Writer: Gene L. Coon
Director: John Newland
Producer: Gene L. Coon
Famously, this episode introduces the Klingons to the franchise. While the Romulans had earlier this season supplied an excellent cold war allegory villain, Gene Coon created the Klingons to fill much the same role because the Romulan's pointed ears and fancy helmets made for expensive make-up, whereas the Klingons' simple Genghis Khan look was much easier to mass replicate on a regular basis. Which is hilarious given the extreme make-up makeover the Klingons received later in the franchise.
In this episode, they're introduced as basically already being the Federation's major enemy -- there's a disputed area between the two territories that the Klingons and Federation are both willing to go to war to protect. The Enterprise is ordered to the planet Organia, as it lies in a strategic position, and defend it from Klingon takeover. Kirk and Spock beam down, and try to convince the Organians to accept their help and defense. The Organians smile placidly, utterly unconcerned. They're of course a simple almost medieval level humanoid culture, enabling the show to use old leftover sets and costumes.
But then the Klingons declare war, the ship has to warp out of orbit, leaving Kirk and Spock to watch as the Klingons easily invade and take over Organia, as the inhabitants offer no resistance. Their mission a failure, Kirk and Spock are forced to engage in clandestine sabotage ("sabatage") operations against the Klingons, while the Organians continue to stand by, repeating that they cannot stand violence of any kind.
The Klingon occupation force is led by Kor, played by John Colicos. Kor is Trek's best villain since Khan, and it's a shame that he never again appeared on the show (though future appearances were planned, scheduling with Colicos never worked out). Kor and Kirk are depicted as having a grudging respect for each other -- despite Kor seeming to be a dastardly villain and Kirk a dashing hero, the episode makes it clear that they are in many ways two sides of the same coin.
Eventually, the Organians reveal that they are in fact all powerful beings of pure energy, and that the appearance of their world and culture merely a contrivance for the sake of "lesser beings". They've evolved beyond violence and are disgusted at Kirk and Kor's attempts to kill each other. They intervene in the Federation/Klingon war and impose a peace on the two sides under punishment of Organian reprisal, thus setting up the cold war status between the two for the rest of the series. Kirk and Kor protest this interference in their affairs, to which the Organians ask Kirk if he's defending the right to make war and kill billions of people. That shuts him up.
"Errand of Mercy" sets up the Klingons well for their role on the Original Series, which is to say as vaguely dictatorial, warmongering, antagonistic villains to compete against in a US/USSR fashion, and this contrasts quite a bit if you're only familiar with their later franchise era "honourable warrior" portrayal, although the Organians do a bit of franchise future telling when they predict that in a hundred years the Federation and Klingons will be great allies.
The episode's anti-war stance and comment on the absurdity of the Cold War conflict fit in well with the Gene Coon era of Trek, and the characterizations for Kirk and Kor are great. Like "A Taste of Armageddon", this episode benefits greatly from Kirk's "defend peace through force" bold attitude. Unfortunately the episode spends a lot of time spinning its wheels, with Kirk and Kor trying to achieve their ends while the Organians sit by placidly repeating they won't allow violence and the other characters incredulous at their attitude. Like "Devil in the Dark", there's a problem with the audience figuring out the "twist" long before the characters do, but I'm unsure if that's a problem with fifty years of added genre awareness coming in to watching this. Also it feels like "more highly evolved beings lecturing mankind against its warmaking" feels like a well Star Trek has gone to a lot, even by this point.
Rating: 3 out of 4
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