Is there anything in the episode to indicate that Spock is misguided?
The episode itself is neutral on the subject - the rest of Trek is what casts Spock's conviction in deep doubt.
It's just that the episode doesn't offer any support for Spock's claim, either. The Romulans are short on fuel, and this makes them either drop their cloak or consider dropping it, but the reason for the fuel shortage is never explicated.
It's a case of analogies breaking down. In the inspirational submarine movies, the performance of the opponent was never theoretical or speculative - in Enemy Below, the Nazi sub was not a mysterious Wunderwaffe but a regular Typ VII. And subs like that don't have multiple key systems competing for primary power. OTOH, they do have two separate power systems for two separate propulsion modes, and using electric motors as Simple Impulse and diesels as Warp would be disastrous for Scotty's conviction that the former is characteristic of the opponent.
The Romulans must be seen as their own thing, evaluated on the merits of this episode and preferably all others as well. But "Balance of Terror" is the odd episode out, offering few cues and nevertheless sadly contradicting what came later, before and "before".
Timo Saloniemi
It's just that the episode doesn't offer any support for Spock's claim, either. The Romulans are short on fuel, and this makes them either drop their cloak or consider dropping it, but the reason for the fuel shortage is never explicated.
It's a case of analogies breaking down. In the inspirational submarine movies, the performance of the opponent was never theoretical or speculative - in Enemy Below, the Nazi sub was not a mysterious Wunderwaffe but a regular Typ VII. And subs like that don't have multiple key systems competing for primary power. OTOH, they do have two separate power systems for two separate propulsion modes, and using electric motors as Simple Impulse and diesels as Warp would be disastrous for Scotty's conviction that the former is characteristic of the opponent.
The Romulans must be seen as their own thing, evaluated on the merits of this episode and preferably all others as well. But "Balance of Terror" is the odd episode out, offering few cues and nevertheless sadly contradicting what came later, before and "before".
Timo Saloniemi
If Episode A and Episode B conflict, I tend to go with episode A, believing it the the duty of the writers to write future episodes that do not conflict with earlier ones, and that that if they do it is probably their mistake. And if two episodes seem to contradict each other, it is the duty of both the writers and the fans to explain how they actually agree.
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