The Best of TOS

[MKSheppard]

OK. This one's fairly simple. Pick out the best episodes of TOS.

Why, you might ask?

Because I'm going through my Blu-Rays, which are really great and show off the kind of colors that the set directors were aiming for to exploit this newfangled technology known as "color TV", since HDMI gets around NTSC's color limitations...and finding that many episodes are just horrible.

When I say 'horrible', I don't mean in the set dressings (hello multi-color spotlit backgrounds); but in actual execution and writing of the episode.

Many episodes fall into the following categories:

• The Enterprise finds the Roman/Greek/Nazi/AmerInd Planet
• The Enterprise crew gets their bodies taken over by energy beings
• The Enterprise finds a planet that has been influenced by some person or book.

Even a lot of episodes which open with some promise "...we are investigating a distress signal we received..." quickly segue into something on the above list.

Even good concepts such as the concept of "Cultural contamination" are recycled by the TOS writers, which is impressively lame, given that they had only 79 episodes and 3 seasons to work on. (e.g "Chicago Mobs of the 1920s" and the Nazi Planet).

I'll open with a few of my "Best episodes":

Season 2's "The Doomsday Machine"; "The Ultimate Computer"; "Mirror, Mirror".

BTW; when me and my dad were watching Mirror Mirror; he made a comment that struck me as profound: If Mirror Mirror was supposed to be the reverse of our universe, shouldn't the mirror-Halkans also be warlike and evil, as opposed to the pacifist Halkans of the "prime universe"?

[Gandalf]

I assume you also dislike "A Piece of the Action"? Of all of the "theme planets", it was the best.

I'd have to say Amok Time may be the best. It just works so well.

[MKSheppard]

I assume you also dislike "A Piece of the Action"? Of all of the "theme planets", it was the best

I added that in an edit to my OP:

Even good concepts such as the concept of "Cultural contamination" are recycled by the TOS writers, which is impressively lame, given that they had only 79 episodes and 3 seasons to work on. (e.g "Chicago Mobs of the 1920s" and the Nazi Planet).

What makes it even worse is that "A Piece of the Action" was aired January 1968; and they didn't even wait for another season; airing the Nazi Planet in February 1968!

[TOSDOC]

I always like to think that McCoy created the parallel universe seen
in Mirror, Mirror when he changed history in City On The Edge Of
Forever, with the Nazis winning WWII leading to the Terran Empire.
That way the Halkans would not have been affected in their own development.

My favorites:
The Doomsday Machine--hands down since I was a kid, well written, great music,
and the most ambitious as far as special effects for the time.

Journey to Babel--great story and very well paced.

The Corbomite Maneuver and The Enemy Within--I like these for the music, the interpersonal
relationships seen, and the ideas presented with first contact and examination of the human psyche.

Mirror, Mirror--again, great story and everyone gets a chance to shine.

Obsession--deadly alien life form and Kirk struggling to vindicate his intuition. Another nice cliffhanger too.

I have a dozen of the same others for the same reason others do, but that's a good start.

[The Dark]

"Balance of Terror" - the first Romulan episode. Uses the cloaking device as a plot element to set up "ship-vs-sub" situation.

"Mirror, Mirror" - as already mentioned.

"City on the Edge of Forever" - McCoy temporarily goes nuts and jumps through a temporal portal, the usual suspects have to go back in time to save him. Written by Harlan Ellison.

"The Trouble with Tribbles" - a nice, light-hearted episode.

"Space Seed" - KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

[paladin]

"I, Mudd" - an episode with a sense of humor.

[Darth Hoth]

"The Return of the Archons" - Unlike most episodes it had both a decent plot and interesting villains.

(Incidentally, when I started watching Stargate SG-1 again somewhere halfway through the ninth season, the Priors immediately reminded me of the Lawgivers.)

"What Are Little Girls Made Of" - Taking the good with the bad.

[Stravo]

City on the Edge of Forever is just awesome. It has the best Kirk and Spock interactions in the whole series, humor, love, action. It is a tour de force for William Shatner. That scene where he has to stop himself from saving Edith for the sake of human history is a key stone of Kirk character development and the emotions that play on Shatner's face is amazing. It sucks that they never really touched on it again because it really frames him as a character. As a captain he can never be like eveyone else. He must always sacrifice for the good of the whole. As he lamented on another episode, he will have no beach to walk on. Simply beautiful.

Mind you this is coming from a self admitted Kirk fanwhore but still it is definitely one of the best TOS episodes and I rank it right up there with others in the whole canon like TNG and DS9

[Burak Gazan]

The Enterprise Incident - espionage attempt to steal a Romulan cloaking device; Kirk acting insane, the Vulcan "Death Grip" and Spock fencing with the female Romulan Commander.

All our Yesterdays - Civilization escaping into their past thru time portal to avoid supernova; The Spock and McCoy scenes in the ice age with Zarabeth (Mariette Hartley) alone make this one worthwhile

[MKSheppard]

Whipped up the list with some help from HPCA:

Link

I would have to watch

"The Return of the Archons"
"What Are Little Girls Made Of"

to be sure of their inclusion.

[Gandalf]

Errand of Mercy: First appearance of Klingons, and they're pretty awesome. In their original appearance, the Klingons aren't warriors. They're aggressive, but not warriors.

The Cage: The first, and still one of the best. It's on the S3 DVD/Blu-Rays. Captain Pike is great, and the Talosians are awesome antagonists.

[General Zod]

I rather liked Wolf in the Fold for trying to tackle a completely different theme than the typical episode. I, Mudd isn't too bad, and there's always Space Seed for Khan's origin.

[The Dark]

In the "original intentions" category, originally the end of "The Naked Time," with the limited time travel, was supposed to lead directly into "Tomorrow is Yesterday," with the Enterprise sent back to 1969. For some reason, the two episodes were split and a new end written for TNT and a new beginning for TIY. If you patch the two together by ignoring the "black star" explanation at the beginning of the latter episode, it actually makes for an interesting two-parter.

[Skylon]

In the "original intentions" category, originally the end of "The Naked Time," with the limited time travel, was supposed to lead directly into "Tomorrow is Yesterday," with the Enterprise sent back to 1969. For some reason, the two episodes were split and a new end written for TNT and a new beginning for TIY. If you patch the two together by ignoring the "black star" explanation at the beginning of the latter episode, it actually makes for an interesting two-parter.

I heard a couple reasons. One was budget (which doesn't make that much sense). The other was because NBC discouraged two-parters, wanting to keep episodes self-contained. Hence why there was only one ("The Menagerie") over the course of the entire series.

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to "Devil in the Dark" for being the best "Oh crap, we thought this alien was just a monster...we were wrong" episode.

[dworkin]

The Devil in the Dark - Not all monsters are monsters.
The Trouble with Tribbles - Cute and fluffly is not the same as harmless
City on the Edge of Forever - Very good.

[MKSheppard]

I just watched SPACE SEED last night. It's pretty good, and explains why KHAN was so obsessed with revenge on Kirk in ST 2: TWOK.

Kirk managed to best him once before; and while that was an insult to Khan; it was acceptable as long as he had Ceti Alpha V. But when the place got turned into a wasteland; Khan probably was like "OK, we just need to survive for six months -- the Federation would check up on us soon."

But then it stretched out to fifteen years; and he went more and more insane(r) during that time as more and more of his original gang died.

It was also one of the better "enemy takes over Enterprise" episodes -- Khan had to use an accomplice on the crew, and beam over 70~ of his genetic supermen to take over teh ship. He also specifically targeted engineering to gain control.

He also didn't just walk over to a random console, impersonate the Captain's voice and order "picard one theta beta alpha". He had to spend several hours -- maybe most of a day -- reading the technical manuals for the E-Nil.

Even then, there were significant flaws -- for one; nobody noticed that unauthorized transport to the Botany Bay? Nobody checked up on Khan's quarters in the 15-20 minutes it must have taken to revive everyone, plus nobody noticed the 70~ unauthorized transports back from the Botany Bay?

But it was nice to see some anti-intruder measures on the Enterprise-nil, like knockoutgas.

[Patrick Degan]

I rather liked "Wolf in the Fold" for trying to tackle a completely different theme than the typical episode.

The episode does have a lot going for it. But I find it hard to feel threatened by Mr. Petersen.

[TOSDOC]

I rather liked "Wolf in the Fold" for trying to tackle a completely different theme than the typical episode.

The episode does have a lot going for it. But I find it hard to feel threatened by Mr. Petersen.

Did that help make him seem more or less a suspect when you first watched it?

Just watched the Remastered Special of The Corbomite Maneuver, and I have to tell you the cube's colors reflecting off the Enterprise look amazing. They did a nice job.

[Patrick Degan]

I rather liked "Wolf in the Fold" for trying to tackle a completely different theme than the typical episode.

The episode does have a lot going for it. But I find it hard to feel threatened by Mr. Petersen.

Did that help make him seem more or less a suspect when you first watched it?

When I first watched the episode, The Bob Newhart Show didn't yet exist. But years of seeing John Fiedler as Mr. Petersen has sort of deflated the evil aura of Heingest/Redjac.