Star Trek 33: For World & Day of Dove [DVD] [1969] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Then there's "Day of The Dove", a showcase of Star Trek's third-season production budget cutback woes. This is especially apparent with the Klingon makeup- the swarthiness is uneven, and a bit too shiny. And the destruction of Kang's abandoned ship is cheesier-looking than the usual silly outer space FX one has come to know and love about the series. But, on the upside, if you're looking for some of that infamous over-the-top Kirkian halting dialogue full of heavy-handed moralizing, this particular eppie's got it in spades!

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"Day of the Dove" is great fun, more for its cast and the gusto with which they perform their roles than for the story itself. Kirk and Co. find themselves lured by a fake distress signal to a planet where only a half dozen Klingons survive. The Klingons blame the Federation for having lured them to the same planet with a fake distress signal, and killing most of his crew. After Kirk gets them safely rounded-up and under guard aboard the Enterprise, all hell breaks loose: an unseen power hijacks the ship outside the solar system at Warp 9, in circles, and releases and arms the Klingons and the Enterprise crew with swords; the two rival races fight to the death, over and over again, since the same unseen third party seems also somehow to keep repairing their injured bodies. Kirk, one way or another, has to gain the trust of the Klingon leader to identify and eliminate the alien invader responsible for the carnage, before they are trapped in eternal warfare with each other.

"Dove" is a real scenery-chewer, and one of the [least expensive]-ever episodes of the series. Only the Enterprise core cast and a handful of Klingons are ever seen - everyone else, we are informed, has been sealed off (conveniently and cheaply) below decks - leaving them to roll their eyes and gnash their teeth in artificially induced fury for most of the hour. Michael Ansara, who never disappoints, is ideal as the Klingon captain, Kang, and Susan Howard - in one of her final performances before permanently retiring from acting - is appealing and interesting as his emotionally torn wife, Mara.