History Recap / StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror

** Scotty states that the Romulans' "power is simple impulse." This caused many people (including the writers of the ''Star Trek Encyclopedia'') to assume that the Romulans only had impulse engines and not warp Drive. However, considering it would take decades for the Romulans to travel space without [[{{FTL}} faster-than-light]] travel, it would be nearly impossible to fight an interstellar war. Eventually, this was retconned by clearly showing that the Romulans have warp capabilities in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. Although ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' DID establish that Romulan vessels were powered by artificial singularities as opposed to a warp core familiar to Starfleet. One of the EU novels, set in Captain April's era, explains this by having Birds of Prey capable only of sublight be deployed to their duty sectors by a warp-capable mothership. Impulse engines on Starfleet vessels are powered by fusion reactors. Knowing this and that a fusion-powered ship would have much shorter range than an antimatter-powered one, just like the Bird of Prey, it's probable that Romulan ships of the era were powered by fusion reactors and that Scott just meant that, and that artificial singularities (that would ensure pretty much unlimited range) were still to be developed.

* AlasPoorVillain: The Romulan Commander makes it obvious to his crew that he isn't looking forward to the war with the Federation that a successful mission will bring, but he considers himself bound by his duty. When directly confronting Kirk he says they are "one of a kind" and that he may have called Kirk a friend "in an alternate reality".

* WeaponRunningTime: The Romulans' plasma bolt travels faster than the '"Enterprise'' can at warp (at least while the ''Enterprise'' is going in reverse), but has a limited range. This gives the fleeing ''Enterprise'' enough time to reach a distance at which the bolt is significantly weakened before it hits. It's the only reason the ''Enterprise'' survives; a full-power hit at short range would certainly have destroyed the ship.

* WeaponRunningTime: The Romulans' plasma bolt travels at sublight speed and has a limited range. This gives the fleeing ''Enterprise'' enough time to reach a distance at which the bolt is significantly weakened. It's the only reason the ''Enterprise'' survives; a full-power hit would certainly have destroyed the ship.

* AlasPoorVillain: The Romulan Commander was a sympathetic villain who is acknowledged as being no different from Kirk. So his death is a sad moment.

* BloodKnight: Decius.

* JerkassHasAPoint:Both Sulu and Spock admit that some of Stiles's jerkass statements are valid. First, Sulu agrees with Stiles that due to them not knowing what Romulans look like, there could be spies onboard ship, so it is reasonable to restrict people’s movements. The second instance is when Stiles advocates launching an attack on the Romulan ship, and Spock agrees - reasoning that if Romulans are Vulcanoids, they will have the same bellicosity that Vulcans once had, and therefore "weakness is something we dare not show."

'''McCoy:''' War is never imperative, Mister Spock.\\

* WidowedAtTheWedding: Poor Angela Martine loses her future groom Lt. Tomlinson when he dies as the Romulans attack the ship.

-->'''Spock:''' It is for them, Doctor. Vulcan, like Earth, had its aggressive, colonizing period - savage, even by Earth standards - and if the Romulans retain this martial philosophy, then weakness is something we dare not show.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: "Just one more duty to perform..." Cue the Romulan Commander flipping one final switch which causes his ship to explode while he remains, wanting to avoid getting arrested by Kirk's crew.

* WidowedAtTheWedding: Poor Angela Martine.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: "Just one more duty to perform..."