As some commenters have asked about The Animated Series- There will probably be a review of the animated 70's Trek at some point, but won't be for quite a while.
You have hands down the best reviews on the internet. You have an excellent voice, perfect editing, and a consistently funny sense of humor that doesn't get in the way of all the incredible writing and research and information you pack into these things. I'm so glad I found this channel!
The original show was never awful. That's like saying a future mother and father are better then mother and fathers of the past just because the newer parents have better tech.
@@RichardEKranz Interesting. How so? I have made no comparison between TOS and any of the modern incarnations of this or any show. So I don't understand how you arrive at the analogy you described.
@@RichardEKranz I know what I wrote in my comment. This still does not explain how you have arrived at your analogy regarding parenting. In what way, specifically, was it like saying better tech is responsible for better parents or parenting?
31:50 Everyone dismisses THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME, but I think it's amazing, with some of the highest stakes in any episode. Unusual because it begins with the crew completely knackered by a grueling mission, and headed for R & R. Giant space amoeba sucks what little energy they have left, and threatens the entire galaxy. Kirk has to choose between sending McCoy or Spock to certain death to save ship and galaxy. Plus amazing amoeba effects!
22:50 The Mirror Mirror universe sounds like the Boskonians author E. E. Smith’s Lensman a series of novels that had a less noted, but clear influence on Babylon 5.
This has been probably the longest 3 part review of the original series, and I too, thought I had seen all episodes. Now I will have to go back and watch a few. Thanks for a thorough and excellent review and a bit of humor thrown in. TOS was a mixed bag of episodes, fortunately far more great episodes than bad ones (especially season 1 and 2) it appears and great acting for the most part. I like that well know sci fi writers worked on a few episodes. DC Fontana and Gene Coon were also great writers, and the big bird Gene Roddenberry did okay in rewrites to keep it consistent when he needed to do so, and steer his vision of a positive future in the stories. Lower Decks is still referencing TOS stories in many of its episodes as does SNW at times. Long live Star Trek!
Disagree about Conscience of the King. It was more of a murder mystery than science fiction, but it had great themes about the cycle of revenge and about allowing yourself to do evil for a good result. I found the Alternative Factor had a great concept but it needed some polishing. It featured probably the grimmest fate of anyone in the show- a heroic man stuck in a pocket dimension, fighting his evil half forever. That was a great ending. It needed to be attached to a better episode.
@@jeffnettleton3858 If he was in the process of transferring to Enterprise his file would still be in the computer. Look up Stan Lee's "no prize" why don't ya!
Thanks for the outstanding review and your two cents about each episode of TOS. As much as Spock's Brain gets mocked for being the worst episode of TOS, at least there's a sci-fi concept to it. The worst for me it's The Way To Eden. No other episode roots Star Trek in the time it was produced. Let's Go Herbert!
And then Lost in Space did the same thing. Hippies on cosmic harleys with John Robinson representing the square establishment. It always seems like Trek would do an episode and then LIS would do a hack version of it a week later.
@@CaminoAir I recently re-watched the whole series and I'd probably agree with you. Mostly when i re-watch it I watch every episode, this time i left about 7 or 8 episodes. Most of them in the last half of season 3.
I have an old Star Trek magazine from the 70's with a list and synopsis of every episode. As a kid I would tick off each show as I finally was able to see it on TV. Not sure when I had finally watched all 79 as we had the same issue here, with what seemed like all the same episodes being re-repeated. We sometimes forget how lucky we are now.
One thing that often goes unnoticed in that comparison is the wildly different endings, each representing the time in which they were made. The Cold War-era episode ends with a typical (for the time) man-defeats-machine conclusion. A decade later, STTMP concludes with a man-joins-with-machine finale, reflecting changing perceptions of technology and its role in society
@@pdlagasse that's what I love about the end of STTMP. If it ended with Kirk convincing V'ger to destroy itself, I wouldn't have liked the film all that much. But the birth of a new life form? I love it. It represents an evolution not just for V'ger, but also for the characters and even the entire Star Trek franchise.
Trivia: the episode mentioned at 23:13 has a very young David Soul of Starskey & Hutch fame! Of course if I waited 10 seconds I would’ve seen that you mentioned that!
Fantastic video, Stam Fine. I seriously loved this. The joke about Khan's musky balls made me laugh my head off. As with your Doctor Who videos/reviews, your stuff is superlative, brilliant, affectionate satire.
A great overview of all 79 episodes Stam. The show had ten-15 episodes that were stand out great the rest were so-so to just awful. "Live longer and prosper" to TOS.🖖
Have been subscribed to you for a while and really love your stuff, quite informative, a little spark of humour and so well presented. Been loving this series and even though I already knew most of what was in here because i watch a lot o behind the scenes stuff, because of your presentation if felt fresh. Too many people, even ones of my age, think of TNG when they think of trek which is fair enough. I was 6 in 1987 when TNG started but I still remember TOS as my introduction to Trek. People are to quick to dismiss TOS as, old, cheap-looking and cheesy. But they don't realise what this was to people at the time. These are some of the best Characters and they have some amazing stories to tell. Thanks for putting in the time and effort with this. Such a great watch.
While I can’t remember when Star Trek started back in the late 1960”s,I have seen re-run’s in the early 1970”s.I think,it’s because,I watched;Gilligan’s Island 🏝 back in the late 1960”s.As my late mom used to say:you can’t remember everything in you’re life.Never the less,I’ve re-watched every Star Trek episode over the year’s.And,don’t forget those James Blish book’s!There a classic,too!Too,they have/‘ extra moments’ that aren’t in the t.v.show!
My two cents: Operation - Annihilate! is one of the very best Spock episodes, with that wonderful exchange with Kirk in the transporter room where Spock talks him into letting him beam back down, and then his stoicism after they realize they only needed to use UV light rather than blind him, saying he had agreed with the decision. Of course, scientifically, there's nothing "safer" about intense UV light for human eyes anyway -- it will fry your retina even more than bright visible light will. But who cares, it was good drama. Metamorphosis was a pretty lousy episode, EXCEPT you forgot to mention the one shining moment, when Cockrane asks what he's missing, and that amazing music kicks in while Kirk's speech perfectly captures the romance of Star Trek. He gives a similarly seminal speech in Return to Tomorrow, while they play the same stirring music.
Not just any episode, but the consensus vote for best ever. But he never shut up about his resentment of the rewrites. He also got annoyed at Joan Collins flippantly describing her role in the episode as "Hitler's girlfriend" (Edith Keeler was a religious pacifist, not a Nazi).
Never been a little more prepared for the final three episodes of the second season it's too bad Bread And Circuses, The Omega Glory and Assignment Earth couldn't have all been turned into a three part time travel episode with the Omega Glory and Bread And Circuses being results of time damage that could have been corrected that would have made those three episodes much better, especially the first two mentioned.
Thanks, Stam Fine! Now I know which episodes I have to re-watch and which ones I don't. And I have to say some of the Season 3 episodes regarded as clunkers are among my favorites. I also liked some of the episodes that you didn't.
Harlan Ellison had strong points in his criticism of Star Trek and Roddenberry and the cult of worship that built around both. David Gerrold was also a harsh critic of Roddenberry and brought up many of his nastier traits, like plagiarising or outright stealing other people's work, then claiming credit for it, not to mention his seedy behavior behind-the-scenes, like marital infidelity and worse (see Grace Lee Whitney). Trek die hards like to dismiss their criticisms as ego and sour grapes; but, they spoke a lot of truth and had very pointed criticisms, while praising what was good about Trek. Fan publications and glorified fan-like publications, like Starlog, milked the conflict to sell issues, exaggerating it beyond the reality of things. Like fanatics of many things, Trek fans can be rather reactionary and childis, especially when someone from within exposes a rotten core.
Great video - never seen a review like this if the entire series, so never realised how many storylines got recycled in the next generation. I don't remember the city on the edge of forever but my favourite episode by far was the doomsday machine.
Especially early in TNG, you can see them going to that well a lot. Not just direct sequels like "The Naked Now," but subtler callbacks like "Justice" that seemed to get a lot of its incidental details from "The Apple". And tropes that just came up constantly in both shows like "godlike alien is obnoxious". The ship captain driven by an obsession, "Moby Dick"- or "20,000 Leagues"-style (for revenge, or out of guilt, to right some wrong) goes all the way back, and "Obsession" and "The Doomsday Machine" were early examples. The obsessed captain can be a protagonist or a villain. It actually becomes overdone in the movie series--with the Abrams reboot universe it seems like revenge obsession is the only way they can think of to produce a villain. I love "The Doomsday Machine", though--it's top-notch.
48:06 Does anyone know if "Shari Lewis" is the same one who had a puppet show with the sock puppet Lamb Chop? Stranger things have happened. It's an unusual spelling.
A loophole for the Chekov/Khan problem, is that "Space Seed" has a stardate of 3141.9, but the second season's "Catspaw", the first episode to feature Chekov, has a stardate of 3018.2. This means "Catspaw" takes place before "Space Seed", so Chekov was evidently already aboard even if he isn't featured in the 'earlier' episode.
28:10 I think it's so ironic that the made-up "70-year-old" Kirk looks way older than the real 92-year-old Shatner! 47:30 Stanley Adams also appeared on "Lost in Space" as a giant carrot in the episode, "The Great Vegetable Rebellion." Same year as "Trouble With Tribbles" in fact.
In jest I call it the Motionless Picture. But it does hold a dear place in my nostalgic heart. The Refit Enterprise on the big screen for the first time in 10 years after cancellation was/is amazing. What you get is the scale of everything. From guys spacewalking around Epsilon 5, Kirk and Scotty's tour around the Enterprise in spacedock, to the encounter and flyover of V'Ger. The Enterprise never looked better. As for the uniforms... I'm quite beige about it. Oh yeah, that opening sequence with the Klingons, IMO, rivals the opening of Star Wars. Can't wait for the 4k Remaster of the Director's Cut.
As Spock would say, a fascinating round-up of the original 79. I tend to agree tbh -- I find it hard to not enjoy a single one of these, although "The Alternative Factor", "Assignment: Earth", and "Plato's Stepchildren" all severely press my patience. (I suppose only 1 actively bad episode per each 26 episode season isn't a bad innings, eh?)
The conventional wisdom is that Season 1 was superb, Season 2 was sporadically good and Season 3 generally stank. I disagree . Each season had both quality and clunker episodes ( the price for trying to maintain quality with limited time and budgets,.) Season 3 had some of the most imaginative alien races as opposed to humans with funny wigs. The Melkotians, The Tholians, and best of all, Medusans who , if you looked directly at them, you would go mad (why were they never revisited?) Even really bad episodes would have at least a little gem of a scene or exchange between characters that was worthwhile. I even have a soft spot in my heart for Spock's Brain, widely regarded as the worst episode of TOS. It was the first full episode I saw at the age of 9 in 1968. Remember, very little good sci fi was on then. Lost In Space seemed geared for 5 year olds then. I saw that episode and was hooked for life. Sure. It's dumb as a box of hammers, but it's also great silly fun. So... There you go.
If DC Fontana had had her way, Friday's Child would have been a lot more memorable Also the Cloud Minders would have been a lot more stark in its lessons I think. I mean, that can be said for a lot of these I guess. It might have felt much more like an anthology show if they hadn't tried to keep a consistent tone, no way to know if it would have been even more famous, or less, since different fans might have carried a torch for it. Decent amount of good third season episodes, looking back
"Where no man" needed to be the first shown. It wasn't of course and it's illogical. All of a sudden a new cast & other changes. Then the next show is back to "normal" It would been so much wiser to start w the unique 1
Nowadays, it seems amazing that there were so many good episodes in the original series. But even the clunkers were colorful and mostly watchable. I was going to say that wasn't David Soul in The Apple, but I see that he played a secondary character, Makora, not the main honcho Akuta, who was played by Keith Andes.
As talented as Harlan Ellison was, he didn't write scripts suited to TV. His original script for 'City On The Edge Of Forever' feels very long and doesn't have great focus. The rogue Enterprise crew member keeps popping up in the past scenes and it really messes with the structure of the story. The actual filmed script is properly altered to work in a 50 minute TV format.
I've always felt, "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" better story from season 3. Whenever I meet extreme conservatives and extreme liberals, I want them to watch this episode so they take a hint.
Definitely a good episode, although not one I'd immediately reach for if I was just in the mood to watch an episode, I admire the writing and performance. Even the style of the episode made it special. A real showcase of an episode.
I was 13 when Spock's Brain first aired. My 14-year-old-brother hated it so I was confused. I thought it was uncool to like that episode. Still, I like the episode.
the difference between Trekkers and Trekkies is that Trekkers wonder what sex will be like in zero gravity, whilst Trekkies just wonder what sex will be like. oh and can you do Part 2 of Space 1999 please.
Here's a viewing tip: this guy is subtly rating the episodes by how little time he devotes to them. The Enterprise Incident, for instance, gets a lot of time. As for me, the only episodes I actively dislike and thus have seen the least are "The Alternative Factor," "And the Children Shall Lead," and "Plato's Stepchildren." As for "Spock's Brain," it is a classic just for the one line, "Brain and brain, what is brain????"
Fun trip through Trek! Thanks! (Modern Star Trek insists that all females be de-sexed and addressed as "Sir", so, ironically, Janice Lester was RIGHT.)
Yes, the 3rd season is the weakest but.......there still are some good episodes in the last season. None that are outstanding but several that are good episodes. For example, IMHO, The Tholian Web, The Enterprise Incident, The Cloud Minders, Spectre of a Gun (think Twilight Zone), All Our Yesterdays, That Which Survives, The Paradise Syndrome, Elaan of Troyius (think Shakespeare). And some of the so-so episodes still have a germ of an interesting idea behind them, such as The Mark of Gideon, Wink of an Eye, Is There In Truth No Beauty?, etc. Even, yes, even, The Way To Eden - which as a teenager I loathed but now I rather enjoy. Weird how the passing years change one's viewpoint.
You didn't know that Ron cast brother Clint in multiple movies? His father, Rance, was also an actor, who appeared in his films. Clint had a recurring part on The Andy Griffith Show, as Leon, the kid in the cowboy suit who offers people peanut butter sandwiches. He later starred in the tv series Gentle Ben, where he is the son of a ranger, in the Everglades, who has a pet bear. There was an episode where Ron guest starred, as a bully who picks on Clint, until he gets knocked into the water and Clint rescues him. Ron got paid to bully his little brother!
79 is less than all of the other Star Trek series episodes put together with all due tax rebates and filtered through inflation meaning that it was both the highest and least profitable iteraration of Star Trek until all of the others..
As some commenters have asked about The Animated Series- There will probably be a review of the animated 70's Trek at some point, but won't be for quite a while.
It seems your channel is reluctant to commit to reviewing The Animated Series _before_ The Motion Picture...😕
Look forward to that, eventually.
Please don't.
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😮
24:00 Thanks for using the original optical footage from The Doomsday Machine.
You have hands down the best reviews on the internet. You have an excellent voice, perfect editing, and a consistently funny sense of humor that doesn't get in the way of all the incredible writing and research and information you pack into these things. I'm so glad I found this channel!
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying the channel.
40:06 As bad as the ep is, the children's chant has been permanently burned into my brain...
A fabulous whistle-stop tour through the awesomeness and sometimes awfulness of the original 'Star Trek. Great work as usual Stam Fine.
The original show was never awful. That's like saying a future mother and father are better then mother and fathers of the past just because the newer parents have better tech.
@@RichardEKranz Interesting. How so? I have made no comparison between TOS and any of the modern incarnations of this or any show. So I don't understand how you arrive at the analogy you described.
@@SJKPJR007 "and sometimes awfulness." You wrote it yourself.
@@RichardEKranz I know what I wrote in my comment. This still does not explain how you have arrived at your analogy regarding parenting. In what way, specifically, was it like saying better tech is responsible for better parents or parenting?
You are one of the best, funniest and most consistent tv/movie reviewers. Thank you for the great content!
I've never understood the hatred of Spock's Brain when The Children Shall Lead is infinitely worse.
"Brain, brain! What is brain!?"
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and the one with Lazarus suck. And Shore Leave. BUT yeah, the Friendly Angel is...
Spock’s Brain is Star Treks greatest episode! You just don’t get it
Its because of the way it pokes fun at women.
I like how these guys interact : Spock, Scotti and Picard. They use their lightsabers and the force in order to fight Sauron and Lord Voldemord. 😮
31:50 Everyone dismisses THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME, but I think it's amazing, with some of the highest stakes in any episode. Unusual because it begins with the crew completely knackered by a grueling mission, and headed for R & R. Giant space amoeba sucks what little energy they have left, and threatens the entire galaxy. Kirk has to choose between sending McCoy or Spock to certain death to save ship and galaxy. Plus amazing amoeba effects!
22:50 The Mirror Mirror universe sounds like the Boskonians author E. E. Smith’s Lensman a series of novels that had a less noted, but clear influence on Babylon 5.
This has been probably the longest 3 part review of the original series, and I too, thought I had seen all episodes. Now I will have to go back and watch a few. Thanks for a thorough and excellent review and a bit of humor thrown in. TOS was a mixed bag of episodes, fortunately far more great episodes than bad ones (especially season 1 and 2) it appears and great acting for the most part. I like that well know sci fi writers worked on a few episodes. DC Fontana and Gene Coon were also great writers, and the big bird Gene Roddenberry did okay in rewrites to keep it consistent when he needed to do so, and steer his vision of a positive future in the stories. Lower Decks is still referencing TOS stories in many of its episodes as does SNW at times. Long live Star Trek!
Harry Mudd has always been my favorite most memorable character..next to Khan!
Disagree about Conscience of the King. It was more of a murder mystery than science fiction, but it had great themes about the cycle of revenge and about allowing yourself to do evil for a good result. I found the Alternative Factor had a great concept but it needed some polishing. It featured probably the grimmest fate of anyone in the show- a heroic man stuck in a pocket dimension, fighting his evil half forever. That was a great ending. It needed to be attached to a better episode.
My compliments on distilling 79 episodes of TOS into a few sentences and still managing to provide the essence of each.
Just want to say thanks for this I was giggling and laughing out loud all through the three parts.
mirror, mirror is still one of my absolute favourites
In Space Seed, while Khan was recuperating in sickbay, he probably came across Chekov's bio when he was using the computer as McCoy showed him.
Before he was assigned to the Enterprise.
@@jeffnettleton3858 If he was in the process of transferring to Enterprise his file would still be in the computer. Look up Stan Lee's "no prize" why don't ya!
Thanks for the outstanding review and your two cents about each episode of TOS. As much as Spock's Brain gets mocked for being the worst episode of TOS, at least there's a sci-fi concept to it. The worst for me it's The Way To Eden. No other episode roots Star Trek in the time it was produced. Let's Go Herbert!
'The Way To Eden' is even worse for wasting the great Charles Napier.
And then Lost in Space did the same thing. Hippies on cosmic harleys with John Robinson representing the square establishment. It always seems like Trek would do an episode and then LIS would do a hack version of it a week later.
@@CaminoAir I recently re-watched the whole series and I'd probably agree with you. Mostly when i re-watch it I watch every episode, this time i left about 7 or 8 episodes. Most of them in the last half of season 3.
I have an old Star Trek magazine from the 70's with a list and synopsis of every episode. As a kid I would tick off each show as I finally was able to see it on TV. Not sure when I had finally watched all 79 as we had the same issue here, with what seemed like all the same episodes being re-repeated.
We sometimes forget how lucky we are now.
When Star Trek The Motion Picture came out, we called it “Where Nomad Has Gone Before.”
One thing that often goes unnoticed in that comparison is the wildly different endings, each representing the time in which they were made.
The Cold War-era episode ends with a typical (for the time) man-defeats-machine conclusion.
A decade later, STTMP concludes with a man-joins-with-machine finale, reflecting changing perceptions of technology and its role in society
@@christheghostwriter That is a really good point!
@@pdlagasse that's what I love about the end of STTMP. If it ended with Kirk convincing V'ger to destroy itself, I wouldn't have liked the film all that much. But the birth of a new life form? I love it. It represents an evolution not just for V'ger, but also for the characters and even the entire Star Trek franchise.
@christheghostwriter oh yeah that really distinguishes it 🫤
Trivia: the episode mentioned at 23:13 has a very young David Soul of Starskey & Hutch fame!
Of course if I waited 10 seconds I would’ve seen that you mentioned that!
Fantastic video, Stam Fine. I seriously loved this. The joke about Khan's musky balls made me laugh my head off. As with your Doctor Who videos/reviews, your stuff is superlative, brilliant, affectionate satire.
Watching it again because the commentary is so delightful.
A great overview of all 79 episodes Stam. The show had ten-15 episodes that were stand out great the rest were so-so to just awful.
"Live longer and prosper" to TOS.🖖
8:50 The 1957 film The Enemy Below was actually the inspiration for Balance of Terror.
As he said...a submarine movie.
"Space Seed" is the episode that first aired the week I was born. I'd like to think that we're both known decades later for our high quality. :)
An absolute parade of incredible American 50s/60s science fiction writers
Have been subscribed to you for a while and really love your stuff, quite informative, a little spark of humour and so well presented. Been loving this series and even though I already knew most of what was in here because i watch a lot o behind the scenes stuff, because of your presentation if felt fresh. Too many people, even ones of my age, think of TNG when they think of trek which is fair enough. I was 6 in 1987 when TNG started but I still remember TOS as my introduction to Trek. People are to quick to dismiss TOS as, old, cheap-looking and cheesy. But they don't realise what this was to people at the time. These are some of the best Characters and they have some amazing stories to tell. Thanks for putting in the time and effort with this. Such a great watch.
To this day, the woman with no face in Charlie X still creeps me out.
I know what you mean.
While I can’t remember when Star Trek started back in the late 1960”s,I have seen re-run’s in the early 1970”s.I think,it’s because,I watched;Gilligan’s Island 🏝 back in the late 1960”s.As my late mom used to say:you can’t remember everything in you’re life.Never the less,I’ve re-watched every Star Trek episode over the year’s.And,don’t forget those James Blish book’s!There a classic,too!Too,they have/‘ extra moments’ that aren’t in the t.v.show!
Do you remember the Star Trek Foto Novels from the late 70's?
My two cents:
Operation - Annihilate! is one of the very best Spock episodes, with that wonderful exchange with Kirk in the transporter room where Spock talks him into letting him beam back down, and then his stoicism after they realize they only needed to use UV light rather than blind him, saying he had agreed with the decision. Of course, scientifically, there's nothing "safer" about intense UV light for human eyes anyway -- it will fry your retina even more than bright visible light will. But who cares, it was good drama.
Metamorphosis was a pretty lousy episode, EXCEPT you forgot to mention the one shining moment, when Cockrane asks what he's missing, and that amazing music kicks in while Kirk's speech perfectly captures the romance of Star Trek. He gives a similarly seminal speech in Return to Tomorrow, while they play the same stirring music.
C'mon Fine! Conscience of the King Rules! It finishes the Riley Duology that began in Naked Time! Gotta Love Riley.
49:30 "Oh, Herbert, you are stiff!!"😂
Why would you build an entire replica of the Enterprise on a planet crowded by people?
Great stuff- love the humour.
11:56 It looks like The Gorn "Blinks" in that scene somehow ? Is that footage from a Special edition ? Or Am I just wrong in guessing that?
That was an updated effect added for the TOS remasters. The Gorn originally did not blink.
What kind of a MONSTER has a Ham, Jam, Cheese, Reece's Pieces, Tomato and Toffee sandwich without mayo?!?!
Great review, yet again, sir.
I had no idea Harlan Ellison wrote an episode. I have no Star, and I must Trek.
You must be new. Welcome to Star Trek
@@1978rharris Thank you 😅
You're right though, I only know the meme-ification of the original series.
When I was young, I got really into TNG, haha.
I see what you did there.
Not just any episode, but the consensus vote for best ever. But he never shut up about his resentment of the rewrites. He also got annoyed at Joan Collins flippantly describing her role in the episode as "Hitler's girlfriend" (Edith Keeler was a religious pacifist, not a Nazi).
I love this show when I was a kid
05:25 The big dude is Lurch from The Addams Family (Ted Cassidy).
Never been a little more prepared for the final three episodes of the second season it's too bad Bread And Circuses, The Omega Glory and Assignment Earth couldn't have all been turned into a three part time travel episode with the Omega Glory and Bread And Circuses being results of time damage that could have been corrected that would have made those three episodes much better, especially the first two mentioned.
As always brilliant! You have really got some “bullshit restocking fee” issues! 😂
Thanks, Stam Fine! Now I know which episodes I have to re-watch and which ones I don't. And I have to say some of the Season 3 episodes regarded as clunkers are among my favorites. I also liked some of the episodes that you didn't.
That is the beauty of Star Trek. We can all agree it's a great show but we can all argue, hopefully civilly, about which episodes are the best.
Harlan Ellison had strong points in his criticism of Star Trek and Roddenberry and the cult of worship that built around both. David Gerrold was also a harsh critic of Roddenberry and brought up many of his nastier traits, like plagiarising or outright stealing other people's work, then claiming credit for it, not to mention his seedy behavior behind-the-scenes, like marital infidelity and worse (see Grace Lee Whitney). Trek die hards like to dismiss their criticisms as ego and sour grapes; but, they spoke a lot of truth and had very pointed criticisms, while praising what was good about Trek. Fan publications and glorified fan-like publications, like Starlog, milked the conflict to sell issues, exaggerating it beyond the reality of things. Like fanatics of many things, Trek fans can be rather reactionary and childis, especially when someone from within exposes a rotten core.
Constantly laughing out loud listening to these.... "A little class, please." ☠️ 😂
Balls may explode, Who's to say, love it .
Love your over the top humor
WS's Mr Tambourine Man is a thing of sheer terror. A good thing. Kudos btw!!
Devil in the Dark was the first episode I ever saw. I still remember the impact it had on me as a kid.
Love this. Please do... everything I saw when I was a kid.
Great video - never seen a review like this if the entire series, so never realised how many storylines got recycled in the next generation. I don't remember the city on the edge of forever but my favourite episode by far was the doomsday machine.
The doomsday machine is excellent I watch it every year
Especially early in TNG, you can see them going to that well a lot. Not just direct sequels like "The Naked Now," but subtler callbacks like "Justice" that seemed to get a lot of its incidental details from "The Apple". And tropes that just came up constantly in both shows like "godlike alien is obnoxious".
The ship captain driven by an obsession, "Moby Dick"- or "20,000 Leagues"-style (for revenge, or out of guilt, to right some wrong) goes all the way back, and "Obsession" and "The Doomsday Machine" were early examples. The obsessed captain can be a protagonist or a villain. It actually becomes overdone in the movie series--with the Abrams reboot universe it seems like revenge obsession is the only way they can think of to produce a villain.
I love "The Doomsday Machine", though--it's top-notch.
48:06 Does anyone know if "Shari Lewis" is the same one who had a puppet show with the sock puppet Lamb Chop? Stranger things have happened. It's an unusual spelling.
she is.
@@StamFine Now THAT is the strangest Trek trivia I have EVER heard!
A loophole for the Chekov/Khan problem, is that "Space Seed" has a stardate of 3141.9, but the second season's "Catspaw", the first episode to feature Chekov, has a stardate of 3018.2. This means "Catspaw" takes place before "Space Seed", so Chekov was evidently already aboard even if he isn't featured in the 'earlier' episode.
Chekov was there....in the bathroom when kahn came aboard. Lol
That was vulcan wonderful, thank you.
28:10 I think it's so ironic that the made-up "70-year-old" Kirk looks way older than the real 92-year-old Shatner!
47:30 Stanley Adams also appeared on "Lost in Space" as a giant carrot in the episode, "The Great Vegetable Rebellion." Same year as "Trouble With Tribbles" in fact.
"well, there's some unsubscribes."
Absolutely gold.
Man the yeomans get waay more action in this series than I remember.
We used to call it star trek the motion picture, where nomad has gone before.
In jest I call it the Motionless Picture. But it does hold a dear place in my nostalgic heart. The Refit Enterprise on the big screen for the first time in 10 years after cancellation was/is amazing. What you get is the scale of everything. From guys spacewalking around Epsilon 5, Kirk and Scotty's tour around the Enterprise in spacedock, to the encounter and flyover of V'Ger. The Enterprise never looked better. As for the uniforms... I'm quite beige about it.
Oh yeah, that opening sequence with the Klingons, IMO, rivals the opening of Star Wars. Can't wait for the 4k Remaster of the Director's Cut.
Slow Motion Picture
I absolute loved the Galileo 7 episode. One of my favorites. I hated Harry Mudd--too goofy.
As Spock would say, a fascinating round-up of the original 79. I tend to agree tbh -- I find it hard to not enjoy a single one of these, although "The Alternative Factor", "Assignment: Earth", and "Plato's Stepchildren" all severely press my patience. (I suppose only 1 actively bad episode per each 26 episode season isn't a bad innings, eh?)
Ack, the last 1/3 is hideous! I had no idea! Lincoln in space? Gah!
You could say the energy field wanted his Cochrane.
Spock and Mac Coy are kirks logical dad and his emotional mum.
I read some place that the "Remote" from Sparks Brain was actually a pilot episode of communicator that was redressed.
@38:14
9:30 Freaken genius! Hilarious!!
Spock's brain is my favorite bad TOS episode
13:37 ASSERT? - evidently they've deployed a debug build into production...
happens more often than you'd think.
The conventional wisdom is that Season 1 was superb, Season 2 was sporadically good and Season 3 generally stank. I disagree . Each season had both quality and clunker episodes ( the price for trying to maintain quality with limited time and budgets,.) Season 3 had some of the most imaginative alien races as opposed to humans with funny wigs. The Melkotians, The Tholians, and best of all, Medusans who , if you looked directly at them, you would go mad (why were they never revisited?) Even really bad episodes would have at least a little gem of a scene or exchange between characters that was worthwhile. I even have a soft spot in my heart for Spock's Brain, widely regarded as the worst episode of TOS. It was the first full episode I saw at the age of 9 in 1968. Remember, very little good sci fi was on then. Lost In Space seemed geared for 5 year olds then. I saw that episode and was hooked for life. Sure. It's dumb as a box of hammers, but it's also great silly fun. So...
There you go.
If DC Fontana had had her way, Friday's Child would have been a lot more memorable
Also the Cloud Minders would have been a lot more stark in its lessons I think.
I mean, that can be said for a lot of these I guess. It might have felt much more like an anthology show if they hadn't tried to keep a consistent tone, no way to know if it would have been even more famous, or less, since different fans might have carried a torch for it.
Decent amount of good third season episodes, looking back
"Where no man" needed to be the first shown. It wasn't of course and it's illogical. All of a sudden a new cast & other changes. Then the next show is back to "normal" It would been so much wiser to start w the unique 1
Blood pressure high than normal… and pants tighter than normal.
Nowadays, it seems amazing that there were so many good episodes in the original series. But even the clunkers were colorful and mostly watchable. I was going to say that wasn't David Soul in The Apple, but I see that he played a secondary character, Makora, not the main honcho Akuta, who was played by Keith Andes.
the MUGATO
inspired
FLUFFY
from CREEPSHOW
I’ve been looking. What did you find?
Awesome episode!
SPOCK'S BRAIN
was
WILLIAM SHATNER'S
way of telling
LEONARD NIMOY
he wasn't the star and he was
replaceable
As talented as Harlan Ellison was, he didn't write scripts suited to TV. His original script for 'City On The Edge Of Forever' feels very long and doesn't have great focus. The rogue Enterprise crew member keeps popping up in the past scenes and it really messes with the structure of the story. The actual filmed script is properly altered to work in a 50 minute TV format.
Should have made City a two parter then Ellisons script would have worked better. Missed opportunity.
massively overrated
Great reviews! Trip down memory lane with the good, the bad, and the ugly eppies.
As a suggestion how about looking at the TV show UFO?
here's one I prepared earlier. ua-cam.com/video/8oBhOXHujiA/v-deo.html
I've always felt, "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" better story from season 3. Whenever I meet extreme conservatives and extreme liberals, I want them to watch this episode so they take a hint.
Definitely a good episode, although not one I'd immediately reach for if I was just in the mood to watch an episode, I admire the writing and performance. Even the style of the episode made it special. A real showcase of an episode.
It's a real sledgehammer of a message story, but sometimes subtlety isn't enough.
You should check out farscape!
I was 13 when Spock's Brain first aired. My 14-year-old-brother hated it so I was confused. I thought it was uncool to like that episode. Still, I like the episode.
That was glorious! lol
Love 'em all!
the difference between Trekkers and Trekkies is that Trekkers wonder what sex will be like in zero gravity, whilst Trekkies just wonder what sex will be like.
oh and can you do Part 2 of Space 1999 please.
Newer Treks are bigger and higher budget, but they are on a path already blazed for them. TOS cut the path.
Here's a viewing tip: this guy is subtly rating the episodes by how little time he devotes to them. The Enterprise Incident, for instance, gets a lot of time. As for me, the only episodes I actively dislike and thus have seen the least are "The Alternative Factor," "And the Children Shall Lead," and "Plato's Stepchildren." As for "Spock's Brain," it is a classic just for the one line, "Brain and brain, what is brain????"
Love that accent!
Does anybody else find the girls' thigh boot's drive them crazy? (in the episode "Doctor Spock's Brain").
Sertiphikut of Orthentistie~! LMAO!
38:30-Lounging in a wading pool that’s full of gin! Wouldn’t that enjoyment depend on the hygiene of the guy in the pool before you?!
43:37-No, the line should’ve been, “I’m a doctor, not a sex machine!”
Risk is a great board game
I hope you keep going through the entire cannon?
*canon
In Friday's Child the character "ob" s name keeps cracking me up funny hearing it. lol
Taller than usual umpalumpas. Had me dying 🤣
Fun trip through Trek! Thanks! (Modern Star Trek insists that all females be de-sexed and addressed as "Sir", so, ironically, Janice Lester was RIGHT.)
Yes, the 3rd season is the weakest but.......there still are some good episodes in the last season. None that are outstanding but several that are good episodes. For example, IMHO, The Tholian Web, The Enterprise Incident, The Cloud Minders, Spectre of a Gun (think Twilight Zone), All Our Yesterdays, That Which Survives, The Paradise Syndrome, Elaan of Troyius (think Shakespeare). And some of the so-so episodes still have a germ of an interesting idea behind them, such as The Mark of Gideon, Wink of an Eye, Is There In Truth No Beauty?, etc. Even, yes, even, The Way To Eden - which as a teenager I loathed but now I rather enjoy. Weird how the passing years change one's viewpoint.
7:20 brother Ron Howard? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Yup. Clint appears as one of the geeky scientists in the movie "Apollo 13."
You didn't know that Ron cast brother Clint in multiple movies? His father, Rance, was also an actor, who appeared in his films. Clint had a recurring part on The Andy Griffith Show, as Leon, the kid in the cowboy suit who offers people peanut butter sandwiches. He later starred in the tv series Gentle Ben, where he is the son of a ranger, in the Everglades, who has a pet bear. There was an episode where Ron guest starred, as a bully who picks on Clint, until he gets knocked into the water and Clint rescues him. Ron got paid to bully his little brother!
79 is less than all of the other Star Trek series episodes put together with all due tax rebates and filtered through inflation meaning that it was both the highest and least profitable iteraration of Star Trek until all of the others..
🤣🤣🤣mild spoilers 🤣🤣🤣
I had a girl like the man trap😏
☝nothing wrong with being drunk on duty