# Which Original Star Trek Eps are 'must watch'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052 "2013-05-22T18:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/101 "2013-05-24T05:33:15Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “Journey To Babel” has to be in the top five just for all the canon it establishes. Spock’s parents Sarek and Amanda, glimpses of several Federation races and virtually the only original mention of the Orions. Incorrect! The Orions were first mentioned (and shown) in “The Cage,” the original pilot: **CAPT. PIKE:** I could go into business on Orion. **DR. BOYCE:** You?! A dealer in slaves? Green animal-women? They were also mentioned by name by Commodore Mendez in the two-part expansion of “The Cage,” “The Menagerie.” (“That’s Vina? As the green Orion slave girl?”) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/102 "2013-05-24T07:03:32Z")
Although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, wasn’t Marta, the green-skinned woman played by Yvonne Craig in Whom Gods Destroy, an Orion? ---
**Author:** ![Jamie\_Gillis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@Jamie\_Gillis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamie_Gillis)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/103 "2013-05-24T09:29:06Z")
The Nazi one. I love the Specter of the Gun - creepy and weird, lots of atmosphere. Spock’s brain isn’t that bad. I’ll take it over the one with Teri Garr. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/104 "2013-05-24T12:30:18Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > For the love of Surak, do not watch “Spock’s Brain”! For that matter, you should stay away from “The Way to Eden”, and its space-hippies, as well. 😛 Also, The Omega Glory. Although some might say it’s worth watching for Shatner’s scenery-chewing speech at the end. Turnabout Intruder: Kirk is stuck inside a woman’s body. Shatner plays a woman trapped in a man’s body for most of the episode. But stay away from Assignment: Earth. Recommended: Corbomite Maneuvre Enterprise Incident Balance of Terror Conscience of a King Eed Plebnista is from the Omega Glory. The half-black/half-white people are Bel and Lokai. Also, try watching some of the Animated Series. They always forget the Animated Series. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/105 "2013-05-24T12:35:49Z")
Back in the day - even today - I liked the Spock-centric ones. “Amok Time”. “This Side of Paradise” actually made me tear up at the end, and I have a special fondness for “All Our Yesterdays”. Mariette Hartley in furs, living isolated in a cave. Along comes Mr. Spock, who regressed to his early Vulcan heritage and loses his cold logic…this episode is both kinda hot and disturbing, and is the one episode I would call haunting. And I liked the psychedelic special effects in the portal scenes. Another one I really like, “Is There In Truth No Beauty” with Diana Muldaur and an intelligent but hideous medusa-thing in a box. And “The Devil In The Dark”, rather touching when it all works out. Now I want to watch all Star Trek all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/106 "2013-05-24T14:35:23Z")
> [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](#): > > I started watching _The Tholian Web_, but I got a case of the giggles when I saw [these spacesuits](http://borgdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/tholian-web.jpg?w=463&h=331), so I decided to take a break. Give it another try; _The Tholian Web_ is one of the few really good episodes from the turd, er, third season. > [@Lumpy](#): > > The only other episode I can think of is [“The Naked Time”](http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x04hd/thenakedtimehd0010.jpg), and those were different suits; iirc, not pressurized, only providing protection from cold and possibly oxygen. Those suits clearly weren’t sealed; if they had been, the guy from the landing party wouldn’t have gotten dosed and the episode would have been rather boring. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/107 "2013-05-24T15:57:56Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > At that point, where the budget had been drastically cut, Roddenberry had basically moved on to other things, and key staff like Solow, Justman, and Fontana were also bailing, they were forced to rework junked scripts that were gathering dust in the files. Interesting. Googling, I am unable to turn up the details of the story I vaguely remember, but it looks like Roddenberry was largely uninvolved. I think perhaps the focus of the story was not Roddenberry, but whomever was helming the show at that time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/108 "2013-05-24T17:23:16Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, wasn’t Marta, the green-skinned woman played by Yvonne Craig in Whom Gods Destroy, an Orion? She did do that dance, true. If you Google her, she’s identified as an Orion at a number of fan sites. Seems to me her shade of green was bluer than Vina’s, but Orions probably have different races in their species too. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/109 "2013-05-24T17:28:16Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Those suits clearly weren’t sealed; if they had been, the guy from the landing party wouldn’t have gotten dosed and the episode would have been rather boring. He took off his glove to scratch his nose, and the mutated water got into his body through his skin when he touched a console. Your point is quite valid, though. The only way those suits would have protected anyone from anything would be if their mesh pattern generated some kind of force field that shielded the wearer. That’s really the only thing that makes sense; it also explains why only the outside of the suit was decontaminated inside the transporter chamber. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/110 "2013-05-24T17:34:21Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Also, The Omega Glory. Although some might say it’s worth watching for Shatner’s scenery-chewing speech at the end. > > Also, try watching some of the Animated Series. They always forget the Animated Series. I disagree about “Omega Glory.” Up until Act IV, it was a good episode. I just wish they had resolved the situation in some way other than having Kirk quote the Pledge of Allegance. The animated series should be considered canon. It provides much better continuity than most of the loopy material that’s been generated by fans over the years. (I detest the vast majority of the _ **Trek** _ novels I’ve managed to slog through.) ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/111 "2013-05-24T17:36:26Z")
BOY I love this thread. I just this week was the recipient of hopefully good-natured jibes when I admitted to attending not one but two Star Trek Conventions in the early 1970’s. :D:D:D I’ve got tons of favorites but because it does seem that the Spock character has become the keystone of the organization, I’d suggest Amok Time. And of course, there are 50 others at least !! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/112 "2013-05-24T17:42:25Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Another one I really like, “Is There In Truth No Beauty” with Diana Muldaur and an intelligent but hideous medusa-thing in a box. I had to watch that episode three times to see the whole thing; I kept falling asleep before the end. “Lights of Zetar,” “The Cloud Minders,” “The Empath,” “Mark of Gideon,” all had a similar effect on me. I think “Plato’s Stepchildren” is the episode I hate the most. It’s a lot harder to name the good-to-watchable third season episodes than it is to name the ones that stank to high heaven. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/113 "2013-05-24T21:07:56Z")
Haters prepare to hate, but I gotta say it. Spock’s Brain. Yes, it’s goofy, but it’s a hell of a FUN episode, with a lot of great lines and just leagues above any other “bad” TOS episodes, like the space hippies. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/114 "2013-05-25T15:53:33Z")
OK, so “Spock’s Brain” was not just terrible, but _hilariously_ terrible in the best possible MST3K way. “Omega Glory” though … damn. So was that planet supposed to be a lost Earth colony that got really weirdly nationalistic, or were they supposed to have come up with the Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the American flag entirely independently? Because neither one of those things makes any sense. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/115 "2013-05-25T16:14:27Z")
> [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](#): > > OK, so “Spock’s Brain” was not just terrible, but _hilariously_ terrible in the best possible MST3K way. What part did you find the funniest? Mine was when Spock was a robot, controlled by like a two button switch. > [@](#): > > “Omega Glory” though … damn. So was that planet supposed to be a lost Earth colony that got really weirdly nationalistic, or were they supposed to have come up with the Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the American flag entirely independently? Because neither one of those things makes any sense. That’s one of those parallel evolution planets. This is far from the only example. Some writers used Star Trek as being closer to the Fox show [Sliders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders) than a space opera. The one I remember most fondly is the one where you have a Roman society with the tech of the 20th century, with televised Colosseum-style events. Google says it’s “Bread and Circuses,” episode 2x25. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/116 "2013-05-25T16:28:48Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What part did you find the funniest? Mine was when Spock was a robot, controlled by like a two button switch. > > That’s one of those parallel evolution planets. This is far from the only example. Some writers used Star Trek as being closer to the Fox show [Sliders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders) than a space opera. > > The one I remember most fondly is the one where you have a Roman society with the tech of the 20th century, with televised Colosseum-style events. Google says it’s “Bread and Circuses,” episode 2x25. Yup. IIRC the planet they found in _Miri_ really was a duplicate of Earth down to geographical detail, not just a similar biosphere with parallel evolution. But _A Piece of the Action_ doesn’t quite count - although the inhabitants were human, the only reason their culture resembled 1920s Chicago was that they’d deliberately imitated it after adopting a book about gangsters as their bible. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/117 "2013-05-25T17:11:03Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That’s one of those parallel evolution planets. This is far from the only example. Some writers used Star Trek as being closer to the Fox show [Sliders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders) than a space opera. Awhile back, [I posted a theory](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=462113) that writers of bad science fiction are in essence treating space travel as interdimensional travel. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/118 "2013-05-25T18:41:52Z")
And there was Patterns of Force, where a Starfleet/Federation guy purposefully introduced ideas from Earth history. It’s the Nazi episode. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/119 "2013-05-25T18:58:57Z")
[The Enemy Within](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_Within_(Star_Trek)). My dark horse candidate for the best episode. ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052/120 "2013-05-25T19:45:12Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > [The Enemy Within](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_Within_(Star_Trek)). > > My dark horse candidate for the best episode. A worthy candidate, from my prejudice: Much Enterprise. Also, subplot very scary and at the time it was broadcast for all I knew the landing party personnel we expendable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-original-star-trek-eps-are-must-watch/659052.md?page=7)