This is a pretty silly episode and it's pretty preachy as well--definitely NOT a good combination. As for silliness, some of the props were pretty bad, such as the guy in the white ape costume who was the dreaded "Mugatu" and the curative root that looked for all the world like a piece of quivering poo! Plus, the silly costumes were pretty bad--with the silly moppish wigs and the sexist hippie costume the main female character wore. And as for preachiness, the show is obviously a not very well-veiled morality tale about Vietnam and the whole notion of the Russians and Americans arming intermediaries in a proxy battle. Kirk and McCoy find that the peaceful people of the planet are inexplicably at war. The dark-haired guys are shooting the blond guys for sport--even though technologically, the planet had only recently been centuries away from the development of flintlocks. Now, Kirk is seriously considering giving the pacifistic blonds weapons to even the balance of power. There is a lot of action and excitement, but that's really about all the episode has going for it.
Review of A Private Little War
