TOS #17: The Squire of Gothos

This episode starts out with two crew members (Sulu and the Captain) suddenly vanishing from the bridge while in the presence of a weird planet or small moon.

The others find them unwittingly playing exhibits in a wax museum of sorts in a castle on the planet:

Obviously, a pre-cursor of both Q and Ngillum, the guy who owns this castle is obsessed with the Earth of 900 years earlier, because he's 900 light years away. He plays the pianoforte and studies the classics. He wants to know about the Enterprise's battles and conquests. He operates the castle as a little oasis in an otherwise hostile environment.

Kirk challenges the guy to a duel to buy time while Spock figures out the source of Trelane's power. Kirk shoots his mirror, which is one of the sources of his power, but Trelane still has his mojo, so he puts Kirk on trial.

Kirk convinces Trelane it would be more fun to have another duel. Trelane wears his sword and his Marshall Ney boots and chases Kirk around the forest. Finally, Trelane's parents come and recall him, allowing Kirk and the others to escape.

TOS #15: Shore Leave

This episode is about a planet that's essentially one big holodeck. It's also about how you need a vacation after you take a vacation, because of how tiring vacation can be.



On this planet, anything you can imagine comes true. This is what McCoy imagines:


And this is the Captain's old flame, who name is Ruth:

TOS #20: Court Martial

Sometimes you have to stand up to your superiors, like Captain Kirk.



Kirk: So that's the way we do it now-- sweep it under the rug and me along with it. Not on your life. I intend to fight.
Stone: Then you draw a general court!
Kirk: Draw it? I demand it. And right now, Commodore Stone, right now.



So, since he has to go to court, he gets advice from his lawyer/ex-girlfriend. Then he finds out she's the prosecutor.





Luckily, Spock beats the computer at chess, realizes someone has tampered with it, and figures out it must be the missing Finney. Kirk finds him, gets his short torn, pounds him into submission, then saves the ship.


And Finney wonders why he never made Captain...

TOS #16: The Galileo Seven

This is the first episode that is purely a study of Spock's character. After crash landing on a weird planet where this, highly illogical, twelve-foot behemoth terrorizes Spock's science party, Scotty saves the day with a little Twenty-Thousand-Leagues electricity magic.




And the whole bridge crew has a good laugh about Spock's highly logical illogical behavior.

TOS #13: The Conscience of the King

Spock: "How did you know this lady was coming aboard?"
Kirk: "I'm the Captain."

Kirk simultaneously solves a murder mystery, serves as an intergalactic tribunal, and seduces a hot 19-year old actress in order to get information.

Bones: "Did it ever occur to you that he simply might like the girl?"
Spock: "It occurred. I dismissed it."
Bones: "You would."

The Captain uses this pimp face...



...to get some info. Spock figures out what's going on independently. Then, with the inside info, they catch the eugenicist butcher and murderer. There's also a certain vengeance-vs-clemency-of-Caesar theme in this episode. There are more precursors to Star Trek 2 in this one as well.



The episode ends with a perfect Hamlet conclusion.

TOS #8: Miri

This is an awesome episode in which it is suggested that the presence of Captain Kirk can accelerate the onset of puberty, in girls like this one, Miri:



Turns out she also has a crazy disease and might go postal at any time (become a woman). In order to keep her busy and keep her from knowing what's going on, the Captain asks her to sharpen a lot of pencils.






This works, and everyone lives happily ever after.

TOS #9: Dagger of the Mind

Second episode in a row with a crazy doctor run amok, but this one is a possible precursor to the "There are Four Lights" TNG episode.

This episode has a little Zach-in-the-box action...

...But is really a fascinating exploration of psychotherapy. All the "rehabilitated" people that I saw kept reminding me of the post-treatment scenes in "A Clockwork Orange."

Kirk: "One of the advantages of being a Captain, Doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it."

Then the dude tries to use the neuralizer to erase Kirk's mind. Naturally, he is unsuccessful.

TOS #7: What Are Little Girls Made Of?

I think this is the first episode in which undergroud survivial caves are mentioned, in yet another connection to ST2. Also, this episode has a barren ice-world -- just like ST6.

I love, in this episode, how Kirk trusts Dr. Corby only until he beams down and doesn't see him, at which point he immediately disregards the Doctor's request and calls for backup. He is, of course, correct to be suspicious, because this dude is lurking:

He's a neo-sapien android with Asimov robot programming. Also a precursor to Data, his name is "Ruk."

This is definitely the hottest girl so far in the series. And her name is... Andrea! Sadly, she is also an android.

TOS #14: Balance of Terror

First look at a Romulan:

It's fascinating that the introduction to the Romulans essentially makes them out to be Romans with a deathwish. I wish that all Earthlings spent more time learning classical Earth history. Our entire world is the future created by the Romans. We live in the New Roman Times.

This episode is also clearly the precursor to Star Trek 2. There's even a scene of the Romulan captain pulling wreckage off of his 1st officer (or Centurion, as the case may be):

TOS #2: Charlie X

This is another episode in which Kirk wears his alternate, Green uniform.


And Uhura sings improv:


And a crazy, alien boy terrorizes the ship. Don't mess with angry 17 yr olds-- they might kill you.

TOS #4: The Naked Time

This episode is basically about drunkenness. Much like many of the other episodes, it has a direct reference to the preceding episode.



Like in "The Enemy Within" Kirk has to use his awesome mind to overcome the intoxication, which it appears he may have done even had McCoy not synthesized an antidote and hyposprayed him minutes before the ship was almost destroyed.



Sometimes, after you do things while drunk, you wish you could just cause an anti-matter implosion, reverse time, and take it all back.

TOS #1: The Man Trap

This episode has a crazy, salt-craving shape-shifter and a very intelligent, very fake-looking, plant-pet of Sulu's.



Actually, plants and extinction come up several times in this episode.



This is also really the first "bro's before ho's" episode.

TOS #5: The Enemy Within

Yet another episode that I had not seen and therefore didn't realize was the basis of so many future Star Trek episodes...

Before Yeoman Rand's Mascara


After Yeoman Rand's Mascara


It is dangerous to separate the id from the ego. It is dangerous to pretend we are not part animal. To control the enemy within is not to ignore it or pretend it away.

"...his evil side, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to his strength. Your negative side removed from you, the power of command begins to elude you."

TOS #6: Mudd's Women

Player's Club

I love how in this episode the only differences between the good and bad looking versions of the women are self-confidence and makeup.

TOS #10: The Corbomite Maneuver

"I vote we blast it."

"I'll keep that in mind Mr. Bailey... when this becomes a democracy."

I agree with Randy Pausch - Kirk's staff meetings are the ultimate example of how leadership works. I believe this is the first episode that DeForest Kelly is in, as well as the first episode in which the ship fires on anything.

The Nagilum episode of TNG is a very different take on the Corbomite Maneuver.

TOS #3: Where No Man Has Gone Before

This "first episode" is really the second episode, if you count the pilot. It has the prototypical Barkley character, lots of exploding bridge panels, a marooning, a mining colony, love stories, a discussion of Spock's human blood, and 3D-chess.

The episode is about absolute power corrupting absolutely, but the interesting twist is that it's also about monotheism. You could also argue maybe it's a feminist episode, because it's about how if men think they are more powerful than women, they die.