The Enterprise Incident
episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (S3 E2)
"The Enterprise Incident" is the second episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by D. C. Fontana and directed by John Meredyth Lucas, it was first broadcast September 27, 1968.
In the episode, the crew of the Enterprise are on a secret mission to steal a Romulan cloaking device.
Plot
Captain Kirk orders Enterprise into Romulan space, for which, as far as the bridge crew are aware, he does not have authorization from Starfleet. Romulan vessels intercept the Enterprise and Kirk negotiates an hour's time to consider surrendering his ship. Kirk and his Vulcan first officer, Spock, are then invited aboard the Romulan flagship.
Once aboard the Romulan ship, Kirk and Spock are taken before the female commander, who demands an explanation for their intrusion into Romulan space. Kirk claims that instrument failure caused the ship to stray off course, but Spock divulges that the captain ordered entry into Romulan space and asserts that he is insane. Romulan guards lead Kirk to their brig.
Alone with Spock in her quarters, the commander questions Spock about his career.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Enterprise Incident” as episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (S3 E2). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (S3 E2). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3488489. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Enterprise Incident” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.