Jammer's Reviews

Following the outbreak of a disease on the Enterprise, Spock falls ill because of his Vulcan physiology. McCoy says the disease will prove fatal to him in a matter of days without life-saving medication. The drug is rare and out of immediate range, but the SS Huron, a civilian freighter, can bring it to the Enterprise, so the ships set a course to rendezvous. En route to the Enterprise, however, the Huron is intercepted by an Orion pirate ship and boarded. The Orions steal the ship's cargo and flee. The Enterprise reaches the Huron to find its cargo hold empty and the crew subdued. So the Enterprise must track the enemy ship down and retrieve the stolen cargo before Spock's time runs out.

"The Pirates of Orion" is a straightforward story that's executed well. Once again, I'm finding that the stories that work the best for me on TAS are the ones that highlight nautical operations, tactical decisions, and Kirk negotiating to reach the end goal.

There's no secret as to who did this or why. We follow the fleeing Orions into an asteroid belt where the rocks explode on impact. The Enterprise has the Orion ship cornered. But the Orions have the leverage of the drug, which McCoy desperately needs to save Spock's life. So Kirk has to make some compromises in his negotiations, and even offers to look the other way and not report the transgression to Starfleet if the Orions hand over the drug. It's a good deal the Orion captain turns down, which is a really bad decision in retrospect.

As in "Balance of Terror," this episode makes the crucial decision to show us the perspective inside the enemy ship, as the captain and its first officer discuss a course of action. It helps us understand the logic of the enemy and their plan to gain the upper hand, and makes the overall engagement considerably more interesting. The Orion captain makes a counter-offer to Kirk to make the exchange on the surface of one of the asteroids (where he plans to use its explosive properties to destroy both ships). When beaming down, Kirk knows this could very well be a trap.

Which, of course it is. And of course Kirk is able to gain the upper hand in the struggle, capture the Orion captain, and obtain the life-saving drugs. As nautical chess games go, this is a solidly engaging, completely unpretentious standoff, with no wasted time and a narrative that moves from beat to beat efficiently and effectively.

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