Star Trek TOS Goodness, 23 A Taste of Armageddon

Eminiar VII, principal planet of star cluster NGC-321, is the destination. Immediately the conflict is set up: The Enterprise has been ordered to establish diplomatic relations, but Eminiar VII is sending Code 710, meaning under no circumstances should they approach the planet. Of course, we have a diplomatic ambassador on board, Fox, who orders Kirk to proceed anyway, risking interplanetary war. Oh well.

We get an exposition dump from Spock, learning that the last ship to visit this system, the U.S.S. Valiant, never returned and was considered lost in space. Leaving Scotty in command, Kirk beams down with Spock and a security team.

Escorted by Mea-3, they are led to the planetary council headed by Anon-7. Much exposition necessarily follows. They were warned away because of "the war" which has been going on "for five hundred years!". But ship's scanners show no evidence of any war. Long story short, they "fight" the war with neighboring planet Vendakar with computers only, without physical damage. But one to three million inhabitants per year voluntarily enter disintegration (death) machines if they are registered as casualties.

And now the Enterprise, being in orbit, is also a "legitimate" war target, and wouldn't you know, just at this moment there happens to be an attack from Vendakar hitting both the city and the Enterprise. Oops. Everyone still aboard the Enterprise is registered as dead, and the landing party is taken hostage to ensure their cooperation in voluntary immolation of all other Enterprise personnel. Good luck with that!

Thus endeth the exposition.

The transition from exposition to development (complications) usually involves a scene of normalcy / pause / stasis / domesticity. This episode actually has two: 1) Kirk et al being confined as hostages, with some development as Mea-3 reveals that she has been declared a casualty, and 2) Scotty on the bridge, with some development as Anon-7 tries to fool him with a ventriloquism of Kirk's voice.