The Last Enemy

Air Date: 02/19/76    written and  Directed by Bob Kellett

The moon approaches another star system (amazing how this moon gets around, isn't it?) - a system with 2 planets in the same orbit and on opposite sides of their sun, so that neither can see the other - ever. Koenig initiates contact procedures, since at least one planet is known to be inhabited. On this planet, the ruling matriarchy makes a decision to send a huge battleship to the moon, 'manned' by 4 females.  Koenig becomes alarmed and now initiates defense procedures. The battleship does land and appears to fire on Alpha Base, but no - Alpha is not the target; the target is the other planet. Koenig and his group quickly realize that they've drifted into the middle of an on-going war. The warring factions can now use the strategic location of the moon as a means to fire missiles on their enemy. Koenig soon makes contact with the other planet - or rather with the one male representative - and attempts to negotiate a cease fire, but, as the female who soon visits Alpha says, they have always been at war and no one can just cease all this in so simple a manner.
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This episode has some impressive graphics and FX, and does present an interesting situation in the first act; for example, the audience is made to think that Alpha is the target of hostilities in the first few minutes, but we then learn  that the Alphans are merely bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time (of course, those at war look at it differently - to them, the moon is in exactly the right place). However, though the set-up is great, the story doesn't do much with it. It's hinted that this is a literal war of the sexes but doesn't bother with any history. It doesn't bother to explain how the societies survive if each has only one gender (if that is the case).  Also, how did they conduct war before the moon arrived? At one point, the female warrior explains how it was all but impossible to engage the enemy before the moon's arrival. So, the two planets were at war but almost never engaged? Why are they at war anyway? Too many unanswered questions and the story becomes repetitive by the final act. Koenig's eventual retaliation is surprisingly brutal - but this is war. A better version was on Star Trek TOS - A Taste of Armageddon.  BoG's Score: 6 out of 10