TOS - 1.05

 "The Enemy Within" is the fifth episode broadcast of Star Trek The Original Series, airing first on October 6, 1966.

This is another winner in my mind - it holds up very well and introduces us to a trope that would be played over and over in the Star Trek universe.  My favorite variation of this is the "Mirror Universe" episodes that Deep Space Nine would perfect several decades later.

Kirk gets beamed back up, but due to transporter mumbo-jumbo he is split in two.  The "good" Kirk comes back first and is disoriented so they take him to sickbay.  Naturally the transporter room is left empty, lol wut, and "evil" Kirk shows up.

Billy Shatner absolutely tears it up with his performance as the Kirk Id gone wild!  Love his scenery chewing and over the top emoting, good stuff!

Less effective is the sub-plot to explain to the audience what is going on with a ridiculous doggie in a costume.

Though it is a useful device to give us the "ticking clock" that we need to have enhanced jeopardy and peril.  The dog dies - and so will Kirk if we don't figure this out!

The sub-sub-plot, with Sulu and his homies "chilling out" on the frozen at night planet, is also effective in pushing the stakes higher.  Too bad they don't have a shuttle craft or something...

The climax of the story is pretty awesome, with both the good and bad Kirk facing off on the bridge - it's genuinely exciting and also very satisfying when Spock and the gang easily recognize who the bad guy really is.

Also great is that good Kirk ends up actually persuading bad Kirk that they both need each other.  Another great Star Trek moment!

Also also, the less said about Yeoman Rand and her post-assault attempt to chummy up to restored Kirk at the end, the better.

So yeah, this one is probably not a top ten, but it for sure falls on the winning side.  A great plot device, that once again Twilight Zone did first - but Star Trek really masters it, and yes, uses the story again and again over the years.

Up next - one of my LEAST favorite TOS episodes ever - "Mudd's Women". Boy I really can't stand that episode!  But I'm in the middle of watching it for a second time, just so I'm really sure to give it a fair shake.  Stay tuned!

TOS - 1.04

 "The Naked Time" - is the fourth episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to air, broadcasting on September 29, 1966

This is what I believe to be the very first Star Trek episode that starts to approach greatness.  The pacing is quicker than previous episodes and the story holds together extremely well, from the first scene through almost the very end.

This is also the very first episode in this series of reviews that I specifically remember watching as a kid.  Star Trek in the mid/late 1970's was on in syndication at all hours - I'm sure I watched this show after school and also on weekends.

I remember very specific and vivid images - the striking frozen people in the opening scene.  Sulu with a sword, of course!  Riley's singing and also his line about "ice cream for the whole crew" stick out in my mind as well.  But more than anything I remember how shocking it was to see Spock struggle not to cry.  Now that made an impact!

Yes, it is true - my deep love for this show, and the visceral reaction I get from watching it even as a nearly 50 year old man, has roots deep in my childhood.  I know for a fact that I had the Mego action figures, which were released not when the show originally aired, as a relatively low rated prime time network drama, but as a daytime syndicated science fiction serial (that wasn't serialized) for kids and teenagers.

I had all the main character figures, but my friends Sean and Terry had the bridge play-set!  I remember going to their house in Key West and having space battles and melodrama on this fantastic plastic coated cardboard masterpiece...

It's hard to tell from the picture, but on the left there was a working transporter!  You put the figure in, and used the blue knob on top to spin the chamber.  The figure would spin and the yellow lines created an optical illusion that the figure was "beaming" away.  Push the red button and the spinning stopped and Spock was GONE!

Anyways - I hope this conveys that Star Trek (along with Star Wars, which I saw on it's first theatrical run) was kind of a big deal to me as a kid.

But unlike other franchises that I also enjoyed, Land of the Lost, Banana Splits, The Brady Bunch, among others.  Star Trek is really the only one left that I can watch today as a grown-up and enjoy not only as a nostalgia tonic, but I can appreciate it as well for it's quality and still enjoy it on it's own merits.

"The Naked Time" is the first of a dozen or so Star Trek TOS episodes that really holds up as something special.  It is well paced, well structured and also has a sizable amount of intentional humor that works wonderfully.

It also has a great use of a ticking clock to build tension and excitement - with Riley locking himself in the engine room and shutting the engines down cold, we really start to worry if the Enterprise can get themselves out of this absurd and yet also scary mess of drunk people running around all over the ship.

If this episode has a flaw, for me it's really the tacked on scene at the end involving time travel.  Wikipedia explains that originally this was to be a two part episode, with the final scene setting up the second half which eventually became the episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday".   The scene was re-written so that Naked Time could be a stand-alone.  Whether or not that directive was from the network or not, who knows.  But I do know there's only one 2 parter in TOS, and that was "The Menagerie" which was an ingenious re-working of the original unaired pilot.

So yes, this episode is one of my favorites.  I'm compiling a top ten as I watch this show, and this one is the first so far that I think will easily qualify.

TOS - 1.03

 "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the third Star Trek TOS episode to air and is actually the SECOND pilot of the show.  It originally aired on September 22, 1966.

The first pilot was rejected by NBC and had originally starred Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike.  Star Trek was given a second chance and Mr. Hunter declined to jump back on board so they re-casted The Shat as James R. Kirk (after the this second pilot it would be changed to James T. Kirk) and the rest as we know is history.

There's a lot here that looks and feels different from the first two Trek episodes to air.  The uniforms are largely left over from the first pilot - baggy tan tunics - and there are missing cast members, most notably Bones (the ship's doctor instead played by Paul Fix) and Uhura.  The ship itself also looks different and would not be dialed in until the regular series got picked up and started filming.   There's also a bad-ass phaser rifle that we never get to see again.

This episode is fairly intriguing and certainly not as weak as the insufferable "Charlie X" or the nearly unwatchable and upcoming "Mudd's Women"   I really like the interplay between Kirk and his helmsman Gary Mitchell (played by Gary Lockwood) - the addition of Dr. Dehner (played by the versatile and prodigious working actor Sally Kellerman) also adds an interesting dynamic that keeps us engaged.  Dig those groovy glitter eyeballs!

Gary Lockwood's very next gig after this one was across the pond in the UK in a little movie called "2001: A Space Odessy" that you might've heard of.

Best of all, the episode concludes with a knock-down drag-out bareknuckle fist-fight between Kirk and Mitchell,  choreographed in that sixties western brand of violence and action that we all remember from shows like "Big Valley" and "Bonanza".   Well, I remember it, because I'm old.

There are also missteps and slow patches here and there - Gary's transformation is well paced and compelling, until it's not and suddenly he declares himself a god and we're off to the races.  Paul Fix as the predecessor to Bones McCoy seems disinterested and non-plussed throughout which is unintentionally hilarious at times.   And of course don't forget the crew body count - Spock's casual mention that nine crew members were killed when the Enterprise crosses the galaxy barrier puts the total at 12 which crazily enough is actually the record for a single TOS episode.

But overall, this one is a winner.  It's got a romantic angle that is intriguing, and it's got genuine suspense and plenty of action.  Most of all I am grateful to this episode - because it's the show that convinced ABC to make Star Trek a regular series.  My understanding is that Lucille Ball played a big part in that final decision and for that reason, I will always Love Lucy.