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Season 1 as ranked by the TOS forum

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Botany Bay

Botany Bay

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First of all guys, a big thanks for all your votes and comments in all the polls.

Finally, here is TOS season 1 as ranked by the forum.

Any surprises? How did your favourite episodes go? Any that should be higher/lower?

"The City on the Edge of Forever" 9.10
"Balance of Terror" 9.04
"The Devil in the Dark" 9.00
"Arena" 8.57
"The Corbomite Maneuver" 8.56
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" 8.46
"A Taste of Armageddon" 8.39
"The Naked Time" 8.26
"The Menagerie, Parts I and II" 8.22
"Errand of Mercy" 8.13
"Space Seed" 8.10
"The Cage" 7.84
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" 7.81
"The Galileo Seven" 7.79
"The Conscience of the King" 7.78
"This Side of Paradise" 7.71
"Shore Leave" 7.70
"Dagger of the Mind" 7.30
"The Squire of Gothos" 7.23
"The Enemy Within" 7.22
"Charlie X" 7.18
"Court Martial" 7.17
"Operation: Annihilate!" 7.09
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?" 7.00
"The Return of the Archons" 6.95
"The Man Trap" 6.89
"Miri" 5.59
"Mudd's Women" 5.30
"The Alternative Factor" 3.12
 
Mudd's Women being that low is definitely a surprise.

I'm also surprised by What Are Littl e Girls and Archons being below Operation.

Still, Season 1 is a strong season for Star Trek and probably the single strongest season in the entire franchise. I haven't seen DS9, Voyager or ENT all the way through, but I'd wager TOS Season 1 being better than anything there.

Alternative Factor, IMO, is the only flat out bad episode in the entire season.
 
The First Season was really special and has a lot on offer. So much happening in front of the camera and behind: the look of the show was (still) being established and Shatner's ego started rampaging, to the chagrin of his costars. But more than any of that, the stories were very much better. I guess it has to do with actual science fiction authors penning them, but I attribute it also to the show being out of its Comfort Zone. By the Second Season, was anyone surprised to see Spock-centric episodes? What worked about STAR TREK was figured out and the lines were drawn where they could colour inside. Once the Path of Least Resistance is established in a show, the creativity starts to plateau and that edge of uncertainty is now gone. I like watching actors who are concerned about whether "it's going to work this time." They seem to give better performances ...
 
Green Shirt said:
EnriqueH said:
Mudd's Women being that low is definitely a surprise.
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I'm with you on that one.
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I'm stunned that people like "The Man Trap" better than "Miri" and "Mudd's Women." The latter two are very good ones in my estimation.

Star Trek's premier episode in 1966 was "The Man Trap." Gene Roddenberry said that after it aired, his father went up and down the street apologizing to the neighbors. And I don't think that was a joke on GR's part; I think it was true.

P.S., thank you BotanyBay for this excellent "results" thread.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
Green Shirt said:
EnriqueH said:
Mudd's Women being that low is definitely a surprise.
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I'm with you on that one.
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I'm stunned that people like "The Man Trap" better than "Miri" and "Mudd's Women." The latter two are very good ones in my estimation.

Star Trek's premier episode in 1966 was "The Man Trap." Gene Roddenberry said that after it aired, his father went up and down the street apologizing to the neighbors. And I don't think that was a joke on GR's part; I think it was true.

P.S., thank you BotanyBay for this excellent "results" thread.
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My thanks also for your effort BotanyBay.
I think the list is pretty reasonable. Not in 100% agreement of course.

I actually agree with the low level of Mudd's Women but thought Miri deserved to be higher. I can look past the parallel world nonsense and take the episode as an allegory.
 
My biggest disagreements are I would place "The Devil in the Dark," "Arena" and "Shore Leave" lower and "Court Martial" higher.
 
I just like to see that only 3 episodes rate less than 7 (in whole numbers). That's impressive, no matter how good a show is, there are bound to be duds, Star Trek barely had any in that season.
 
Marsden said:
I just like to see that only 3 episodes rate less than 7 (in whole numbers). That's impressive, no matter how good a show is, there are bound to be duds, Star Trek barely had any in that season.
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Umm I think that we might be somewhat biased. In a good way though.;):lol:
 
Season 1 was truly remarkable. They got so much right, so quickly.

There's the quote I'm sure you've all heard, where an NBC suit says, "The problem with you people is you think that ship's really up there," and Bob Justman replied, "It IS!" I think Justman's reply captures the magic in a nutshell -- they were working like crazy to make it all as believable as possible ... and managed to make a little magic along the way.
 
Arena is certainly iconic, but I don't think that makes it a top 5 episode in the best season (arguably) in all of Trek. I'd lower that one.

Also, The Cage is one of my personal favorites and I think it should be a bit higher.
 
Another stand out in the list, to me, is "Where No Man".

I liked it, but I think it's too high. In fact, I probably like every episode below it more. (With the obvious exception of Alternative Factor).

As for Miri, it's nice to see people defending it, and I remember liking it quite a bit when I first saw it. But when I saw it again recently, it was not quite as good as I remembered it. And I think the annoying, misbehaving kids have a lot to do with it.

After a few chants of "Nyah, nyah, nee, nyah, nyah" and "bonk, bonk", the kids got annoying FAST.

Of course, this could've just been my mood.

Still, Miri boasts my favorite Yeoman Rand episode. I really loved Grace Lee Whitney's performance in this episode. And that counts for a lot because she only got a couple of episodes where she got a lot to do.
 
I can quibble with some of this, but I agree with most of it. Certainly the bottom five represent what I think are the weakest of the season. I'd swap "The Corbomite Maneuver" with "The Enemy Within".

Well done, TrekBBS!

Neil
 
Agreed, it's not that bad. It should be higher than "Court Martial" at least!

Interesting that most of the episodes are bunched between 7-8.5. Season 1 was indeed consistently strong.

"Alternative Factor" is the only clear "fail" in the bunch...bottom of the pile by a big distance.
 
Warped9 said:
First season of TOS is hands down the best overall season of the entire franchise and better than all the films.
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I respectfully disagree. While the first season is indeed very good, I think the second season is better--the best Trek produced until the third season of TNG.
 
Wow, 3 of my 4 least liked ARE the bottom 3 !!!
and my 4th is 7th from bottom. Nice to know that I am not alone in my opinions of these "bad" episodes.

Also, very interesting to note that 4 of the bottom 7 are outdoor "location' episodes. It's a shame when they finally got to get out of the soundstage and into the open--they didn't have better scripts ready.

Back in the 70s my future wife always liked Miri and I asked her why and besides the obvious Kirk and a young girl theme--she commented that she liked the outdoor episodes.
The outdoor episodes from season 1 that I like are Shore Leave, City..., Errand, This Side.., Arena and yes, Return of the aAchons.
 
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