10 Best Episodes


In broadcast order:

1. The Corbomite Maneuver
2. Balance of Terror
3. Mirror Mirror
4. The Doomsday Machine
5. Metamorphosis
6. The Immunity Syndrome
7. The Ultimate Computer
8. Assignment: Earth
9. Day of the Dove
10. The Tholian Web

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City on the Edge of Forever?

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I've always thought City on the Edge of Forever is very overrated. It's certainly not a bad episode, but I've just never seen it as an outstanding episode.

My main beef with it is that I can't believe that Kirk would fall in love with Edith Keeler in such a very short time with so much (the entire future he has lived) riding on his actions and decisions. The episode is a stand-out for the Kirk-Spock relationship, and it's fun to watch every now and again, but I remain convinced that it is far from being one of the best episodes.

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Kirk was known for falling in lust, at the very least, a number of times with good looking women. Edith Keeler was certainly beautiful enough for Kirk to notice her. But what clinched it for him was the way she looked at the future with optimism and the possibility of space travel.

The big plot hole for me is the premise that if Edith had survived and founded a peace movement, it would have delayed the U.S's entry into WWII. No way

After Pearl Harbor, no peace movement could have stopped the USA from entering the war. We WERE at war whether we wanted to be or not.

It was heartbreaking for Kirk to be there when Edith died in a traffic accident. But even if she hadn't died, Kirk would still have had to return to the future without her anyway. In his present, Edith's death would be long in the past. Still, it's one of my favorite episodes for the Kirk/Spock relationship.

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Thank you for your response: you summed it up excellently!

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1. The Corbmite Maneuver
2. Balance of Terror
3. Arena
4. Errand of Mercy
5. Amok Time
6. The Doomsday Machine
7. Journey to Babel
8. The Trouble with Tribbles
9. The Tholian Web
10.The Cloud Minders

That if not perfect should be close to broadcast order. Kind of a falloff after the first eight for me. I could swap "A Taste of Armageddon" for "The Cloud Minders" w/o much difficulty. Also, you have the episode where the guest star makes the show versus a strong script such as it was with "Space Seed."

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The City on the Edge of Forever
Space Seed
Balance of Terror
Amok Time
Journey to Babel
Mirror Mirror
Arena
The Doomsday Machine
The Naked Time
The Menagerie

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In broadcast order:

1. Balance of Terror
2. Arena
3. Space Seed
4. The Devil in the Dark
5. Errand of Mercy
6. The Doomsday Machine
7. The Trouble with Tribbles
8. The Immunity Syndrome
9. Spectre of the Gun (because I love Chekov, and I have an interest in the Earps versus the Clantons)
10. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (Frank Gorshin! Also the scene at the end when Kirk activates the Enterprise's destruct sequence and nearly blows up the ship was *intense*!)

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It wouldn't make mine but I also enjoy watching Spectre of the Gun, one of my favorites from season three. I've also come to like Last Battlefield much more than when I first watched it.

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Love to see Spectre of the Gun mentioned! It’s a solid episode, and also pretty eerie at times.

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Spectre of the Gun isn't bad, but this is one of many shows from the 3rd Season where the episode was written to save the studio money by using existing sets and costumes.

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Seriously. How could you not include The Changeling and Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

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Here's why I could never really take "The Changeling" too seriously:
1) the amount of firepower in such a small probe destroyed my suspension of disbelief,
2) the death and resurrection of Scotty, and
3) the mind-wipe of Uhura.

I would describe "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as entertaining, but not one of the greats, especially when one considers that the entire premise is supposed to be a metaphor for 20th century race relations.

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Yeah, you're sorta right. If I remember correctly, Nomad was slinging bolts at Warp 15. Totally ludicrous.

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This is where TOS has aged poorly. The average viewer during the 1960's had a rather poor understanding of science so a lot of things flew by unchallenged. It's pretty easy currently to rip apart a fair number of episodes including beloved classics such as The Doomsday Machine when considering the science aspect. Improbable that the Planet Killer could readily tear planets apart but the Enterprise holding up to a pounding. But even many years ago ST was a show where the whole exceeded the sum of its parts. So the nitpicks could be overlooked because the characters, message, and plot more than offset the problems.

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Well said - thanks!

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I have a few "unconventional" choices, in no particular order.

Space seed
The Doomsday Machine
A Taste of Armageddon
All Our Yesterdays
Return to Tomorrow
Balance of terror
The Gamesters of Triskelion
Arena
The Mark of Gideon
The Enterprise Incident

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Interesting to see "The Mark of Gideon" on your list. The mystery of Kirk and Odona on the empty Enterprise is kinda fun and involving, as is Spock and McCoy’s attempts to find out what happened to their missing captain; it’s the absurd explanation of the mystery that ruins the episode (for me). Apparently the Gideons created an exact duplicate of the Enterprise and schemed to get Kirk & Odona aboard so Kirk would infect Odona with a deadly disease that would subsequently spread across Gideon and solve their overpopulation problem. This bizarre scheme raises a slew of questions: 1. How could the Gideons possibly construct “an exact duplicate of the Enterprise,” as Spock calls it — so perfect, in fact, that it completely fools Captain Kirk, the man who’s basically married to the ship? Kirk notes that he is familiar with “every sound that this ship might make.” How were the Gideons able to duplicate the very sounds of the vessel well enough to fool Kirk? 2. Why would the Gideons go through the monumental trouble of building an exact duplicate of the Enterprise in the first place? Why not just have Kirk beamed down to an empty building? Kirk could just as successfully infect Odona there, right? 3. If Gideon is so incredibly overpopulated that people “would kill in order to find a place alone,” as Odona states, where would they find the space to build a vessel as massive as the Enterprise? Keep in mind that Odona plainly says that there is “no mountain that is not filled with people.” 4. Apparently, part of Hodin’s plan was that Kirk would fall so hopelessly in love with Odona that he would freely stay on Gideon. Hey, I realize Odona’s beautiful and all, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s dressed in one of Bill Theiss’ infamous costumes, but — c’mon — beautiful women aren’t that rare in the Star Trek universe (particularly on the Enterprise) and Kirk certainly never had a problem attracting them.

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1. The Corbomite Maneuver - excellent, I even enjoyed Balok 10/10
2. Balance of Terror - very good 'submarine' episode 9/10
3. Mirror Mirror - amazing with just a few changes how they were able to create a rich dark universe 10/10
4. The Doomsday Machine - maybe the most consistently rewatchable episode 10/10
5. Metamorphosis - never been a favorite of mine 6/10
6. The Immunity Syndrome - another less than stellar episode 7/10
7. The Ultimate Computer - fine episode, I enjoyed seeing Kirk reacting to being Captain Dunsel
8. Assignment: Earth - not a fan, too little of Trek 5/10
9. Day of the Dove - very good episode, one of the best in the much maligned 3rd season 9/10
10. The Tholian Web - excellent, thoughtful, interesting, maybe the best of the 3rd season 10/10

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Thank you for your thoughts on the 10 episodes I chose.

I've always liked Metamorphosis as it features the original series' most interesting love story. The Immunity Syndrome features the whole cast at their best in a tense situation. Both of these episodes also highlight the value of self-sacrifice.

When I first saw Assignment: Earth, I hated it, as it was obviously a back-door pilot for another show. Over time, I've grown to love it. A really fascinating world and premise was created, and it best captures the series as a 1960's phenomenon.

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bump

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You could have replied to any previous post and still get the bump.

Overall, I like your list but still would have added City on the Edge of Forever somewhere. I'd have to think which one I would bump off to fit it in.





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