# Which ST:TOS episodes have aged most poorly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [December 29, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282 "2022-12-29T15:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/61 "2023-01-02T21:23:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Nitpick: it’s “skant.” It’s probably best to capitalize it too, so that people don’t think you’re just misspelling the adjective scant? ---
**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:** [January 2, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/62 "2023-01-02T21:25:42Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > Nitpick: it’s “skant.” ⁢ > > It’s probably best to capitalize it too, so that people don’t think you’re just misspelling the adjective scant. ⁢ Huh. I was thinking it was the generic term for such a garments. But that term is actually skort, or skirt + shorts. I remember that our cheerleaders wore them in high school ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/63 "2023-01-02T21:41:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Also dumb to varying degrees, IMHO: … “The Gamesters of Triskelion,”… I had forgotten about this… not so much the whole story, but this scene is not a good look, even though (if I recall correctly) he’s doing it partly for her own good to snap her out of mind control or something. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wphWJoliUMQ/hqdefault.jpg "How to kiss a woman by Captain Kirk") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wphWJoliUMQ) ---
**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:** [January 3, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/64 "2023-01-03T22:44:22Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > Nitpick: it’s “skant.” > > It’s probably best to capitalize it too, so that people don’t think you’re just misspelling the adjective scant? Lowercased here in the body of the text, but whatevs: [Starfleet uniform (2350s-2370s) | Memory Alpha | Fandom](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(2350s-2370s)#Skant) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/65 "2023-01-04T02:45:58Z")
It seems odd to me that little bits of _Star Trek_ become culturally prominent. “Quatloos” only appears in the Triskelion episode (far from being one of the better episodes), but it crops up here and there. Memory Alpha is only in the Lights of Zetar, again one of the weaker entries, but a whole fanbase wikisite is named after it (not to mention a Memory Beta site). And do not get me started on Landru. (That whole thing with Kirk talking a computer to death is one tired trope that really comes up short these days.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/66 "2023-01-04T04:59:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > (That whole thing with Kirk talking a computer to death is one tired trope that really comes up short these days.) That was a common go-to in the early '70s. I remember an episode of the otherwise-creative show _The Prisoner,_ where they fed the super-wise computer questions on slips of paper. Hand-written, yet (!). #6 (Patrick McGoohan, but he’s _NOT_ _a number!)_ caused the machine to rock back and forth, spewing sparks and smoke. Within seconds it had exploded and only a pile of detritus was left. #2 is distraught and wants to know what #6 had asked the computer. The slip of paper he’d slipped it had merely said “WHY?”. (Whoa, heavy, man…) At the time I called it “Humans must show their superiority over computers or they’ll take over the world eventually.” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/67 "2023-01-04T05:27:06Z")
Feed that same question to Siri today and I’m afraid it would leave #6 quivering in a corner. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/68 "2023-01-04T15:08:44Z")
It would be fun to get HAL, Colossus, Guardian, TOS’s M5 Multitronic unit, and a couple of other fictional AIs, plus Siri, Alexa, Watson, and ChatGPT into the computer equivalent of a college late-night group bull session / beer-fueled argument in a bar just to watch what happens next. I doubt the result would be SkyNet, but we’d best have a hand on their power cords just in case. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/69 "2023-01-04T17:05:26Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > It seems odd to me that little bits of _Star Trek_ become culturally prominent. I think all of those you mention are perfectly cromulent. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/70 "2023-01-04T17:56:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It would be fun to get HAL, Colossus, Guardian, TOS’s M5 Multitronic unit, and a couple of other fictional AIs, You’d have to include Norman. [https://trekkerscrapbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/imuddhd1278-copy.jpg](https://trekkerscrapbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/imuddhd1278-copy.jpg) Hmm, has anyone done a _Star Trek_/_Cheers_ mashup? “How’s life treatin’ you, Norm?” “I am not programmed to respond in that area.” Hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/71 "2023-01-04T19:02:01Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That really was as far as they could go at the time, and the inter-racial kiss got them pulled from broadcast in a number of the more bigoted states at the time. > > In the 1960’s, the statement that “racism is stupid and toxic” was still news to a lot of people, without even progressing to a deeper understanding of oppressor and oppressed. White people swam in their unearned privilege the way a fish swims in water, completely unaware of the medium surrounding them. They weren’t going to ever frame it in today’s context and terms because those terms and context didn’t even exist back then in a form that could have possibly reached the small screen. Those not around at the time probably don’t get that the to us obvious message in this episode needed to be said. Systemic oppression is a real problem, but back then making sure Black kids could get into decent schools and sit at lunch counters was maybe the first thing to work on. Don’t forget, racist George Wallace was a candidate for president with lots of support in 1968. The kiss was important, but Roddenberry snuck in some other things that were even more subversive. In “Court Martial,” Kirk’s boss, an admiral, was Black. Dr. Daystrom, the genius computer scientist, was Black. The subversive part was that it was not something remarked on in that society, like it wouldn’t be today. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/72 "2023-01-04T19:22:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > …Hmm, has anyone done a _Star Trek_/_Cheers_ mashup? > > “How’s life treatin’ you, Norm?” > “I am not programmed to respond in that area.” > > Hysterical. Logic is a glass of beer that tastes very, very bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/73 "2023-01-04T20:21:42Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > I was always annoyed a little by the mini-skirt uniforms. But the women on the Enterprise dressed in panty-length skirts were overwhelmingly young-ish, thin-ish, and comely. The occasional older women (like Spock’s mother) who had roles on the show as scientists, ambassadors or aliens were swathed in tinfoil or velour schmattas. I’m reminded of Dagger of the Mind, where Kirk’s “comely” assistant Dr. Helen Noel has her ass hanging out the back of her uniform just standing up straight. I don’t care how short the skirts are, there’s no way that’s within uniform regulations. She needs to go back to the ship’s tailor and get the hem let out a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/74 "2023-01-04T20:36:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Logic is a glass of beer that tastes very, very bad. “How’s it going, Norm?” “It’s a tribble-eat-tribble universe and I’m wearing Quadrotriticale underwear.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/75 "2023-01-04T20:40:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > “It’s a tribble-eat-tribble universe and I’m wearing Quadrotriticale underwear.” I laughed out loud. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/76 "2023-01-04T20:52:12Z")
genius. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/77 "2023-01-04T21:14:19Z")
“Hey Norm! What can I get ya?” “Set phasers on ‘beer’ Woody.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/78 "2023-01-04T22:20:15Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > ’m reminded of Dagger of the Mind, where Kirk’s “comely” assistant Dr. Helen Noel has her ass hanging out the back of her uniform just standing up straight. I don’t care how short the skirts are, there’s no way that’s within uniform regulations. She needs to go back to the ship’s tailor and get the hem let out a bit. Given that Gene Roddenberry liked to have final say on the actresses’ wardrobes, Dr. Noel was lucky she was allowed to wear underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/79 "2023-01-04T22:45:10Z")
Good thing it wasn’t George Lucas, who made Carrie Fisher go around without underwear in ‘Star Wars’ because ‘They don’t use underwear in this universe’. What a pig. But TOS is no different than the other Star Trek series. They put pants on the women in TNG, but gave them low-cut shirts and put them in sexualized situations, such as long shots of the women exercising in tights while the camera focused on their bodies. 'Enterprise ’ could be damned near R rated. Remember the coed sterilization room, which would require the women to enter in a crop-tee with no bra and then be rubbed down by another crewmember? That was completely unnecessary. And it’s a good thing Jeri Ryan was an actual good actress, because at first it looked like she was an excuse to put a large chested blonde woman into a skin-tight catsuit every day. There was plenty of lechery going on in the original Star Trek-TMP with Persis Khambatta, and in ST II with Kirstie Alley. “Have you changed your hair, lieutenant?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282/80 "2023-01-04T23:16:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But TOS is no different than the other Star Trek series. They put pants on the women in TNG, but gave them low-cut shirts and put them in sexualized situations, such as long shots of the women exercising in tights while the camera focused on their bodies. The most striking example of this I’ve seen is a scene from TNG where (IIRC) Riker, LaForge, and Troi are climbing a ladder. As Riker and LaForge climb, the camera pans with them, to stay on their faces, but as Troi climbs, the ladder stays in place, so her whole body passes through the frame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-st-tos-episodes-have-aged-most-poorly/977282.md?page=5)