"A Taste of Armageddon" is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. First broadcast on February 23, 1967 and repeated July 20, 1967, episode #23 was written by Robert Hamner and Gene L. Coon, and directed by Joseph Pevney. The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gene L. Coon (7 January 1924-8 July 1973) was an American screenwriter and television producer. ...

Quick Overview: The crew of the Enterprise visits a planet whose people fight a strange war with a neighboring enemy. The starship Enterprise (NX-01). ...

On stardate 3192.1, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is en route to Eminiar VII, to open diplomatic relations with the inhabitants there. On board is Ambassador Robert Fox who has been sent to lead the talks and to extend an invitation to Eminiar and its sister planet, Vendikar, to join the Federation. Stardate is the dating convention used in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... This article is about the vehicle for interstellar travel. ... James Tiberius Kirk, a fictional character in the Star Trek television series, was the captain of the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A). ... In the Star Trek science fiction universe, Eminiar VII was the principal planet of star cluster NGC 321. ... In the fictional Star Trek universe, the United Federation of Planets is a federation of more than 150 member planets and thousands of colonies, based in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the Milky Way galaxy. ...

Little is known about either world's people except that they have had intrasystem space travel for a few centuries, and when the cultures were first contacted, it was learned they have had a long standing war with each other for nearly 500 years. Soon afterward, the Federation contact ship mysteriously disappeared and was reported lost.

Nearing the Eminiar world, the Enterprise receives a priority signal not to approach the planet under any circumstances. Ambassador Fox encourages Kirk to ignore the warning and investigate further. Kirk sends a landing party, which includes himself, Mr. Spock, and three other personnel, down to meet with Eminiar leaders. They are contacted by representatives, Mea 3 and Anan 7, who sternly remind Kirk and his landing team they should not have come because the city was just hit by a Vendikar fusion bomb which killed seven million people. Mr. ... Fusion may refer to: the merging of two or more entities into a single one For the combining of two atomic nuclei into a single nucleus (with possible emission of radioactivity), see nuclear fusion cold fusion refers to a controversial form of nuclear fusion which has recently (April/May 2005...

Curiously, everything in the city seems intact and there is no visible evidence or sensor readings of such an attack ever occurring. Kirk then insists to speak with the Eminiar High Council.

The landing party soon discovers that the entire war between the two planets is completely simulated by computers which launch wargame attacks and counterattacks, then calculates damage and selects the dead. When a citizen is reported as "killed", they must submit themselves for termination by stepping inside a disintegration booth. Anan 7 informs Kirk that the simulated attacks and following executions is the agreed system of war decided by both sides in a treaty with the Vendikar. A conventional war was deemed too destructive to the environments and societies of both planets. Wargaming can be one of number of ways of exploring the effects of warfare without actual combat. ... A suicide booth is a fictional machine from the Futurama animated series. ...

Kirk is then informed that during the last Vendikar attack the Enterprise was destroyed by a tri-cobalt satellite and the entire ship's crew must be terminated within 24 hours. Although, the landing team is exempted from execution, they are arrested and held hostage until all Enterprise crew members report to the planet for execution. Mea 3 has also been reported as a casualty and calmly turns herself in for termination.

In an attempt to lure the Enterprise crew down, Anan 7 simulates Captain Kirk's voice and orders the crew to come down to celebrate the newly established diplomatic relations with the Eminiar people. Mr. Scott doesn't buy it and decides to have the Captain's voice analyzed. When the computer determines it's a fake, he realizes the landing party, and by extension the entire ship, must be in danger. Montgomery Scott, usually known as Scotty, is a character in Star Trek: The Original Series, played by James Doohan. ...

When Mr. Scott refuses the order, Anan orders the Enterprise to be destroyed, but the ship's shields easily repel the attack. Ambassador Fox declares that the attack was just a misunderstanding when he talks with Anan 7. Anan 7 lies and declares a sensor malfunctioned and it appeared the Enterprise was about to attack. Anan 7 apologizes and extends a warm invitation for the Ambassador to beam down and talk. Ambassador Fox accepts the invitation and orders Scotty to lower the shields.

To Fox's indignation, Scott, with Dr. McCoy's support, refuses the command, considering the planet's government has obviously captured the landing party, sent a fake message to lure them down, and had just fired on the ship. After threatening to bring Scott up on insubordination charges, Fox and his aide beam down, but are quickly taken into custody and sent to be terminated. Insubordination is the act of a subordinate deliberately disobeying a lawful order. ...

Meanwhile, Spock and Kirk manage to break out of their holding cell by overpowering a guard and stealing his weapon. Along the way out, they stop Mea 3 from reporting to die, destroying a disintegration chamber and disabling the operator. Kirk is then recaptured by Anan 7 while trying to locate the party's phasers. The Star Trek fictional universe contains a very large number of weapons. ...

Spock and the others disguise themselves as Eminiarians and rescue Ambassador Fox, destroying another disintegration booth in the process. A chastened Fox accepts that he was dangerously mistaken about the situation and volunteers to fight with the others.

With Captain Kirk in his presence, Anan 7 demands Kirk to order his ship's crew to beam down and accept their fate as determined by the wargame computers. Kirk instead orders Mr. Scott to follow General Order 24, a full attack on the planet within two hours if he is not released. Kirk informs Anan the Enterprise is more than capable of destroying everything on the planet. Anan still refuses, however Spock arrives and Kirk manages to overpower the guards during the distraction.

Kirk and Spock make their way to the wargame computers, and once there, Kirk destroys the entire system while Anan looks on in terror. He exclaims that the planet is doomed, with the treaty broken, the Vendikar will fire their conventional weapons again. Vendikar had in fact been in contact already to complain about Anan 7's government being slow to meet their treaty obligations created by Kirk's interference. Now, an immediate retaliation with real weaponry is imminent.

Kirk encourages Anan 7 to instead call a ceasefire and the two planets, with the Federation's assistance, can learn to coexist in peace. A desperate Anan agrees and Ambassador Fox immediately offers to lead the negotiations. As the Enterprise breaks orbit, Fox informs that the peace negotiations were going relatively well.

External link

• A Taste of Armageddon article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki