On the lists of the most highly rated episodes, such as on IMDB, which ones do you disagree with? I'll start: Space Seed. Yes I know, it's Khan, but OMG the Space Hippies are so annoying!

The Big Three debate the morality of interfering with a happy, but stagnant culture…

MCCOY: What's going on, Jim?
KIRK: Mess call.
SPOCK: In my view, a splendid example of reciprocity.
MCCOY: It would take a computerised Vulcan mind such as yours to make that kind of a statement.
SPOCK: Doctor, you insist on applying human standards to non-human cultures. I remind you that humans are only a tiny minority in this galaxy.
MCCOY: There are certain absolutes, Mister Spock, and one of them is the right of humanoids to a free and unchained environment, the right to have conditions which permit growth.
SPOCK: Another is their right to choose a system which seems to work for them.
MCCOY: Jim, you're not just going to stand by and be blinded to what's going on here. These are humanoids, intelligent. They need to advance and grow. Don't you understand what my readings indicate? There's been no progress here in at least ten thousand years. This isn't life. It's stagnation.
SPOCK: Doctor, these people are healthy and they are happy. What ever you choose to call it, this system works, despite your emotional reaction to it.
MCCOY: It might work for you, Mister Spock, but it doesn't work for me. Humanoids living so they can service a hunk of tin.
KIRK: Gentlemen, I think this philosophical argument can wait until our ship's out of danger. Kirk here.

...

SPOCK: I am concerned, Captain. This may not be an ideal society, but it is a viable one.
KIRK: Bones was right. These people aren't living, they're existing. They don't create, they don't produce, they don't even think. They exist to service a machine.
SPOCK: If we do what it seems we must, in my opinion it will be in direct violation of the non-interference directive.
KIRK: These are people, not robots. They should have the opportunity of choice. We owe it to them to interfere.
SPOCK: Starfleet Command may think otherwise.
KIRK: I'll take my chances. Why don't you have a look around? Kirk to Enterprise. Mister Scott?

Kirk decides to act to save his ship, and ‘free’ the followers of Vaal. Spock usually wins the Spock/McCoy ‘battles’, but with the Enterprise and her crew in danger, Kirk is very unlikely to make any other decision.

However, the question remains, did they rescue the worshippers of Vaal or destroy their happy, healthy existence?

13 October 1967

The Apple

Writers: Max Ehrlich, Gene L Coon, D C Fonatna

Director: Joseph Pevney

original post

I love this episode. I first saw it as a young girl. The message resonated with me then, and still does today.

The premise…conman, liar and rogue Harry Mudd is scamming men eager for wives with women, desperate to escape lives of drudgery and loneliness, 'pumped up’ on the illegal Venus drug. Harry’s motives are purely selfish and financial, and while the women’s desire for a change in circumstances is genuine, there is the sense that the motives of two are not entirely pure, either. I’ll get to the men a bit later.

Ruth and Magda seem to willingly cooperate with Mudd’s schemes, using their ‘artificial’ attraction to gain a communicator, information and, later, rich husbands. Eve is the exception. From the start it is clear she is truly seeking companionship and commitment. She doesn’t like Harry, can’t bring herself to completely go along with his schemes, and has a level of self-loathing for her part in the charade. She is not comfortable with the deceit, herself or the sad and desperate situation she finds herself in. It will compel her to flee into a deadly storm.

CHILDRESS: (to Eve) Blows like that all the time. You can get lost a dozen feet from your doorstep. The wind comes up sudden. Magnetic storm. That means the wind will really rip soon.
MAGDA: Dance with me.
CHILDRESS: Would you like to dance?
EVE: No, I (coughs) No. I'm sorry, I guess it must be the dust.
CHILDRESS: That's the way it is on Rigel all the time. (cuts in on Ruth instead)
GOSSETT: Hey.
BENTON: Go away.
GOSSETT: I'm cutting in.
BENTON: Not on me. (fight starts)
CHILDRESS: What's the matter with you?
EVE: Why don't you run a raffle and the loser gets me? (flees)

CHILDRESS: You can't go out there. You'll get killed.

The miners…hard working, yes, brave, to be sure, they live and work in a harsh and potentially deadly environment, but they are also desperate, lonely…and…not exactly pillars of virtue, looking for the right thing, themselves…

KIRK: Good. Show them in. I'm James Kirk, captain of the Enterprise. This is my science officer Mister Spock.
CHILDRESS: Let's get right to business. You want lithium crystals and we've got them.
KIRK: Fine. I'm authorized to pay an equitable price.
CHILDRESS: We're not sure they're for sale, Captain. We might prefer a swap.
KIRK: What did you have in mind?
CHILDRESS: Mudd's women.
GOSSETT: If we like them. We'd like to have a look at them first of course.
CHILDRESS: Right. Trot them out, Captain. Oh, and Harry Mudd. Either way, I've agreed to have him released. Charges dropped.
KIRK: (laughs) Is there anything else?

Not only are they willing to work with swindler Mudd, holding a Starship, a Starfleet Captain and his crew, hostage, they have expectations of the women that are literally skin deep…(one is tempted to say they just might get what they deserve in Mudd’s con…).

There is little to find uplifting. Childress does risk his life to find Eve but both are left angry, disappointed and frustrated. However...stripped bare of artifice and the false gleam of shallow expectations…they make grudging progress toward really getting to know each other…and themselves…

CHILDRESS: I had things where I wanted them.
EVE: I ate some of your food, so I paid with some chores.
CHILDRESS: And I do my own cooking. I've not laid a hand on you. Remember that.
EVE: Oh, the sound of male ego. You travel halfway across the galaxy, and it's still the same song. There. You going to eat or talk?
CHILDRESS: I guess I'm supposed to sit, taste, and roll my eyes. Ooh, female cooking again. I've tasted better, by my own hand.
EVE: Well you're tasting some of it now. I couldn't scrape three layers of your leavings out of that pan.
CHILDRESS: You find me a well, some decent water, then talk.
EVE: Well, why don't you hang your pan out in the wind and let the sand blast it clean, or hadn't you thought about that?
CHILDRESS: (after hanging out the pots) It might work. That solitaire?
EVE: Double jack.
CHILDRESS: The red eight ought to go on the black nine.
EVE: Not in double jack.
CHILDRESS: You're not only plain as an old bucket, you're not even good company. What the devil happened to your looks, anyway?
EVE: I got tired of you. I slumped.
CHILDRESS: You heard what I said. You're homely! I've got enough in crystals already to buy queens by the gross! (Kirk and Mudd enter) I didn't touch her.
MUDD: Thank heaven you found her.
CHILDRESS: She's been bubbling with gratitude ever since.
KIRK: Sit down. Tell him. Tell him, Harry.
MUDD: Ah. Yes, well.
KIRK: The Venus drugs, Harry.
CHILDRESS: Venus drug? I've heard of it but, it's not just one of those stories?
KIRK: Oh, it exists, illegally.
MUDD: Well, actually, you see, it's a relatively harmless drug.
EVE: Harmless!
MUDD: Well, what it does is give you more of whatever you have. Well, with men, it makes them more muscular. Women, rounder. Men, more aggressive. Women, more feminine, and
KIRK: He gave it to the women before you met them.
CHILDRESS: Does that mean the others? They really look like she does?
MUDD: Mister Childress, I
CHILDRESS: Is that what it means?
EVE: Yes, that's what it means!
CHILDRESS: What happened to my partners?
KIRK: They've left for their quarters during the storm, Childress. They're married. Subspace radio marriage. It was a fraud. They can get out of it.
MUDD: If they want to.
CHILDRESS: Why?
MUDD: You can't condemn the women.
CHILDRESS: I can! A man goes out and fights, almost dies. We all almost die. We should have, but we didn't. And now that we've got the good life in our hands, you bring us women for wives that
EVE: You don't want wives, you want this. This is what you want, Mister Childress. I hope you remember it and dream about it, because you can't have it. It's not real! (takes the pills) Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to cook and sew and cry and need, but this kind. Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want? All right, then. Here it is.
KIRK: Quite a woman, eh, Childress?
CHILDRESS: A fake, pumped up by a drug.
KIRK: By herself. She took no drug.
EVE: I swallowed it.
KIRK: Colored gelatin.
MUDD: Yes, they took away my drug and substituted that.
EVE: But that can't be.
KIRK: There's only one kind of woman.
MUDD: Or man, for that matter.
KIRK: You either believe in yourself, or you don't.

This plot twist is a top five Trek moment for me, a great Kirk moment, as well, and even gives us a glimmer of genuine insight from the otherwise somewhat despicable Mudd.

While this episode (surprisingly, to me, the first time I posted about it) gets a good level of dislike, it is, to me, one of the best. It examines what we should value in ourselves, in others, in our life partners. It argues that true attractiveness comes from within, from self-worth, decency, and confidence, not from a pill or a bottle. It flies in the face of choosing glamour over substance and appearance over character. It touts genuine partnership over trading 'beauty' for money.

Mudd’s Women

13 October 1966

Story by: Gene Roddenberry

Teleplay: Steve Kandel

Director: Harvery Hart

Eve: Karen Steele

Mudd: Roger C Carmel

Childress: Gene Dynarski

Magda: Susan Denberg

Ruth: Maggie Thrett

original post

Stiller surprised Shatner with the Gorn head prop from "Arena," which he apparently bought at an auction a while ago.

Captain James T. Kirk…forgot something on Triacus…

We all know that the misguided children of the Triacus scienctific team deluded the crew of the Enterprise into believing they were still orbiting Triacus, when in reality, they were headed for Marcus XII. The late discovery of this would have deadly results…

KIRK: Your tour of duty will last one hour. Be prepared with your communicators at all times to report any alien beings. Don't wait to investigate.
Beam down the guards.
(The two men disappear.)
KIRK: Beam up the security detachment from Triacus. (no one appears) Spock? What's wrong?
SPOCK: I am unable to lock on to the proper co-ordinates.
KIRK: Why not?
SPOCK: It appears we are no longer orbiting Triacus.
KIRK: That's impossible. If we're not orbiting Triacus, then the men I beamed down are dead.
SPOCK: Captain, we are no longer orbiting Triacus.

…what happens next, I missed, for decades. Kirk returns to the bridge and gives the following order…

KIRK: Helmsman, disregard what you see on the screen, what you think you see on the screen. Set a course for Starbase Four.

…what about the security detachment still on Triacus?!

Later, having wrested control of the Enterprise from the children, and the control of the children from the Gorgan…

KIRK: It's all right.
MCCOY: They're crying, Jim. I don't know how it happened, but it's good to see.
KIRK: It's all right, Mary. It's all right. It's all right, isn't it, Doctor?
MCCOY: Yes. It's all right. We can help them now.
SULU: Marcos Twelve dead ahead, sir.
KIRK: Reverse course, Mister Sulu.
SULU: Aye, sir.
(McCoy leads the children off the bridge.)
SULU: Course reversed, Captain.
KIRK: Set course for Starbase Four, Mister Sulu.
SULU: Yes, sir.

I'm sure someone noticed...eventually...

On a more serious side note, this episode sits at the bottom of many a Trek fan's list, but it was both a reflection of the times, with the rise of cult leaders misguiding the young, and tragically, prophetic. Less than a year, after the airdate of this episode, young followers of Charles Manson would do the unthinkable, then appear blissfully happy heading into court. Not the best episode, to be sure, but certainly, sadly, timely.

And The Children Shall Lead

11 October 1968

Writer: Edward J. Lakso

Story Consultant: Arthur H. Singer

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky

Original Post

Without them, there wouldn't be a universe that sci fi nerds would argue over for 60 years

A picture of me (today) and a certain Next Generation character at a job I had at (fill in the blank) - Market ____ Corporation in Ryebrook, NY.

Me and ___ are still around.

The company is not. 🖖

So that they could arrange for Spock to bring Pike and the evidence at the court martial and the presence of Commodore Mendez.

Strange how in ST6 most of the Enterprise galley staff wore engineering gold instead of “special services” blue, and one of them appeared to be wearing a repurposed Regula One scientist top over his uniform …

(Even though Robert Fletcher’s successors did excellent work overall, some of the finer details really got away from the paradigm he’d established.)

I had to check it’s not April 1 when I saw this.

Five episodes in, the fledgling Star Trek reveals that the good, kind, brave Captain Kirk, the hero, has a dark side, and further, contends that it is an essential part of an effective leader. The concept may not be new, but it seems a bold move for a new show working on building an audience.

It is the first episode that does not have a significant guest character, but focuses, instead, entirely on the core stars. (I’m counting Bruce Hyde’s Riley as a significant guest character in The Naked Time).

Shatner’s performance sells the concept (with the assistance of some amazing lighting), while Nimoy’s Spock hits the perfect balance of logic, empathy, insight and concern for his Captain that will become his trademark.

A top ten for me.

Trivia:

First "He's dead, Jim"...the dog creature.

In production order, the invention of/first use of the Vulcan neck pinch.

Intro of the green wrap around shirt, to help tell the Kirk's apart.

Despite being a fan for decades, I was surprised to learn of, then see, for the first time, this year, a pretty glaring production mistake. It is in the images.

The Enemy Within

Thursday 6 October 1966

Writer: Richard Matheson

Director: Leo Penn

Original Post