Episode Review - Day of the Dove (Original Series, Season 3)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here.

Overview – The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from a colony located at Beta XII-A. Upon arriving at the planet, they find no evidence of a colony ever existing. To compound the issue, a Klingon ship soon arrives, also responding to a distress call and heavily damaged. Kang, the Klingon commander, captures Kirk and his party, during which Chekov reveals an intense hatred towards Klingons for the death of his brother, Piotr. Upon returning to the Enterprise, the Klingons are captured, and the survivors of their ship beamed aboard. Soon the Klingons attempt to take control of the ship, and mysterious circumstances leave an equal number of Starfleet and Klingon officers on the ship. Bladed weapons such as swords appear and soon the two crews find themselves in a bloody conflict. As they fight each other with neither side able to gain the advantage, a strange ball of energy seems to be the root cause, feeding off the negative emotions from the two groups.

Score: 8/10 – A strong episode that introduces the character of Kang, one of the more popular Klingons from the original series that will appear in future episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. He is portrayed by Michael Ansara, a brilliant actor who embraces this role with great energy. The story has action, humor, and suspense and delivers all of them in a well paced manner. It lives out the dreams of many of us who like the man-to-man conflict scenario of having equal numbers of soldiers fighting hand-to-hand. The energy entity behind all this is a clever special effect that feeds on strong, negative emotions such as hatred. There is a lot of good stuff in this episode that I will cover throughout the review but suffice it to say that this is a classic episode for a lot of reasons. I did find the ending to be a bit lacking in its delivery, but overall this is a memorable and entertaining episode.

Relevance – 2 points. Scoring a point for the introduction of Kang, one of Star Trek’s most popular Klingons from the Original series. He is a formidable adversary for Kirk, and it appears from their dialogue at the beginning of the episode that the two are already familiar with each other. It would have been interesting to have explored that backstory. I am scoring a second point for the mention of the Klingon-Federation peace treaty. I am not certain if it is referring to the Klingon war that was shown in the first season of “Discovery” or the Organian-imposed peace treaty, but there have been more than a few peace treaties between the two forces.

Continuity - 3 points. Everything checks out in this category. Story-wise the plot makes sense and follows a simple yet well-executed plan. Universe continuity works. Once again, Kirk has trouble with some pesky energy-beings that he has to find a way to outsmart. Finally, the character continuity is good. Some may argue that Chekov seeking revenge for a fallen imaginary brother violates it, but it is established that he had been manipulated by the entity and was given false memories. It is also significant to note that much of the crew’s abnormal behavior is due to the alien influence, most notably McCoy’s thirst for violence. We even see flashes of bigotry from Kirk and Spock due to the alien’s influence. While their outbursts are deemed unusual, what is fitting to their character is how the respond when they come to the realization as to why they are behaving in this way.

Character Development – 2 points. Kirk naturally gets a great deal of attention as the captain of his crew. It is he, as well as Spock, that figures out what is really going on. We see him exercise compassion and daring trust to achieve a solution that will save both crews. He makes one of the strongest pleas for peace while at the same time readies his troops for combat. I also liked how Scotty was given a few shining moments and glimpses into his psyche. He seems to appreciate good quality swords as he is drawn to a Scottish claymore in the armory and uses it as his main weapon.

Social Commentary – 3 points. The seemingly never-ending parade of violence in much of our media is addressed here. I cannot help but wonder if the energy alien cannot be a representation of ourselves at times. We love violence. We crave it in some cases. We cannot seem to get enough of it from our choices in entertainment. We create stories that revolve around it, and like the alien we sit back and soak it all in. While Kang and Kirk have every reason to distrust and dislike each other, they eventually come to the conclusion that their petty differences need be tempered, or they will face a mutual destruction. Peace is the best solution, something that even the war-loving Klingons understand.

Cool Stuff – 3 points. The special effect for the alien is cool for its time, and while it may not have aged as well as other effects, it still manages to look cool and is effective in its use. I also like the character of Kang, finding him on par with the likes of Khan as a powerful adversary. He is cunning and wise. He knows when to call a truce and he knows when to fight. Much of the effectiveness of this character lies with the fine job that Anasara did in his acting, and it is nice to know that we will see Kang again in the future. I also have to score a point for the sword fight sequences. Yes, it is evident that these sequences were from the 60s and lack the finesse that we have become accustomed to in today’s world, but it is still an effective battle sequence that is fun to watch.

Rank – Admiral (21 points). An excellent episode that delivers likely the most action from the series. It delivers on all levels and gives us the legendary Kang, a formidable opponent for Kirk. We are taught the value of peace and get to see yet another cool energy alien. What more could one ask for in an episode?

If you would like to read other reviews from the Original Series, click on the link here.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.