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| The Corbomite Maneuver |
| Production Number |
03 |
| Air Date (US) |
1966-11-10 |
| Season |
1 |
| DVD Disc No. |
3 |
| Rating |
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Cast:
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
Guest Cast:
Clint Howard as Balok
Anthony Call as Lt. Dave Bailey
Ted Cassidy as Balok Puppet
Eddie Paskey as Lt. Leslie
Frank da Vinci as Brent
Ron Veto as Harrison (Technician)
Sean Morgan as Harper
Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand
Creative Staff:
Director: Joseph Sargent
Written By: Jerry Sohl
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| Description |
While exploring an uncharted region of space, the U.S.S. Enterprise comes upon an alien space buoy which is cube-shaped and spins, warning ships away and blocking the starship's path. Kirk's orders the phasers to destroy the buoy but immediately an alien's ship, the I.S.S. Fesarius, shaped like a large, glowing crystal traps the starship.
A ghostly, almost skeletal face appears on the viewscreen, identifying itself as Balok. He tells Kirk that the U.S.S. Enterprise has trespassed and committed hostile actions, and therefore, must be destroyed. Employing a trick from the Earth game of poker, Kirk tries a desperate bluff by convincing Balok that if the Enterprise is fired upon, the corbomite in the starship's hull will self-destruct and destroy both ships.
Believing Kirk, the Fesarius instead takes the starship in tow, but Kirk wrenches his ship away so suddenly and with such force that Balok's ship is apparently disabled. When the Fesarius transmits a distress call, Kirk, McCoy and Lieutenant David Bailey, still nervous about the bluff played against the powerful alien, beam aboard the Fesarius.
They find that the Fesarius is manned by only one entity, a friendly, child-like being who projects the 'Balok' image to potential enemies, knowing his own stature would be far less daunting. They also find that Balok's ship has not been damaged, but that the alien was merely testing the U.S.S. Enterprise crew to see if they were as peaceful as they claimed to be. A kind of diplomatic relationship is formed over drinks of tranya, and Lt. Bailey offers to remain with Balok as a sort of exchange student to learn the alien's ways and teach him about the Federation.
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| Trivia |
Clint Howard (the "baby Balok) later starred in Rock 'N' Roll High School and is the younger brother of actor-director Ron Howard.
The voice of the "baby" Balok was provided by Vic Perrin, the "control" voice of TV's The Outer Limits. The voice of the Balok puppet was supplied by actor Ted Cassidy, best remembered as Lurch from The Addams Family TV series. The technical crew is rumoured to have created the flagship Fesarius with Ping Pong balls. |
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