series. Great acting from the cast, and from Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander.

This is my favorite episode of any trek. It really highlights Shatner's acting. I love the scene where Styles is glaring at Spock and Kirk walks to the front of the helm and raps on the control panel. No words. No speech.

I had actually met Mark Lenard at a Star Trek Convention in Montgomery, Alabama and he was just as down to earth any personable as could be

Actress Barbara Baldavin who played Angela the bride just passed away on March 31, 2024 at the age of 85.

This episode shows that it wasn't all happy flowers exploring space in peace and harmony. Sometimes the aliens don't want to play nice.

Glad to see she especially noted Uhura taking over as navigator. Fifty plus years after B of T, we learn Uhura, like all starfleet cadets are highly trained for a number of ships functions - in her case not just linguistics.

Mark Lenard, the Romulan commander, one if a handful of actors to play multiple roles in TREK, one role happens to be very iconic.

Run Siulent, Run Deep was a popular submarine WWII suspense thriller movie in the fifties. This episode borrows heavily from that film. It was one of a few classic submarine adventures. The Germans made a terrific submarine film in the eighties called Das Boot - The Boat, which has a very sad ending.

This is easily one of the best episodes of TOS. Seeing the Enterprise in combat, the perspective of the enemy, the theme of morality vs duty in regards to war, dealing with prejudices... Looking back, it's so interesting how certain aspects introduced here impacted later stories. You'll see how eventually.

Oh yeah this is a fantastic episode that displays Kirk’s tactical prowess

This is one of the better episodes of the entire series. The emphasis was on the writing and the acting, not so much the action. I'm so glad you're enjoying these as much as you are. Mark Lenard, who played the Romulan Commander also was a Klingon in the first ST movie, but is best known for playing Spock's father in multiple ST series and movies.

The romulan commander is one of the most fascinating characters from Star Trek and actor Mark Leonard played him brilliantly.

This episode now has a bunch of reactions to it, but I noticed one little detail people overlook. It's easy for anyone to overlook. When that comet comes up, Kirk hands Spock a book as if he wants him to look up the details of that comet in it. Then Spock just pushes it away and starts talking, because he already knows all about it.

You'll need to be a little careful on spoilers here...not being specific, an element of this episode resurfaces later... This is considered one of the original series all-time great episodes! Mark Lenard played the Romulan Commander and is one of the series' best guest performances. Great to see you finally react to this one!

One thing I appreciate about TOS, Kirk is shown to make errors especially in the beginning but he learns fast and never repeats mistakes

6:53 "I don't know too much about Romulans ..." None of us trekkies knew anything about Romulans when this episode first aired in 1966. When the Romulan Commander appears for the first time, we were all genuinely shocked. It was truly a WTF moment!!!

I loved Legend of the Galactic Heroes! It’s a slow drama with strategic space battles intermixed. I loved the conflicting perspectives of the two sides and the mutual admiration of the two commanders. It’s very similar to Kirk and the Romulan commander. Good parallel!

This episode has a very similar storyline to The Enemy Below (1957)- The Romulan ship is like a submarine (slow moving, cramped interior, and with a powerful weapon, but one which it has to be near the surface to use) and the Romulan commander uses the same kind of tricks to escape the Enterprise as a U-boat captain would to elude an allied destroyer.

I'm happy to see a younger person watching, appreciating, and understanding the meaning of each episode.

Ah, Legend of the Galactic Heroes! The distribution model for this anime was pretty unusual...it was a *subscription* anime series. You actually subscribed to get the episodes through the mail in Japan! It was directed by the famous anime director Noboru Ishiguro, who also directed Super Dimension Fortress Macross as well as many other classic anime. He also worked on Space Battleship Yamato, which I think you might also enjoy if you're unfamiliar with it. What a delight to find out you love Galactic Heroes - you have good taste Bunnytails!

This is among the greatest, and arguably the greatest, of all the episodes Star Trek has ever done. An absolutely timeless morality play -- terrific. Every single performance in this is flawless. Shatner at his very best.

this is such a good episode. Bigotry subplot notwithstanding, just watching Kirk and the Romulan commander try to predict the other's moves is so much fun.

I really love the design of the Romulan ship in this episode. I remember the plastic model set of this one when I was a kid in the 1970s. I had already completed the Enterprise and a Klingon battle cruiser as well as the plastic models of a communicator, phaser and tricorder. The design of the Romulans in this episode is based upon the Roman Empire. Where its world-building goes throughout the entire franchise is complex and unfolds in bits and pieces along the way. A truly fascinating species.

17:07 In fact there is an episode in the Animated series where she had the Captain's chair (Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Spock, Sulu where all on a planet's surface; she was next highest-ranking officer left on the bridge). It was early 70s and the only reason the writers "got away with it" (Woman of color in charge) was because the Network Execs weren't paying attention to an animated "kid's" show. And the writers knew it!

There's a lot of great things to say about this episode, but I would say its biggest strength is allowing you to see things from the enemy's point of view and even empathize with their leader. That doesn't happen a lot in storytelling at all, at least not as well as what you see here.

Awesome reaction. It's a pleasure to tag along on your Star Trek journey.

This episode was modeled after the old World War II movies of a Navy destroyer tracking a submarine, including the analogy of phasers being used in a way that depth charges would have been and the submarine jettisoning materials to try to convince its pursuers that it had been sunk.

This is possibly my favorite episode of Trek ever. It’s such brilliant storytelling.

Fun Fact: Director Vincent McEveety had seen the 1957 film "The Enemy Below" but only noticed the similarities between its plot and this episode later. He admitted "Obviously, it's the same story."

Hands down my favorite Classic Trek episode. Mark Lenard was amazing in this. I know he is forever known for portraying Spock’s father but here is awesome as Romulan Commander. Favorite part is his description of how worn out he is from countless campaigns and wars. Love these reactions you’re doing. 💙

This episode of Star Trek the original series, actually reflects a submarine warfare campaign, similar to those fought during the second world war and makes you feel that Starfleet is a modern version of the American Naval Forces.

The helm, usually Sulu's position, is the person who is actually "flying" the ship. They use course information provided by the navigator, but when it comes time to maneuver the ship, whether with maneuvering thrusters when in "tight quarters" such as the shipyard, maneuvering within a planetary system using impulse drive, or interstellar travel using warp drive, the helm enters the commands and sometimes is shown using manual controls such as a "flight-stick" controller. A helmsperson should be adept at making quick decisions about evasive maneuvers when given the order by the captain or commander. Generally, the helmsperson is skilled at piloting a variety of different vehicles and may occasionally need to pilot vehicles from alien civilizations, so a basic understanding of the control lay-out used in both ally and enemy ships is a big asset.

I love the mood lighting that highlights Kirk's eyes and everything else is in shadow. It's one of the only things I'll give JJ Abrams credit for picking up on when he did his reboot.

Yeah buddy! This is how I will spend my last 1/2 hour writing reports today. Love your work BT.

Very important episode that establishes a lot of Star Trek lore. Thanks for the reaction :)

6:21 - The idea of Romulan spies aboard Enterprise is a hold over from an early draft of the script. In that script, the Romulan ship resembled the Enterprise’ saucer with engines attached, implying that the Romulans had established a spy network inside Starfleet. If you keep this in mind then Stiles animosity toward Spock makes more sense.

This may not be my absolute favorite episode of TOS, but it very possibly is the most perfect. With its cinematic lighting and editing it plays more like a mini-feature film than a typical episode of ‘60s television. You might want to check out THE ENEMY BELOW, a 1957 World War II epic featuring a duel of wits between the captain of an American destroyer and the commander of a German submarine, which very heavily influenced this episode.

Thanks for watching. Best Romulan episode ever made. Not going to back down on that! :-)

According to Memory Alpha: The helmsman (or helm officer) was the Starfleet crewperson who operated the helm console on 22nd and 23rd century Federation starships. The helmsman of those vessels worked in concert with the navigator, who plotted the ship's course. On the USS Enterprise, the helmsman controlled both the speed and attitude of the ship, as well as the ship's weapon and shield systems.

One of my favorite episodes of any Star Trek! 💜 A crowning example of what’s best about the series!

I was about to do something else, I'm doing this now. 😊

Aw, yiss! First of the really really good episodes... Hikaru Sulu is the main helmsman, and basically he does the steering. He kinda shares a few other duties with the second chair, which is where they keep the guns and a bunch of other stuff as needed. I think there's an espresso machine in there somewhere but it doesn't appear in any 'official' paperwork. Steering a starship is a tad tricky since they're going many times the speed of light, which, in turn, means they can only see out the windows thanks to special Space Glass. On the plus side, since gravity also operates at the speed of light, they don't have to worry about going into a gravity well when they're at warp speed, except for the times when they do have to worry about it. In Star Trek terms, impulse speed is like the pedalling around on a bicycle, whereas warp is still being on a bicycle but one where you've accidently got your hair caught in the undercarriage of a fighter jet. This is often unimportant, later series get a little more uptight. The ship is often going in more or less a straight line so Sulu is frequently just sat there making sure they don't fall out of cruise control, so he gets a bit of chatter from time to time. We know that the Enterprise doesn't have that thing where it makes a beeping noise when it's going backwards because in [SPOILER] we see it [SPOILERING] Everybody is going to point out that Takei and Shatner didn't get on very well. This is true, but what is untrue is that they were often found between takes slapping each other on the backside. The plot of this episode is fairly heavily based on the movie The Enemy Below. Not especially relevant, although that's a pretty good movie. The Romulans are the first big bad guy, and my preferred ones, the most famous enemy of Captain James R until it is T Kirk are seen later, the dreaded [SPOILONS]. There is a kick-ass Romulan story coming up which features, shock horror a [SPOILER]. I remain convinced that the Romuloids uniforms were the direct inspiration for British Rail's second class carriage upholstery for several decades. This is the first episode (I think) where they mention photon torpedoes, a weapons system much beloved. The slightly amusing thing is that, since photons are the elementary particles that make up light, whenever they fire one they're kinda saying they're throwing a really, REALLY bright flashlight at the bad guys. "In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million earth-type planets… and in all the universe, three million million galaxies like this one. And in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us. Don't destroy the one named Kirk." "I hear you, Bones." "Or the one named McCoy." "I get it." "Sulu, Chapel, Scott..." "I understand, Doctor, each of us is unique and valuable." "And when I say only one of each of us, I don't mean transporter clones." "No, no, of course not." "Or android duplicates, doppelgangers created by lovecraftian deities, shape-shifters, chameleon creatures, telepathy induced illusions or the undeniable fact that a multiverse of possible universes exist, all but guaranteeing each of us has an infinite number of identical versions of ourselves kept distant by the width of a single quantum brane." "Do you keep a list, or was that improvised?" "I'm just saying, Jim, if there's a choice between living and dying, it doesn't make much of a difference in the face of the infinite cosmos." "Doc..." "I've been drinking, Jim, don't fret the little stuff."

Balance of Terror was based on a movie starring Robert Mitchum called 'The Enemy Below', a 1957 American DeLuxe Color war film in CinemaScope about a battle between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat during World War II. Produced and directed by Dick Powell, the movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt Jürgens as the American and German commanding officers.

Bones is the kind of friend one wants to have for all their lives.

This episode introduced the first look of the cloaking device. You are going to be shocked to see what a Romulan looks like. Romulans are like cousins to the Vulcans.

One of the best episodes of the original series.

This episode was based upon a '50's WWII movie called THE ENEMY BELOW starring Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens! Highly recommended!

Well done as usual. Thank you do much for sticking with this!

This is my favorite episode of TOS! Great reaction and glad you’re enjoying Star Trek. I hope you watch all of the other series in future! I’d do anything to experience them for the first time again.

3:07 Kirk is prohibited from messing with people within his crew. Which is pretty much how most militaries are supposed to work. But alien babes are fair game! 😉

Certainly one of the best TOS episodes. Kirk's speech to Lt. Uhura on them entering the Neutral Zone is just great.

There I was watching you review one of the greatest TREK episodes ever...you finish and bust out LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES, my very favorite anime of ALL TIME?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You're a JEWEL of KZfaq. I bow to you.

This episode is a homage to those WWII submarine films of old. PS. Although post WWII, the 1981 German produced _'Das Boot'_ is an excellent U-boat film. I have to edit my reply to add the PPS. I'll be sure to check out that 80's anime you suggested- _Legend of the Galactic Heroes_thanks for the sharing. 😃

The helmsman of a ship is the pilot and steers the ship (typically Sulu). Next to the helmsman is the operations office, who monitors the primary ship systems and acts as the ship’s navigator (usually Chekhov). Love your reaction videos.

Sulu is the helmsman, on Kirk's left. As on oceangoing ships of today going back to the sailing sjips, the helmsman actually maneuvers the ship per the Captain's instructions. Sulu also has control of the weapons, though we as pons control does sometimes switch over to the other side of the console. On thst other side is the Navigator, who sets the course and feeds it to the helmsman's instruments. The large panel between the two positions is also part of the Navigator's controls since the Navigator has to plot a course in three dimensions, not just keft or right, but up or down as well. The Navigator is a rotating post for a while until Chekov joins the ship - Chekov was actually added as a nod to the hippy crowd with his Beatles-esque hair, and also because the Soviet Union had denounced the show for not having any Russians. So Chekov is played way over the top with his Wussian accent and his national pride that frequently clashes with actual history. When Chekov joins, the weapon control seems to transfer to his panels. Chekov also fills in at the science station if Spock is unavailsble. The other visible stations are Spock's science station to Kirk's right, Uhura's station behind him, and the Engineering station to Kirk's left, sometimes manned by Scotty, but usually by a generic redshirt. Unseen are 3 or 4 additional stations to each side for Environmental services (ship's air, sanitation, etc) and support stations for the Science and Engineering posts. These are essentially never seen as they are not part of the set, though occasionally you see crew come into frame from where those might be, usually to relieve Chekov if he moves to the science station, or to replace someone who is hurt. Also never seen, but per the blueprints, there is a bathroom located to the left of the viewscreen, and an emergency access hatch located on the floor (deck) just in front of the helm/nav console to allow access to and exit from the bridge in the eventvthe lifts aren't working. There are also removable panels on either side of the turbolift alcove leading to a corridor behind all the bridge stations to let people go behind them to perform repairs when needed.

This episode reminds me of two excellent WWII submarine movies, "The Enemy Below" and "Run Silent, Run Deep." The part in the episode with the debris was a real trick WWII submarines would do to try to fool surface ships into thinking their depth charges had destroyed the submarine.

Mark Lenard was a very talented actor, who featured in many American tv shows, during the 60's and 70's. Here he plays the Romulan Commander, but he went on to play Sarek, the Vulcan father of Spock, in the original Star Trek tv show, Star Trek TNG and in the Star Trek movies.

This is one of the best Star Trek episodes. Not just in TOS, but all Trek.

This is one of my all time favorite episodes !!!! Weĺl written, and well acted..😊

This episode is a good copy of the old WW2 movie, "The Enemy Below." starring Robert Mitchum as the Destroyer captain and Curt Jurgens as the German submarine captain. It was dramatic episodes like this that make you want to see more of Star Trek.

This episode is, by some people's reckoning, the best ST TOS ever produced. Definitely a firm fan favourite.

12:22 "Kirk Views This Other Captain As A Rival Equal To Himself" Just like Sherlock Holmes does with Professor Moriarty

have to say: re-visiting the original series is making me appreciate it all the more...it was great to watch this show as a kid...

Great reaction to one of the best episodes of the Original Series! The helmsman's and navigator's jobs, both at the forward helm, sometimes seemed to overlap, and they did a bit. But, in the easiest terms, the helmsman steered the ship and the navigator was the person looking at the map/GPS and plotting the route. Usually the helmsman was also the one who fired the weapons, though that could be done from either seat or from a weapons officer station that was sometimes seen. And bridge officers were cross-trained on different stations, though they tended to be posted at their area of expertise. Thus Uhura, who was a good helm officer, stayed at the all important communications and damage control post as that was her area of expertise. Also in this episode Stiles is helmsman while Sulu is the navigator though Sulu is often at the helmsman's position. Since both jobs were very similar it didn't matter what position each sat in as they were both technically at the helm. This was also our first introduction to the wonderful Mark Lenard, a Star Trek stalwart who first appeared as the Romulan Commander but who was most often seen in multiple shows, series (Original Series and Next Generation), and movies as Sarek, father of Spock. To complete the trifecta he had a brief appearance as a Klingon Captain in the first Star Trek movie. His portrayal of the Romulan captain was a brilliantly done one. We could see he was involved and interested in the battle of tactical and strategic genius with Kirk, but that he was otherwise weary of the war and not happy about his 'duty' to potentially start a war to appease the bloodthirsty fools who sat in councils discussing politics and who knew nothing of actual war. His old friend the Centurion was his sounding board and his trusted advisor, and the loss of him just made him more tired of it all, but he still stuck to his duty. This aptly reflected the stresses and concerns of the Cold War era during which it was filmed. Not just the reflection of tensions between the two superpowers with the Neutral Zone in some ways being a reflection of Demilitarized zones in previous wars and the Berlin Wall that was a physical divider between the areas of control of the Federation/NATO and the Romulans/Soviets. It also included the biases of the people of the time, many of whom were suspicious of anyone who had an Eastern European name or accent, even if they had been in the West for generations. I know a man my father worked with when I was a little kid (early 70s) had undergone a name change along with the rest of his family when they immigrated to the U.S. around 1950 because they were, if I remember correctly, Jews of Russian-Lithuanian descent who had fled to escape the predations of the Germans during WWII, but with the anti-Soviet feeling at the start of the Cold war the family patriarch insisted that they all undergo name changes to more American names. The Romulan/Vulcan similarities were designed to emulate those feelings where Stiles, who previously had no problems with Spock, suddenly became very suspicious of him simply because he looked like a Romulan. So enjoying your watching of these original series episodes!

Your reations to these takes me back to one of my favorite programs. This was a great episode.

One of my favorite episode of TOS ever. I like the way it is like two dueling submarines, but in space. Which, it is kinda silly that the Romulan commander was whispering so the Enterprise didn't "hear" him, but that was what it was like on a submarine during combat, and this just draws the parallel out between the two.

Grace Whitney's hair was a wig weaved/ glued, and then put on top of her head and it was the thing that made her stand out.

This episode was very much based on the WWII movie "The Enemy Below" with Robert Mitchum, a captain of an American destroyer, vs a German U-Boat submerged beneath them. Great WWII movie well worth watching!!

This is directly inspired by a WW2 submarine versus destroyer situation. Such as the old film, 'The Enemy Below'. Anti-submarine warfare. Hence the phasers shooting with a preset explosion distance like depth charges. A bit of an odd shoehorn but it gets the point across. The Wrath Of Khan movie's ship battle in the nebula was probably inspired by a more modern sub vs sub battle too. All of them involving difficulty in finding and fixing the enemy with some best-guess estimates of the other side's tactics and where to shoot.

One of my favourite Trek episodes. The newer show "Strange New Worlds" did a very interesting "alternate universe" type story based on this. In the comments below some have mentioned "The Enemy Below" film as having a similar theme, but I'll give a shout out for the excellent "Master and Commander - The Far Side Of The World" as being a very Trek-like story much like this one. Great reaction as always - thanks.

The helmsman is the guy who actually drives the ship, telling it what direction to go, how fast, and so on. In a ship on the sea, they're the ones with the wheel and such. The Navigator is a similar role, but they just plot the course and monitor the course. It's the helmsman who actually does the work of driving.

A great episode to show the military side of Starfleet. Yet, one of my favorite aspects of Star Trek comes out: The everyday life of the crew(s). Always great to see. By the way, I am changing the world by calling the "original series" the "5 year mission". Let's make it happen.

I missed a few of your review episodes and I'm catching up. Thank you for asking about the stations on the bridge, the ships are my favourite part of Star Trek. :) The two stations at the front of the ship are Defense and Helm. Sulu is operating the Defensive and Weapons subsystems, he raises the shields and fires the phasers and photon torepedos. The Helmsman beside him, Styles, operates Navigation, which controls ships speed and direction. To the left of them along the wall, to the right of the turbo lift, is the Engineering station, which is usually manned by Scotty. The Engineering station controls the Enviromental, Engineering, and Bridge subsystems. Though the Engineering station isn't always manned during routine operations, as their functions are primarily controlled from main engineering Then past the turbo lift, the stations at the back of the ship are Communications and Science. As Communications Officer, Uhura mans the Communications station. And to the left of Communications is the Science station, which is manned by Science Officer Spock. Hope this helps. Cheers and live long and prosper eh. :)

The was taken and updated from the movie, Enemy Below, a submarine vs destroyer story.

This is SUCH a great episode. One of the all time best. Helmsman: Literally the person who pilots the ship. Mr. Sulu is the Chief Helmsman but I’m pretty sure he was also the tactical officer who is essentially in charge of weapons and ship to ship combat expert.

Omg, I'm so happy you're on this episode! I can't wait to listen to this on my commute home!

Fifty years of watching this show, and this is still the moment, for me, we truly get to see what Trek could be. Easily in my top five Trek episodes; original series of course, but in my all time top ten of ToS / TNG / DS9, kerk

After this, the Romulans stopped storing ENGINE BLOCKS on the top shelf on the bridge.

Submarine warfare in space, the enterprise as a destroyer stalking the Romulan U-boat. A fantastic episode, as you can cut the tension with a knife.

One of my favorite episodes in the series. And yes, Cloaking does use up a lot of energy. Both the romulance and the clinics compensated for that as time went on, but there was still an enormous power cost. This was like a outer space version of battleship where Kirk. Matched with a romulan commander Who was almost a mirror image of himself.

Bunny, if you saw my comment on your last ST video, I'd like to add that your commentary is SUPERB. You are thoughtful, insightful, and provide a very neat perspective on this show! Also, and I just realized this...I don't think I've EVER heard you swear on any of these, which is so refreshing (trying to find KZfaqrs who DON'T swear every 5 minutes is....tricky at best). "Balance of Terror" is one of my favorite ST: TOS episodes. It's actually based off of a non-ST movie called "The Enemy Below", and if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend checking it out. Thank you for, and please keep, taking us "Where no Bunny has gone before"! 🖖

The final interaction between Kirk and the Romulan commander was memorable enough to have been spoofed at least a couple of times.

I watched a bit of LoGH in college when I let myself get sucked into anime. Their strategic and tactical space battles are very reminiscent of the ones in Trek, this episode in particular. As someone pointed out, the format of these stories are actually based on submarine battles, where vessels tend to fight comparatively blind, and much of the dramatic tension is built in the same way.

This episode is a very-not-subtle allegory of the 1957 war movie "The Enemy Below," about a US Navy destroyer fighting with a Kreigsmarine U boat. In this version, the Enterprise is the surface ship, and the Warbird is the submarine. (Because the cloaking device makes it hard to find, just like a submarine is to a surface ship, see?) This is my favorite episode of the Original Series.

This is definitely one of the best classic Trek episodes ever produced. It is heavily inspired by the 1957 film, The Enemy Below, a tale of a U.S. Navy Destroyer escort vs. a u-boat of the German Kriegsmarine. It starred Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens. It’s worth a watch! The helmsman of a ship is primarily responsible for steering the ship, i.e., in charge of the helm, the ship’s steering controls (in the case of flying vessels or spacecraft, effectively its pilot) and is a key position on any ship.

This is one of my favorite original Star Trek episodes, and I grew up on the anime you mentioned. One of my favorite shows.

Another great reaction! It's really fun to see how in-depth your analysis of the show is! Looking forward to your next one!

On the NCC-1701 Enterprise the Helmsman controlled the speed and attitude of the ship, as well as the ships weapons and shields system. They had the weapon targeting scope and sat next to the Navigator with the "Astrogator" between them. This role was different in the other series (having all navigation and helm flight control duties in a single combined role). This is an interesting episode as they basically adapted the plot of the submarine film The Enemy Below. This movie has US Destroyer hunting a German U-Boat after they suck a supply convoy through a cat an mouse game alone in the Atlantic. Both captains learn to respect the other. In the end the U-boat commander sets his ship to explode and rams the US Destroyer. The lighting and filming style were altered to seem much more closed in like a naval vessel, and the weapons were altered to function much more like the US depth charges and German torpedoes. And the cloaking device was invented to counter the ships sensors so that it would be like WW2 sonar. Even the ejection of debris and a dead body and his consultation with the ships doctor for moral support were direct plot points from the movie. The director indicated didn't notice the similarities initially, but later he basically indicated its the exact same plot in a different setting. The writers also indicated that they were fans of the film and wanted to make their own version. Nicholas Meyer also indicates this was his inspiration for the fight sequence in The Wrath of Kahn. Mark Lenard was hired as the Romulan commander and was so well admired they later cast him in the role of Spock's father Sarek (which returned in movies and TNG). Also being such an iconic episode it was revisited in the Strange New Worlds series seen from an alternate timeline. Which was a practice started by DS9 staff where the cast somehow are involved in a version of a TOS episode (The other famous trend was having a Mirror universe episode which relates to the TOS episode Mirror Mirror).

Romulans are the distant ancestors of Vulcans. They were opponents of peace/logic and preferred the militant approach to interstellar relations. They left Vulcan in ancient times and eventually formed the Romulan Star Empire. The show creators viewed the Romulans as a futuristic Roman society that strived for war and conquest.

You are so cute when you get flustered, dissecting a show, and interpreting the hidden meanings.

This episode was (inspired) by the 1957 war film The Enemy Below starring Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens. Great film by the way.

Romulans become a major character is the various unsundry series and movies henceforth. If you keep watching, you will learn more about them. This episode derives from destroyer vs uboats battles in Second World War.