If I were Nona, I think I'd experiment with that "black box" for a while before haring off to find the villagers and give it to them.

I think the episode established that Nona was very self-confident and headstrong. No doubt she thought "if some stupid MAN can use this, so can I!" (You go, girl!)

She looked good in those hip huggin leather pants too.

GUEST STAR PATROL (And now for something completely the same)

Nancy Kovack (Nona) played Medea in "Jason and the Argonauts", and was the Joker's moll in a Batman episode.

One Last Thing: Does anybody notice the plot similarities between this episode and "Too Short a Season". Of course, in this one, it's a good thing that both sides are balanced.

Just saw this shown again on the Sci Fi channel. I was wondering--during all the time that McCoy was dithering around in the cave, trying to do SOMETHING to help his friend, why didn't he take care of that messy gash on Kirk's cheek?
I forgot to take a look afterwards--was the gash still there after he woke up? Because Nona never touched it.

I find it hard to believe that during the first ambush, neither the hill people or the villagers could see Kirk and Spock in those brightly colored shirts.

Spock is shot with a flintlock and green stains are seen, in the middle, on both the back and front of his shirt. So did the bullet pass all the way through his body, but stop when it got to the shirt? Also when they beam up to the ship, the stains appear to be darker. (Maybe that's when the human half of his blood started leaking as well???)

So where was Dr. M'Binga during Journey To Babel?

Why does Kirk specify native costumes when beaming back to the planet, but not when he, Spock & McCoy beamed down the first time?

Okay, Kirk probably learned the natives' language thirteen years ago, but when did McCoy learn the language?

When McCoy uses his phaser to heat up the rocks, why didn't they explode? One of the problems with heating up a rock too quickly is that any moisture in the rock will turn to steam and cause the rock to explode.

How did Dr. M'Binga know that Chapel was holding Spock's hand? She stopped when she heard him coming.

When Nona is healing Kirk, her chants sound a little like what Spock says when he performs the Vulcan mind meld.

Dr. M'Binga told Chapel to call him when Spock awoke, but when Spock awakens, she doesn't.

Why didn't Dr. M'Binga explain this Vulcan recovery technique earlier? Did the doctor think Spock would recover without it?

If I read between the lines correctly, this episode purports that Humans and Klingons had very similar developments in rifle technology. Especially interesting since according to the Next Generation, Klingons are inordinately fond of their knives and swords.

This episode is the precedent that Admiral Jameson must have used in Too Short A Season. ("Arm `em both and let God sort `em out!")

Kirk is explaining the importance of arming the hill people and using the analogy of the 20th century Asian bush wars (i.e Vietnam) and how two superpowers were arming them. (Guess who?) Then he says that it is the only way to keep both sides from destroying everything. First of all, that method will eventually destroy everything, it will just take longer. Secondly, it assumes that there are only two sides. Do these people care about the Klingons and the Federation? No, they are outsiders interfering in their planet's development. Is arming "both sides" the only solution? No. Earlier Kirk & McCoy were taking pieces of evidence to prove that the Klingons were violating the treaty. What is the point of collecting evidence if you are not going to use it? If the Klingons are found in violation of the treaty, wouldn't the Organians ensure that the Klingons not go near that planet again? (Not to mention making the weapons too hot to handle.) Even if the Organians don't get personally involved, the Federation can always blockade the planet to stop Klingon ships from going to it and commando raids can be enacted on the planet to destroy all the anachronistic weapons.

Kirk must have been really dazed to think he could stop the Mugato by jumping on its back.

My nephew, Jon, thought that one of the villagers that Nona meets looked like Miles O'Brien.

When one of the villagers stabs Nona it looks like the knife was going toward her right breast.

The Enterprise nacelles had both sphere and grill ends.

This episode assumes that there is only one village on the entire planet.
This episode also assumes that there is only one tribe of hill people on the entire planet.
One square mile out of something like a hundred million square miles.
And nobody else on the planet gets the guns??
If you want to prevent the Klingons from affecting the local culture, what'cha do is, send two nameless ensigns down, one to the hill people, one to the villagers; make sure they're wearing native clothes, not red shirts.
Have the Enterprise fire phasers into the atmosphere, creating an aurora. The ensigns tell the locals that the gods must be angry, and that they disapprove of the visitors and their weapons.
So the taboo against the weapons is in place, the Klingons don't affect the local culture and things go on as they had before.
There are other ways of producing taboos against the Klingons. And there probably are ways the taboos won't prevent the natives from coming up with their own ideas, but at least the Klingons won't be able to make them turn away from pacifism, at least not any time soon.
Of course, using this method Kirk wouldn't get to go down and do heroic things and Shatner would have to let somebody else hog the spotlight.

Duh indeed. Kirk even mentions it (the Asian Bush Wars) in the episode.

Kirk COULD'VE been referring to Korea as well.

So I made it known for those who DID NOT know what the story was based upon.

Maybe the NBC bigshots thought he was refering to the Korean War, as opposed to the unmentionable (at the time) Viet Nam War. Somehow it was 'okay' to talk about Korea, but not the useless Viet Nam War. Fortunately, us Trekkies and Trekkers always knew better.

Wasn't Nancy Kovack (Mehta) in the news recently? Something about her husband (conductor Zubin Mehta) and their housekeeper? Maybe dealing with back taxes.
There is a funny story about the censorship of this episode in Justman and Solow's "Inside Star Trek" book.

Nona looks really yummy in this episode...she gets to reveal her navel yet Shanya from "Gamesters" doesn't.

Whoever thought this would be a successful Vietnam story in disguised form was truly insane.
This episode was totally unnecessary for the time.
Here we are, fighting a war, trying to win, and all this anti-war propaganda crops up from episodes like this along with "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" saying, "Let's get the **** out of Vietnam". If the creators wanted to do a story based on the Vietnam War, they should've done it more tastefully than this!

IMHO: the only thing missing from this episode is a neon sign with flashing letters saying;" MESSAGE! MESSAGE PEOPLE! HERE COMES THE MESSAGE! BE SURE AND GET THE MESSAGE!"

Finally...for completeness, I must say...we would've pulled out of Vietnam earlier hadn't JFK been assassinated (see "JFK")

I don't know that this could be anti-Vietnam. What would you have had starfleet do, pull out and let the Klingons inslave the population. It seemed to me that the ep raised more questions than provide easy answers.

More than likely Starfleet would set up some kind of 38th Parallel and say to the Klingons, "Don't cross that line". They'd also establish no-fly zones and...gee...history really DOES repeat itself...

I must correct myself...it was the Smothers brothers who said, "Let's get the **** out of Vietnam"...not "Laugh In"

The message of this story was NONA IS HOT HOT HOT!!! Did you guys know that Nancy Kovack was actually a blonde?

In all seriousness, the REAL message was that the USA should adopt its own "Prime Directive" when dealing with 3rd world countries....let THEM fight their own wars and let the USA stay out.

That was the anti-Vietnam message I was referring to.

Pretty heavy-handed, I must say.

So much for a political crisis Sci-Fi story in a "disguised form" Yeah, right.

The Smothers brothers musta co-wrote this story. Sheez!

But my point was Starfleet did not just stay out of it. If you will recall Kirk told the Enterprise to replicate 100 flintlocks to arm his allies with. If you were just letting them fight it out they would just beam up and never look back. I thought that Kirk even said the a "balance of power" was the right thing to do because the Russians (I mean Klingons) were controling the north vietnamisse (I mean hill people) Btw anyone who thinks that Vietnam was compleatly internal knows nothing about China and Russia's involvement.

Ya' gotta love J.T. Kirk...diplomat, politician, weapons dealer & Prime Directive violater.

Watch carefully...when the landing party beams up after Spock is shot, they dematerialize with sparkles...however, McCoy's equiptment just dematerializes without sparkles!

OK...I'd like to know how long M'Benga has been on the Enterprise.....why wasn't he on board in "Operation: Annhilate!" & "Journey to Babel"?
They sure coulda used him.

And if slapping a Vulcan is necessary when they go unconscious...why didn't McCoy slap Sarek in "Jounrey to Babel"?

Nona looks abolutely yummy....she wouldn't need any special herbs for me to go gaga over her!

MORE great shots of the Enterprise in this episode!

When Kirk goes out to find Nona, he sees her by a waterfall....and she's topless! (She's covering her breasts with that fake fur bra)

What happened to the Klingon after Kirk knocks him out...we never see him again!

GREAT ACTING: Shatner's acting goes "mach 7" when he's in agony over the Mugato bite. His seizures look absolutely realistic!

The Mugato beast ain't very bright...it has a huge pointed horn on the top of its head but never uses it to lunge at anyone. (Of course, if it did, it'd be a very short show)

One of the closing stills is yet another "screen test" of the Tellarite makeup for "Journey To Babel"...Honestly, I'm not sure which version is worse....this one or the other "screen test" seen in "The Deadly Years" or the actual Tellarite makeup seen in the episode.

This version looks like Wolfman Jack at age 35!

NEW MAN---SIMILAR MISTAKE:

As you recall, one of the big nits of the first season end credits was the misspelling of "SCRIPT SUPERVISOR" (With "SCPIPT SUPERVISOR")

Well, guess what, kiddos? The new guy can't spell either...

The large ape-like creature in this episode is called a "MUGATO"

But the end credits have it spelled "GUMATO"

ALTOGETHER NOW, "DUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

I thought that was a Product Placement for a new drink made from Gum & Tomato?

(Couldn't be any worse than Clamato.)

The Gumato was the original name for the beast in the script. But they had to change it to Mugato after DeForrest Kelley for some reason couldn't pronounce it the original way.

OK...so....after they discovered that, why didn't they change the end credits?

(It's not that I don't believe you, I mean, McCoy said, "SPAWNK" in "The Deadly Years". It just sounds kinda silly for somebody not to tell the end credits person,"Oh, by the way, it's 'MUGATO' now...be sure & change the credits" Apparently, they didn't tell him/her and made the end credits person look like a moron!)

They may have changed the name of the beast on set but not in the script. The end credit person follows the script.

Don't you mean they follow the Scpipt? ;-)

So its been the scpipt writers fault all along! The end credit guy was just following the scpipt, probably thinking it was a recurring alien on the show! *slowly goes mad*

Yes . . . the name of the beast appears as "Gumato" in the Blish novelization as well.

Kam & Merat.....You said a mouthful!

It must be those Devevian Neural Parasites again from "Operation: Annihilate!"

It stings the victim and it gives them the "SCPIPTS"....
A very rare disease which attacks the nervous systems which forces the victim to make blatant spelling errors.

THAT'S why they had a "SCPIPT SUPERVISOR"..to make sure the victim doesn't go completely insane and hurt others or themselves.

After Kirk is healed, McCoy looks at Nona's hand and it is healed too. He says, "I want to know more about this" Why? He's a 23rd century doctor.This type of healing is somewhat equal to black magic...why would McCoy be interested in such an thing?

McCoy would be interested because there must be a scientific explanation, maybe involving new biochemicals or something. Maybe it's those weird critters from the TNG episode "Phantasms." We don't know they were never encountered before that episode. Or some Q having fun.
Or something else McCoy would like to know about.

When Kirk and McCoy are in the Forge. Krell and Apella start to come in and Kirk jumps over the Forge to hide. As he does he hits a rope hanging. A second later you see the rope swinging. Then Krell and Apella come in and Krell looks right in that direction and walks towards the rope but the rope is perfectly still. That rope should still be moving slightly.

McCoy wants to know more about Nona's "black magic" because he's a scientist and he wants to know more about the planet's unusual biochemistry and how it can affect humanoid life forms, etc.

At one point in this episode, Scotty comments that if someone were to make it look like some race of people just invented firearms, they'd give them flintlocks (not a direct quote). I don't know if anyone else caught this already, but that is not accurate. The first kind of firearm was the matchlock. Flintlocks took a few centuries to develop.

Also, the premise of the Klingons trying to covertly supply weapons to some people on this planet does not work. Neither tribe we are shown appears to have anything like the technology necessary to invent a musket. They don't have gunpowder or any other propellant, they don't seem to know how to prepare metal to endure the force of exploding gunpowder, and they don't have any apparent knowledge of how to build the lock. If the Klingons wanted a shot at the idea of surreptitiously supplying weapons, they could have given them bows that shoot further, short swords (which could have evolved from their daggers), battle-axes (which could have evolved from tools) or atl-atl's (sticks used to help throw javelins further, which humans used as far back as the Stone Age). Crossbows would be a step in the direction they did go, but still iffy. These all seem to be within the locals' capabilities, and the Klingons' as well.

Neither tribe we are shown appears to have anything like the technology necessary to invent a musket. They don't have gunpowder or any other propellant, they don't seem to know how to prepare metal to endure the force of exploding gunpowder, and they don't have any apparent knowledge of how to build the lock.

IIRC, one scene shows a Klingon demonstrating how to use a new weapon to a puzzled-but-impressed native.
I get the strong impression that they're handing over ready-made weapons and then sticking around as advisors. There's quite a bit of precedent for this scenario in Earth's own history - the British and French trading with Native Americans, for instance.

Somewhere in the Star Trek archives is extended footage of Nona bathing by the falls. (I guess it was deleted because she was too steamy)

A hot spring?

If Nona had seen Kirk watching her bathe, she probably would have asked, "Water you doing?"

GREAT MOMENT:

I gotta give credit to Nimoy's stunt double for that beautiful fall he took on the planet surface after being "shot" by the "bullet". It's a dandy.

Id say better than average

By the way, not only is the Mugato spelled "Gumato" in the closing credits, but the characters can't seem to decide whether to pronounce the name with a "-u" sound or an "-o" sound at the end ("Mugato" vs "Mugatu")

Spock reminds Kirk at the beginning that the Enterprise men aren't allowed to use their phasers. Presumably because they aren't supposed to be displaying advanced technology. Yet the landing party then beams up in full view of the pursuing villagers.

Kirk says that if the Klingons are found violating the treaty, it could result in "interstellar war". But wouldn't the Organians intervene again to stop such a war? Aren't they enforcing the treaty they mandated? Or once they got the Earthmen and Klingons off their planet, did the Organians cease to take an interest in their affairs?

Why does Kirk visits the planet in the first place? It is not to visit his bloodbrother, although he beams right into his territory, but to do some biological research. Why isn't there a botanic specialist present then? And how long this research will go on? Three, four hours? The logical thing to do would be to beam over a team of specialists researching fauna and flora for a few months or even years (disguised as locals of course)...

Klingon interference is considered as a breach of the treaty, does this mean the planet lies within the Federation borders but close to Klingon territory? Why didn't Kirk call for the cavalry then, this is an invasion, period! And where are the Federation guards to protect its borders?

Unless of course that the planet is in the neutral zone but then what is Kirk doing there violating the treaty himself?

Unless the planet is in a 'neutral' zone that is not THE neutral zone, but neutral as in 'not belonging to anybody and to be left alone by both parties'.

As a possible answer on my very first point: the botanical research party was probably just a scam to gather some of those leafs Nona was playing with. Kirk was probably only trying to organise a night of madness on the Enterprise!

Nona just made me think of a new definition for The Milky Way, but I won't go further in that...

Somewhere in the Star Trek archives is extended footage of Nona bathing by the falls. (I guess it was deleted because she was too steamy)

It's included in the blooper reel for the second season. There's also a blooper of Nancy Kovack holding the knife up, looking at it, and dropping her arm back down.

The men's wigs in this episode are not applied well, especially the blonde ones worn by Tyree's people. Michael Witney's appears to move a bit in one scene.

By the way, did you know that Michael Witney was once married to Twiggy? Unfortunately, he passed away in 1983, at the age of 52.

Did M. Whitney smoke alot?

(Keith Alan Morgan)
"Dr. M'Binga told Chapel to call him when Spock awoke, but when Spock awakens, she doesn't."

I just watched this episode, and it looked to me like Chapel pushed a button on the wall just before going over to Spock, and I'm thinking that was to call the doctor.

The remastered "A Private Little War" airs next weekend. Very little to do here other than the stock orbital shots. They could juice up the phaser shots, but probably won't.

They could fix the BUNNY FEET!!!!

You know, it's too bad they never followed up on what happened to this planet on Next Generation. I even have a possible background to a NextGen scenario:

After this episode, the Federation and the Klingons keep giving their proxies more weapons, to keep it balanced. Soon, a full blown war breaks out between the hill people and the villigers.

When the Khitomer Accords are signed, both the Feds and the Klingons end their support of the factions and stop supplying weapons, but the damage is done. Both sides have learned enough to make the weapons on their own and the war goes on for another eighty years or so.

Finally, both sides seemingly want peace, and ask the Federation for help. Picard and Co. are sent in to mediate between the two sides (en route to the planet, Picard can brief the senior staff on the background of the war, like I provided above). Finally, just before the treaty is signed, the people of the planet ask the Federation and the Klingons to send delegates to witness it.

However, there is a group on the planet that blames both sides for the long war and want revenge. Basically, Picard and Co. have to stop them, before they destroy the peace.

I think this could have been a good episode, and shown one of the major tragedies of the Federation/Klingon Cold War.

i think my station killed off Enhanced for law and Disorder at 3am.

Well, the S2 Enhanced DVD's will be coming out soon, I think around the end of August.

That way is a win-win situation. You get Trek Enhanced and UNCUT!

Sometimes I think they should pass a law forbidding the butchering of old TV shows. They were meant to be shown in their original length, I say leave them that way.

I agree, but business is business as Quark would say.

Tim, the first season episode "Too Short A Season" was, in fact, originally intended to follow up. A role written for William Shatner ended up being rewritten as Admiral Mark Jameson and the planet involved was changed. I believe the details can be found on Wikipedia.

Really? This is the first I've heard of this.

>Sometimes I think they should pass a law forbidding the >butchering of old TV shows. They were meant to be shown in >their original length, I say leave them that way.

wsell, too bad people like you weren't legislating in 1975 or whenever it was the FCC allowed this barbarous practice.

Imagine buying a new modern edition of a book that is an old favorite treasured classic of yours. You sit down to read it, only to find that numerous paragraphs have been removed from the text and replaced with print ads. Yet that situation is no different than what we have in television, with classic works of art vandalized so that advertisers may plug their wares.

I did a little bit of research on the whole Kirk was supposed to appear rumor and the Wikipedia article links to the Memory-Alpha article (the Star Trek Wiki) on which I found no mention of Kirk appearing. Than I went to the discussion page and found out that it was removed because the editor called it a "complete made-up rumor as far as I am aware - I've never seen a legitimate source on the matter that makes this claim."

I can see the parallels as both stories are about supplying weapons to people who are fighting each other. The difference is that the TOS episode is a Vietnam parallel where the Klingons (Russians) are arming one side and Kirk is forced to arm the other so that they can keep a balance of power. The TNG episode is an Iran-Contra parallel where Jameson illegally trades arms for hostages and than gives the same weapons to the other side, like the US was illegally selling arms to Iran while also giving WMDs to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war.

Couldn't be any worse than Clamato..
I think there's a beer mixed with Clamato, sold by Miller. In big (24 oz.) cans, no less. Gotta be worse than Clamato by itself.

The enhanced version cut the scene with Spock's erratic vitals during recovery. The color contrast is better; the green blood on Spock's shirt after he's shot is more apparent.

New orbital shots of Neural, including a shot of the Klingon ship.

(According to Memory-Alpha.org, Neural was the name used in the script but it wasn't used on screen.)

The phaser shots were not updated.

For the primitive conditions, the natives have some pretty nice wigs. :-)

The green blood on Spock's shirt after he's shot is more apparent...
Or, was that CGI'ed in? Didn't look it. But, I don't remember the green blood stains from my 100,000+ previous viewings of this episode. (Gotta check my DVDs.)

I remember the green blood being there before, Adam. I know it was harder to see as the videotapes in circulation got older or my TV's picture quality declined.

If you look at http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=70&page=2 , you'll see the green stain in the original. The colors were pretty faded in the old syndication prints. In addition to the new effects, the remastered version revitalizes the color. The Peacock network wanted to show off its new all-color schedule, so they wanted vivid colors.

The remastered "A Private Little War" runs next weekend, with "The Gamesters of Triskellion" the following week.

This nit happens in almost every episode: if the tricorders and ship's sensors can track humanoid lifeforms, how can they ever be ambushed? This would lead to short-show syndrome, of course.

When Kirk jumps the Klingon in the foundry, the Klingon's hair suddenly gets much shorter (the stunt double's hair doesn't match).

Slowly savoring the Remastered DVDs, so I just saw this episode last week... I have to say, the shot of the Klingon ship in orbit is just about the most awesome thing ever...! :-)

Wait til' you get to "The Doomsday Machine"

BTDT (I caught a smattering of the first season on TV)- favorite episode, actually. But actually... not my favorite Remastered. I love this Klingon shot because it's something we've never seen before. Doomsday Machine was great, and all, but... I didn't have that same feeling, you know what I mean? (By the way, the Gothos Roller Coaster Ride and the Fesarius that looks identical to the 60s version from far away and super-detailed in closeup also qualify as contenders for 'Most Awesome Thing Ever') :-)

McCoy says, "This man believes the same thing we do, that killin' is stupid & useless."
Tell that to the Mugato you killed earlier, Dr. Hypocrite!

Surely McCoy should have been a bit more careful using his phaser in the cave. Even if he was careful not to let anyone see him use it they would wonder how he made the rocks red hot.

Keith, killing a wild animal isn't the same as killing a person, and it was trying to kill his best friend, not like he had a choice.

I know we rarely do special effects nits on the original series as they did the best they could but when people fire their phasers in this episode they freeze. This is especially noticeable when McCoy shoots the Mugato. I only saw it on the remastered episode so it's possible it didn't happen in the original story.

killing a wild animal isn't the same as killing a person
Speciesist!

;-)

Lol it's political correctness gone mad :-)

Towards the end, when Nona is attacked by a villager, you can see houses and buildings in the San Fernando Valley.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6E3Hgc2Li5k/UT7KqPrISAI/AAAAAAAACis/EzvV3V5I-Kk/s1600/1968-TOS-2.19-Nona-battle-SFV.jpg

For a shot from the same viewpoint today:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GzjooLPCwEc/UT7K9NUKMLI/AAAAAAAACi0/u7JcU6ZHpEA/s1600/bell-cliff-face-SFV-today.jpg

The explanation for the Mugato/Mugatu/Gumato thing is obvious.

The scpipts, being unsupervised this season, got loose and confused the heck out of everyone!!!!

Here's some background on this episode, courtesy of the blog "Star Trek Fact Check".

Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, April 17, 1999 - 6:40 am: When McCoy uses his phaser to heat up the rocks, why didn't they explode? One of the problems with heating up a rock too quickly is that any moisture in the rock will turn to steam and cause the rock to explode.
These rocks may not have enough moisture for that.

I agree that the hill people should have seen Kirk and Spock. Kirk and Spock gaze at view screens daily, but the planet's people should have very sharp eyes, even without Retinax. Even in costumes, Kirk should have been recognizable to Tyree if he looked that way.

I guess the long range plan was that, once the villagers took over the planet, they would apply to join the Klingon Empire. The Empire would, of course, accept the application.

Kirk has a long scratch on his right cheek after the attack, he's cured by Nona, and the Mugato bite on his collar bone is healed, but the cheek cut isn't. However, after a nap (and some commercials), the cheek cut is gone.

Kirk beams down with two arm bands on his right bicep. It becomes a single band for most of the episode, then after the fight at the end of the show, it's back to two arm bands.

Janos Prohaska is listed as the 'Gumato', instead of the 'Mugato'. From what I've read, Shatner misread the word in the script, it wasn't caught, and it was later kept as the correct name for the creature, and too late to change the credits.
I like 'Mugato' over 'Gumato', anyways.

Despite appearing only in this one episode, the Mugato is one of the most recognized creatures on Trek.

I really don't think that Starfleet would allow Kirk to casually replicate 100 flintlocks for Tyree and his tribe. That's a blatant violation of the Prime Directive, Klingon interference or no. If he did give them the weapons, I think he'd be in A LOT of trouble with headquarters.

Well, what were the alternatives?

I suppose Kirk could have just left and let the diplomats try to sort it out. However, that would take time, and, in the meanwhile, more of Tyree's people would be slaughtered. And, besides, sometimes diplomacy fails, just ask the Maquis (those that were left once the Dominion was through).

My September 06, 2018 post explains what the Klingon plan was. Since the Organian Peace Treaty prevented them from just annexing the planet outright, they were going to conquer it by proxy, using the Villagers. The Klingons could then say to the Federation: "Hey, we didn't conquer them, they joined us of their own free will."

Clearly, Kirk was not going to allow this to happen, and, since he wasn't punished, Starfleet must have signed off on this. Guess they felt that bending the rules was better than letting Neural fall to the Klingons.

The problem was that Neural had no central government. If they had, Kirk could have persuaded them to apply to become a Federation protectorate. As I said, this is why the Klingons wanted the Villagers to take over and become a planetary government, so they could bring the planet into the Empire without breaking the Treaty.

In 2014, a Trek novel, called Serpents In The Garden, by Jeff Mariotte, came out. Set a few months prior to ST: TMP, in involves Admiral Kirk going back to Neural to check out what has happened in the few years since the events of this episode. It's a pretty good novel which addresses many of the questions this episode raised.

"Well, what were the alternatives?"

How about just taking away their guns, and establishing a blockade around the planet so the Klingons can't influence the Villagers? That way, they and the Hill people return to their status quo, and if they still want to fight at least it's just with knives and arrows.

I suppose that could work. The Enterprise could do what it did in A Piece Of The Action. Stun everyone from orbit, then they beam down, and collect the guns while everyone is knocked out.

As for blockading the planet, the only issue I see is that, since it's not in Federation space, would Starfleet had the jurisdiction to do that?

Scotty called it a 'hands-off' planet, although research was allowed. I suppose if the Klingons aren't allowed to give the natives weapons and they did, thus breaking the rules, then Starfleet can 'break the rules', and intercept any ship that tries to visit the planet for nefarious reasons. If Starfleet and the Federation are go gung-ho on peace and not letting people kills themselves, then they need to put their money where their mouths are and stop this now, before it really does become a 23rd century version of Viet Nam.

Geez, I'm sounding like it's real!

Well, I suppose if things got too hot, the Organians would step in and tell the Federation and the Klingons to cool it.

When Spock is shot there's green blood on his back and front. Did the bullet pass right through him? Can a flintlock fire a projectile that powerful?

Kirk and McCoy beam down a quarter mile from Tyree's village, and are quickly attacked by a mugato. That's a dangerous place to live! Are the mugatos encroaching on Hill People land or are the Hill People willing to deal with such creatures on a daily basis?

Does anybody else cringe when Nona gets her hand sliced by Tyree's knife? Yeah, it heals quickly, but still...eek!

The Enterprise notes that the Klingon ship beamed up that Klingon, but nothing is ever said about it afterwards, and the Enterprise seemingly leaves the planet without dealing with them. I suppose they left first and the Enterprise left days later.

And speaking of that Klingon, I have the DVD set for season 2 and every episode comes with the trailer for it, produced back when the show was in production. The scene of Nona telling McCoy that Kirk is hers now is reworked so it looks like she's telling the Klingon that Kirk is hers.

The Enterprise notes that the Klingon ship beamed up that Klingon, but nothing is ever said about it afterwards, and the Enterprise seemingly leaves the planet without dealing with them.

If the planet was outside Federation space, then the Enterprise has no jurisdiction on who comes or goes from the planet.

Yes, but Kirk wasn't about to just walk away from his friend, Tyree, and the interference of the Klingons.
The Hill People probably got those 100 flintlocks and the Enterprise left them to deal with their potential civil war.

And whether Starfleet signed off on this remains a mystery.