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The Third Season of Star Trek: The Original Season was the last of the three seasons, and although it had some of the greatest moments Star Trek franchise has to offer, it was a bit wobbly as a whole.

We’re working hard on Trekathon, and we’ve already seen The Animated Series, a couple of movies and are about to move on to The Next Generation – these Trekathon Updates come a bit late, since they are surprisingly tedious to do. Sorry about that.

Again, thanks for all the followers and all the Twibbon-wearers. You can check us out on Twitter and read our daily reports on Posterous!

And, without further blabbering, let’s go to Third Season of The Original Series of Star Trek:

01: SPOCK’S BRAIN

The Enterprise is raided by an alien force that steals Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) brain, leading Kirk (William Shatner) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in a desperate race to retrieve it.

The pressure for the Third Season must’ve been quite big for the producers, and they’ve been probably sweating over the order of the episodes – especially the season opener. It’s an important one, since many of the returning fans will decide if they’re going to spend one more year with the series, and newcomers will see if all the buzz they’ve been hearing in the media makes it a worthwhile to watch. So it puzzles me why the hell did Gene Roddenberry decide to go with Spock’s Brain as the one. It’s not a very good episode, it’s mostly ridiculous (so they’ve taken Spock’s brain… the actual lump of stuff *in* his head? What? For why?) and following the Enterprise team as they drag the vegetative Spock behind them like a robot is just… weird. It would’ve worked much better had they placed the episode somewhere in the middle – at that time you let little slips like this pass – but as a season opener, that’s just strange.

02: THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT

Acting apparently restless and irrational, Captain Kirk inexplicably orders the Enterprise into Romulan space where the ship is quickly captured by the enemy and Kirk held captive aboard their flagship.

It’s not always Kirk who gets all the ladies – every now and then, also Spock has his change. Looking back at Spock’s love history, we’ve known that at least Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) is showing interest on him, and that he’s been in love at least few times. Me and Essi are always trying to spot some hint that there is or has been something going on between Uhura (Nichelle Nichols, later Zoe Saldana) and Spock – but so far, it seems that the writers of the latest Star Trek movie (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) just pulled that love connection out of their asses. .

03: THE PARADISE SYNDROME

Kirk loses his memory and joins the descendants of a tribe of American Indians.

You know the memory loss card they play every now and then in a TV series, when they’re completely out of ideas. Like the first season of 24, when Jack Bauer‘s (Kiefer Sutherland) wife (Teri Bauer, played by Leslie Hope) lost her memory? Well, usually they don’t work. Well, the good thing in The Paradise Syndrome is that they go all the way with the concept. Introducing Kirok, a playboy that just fell out of the blue among an Indian tribe (that’s about to get smashed by a meteor), who seduces the hottest chick in the village, impregnates her and then gets her killed. How convenient. It’s not a bad episode, but some things are just too far-fetched, even for Star Trek. Also, we get to witness The Shatner’s Rage when Kirk is going “I AM KIROK!!!!” – a bit like later in The Wrath Of Khan when he loses it with Khan (Ricardo Montalban)(KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!) etc. It’s always a nice flavour.

If they ever wish to continue The Original Series in some way, here’s my suggestion: Miramanee (Sabrina Scharf) died, but Salish (Rudy Solari), the medicine man, managed to save the baby – Kirk’s son (and not the last one, I tell you…)! He’s raised to hate anything coming down from the sky and told lies about his mother for all of his life – until he’s 20. Then, he finds out more about his father and mother, and decides to find out. And bit by bit, he starts to understand there are people in the sky – and he wants to be with them. Klingons attack, he beats the shit out of them, steals their ship and flies to the nearest starbase, trains to become as great captain as his father etc.

04: AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD

A group of children on the distant Federation outpost Triacus are possessed by an evil spirit that convinces them to kill their parents and then commandeer the Enterprise.

Let’s go morbid! A bunch of serial killer kids with the blood of their own parents in their hands. Damn those brats! Kirk should’ve smacked the shit out of them for being so annoying. But instead, after the “evil spirit” (Melvin Belli, who happens to be one of the top lawyers of entertainment industry of all time – defended, among many others, Jack Ruby, the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald) – some kind of a pedo-ghost is gone, the kids are like “well, dunno, ok, shit happens…” and Kirk and everyone are again like “oh how adorable these brats are…”

05: IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY?

A beautiful woman escorts an alien ambassador so hideously ugly that the sight of him can drive a human mad.

A Cthulhu Mythos meets Star Trek – so mindboggingly horrendous-looking creature you’ll need to do FIVE successful insanity rolls not to lose your mind completely. Nyarlathotep? Yog-Sothoth? Shub-Niggurath?

There’s too few creatures that are so beyond humanoid form in Star Trek that it’s impossible for humans to understand. Also, speaking of Leonrad Nimoy’s face… Hats just don’t fit that face, but anything completely out of this world and TURBO-COOL, like the red glasses he wears for protection just perfect his alien-like features!

06: SPECTRE OF THE GUN

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Chekov are forced to re-enact the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone.

Here’s a hot tip to science fiction writers:

Don’t mix scifi and western.

Why? Because it f*cking sucks. I don’t care how awesome you think Firefly is, or how much you love Serenity (I’ve tried and failed thrice to watch that piece of crap), or how great you thoughtm> Red Dwarf‘s Gunmen of the Apocalypse (it actually *is* good…) or Dr. Who‘s western episodes were… Spectre of the Gun might be the first episode to introduce this… aberration to TV, and it’s been a downward spiral on that very specific genre-combining scene ever since.

07: THE DAY OF THE DOVE

An extremely powerful non-corporeal being brings the Enterprise and a Klingon ship in direct conflict with one another.

Klingons are the best enemy anyone can have. They comprise of the biggest fears of the American public: the Japanese code of honor, the African American black skin, the ruthlessness and crude language of Russia and the general unreliability of Every possible Enemy Nation of the United States – so it’s easy to hate them. It gets even better when you force the good guys to work together with these animals in order to survive – a plot twist that has been used quite frequently on Star Trek. I like it.

08: FOR THE WORLD IS HOLLOW AND I HAVE TOUCHED THE SKY

The Enterprise finds an asteroid that contains a generational ship on a collision course with an inhabited planet.

The episode with the longest name in Star Trek episode has some Heinleinisque influences, and this time it’s McCoy who falls in love. The basic idea of a ship that’s been travelling in the space for so long that it’s inhabitants have forgotten it’s actually a ship is a compelling one.

09: THE THOLIAN WEB

While trying to rescue the Starfleet ship USS Defiant, Captain Kirk disappears when the dead ship is pulled into interspace. The Enterprise is then attacked by a mysterious local race, the Tholians.

Science fiction horror fits surprisingly well to the world and style of Star Trek, and The Tholian Web is a prime example of that. Kirk is stuck between existences, and his presence on the bridge is haunting to say at least.

10: PLATO’S STEPCHILDREN

The Enterprise finds a planet inhabited by aliens who were once followers of the Greek philosopher Plato.

Of all the episodes in Star Trek: The Original Series, I think I enjoyed Plato’s Stepchildren the best. Having said that, it’s not the best or the most legendary episode, but it took me completely off guard. I still can’t get the visual out of my head of a dwarf riding Kirk as he was a horse, Spock singing a beautiful ballad with a dark tone voice – and Kirk and Uhura landing a big, wet, smoochy kiss right there in front of hundreds of thousands of Americans living in the late 60′s for the first time in the history of TV. What a thrill. But the most interesting character in the episode was Alexander (>Michael Dunn), a persistently happy little feller hording a lifetime of humiliation inside his head.

11: WINK OF AN EYE

The Enterprise is hijacked by hyperaccelerated, sterile aliens who want the crew for breeding stock.

I wonder if Dan Simmons got the idea for his Hyperion saga from this episode. Just like Shrike of Hyperion who exists in the accelerated time, Kirk meets a race of creatures that do the same. It seems the time doesn’t accelerate very evenly, since if they would’ve followed the claim of accelerated time, the rest of the crew wouldn’t have moved almost at all in the bridge – let alone walk to the sickbay or transporter room. But really, who the hell cares. It’s an awesome episode, science fiction RULES OK COOL!

12: THE EMPATH

On a doomed planet Kirk, Spock, and McCoy become the subjects of an alien experiment whose mysterious intention involves a beautiful, empathic woman.

A strange combination between a modern dance performance and a Star Trek episode. McCoy gets a good beating, and DeForest Kelley reminds us once again that he’s actually a damn good actor. Although the setting is strange, and could’ve easily failed badly, it turns out to work nicely. The Empath (Kathryn Hays) – Gem, as McCoy calls her – is not the easiest role to play, since the character needs a certain doze of theatrical acting, yet she needs to be able to deliver huge variety of emotions without saying a word – and Kathryn does a very good job.

13: ELAAN OF TROYIS

The Enterprise transports Elaan (France Nuyen), Dohlman of Elas, to an arranged marriage on Troyius.

Elaan’s a bitch. Actually, if you’d look from a dictionary, you’d find from the entry “bitch” only “look up ‘Elaan’”. She’s like Cleopatra going through puberty crisis, and puts Kirk and the crew through hell only a woman has the power to muster. Yet, you kinda understand her – she’s going to be forced to get married with some dick from somewhere and there’s absolutely nothing she can do about it. So she’s using her diminishing powers as a princess for the last time. A funny little episode, it is.

14: WHOM GODS DESTROY

Kirk and Spock are held captive in an insane asylum by a former Starfleet hero.

Arkham Asylum …in SPACE! Kirk and Spock come to an intergalactic asylum guarding the wickedest and the worst criminals of the galaxy. But as soon as they get there, it comes apparent that the place is ruled by the nutcases themselves. A fine collection of different races we’ve seen already, including one Orion woman, which is always win.

15: LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD

The crew of the Enterprise find themselves caught in the middle of an intractable conflict with a bizarre fugitive alien and his equally belligerent pursuer.

I guess back in the 60s you had to really spell out how completely ridiculous the whole Cold War was. Kirk’s oratory ends – again – some tens of thousands of years of fighting or something. But given the time and age when this was aired, maybe it worked better back then. Or maybe not.

The episode reminded me of the gig mask I used to wear when we were starting out with my band Älymystö.

16: THE MARK OF GIDEON

Kirk is held captive on an empty duplicate of the USS Enterprise.

Privacy is quite a surprising theme for science fiction, and hasn’t been scavenged to the last bit, at least not yet, so I enjoy The Mark Of Gideon -episode very much. It’s of course not possible to really show how a planet would look like if it was *so* packed with people that nobody would have any possibility for privacy, but the theme of complete lack of privacy is quite interesting. Odona (Sharon Acker), the leading lady (who, of course, falls in love with Kirk…) says: she’d be ready to kill everyone to be alone for just a short moment. That’s how we all feel every now and then.

17: THAT WHICH SURVIVES

Enterprise crew members are stranded on a ghost planet and terrorized by the image of a beautiful woman.

A strange rockisode with Enterprise crew running around some alien planet, trying to avoid being touched by a woman (Lee Meriwether). I really couldn’t grasp the big idea behind this one – the Third Season had it’s low points, and this one is definitively among them.

18: THE LIGHTS OF ZETAR

At planetoid Memory Alpha, an Enterprise crew member’s body is taken over by mysterious energy life-forms.

I think Kirk says out loud one of the biggest truths in nerd culture in this episode: “When a man of Scotty’s years falls in love, the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed. His heart once throbbed to the sound of the ship’s engines; now, all he can see is the woman.” I’ve seen this happen, and on far younger lonely specimens – and what’s left of the man we’ve known to be the cozy nerd tinkering with his toys in his basement is nothing much but a drooling pile of babbling and cooing.

19: REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH

While the Enterprise searches for the rare cure to a deadly disease, the landing party is confronted by a reclusive man who is willing to kill to preserve his privacy.

How asshole can Kirk be? He beams down into a planet, disregards it’s owner’s (James Daly) wish to get the hell out of his backyard by threatening to kill him, then – as this guy invites Kirk and his friends over, our beloved captain seduces the owner’s wife (Louise Sorel) and tries to take her with him, right there in front of his husband’s eyes. What an ass. The episode makes quite a big claim, saying many of the history’s important people were actually same guy – not Johannes Brahms or Leonardo Da Vinci, just call him Flint, who can’t die. A nice episode, all in all.

20: THE WAY TO EDEN

The Enterprise picks up a group of renegades who have rejected modern technological life to search for the mythical planet Eden.

Woodstock in Space! A bunch of space-faring hippies, led by the guy with the world’s biggest ears (Skip Homeier), throw a party on Enterprise – and even Spock joins the jams! The episode reflecting the 60′s-70′s attitudes quite well, discussing such topics as freedom and finding peace and leadership and all that, but the one thing I remember the best is the love story between Chekov and the hot hippie chick (Mary Linda Rapelye).

21: THE CLOUD MINDERS

Kirk’s efforts to obtain a vital mineral are complicated by terrorists striking at the beautiful cloud city Stratos and its virulent apartheid policies.

22: THE SAVAGE CURTAIN

Kirk and Spock are forced to fight alongside such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln of Earth and Surak of Vulcan by aliens who want to understand the concepts of “good” and “evil.”

Another horrible rockisode… The setup is quite familiar: Kirk & the guys are stripped out of their weapons and then put to fight some other freaks for the amusement of some higher being. This time, it’s “good guys” vs. “bad guys” – although, with bad guys, the writers didn’t have balls to put Hitler there, although I’m sure they did think of it. So they run around the oh-so-familiar Paramount studio backlot, throw some sticks and rocks and then comes some moral blabbering nobody cares about.

23: ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

Kirk, Spock and McCoy are trapped in a planet’s distant pasts, where Spock finds love with an exiled woman.

A good episode. Spock becomes an idiot and falls in love and then there’s some time travelling through some kind of a gate – and, as usual, Kirk saves at the very last minute possible.

24: TURNABOUT INTRUDER

A mad scientist tries to take control of Enterprise by switching bodies with Captain Kirk

During the whole three seasons we have been admiring Kirk’s nerve to treat women the way only a good old-fashioned prick can, so it’s more than fitting to end the whole series with an episode where he *almost* gets his fingers burned. Kirk becomes a woman, and some ill-fated girl (Sandra Smith) he has taken advantage of somewhere in the past becomes Kirk, and the three-course tragedy is set. I don’t understand women, that much I can say, but I had no trouble believing the setting and how Kirk and Janice Lester portrayed their mixed personalities.

One of the things I enjoy about Trekathon is the unique possibility for a fast-forward trip through five decades of entertainment industry. To us, most of the stuff is already aged, so it’s interesting to see how an entertainment form such as TV drama has evolved in over 40 years. In addition for being seriously nerdificated during the process, I’m quite confident we’ll learn much more than we expected.

So far, the Trekathon has been quite an interesting ride. We’ve found ourselves enjoying Trekking far more than we expected, and surprised on how big an effect it has on our lives. It’s also great to hear people asking on how we’re progressing, and see that there’s a lot of people following us on Twitter as well, and we’ve even seen people starting to wear Twibbons to encourage us. A genuine thank you for everyone for the support and interest, we’ll keep on Trekking!

So far, we’ve seen 82 episodes, and we have 644 episodes and 11 movies more to go – and 331 days left to complete our mission.

Follow us on Twitter, wear a Twibbon to show your support and read our daily reports on Trekathon’s Posterous Page!

Here’s some thoughts about the Second Season of Star Trek: The Original Series, which I’m pronouncing as the best season of TOS – and possibly, of the whole franchise.

01: AMOK TIME

Suffering through his first infliction of pon farr, the Vulcan biological mating urge, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) must return to Vulcan to marry his betrothed or he will die. However, when the Enterprise arrives at Vulcan, complications at the ceremony may endanger Captain Kirk (William Shatner) as well.

Mr. Spock and Kirk have an interesting relationship. Mostly, it’s very professional, and both respect each other in their assigned posts – and quickly judging, that would be the case. But then there’s something else. Although Spock is a Vulcan who can’t show his emotions, and Kirk is a captain who needs to keep his commanding position clear, there’s a deep friendship between these two. It’s not uncommon to say it’s almost Platonic love. Hell, the Internet is full of Kirk/Spock -fiction, so to be honest, it would only take a small nudge towards a modern TV-series, and these two would be a gay couple.

But then there’s the hate, too. Especially, coming from Mr. Spock’s side. Whenever he’s somehow mentally unable to control himself, he’s the first person to lose it all, fight the Enterprise crew and kick Kirk’s ass, if possible. The whole series is full of episodes with Kirk vs. Spock, and Amok Time is the ultimate variation of the theme. Here it’s horny Spock fighting Kirk on a Vulcan over a woman who’s – again – fallen in love with Kirk. Well, at least that’s how it seems.

02: WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
The Enterprise is captured by an alien claiming to be Apollo (Michael Forest), the Greek god of the sun

A ragisode with Greek sun god Apollo, who seduces the Mandatory Hot Chick (Leslie Parrish) with his muscles, twisted nipple (it’s dislocated!) and general godness.

Apollo is no god, to be exact, but the last of a race of superhumanoids who visited the Earth in the dawn of Greek civilization, gave a big bag of tips and tricks to the Earth people, and enjoyed being worshipped as a gods. I like the idea of some greater, extraterrestial beings visiting Earth every now and then and sharing their knowledge quite a lot. There’s so much that’s still unexplained in history, the sudden leaps of culture and technology, the discovery of the most improbable elements almost simultaneously in different corners of the Earth etc, that it’s no wonder it’s quite a common theme in science fiction.

03: THE CHANGELING
The Enterprise finds an ancient interstellar probe from Earth, missing for 265 years, which has somehow mutated into a powerful and intelligent machine bent on sterilizing (eliminating all life from) whole planets that do not meet its standards of perfection.

Kirk’s oratory in action, again. There’s no computer, robot or alien super brain that can resist his Monologues of Destruction. In The Changeling, a super-robot is found floating around in space, a robot that’s supposed to destroy all of the impure elements it encounters. Well, surprisingly, nobody did teach any Asimovian Laws of Robotics to it, so it’s basically been going around, killing few billion people and now it’s the time of Enterprise. Because of some quite far-fetched reason, it doesn’t kill Kirk right from the beginning (like the name of it’s inventor resembles the name of Kirk), so he has time to prepare his speech. Few blurbs, and the robot is ready to blast itself to bits.

04: MIRROR, MIRROR
A transporter malfunction sends Kirk, McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scotty (James Doohan) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) into a parallel universe where the Federation is replaced by an evil Empire, Kirk is a despot, and Spock is a cunning pirate.

Spock has a beard, and Kirk is being an asshole – guess which one is from the mirror universe? A great fun, and the starting point for the Evil Mirror Universe Beard –meme we’ve seen re-used in science fiction TV so many times afterwards.

05: THE APPLE
The Enterprise crew discovers an Eden-like paradise on Gamma Trianguli VI, controlled by a machine that is revered by the local humanoid primitives as a god.

The Starfleet Prime Directive states that members of Starfleet are not to interfere in the internal affairs of another species, especially the natural development of pre-warp civilizations, either by direct intervention, or technological revelation. When studying a planet’s civilization, particularly during a planetary survey, the Prime Directive makes it clear that there is to be “No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet. No references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations.”

Apparently, these rules don’t apply to Kirk – no sir. So there’s a planet full of people who have lived there happily for 10000 years or something, in perfect harmony. And then comes Kirk, breaks everything, and leave them on their own devices, patting them on the back as he beams the shit out of there. “How do we get food ‘n’ stuff, we’re going to die!” “Just figure it out yourself, you know, plow a bit of ground here, plant a seed there, you’ll get a hang of it!” “Thanks… I guess…”

06: THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
The Enterprise discovers a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets, and a Commodore whose crew was killed by the machine jeopardizes the crew on a crazed mission of revenge.

Here’s a good point to discuss the remastered special effects of Star Trek. The Doomsday Machine is an excellent episode, a good old science fiction space fight with nice doze of Starfleet regulations, machines of incredibly destructive capabilities and Kirk saving the day. But really, why did they remaster the visual effects? The reason should be that they’d be able to turn them cool, up-to-date and look nice – well, they failed. I’ve made one Star Trek –spinoff, and our special effects were better than those remade by a big studio. This means they didn’t have a clue on what they were doing, and wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. In-house, on budget and on a deadly schedule – that’s not how you treat a legendary series like Star Trek.

07: CATSPAW
The Enterprise crew finds witches, black cats, and haunted castles on a distant planet.

Although the Second Season was far more coherent than the First Season, it did have its pitfalls. Catspaw was one of those – a strange ragisode with cats, witches, old castles etc. Really didn’t make too much sense, and wasn’t that good an episode. But guess you have to have these, too.

08: I, MUDD
Harry Mudd, now ruler of a planet of androids, captures the Enterprise and attempts to imprison Kirk for revenge.

Mudd is back! Remember the weird guy transporting hot chicks to a mining colony from the first episode? Well, he’s back, and this time he’s a king of a whole planet full of even hotter chicks – even his evil, nagging ex-wife is there, as an android… It’s a fun episode; Roger C. Carmel, who plays Mudd, overdoes his role so violently it becomes an entertainment on its own. Kirk uses his brains and pulls out a great show of illogical action that – again – breaks down the programming of the androids and free they go again! One could release the illogical play the Enterprise crew pull out as a video installation in Kiasma, added with some of the visual effects from The Alternative Factor - there’s some modern art for you.

(Isn’t it ironic, that the character with the best taste for women was played by a gay actor?)

09: METAMORPHOSIS
On an isolated asteroid, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years.

A beautiful science fiction love story between two entities – real interracial thing, you know. This one features Zefram Cochrane (Glenn Corbett), a character later seen in Star Trek: The Fist Contact. It’s a really strange episode in many ways, but the music and the romantic approach makes it an outstanding experience!

10: JOURNEY TO BABEL
As the Enterprise comes under attack on the way to a diplomatic conference on Babel, one of the alien dignitaries is murdered, and Spock’s sick father Sarek (Mark Lenard) is the only suspect.

Polisodes usually don’t go wrong, and Journey to Babel is a prime example of them. I love to see the races, hear their disputes and history, and feel as my general understanding of the scale of the galaxy grows in warp speed. I’m not sure if it’s the direction the later series are going, but I think at least Babylon-5 was especially inspired by Star Trek’s intergalactic politics, and I remember digging it quite a lot back in the days… Also, Spock’s family history tends to be quite interesting – first, it was a shock as Sarek, Spock’s father was played by the same actor who did the role of the Romulan commander, and Essi was (and still is!) convinced that Spock’s father is actually a Romulan.

11: FRIDAY’S CHILD
The Enterprise becomes involved in a local power struggle on planet Capella IV, where the Klingons want mining rights.

So far, the worst episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, even challenging The Menagerie in its shitness. Don’t know where to start… It’s a rock/ragisode, but I could write a full 100-page essay on the full body condoms the goons are wearing, and then just chop down the script’s badness in five-part encyclopedia – and that would be just the index. So instead I just call it shit and move along.

12: THE DEADLY YEARS
When Enterprise discovers a colony full of rapidly-aging scientists, whatever caused the rapid aging afflicts them as well. Chekov (Walter Koenig) may be their only hope for survival.

An episode with quite extensive makeup makes this an interesting piece. For the first time, the Hot Chick Beaming Along (Beverley Washburn) isn’t that hot (looks like quite a believable female military crewmember), but reason comes quickly – she’s the first one to get old as bat (not sure if that’s the right expression, but sound fun, anyway). It’s shocking how good makeup work they’ve done with McCoy – guess his face was already so wrinkled it was easy to add on to that. But McCoy also plays his part quite well, as he usually does, and the viewer can really believe he’s getting rapidly old (unlike Kirk, who looks just plain… strange).

13: OBSESSION
A survey of Argus X brings the Enterprise crew in confrontation with a vampiric cloud that killed a crew Kirk was on years ago, captained by the father of an ensign currently assigned to the ship.

A strange topical rockisode – meaning most of the time the script focuses on chasing the topic, instead of actually – you know – stating its point and moving along. It’s a cloud that drinks the life force out of people – we’ve seen these before, in different shapes and forms – and redshirt kill count is impressive. Never been a huge fan of rockisodes, they tend to be too much alike, and usually features the crappiest monsters / enemies.

14: WOLF IN THE FOLD
Scotty is suspected of killing several women while on shore leave on Argelius II. However, a more sinister force may provide a connection between this murder and many previous around the galaxy, including a rampage on ancient Earth.

Episodes with Scotty in such an important role are rare, but Wolf in the Fold plunges bravely into the head of this semi-alcoholic Scotchman. They play the good old card of old Earth legends, but the episode fails to be interesting enough. It’s sort of a galactic Sherlock Holmes episode, which as a concept is not a bad idea at all… I’m getting some interesting ideas here… Anyone wanna partner up, let’s write a detective mystery/horror/supernatural TV-series in a scifi setting?

15: THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
A dispute over control of a planet brings Enterprise to a space station, where they must deal with Klingons, edgy Starfleet Command officials, and a previously-unknown race of small, unbearably cute, voraciously hungry and rapidly-multiplying furry creatures.

The legendary trouble with those furry creatures called Tribbles is an example of excellent Star Trek writing – it’s funny, self-ironic and features a hefty dose of intergalactic politics. Not surprisingly, this remains to be one of the most famous Star Trek episodes of all times. There’s even a book made about the production of the episode.

16: THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
Kirk, Uhura and Chekov are kidnapped by aliens and forced to fight other aliens so that a mentally superior race can gamble on the winner.

Some sort of a gladiator –episode, which isn’t completely uncommon to Star Trek, at all. This time it’s Kirk & crew taken over to a planet where a group of gladiators fight to entertain some superintelligent brain creatures. To be honest, I can’t remember too much about this episode, except – not surprisingly – Kirk had the hottest chick who fell in love with our main man.

17: A PIECE OF THE ACTION
Returning to a planet last visited by a Earth ship 100 years ago, the Enterprise finds a planet that has based its culture on the gangsters of Earth’s 1920s.

A ragisode that takes us back to the Paramount back lot we’ve seen so many times – this time dressed up as the 20’s New York. This could’ve gone wrong, but again, the trick is that the episode doesn’t take itself too seriously. It actually feels a bit more like an episode from Red Dwarf than Star Trek.

18: THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
The galaxy is threatened by a giant space amoeba.

I’ve always liked the idea of creatures existing in the void. In this episode, that’s what the Enterprise encounters, a huge virus-like creature that’s about to divide and consume the whole galaxy. The episode was thrilling ride, well written, directed and acted. The friendship between the main characters of Star Trek is very well portrayed here. But most importantly, it was the last episode when Kirk wore his horrible green wrap-around shirt-thing. What the hell was that about?

19: A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
On a planet with a primitive civilization, the Enterprise discovers that the Klingons are providing a Stone Age society with increasingly-advanced weaponry.

Another prime directive –episode – question is, what’s the prime directive, actually? “Don’t interfere”? And if you do, what happens? You get to become a starship captain? Anyway, Klingons are always good – but the best thing in this episode is definitively the white, furry and horned monkey-like creature, Mugato!

20: RETURN TO TOMORROW
Three survivors from a race that died half a million years ago “borrow” the bodies of Enterprise crew members so they can build android bodies for themselves

Great balls of intelligence! Here’s an interesting factoid I came across when scanning through Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki: “Writer John T. Dugan wrote the script of this episode after he had read an article about highly sophisticated robots. In his original draft, Sargon and Thalassa continue their existence as spirits without bodies, floating around the universe. However, Gene Roddenberry forced Dugan to change the ending to the aliens fading out into oblivion. This led to Dugan using his pen name John Kingsbridge in the episode’s credits.” I’d be interested to find out more what was actually Gene Roddenberry’s role as “executive director” over the artistic content of The Original Series – this suggests that quite big.

21: PATTERNS OF FORCE
The Enterprise discovers a planet where a Federation historian has apparently interfered with its society to have it model Nazi Germany.

Nazis! In Space! And Spock wearing an officer’s uniform! There’s absolutely nothing I could’ve asked for more. This is a rare gem in science fiction history with actual Nazis, not just evil guys inspired by Nazis. Also, gotta love the 60′s-70′s portrayal of Nazis… If you want even a better understanding of that, watch >Franklin J. Schaffner‘s Boys From Brazil (in that film, there’s a Nazi doctor who’s so evil he *floats*). In those days, Nazis were just expressions of pure, primitive and one-sided evil wearing cool uniforms.

22: BY ANY OTHER NAME
Extragalactic aliens hijack the Enterprise and turn the crew into inert solids, leaving the four senior officers on their own to exploit their captors’ weaknesses.

There has been beautiful women in Star Trek – actually, one might think most of the women of Star Trek are more like moving, pretty furniture. Usually beautiful, rarely very capable of acting… And then there’s Kelinda (Barbara Bouchet). She’s more than just a mere woman, she’s a sculpture. Just look at her.

23: THE OMEGA GLORY
The Enterprise discovers the derelict starship Exeter drifting in space, its entire crew killed by an unknown plague.

U.S.A.!
U.S.A.!
U.S.A.!

24: THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
The Enterprise tests a computer that, if successful, could replace Kirk as the captain.

Kirk has quite a good track record of confronting computers, and reasoning them to self-destruction. The Ultimate Computer is a variation of the same theme, but this time there’s more time to build the suspension, the conflicts and the desperate setting, so that it’s not just few words Kirk says to the few-million-year-old machine with godlike intelligence that leads it to blow itself to bits. It’s a nice episode also because it features another starship led by a capable commander, thus expanding the feeling of their universe dramatically.

25: BREAD AND CIRCUSES
Kirk, Spock and McCoy are captured on an Earth-like planet that possesses a 20th-century civilization with a twist: a Roman-style imperial system. They learn they are not the only Earthmen who have had to deal with it as they may.

I wonder why gladiator fights are such a big thing for the writers of Star Trek. In the Second Season alone, there’s at least three episodes of the Enterprise crew fighting in some sort of arena. Bread and Circuses takes quite an interesting stand in predicting how would the society evolve if Roman Empire had never fallen. The Bread and Circuses is also predicting the future of reality TV, way before the phenomenon was born.

26: ASSIGNMENT: EARTH
The Enterprise travels back in time to 1968, where the crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) who claims to be sent by advanced beings trying to help Earth.

One of the great things about Assignment: Earth is the lack of a specific enemy, other than humankind’s endless stupidity (well, there’s enough of enemy for one lifetime, anyway…). It’s an intergalactic James Bond –story with quite an interesting character, Gary Seven, as an agent who’s trying to prevent a full-fledge nuclear war on Earth. Featuring quite a clever use of stock footage, it’s a fine ending for the best season of The Original Series – maybe a bit too ambitious for the budget they had, but it did it’s job.

Gene Roddenberry even sketched out an episode based on the Gary Seven’s character, had Star Trek been cancelled after the second season. Don’t know what the storyline was, but sounds something that could actually work, if it was about intergalactic agents that try to prevent Earth from destroying itself, tied to historic events.