A private little war question

[at Quark's]

SCOTT: And were the Klingons behind it, why didn't they give them breechloaders?
CHEKOV: Or machine guns?
UHURA: Or old-style hand lasers?
KIRK: I did not invite a debate. I'm sorry. I'm worried about Spock and concerned about what's happened to something I once knew down there. You have the conn, Scotty. I'll be in Sickbay

My question: why didn't they? What was their goal anyway (beyond bringing the planet into their Empire)?

We know Krell chooses the 'gradual updates' route, but why? Did he want to 'train' the villagers in the use of gradually more powerful weapons, to make 'good klingons' out of them? Did they hope to avoid attention from other major powers this way? Or was he a trader somehow, one that would earn much more money this way than giving the best weapons immediately? (that would be very un- Klingon). Some other reason?

 

[Christopher]

Did they hope to avoid attention from other major powers this way?

Basically, yes. The point was to sneak the advances past the treaty enforcers by making it look like the natives invented the weapons themselves. When Kirk and McCoy spied on Apella's forge, they found machined barrels fashioned to look homemade, and they recorded it as evidence to take back to the Federation to prove Klingon interference.

As for what their long-term goal was, it was probably to help the villagers take over the planet so the Klingons could use it secretly as a base of some sort, or maybe eventually come in and make it look like the aggressive conquerors of the planet invited them in. Either way, it was an effort to exploit the planet without being caught violating the Organian Treaty.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

What @Christopher said.

 

[Henoch]

Either way, it was an effort to exploit the planet without being caught violating the Organian Treaty.

I wonder if the Organian Peace Treaty was only initiated by the Organians, then left its administration and enforcement to the involved parties, i.e. some sort of Federation and Klingon committee. Did the Organians simply press a reset button then run away, and if the parties fail to keep it, then its on their heads?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I wonder if the Organian Peace Treaty was only initiated by the Organians, then left its administration and enforcement to the involved parties, i.e. some sort of Federation and Klingon committee. Did the Organians simply press a reset button then run away, and if the parties fail to keep it, then its on their heads?

Yeah. Errand of Mercy is an episode that imposes too much restriction on future episodes, and even the future franchise.

We have to say that the Organians disengaged for some reason, and left us to our own devices. If we don't, then our guys and the Klingons would lack sufficient agency to make good stories happen.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Perhaps their arrogance leads them to assume all they have to do is swoop in, wave their magic wands (tech/powers), moralize, and exit space left, as their job is done. Come to think of it, that's what Kirk winds up doing a lot, too.

 

[Christopher]

I wonder if the Organian Peace Treaty was only initiated by the Organians, then left its administration and enforcement to the involved parties, i.e. some sort of Federation and Klingon committee. Did the Organians simply press a reset button then run away, and if the parties fail to keep it, then its on their heads?

Yes, that's my interpretation. Some books and comics have portrayed the Organians as active enforcers of the treaty, but that doesn't make sense, because "Errand of Mercy" made it emphatically clear that the Organians couldn't stand to be around us filthy corporeal beings and only imposed to treaty to get us noisy kids off their lawn. Gene Coon knew he was writing for an episodic series with minimal continuity, so in all likelihood the Organians would never be seen again. So he built in an explanation for why we shouldn't expect them to intervene in any Federation-Klingon exchanges that didn't directly involve Organia itself. The intent of the later mentions of the Organian Peace Treaty was probably that it was named for the place where it was created (like all the Paris Peace Treaties over the years, or the Dayton Accords, or the like) but was enforced by conventional intergovernmental means rather than Organian intervention.

 

[at Quark's]

Basically, yes. The point was to sneak the advances past the treaty enforcers by making it look like the natives invented the weapons themselves. When Kirk and McCoy spied on Apella's forge, they found machined barrels fashioned to look homemade, and they recorded it as evidence to take back to the Federation to prove Klingon interference.

As for what their long-term goal was, it was probably to help the villagers take over the planet so the Klingons could use it secretly as a base of some sort, or maybe eventually come in and make it look like the aggressive conquerors of the planet invited them in. Either way, it was an effort to exploit the planet without being caught violating the Organian Treaty.

Sounds believable, but even then the Klingons couldn't have pushed it too far. No one is going to believe a Klingon narrative 'yes, only 10 years ago they were at the early iron age level, but then they started developing at an amazing pace, and last year they had apparently developed means of interstellar communication, they contacted our empire and after a few talks they invited us in'.

 

[Christopher]

Sounds believable, but even then the Klingons couldn't have pushed it too far. No one is going to believe a Klingon narrative 'yes, only 10 years ago they were at the early iron age level, but then they started developing at an amazing pace, and last year they had apparently developed means of interstellar communication, they contacted our empire and after a few talks they invited us in'.

Klingons don't honor the Prime Directive. They could show up as visitors from the stars a few years down the road, pretending they were just there for trade with the Iron Age natives, like on Capella IV. (TOS was inconsistent about the "no contact" rule despite being the show that established it.) But the village culture that they'd secretly backed would have come to power by then, and would just "coincidentally" happen to have a martial culture similar to the Klingons', and thus would agree, seemingly on their own initiative, to ally with the Empire.

And as I said, their plan could also have been to use the planet as a secret base for spying on the Federation or something, with the villagers' cooperation. By the time their interference was exposed, they'd already be too entrenched or have achieved enough of their larger goals that the UFP couldn't do anything about it.

 

[Phaser Two]

Yeah. Errand of Mercy is an episode that imposes too much restriction on future episodes, and even the future franchise.

We have to say that the Organians disengaged for some reason, and left us to our own devices. If we don't, then our guys and the Klingons would lack sufficient agency to make good stories happen.

True, and imagining that the Organians disengaged really isn't particularly difficult when you consider some of the dialogue from "Errand of Mercy." I'm thinking in particular of the line that being in the presence of "beings like" Klingons, humans and Vulcans is "intensely painful" to the Organians.

The Organians are one of the most fascinating concepts ever to come out of our beloved 79-episode series. I always wondered if they kept appearing to Kirk throughout his life, reminding him to tell the UFP honchos to walk the straight and narrow.

 

[drt]

Yeah. Errand of Mercy is an episode that imposes too much restriction on future episodes, and even the future franchise.

It doesn't really. Klingons were never mentioned prior to this episode. The production could have never featured the Klingons again and moved forward with Romulans or a new antagonist and we would have never cared.

 

[Christopher]

The end of "Errand" wasn't designed to restrict anything, but to preserve the usual status quo by explaining why the war with the Klingons was over by the end of the episode. They wouldn't have done an ongoing war story in a show with little to no continuity, so the most they would've done was a Cold War situation where the Klingons were an occasional threat engaged in (comparatively) small-scale chess moves to try to gain advantage one planet at a time. And that's exactly what the treaty created -- a way they could tell crisis-of-the-week stories about Klingons without the baggage of an ongoing war. Far from restricting their storytelling, it opened it up by giving the series a viable recurring antagonist.

 

[ChallengerHK]

It doesn't really. Klingons were never mentioned prior to this episode. The production could have never featured the Klingons again and moved forward with Romulans or a new antagonist and we would have never cared.

But Kor was meant, as of the episode, to be Kirk's nemesis, implying that the producers had planned for the Klingons to return, probably more than once.

 

[Christopher]

But Kor was meant, as of the episode, to be Kirk's nemesis, implying that the producers had planned for the Klingons to return, probably more than once.

"As of the episode?" I don't know about that. The way I've always heard it is that it was decided later, when they wrote subsequent Klingon episodes and hoped to bring Colicos back for them, but couldn't.

If they'd actually planned in advance to have him return, they probably would've put it in his contract, and the scheduling conflicts that kept him from returning wouldn't have happened. But TV shows back then didn't plan in advance like that. If a guest star turned out really well, if the episode got good ratings and fan mail or if the actor was particularly good to work with, then they'd write a script to bring them back, pending their availability. It was probably because Colicos did such a great job in "Errand" that the producers decided to make the Klingons recurring antagonists rather than a one-shot. Maybe Coon hoped they'd be recurring, but there was no way to know in advance whether they'd click.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Where did the name "Neural" come from?

Seems like that'd be a better name for the planet where Spock's brain was taken. (I kid.)

 

[Christopher]

Where did the name "Neural" come from?

Reputedly from the script, but it isn't in the draft I was able to find online, and the James Blish adaptation just calls it "the planet." The name was first given (as far as I know) in The Star Trek Concordance, which contained a lot of behind-the-scenes names and details based on scripts and production notes. So maybe it was from a production memo or a story outline, or it could've been in a different draft of the script.

Seems like that'd be a better name for the planet where Spock's brain was taken. (I kid.)

If the Xindi planet-killer weapon had been used on Tyree's world, it would've been a Neural neutralizer.

 

[Poltargyst]

It was probably because Colicos did such a great job in "Errand" that the producers decided to make the Klingons recurring antagonists rather than a one-shot.

Wow, think of all of the movies and all of the episodes of all the series that feature Klingons and to think Colicos might have been the start of all of that.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Wow, think of all of the movies and all of the episodes of all the series that feature Klingons and to think Colicos might have been the start of all of that.

Errand of Mercy was written by Gene Coon and Gene Roddenberry. I think they created the Klingons on purpose, for ongoing use. They were both producers. Their job was to craft the series, not just one episode, and the show owned anything they thought up, so there would be no need for royalties to a writer every time a Klingon appeared.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Errand of Mercy was written by Gene Coon and Gene Roddenberry.

No, just Gene Coon.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Errand_of_Mercy_(episode)

 

[J.T.B.]

Reputedly from the script, but it isn't in the draft I was able to find online, and the James Blish adaptation just calls it "the planet." The name was first given (as far as I know) in The Star Trek Concordance, which contained a lot of behind-the-scenes names and details based on scripts and production notes. So maybe it was from a production memo or a story outline, or it could've been in a different draft of the script.

In the first edition of the Concordance Allan Asherman mentions "Neural" in conjunction with the early treatment by Don Ingalls, though he doesn't specifically say that was the source of the name.