"The Enterprise Incident" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, first broadcast September 27, 1968. It is episode #59, written by D.C. Fontana and directed by John Meredyth Lucas .

Quick Overview: The crew of the Enterprise attempts to steal a Romulan cloaking device.

On stardate 5027.3, Captain James T. Kirk takes the starship, the USS Enterprise, into Romulan controlled space for no apparent reason. The ship's medical officer, Dr. McCoy, has been reporting strange irregularities in Captain Kirk's behavior lately and expresses concern for the unwarranted maneuver. Before Kirk can even give an explanation, the Enterprise encounters three Romulan warships which decloak and surround the ship. They order Kirk to surrender.

Kirk refuses to give up the ship and threatens to destroy the Enterprise if the Romulans make an attempt to board her. The Romulans then offer to "talk" with Kirk and request he and Mr. Spock beam over to the lead ship. In return, they offer two of their officers as "hostages" in exchange. Kirk and Spock agree, and beam over.

Once aboard the Romulan vessel, they meet the ship's commander, a woman, who demands an explanation for Kirk's intrusion. Kirk explains their ship accidently wandered into Romulan space because of equipment malfunctions, however Spock denounces his Captain's explanation saying that Kirk ordered them here due to his mental instability and incompetence to command.

The Romulans charge Kirk with espionage and send him to the brig where he is injured by the cell's force field when he tries to escape. The Romulans call for Dr. McCoy to beam over and tend to Kirk's wounds. Afterward, they order Mr. Scott, who is now in command of the Enterprise, to follow them back to their base, however Scotty refuses without a fight. McCoy declares Kirk incompetent to command, then Kirk suddenly lashes out and attacks Mr. Spock who reacts without thinking and fights back with a vulcan death pinch. McCoy then declares the Captain dead.

McCoy carts Kirk's body back to the Enterprise while Mr. Spock remains on the Romulan ship. He stays and talks to the Romulan commander who would like to get to know him better. She tries to persuade Spock of switching sides, telling him his talents and discipline would better serve the Romulan Empire. The longer the two converse, the more Spock begins to feel attracted to her.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk makes a miraculous recovery. The entire charade has been for the Romulan's benefit in order to carry out a mission to acquire a Romulan cloaking device. Dr. McCoy alters Kirk's appearance using plastic surgery to make him look like a Romulan. Mr. Spock simultaneously gathers information about the cloaking device and learns of its location on the ship. Kirk, disguised as a Romulan officer, is then secretly transported over to the Romulan ship, while Spock gives him some time by stalling the Romulan commander.

Kirk gains access to the room where the device is located and manages to disconnect it. He quickly beams himself and the equipment back to the Enterprise before his presence is detected, however the Romulans discover the theft and reports the intrusion to the Romulan commander. The commander feels betrayed by Spock, and angrily orders him to be executed immediately.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk impatiently awaits for Mr. Spock's return and tells Mr. Chekov to locate and lock on to him. Chekov finds Spock and quickly beams him back. The Romulan commander however, sees Spock begin to dematerialize, so she grabs him and the two are beamed away together.

Kirk orders the Enterprise to race back to Federation space and the Romulan sub-commander, now in charge of the flag ship, orders his ships to give chase. With three Romulan warships barreling down on them, Kirk has Mr. Scott hook the Romulan cloak up to the Enterprise. At first Scotty has problems getting it installed; leaving Kirk biting his nails on the bridge, but just as the Romulan ships reach firing range, the Enterprise vanishes.

Kirk now takes the ship to the nearest starbase, with two prizes; the Romulan cloaking device, and one of the Romulan's top commanding officers.

Trivia

The D7 models for the Romulan warships are actually Klingon ships, used instead of the Romulan Warbird model seen in the episode "Balance of Terror". It is believed the Romulans and Klingons had a brief exchange of technology, where Romulans received the Klingon's heavy D7 battlecruisers and the Klingons were given Bird of Prey scout ships. (In real life, the show's production staff had just finished new Klingon ship models and wanted to show them off).

While this episode was the first produced for the third season, it aired second, after "Spock's Brain".

In the original draft of the script, Kirk was acquitted after being court martialed but said he would never trust Starfleet again.

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