Editing Balance of Terror (section)

==Reception==
The episode is frequently praised by critics and regularly appears on lists of the best episodes of ''Star Trek''. In 2016, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' ranked "Balance of Terror" the third-best episode of the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise, noting that it investigates the connection between wars and race, and that it shows both sides of a conflict in deep space.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/13/the-top-ten-star-trek-episodes-ever/|title=The top 10 'Star Trek' episodes ever |last=Drezner |first=Daniel |date=September 13, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 24, 2019}}</ref> A 2017 article in ''The Washington Post'' which ranked the seven captains of ''Star Trek'' included a special mention of the captain of the Romulan vessel, calling him "The greatest alien captain".<ref name="washpostcapt">{{Cite news
| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/09/22/the-ultimate-ranking-of-the-best-star-trek-captains/ 
| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]
| title=The ultimate ranking of the best 'Star Trek' captains
| first=Frank
| last=Ahrens
| date=September 22, 2017
| access-date=May 21, 2019
}}</ref>
In 2016, ''[[Business Insider]]'' ranked "Balance of Terror" the best episode of ''The Original Series''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/best-star-trek-episodes-2016-9 |title=Here are the 13 best original 'Star Trek' episodes, ranked |author1=Andy Kiersz |author2=Elena Holodny |date=2017-09-22 |website=Business Insider Australia |access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> In 2016, [[Syfy|''SyFy'']] ranked guest star Mark Lenard (the Romulan captain), as the eighth-best guest star on ''The Original Series''.<ref name="syfy-guest">{{Cite web |date=2016-09-16 |last=Kaye |first=Don |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/17-best-star-trek-original-series-guest-stars-hero-or-villain |title=The 17 best Star Trek: The Original Series guest stars (hero or villain) |website=SYFY WIRE |access-date=2021-04-01 |archive-date=June 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626204122/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/17-best-star-trek-original-series-guest-stars-hero-or-villain |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2016, [[Empire (film magazine)|''Empire'']] ranked this the 43rd-best in a top 50 ranking of the 700 plus ''Star Trek'' television episodes. Critic Ed Gross praised the episode for exploring the theme of bigotry, and as "a piece of television that manages to conjure genuine suspense as one commander attempts to outmaneuvre the other".<ref name="Empire-Gross">{{Cite web |date=2016-07-27 |author=Ed Gross |title=The 50 best Star Trek episodes ever |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-star-trek-episodes/ |website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |quote=essentially a submarine thriller in space |access-date=2021-04-10 }}</ref>