Star Trek Review: A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR

Director Marc Daniels,' "A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR," is a dated, Vietnam war/Sci-Fi allegory.

An alien creature on the planet, called a Mugatu, resembles an albino gorilla with a large horn on top of its head. It's quite silly looking, appearing more like an escapee from "Lost in Space," rather than your typical, classic "Trek" alien.

The main plot for this episode is an allegory to the Vietnam war, with the Federation and Klingons arming opposite sides in a planetary conflict.

The "Balance of Power" philosophy, that the story endorses, was eventually found wanting in the latter years of the U.S.'s involvement in the Vietnam war.

Kirk has a sort of love affair with the local witchee woman who cures him of the poison he gets from a Mugatu bite. This Kirk guy is something else. Even when he's sick and feverish, he manages to bump into a hot-to-trot alien babe!

In this episode Kirk defiantly violates the Federation's Prime Directive, which states that the Federation is not to interfere with the internal politics of other planets. This kind of thing happened quite a bit in the Classic "Trek" era.

"A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR" may be slightly watchable for some Sci-Fi viewers.

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