Line #89 Recap/StarTrekS3E7DayOfTheDove


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/day_of_the_dove.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Would you believe this is the BigBad of this episode?]]
3
4	'''Original air date:''' November 1, 1968
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6	Instead of the usual trio, it's Kirk, Chekov, Bones and an unusually long lived RedShirt who beam down to Beta XII-A, a planet of rocks and pink trees, to answer a distress beacon. While Kirk laments the hundreds of men, women, and children who have been murdered (mysteriously, without leaving any bodies or building wreckage) Spock reports a Klingon ship in orbit, apparently in distress. A small group of Klingons, led by Commander Kang (no, not [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons THAT Kang]]) and his wife Mara (the first female Klingon to be aired thus far) beam down and accuses Kirk of attacking his ship and killing his crewmen. Kirk denies doing such a thing and brings up his counter accusation. Chekov accuses the Klingons (again, he calls them "Cossacks") of murdering his heretofore unmentioned brother, Piotr. Kang tortures Chekov and threatens to do more if Kirk does not surrender his ship to the Klingons. Kirk pretends to surrender, but sends a secret signal to Spock that only the ''Enterprise'' crew be beamed aboard, with the Klingon crew kept in stasis until security can handle them. Kang and his crew are detained in the lounge while a mysterious Anti-[[Literature/PeterPan Tinkerbell]] looms nearby.
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8	Tempers flare as IrrationalHatred overrides good sense. Klingons and Federation had always shared an enmity, but now it's getting out of hand! [[WackySoundEffect Boing!]] The chess set, some pool cues and the phasers have all turned into swords! Rather than question this turn of events, everyone decides to start swashing bucklers (yes, it ''is'' that way round).
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10	[[Series/TheOddCouple1970 Can two warring species drive a hate-fueled alien life form from a starship without driving each other crazy?]]
11
12	----
13
14	!!Day of the Tropes:
15
16	* AttemptedRape: Chekov tries to rape Mara, Kang's wife, while under the influence of the alien. Luckily, Kirk arrives and knocks him out before he can get too far.
17	* BattleCouple: Kang and his wife Mara. They serve on the same ship together.
18	* BloodlessCarnage: Though swords are swung about and even hit a few people, we don't see any blood. The energy being is keeping the injured alive so they can fight more, but this still seems a bit odd.
19	* BridalCarry: Kirk does this to Chekov after knocking him unconscious.
20	* CharacterDevelopment: Kirk gets some that sticks. While he remains pissed off at the Klingons, even moreso after his son is killed, he's finally on the side of diplomat now, discarding the good little soldier who follows rules.
21	* ColorMotif: In this episode where the theme is aggression, red lighting is used a lot.
22	* CovertDistressCode: When Kirk calls the ''Enterprise'' and asks for a wide-field beam-up, he presses a button on his communicator that lights up a panel on the big chair. Spock gets the message, and Scotty sees to it that Kirk and his officers materialize first while holding the Klingons in suspension until a security team shows up.
23	* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Intraship beaming (using the transporters to get to another part of the ship). Apparently, the risk of TeleFrag is much higher at extreme close range (though they get this flaw ironed out in about 100 years, where it is explained in supplemental materials as needing extra precision for a moving target).
24	* DissensionRemorse
25	** After an argument on TheBridge nearly leads to an all-out fight.
26	---> '''Kirk:''' ''(to Spock)'' STOP IT, YOU HALF-HUMAN … what am I saying? What are we ''doing'' to each other?
27	** Later, when the main crew realize how the EnergyBeing had manipulated them:
28	--->'''[=McCoy=]''': Gentlemen, if we are pawns, you're looking at one who is extremely sorry.\
29	'''Spock''': I understand, Doctor. I, too, felt a brief surge of racial bigotry. Most distasteful.
30	* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: An alien powerful enough to destroy a Klingon battlecruiser, transmute matter and control the minds of hundreds of beings simultaneously takes control of the Enterprise. How do the humans and Klingons get rid of it? By '''laughing''' at it. Seriously.
31	* EmotionEater: The big glowy entity that feeds off of negative emotions and is turned off by good ones. Kirk manages to get rid of it by laughing with a few Klingons.
32	* EnergyBeing: Again with the Klingons? Again with the EnergyBeing! Kirk and the crew fight these more often than they fight the Klingons!
33	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: {{Invoked}}--in a show of good spirits, everyone laughs together to drive away the EnergyBeing. Kang's hearty slap on Kirk's back seemed a little stronger than need be, though.
34	* EvilVirtues: Kang admires Chekov's loyalty, even as he tortures him.
35	* ExactWords: "I'll beam you aboard the ''Enterprise'' .... once there...no tricks."
36	* FakeMemories: If the being doesn't think the hate is strong enough, it will season it with some unhappy memories (such as Chekov believing he had a brother who was killed in a Klingon attack). It's quite possible that the Federation colonists of Beta XII-A never even existed.
37	* FantasticRacism: The entity deliberately stirs this up as part of its MO. The ''Enterprise'' crew -- who have never liked Klingons, admittedly, but are trained to seek a peaceful solution in preference to conflict -- suddenly begin developing a murderous hatred toward them, viewing them as nothing more than animals. In addition, bigotry begins to emerge ''between'' the crew, with Scotty yelling at Spock to keep his Vulcan hands off him and calling him a "green-blooded half-breed", and Spock replying [[TranquilFury coldly]] that [[{{Understatement}} he has not thoroughly enjoyed serving with humans]]. He later comments that experiencing these feelings was "most distasteful".
38	* ForcedToWatch: Kang threatens to torture Kirk's crew while Kirk watches. Betcha thought he was gonna go for the RedShirt first!
39	* GetOut: Once the humans and Klingons stop fighting, Kirk tells the entity that it's no longer welcome aboard the ''Enterprise''.
40	-->'''Kirk:''' Get off my ship. You're a dead duck here. You're powerless. We know about you, and we don't want to play. Maybe there are others like you around. Maybe you've caused a lot of suffering, a lot of history, but that's all over. We'll be on guard now, ready for you, so ship out! Come on! Haul it!\
41	'''[=McCoy=]:''' Yeah, out already!\
42	''(both men laugh)''\
43	'''Kang:''' Out! We need no urging to hate humans. But for the present, [[ItMakesSenseInContext only a fool fights in a burning house]]. '''OUT!'''\
44	''(everyone laughs uproariously at the entity as it slinks off)''
45	* HatePlague: An Energy Being that feeds on hate brings the Federation and the Klingons, who are trying to abide by the peace treaty, into conflict. It goes as far as implanting FakeMemories so that the manipulated will have an extra source of conflict. An interesting part of this trope in Star Trek is that those who are killed are somehow brought back to life with their fatal wounds healed to fight again. Once they all figure it out the creature is repelled from the ship by laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.
46	* HellIsWar: The being pits the crews of the Enterprise and a Klingon ship against each other, balances the odds by locking most of the ''Enterprise'' crew below decks, gives them primitive weapons to deal the most damage, and heals any wounded. This allows the being to live forever off the crew's hate, as they are locked in battle forever, immortal. Luckily, Kirk figures this out before it happens.
47	* HumansAreBastards: Mara thinks that the Federation has death camps, performs atrocities and will torture the captured Klingons for information.
48	* HungryMenace: Like Redjac from "Wolf In The Fold" fed on fear, this being feeds on hate.
49	* IHaveYourWife: Kirk tries to bluff Kang into thinking that Kirk will kill Mara, Kang's wife. Kang doesn't fall for it.
50	* InfoDrop: Appropriately for a pro-peace episode, this one slips in some sympathetic background info on the Klingon empire. According to Kang and Mara, the empire pursues an expansionist policy because the Klingons' territory is relatively resource-poor.
51	* InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath: The hate feeding entity goads the Klingons and ''Enterprise'' crew into one.
52	* ItsPersonal: The EnergyBeing feels that Chekov's strong dislike of Klingons needs to be seasoned with a personal vendetta. Lt. Johnson bounces back quickly for a RedShirt, but decides the Klingons still have to pay for what they did to him.
53	* JustIgnoreIt: The entity that feeds on hatred is weakened when a truce is made between Federation and Klingon combatants, then driven off when the two sides start laughing at it.
54	* LargeHam: Everyone under the alien's influence--except for [[TheStoic Spock]], who instead has a bout of TranquilFury.
55	* MisdirectedOutburst: The crew's increasingly hostile attitude leads to quite a few of these being exchanged. Eventually they reach the point where Kirk realizes that something is seriously wrong, which leads to figuring out the problem and its solution.
56	* MomentOfWeakness: Invoked but rejected. Spock suggests that the hostile behavior might be a result of stress; Kirk responds that they've been under stress before and it never made them turn on each other.
57	* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Kang's attitude towards the Klingon race.
58	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Kirk has two such moments. One when he calls Spock a "half-human" and one when he beats Chekov senseless.
59	* NoSuchThingAsHR: Bones' and Spock's [[VitriolicBestBuds good-natured bickering]] becomes overheated in this episode.
60	* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: Kirk tells the entity that it may as well leave because no one on this ship was going to feed it.
61	* NoConservationOfEnergy: The EmotionEater is able to transmute metal into phaser-proof alloys, transform said phasers into swords, propel the ''Enterprise'' to Warp Nine and hold her together at that speed - all on the emotional energy of a handful of combatants. That's some powerful hate there.
62	* NotWhatItLooksLike: Kang sees Mara's torn tunic and growls "I see why the human beast did not kill you," implying that he thinks she was raped. Mara insists that Kirk didn't harm her and is telling the truth about the situation.
63	* PoweringVillainRealization: An entity that feeds on hate and violence invades the Enterprise, setting Kirk and Klingon Captain Kang and their crews against each other. Realizing that they're being manipulated, Kirk and Kang refuse to fight each other, Kang even giving Kirk a good-natured (for a Klingon) slap on the back that almost has the Captain reeling, but they manage to drive out the entity by refusing to feed it with their hatred.
64	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: So many out-of-character freak outs! All courtesy of the alien, of course.
65	** Chekov has expressed a strong dislike of Klingons, calling them "Cossacks" in "The Trouble With Tribbles", yet Scotty was able to talk him down (until he threw some punches himself.) Here, even Kirk has trouble holding back the enraged ensign.
66	** Kirk himself slams his HeterosexualLifePartner for being a HalfHumanHybrid.
67	** Uhura is usually serene, showing only mild concern when things go wrong with communications. Her hysterical freak out is combined with a wild accusation at the Klingons.
68	** [[TheMcCoy Bones]] is known for the occasional emotional outburst, but his militant demand for the death of the Klingons is bit much.
69	** Scotty all-out accuses Kirk of jeopardizing TheFederation for not letting the Klingons die in the first place. He also calls Spock a "green-blooded half-breed" and a "freak".
70	** [[TranquilFury Spock says in a dry monotone that he has never much enjoyed working with humans, which is a screaming rage by Spock standards.]]
71	** Averted with [[NiceGuy Sulu]], who is apparently the only one who's never affected by the energy being.
72	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Kirk tells Kang, "Go to the Devil!" (Couldn't say "Go to Hell" on TV in the 60's.) Kang replies, "We [Klingons] have no Devil... but we are very familiar with the habits of yours." Cue use of torture. In [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration later]] [[Series/StarTrekVoyager series]], it would be revealed that Klingon mythology does have a character called Fek'lhr who is much like the Judaic version of Satan, i.e., [[PunchClockVillain not necessarily evil,]] [[EverybodyHatesHades just having an unpleasant responsibility.]] Klingons ''very much'' have an equivalent of Hell, known as Gre'thor, of which Fek'lhr is the guardian. It's eventually clarified that Fek'lhr brings the souls of the dishonored to Gre'thor, and is absolutely not a corrupter like the human concepts of Satan - it would make him more like a combination of Charon and Cerberus. So while "go to the Devil" means nothing to a Klingon, "go to Fek'lhr" would've been a grave insult indeed.
73	* ParentheticalSwearing: Scotty says the line "Keep your Vulcan hands off me!" with a ''very'' specific emphasis on the word 'Vulcan'.
74	* RapeDiscretionShot: Chekov tearing Mara's clothes isn't actually shown, just heard. Even so, the obviousness of his intentions is pretty shocking for the time period.
75	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Chekov decides killing's too good for Mara. Luckily, Kirk steps in just in time.
76	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Scotty, of all people gives Spock a '''BLISTERING''' one. But he isn't himself.
77	** Kirk, Bones, and Kang serve the sadistic entity a really nasty one, each telling it to GetOut, and underscored with very hearty laughter by ''Enterprise'' and Klingon crews.
78	* RedShirt: Johnson takes a sword to the chest. If not for the alien, he'd be dead.
79	* RedShirtArmy: The only ''actual'' casualties are the majority of Kang's crew, killed by the alien. ''Assuming that they even existed...''
80	* ResurrectionRevenge: A RedShirt is resurrected by an EnergyBeing because it wanted him alive to be angry with and fight the Klingons.
81	* RivalsTeamUp: Kirk has to convince the Klingons who are trying to take over the ship to work together against an alien presence who is feeding off of their emotions.
82	* SeeYouInHell: Couldn't say that on TV in the 60's. Had to stick with "Go to the Devil."
83	* SheatheYourSword: The only way to win against the alien entity is to throw down their swords and refuse to fight.
84	* SmackOnTheBack: At the end of the episode where the characters are laughing together to drive out the alien, Kang slaps Captain Kirk on the back so hard that [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength he's staggered]].
85	* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Kirk uses it to capture Mara and keep her docile. Apparently even a Klingon woman can be completely incapacitated just by holding her arm.
86	* StockFootage:
87	** Footage of the Klingon ship is reused from "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E13ElaanOfTroyius}} Elaan of Troyius]]" which originally aired after this episode.
88	** The footage of engineering, with the hovering entity, was recycled from "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E9TheTholianWeb}} The Tholian Web]]", which featured a floating Kirk in place of the entity.
89	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Like Koloth in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles}} The Trouble with Tribbles]]", Kang was made as one for Kor from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E26ErrandOfMercy Errand of Mercy]]", because Creator/JohnColicos was unavailable yet again. Twenty-six years later, all three of them would appear together in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E19BloodOath "Blood Oath"]].
90	* TalkToTheFist: The first thing that Kang does when he beams down to the alien planet is punch Kirk. Once they're on the ''Enterprise'', Kirk returns the favor.
91	-->'''Kirk:''' And before I put you in the brig, there's a little something I owe you. ''(punches Kang)''
92	* UnwittingPawn:
93	** Spock concludes that this is what the ''Enterprise'' crew and the Klingons have become to the EnergyBeing.
94	** Kirk specifically calls Kang a pawn in the final sequence, trying to convince him to throw down his weapon and end the fighting.
95	* TheXOfY: The method used to name this episode.
96	* WhamLine: When Kirk explains to Sulu that Chekhov’s apparent hatred of Klingons stems from the death of his brother Pyotr, Sulu informs Kirk that Chekhov is an only child. This is one of the earliest signs Kirk notices that something unusual is happening.
97	-->'''Sulu:''' What's Chekov's grudge against the Klingons? Who's Pyotr?\
98	'''Kirk:''' His only brother, killed in a Klingon raid.\
99	'''Sulu:''' His ''brother''? He never had a brother. He's an only child.
100	* WorthyOpponent: Kang.
101	* YouFool: Kirk has just explained to the Klingon captain Kang that the Enterprise is under the control of a creature that feeds on hate and wants the Klingons and humans to fight for its entertainment for the rest of eternity. Kang decides to fight Kirk anyway, at which point his wife Mara exclaims "You fool!". Later, Kang himself admits "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
102	* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Brother]]: Chekov is so pissed at the Klingons because they killed his brother Pyotr -- except, as Sulu points out, he's an only child.
103	-->'''Uhura:''' Captain, why would, why would Chekov believe he has a brother?\
104	'''Kirk:''' I don't know, but he does. And now he wants revenge for a non-existent loss.
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Context Recap / StarTrekS3E7DayOfTheDove