TOS - Omega Glory

Pros:  Good acting, Great Villian, lots of action, interesting ideas, fast paced 

Cons: Too many fights, Another Planet too much like Earth, Shatner reading the US Constitution

Best Quote:

SIRAH: Yes, it is written. Good shall always destroy evil.

MCCOY: Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs unless good is very, very careful.

CLOUD: Hoola!

MCCOY: Spock, we've got to do something!

SPOCK: I am open to suggestions, Doctor.

Omega Glory is an action packed Star Trek episode with Morgn Woodward, a very good guest star. For the first 3 acts, its tightly-written, and full of interesting (if not fully developed) ideas. And then comes the 4th act, and things sorta go wrong. Unbelievably, we learn the savage "Yangs" (in terms of their beliefs) are almost carbon copy Americans, down to their flag, Pledge of Alligence and the US Constitution.

Yet the Episode is Vastly Underrated

Omega glory is currenly ranked on IMDB as the 5th worst TOS episode, right above, Spock's Brain, the way to eden, And the Children Shall Lead, and The Alternative factor. Non-Americans really  hate it, giving it a 5.9 IMDB Rating (US viewers give it a respectable 6.5). 

This is simply absurd. The episode is well-acted, action packed, well-directed, and fast-paced. At no time was I bored. The ending is weak (Shatner reads the Preamble to the US Constitution) and there are too many fist-fights but those are the only real criticisms I have. I'd rate it a 7.0. 

The situation from the Original Screenplay never fully spelt out,
You can glem this from screenplay. Somehow after the invention of space travel, both the Communist Chinese, and the USA, colonized the same planet. A war broke out using nuclear and biological weapons. Over the passage of hundreds of years, the Yangs (aka the Yanks) reverted to savagery. The Coms (aka the Chinese Communists) became the more civilized village dwellers and got the upper hand. But when Star Fleet show up, the savage Yangs, using "human wave" tactics are on the verge of conquering the last Com village.

The following lines were cut from final filmed episode:

McCoy: Jim, the parallel's too close. They seem so completely Human. Is it possible that... ?
Kirk: The result of Earth's early space race?
Spock: Quite possible, Captain. They are aggressive enough to be Human.
McCoy: Now listen, Spock, you...

It Played Better in 1968

Roddenberry, who wrote the script, is basically flipping the average American view of the Korean war, and on-going Vietnam war.  Instead, of backward poorly armed Chicoms and NVA attacking outnumbered, but technologically superior American forces and winning through sheer numbers, its the  Yangs "Hordes" using spear/lances to attack the more advanced Coms.  

Througout the episode, we're supposed to the side with the more civilized "Coms", and be fearful of the Yangs.  The fact that the "Coms" are placed by Asian actors, and the barbarian "Yangs" are played by white actors is supposed to show up racial predjudice, as does Kirk's ending comment that "We the People,  must apply to everyone or it means nothing!"   

Summary

While its understandable that non-USA viewers would be turned off by symbols of US Partiotism, that's a small part of the episode.  From reading some of the more hysterical critics, you'd think Captain Kirk spent the entire episode singing "God bless Ameica" and waving Old Glory.  Watching it, I was suprised how little partiotism we get.  It all comes at the end, and although the idea of a space alien having a US Constitution is quite silly, its no worse then a Roman Planet, a Greek planet, a Dakota-Navajo Indian planet, or a Chicago Gangster planet.

"Star Trek" is a mishmash of Science Fiction and Fantasy 

Time travel, mind swapping, all-powerful aliens who can ignore time and physics, and mirror universes are all fantasies.  And there are other questions: How can Spock knock people out with a "Vulcan Nerve pinch" or "read minds"?  How can  a ship travel at 10x or a 100x the speed of light? How can humanoids live 2,300 years? How can a transporter beam your atoms through  earth, steel or concrete? How can aliens turn the Enterprise into a toy and back again? How can everyone speak English? And so on.

Its amazing what SF fans will accept or reject as "unrealistic".  And explaining something as due to an  all-powerful, too advanced for us to understand, alien life form isn't science, its just magical thinking.