48 – A Private Little War

Grade: C

Summary

Kirk, Spock and McCoy are surprised to find out that the peaceful planet that Kirk visited several years earlier have somehow made several technological advances that should have taken hundreds of years. It appears the Klingons are also interested in this planet and have provided weapons to one of the sides in this war.

Commentary

The only reason to watch this episode is to see Nancy Kovak – she’s very memorable, but the rest of the episode is very ordinary, at best. There’s a little bit of decent storytelling about two warring sides being supplied by opposing greater powers. It reminded me in some ways of the wars by proxy that were so common during the Cold War years. But it still isn’t a very good episode anyway. It’s too cheesy in many places – like the big, furry, horned creature that attacks Captain Kirk and Tyree’s wife.

Of Note

Sometimes I wonder how this episode made it past the censors. In fact, NBC threatened not to air it at all, but for some reason they went through with it anyway.