It's already December 2013 and this
will probably be my first and last post of the year. I won't go into
detail explaining why I haven't written at all this year but suffice
it to say that real life suddenly intruded at the end of 2012 and
during much of 2013.
And that's all I have to say about
that.
Now, onto Errand of Mercy.
My opinion of Errand of Mercy has
evolved over the years.
Initially, I loved this episode. It
was the episode that introduced the Klingons to Star Trek fans and
they're here, as they were initially conceptualized, in all their
greasy cruelty and sneakiness. No politically correct, retconned,
Samurai warriors/Sioux braves in alien makeup these, the Klingons in
Errand of Mercy are a far cry from what they eventually evolved into
in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
However, what caused my opinion of this
episode to change is that, once again, we are subjected to yet
another Star Trek: The Original Series episode which employs a Deus ex machina, this time in the form of the highly evolved Organians, to
tie together all the narrative threads at the finale. The role of
the Organians as objective observers of and commentators on the
behavior of the Federation and the Klingon Empire is about as subtle
as a sledge hammer; from the point of view of exposition, was it
really necessary to have a Greek, or in this case Organian, chorus
point out that in its propensity to view war as an option that it
doesn't necessarily shy away from, the Federation isn't all that
different from the Klingon Empire, especially since Spock, who
usually fills the role of the "outsider looking in" in the
regular cast of Star Trek: TheOriginal Series, points this out himself at the very beginning of the
episode?
Curious
how often you Humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.
From a narrative standpoint, the interference of the Organians also
provides the Klingons with the opportunity to give their side of the
story explaining how relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire had deteriorated to the point where war seemed to be
inevitable, a juxtaposition of viewpoints which is solely needed
given that the story, up until the exposure of the Organians, had
been told entirely from the Federation's point of view.
Kirk
and Spock, incarcerated in a highly unusual prison: The exit is in
the background – so what function is served by the bars in the
foreground?
There's a lot to like about Errand of Mercy; the Klingons are an interesting addition to the rogues gallery of Star Trek villains, the story of Kirk and Spock's guerilla
war campaign against the Klingon occupation of Organia is compelling
and the frustration felt by Kirk and Kor, his Klingon counterpart, at
the sheeplike apathy of the Organians living under the cruel yoke of
Klingon rule provides some humor while further illustrating that the
Federation and the Klingons are not as different as they would like
to believe but the reliance on Deus ex machina as a narrative device
just strikes me as being unsatisfactory not to mention lazy. And
it's not as if the writers are unaware of the effect the Organians
have on the narrative. Kirk himself comments, at the episode's
conclusion:
Oh, no, no, no, Mr.
Spock, we didn't beat the odds; we didn't have a chance. The
Organians raided the game.
This
almost smacks of apologia for the way the episode plays out; not with
a bang, but with a rather disappointing whimper, especially given the
potential of the Klingons to serve as a catalyst for that narrative
bang. Had the ultimate goal of this episode been to knock the
Federation down a peg from its position as the paragon of virtue in
the Star Trek universe by pointing out the similarities in its
policies and those of the Klingon Empire (and, via allegory, convey
the same message about the Western and Eastern blocs circa 1967), a
less clunky narrative device than the overused Deus ex machina would
have been preferred by this viewer.
