Editing Balance of Terror (section)

==Legacy==
Guest star Mark Lenard, who portrayed the Romulan commander, returned in the episode "[[Journey to Babel]]" where he played Sarek, Spock's father. Lenard has the distinction of having played a Romulan, a Klingon and a Vulcan over the course of the series, the only actor to have done so.<ref name="syfy-guest" />

{{Anchor|Legacy|Influence}}
[[Bryan Fuller]] called the episode a "favorite" and a "touchstone" which influenced the creation of the story arc in ''[[Star Trek: Discovery]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/star-trek-picard-romulan-episodes-to-watch|title=9 essential Romulan episodes to watch before Star Trek: Picard|last=Britt|first=Ryan|date=2020-01-13|website=SYFY WIRE |access-date=2020-01-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Huw Fullerton |title=14 brilliant Easter Eggs in the first episodes of Star Trek: Discovery |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/star-trek-discovery-easter-eggs-episode-1-2/ |website=Radio Times |date=25 September 2017}}</ref>

The events of the episode are revisited in the ''[[Star Trek: Strange New Worlds]]'' episode "A Quality of Mercy", where [[Christopher Pike (Star Trek)|Christopher Pike]] ([[Anson Mount]]) sees an alternative future wherein he was not disabled and has retained captaincy of the USS ''Enterprise''. The differences between Pike and Kirk are highlighted; while Pike's preference for peace and mutual respect eventually gain the admiration of the Romulan commander, the peaceful attempt to negotiate with the Romulans, who see the gesture as an act of weakness and determine that the Federation is likewise weak, restart open war with the Romulans, and it is ultimately alternate-future Kirk's brashness, cunning and luck that barely save the alternative ''Enterprise''; his quality is implied to be what prevented open war with Romulans in the original timeline.