What are you waiting for? Here’s a quick guide on how to mainline the classic Star Trek.
Star Trek
Number of Seasons: 3 (79 episodes)
Time Requirements: Five weeks, assuming that you binge a couple of episodes every weekday and six episodes a weekend. That might sound like a lot, but they’re pretty addictive; you might even get through it quicker than that.
Where to Get Your Fix: Netflix and Amazon Prime (Or, if you want to pay for it, Google Play and iTunes).
Best Character to Follow: We’d say the Enterprise, but then someone would spoil everything by pointing out that the Enterprise is a starship and not really a character. And yet, while Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner, who before he became an old ham was a young, surprisingly handsome, ham) might make for an entertaining leading man, it’s hard to argue that he’s the most interesting character in the show. Perhaps Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock would make a more obvious choice, but I’m going to offer a couple of other suggestions instead: DeForrest Kelley’s Dr. “Bones” McCoy and James Doohan’s Chief Engineer “Scotty” Scott enliven almost every scene they’re in. Come for the square-jawed heroes, stay for the irascible space scientists.
Seasons/Episodes You Can Skip:
The common wisdom regarding the first Star Trek series is that things started to go wrong in the show’s third (and final) season. That’s a little simplistic—the first episode below comes from the show’s first year&mdash:but not entirely off base. Certainly, the third season is weaker than the first two, with the show falling prey to… well, you’ll see.
S1 E6: Mudd’s Women
While this episode is dressed up as a parable about the importance of inner beauty, there’s more than a little creep about the gender politics and interpersonal relationships: men are depicted as brainless horndogs where beautiful women are concerned, and women as so desperate to appear attractive that they’ll submit to a life of what’s basically slavery for the illusion of eternal beauty. Sure, it’s meant to be wacky, but… yeah. A bit of a misfire.
S3 E1: Spock’s Brain
Here’s the plot of “Spock’s Brain”: An alien beams onboard the Entertpise, stunning the entire crew and stealing the brain of the ship’s science officer, Spock. Everyone chases after her so that they can place the brain back into Spock’s body before he dies—including Spock himself, who is operated by remote control. No, I’m not joking. This is an episode that was apparently seen as being so good that it was used to open a season.
S3 E3: The Paradise Syndrome
It’s tough to deny that the idea of Kirk having his memory wiped and believing that he’s an indigenous native of an alien planet is a good basis for an episode. The decision to execute this idea by having said natives of said alien planet be literal Native Americans, with William Shatner spending much of the episode dressed in a cheap movie Western’s version of Native American garb while calling himself “Kirok,” however, might not have been the best way to go about things.
S3 E20: The Way to Eden
Two words: Space Hippies. Oh, you’re not convinced that’s a bad idea? Fine, you asked for it:
1969, you’ve got some ’splaining to do.
S3 E24: Turnabout Intruder
Star Trek didn’t exactly go out on a high note: the final episode of the series was a lackluster thriller with a dodgy premise: a woman, passed over for promotion, will end up going on a killing spree while possessing a man’s body. As with much of Trek’s weaker material, there’s a germ of a good idea in there, but the episode itself leaves much to be desired.
Seasons/Episodes You Can’t Skip:
Star Trek really hit the ground running…almost. The show famously got two pilots because the first didn’t quite convince the NBC brass back in the day. (The majority of footage from that first pilot turns up in Season 1’s two-parter “The Menagerie,” so you can see what you missed, like an almost entirely different cast). But because of this, the show avoids the learning curve of many series, and has an impressively strong first couple of years. If you’re looking for a season to focus on, you could do a lot worse than the first. Or, if you’re really pressed for time, try one of the following:
S1 E3: Where No Man Has Gone Before
We’re still unclear why a show’s pilot (technically, its second pilot) can officially be the third episode, but there you go. Regardless, it’s easy to see why the network said yes to the show after this one, which really does have it all: action, metaphysics, and high emotional stakes. An irresistible piece of TV.
S1 E10: The Corbomite Maneuver
Even more proof that Trek got it right almost immediately comes in the form of this episode, which was the first to be produced following the two pilots and just nails it, showcasing both Kirk’s strategic savvy and the occasional utter unknowability of space travel (What is that cube, anyway?). To say anything more would be to risk spoiling it.
S1 E14: Balance of Terror
A Cold War episode, transposing the action into space and introducing the Romulans. Tense and complex in a way that goes beyond the simplicity of the western-in-space conceit, this one—like ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before”—suggests that the potential for Star Trek is far greater than many might have believed.
S1 E22: Space Seed
Setting the stage for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan—even people who’ve never seen Star Trek know that one—this episode introduces Ricardo Montalban as the leader of a genetically-modified race of supermen who want to conquer the galaxy, but the meat of the story is as much about ideological failures of the past as it is an action-oriented dash towards the finish line.
S1 E28: City on the Edge of Forever
DeForrest Kelley gets a chance to shine (or perhaps do the very opposite of shine, whatever that would be) in this time travel story where true love really doesn’t get a chance to conquer all. Enjoyably fatalistic, “City on the Edge” demonstrates the power of a good unhappy ending every now and again.
S2 E1: Amok Time
The first episode of the show’s second season gave fans what they wanted (more of Spock’s alien heritage), some of what they had come to expect (Kirk finding a new love interest in space), and just a little bit of what they wouldn’t have thought possible (the two leads of the show fighting over a woman). I’m still unsure about likening Spock to a salmon, but given the high quality of the rest of the episode, we can let that one slide.
S2 E4: Mirror, Mirror
Almost certainly the definitive “alternate world where everyone we know is evil” story, there’s almost nothing not to love about “Mirror, Mirror,” which appears to take glee in offering up alternate versions of the regular cast. The mildest of spoilers: Spock gets all the attention, but Sulu’s the Mirror Duplicate that everyone should be watching.
S2 E6: The Doomsday Machine
The scale of the threats in this episode are immense, even for Star Trek. Most obviously, there’s a planet-eating machine on the loose, but an even bigger problem is the obsession of Kirk’s superior officer in stopping that machine. Sure, there’s a clear Moby Dick influence in the episode, but it’s like a bigger, improved version of the story: this time, the whale’s in space and could probably end the Earth in a matter of minutes. Beat that, Herman Melville.
S2 E15: The Trouble with Tribbles
One of the things about the original Star Trek that didn’t really continue in subsequent series is its willingness to be goofy for the sake of goofiness. Take this episode, the premise of which is essentially “What if there were space rabbits that bred so much they started causing real problems? Oh, and the big bad aliens are allergic to them. Hilarity ensues!” And guess what: it actually does.
S2 E17: A Piece of The Action
Another comedy episode—and a chance for producers to save some money by shooting on the Paramount backlot, thanks to the idea of an alien culture based around old gangster movies. Not only is this a chance for everyone involved to get a break from the traditional super-tension of the series’ more serious episodes, it’s also an example of Kirk showing when lateral thinking can come in handy if faced with unusual problems. Just wait for the way this one ends…
Why You Should Binge: The original Star Trek has everything—for better or for worse, given how poorly some episodes have aged. No matter which episode you’re watching, however, the show entertains. At its best, it’s thought-provoking science-fiction that boasts great performances, writing from genuine greats, and also some of the best design and music of the era. At its worst, it’s enjoyably silly science-fiction that still boasts great performances, writing from genuine greats, and also some of the best design and music of the era. Seriously, it’s hard to go wrong with the original Star Trek.
Best Scene—”Status of Mission, Captain?”
Does it get any better than this?
Oh, wait, it does:
Yes, that really is the origins of the “goatee beards mean evil” meme. Star Trek, you gave the world oh so much.
That said, this is pretty great as well:
Yes, Captain Kirk isn’t above racist jokes when it comes to bamboozling 20th century flatfoots. Maybe the 23rd century isn’t quite as evolved as it makes itself out to be, after all…
The Takeaway: Boldly going anywhere has rarely been so much fun, never mind where no man had gone before. (The less gendered “no-one” wouldn’t be introduced until 1987’s Star Trek: The Next Generation.)
If You Liked Star Trek You’ll Love: Well, there are three other Star Trek TV series, and a whole slew of movies, for you to choose from. If you’d rather look for something set in an entirely different fictional universe, but matching the colorful camp of the original Star Trek, then perhaps the 1960s Batman TV show might be up your alley.
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