This episode brings up something that’s been bugging me for a bit now in my rewatching of Star Trek:
From [Star Wars vs Star Trek: Brain Bugs](http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/BrainBugs.html):
> In the original series, the Klingons were an aggressive military superpower with expansionist ambitions. In the Cold War politics of the time, they obviously represented the USSR, while the Romulans just as obviously represented Red China. They appeared little different from us; they could be violent, aggressive, sly, cloying, or deceptive, just like us.
Episodes like this show this up as basically being rubbish. Here we see Klingons who are *very clearly* some kind of warrior race. They have a duelling tradition, are always more ready to use violence to solve problems, and so on. While they were probably intended as being symbolic of the USSR, they have plenty of SF baggage as well.[^1]
The episode itself was pretty interesting. Although, I have to say, to any alien races who greatly enjoy/derive sustenance from violence and conflict – can I suggest, less with the kidnapping, more with the investing in Mixed Martial Arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
62 down, 675 to go.
[^1]: This is not to say that later Star Trek didn’t take that outline and make it quite a bit stronger. I’m just saying that the argument in the linked article that it was all from one line of dialogue just isn’t correct.