YMMV / Star Trek S1 E26 "Errand of Mercy"

• Fair for Its Day:
  • At the time, depicting "The Enemy" as an actual person and with so much in common with the hero Kirk (and played by the charming John Colicos no less!) was still rare on television — in fact, some newspaper columnists attacked the episode for its "unpatriotic" humanization of "the enemy" and for its depiction of Kirk as wrong for his initial Cold War assumptions.
  • Similarly, the depiction of someone who is not caucasian as no less competent than our heroes was still rare (and even remarked upon favorably by some civil rights advocates at the time) and one more science fiction effort to smuggle some anti-racist sentiment onto popular television at the time, however awkwardly.
• Fan Nickname: The episode is popularly known as "The Vietnam Story", for its obvious allusions to Vietnam and its abuse by the colonial powers.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: The Organians speculate that someday, the Federation and Klingons will become allies. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, we see this indeed came true, and how it happened is explored in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. According to Star Trek: Enterprise, by the time of the 26th Century, the Klingon Empire will officially join as a member of the United Federation of Planets.
• Ho Yay: As usual, between Kirk and Spock. When Spock, posing as an ordinary Vulcan merchant, is taken by the klingons for Mind - Sifter assisted interrogation Kirk nearly blows his own cover by trying to stop them. Later scenes have even the Klingon commander noticing the connection, since he knows exactly who to threaten when questioning Kirk.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • One of the Organian villagers in the background is leading what is clearly a goat painted with green and purple patches through the village square.
  • If you watch the bottom edge of your screen when Kirk is thrown into the holding cell, you can see the edge of the mat "floor" moving around as he shifts his body weight.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Before the big reveal, the Organians are this. While their desire for peace is noble, they are such obstinate pains in the ass about it (especially refusing to explain anything about themselves until the climax) that even Kirk tires of them after a while.

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