The Trek Klingon stories are some of my favorites, and Day of the Dove isn't too shabby. It is an anti-violence, pacifistic story concerning this multicolored blob of light (imagine a spinning small cloud that goes red when violence and hatred are at their peak) which wails as tempers, racial tensions, and warlike desires rise and rage. A planet is where the Enterprise and a Klingon cruiser find themselves, both believing the other attacked their people. The war- hungry entity disables the cruiser, causing it to be a radioactive danger needing to be obliterated. On the planet Kang (Michael Ansara) and his accompaniment of soldiers besiege Kirk, Chekov, and Bones, attempting to beam about the Enterprise for takeover. Kirk coordinates a trick where just his three are beamed aboard while the Klingons are in midspace. Soon the Klingons are held in a room while Kirk and crew battle the ensuing influence of the entity, filling them with racism, prejudice, faux patriotism, hate, and warlike mentality. It will take securing their humanity, shooing away their burgeoning feelings which are encouraged by the entity's influence, and together defy the urge to initiate violence. Kang taking control of Engineering, the entity manifesting daggers for Klingons and Enterprise crew to engage in combat, Chekov influenced to believe the Klingons killed a brother that doesn't exist, Kang's wife (Susan Howard) actually joining forces with Kirk to try and convince Kang of the entity's influence, and Scotty and McCoy going warhog are highlights. Scotty calling Spock a freak, and Spock suffering the distaste of racial hatred show just how strong the entity can influence its victims. Good seeing a cat and mouse between the Enterprise, Klingons, *and* the entity. Laughter and good will, even if faked to undermine the entity, between the Klingons and Enterprise, with Kirk the peacekeeper realizing that infinite fighting until the dilithium crystals run their course as the entity takes them out of the galaxy, is a lark!
Review of Day of the Dove
