AllMovie

The starship Enterprise, probing into an uncharted area of space, encounters a mysterious rotating cube that blocks its path. Attempting to pull away, the ship is bombarded by potentially lethal radiation and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is forced to order the destruction of the object. The ship is soon confronted with the giant spaceship Vesarius, hundreds of times the size and power of the Enterprise, which seizes the starship in a tractor beam and whose commander, Balok, announces that the starship will be destroyed in ten minutes. Kirk must engage in a battle of wits and wills to save his ship, running a bluff with a non-existent device and substance called "corbomite." He succeeds, only to discover that the alien Balok, despite the power of his vessel, was also running something of a bluff.