| "Day of the Dove" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 3 Episode 7 | ||
| Directed by | Marvin J. Chomsky | ||
| Written by | Jerome Bixby | ||
| Featured music | Fred Steiner | ||
| Cinematography by | Al Francis | ||
| Production code | 066 | ||
| Original air date | November 1, 1968 (1968-11-1) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Star Trek: The Original Seriesseason 3 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Day of the Dove" is the seventh episode of thethird season of the Americanscience fiction television seriesStar Trek. Written byJerome Bixby and directed byMarvin Chomsky, it was first broadcast November 1, 1968.
In the episode, an alien forces the crew of theEnterprise into a brutal conflict with theKlingons.
TheFederationstarshipEnterprise responds to a distress call from a human colony, but on arrival finds no signs of any type of inhabited settlement. A landing party, including CaptainKirk and EnsignChekov, beams down to investigate further. A few moments later, they are found and surrounded by Klingons who have transported to the surface from their own orbiting vessel. CommanderKang accuses theEnterprise crew of firing upon their vessel and demands that they surrender immediately. Suddenly, Chekov makes a move to attack the Klingons, claiming they had killed his brother. Kang's men subdue him and use an agonizer device to torture him, forcing Kirk to agree to surrender. However, upon contacting the ship and asking to be beamed up, Kirk secretly warns First OfficerSpock about the Klingons. Spock uses thetransporter to materialize theEnterprise crewmen first, followed by the Klingons, who are overpowered byEnterprise security personnel. Kang surrenders and he and the other Klingons, including his wife Mara, a science officer, are escorted to secure quarters on the ship.
Meanwhile, a glowingentity composed of pure energy, which had initially emerged on the planet below, enters theEnterprise undetected and interfaces with its controls. The ship lurches intowarp at maximum speed headed for the edge of the galaxy. With the crew panicked, the entity then traps 392 members of theEnterprise's crew belowdecks by closing bulkheads and making them impenetrable. The 38 remaining members of the crew are equal in numbers to the Klingons. With tempers high – and spurred on by the sudden materialization of swords and other antique hand weapons – they begin to fight.
Spock soon detects the entity, apparently feeding off the violence. When informed by Lt.Sulu that Chekov never had a brother and is an only child, Kirk realizes that the entity is capable of implanting false memories in order to trigger aggression. Kirk and Spock try to calm the crew's escalating furor to no avail. Kirk believes that if he can get to Kang, the Klingon commander can help stop his crew from fighting and help return the ship to a normal state.
Kirk and Spock work their way through the animosity aboard the ship and happen upon Chekov sexually assaulting Mara. Kirk pulls Chekov from her and knocks him unconscious, relenting only when Spock reminds him that Chekov was not in control of himself. Bringing Mara along, they take Chekov to Sickbay, whereDr. McCoy reports that crewmen gravely wounded in the fighting are healing at a much faster than normal rate; the entity wants everyone alive and fighting. Mara is initially skeptical that the entity exists, but is persuaded after realizing Kirk is completely unwilling to kill her. She agrees to lead Kirk to Kang in Engineering. They travel by the risky technique of intra-ship beaming – using thetransporter between two points within the ship.
In Engineering, Kang distrusts Kirk's explanation of the entity despite Mara's assurance, and believing she was assaulted, challenges Kirk to a sword duel. As they clash, and with the entity hovering and pulsating a bright red nearby, Kirk implores Kang to stop, telling him that they may become its puppets for a thousand lifetimes if they continue to fight. Kang acknowledges Kirk's warning and the fact that their fighting is pointless. Kirk and Kang order their respective crews to lay down their arms. To starve the entity, Kirk and Kang encourage their crews to act jovially and to laugh with one another loudly. The entity fades and leaves the ship.
This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired January 5, 2008, as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded three weeks earlier by the remastered version of "A Taste of Armageddon" and followed a week later by the remastered version of "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USSEnterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
Zack Handlen ofThe A.V. Club gave the episode a 'B−' rating, describing it as having potential, but being hampered by a script that fails to act on that.[1]Io9's 2014 listing of the top 100Star Trek episodes placed "Day of the Dove" as the 99th best episode of all series up to that time, out of over 700 episodes of the franchise.[2]
In 2016,SyFy ranked guest star Michael Ansara as Kang (the Klingon leader), as the 13th best guest star on the original series.[3] Ansara went on to reprise his role as Kang decades later on the Star Trek spin-offsStar Trek: Deep Space Nine andStar Trek: Voyager.[3] Ansara reprised the character Kang in DS9's "Blood Oath", which also featuredJohn Colicos asKor andWilliam Campbell asKoloth, who, like Ansara, had been guest stars in the original series playing original Klingons with that name.[3]
In 2018,Collider ranked this episode the 16th best original series episode.[4]
This episode was released onLaserDisc, paired with "Spectre of the Gun" in 1987 in the United States.[5]
This episode was released in Japan on December 21, 1993 as part of the complete season 3 LaserDisc set,Star Trek: Original Series log.3.[6] A trailer for this and the other episodes was also included, and the episode had English and Japanese audio tracks.[6] The cover script was スター・トレック TVサードシーズン for the set.[6]
