I've never heard anyone else make the connection, but the plot for this episode may have been "borrowed" from a novelette called "The Lomokome Papers" by Herman Wouk, the author of such best-sellers as "The Caine Mutiny" and "The Winds of War." Very obscure, it was only published first in Collier's magazine in the 1950s and the only book publication was a paperback original in the 1960s (available for a couple of bucks on abebooks if anyone is interested). Wouk's book is the journal of the first man to visit the moon where he discovers that two human-like civilizations live underground there and have been at perpetual war for thousands of years. However, long ago, it was decided that while war is a normal human activity, it was foolish to let it wreck your civilizations, so wars are now fought in the abstract by having each side demonstrate their potential to defeat the other and then having a neutral panel of judges decide the victor and then assess the amount of property and lives each side must voluntarily sacrifice to reflect the outcome. Sound familiar?
Review of A Taste of Armageddon
