2016 marked the 50th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. I’ve loved the show since I was a little boy. My mom and I used to watch the reruns of the show on Channel 5 on weekends. With this 50 year milestone I decided to go back and watch several episodes of the original Star Trek series. This is a list of 12 episodes that are not only seminal Star Trek but good stories as well.
While I’ve seen most episodes of the original Star Trek, I haven’t seen them all. On top of that I hadn’t watched Star Trek in years. For my viewing I searched the web for lists of the best Star Trek episodes from the original series. Aggregating those lists, I came up with 25 highly regarded episodes to watch.
From that list I determined to create a more manageable list of 10 great episodes to watch. My final list however turned out to be 12. I couldn’t figure out what two episodes to eliminate, so I decided to list the dozen episodes that resonated with me.
12 Awesome Star Trek Episodes
These are not arranged in order of preference, but in order of when they were filmed.
The Naked Time
While studying the planet Psi 2000 that is about the disintegrate, the Enterprise crew is infected with a contagion that takes away their inhibitions, causes large degrees of mayhem, and almost leads to the destruction of the ship.
During this episode Captain Kirk’s love like obsession for the Enterprise is made clear. So it the raging conflict within Mr. Spock to deny his human half and keep his emotions in check. The Naked Time has the crew racing against the clock and shows the ingenuity of Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott in saving the Enterprise.
The helmsman Mr. Sulu may have had the most interesting reaction to this intoxication virus.
The Galileo Seven
The shuttle craft Galileo carrying seven Enterprise crew members, under the command of Mr. Spock, crashes on a hostile planet populated with vicious giant creatures. They have no way to make contact with the Enterprise and Captain Kirk has a limited amount of time to search as he is transporting medical supplies that are urgently needed on Makus III.
The battle between logic and emotion is on full display in The Galileo Seven. Spock behaves logically and coldly to the ordeal. The ever expressive Dr. McCoy challenges Spock in the handling of the situation and the crew. In the end it is an illogical, possibly emotional act, by Spock that saves the day.
The Menagerie
This is only two-part episode of the original series. The original rejected Star Trek pilot, “The Cage” is integrated into the story to tell the story the Enterprise’s visit to Talos IV under the command of its previous Captain Christopher Pike.
The Menagerie starts with the Enterprise arriving at Starbase 11 answering what turns out to be a fake message orchestrated by Spock. While Kirk is figuring this out, Spock kidnaps the severly wounded and disabled Pike and steals the Enterprise. His purpose is to return Pike to Talos IV, the only planet where one can receive the death penalty for visiting.
While this all seems highly illogical, it turns out Spock did have strong reasoning, some of it maybe even emotional.
Arena
It’s easy to make fun of this episode for being super cheesy due to the rubber costume of the Gorn, but Arena rocks!
The Enterprise responds to a distress signal from the Federation outpost on Cestus III. Upon arrival, they discover the outpost has been destroyed the reptilian Gorn. The Enterprise pursues the attackers but both ships are stopped by the powerful Metrons.
The Metrons transport Kirk and the Gorn captain to a nearby planet where they are instructed to fight to the death. The winner will be returned to his ship and they can leave. The ship of the loser will be destroyed. Let the fight begin!
Space Seed
The Enterprise encounters the SS Botany Bay adrift in space. It’s a sleeper ship from the late 20th Century (at least in the original Star Trek timeline) with 84 passengers on board, including perhaps the greatest adversary Kirk would ever face, Khan Noonian Singh.
Khan is at first treated as a guest, by Spock’s research suggests that Khan is a genetically engineered superman who once violently ruled one quarter of the earth. But the information is already too late to help the Enterprise, as Khan has already set his plan to take control of Kirk’s starship in motion, setting off a conflict that would not be resolved for another 15 years with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Errand of Mercy
Errand of Mercy introduces Star Trek’s first habitual antagonists, the Klingons. The episode opens with the Federation and the Klingon Empire on the verge of interstellar war. Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet Organia to prevent it from being used as a Klingon base. But the elderly and peaceful Organians show no concern.
Soon their planet is occupied by the Klingons, trapping Kirk and Spock there. Klingon Commander Kor soon has them in his hands. All seems lost for our heroes, but the Organians are not all that they seem.
The City on the Edge of Forever
Most agree that The City on the Edge of Forever is the best episode of the original Star Trek series. I fully concur.
Dr. McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of the drug cordrazine. It makes him hysterical and he transports to the planet below. Kirk and Spock lead a landing party down after McCoy where they discover a time portal called The Guardian of Forever.
When the insane McCoy leaps through the Guardian, he somehow changes time so that the Enterprise does not exist in orbit above. Kirk and Spock must use the Guardian to go back to New York City in 1930 to find McCoy and stop him from altering history. Kirk however has no idea of the price he must pay to set time right.
Amok Time
Spock is behaving erratically and showing outbursts of anger. Reluctantly he explains that he is suffering from pon farr, the Vulcan mating cycle that will drive him insane if he does not return to his home world where his arranged bride, T’Pring awaits for him.
Kirk and McCoy beam down to Vulcan with Spock for his marriage ceremony, but T’Pring has other plans. She wants the Vulcan Stonn. The deranged Spock must now fight for her, but rather than choosing Stonn as her champion, T’Pring chooses Captain Kirk. And the prize for second place is death.
The Doomsday Machine
The Enterprise discovers that several planets have destroyed and the USS Constellation adrift in space. Commodore Matt Decker is the only survivor on the ship. He tells of a planet killing machine that can reduce world to rubble and how he lost all 400 members of his crew.
Decker is obsessed with stopping the planet killer, and with Kirk aboard the Constellation he takes command of the Enterprise. Spock argues logically and McCoy emotionally with Decker. Given what they’ve seen he not have the firepower nor the mental stability to stop this weapon.
The Doomsday Machine is a very good, very tense drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat while watching it.
Mirror, Mirror
Beaming back from the planet Halka, an ion storm disrupts the transporter and sends Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Lt. Uhura to an alternate Enterprise and an alternate universe. Here the human race has remained violent and warlike. Rather than peacefully exploring space the Terran Empire of this universe is aggressively conquering the galaxy.
At the same time, the barbarian versions of the mirror universe crew have found themselves on the Federation’s Enterprise. But it is far easier for the civilized people to behave like barbarians, than vice versa. However, there is one constant in both universes: the logical nature of Mr. Spock who figures out a switch has some how occurred. But the evil Spock does sport a goatee to make him look more menacing.
Journey to Babel
While transporting Federations diplomats to a conference on the planet Babel, the Enterprise picks up the Vulcan ambassador, Sarek, and his human wife, Amanda. Sarek and Amanda turn out to be Spock’s parents. However, Spock and his father have not spoken in years. Sarek never forgave Spock for joining Starfleet rather than the Vulcan Science Academy.
When another diplomat is killed, Sarek is the main suspect. But that’s not Sarek’s only problem. He’s also suffering from a heart condition. For McCoy to operate he needs a blood transfusion. Spock is the only compatible donor, but he must endure a risky procedure himself to provide the life saving blood his father needs.
The Enterprise Incident
Captain Kirk is under great stress and acting erratically. He orders the Enterprise to cross into Romulan space where it is quickly surrounded by three Romulan ships. The Romulan Commander, wanting the Enterprise as a prize rather than destroyed, brings Kirk and Spock to her ship to negotiate.
Kirk lies, saying they veered across the Neutral Zone because of an instrument failure. The Romulan Commander believes they came under orders to spy on the Romulans. Spock, compelled to tell the truth, admits Kirk ordered the Enterprise here without any orders from Starfleet. Kirk winds up attacking Spock, to which Spock resorts to defending himself with the Vulcan Death Grip.
Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek to NBC as “wagon train to the stars.” The show as we all know covers the five year mission of the starship Enterprise as it explores the galaxy and confronts threats and crisis on “the final frontier.” Yet, Star Trek succeeds because it is about it is really about something more simple and fundamental. It’s about who we are, where we’re going, and the people we’re going there with.
At it’s core, Star Trek is about friendship. Specifically the friendship between Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy. Kirk leads this expedition to the stars. He represents not only who we are (or at least who we were in the late 1960’s) and where we hope to go. He’s guided by the advice of his subordinates who are also his friends, Spock and McCoy.
The half-Vulcan/half-human Spock suppresses his emotions in favor of reason and logic. The fully human McCoy on the other hand embraces his feelings and often acts out of his passion. Spock represents Kirk’s head and McCoy the Captain’s heart. It is in maintaining this balance and the inherent conflict it creates that propels Star Trek. It’s also the reason that my favorite episodes from the original series deal so much with the friendship of the Kirk-Spock-McCoy trio.
What’s your favorite Star Trek episode? Did it make my list? Please let me know in the comments below.
And of course, live long and prosper!