Star Trek: Clint Howard as Balok in The Corbomite Maneuver

Clint Howard child star

Clint Howard is the younger brother of actor/director Ron Howard snd is fondly remembered for his role as little Leon the boy with the peanut butter sandwiches who never spoke on The Andy Griffith Show. The child actor portrayed another memorable character in an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series which aired on November 10, 1966.

Star Trek: An unusual situation

The Corbomite Maneuver was the tenth episode in season one of Star Trek and is often listed in the top episodes of the Sci-Fi series. In this episode, Lt. Dave Bailey (Anthony Call) spots a large multicolored cube spinning as it floats through space. He advocates for attacking the object with phasers but Captain James Kirk (William Shatner ) has other plans.

Kirk orders his ship to back away from the floating cube but the strange object pursues the Enterprise and begins emitting harmful radiation. Reluctantly, Captain Kirk destroys the cube and while he is eating lunch in his quarters, more trouble arises.

Kirk notices an enormous glowing sphere approaching the Enterprise and a Commander Balok (voiced by Walter Edmiston) identifies his ship as the "Fesarius, the flagship of the "First Federation", and reveals that the destroyed cube was actually a border marker.

Kirk remains civil but Balok ignores the captain's greetings and makes a startling announcement. He gives the crew ten minutes to pray to their deities before he destroys the Enterprise, He says Kirk's vessel was trespassing in First Federation territory and also destroyed the marker buoy.

The Corbomite Maneuver

Lt. Spock (Leonard Nemoy) obtains a visual of Balok, who appears to be a blue/green humanoid with facial features that are constantly shifting and difficult to define. Kirk decides to bluff the alien by telling Balok that the Enterprise contains "corbomite", a substance that will automatically destroy any attacker.

Balok demands proof that corbomite exists. and when Kirk refuses, the alien does not destroy the Enterprise as he had promised. Instead, Balok detaches a small tug ship from the Fesarius and it tows the Enterprise deep into First Federation territory.

Balok who look screepy and sounds menacing then announces he will now destroy the Enterprise and Kirk realizes that the tug ship's tractor beam cannot be as powerful as that of the Fesarius. He orders the Enterprise to engage the engines at right angles to their course. Just as its engines are about to explode from overload, the Enterprise breaks free.

Balok unmasked

Kirk, Bones McCoy ( Deforrest Kelly) , and Bailey beam over to the other vessel and discover a "Balok" mask and realize the alien on their monitor was only an effigy. The real Balok, in the form of a seven years old Clint Howard, welcomes them aboard. This scene brings to mind The Wizard of Oz who was not the menacing creature on the wall with the booming voice but a simple man behind a curtain.

He explains that he was merely testing the Enterprise and its crew to discover their true intentions. As Kirk and company relax, Balok expresses a desire to learn more about humans and their culture and suggests they allow a member of their crew to remain on his ship as an emissary of the Federation. Bailey happily volunteers, and Balok gives them a tour of his ship.

Howard's Balock lives on in a set of Star Trek: The Original Series collectibles. Star Trek can be seen o MeTV Saturday nights at 11 PM EST The actor made 3 additional Str Trek appearances as an adult. In the DS9 episode “Past Tense, Part II” Howard was cast as the mentally challenged Sanctuary resident Grady. He portrayed the slow-witted Ferengi Muk in the season one Enterprise’s episode “Acquisition. Howard also guest-starred as an Orion in 2018t in the Star Trek: Discovery season one finale, "Will You Take My Hand?"