History Recap / StarTrekS1E10TheCorbomiteManeuver

[[caption-width-right:299:You know. '''''That''''' face.]]

* AssPull: [[invoked]] An example of the "Character Made It Up On The Spot". It worked so well, he pulls it out again for some Romulans in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E12TheDeadlyYears}} The Deadly Years]]".

* ShirtlessScene: Kirk removes his shirt for a physical exam. Guess they decided it was more dignified than a butt-baring hospital gown.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment[=/=]ThrowItIn: The script directed Spock to emote a fearful reaction upon his first sight of the Balok puppet, but director Joseph Sargent suggested to Leonard Nimoy that he simply ignore what the script called for, to see it as an object of curiosity rather than a threat, and react with [[CatchPhrase the single word: "Fascinating."]]

* AssPull: [[invoked]] An example of the "Character Made It Up On The Spot" It worked so well, he pulls it out again for some Romulans in "The Deadly Years".

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfMass: The ''Enterprise'' encounters a mysterious cube, which Sulu says is 107 metres on each side and masses just under 11,000 metric tonnes. Scotty says it must be solid metal, leaving him wondering how it could be powered and how it moves around. But the quoted measurements give a density of about 9 kilograms per cubic metre, significantly less than Styrofoam -- implying the cube is almost certainly hollow (they may have been aiming for 9 tonnes per cubic metre, which is between the densities of iron and lead, and dropped a factor of a thousand somewhere).

* HeroicBSOD: Bailey has a disturbing tendency to [[Literature/WatershipDown tharn out]] in times of stress. He might think about a transport ship. There's a lot less pressure there. Staying on the ''Fesarius'' works too.

** Sargent was also the one who insisted the bridge crew ''must'' include black personnel. The episodes weren't filmed in the order you see them, so Uhura appears in "earlier" episodes, but this is where Joe d'Agosta brought in Nichelle Nicols and the rest is history.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Balck has the appearance of a human child. When he communicates with other ships via the view screen, he uses an intimidating puppet. Notably, Balok's method was more like [[Film/TheWizardOfOz another noted man behind the curtain]] than it was Jekyll and Hyde.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment[=/=]ThrowItIn: The script directed Spock to emote a fearful reaction upon his first sight of the Balok puppet, but director Joseph Sargent suggested to Leonard Nimoy that he ignore what the script called for and instead simply react with [[CatchPhrase the single word: "Fascinating."]]

* JekyllAndHyde: Balok name checks the famous duo that's really an uno. However, it seems more of a disguise than a true split personality. And the method Balok used had much more in common with ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.

** Inverted - Kirk claims that Bones always says "a little suffering is good for the soul". Bones flatly denies it, and he never finds occasion to say it or anything similar in any subsequent episode or movie. (This is given a ContinuityNod in [[Film/StarTrek the reboot film]], where Bones ''does'' say it - of course, that's a different Bones.)

* MagicCountdown: A fairly subtle example. During the ten-minute countdown to the Enterprise's destruction, the minutes that pass on screen are nearer a minute and a half long.

* PrepareToDie: The ''Enterprise'' is confronted by a powerful alien vessel that announces its intention to destroy our heroes, and goes on to say — "we assume you have a deity... or deities," and politely offers to give the Enterprise crew time to make "whatever preparations" they deem necessary. An unusually explicit example of this trope, where the opponent says "prepare to die" and clearly ''actually means it''. And they're all the scarier for that.

** At one point the editors forgot to dub in Balok's reminder - leading to Sulu's cryptic "I knew he would" line (which actually gets cut in syndication).

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfMass: The ''Enterprise'' encounters a mysterious cube, which Sulu says is 107 metres on each side and masses just under 11,000 metric tonnes. Scotty says it must be solid metal, leaving him wondering how it could be powered and how it moves around. But the quoted measurements give a density of about 9 kilograms per cubic metre, significantly less than Styrofoam - implying the cube is almost certainly hollow (they may have been aiming for 9 tonnes per cubic metre, which is between the densities of iron and lead, and dropped a factor of a thousand somewhere).
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The Enterprise is 289m long, yet it dwarfs the 107m cube. The Fesarius is a mile in diameter (1609m) according to Spock, yet it dwarfs the Enterprise from 5km away, appearing a hundred times bigger.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: After the Enterprise breaks free of Balok's TractorBeam, Balok sends out a distress signal indicating that the struggle overloaded his ship's systems and he's now stranded far from any help his own people might send. Kirk decides to beam over and offer the Enterprise's assistance, whereupon it turns out that Balok's ship is fine and he just wanted to learn what Kirk would do. (He also says that the entire encounter has been a test of character, to make sure that the Enterprise's protestations of peaceful intent are genuine. It's not clear, however, what would have happened if the destruction countdown had run down without Kirk thinking up the corbomite maneuver.)
* SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes: The cube initially stops over 1500 metres from the Enterprise, although on-screen they appear nose to nose with each other. Later the cube gets closer than 51 metres before phasers destroy it. (That's closer than half the cube's size.)

* TalkingToThemself: Bones is quite alone when he says "Humph...if I jumped every time a light flashed around here, I'd end up talking to myself."

* TractorBeam: Balok's ship is equipped with one which he imprisons the Enterprise with.

** At one point the editors forgot to dub in Balok's reminder - leading to Sulu's cryptic, "I knew he would" line (which actually gets cut in syndication).

* IResembleThatRemark: Kirk berates [=McCoy=] for not telling him about an alert. After the former leaves the latter alone, [=McCoy=] says "If I jumped every time a light came on around here, I'd end up talking to myself."

** Spock yells rather emotionally.
* EldritchStarship: Balok's starship ''Fesarius'' was a gigantic starship the size of a small moon, composed of a sphere made up of smaller spheres of various sizes and colors. At least one part of this ship could break off as a smaller command vessel. It's possible that the ship was composed entirely of smaller vessels to the aforementioned one, clustered together and sharing power.

** A random crewman wears a life jacket. On a spaceship.

* VocalDissonance: Balok is played by a very young Clint Howard, but with Vic Perrin's (some sources say Walker Edminton's) voice. Ted Cassidy voiced Balok's puppet.

* RedShirt: [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/8/81/Engineer_corridor_corbomite_maneuver.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110529113251&path-prefix=en He was a Red Shirt on TOS]]... and lived. He is: TheMostInterestingManInTheWorld.

Just when everything looks peachy keen, the ''Enterprise'' is caught in the tractor beam of what looks like a cross between the [[DisneyThemeParks EPCOT's Spaceship Earth]] and a popcorn ball. The message identifies the sphere as the ''Fesarius'', the flagship of the First Federation, and the speaker as her commanding officer, Balok. Balok announces that the crew of the ''Enterprise'' has exactly ten minutes to bend over and kiss their collective asses good-bye. If only Kirk can come up with a cunning plan....

* JekyllAndHyde: Balok name checks the famous duo that's really an uno. However, it seems more of a disguise than a true split personality. And the method Balok used had much more in common with ''TheWizardOfOz''.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Balock has the appearance of a human child. When he communicates with other ships via the view screen, he uses an intimidating puppet. Notably, Balok's method was more like [[WizardOfOz another noted man behind the curtain]] than it was Jekyll and Hyde.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: There's a great character moment when Kirk berates Spock for his apparent acceptance of defeat: Spock almost says, "I'm, sorry", before catching himself and reporting that he sees no logical alternative.

* BigLittleMan: The ''Enterprise'' encounters a alien vessel, and is able to get a video feed revealing the bridge, which shows the alien captain, Balok, to be a scowling monster that looks to be about 7 feet tall. However, later they manage to get on board, revealing they had actually been watching an elaborate puppet show, and the real Balok is no larger than a child.