complete star trek

TOS #29: Operation Annihilate

2009-07-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is a relatively straighforward episode aboult slimy creatures, which are actually a hive mind, taking over the bodies of the people on Deneva and causing them to build ships to spread the creatures to other star systems. The things kill Kirk's brother and infect his nephew.

Spock also gets infected, but is able to control the pain used to manipulate his body and mind. He beams back down to capture one of the nodes of the organism.

The Captain figures out that the thing is sensitive to light, and they test the hypothesis on Spock. Light does remove the creature from him, but also (temporarily, luckily) blinds him. Before realizing Spock's blindness is reversible, this episode created a good-of-the-many/good-of-the-one scenario around Spock which is clearly one of the precursors to the plot of II.

TOS #28: The City on the Edge of Forever

2009-07-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

Of all episodes of TOS, I believe this might be the one that affected me most, personally. In it, Bones OD and transports down to some weird anomalous ruins on an otherwise unremarkable planet. He jumps through this time gate into about 1930, altering the timeline significantly. The rest of the away party appears to be inside some kind of immuned area, as they are now trapped in an alternate timeline in which there is no Enterprise in orbit. The gate lights up when it talks, and it kind of insults Spock.

It agrees to replay Earth's history and Kirk and Spock try to jump back to just before where Bones went. They miss by what appears to be several weeks. Once they get back to 1930, Kirk meets Joan Collins and falls in love with her. Spock figures out that the timeline alteration is that Bones saves her. By saving her, he causes the US not to enter World War II in time, letting the Germans develop atomic weapons first and win the war.

Although Kirk is in love with her, he stops Bones from saving her at the critical moment and fixes the timeline. The gate thing then allows them to jump back to their own time and beam up to the Enterprise. The thing I like best about this episode is how Kirk and Spock work for pennies a day to buy parts which Spock uses to build a computer to interface with the tricorder to figure out what's happening to the timeline.

TOS #27: The Alternative Factor

2009-07-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

While an investigating an uninhabited planet, the ship gets rocked by this strange force that makes things' gravity go momentarily near 0. The Captain, Spock, and several redshirts then beam down to talk to a newly discovered, single, humanoid life form on the planet, who they bring back to sick bay on the Enterprise.

This guy turns out to be schizophrenic, and one of his personalities is a dilithium crystal kleptomaniac. Eventually, they figure out that there is a singularity connecting parallel universes, and that this dude is actually jumping back and forth. The other him, from the parallel universe, is trying to stop him from accidentally annihilating everything.

Eventually, one of his selves and Kirk manage to lock both halves of the dude in this interstitial space, protecting both universes but dooming both incarnations of the guy to eternal hand-to-hand combat in a very blue room.

TOS #26: Errand of Mercy

2009-06-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Enterprise gets attacked by Klingons about 30 seconds in to this episode, and then continues on its mission to secure a border-area planet of some strategic importance.

The council of the planet, which was supposed to be a backward one, isn't interested in Federation protection, and keeps insisting it's safe. Then, members of the council start intuiting things about what are happening in orbit.

Kirk takes the pseudonym Barrona and Spock pretends to be a Vulcan trader. Kirk is then appointed liaison between the Klingon marshall and the Organians. He and Spock decide to try to foment a rebellion, but the Organians don't care and the Klingons find out and imprison Kirk and Spock. Eventually, both the Klingons and humans realize the Organians are far more advanced than was thought (it turns out they are godlike beings of pure energy).

Taught a lesson in humility, they call off the war.

TOS #25: The Devil in the Dark

2009-06-07T09:25:00.001-07:00

This episode is about a monster menacing a mining colony. It turns out to be a silicon-based lifeform that's only killing to protect its brood. This guy and about 50 other people get killed by it.

I could have told them at this point that this shiny orb was the egg of a silicon-based lifeform, but that somehow eludes everyone but Spock.

Eventually Spock mind melds with the creature, figures out what's going on, and brokers a deal. If the creatures dig tunnels (which is what they do anyway), the humans will NOT dig tunnels and will satisfy themselves with processing the discarded minerals. Everybody wins.

TOS #24: This Side of Paradise

2009-06-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

This episode is about the Garden of Eden. In it, all these very healthy-looking guys live blissfully in this Smurf-like one-woman colony. This woman actually loved Spock 6 years ago, and uses these weird bliss-making spores to make him decide to stay in Eden.

Eventually, the whole crew submits to the spores, falling into soma-like trances, until the Captain figures out that strong emotion breaks their hold on the mind. He pisses Spock off enough that Spock can overcome the Spores, and then they all agree not to court-martial each other.

Spock is acutely aware that he gives up his only chance of happiness, but that's OK, because being blissful yet having nothing to live for is no good, says Captain Kirk.

TOS #23: A Taste of Armageddon

2009-05-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is another fascinating episode in which a planet has actually learned to fight out its wars by computer. They do make the "casualties" actually dead, in the end, but with no catastrophic destruction or escalation to full scale annihilation. The problem is, they've been doing this for 500 years, and there's no end in sight.

Women like the one pictured here are marked as casualties in one battle, and Kirk decides to take matters into his own hands.

The ambassador from the Federation wants to fall into the trap of the people on the planet, but acting Captain Scotty is too smart for them and disobeys the order to lower the shields.

And it's a good thing, of course. In the end, the Ambassador learns that you can't negotiate until you have figured out your alternatives, including who would win in a fight.

TOS #22: Space Seed

2009-05-30T22:07:00.001-07:00

This is, of course, the episode where Khan is introduced.

He's frozen in a deep sleep, and if it weren't for Bones, he probably never would have thawed out.

The crew would be fine, because they are on to Khan's personality as soon as they have this dinner party, but the ship's historian (left), gets seduced by Khan and helps him.

His seduction of her is brilliant, because it relies on all the tendencies women are afraid to admit in themselves.

TOS #21: The Return of the Archons

2009-05-30T21:12:00.001-07:00

This one starts out with Sulu in costume, getting zapped by some zombie people in western clothes. He gets really spacy and confused.

These guys, though, betray their weird God and help Kirk and Spock.

Once they escape from their stone jail, Kirk and Spock seek Landrew, who appears like this:

But of course, when the curtain is pulled back, they find Landrew to be a computer. He's like a cross between the Wizard of Oz, Skynet, and Hal. In a possible precursor to 2001, Kirk and Spock trick the computer.

TOS #12: The Menagerie (Part 2)

2009-05-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

In order to get Pike back from his captors, the Enterprise sends down this "laser." Sadly, it's unable to penetrate their superrock fortress.

Meanwhile the aliens are trying to make Pike fall in love with their captive earth woman, so they can breed a human slave population. But that's OK, because Pike eventually outsmarts them, but not before they send him into his own dream worlds. Naturally, he outwits them long enough for Spock to figure out how to help him.

This is another definite precursor to the Ngillum episode.

TOS #11: The Menagerie (Part 1)

2009-05-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Spock "exaggerates" a communication from the planet where former Captain Pike happens to be hanging out. After a radiation accident, he's kind of a cross between Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawking.

Spock mysteriously then fakes new orders for the Enterprise to go to some unknown place, where these guys live. Only it turns out Spock and Pike have been there before, 13 years earlier.

At the end of Part 1, it's still not clear what the hell Spock is up to, but it's clear he'll need Kirk's help.

TOS #19: Tomorrow is Yesterday

2009-05-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

The enterprise has an accident with a black hole and goes back to the early 1960's. Once there, they try to clean up the timeline accidents they've caused. They end up with a fighter pilot and then an MP on the Enterprise.

The captain gets captured at one point, but Spock and Sulu use their martial arts to free him.

Then, for the first time in Star Trek, they use the "slingshot around the sun" method to travel through time to get back to where they're supposed to be.

TOS #18: Arena

2009-05-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

This episode has a familiar plot: the Enterprise is going to visit some friends, who turn out to all have been slaughtered, and the crew discovers it was a trap. They chase the offending slaughterers for a while, until they run into people who talk like this:

These psychedelic aliens suggest that the Enterprise and the Gorn settle their dispute by 1-on-1 combat between the captains. Both captains are transported to a neutral planet and start battling it out.

Obviously, Captain Kirk wins in the end, but not before ingeneously figuring out how to make a diamond bamboo pipe bomb.

TOS #17: The Squire of Gothos

2008-12-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-27T21:43:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T11:04:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

"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

2008-09-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

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.