Original Star Trek series--best episodes?

[maize]

DD13 wants a list of the best episodes from the original Star Trek series--can anyone help me out? She doesn't want to watch the whole series.

 

What are your favorites?

[Guest]

For a 13 year old girl? Gotta be "The Trouble with Tribbles". They're so cute! (lol)

[Ellie]

There are several in the first season:

1. Episode 22, "Space Seed." That's where we meet Khan.
2. Episode 24: "This Side of Paradise." Spock falls in love. :001_wub:
3. Episode 28: "The City on the Edge of Tomorrow"

[Janeway]

Trouble with Tribbles for sure!

[Kareni]

Can I recommend some favorite Star Trek books instead?

 

 

Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday both by A.C. Crispin,

 

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan,

Ishmael by Barbara Hambly,

 

The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar,

 

 Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane

 

 

These last two are a bit gory ~

 

Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter

 

and The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes

 

Regards,

Kareni

[gardenmom5]

the list of tos eps.   you can click on each ep for a summary.

 

I Mudd. (mudd's women comes first, but you dont' need to watch it.)

tomorrow is yesterday

trouble with tribbles (comedy)

return to tomorrow

the conscience of the king

journey to babel  (meet spocks parents)

errand of mercy  (political comedy)

a piece of the action (comedy)

patterns of force  (political)

omega glory (politcal)

requiem  for methuselah.

shore leave.

 

[gardenmom5]

 

There are several in the first season:

1. Episode 22, "Space Seed." That's where we meet Khan.
2. Episode 24: "This Side of Paradise." Spock falls in love. :001_wub:
3. Episode 28: "The City on the Edge of Tomorrow"

 

 

have you ever heard what joan collins said about her?  she was returning  to work after maternity leave.  her agent made her all these promises.  sexy space siren costumes.  she was excited and looked forward to it.

 

 instead, she was edith keeler.  

[kiana]

Can I recommend some favorite Star Trek books instead?

 

 

Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday both by A.C. Crispin,

 

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan,

 

Ishmael by Barbara Hambly,

 

The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar,

 

 Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane

 

 

These last two are a bit gory ~

 

Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter

 

and The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

In addition to this, the other books by Diane Duane are some of my favorites. They really explore the Romulan and Vulcan culture. Also, The Final Reflection by John M. Ford, if you can find a copy, is a great TOS book. 

Edited October 27, 2016 by kiana

[ktgrok]

For a 13 year old girl? Gotta be "The Trouble with Tribbles". They're so cute! (lol)

 

That was my first thought too. 

[Lori D.]

Here you go! I narrowed it down to about 1/3 of each season, and then starred the 10 very best episodes (JMO). You can see the entire list of episodes at Wikipedia, and clicking on each episode takes you to another Wikipedia page with a full description and info.

 

Season 1:

  Where No Man Has Gone Before - sets the stage for the series

   Mudd's Women - introduces a conman, and the idea of drug-addiction and placeboes 

* The Corbomite Maneuver - solid episode with a fun twist

* Balance of Terror - introduction of the Romulans

   Shore Leave - a clever lighter episode

* Space Seed - introduces Khan that was the basis for movie #2 Wrath of Khan

   Devil in the Dark - another solidly written episode, with a twist about the alien creature

* Errand of Mercy - a Klingon episode

   Tomorrow is Yesterday - time travel / preserving events to keep the future timeline going

* City on the Edge of Forever - rated as one of the best episodes of the original series

 

Season 2:

* Amok Time - Vulcan culture and marriage ritual; some strong female characters in this one :)

* Mirror Mirror - evil alternate universe versions of the crew - SO fun

   Who Mourns for Adonais - the crew encounters a Greek god

   I Mudd - humorous return of con artist Harcourt Fenton Mudd

* Journey to Babel - a top episode: Spock's family, a ship of ambassadors, and a mysterious enemy

* The Trouble With Tribbles - best episode ever

   Patterns of Force - recreation of a Nazi society

   Return to Tomorrow - advanced beings with no bodies temporarily borrow bodies from the crew

   A Piece of the Action - totally unrealistic, but fun -- puts the crew in a 1930s gangster society

 

Season 3

* The Enterprise Incident - more Romulans, cloaking device, and intrigue

   Day of the Dove - another Klingon episode

   Plato's Stepchildren - first televised interracial kiss; also brings in ideas of Ancient Greeks

   Elaan of Troyius - terribly sexist, but a fun sort of Pygmalion or My Fair Lady storyline

   Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - the "exploding the view of racism" episode

   The Cloud Minders - social class issues; slightly reminds me of the 2 races in HG Wells' The Time Machine

   Is There in Truth No Beauty? - ONLY because the guest actress later played Dr. Polaski on ST: Next Generation -- SO sexist, as are most of the episodes, in spite of trying to be progressive...

 

 

ETA -- PS

If DD likes Star Trek: Next Generation and Deep Space 9, then definitely watch all 5 of the Klingon and Romulan episodes from the original -- and if you watch the 3 Klingon episodes above, it is SUCH a treat to then watch the DS9 episode "Blood Oath" in which all 3 original actors return and place their roles of Kor, Koloth, and Kang in a Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai type of story. Outstanding!!

 

And of course, watch Trouble with Tribbles, and then watch the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" which does a phenomenal job of incorporating the DS9 crew into the original series episode!

Edited October 27, 2016 by Lori D.

[Guest]

Oh yeah, Mirror Mirror is a good one too!

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with the lists above.  

 

My personal favorites, in case you care (and in no particular order):

 

Mirror, Mirror (but don't have her watch this until she has seen several normal episodes or this one won't make as much sense

 

Space Seed

 

The Trouble with Tribbles

 

Miri

 

A Piece of the Action

 

Shore Leave

 

Devil in the Dark

 

City on the Edge of Forever

 

Mudd's Women (mainly because it leads into the follow up episode I, Mudd)

 

Journey to Babel

 

The Corbomite Maneuver (Includes Ron Howard's brother)

 

The Menagerie 

[Greta]

I'm going to recommend the two original pilot episodes, because those were Gene Roddenberry's original vision for the show before the network made demands to change it.  You'll note that GR created strong women characters in positions of authority, and that they wore pants.  For the rest of the series, the women generally had more supporting rather than authoritative roles, and they wore itsy bitsy mini skirts!  But more importantly, those two episodes just really showcase the heart of Star Trek:  the sense of wonder, the excitement of exploration, the notion that there's this whole vast universe out there to explore, and it's amazing and scary at the same time.  The first pilot (black and white, different crew) was called The Cage, and you can watch it via the episodes called The Menagerie parts 1 and 2 which integrated it into the storyline of the main series.  The second pilot (color, and with the familiar cast) was Where No Man Has Gone Before.   (ETA:  but I'd recommend watching Where No Man Has Gone Before *first*.)

 

There are lots of other good episodes.  But those can't be missed.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Greta

[kewb]

My dh (the ultimate Trekkie) says these 4 episodes best show what Roddenberry was trying to convey in 1960's America.

1. City on the edge of forever

2. Let that be your last battlefield

3. The devil in the dark

4. This side of Paradise

 

He has nothing against the trouble with tribbles episode as he finds it very funny but he is not going to assume that just because she is a 13 year old girl that she is looking for something light hearted. He feels the above give the breath and depth of what stat trek is all about.

 

He just tacked on.

5. The omega glory

Edited October 27, 2016 by kewb

[gardenmom5]

I'm going to recommend the two original pilot episodes, because those were Gene Roddenberry's original vision for the show before the network made demands to change it.  You'll note that GR created strong women characters in positions of authority, and that they wore pants.  For the rest of the series, the women generally had more supporting rather than authoritative roles, and they wore itsy bitsy mini skirts!  But more importantly, those two episodes just really showcase the heart of Star Trek:  the sense of wonder, the excitement of exploration, the notion that there's this whole vast universe out there to explore, and it's amazing and scary at the same time.  The first pilot (black and white, different crew) was called The Cage, and you can watch it via the episodes called The Menagerie parts 1 and 2 which integrated it into the storyline of the main series.  The second pilot (color, and with the familiar cast) was Where No Man Has Gone Before.   (ETA:  but I'd recommend watching Where No Man Has Gone Before *first*.)

 

There are lots of other good episodes.  But those can't be missed.

 

nichelle nichols has spoken about how she and the other women used to hike up their skirts to make them even  shorter.

joan collins has spoken about looking forward to wearing some uber skimpy sexy costume. . . . not what she got.

 

although they'd worked together before, gene rodenberry wasn't dating majel barrett when he cast her as the original "number one" in the pilot "the cage" with christopher pike/jeffery hunter.***   they were married after the show was cancelled.

 

(***another must watch for context.  it was used in the two-part episode the menagerie.)

[gardenmom5]

for some nice psychological studies -I really prefer the original series to all the rest.  the props are SE are cheesy, but the scripts were thought provoking.

and I was watching first run when I was little . . .

 

the enemy within

the naked time

a taste of  armageddon (war)

the changeling

obession

the enterprise incident. 

- sondra marshak and myrna culbreath (one of them founded a montessori school.) wrote a published fan-fiction based upon this episode.  two book set entitled the return of the pheonix and the fate of the pheonix.  I read it in high school.

 

 

-assignment earth was a fun one.  probably was meant to be a pilot for a potential spin-off that was never made into a series.

 

 

[Lori D.]

... although they'd worked together before, gene rodenberry wasn't dating majel barrett when he cast her as the original "number one" in the pilot "the cage" with christopher pike/jeffery hunter.***   they were married after the show was cancelled.

 

(***another must watch for context.  it was used in the two-part episode the menagerie.)

 

re: the 2-part story "The Menagerie":

JMO, but if someone new to the original series is watching to get a good idea of what the series was about, I would recommend waiting on "The Menagerie" until having watched a few dozen episodes. At that point, the person would have a good understanding of what the show really was like, and so watching "The Menagerie" at that point would be like watching "bonus material" on a DVD -- seeing the original pilot which was cancelled, and only one actor was brought forward into what the show really became... "The Menagerie" is more of interest in the sense that "this is what the show was originally intended to be -- but ended up NOT being this."

[Ravin]

The Trouble with Tribbles

The City on the Edge of Forever

For the World is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky

Amok Time

Space Seed

The Naked Time

Mirror, Mirror

[Greta]

nichelle nichols has spoken about how she and the other women used to hike up their skirts to make them even  shorter.

joan collins has spoken about looking forward to wearing some uber skimpy sexy costume. . . . not what she got.

 

 

 

:001_smile: Didn't know that.  To be honest, I like miniskirts (my legs are my best feature, which isn't saying much in my case, but still).  But I thought it was interesting how Roddenberry visualized the series as being far more egalitarian than it ended up actually being.  Some of the episodes, especially when the camera would first show the beautiful woman du jour and they'd use that blurry soft-focus lens and the music would come up, sheesh.  :lol:  I love Star Trek enough to forgive them, but it was so ridiculously sexist that some of those moments can be painful!

 

 

re: the 2-part story "The Menagerie":

JMO, but if someone new to the original series is watching to get a good idea of what the series was about, I would recommend waiting on "The Menagerie" until having watched a few dozen episodes. At that point, the person would have a good understanding of what the show really was like, and so watching "The Menagerie" at that point would be like watching "bonus material" on a DVD -- seeing the original pilot which was cancelled, and only one actor was brought forward into what the show really became... "The Menagerie" is more of interest in the sense that "this is what the show was originally intended to be -- but ended up NOT being this."

 

 

:iagree:   That's a very good point!

[shawthorne44]

If she does watch the tribbles one, I think the next gen tribbles one should be on the list too.   

(Says the mommy who is eagerly awaiting the day when DD is old enough to watch ALLLLLLLLL the star trek's with me).  

[Guest]

One thing to note:  it depends a lot on your kiddo what will be the best intro.  I enjoyed the series (not a "Trekkie") but my ds had serious issues with shape-shifting characters, with things that looked to be good but turned out to be evil.  I was pretty shocked by his perceptivity as I am a lot more a dullard in this area...so we just had to turn it off, even at that age, for a couple of years. 

 

But now the stuff he watches...oy.  :::ugh:::

 

[Lori D.]

:001_smile: Didn't know that.  To be honest, I like miniskirts (my legs are my best feature, which isn't saying much in my case, but still).  But I thought it was interesting how Roddenberry visualized the series as being far more egalitarian than it ended up actually being.  Some of the episodes, especially when the camera would first show the beautiful woman du jour and they'd use that blurry soft-focus lens and the music would come up, sheesh.   :lol:  I love Star Trek enough to forgive them, but it was so ridiculously sexist that some of those moments can be painful!]

 

:iagree:  Totally agree! The amount of sexism (which the show was probably blind to at the time, as it was SO embedded in the culture of the time) really jumped out at me when I started sharing my sci-fi love with (then) tween-aged DSs.  :blushing: Good lord -- the Captain having casual s*x with the space babe of the week made it a "swinging '60s show" ... And episodes like "Turn About Intruder" -- just... wince.. And poor Uhura, who's a glorified receptionist. And the female ensign whose job is to bring the clipboard around to be signed... sigh...

Edited October 28, 2016 by Lori D.

[gardenmom5]

:iagree:  Totally agree! The amount of sexism (which the show was probably blind to at the time, as it was SO embedded in the culture of the time) really jumped out at me when I started sharing my sci-fi love with (then) tween-aged DSs.  :blushing: Good lord -- the Captain having casual s*x with the space babe of the week made it a "swinging '60s show" ... And episodes like "Turn About Intruder" -- just... wince.. And poor Uhura, who's a glorified receptionist. And the female ensign whose job is to bring the clipboard around to be signed... sigh...

 

martin luther king told nichelle nichols  to NOT quit (she wanted to).  she was a black female OFFICER in a regular role as a respected character in the midst of the civil rights movement.  you'll note her roles in the movies had more substance.

 

yeoman rand was only in 10 episodes.  whomever decided they didn't need the extra character, and it was cheaper to not have her.  (their budget was extremely tight.) 

 

eta; spelling/typos.  sigh.

Edited October 28, 2016 by gardenmom5

[Greta]

:iagree:  Totally agree! The amount of sexism (which the show was probably blind to at the time, as it was SO embedded in the culture of the time) really jumped out at me when I started sharing my sci-fi love with (then) tween-aged DSs.  :blushing: Good lord -- the Captain having casual s*x with the space babe of the week made it a "swinging '60s show" ... And episodes like "Turn About Intruder" -- just... wince.. And poor Uhura, who's a glorified receptionist. And the female ensign whose job is to bring the clipboard around to be signed... sigh...

 

 

Yes!  I know in some ways the show was very progressive for its time, but in other ways the show was very much a product of its time!