A Private Little War
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 2 February 1968
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- 4211.4
- DIRECTED BY
- Marc Daniels
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 45
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Gene Roddenberry; story by Jud Crucis
“Jud Crucis” is a pseudonym for Don Ingalls, who used it out of frustration at Gene Roddenberry's rewrites of his script.
Kirk returns to a peaceful world he once surveyed and finds the villagers suddenly armed with flintlocks, while his old friend Tyree's people are hunted with weapons they should not have.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Years ago Kirk lived among the hill people of a primitive planet and befriended their young leader, Tyree. Now he finds the villagers carrying flintlock rifles far beyond their own technology, and Spock is badly wounded by a gunshot. With Spock in Dr M'Benga's care, Kirk and McCoy return in disguise. Kirk is bitten by a mugato and saved by Tyree's wife Nona, a healer whose root ritual binds him to her. They confirm that the Klingons are secretly arming the villagers. Tyree refuses to kill, but Nona wants power and urges Kirk to give them better weapons. McCoy argues against escalation, yet Kirk decides the only answer is a balance of power. When Nona takes Kirk's phaser to the villagers, they kill her. Grieving and enraged, Tyree demands guns, and Kirk grimly orders a hundred flintlocks made for the hill people.
- 01Widely read as a commentary on the Vietnam War. Don Ingalls' first draft contained more direct Vietnam references.
- 02The creature was originally the “gumato”, renamed because DeForest Kelley struggled to say it. The end credits still read “Gumato”.
- 03Director Marc Daniels filmed on location, at Bell Ranch, for the first time in his ten Star Trek episodes.