🌟 Star Trek, TOS 🌟

Pulaski's old age makeup in that one creeps me out every time I think about it.

Since I've finished TNG, DS9 and I came across this thread, I'm inspired to finally finish TOS. Unfortunately, that 19 includes apparent clunkers like Spock's Brain, The Way to Eden, Plato's Stepchildren and The Omega Glory. Oh well, maybe they're so bad, they're good.

A couple of those I recognize by title, I like.

The Way to Eden is just a kick - space Hippies, Spock jamming, Dr. Sevrin (and his ears), Chekov's lost love, poison fruit!

Interesting thing about this episode - the movie ST-V "The Final Frontier" seemed something of a copy (or at least borrowed several elements from the episode).

Oh cool you just watched TNG and DS9. Which of those did you like better? I like both myself, but I love DS9. It's my favorite of all the ST series.

All those original episodes get mentioned as the worst, but there's something in each of them that makes me love them for what they are. Brain, brain, what is brain? ha

Question for the thread: if you were to watch all series would you...
A. Watch them in fictional chronology (Enterprise, Discovery - Oh Boy! Would you, could you, should you?, TOS, TNG, etc.)
B. Watch them in actual chronology (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, etc.)

Not by me. TNG and DS9 are the worst. But we could argue about that forever.

I actually liked Spock's Brain and The Way to Eden. Especially Mary Linda Rapelye in The Way to Eden who played Chekov's love interest Irina Galliulin.

It's gotta be TNG. It's partly for sentimental reasons because it's the show that really got me in to Star Trek and it's from my generation (no pun intended), and while I love DS9 - In the Pale Moonlight may be my favorite overall episode - TNG is the one I'd pick if I could only pick one. Besides, I think Star Trek is at its best when it's about exploring and the journey.

I just recently rewatched and/or watched for the first time all of the ST series, except Discovery (might or might not watch that someday).

I watched them in actual chronological order. However I watched the episodes by 'episode date' and not 'air date'. As some episodes were made but then held back before originally airing at a later date. I used Memory Alpha for that info.

I remember when it was announced that Star Trek was returning to the airwaves and I was so excited about it! And I watched the first season of TNG as it aired.

Maybe my expectations were to high or maybe I wanted TNG to be like the original series...but I got so mad at it that I would call it 'yuppies in space' and I ended up boycotted the rest of the seasons.

Now many years later and I love that show! I've seen each episode many times over. Though the first couple seasons were weak, TNG progressively got better and better until it was knocking out some truly great episodes. Same with DSN and Voyager, their first few seasons are pale compared to what they did in the later seasons.

I think it's pretty cool that you're catching the original series for the first time, maybe you'll post some thoughts as you watch the episodes, it would be fun for us to hear your first impressions.

I remember we were talking about how TOS never had running sub-plots between episodes, (I believe it's only two-part story was The Cage?), and never referred to any events or people from past episodes (excepting Harry Mudd - the only recurring guest star).

I've been watching Enterprise late at night (never saw it when it first aired) and it is heavy laden with running sub-plots, evolving relationships and references to past episodes.

The difference between eras and what studios thought audiences expected I guess.

IMO, Spock's Brain, The Way to Eden, Plato's Stepchildren and The Omega Glory are four of the worst TOS episodes, but my high school history teacher thought the episode "The Omega Glory" was the best TOS episode because it's about American history.

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I'd probably watch them in the order that they aired, but it would depend on my mood.

I recently started watching Discovery because season 1 is airing on the WB, and it's not bad. It's not as good as most of the other shows because there are no characters that really stand out above the rest, but the show is better than I expected.

There were some crew members who were also recurring characters in a few episodes, but most of them had very minor roles.

The only one I can think of who had an important role in both episodes that he was in is Kevin Riley (played by Bruce Hyde), who was in the episodes "The Naked Time", and "The Conscience of the King".

However, according to Bruce Hyde, when he was hired for the second episode, ("The Conscience of the King"), he was supposed to play a different role, until someone realized that he had already been in a different episode, so the character was changed to have him play Kevin Riley in both episodes.

Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG are pretty bad, aren't they? There are maybe 10 episodes in both seasons combined that I would call good. It's nice to know that VOY gets better because the first few episodes of that series made me give up entirely. Maybe I'll struggle through them if the series improves after that. Season 1 of Bablyon 5 is also not great, but it also gets much better, so maybe this is just the nature of the beast for sci-fi series?

As for TOS, it's a first watch, but it began wayyy back when I was in elementary school. Now that every streaming services has every Star Trek series, I really have no excuse for not completing it, do I? I'll post thoughts here when I can and/or when I have something interesting or witty to say.

Yeah that's what I enjoyed about Enterprise, it develops inter-personal relationships between the crew and even some recurring guest stars. Sometimes these relationship dynamics get only a few brief scenes. Other times they are B storylines and occasionally develop until they become the focus of one or more episodes. I like that continuity and it was the main focus of DSN especially in seasons 3-7.

Enterprise will continue aspects of an earlier episode, in later ones. Take a look at Captain Archer after he's been injured, in the next episode he will still have signs of that former injury visible. I think that continuity is pretty cool.

Which episode was he in?



I know it might be difficult with him wearing a hat and glasses, but it's the only image I have.

Looks a little like Malachi Throne, who was in The Menagerie.

Thoughts on Assignment: Earth? It's an odd one for sure. It's hard to say whether it's good or bad because it's a backdoor pilot. For a pilot, it gets the job done, but as a Star Trek episode, it's in the okay to pretty good range. I like Robert Lansing as Gary Seven because he has screen presence and charisma to spare, and while he's basically an American Doctor Who - he even has a sonic screwdriver-like device - I would have watched his show. Again, it's hard to rate it as a Star Trek episode, especially since there's no reason for anyone from that series to be in it. Their involvement is mostly incidental and amounts to "so, that Gary Seven, what a guy huh?" With that said, it's too bad the series was never produced or that Gary never showed up again because he would have been a heck of a recurring character.

Great work. That's who it is.

Good work Torgo! I'd never had guessed that one.