YMMV / Star Trek S1 E23 "A Taste of Armageddon"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Some fans find the implication that Starfleet has a general order specifically pertaining to the destruction of all civilized life on an entire planet to be so antithetical to the message of Star Trek that they prefer to believe that it was some Corbomite-style bluff that Kirk and Scotty had worked out between them at some point, and happened to fit quite well to this situation. On the other hand, there could be good, valid reasons for Exterminatus... say, an incredibly virulent plague consuming a world, and sterilizing it is the only way to keep it from spreading to other worlds (assuming it hasn't spread already), or another existential threat to the Federation that could be stopped by sacrificing this one planet. (This very issue came up a few episodes later in "Operation: Annihilate!", before Kirk found a way to Take a Third Option.) Depending on the Writer, Starfleet and the Federation can veer drunkenly between Crazy-Prepared and Lawful Stupid.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The message about the dehumanizing effects of computerized warfare was haunting enough in 1967, when the computer was still in its infancy. Today, with things like UAVs and computer-guided missiles becoming indispensable parts of modern warfare, it hits harder than ever.
• Older Than They Think: Starfleet having an order that would wipe out a whole planet, and Kirk using it to his advantage, long before later shows will talk about the Federation's more military aspects. According to David Gerrold, the Gene Coon era especially wanted to be more critical of Roddenberry's imperial creation.
• Values Resonance:
  • One of the most chillingly successful cases of it in the show's history, as it can be a bit hard to believe this wasn't made as a direct criticism of both The War on Terror and its use of drone warfare. According to screenwriter David Gerrold, the computer tallies of war dead in this episode was a statement about Vietnam War deaths that began to be registered on nightly newscasts in 1967 and the sterility of it in America, when the war itself was thousands of miles away and regular citizens had no interaction with it.
  • The episode also drew a Shout-Out from an NPR commentator, who compared the then-ongoing 2018-2019 US government shutdown to the episode: to wit, that the administration and Congress were doing its darndest to minimize inconvenience for its upper echelon and the general public, while meanwhile hundreds of thousands of government employees were stuck without pay over Christmas.

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