# Best Star Trek episodes (orig. series)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047 "2005-04-25T17:07:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/21 "2005-04-26T12:51:09Z")
> [@empty filing cabinet](#): > > The black/white refugee episode. That was white/black… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/22 "2005-04-26T12:59:43Z")
IIRC, the white/black refugees was “Charlie X”, wasn’t it? I’ve always loved “A Taste of Armageddon”–brings intergalactic war to a new level. “The Squire of Gothos” Whenever there’s a weekend Trek marathon, this is the episode that makes my mother call long-distance at eight in the morning to make sure I’m watching. :rolleyes: And I’ll second anything with Harry Mudd. “Mudd’s Women” is good, but you can’t beat “I, Mudd.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/23 "2005-04-26T13:32:38Z")
> [@empty filing cabinet](#): > > The black/white refugee episode. > > The submarine vs. destroyer episode (based on Burt Lancaster’s Run Silent, Run Deep ?) Enterprise vs the Romulans and their cloaking device. The Romulans even have a periscope, too! \*Let That Be Your Last Battlefield Balance Of Terror\* One had the Riddler, the other had Sarek-notSarek ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/24 "2005-04-26T13:34:47Z")
Thank you _very_ much, folks. I really wanted to hear \*your \*raves rather than go strictly by those of the Netflix reviewers (e.g., “this has to bethe best StAR TREK episode OF ALL TIME!!!”) ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/25 "2005-04-26T14:10:03Z")
[Shameless plug]Of course you could watch them in Air date order and join our weekly “what if TOS was running for the first time” Discussions each Wednesday.[/shameless plug] This week it’s **Tomorrow is Yesterday** … ok not a great start but we will be getting to Space seed… in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/26 "2005-04-26T14:27:59Z")
**kingpengvin** - thanks for the heads up, I didn’t know there was such a thread! ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/27 "2005-04-26T14:38:57Z")
I forget the name of the episode that had Spock jamming with the hippies - priceless. ‘Day of the Dove’ is another decent Klingon based episode. If it weren’t for ‘Mirror, Mirror’ I never would have known that Flexo was evil. My two favourite episodes have to be “CotEoF” and that one with the library and everyone traveling to the past. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/28 "2005-04-26T15:00:34Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > I forget the name of the episode that had Spock jamming with the hippies - priceless. We reach. Avoid The Omega Glory at all costs. Worse ending than “Brain and brain, what is brain?” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/29 "2005-04-26T15:10:22Z")
“The Omega Glory” - early proof that the The Great Bird of the Galaxy was fallible, and capable of monumental disasters, just like everybody else. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/30 "2005-04-26T15:18:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “The Omega Glory” - early proof that the The Great Bird of the Galaxy was fallible, and capable of monumental disasters, just like everybody else. 😃 It had one of the best opening scenes of any episode. And one of the stupidest endings. Who knew it was going to be imperialist propaganda? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/31 "2005-04-27T16:53:51Z")
“Spock’s Brain” was the first episode I ever actually saw, God help me, but fortunately I tuned in again. Definitely check out: “Court Martial” - A great courtroom drama, with Kirk in the uncomfortable position of not being BMIS (Big Man in Starfleet). “Journey to Babel” - Lots of cool stuff about Federation politics, diplomacy and Spock’s parents. “The Trouble with Tribbles” - Spock’s well-informed description of quadrotricale is classic, as is Scotty’s response to Klingon insults about his beloved Enterprise. “The City on the Edge of Forever” - Outstanding in virtually every way. “This Side of Paradise” - You can’t remain unmoved as Kirk deals with the abandonment of his crew, and Spock has a brief taste of happiness before returning, as he realizes he must, to his duties. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/32 "2005-04-27T17:07:09Z")
And even though you’re only looking for TOS episodes, if you’re going to watch “The Trouble With Tribbles,” you can’t possibly skip the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” (the only DS9 episode I’ve ever seen, by the way), if only to discover why tribbles keep falling out of the grain bin onto Kirk’s head, and to see Worf’s reaction to earlier generations of Klingon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/33 "2005-04-27T17:43:40Z")
I liked **Tomorrow is Yesterday** even though I understand that there were plot holes “big enough to drive a starship through”. (don’t remember where I read that) Balance of Terror Mirror Mirror - if for no other reason than I can use the catchphrase, “I will consider it.” > [@Draelin](#): > > And even though you’re only looking for TOS episodes, if you’re going to watch “The Trouble With Tribbles,” you can’t possibly skip the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” (the only DS9 episode I’ve ever seen, by the way), if only to discover why tribbles keep falling out of the grain bin onto Kirk’s head, and to see Worf’s reaction to earlier generations of Klingon. 🙂 I refuse to watch DS9. Could someone spoiler box why the tribbles keep falling out? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/34 "2005-04-27T17:47:38Z")
> [@KRM](#): > > I refuse to watch DS9. Could someone spoiler box why the tribbles keep falling out? You really should see “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Great work by all involved, and I generally loathe anything associated with DS9. IIRC, Sisko, Bashir, and others are up in the storage bin, searching for a tribble with a bomb in it. They keep picking one up, examining it, then tossing it over their shoulders, where it sails out the hatch and onto Kirk. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/35 "2005-04-27T17:58:12Z")
> [@KRM](#): > > I refuse to watch DS9. Could someone spoiler box why the tribbles keep falling out? As I said, only DS9 I’ve ever seen. 🙂 But it’s totally worth it. **silenus** nailed the tribble-falling cause, but my absolute favorite part is … [spoiler]The DS9 crew is sitting around in the bar, and someone comes up and says “Watch out, there’s Klingons about.” Everybody looks around, sees no Klingons other than Worf. So they ask “Where?” The guy points to a bunch of guys who look like Vulcans with goatees. Everybody turns to Worf almost as one, and somebody says “What _happened_?” Worf’s reply, all deadpan and serious: “I don’t want to talk about it.”[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/36 "2005-04-27T18:07:32Z")
I’ll recommend the novelization of “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Especially for the introduction by David Gerrold, who wrote “The Trouble with Tribbles.” ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/37 "2005-04-27T18:16:20Z")
You people who haven’t seen or refuse to watch DS9 are really selling yourself short. I recently (re)watched every episode of the show and most of it is just fantastic. The reasons for that have been outlined in this thread, for example, one of its stronger points is that it gets down into the muck and gets its hands dirty. There’s real humanity out on them frontiers. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/38 "2005-04-27T18:18:37Z")
Oh, and a nitpick on **silenus** ’s spoiler: It’s just Sisko and Dax in the storage bin. i’m sorry, i can’t help myself. picking nits is just so much fun ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/39 "2005-04-27T18:41:20Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > i’m sorry, i can’t help myself. picking nits is just so much fun Phil Farrand? Is that you? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047/40 "2005-04-27T19:04:04Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > Riding a wave of nostalgia recently for James T. and the original phasa gangstas . . . but I know there are at least a few episodes I’ve never actually seen (e.g., “Amok Time”). Enhance my Netflix queue, Trekkie Dopers: your desert island list of the orig. episodes? > > (The only one I can identify by name as having seen–and more than a few times–is “City on the Edge of Forever.” Am still in awe of it every time I see it.) Probably because it was one of the few that was pure sci-fi, instead of thinly disguised social commentary. Being written by Harlan Ellison didn’t hurt either. “Trouble with Tribbles” and “All our Yesterdays” were probably two of the best. “Spectre of the Gun” probably sucked the most of all the episodes, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-star-trek-episodes-orig-series/301047.md?page=3)