3.2 The Enterprise Incident

A seemingly insane Kirk orders the Enterprise to enter the Romulan Neutral Zone where they are immediately caught by enemy Romulan forces.

Plot Summary
The Enterprise is surrounded by Romulans The Enterprise is surrounded by Romulans

A visibly tired Kirk orders his crew to move the Enterprise into the Romulan Neutral Zone. When they cross into the territory, they are immediately surrounded by Romulan ships who appear out of nowhere thanks to their new cloaking devices. Kirk and Spock are taken aboard the ship where they meet the Romulan commander. In front of the commander, Spock betrays Kirk by leaking information and saying that he is unfit to lead. Kirk is taken to the brig while the Romulan Commander gets to know Spock better. Spock and the Romulan Commander later visit Kirk. When Kirk sees Spock, he lunges towards him, but is incapacitated when Spock knocks him out with a nerve pinch. Kirk is moved to the medical bay on the Enterprise where it is revealed that Kirk and Spock were on a mission to steal the cloaking device from the Romulans. McCoy helps Kirk disguise himself as a Romulan. Then Scotty beams him to the Romulan ship. Subcommander Tal issues a warning Subcommander Tal issues a warning

Meanwhile, the Romulan Commander tries to seduce and entice Spock to betray the federation and give the Enterprise to the Romulans. When she leaves the room, Spock, who had been walking around the ship, gives Kirk the instructions on where to find the device. Kirk finds the device and is beamed back to the Enterprise with it. Unfortunately for Spock, his deception is discovered and he is sentenced to die. He stalls by asking for a final statement and is granted it. On the Enterprise, Kirk and crew beam Spock back, but are surprised to see that they had also beamed the Romulan Commander with them. The Enterprise then attempts to make an escape with the device. Once Scotty is able to get the device working, the Enterprise escapes the pursuing ships.

Production Notes
Because of a restricted budget, the Klingon ship model had to be used for the Romulan ship. The series had spent a great deal of money on the creation of the model and had to justify the cost. The writers of the episode had used the explanation that the Klingon had formed an alliance with the Romulans to explain why the Romulans were using Klingon ships. The ship would make three appearances in the original series.

The prop used for the Romulan cloaking device was created using the Saragon globe from the Star Trek episode "Return to Tomorrow" and parts of the Nomad probe from the episode "The Changeling." The helmets used for the Romulans guards were used because the pointy ears used for the race kept falling off the actors.